AVERY

She was right. The fog was advancing rapidly. It would reach us in seconds.

"We should take cover in the building." I pulled on the door handle, but it didn't budge. "Shit, it's locked."

"And we don't have our passcodes yet to get in," Bo said.

"So we fight this if it tries to hurt us?" Nick held up his hands. A blue ball of crackling magic appeared between his palms. "Whatever this is."

Charlotte crouched lower, her muscles tensed as the fog swirled only ten yards away. "Agreed, but only if it's intending to do harm."

Hairs sprouted on the backs of Chris's hand as magic danced around him. "How can we know if it's—"

A zap of lightning shot from the cloud.

Nick jumped out of the way just in time. The lightning scorched the earth, leaving a sizzling crater where Nick had been standing only seconds ago.

"I think that answers that question," I replied, my chest heaving.

The sinister fog was only five yards away now, and sparks of magic crackled in it.

Another rumble shook the earth, nearly knocking Eliza and me over as my mind raced.

"But how did it get in here?" I couldn't comprehend how malevolent magic had permeated the SF's protective wards, but it had. I could feel the evil energy slithering from the advancing mist. As for why there weren't other SF members out here helping us fight it . . .

My mouth went dry. The possible reasons behind that made me feel sick.

But I didn't have time to ponder it further. My lips parted just as

another flash of lightning shot from the fog and struck the earth only feet from Nick, Chris, and Charlotte.

Eliza screamed, and everyone jumped back as a burst of magic rushed from Nick's hands. His blazing blue ball hurtled from his palms into the scarlet fog just as a figure in the mist began to take shape.

My eyes popped. It looked like a man. Holy shit. Someone was coming through the fog.

But Nick's spell just bounced off the red cloud, shattering into sparks as the hooded figure emerged from the magic.

"Who are you?" Charlotte called just as Chris leaped into the air and shifted instantaneously.

Chris's clothes shredded when his wolf erupted from beneath his skin. A huge, snarling beast landed where Chris had been standing only seconds ago, but the hooded figure kept walking our way, unperturbed by the offensive spells Nick continually shot at it.

"Who are you?" Charlotte yelled again. "What do you want?"

But the figure remained silent, his hood hiding his face as the large robe he wore covered his tall body.

I frantically searched the grounds that I could see, but they were silent and still.

"No one's coming to help us, and we need to stay away from whoever that is." I squeezed Eliza's hand and pulled her back closer to the building.

We huddled near the wall, Bo sinking down beside us. Zaden still stood off to the side, hissing and fangs extended, but he didn't join Nick, Chris, and Charlotte who had formed a protective wall in front of me, Bo, and Eliza.

"Fuck this," Charlotte whispered. She abruptly lunged for her duffel bag and wrenched it open before yanking out a bow and arrow. Each arrow glistened, and my eyes widened when I recognized the magical substance. Kuraia coated each arrow's tip.

Whoa. Charlotte didn't mess around. One drop of that in any supernatural's bloodstream guaranteed death. She stayed in her human form, though. As a female werewolf, she only carried the werewolf gene and couldn't shift, but her werewolf origins gave her superior strength and speed as was apparent with how quickly she nocked an arrow.

Chris snarled again, his hackles raised as Nick launched another spell at the steadily approaching figure.

Charlotte pulled her bowstring, aimed, and let an arrow fly.

But just when the arrow should have pierced the robed figure, he shifted to the side, the arrow missing his arm by inches.

It sailed into the fog and exploded into splinters. "Shit," Charlotte muttered.

Another crack of lightning flashed in the sky. Eliza whimpered, and I covered her with my arm and moved more in front of her.

"Try again!" Nick called to Charlotte.

Charlotte readied her bow, her movements so fast they turned into a blur, and let a second arrow fly.

But just when the arrow should have pierced the intruder's heart, the fog abruptly disappeared. Her arrow sailed right through where the figure had stood only a second ago only to lodge in a tree thirty yards away.

I breathed heavily. Confusion filled me as the swirling magic and energy in the air dispersed. The distant training field became visible again. The sky cleared, and the earth stopped rumbling.

Eliza made a small mewling sound as the wind calmed.

Bo let out a relieved sigh, but his breathing was still ragged, and Zaden stood up straighter, his hands fisted, while Nick, Chris, and Charlotte stayed in a protective half circle in front of us.

"Did that really just disappear?" I asked incredulously.

"It appears so." Blue sparks still crackled at Nick's fingertips.

Blood thundered through my ears. I was shaking too badly to stand, but the clenching in my stomach loosened when I saw the training team in the distant field doing their drills, as if the malevolent force we'd just experienced had never entered the SF.

"They're acting like nothing happened." Charlotte lowered her bow.

Regardless, Chris's hackles remained raised. He prowled back and forth in front of us, low rumbles coming from his chest.

"What. The. Fuck." Zaden's skin looked even paler than before. "Are you okay?" I asked Eliza.

She nodded shakily. "And you?" I asked Bo.

Bo looked as white as a ghost despite his caramel complexion. He nodded and ran a hand through his black hair. "Yeah, I'm fine. Damn. What the hell was that? And why is nobody else concerned about it? Didn't anyone else see it?"

Zaden hissed but pulled his fangs back into his gums. "If that was someone's idea of a joke, it wasn't funny."

"A joke?" Eliza said uneasily. "Could a troublemaker really accomplish that here?"

I still hovered on the balls of my feet, only then realizing I was shielding both Eliza and Bo with my body.

"Do you think it's over?" Bo asked.

Charlotte spun around, her jaw tight. "It's hard to say. Who knows what just happened, but we all saw it. We didn't imagine it." She gritted her teeth. "We need to find Major Jamison and report this. I don't know how the SF can't be aware of what just happened, but nobody's—"

The sound of someone clapping cut her off. My attention whipped to the sidewalk that curled around the barracks just as Wyatt and an older man with short graying hair strolled around the corner. Both were clapping.

My stomach flipped at the sight of our commander. Gods, he looked so hot and strangely calm.

"Very nice response to your first training test, new recruits." The older man let his hands fall to his side.

And then it hit me—that horrifying event had been a test. It hadn't been real.

I gaped when I recognized the older man. Wes McCloy, the man in charge of the entire Supernatural Forces, was walking beside our commander.