The trip back to the Academy was silent.
No one said a word. The low buzz of the stealth transport's engines was the only sound. The win in the mining facility felt hollow. It left them with a bad feeling.
Draven sat with his eyes closed, his huge sword cleaned and resting against his seat. Jonah could see how tight his jaw was. Seraph, their strong captain, looked out the window at the blurry city lights below, her face serious and hard to read. Vanessa held a small computer in her lap, but she wasn't looking at it. Her thumb just moved slowly across the dark screen.
Jonah leaned his head on the window, feeling the transport's shaking through his head. He kept seeing the mocking face from the memory, and he could still feel the corrupted trace of his own magic. Dr. Thorne. The crazy doctor who had gotten away from him once was back, and this time, what he did felt like a personal attack. Thorne hadn't just made a monster. He had used a part of Jonah to do it.
