“I shouldn’t bother to ask who your money is on, should I?” He suddenly thought something up in the tree branches was really interesting.
“What’s that, Eugenia?” He walked off in the direction of the portal.
Bloody bastard. He had bet on Kai for sure.
I took a huge breath as the portal opened. Seal or not, I was gripping Morning Star when I stepped through. There was no flash of anything. Phew.
The sound of the crowd on the other side of the portal was almost too much after the backwater rowdiness of Ravenhall.
We stood at the end of a long line of spectators.
“What the hell is this?” I gritted out. I’d seen some of the crowds from previous games, but they had never been this packed. The stadium had been amplified by a factor or ten.
“The Academies need additional funding to rebuild some of the damage to their grounds,” Basil told me. He stood in front of me with Matilda on my left and Giselle on my right. They blocked my field of vision and obscured me from anybody else at the same time.
“Oh. I didn’t even know the Academies had to fund raise.”
“Did you think our money just grows on trees?” Eugenia asked.
I thought about it for a second. “Well…yeah.”
“Currency is currency in any dimension.”
I snorted. “What about in those utopian graphic novels I saw in the bookstore?” Eugenia actually poked her tongue out at me. Basil cleared his throat. She grinned. He’d given her such an ear bashing after he’d dragged me out of the store. She was the one who’d taken me there in the first place as part of a “getting over Malachi Pendragon” day.
My palms turned sweaty. I’d managed to avoid as much talk and all pressure to see him for over a month. The pain in my chest when I thought of him was still very much an open wound. While I was away, I could pretend I was okay. The thought of seeing him today had me feeling untethered.
“We’re never going to get to our seats at this rate,” I said. “Where are we sitting again?”
Matilda pointed in the opposite direction to where most of the spectators were being directed. The stadium was set up much like the amphitheatre that intersected the Academies. There would only be spectators here for the opening ceremony and the third day when the games turned into a gladiator bout. The rest of the time, it was much better viewing from the comfort on your own mirror. Or so I had been told by Basil.
The crowd in front of us finally dispersed. I came face to face with a stadium bursting at the seams with supernaturals. The portals opened up at the top of the stadium. It meant we would have to walk all the way down the steps in order to get to our seats.
We were here in our capacity as guests of the Human League. Since the Supernatural Council was still trying to schmooze the League, our seats were almost front row.
I considered hiding behind Basil until we got there. When he started moving forward, I straightened my back and strode behind him.
I had been stared at a lot over the past couple of years, but the sheer volume of people made me nervous. Somebody screamed my name. I recognised the sound of Cassie’s voice and turned to find her, Charles, and Luther waving at me from their seats. All of the Academy students had been given permission to attend. It was one of the perks of attending the Academies in the first place.
I waved back but kept going. My goal was to make it to my seat without an incident. I was sticking to it come hell or high water.
The lesson here was never to make your plans known to the universe. Especially if it was prone to kicking you in the face when you were down.
Basil stopped abruptly. I walked right into the back of him. I lost my footing because I was halfway in between taking a step. Matilda reached out to steady me. I swayed to the side. For the first time I could see something in front of me besides Basil’s back. So what if it happened to be Kai standing directly in our way? So what if Chanelle stood next to him? So what if his arm was looped around her shoulders?
They were both dressed for physical activity. Kai was in Bloodline’s navy-blue sweatpants and burgundy T-shirt with the logo embossed on the shoulder. Chanelle wore a pair of khaki cargo pants. Her tan blouse had a V neck that showed off an emerald necklace. It wasn’t Kai’s mother’s necklace, but it might as well have been.
Kai’s gaze brushed over me but didn’t linger. I felt like I’d just been slapped. It wasn’t the end of the world, I told myself. My heart wasn’t suddenly feeling like someone had ripped it out of my chest. My vision was not clouded in a red haze.
Matilda let go of my arm. I was suddenly as well-balanced as a trapeze artist. I would thank her later for not treating me like a lovesick puppy. Because right now if anyone so much as breathed comforting words in my direction, I would have a nervous breakdown.
I pressed the tip of my boots against the heel of Basil’s shoes. He started walking again. I followed leisurely behind. Just as we were about to sail past them, I caught sight of the person Kai was speaking to.
Evan sat in the aisle seat. His complexion was so pale I swear I could almost see through him. Though all his physical injuries looked to have healed, he seemed fragile. My pulse raced in my ear. He caught me staring and smiled at me.
My feet stopped moving. Though Giselle was partly in the way and the happy couple was definitely not moving, I approached him. Everything else fell away.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
When he opened his
