Chapter 7 · Dropped Into Witch Academy at Midnight - Chapter 7: Use Me as Bait

The girl's still breathing. Barely.

I'm crouched on the cold stone floor, hands hovering over her chest, and that black light is still crawling up my forearms like it's got a mind of its own. It's warm. Not burning, just—alive. Like something waiting.

"Step away from her." Cassandra's voice cuts through the room, sharp enough to make me flinch.

I don't move. The kid's pulse is thready under my fingers, her lips going gray. I've seen this before. Too many times. You don't step away when someone's dying.

"Alex." Cassandra again, closer now. I can hear her boots on the stone. "I said step away."

"She's crashing." My voice comes out flat. ER flat. The kind of calm that means everything's going to shit. "Another minute and she's gone."

"She's contaminated. The mark is spreading. If you touch her again—"

"Then it spreads to me." I cut her off. "Fine. Better me than a kid."

Silence. The kind that makes your skin crawl.

I don't look up. I tilt the girl's head back, check her airway. Clear. Start compressions. One, two, three. The black light flares with every push, crawling from my palms into her chest. It doesn't hurt.