“You should have.” He opened his Gatorade. “I’d planned to hurt you.” He screwed the lid back on and slid the bottle from hand to hand across the table. “I kept hearing a voice telling me you were evil and you needed stopped.” He caught his drink and looked up at me. “I don’t know why I listened.”
“Demon—” Cody leaned forward “—controlled Cassandra. Maybe you.”
Cassandra crumpled the wrapper and clenched it in her fist. “A demon controlled me?” Her voice rose, and Bryce clamped his hand down on her arm.
“Yes.” I massaged my forehead, not really understanding how I’d gotten into this conversation with them. “He tried to kill me. I won. Yay me.”
Bryce leaned so far over the table he was practically lying on it. “You killed a demon.”
Cody lifted up two fingers.
Pushing them down, I said, “None. I returned them to the Abyss.”
“So, what happened to Damon?” Cassandra’s ice-blue eyes were alight with interest.
My throat went dry. She’d been my enemy since the first day I arrived on campus. How much did I want her to know? I took a long drink of water, partly to wet my throat and partly to avoid the question.
“Abyss.” Cody squeezed my thigh.
“But—” Cassandra’s perfectly plucked eyebrows pinched together “—I thought you liked him.”
I slammed my chair back and jumped up. “I gotta go.” I darted for the doors. I heard other chairs scrape across the tile floor and footsteps keeping time with mine, but I didn’t turn around to see who was following me.
Pushing through the cafeteria doors, I ran out into the evening. As soon as the cool air hit my face, I stopped. Tears wetted my cheeks. I clutched my stomach and sobbed. Strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me close.
I started to settle back against him before realizing it wasn’t Cody. “Let go!”
The arms pulled back, and I spun around. Val lifted his hands in the air, backing away. “Sorry. I thought it would fix you.” He pointed at the corner of his eye.
Wiping my tears away, I said, “Nothing’s going to fix me.”
Cody walked up with Malcolm and Cash. His face was the stony mask he’d worn so often when Mavros was on Earth.
“The girl apologizes.” Malcolm growled.
The Nephilim gathered outside the student center. I had no idea what they were capable of or what they wanted, but their sheer numbers terrified me.
I nodded at the Nephilim, drawing my guards’ attention to them. “Let’s go before they realize they outnumber us six to one.”
Cash stood with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at me. “You don’t think very highly of us if you think they can defeat us.”
Stepping closer to him, I shoved my finger into his pecs. “Not of you,” I said through clenched teeth. “You can’t be grateful that I freed you because you’re too arrogant to admit you needed help.”
“You worthless human.” He shoved my hand away.
I turned my back on him, knowing it would infuriate him. “We can’t cause a scene unless you want every human to know about you all.”
Val laughed, a deep rumble that started off quiet and built up. “She got you there.”
Tye ushered Cody and me in front of him, keeping himself positioned between us and Cash. Then he herded us back to the dorm.
As soon as we were in our room, I said, “I’m sorry, Cody.”
He walked past me and plopped down in Cookie Monster. “Yeah, hear that a lot.”
Knowing he didn’t want me near him, I sat in Big Bird. “I didn’t expect the questions or the guilt. I did like him, and I sent him to Hell.”
“He planned to kill us, Dacia.” The vein in his neck bulged, and his lip curled up.
“I know.” I stared at my hands. He had every right to be mad at me, but I couldn’t help the way I felt. “Why do you stay? All I do is hurt you.”
“Parta me gets it. Had friends with bad intentions. Was okay when they kept it from me.” He leaned back, looking anywhere but at me. “Parta me wonders if he has a hold on you still.” He let out a deep breath. “Every time you grieve for him, it cuts deep.”
My head dropped further, and tears spilled over, blurring my vision. “I’m trying, Cody. I really am.” A tear dripped off the tip of my nose. “She caught me off guard.”
“Falcon Lake?”
“Really?” I snorted. “With Cash?”
He scooted to the edge of the chair. “No. You promised. Remember?”
He was serious. I could see it in his face. I remembered telling him that no matter what monster I was facing, we needed to make sure to make time for ourselves. We needed that time away to recharge. “Give me your hand.” As soon as his fingers grazed mine, I teleported us to the trees surrounding the lake.
The half-moon brightened the night sky but not enough to cover the stars. Millions of them lit up the heavens. Their tiny flickering lights eased the knot of tension between my shoulder blades.
I slid my arm around Cody’s waist. “The dragons will be pissed when they find out about this.”
“If.”
A smile lifted my lips. “Yeah … if.”
We walked hand in hand to the water’s edge. It gently lapped against the rocky shore. The smell of moss and pine helped relax me further.
I slid my hand out of Cody’s and into his back pocket. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He stopped walking and looked down at me.
Waving my arm at the mountains and lake, I said, “For this. For thinking of getting away.”
The breeze blew my hair across my face, and Cody brushed it back, letting his hand linger, gently caressing my cheek with his thumb. His eyes sparkled even in the darkness.
Lifting onto my toes, I wrapped my arms around his neck and swept my lips over his. One of his hands slid around my waist. The other twined through my hair. He pressed his mouth down on mine.
