Sorsha sets down the last block of iron beneath the rift and steps back with her hands on her hips. “That should be enough to keep any creatures from coming through. I guess we’ll have to wait and see whether the metals lock the rift in place or if we need to scatter the protections around more widely.”

  She turns toward us with a swish of her flame-red hair and an easy-going grin. The phoenix shifter, as she explained to us, is a very rare hybrid—born to a human father and a shadowkind mother. One of the benefits of her unique blend of natures is that she isn’t bothered by iron and silver the way pure shadowkind are.

  The men who came with her in the strange, huge vehicle they drove up in can’t say the same. They’re full shadowkind, as unnerved by the protections as the rest of us, so they’re prowling through the forest for any sign of additional trouble while she’s worked here.

  Rollick nods approvingly where he’s standing with me and my team well back from the rift’s current position, where the aura of the metal blocks stacked around the base of the portal and the thick chains hanging from the trees on either side only nip at our skin rather than searing at it. The demon was able to arrange for some human associates to drive a truck of supplies nearby and carry them most of the way over, but he didn’t want them getting too close to the rift itself. Sorsha had to take on the bulk of the final work.

  “And I have a lot of reading to do,” he says. “Sorting through all the notes that addled sorcerer made and separating the madness from the useful information. I’d thank him for leaving a few of his captives weak enough for me to catch them for further study and potential rehabilitation, but I don’t think he deserves even a fragment of good will.”

  I can’t hold back a shudder. “No, he doesn’t.”

  Raze’s growl echoes my reaction. Rollick turns to look at the five of us, his cool gaze assessing.

  “You’ve done an impressive job working in collaboration. And that even with unfortunate circumstances stirring up personal trauma.” The dip of his head acknowledges my private struggle. “I’m pleased with all of you, but I’d like to hear from your own mouths whether you think you and your teammates can safely return to your regular studies at the academy—and how the problems that led to your near banishment have been addressed.”

  My heart skips a beat. He’s going to trust our judgment about each other? What will the men I’ve worked with say about me?

  The demon motions toward Raze first. “You’ve been ignoring the rules about maintaining physical form and avoiding interacting with the other students rather than trying to integrate. Can the academy’s staff expect to see that change?”

  Raze squares his shoulders. “Yes. I’ve… I’ve realized that I don’t need to be as afraid of my powers as I have been. That’s the main reason I was keeping to myself. And feeling less nervous about them will make it easier for me to make sure I never lose my temper.”

  Rollick glances around at our group. “Will the rest of you support that assessment?”

  I jump in immediately. “Definitely. Raze has gotten a lot more comfortable around… all of us, since I first met him.”

  “He has,” Jonah agrees. “And I’ve seen fewer kneejerk responses from him, even when he’s provoked.” He arches an eyebrow at Hail.

  The fae man shrugs. “I’ll admit that I’ve given him a bit of a hard time, and he hasn’t unleashed any evil eye or venom at me.”

  Rollick moves to Mirage. “And our fox shifter of the many tails, which he finds so difficult to keep in hiding, along with his ears and other features? Has you managed to moderate your pranks so they cause less trouble for those around you?”

  Mirage swipes a hand through his ruddy hair, where no ears but his humanesque ones show. “I’m not perfect at tucking my foxy bits away yet, but I didn’t show them at all when we’ve been talking to the humans on our mission. And I didn’t confuse anyone except when it helped the team.”

  Jonah nods. “That’s all true. He’s never fully shifted unless I gave the okay or it made sense to either.”

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  Raze gives a warm rumbling sound. “Mirage has been very considerate of the rest of us.”

  “And he still makes us laugh, which is a good thing too,” I put in.

  Rollick fixes his gaze on Hail. “Have you been preventing your cool attitude from afflicting the humans you’ve had to talk to?”

  Hail’s normally nonchalant gaze drops as if he’s a little abashed. “I’ve seen reasons to be frustrated with them, but I haven’t tripped anyone up. I knew our mission was more important.”

  To my surprise, Raze speaks up in agreement first. “Hail did give me a hard time to begin with, but he’s also defended us every time he needed to. And he’s become less harsh the more we got to know each other.”

  Mirage hums. “Fewer insults, more in-jokes!”

  As Hail rolls his eyes good-naturedly at the fox shifter’s remark, I find Rollick’s attention has shifted to me. I resist the urge to hug myself protectively.

  “And you, our glowing mystery,” he says. “You felt very guilty about how you’ve hurt those around you in the past. Can you say for sure that your powers won’t explode all over the school again?”

  I take a deep breath. “I feel like I’ll be safe enough not to really hurt anyone. Now that I’ve faced the man who scared me the most, nothing that happens at the school seems all that bad. And I’ve found ways of aiming the outbursts when they come on, even if I can’t completely stop them. If I have to, I can direct the energy somewhere harmless.”

  “Peri’s come a long way,” Jonah says quietly. “I don’t believe she’d say she’s ready unless she was sure of it.”

  Raze grasps my shoulder with a gentle squeeze. “She protected all of us from the sorcerer who was capturing those shadowkind—he’d already worked his magic on us. If she hadn’t reacted so quickly and so well, we’d be under his control.”

  Hail looks at me with an upward quirk of his lips. “She’s still a cream puff, but definitely not a pipsqueak.”

  “She’s a rainbow,” Mirage insists. “And her glow makes it easier for us to see everything we need to.”

  Their words set off a different sort of glow inside me, tingling around my heart. I find myself grinning back at all four of them. “Thank you.”

  Sorsha nudges Rollick. “That sounds pretty definitive to me.”

  The demon chuckles. “I feel suitably convinced that you’ll all contribute to the school in a positive way from here on out. Thank you for uncovering and dealing with even more problems that I’d considered might exist.”

  Sorsha pumps a fist in the air and swivels toward the spot where we left our vehicles. “That means it’s time to celebrate! You’ll all eat human food, right? We brought a picnic.”

  As we march back between the trees, the full relief of the moment washes over me. We defeated the sorcerer who’s hurt so many beings, human and shadowkind alike. We did it together, all of us as a real team, accepting and respecting what we all can offer.

  Who knows what else we might be able to accomplish now? The only thing I’m sure of with the giddy thump of my pulse is that I want to do so much else side by side with these four men.

  The joy of that knowledge swells inside me—and leaps straight out of my skin.

  I stop with a gasp, caught up in the rush of happiness and harmony. The light streaming out of me isn’t the blinding blaze that’s burst out before, but four concentrated beams that streak through the air from my torso straight toward the four men on my team. It hits their chests in turn, lighting up their clothes and skin with a flare of warmth I feel echoing back into me.

  Jonah stumbles, shock flashing across his face. Raze whirls toward me with a bewildered expression. Mirage simply laughs, but his good humor falters when he paws at the beam penetrating his side. Hail freezes up, staring down at himself stiffly.

  And all at once I feel not just my own heart pounding, but four other heartbeats thumping along in time. My chest constricts around them.

  What in the realms have I done?