Academy of Legends

Chapter 25: Henry (Moral)

Fear froze me. That grenade was going to blow, it was going to kill me, my brothers, and everyone else in the room as well. My fear lasted only for a split second. I had to do something, or all of my friends and family would be killed in one fell swoop. How could I just do nothing and allow that to happen?

I grabbed Snow and dragged her off the bed, on the opposite side of the grenade. "Get down!" I shouted at the others as I did so.

I saw my brothers drag everyone else down, and only seconds later, the grenade blew. I felt the force of the explosion nearly send me flying, but by some miracle, it didn't do much other than hit me with little bits of shrapnel—nothing too painful.

The explosion was over only seconds after it had started. In the silence that followed, I found myself struggling to catch my breath, and Snow beneath me was sobbing and coughing. Finally, through the smoke from the explosion, I called out, fearing the answer. "Is everyone alright?"

Slowly, I heard affirmatives from everyone as we all stood up. There were numerous cuts and a good deal of blood, but nobody was hurt too badly. Snow, however, would not let go of my arm. "Who would throw a grenade at us?" she cried, her nails beginning to dig into my arm.

I cautiously approached the destroyed shell and knelt down. There was no other indication of what it was there for. "I don't know, but I think it's safe to say it's the murderer," I told her.

Hugo sat down heavily, only for his bed to give out beneath him and send him into the middle of his mattress. Our room looked like a bomb had gone off, literally. There were scorch marks on the walls and the carpeting was beyond saving, not to mention our destroyed bedframes. "When does this end?" he asked with a shaky voice. He tried to pull himself up out of the bed. "When does all of this stop?"

"Henry," Belle said urgently. We all turned to look at her. She was closest to the door, and was now holding a piece of paper. "Look at this."

I went over to her, since nobody else did. Honestly, the paper wasn't a grenade. However, after reading it, I began to understand the others' reluctance. It was clearly a threat that had only one word, written in blood-red ink:

Tonight.

"What does it mean?" Belle asked anxiously.

"It means," I said, "that our killer without morals is going to finish this. Tonight."