Half-Blood

I flipped him off, but the bad thing was, his general annoyingness had somehow reached me. Not that I’d admit it. Ever.



He grabbed a towel off the shelf. After dampening it, he tossed it to me. “Clean yourself up.” He sent a devilish grin my way. “I can’t have my little Apol yon-in-training looking like a mess.”



My fingers clenched around the towel. “If you ever say something that stupid again, I wil smother you in your sleep.”



His golden brows rose. “Little Alex, are you suggesting that we sleep together?”



Stunned by how he came to that conclusion, I lowered the towel. “What? No!”



“Then how could you smother me in my sleep unless you were in bed with me?” He gave a sly grin. “Think about it.”



“Oh, shut up.”



He shrugged and glanced at the door. “They’re coming.”



I was only half-curious to know how he knew that, but as I dabbed the cloth under my swol en lip, the door swung open. Marcus entered first, and Aiden appeared behind him. His gaze swept to me, checking me over once more.



The look on his face said he wanted to come to me, but with Marcus and half a dozen Sentinels present, it was impossible. I fought down the need to be in his arms and turned my attention to my uncle.



Marcus met my eyes. “I need to know exactly what happened.”



So I told them everything I remembered. Marcus remained impassive through al of it. He asked the appropriate questions and when it was over, I wanted to stumble back to my room. Reliving what’d happened to Kain had drained my soul.



Marcus gave me permission to leave, and I climbed to my feet while he gave orders to Leon and Aiden. “Notify the other Covenants. I’l take care of the Council.”



Aiden had fol owed me out into the hal . “Didn’t I ask you to not do something stupid?”



I winced. “Yes, but I didn’t know—didn’t think Kain would be like that.”



Aiden shook his head, running a hand through his hair.



Then he asked the one question no one else had thought to ask. “Did he say anything about your mother?”



“He said she kil ed them.” I inhaled sharply. “That she took great pleasure in it.”



Sympathy shone in those cool eyes. “Alex, I’m sorry. I know you hoped that wasn’t the case. Are you okay?”



Not real y, but I wanted to be strong for him. “Yes.”



He pressed his lips together. “We’l … talk later, okay? I’l let you know when we’l have practice again. Things wil be chaotic the next couple of days.”



“Aiden… Kain said she was looking for me. That she was coming for me.”



There must’ve been something in my voice, because he was in front of me so quickly. He reached out and cupped my cheek, his voice so unyielding I didn’t doubt a word he said. “I won’t al ow that to happen. Ever. You wil never face her.”



I swal owed. His closeness, his touch, evoked so many memories; it took me a moment to respond. “But if I did, I could do it.”



“Did Kain say anything else to you about your mother?”



She’ll keep killing ‘til she finds you—



“No.” I shook my head as the guilt ate a hole in my soul.



His hand dropped to his chest, where he rubbed a spot above his heart. “You’re going to do something stupid again.”



I smiled weakly. “Wel , usual y I do about once a day.”



Aiden raised a brow, his bright eyes amused for a moment. “No, that’s not what I meant.”



“Then what did you mean?”



He shook his head. “It’s nothing. We’l talk soon.” He passed Seth on the way back to the room. For a moment, both of their expressions hardened to stone. There may’ve been mutual respect in their faces, but there was definitely mutual dislike, as wel .



I left before Seth could stop me. By the time I made it back to the girls’ dorm, several of the students were on the porch. News traveled fast even though it was stil early, but the most shocking part was Lea stood among them.



Seeing her caused my heart to clench. She looked terrible by Lea standards—meaning she looked like the rest of us on a good day. I wasn’t sure what to say to her.



We weren’t friends, but what she was going through was unimaginable.



What could I say? No amount of apologies or words of condolence would make anything better for her, but as I got closer to her, I saw the red look to her eyes, the tight line of her normal y plump lips, and the overal air of desolation surrounding her. It provoked a memory of how I’d felt when I’d thought my mom had died. Now, take that and multiply it by two; that was how Lea felt.



Our gazes locked and my lame apology rol ed out of my mouth. “I’m sorry… for everything.”



Surprisingly, Lea nodded as she passed me on the way in. I trailed behind her, wishing she’d cal ed me a bitch or made fun of my face. That was better than this. Weary and sore, I pushed down the hal way and passed a group of girls. There were whispers, and they were right. My mother was a murderous daimon.



In my room, I crashed. Stil dressed in my clothes, I slept the kind of sleep people only got after facing something so vast and life-changing. Somewhere, in that half-lucid state before I was completely out of it, I realized that when Seth and I had touched in the medical room, there’d been no blue cord.



***



Aiden sent a note the fol owing day saying practice was stil cancel ed. He didn’t mention when he’d contact me again. Over the hours, a nagging worry developed. Did Aiden regret what’d happened between us? Did he stil want me? Were we ever going to talk again?



My priorities were pretty messed up, but I couldn’t help it.



Since I’d woken up, al I could think about was what’d almost happened between the two of us. And when I did, I felt hot and embarrassed.



I stared at the mammoth book he’d loaned me. I’d left it on the floor next to the couch. An idea popped in my head. I could return the book to him—innocent enough reason to seek him out. My mind was made up before I knew it.



Grabbing the book, I yanked open the door.



Caleb stood there, one hand raised as if he was about to knock and the other holding a pizza box. “Oh!” He stepped back, startled.



“Hey.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.



He lowered his hand. Our almost-fight lingered between us like bad blood. “So you’re reading Greek fables now?”



“Um… ” I glanced down at the damn thing. “Yeah… I guess.”



Caleb sucked his lower lip in, a nervous habit carried over from childhood. “I know what happened. I mean… your face kinda says it al .”



Absently, my fingers went to my cut lip.



“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”



I nodded. “I am.”



“Look. I brought food.” He held up the box with a grin.



“And I’m gonna get caught if you don’t let me in or go outside.”



“Al right.” I dropped the book on the floor and fol owed him out.



On the way to the courtyard, I opted for a safe topic. “I saw Lea yesterday morning.”



He nodded. “She came back late the night before. She’s been pretty low-key. Even though she’s a complete bitch, I feel sorry for her.”



“Have you talked to her?”



Caleb nodded. “She’s hanging in there. I’m not sure if it’s real y hit her, you know?”



I understood more than he probably could. We found a shady spot under some large olive trees and sat. I picked at the pizza, arranging my pepperoni slices into a gross-looking smiley face.



“Alex, what real y happened to Kain?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Everyone’s saying he was a daimon, but that can’t be possible, right?”



I looked up from my food. “He was a daimon.”



The sun peeked through the branches, catching the strands of Caleb’s hair and turning them a bright gold color.



“How did the Sentinels not know that?”



“He looked just like he always did. His eyes were fine, his teeth normal.” I leaned back against the tree and crossed my legs at the ankles. “There was no way to tel . I didn’t know until… I saw the pures.” An image I could never erase.



He swal owed, staring down at his pizza. “More funerals,”



he murmured. Then louder, “I can’t believe this. Al this time and there’s never been a daimon half. How is it even possible?”



I told him what Kain had said, figuring there was no reason to keep it a secret. His reaction was typical: heavy and deep. Fal ing in battle meant death for us, and we’d never had to consider anything else.



Caleb frowned. “What if Kain wasn’t the first? What if other daimons figured it out and we just didn’t know?”



We looked at one another. Swal owing, I dropped my pizza back onto the plate. “Then we picked a hel of a time to be graduating in the spring, huh?”



The two of us laughed… nervously. Then I returned to rearranging my pizza, thinking about everything else that had happened. Images of shirtless Aiden flashed before me. The way he’d looked at me and kissed me. The touch of Aiden’s fingertips was slowly replaced by the touch of Seth’s and the blue cord.



“What are you thinking?” Caleb inched closer and continued when I didn’t answer. “What do you know? You have that look on your face! The one you got when we were thirteen and you walked in on Instructor Lethos and Michaels total y making out in the storage room!”



“Ew!” My face scrunched up at the memory. Damn him for remembering the grossest things. “It’s nothing. I’m just thinking… about everything. It’s been a long couple of days.”



“Everything’s changed.”



I glanced over at Caleb, feeling for him. “Yes.”



“They’re going to have to change the way we’re trained, you know?” He continued in possibly the softest voice I’d ever heard him use. “Daimons always had the strength and speed, but now we’l be fighting half-bloods trained just like us. They’l know our techniques, moves—everything.”



“A lot of us are going to die out there. More than ever before.”



“But we have the Apol yon.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. “Now you’ve got to like him. He’s going to save our butts out there.”



The need to tel him everything almost overwhelmed me, but I looked away, training my eyes on the bushy, bitter-smel ing flowers. I couldn’t remember what they were cal ed. Nightsoot or something? What had Grandma Piperi said about them? Like the kisses from those who walk among the gods…



I turned back to Caleb and realized we weren’t alone anymore. Olivia stood beside him, arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He told her what happened, and he didn’t act like a love-struck idiot, which was good. Final y, she sat down and sent me a sympathetic look. I guessed my face was pretty messed up, but I hadn’t real y looked at it.



Caleb said something funny and Olivia laughed. I laughed, too, but Caleb glanced at me, catching the false tone of it. I tried to pul myself into their conversation, but I couldn’t. Each of us spent the rest of the day trying to forget one thing or another. Caleb and Olivia focused on anything besides the cold reality of halfs being turned into daimons.