Roland almost choked on his eggs. “You’ve been talking non-stop about the games for weeks.”
“That was before I found out our friend is going to die in them.”
“Thanks,” I said.
She zipped her lip. I was feeling slightly buoyed this morning. It turned out all of my friends had signed up for Magical Artefacts. It was nice to be able to go to class knowing I wouldn’t have to fend for myself against a bunch of supernatural jerks. I didn’t question anything at all until Sasha moved ahead of our group a few paces. Roland and Trey branched off, one on each side of me, and Diana dropped behind.
“What are you guys doing?” I asked. Sophie linked her arm in mine.
I tried to stare past Sasha, but he was too tall.
“Hey, guys,” Isla said. She oh so casually walked past with the Evil Three. They had become friends since the semester began.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
We approached the big golden doors at the entrance to Pantheon Academy. Students from all three Academies were mingling in the commons.
Sasha turned around and Sophie nodded at him. He pushed open the doors. “Seriously, what’s up with you guys?”
My foot hit the top step. I walked through the doors and came to a dead stop. Sophie’s arm grew tight around me. “Keep walking,” she said. I didn’t move. I was too busy starting at the picture of myself. At least it had been a picture of me. It was an image of my face blown up and pinned to the notice board just inside the entrance. It was about the size of a poster. Beside my portrait was one of Chanelle. While she looked effortlessly graceful in hers, someone had gone over mine in red paint. They’d filled my eyes in and drawn devil horns on me.
I could feel the steam coming out of my ears. Trey stopped me when I stepped forward. “Don’t bother,” he said. “They put up a new one every time someone rips it down.” There was a scoreboard next to the poster not unlike the ones Bloodline Academy used to tally their House points. In this one, Chanelle’s score was at least ten times mine.
When I could finally find my voice, I glanced at Sophie. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her expression turned soft. “We didn’t want to upset you unnecessarily.”
“It’s bloody pathetic,” Harlow spat.
“Come on,” Sasha said. “Class is this way.”
For a second, I considered backing around and running away. And then my focus landed on the demon version of me. For a fraction of a second, the self-control I’d exerted over myself cracked. The Ley dimension threatened to take hold of me, but I beat it back. It was beginning to become a security blanket. The last thing I needed at the moment was to feel secure. All of this was going on under my nose and I hadn’t even known it. If they wanted to see a demon, I would give it to them.
Sophie noticed me bristling. She rubbed her hands up and down my arms. “Don’t let them get to you,” she said. “They’re just scared because it’s so bloody obvious Kai chose you over Chanelle.”
“Yeah, and you’re going to wipe the floor with her in the games,” Diana said.
I stamped my foot. “Five minutes ago, you said I was going to die!”
“Yeah, but you’ll at least outlive her!”
I couldn’t help laughing. A part of me had accepted long ago that I would never be Miss Popularity. I would certainly never be Miss Congeniality. But I sure as heck could be Miss Never Take Shit Lying Down.
So I let my friends lead me to the classroom. We were early and managed to get seats next to each other. Actually, I got a seat in the centre with the rest of them fanned out around me. I sat behind Sasha, feeling grateful at the moment for the few friends who cared enough about me to choose a subject they weren’t interested in at all.
That much became apparent when Trey lay his head on the table and closed his eyes. He didn’t open them when the professor arrived. I had to dig my nails into my palms to stop myself from groaning aloud. She was the wide-faced Nephilim who had been there in the Council chambers with Tiberius. I seriously couldn’t catch a break.
“Good morning,” she said. “My name is Professor Avery. I’m so glad to see so many new faces interested in this topic.” She glared pointedly at Trey when she said this. He did his best to pretend he didn’t hear.
“We will be covering a large sweep of artefacts this semester,” the professor continued when she couldn’t get a rise out of Trey. Someone at the front of the class put their hand up.
“Yes, Melissa?”
“Professor,” Melissa, a solid-looking girl said, “could we please start with angelic artefacts?” There was a soft murmur of laughter. I didn’t see what was so funny at first. It wasn’t until the professor made us open our textbooks to the chapter on angelic artefacts that I understood why Melissa had wanted to start here. The page I stared at was all about Lucifer’s angel blade. Several of the students snuck glances at me. They were met with the disapproving glares of my friends.
“Let’s start with the weapon of the devil,” Professor Avery said. “Who can tell me why it is considered an artefact?”
Half the hands in the class shot up. Professor Avery pointed to a redhead in the front row. “It is so because when the seraphim captured Lucifer, they dismantled his angel blade and hid the pieces in separate places all around the dimension,” the girl said. “In this way it will be impossible for him to find it should he ever escape.”
The professor nodded. “Very good. The weapon of the Morning Star is perhaps the most dangerous of all the weapons. The Nephilim who hid the pieces then sacrificed their lives. Thus, there are no records of the location
