People underestimated the toughness of glass. Hollywood made it look like any action hero could just jump through a closed window. I certainly thought so. But, when I stood there in the corridor and watched the Slaugh shatter the glass, I realized one thing: It was loud.

Isa sat close enough to the ground to avoid injuries. I, however, felt the full force of shards sharper than scalpels hitting me. A throbbing pain spread through my face and leg as the glass pieces viciously ate through my skin.

Why didn't they teach me a make-my-robe-as-hard-as-armor spell?

A dark cloud streamed from the broken windows into the hallways. It was a walking black mountain full of restless, ghostlike souls whose forms shifted between those of faceless ghouls and crescent-like crows.

The crows descend onto their prey. Before I could react, I was faced with an armada of hungry beaks ramming my flesh like piranhas devouring a capybara.

With my last breath, I clutched my mother's necklace and focused my will on my ward. Good that I drank the Unseelie Repellant potion before the window broke. Its iron powder, breadcrumbs, and salt components turned my body into everything these creatures hated.

But warding wasn't as simple as saying "abracadabra". I needed to stay focused. I needed to keep the life energy flowing, or else the ghostly, ghoulish, amorphic masses that filled the entire pathway would break the invisible barrier around me and tear me apart.

Isa hugged her red fox as she watched the fight. The fox's cunning eyes followed Siris before switching to the morass of lost souls reconfiguring around me.

This swarm wasn't just creepy ghouls. It contained a crow-like familiar which had been ripped from a practitioner's soul.

And it was joined by a salamander. A red-and-white striped wingless dragon no bigger than a lizard crawled across the hallway. Its skin was birthed of flame and fire left its mouth.

I wasn't sure if she could see it or if it wore a glamour, but Isa saw the flames. Fortunately, this corridor had a wall hydrant hanging where other buildings might have a fire extinguisher. Not only did the running water deter monsters, but grabbing it also gave Isa a chance to stop the fire.

A vengeful fire erupted from the salamander's mouth as if it were a dragon, battling for dominance with the water hose.

Unfortunately, water was a scarce resource. Wasting no time, I gave Siris a simple, telepathic order.

Attack.

Like an attack dog, he jumped onto the salamander's back and restrained him before Isa's steam ran out.

The salamander winced under the pain of Siris' claws, glanced for escape routes, and ran before Isa's fox gave it the rest.

Now that my adrenaline rush calmed down, a second round of utterly ridiculous glass-cut pain tortured my face and legs. What I wouldn't give to be in the gym right now. I hoped Simon and Jaclyn got everyone into the iron nail circle. C-ranked situations and above left ordinary people with no choice other than to hide behind wards and hope for the best.

To ordinary people, the Wild Hunt was invisible but loud. It was the silent wind that howled through the forest. It was a reminder of days gone by when houses weren't invented yet and mankind cowered in caves when tornadoes swept the land and left no survivors.

Individually, the Sluagh weren't stronger than the monsters I fought before. But there were so many. Even Jaclyn's wind spells lacked the area-of-effect oomph to deal with more than a handful of the ghost tornado.

We could only hold the line until the police or the Hunters showed up to provide more manpower. And until then, the fear and panic spreading through our school and our neighborhood nourished the Wild Hunt like nothing else.

I could barely even stand. Blood loss clouded my mind, while Isa accidentally released a whiff of life energy looking at me. I wasn't sure if it closed the wounds and transfigurated me into a healthier state, but it felt that way. She wasn't afraid.

She just looked at me and said, "you're bleeding."

Yes, I was. It was noticeable even through my body-covering robe. I had a potion made of alcohol and witch's hazel which I could pour over wounds as a disinfectant. Not sure if I could do it myself or if I needed help, but I needed to do it sooner rather than later.

"Should I call a doctor?" she asked.

I didn't want to speak. The potion I had used to subtly change my body type would wear off soon and she'd recognize me. I shook my head.

"You know what these things are?"

"Evil," I grunted. "Get in!"

"And you?" Isa asked.

It was a valid question. Was I going to get back to the safety of the iron circle or was I going to go out to fight monsters I might not be able to defeat? I wasn't very strong yet, but I could use my magic openly which our backup couldn't do.

The ghost tornado was unsatisfied. Despite the fear in the neighborhood, they fluttered away like half-starved vultures, leaving us in the belief that the battle's tide turned our way. Or so we thought.

A sudden, vengeful gale swept in through the windows and threw me and Isa against the nearest wall.

The gale pressed me against the wall like a pancake until I couldn't breathe anymore.

Whoever had sent this attack wasn't concerned with discretion. Only with raw power. Raw power that the Erlking had gathered through years of causing small panics.

The Sluagh took this as their cue to wreak havoc. They destroyed the remaining lights and, judging from the sounds of doors being unhinged and books torn apart, they vandalized the lockers as well.

The storm briefly held its breath. I climbed to my feet and drank from my cat-eye potion.

Once I saw in muted colors again, I saw Isa hunched against me. The fear finally caught up with her, too. She had a small cut that was bleeding on her cheek and she looked like she didn't know if she should stand up and run or stay in her corner and hide behind her fire extinguisher.

We were inches apart. The ward around my body created by the Unseelie Repellant Potion scared the ghostly crescent crows and humanoids away from the both of us, though Isa's iron pentacle also helped.

The residual life energy from people's fear that Evil Siris absorbed made my ward stronger, but it strengthened our enemies even more. It was only a question of time until their will would overcome mine and my ward wouldn't work anymore.

We had to stand up. I got to my feet and Isa followed. The door to the gym and the iron circle laid out was footsteps away. Simon had already opened it for us. As Simon winked at us, Isa wasted no time and strode forward. I let her go first. I needed to stay behind to shield her from the incoming Sluagh. As she crossed the threshold to the gym and the iron circle, I realized I couldn't follow.

A familiar spirit, one looked that like a crow – a real crow, not these crow-ghoul shapes some Sluagh had, grabbed my robe. Armed with an iron frying pan, Simon smacked several Slaugh and tried to help me.

But he was too slow. Several Sluagh overcame my wards and grabbed my arms to carry me off my feet. It were too many.

The Sluagh weren't those enemies who were dangerous alone and cannon-fodder in groups. They were dangerous because they worked together. Put enough of them in the same place and their combined energy broke through all but the strongest wards. These were precisely the kinds of tactics that the Veil ought to prevent outside of the Otherworld, but for the Erlking's forces, the Veil was hardly a concern anymore.

Ghost-like hands covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming, my legs to prevent me from running, and my arms to prevent me from fighting. I was lifted off the ground and carried out of the window.

Ghostly figures covered the full moon sky like flies. Crows and dogs skittered among them, but humans glided anywhere the eye could see. Men, women, and children. They used to be normal humans before the Hunt captured them and forced them to chase prey for all eternity.

And I was gonna join them.

Our proud football station resembled a horror movie set-piece while our colorful orchard looked like a ghost forest under the poor color vision of my cat eyes. I had no idea where this ghost swarm ended. Just how many monsters had he summoned? Enough to cover the entire yard? The entire town block? The entire town? More?

I had no idea.

Mrs. Crenshaw's body lay on one of the swings. Her cardigan was pink, her face pale. Her skull lacked eyes or a tongue while her corpse hung around with the vitality of a sloth lying on a tree branch.

My least favorite teacher was dead. Dead. Dead as a doornail. Even though I had just seen her alive and annoying less than an hour ago. How many other people shared her fate?

Worse, what were they gonna do to me?

Thirty feet was about the greatest distance I could drop without falling and these things lifted me higher than that. Assuming they were merciful enough to kill me instead of forcing me to join their swarm where I'd hunt the souls of the dead for all eternity.

The cold autumn wind slapped against my mask. I ignored it. It was a joke compared to the attack in the hallway, a joke whose joker revealed itself to me as I looked before me.

It wasn't like any of the other monsters I had fought before. Compared to the harrowing, restless ghosts around it, this creature looked human, beautiful even. It had butterfly-like fairy wings, a tall, slender body, and a smooth, symmetric face that gave it an angel-like appearance. Its expressionless, thin mouth knew no malice. This wasn't a monster. It was a spirit hired to do what it did, even if this task contained destruction.

"Siris?" I asked. "What is this thing?"

"It's called a Sylph," Siris said. "An alchemical elemental that's pretty good at making storms!"

"How good?"

"Well, if Jaclyn's wind spells are a pebble, this thing is an asteroid. Anyone in Summer Hill can feel it right now. Even the Black Knights are gonna struggle to counter that."

The elemental barely even noticed me. It flapped its wings once and the resulting breeze in my face made me feel what an ant felt when a boot was sinking on it. I fell, expecting the end. But before I hit the ground, a levitation spell slowed down my descent.

Darcy was here, pointing her staff at me.

"You called Marco," she said. "And he called me."