Deviant Descendants (Descendants Academy #2) - Belle Malory Page 0,57

city. We walked uphill through the trees until I was nearly out of breath and my leg muscles were burning. I didn’t complain though, too grateful for the exercise. Being outdoors, breathing the fresh air, and feeling the strange hazy sunlight warm my skin was enough to keep me going for miles.

We stopped at a small clearing. I hadn’t seen much of the Underworld, but this was the greenest, sunniest place I’d come across so far.

“Amazing,” Riley said, her mouth curving into a wide smile. “A hidden paradise in the middle of hell.”

Grey hid his smile. “Glad you like it.”

“It’s wonderful,” she insisted. “Thank you.”

Damn. I’d never seen Riley be this grateful for anything.

“Can I practice my archery?” I said, spotting a tree with a wide trunk.

Grey nodded. “Do whatever you want. We’ll stay an hour.”

I spent the entire hour shooting arrows while Riley went for a walk. By the end of the hour, my entire body was sore in the best way. We had both needed this, the fresh air and exercise. It lifted our spirits.

This same routine continued on for the next several weeks. Grey brought us to the clearing for exactly one hour to do whatever we wanted. I always practiced my archery, getting a little better every week. Riley decided she needed to practice with a weapon too, and so, she convinced Grey to fence with her. The two of them usually spent the hour fencing with dull swords while Toad stayed on lookout-duty, keeping watch at the bottom of the hill. Riley was competitive; but good thing for Grey, he had more skill than I did with a sword. That hour was always something we had to look forward to, something that helped the week pass a little quicker.

As time went on, I picked up on something I hadn’t expected—Grey had magic. The strangest part was, it didn’t feel dark. Curious, scholarly, and fueled by nature, his magic wasn’t something he used often, hidden just beneath the surface. When Riley and I were alone in the apartment again, I told her about it.

“I’ve known for a while,” she said, as if it were no cause for alarm. “I think he’s some sort of creature-mage hybrid, if such a thing exists. Like you said before, everyone has their secrets. He doesn’t come off as a threat to me.”

He didn’t come off as one to me either. I’d been quick to judge him when we first arrived in the Underworld, basing my opinion on his appearance and my experience with Ajax, the guard who tried to kill me.

Honestly, Grey wasn’t all that bad. He and Riley were developing a friendship of sorts. She would venture down the stairs to bring him a mug of hot cocoa, and the two of them would talk for a while. He even brought the books Riley requested. When she offered me one, I asked her to read aloud, pretending my eyes bothered me.

“You’ve never had a problem with your vision before,” she said, skeptical.

“Well, things change,” I said with a shrug. “I’m getting older.”

She fell for it.

And for the first time since I discovered bibliomagery, I enjoyed the sweet slowness of reading again. I curled up on my bed, listening along in suspense as Riley’s even voice filled the apartment, each word a new and exciting addition to the story. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate my unique ability, but there was something nice about letting a story unfold naturally. Even better, there was something nice about the time we spent together. I began to grasp the Underworld’s profound ability to transform people. We were surrounded by terrifying creatures, monsters, and all varieties of evil. Darkness enveloped us; and somehow, it brought us closer. Go figure.

29

“Do you think it’s getting any bigger?”

Riley was referring to the crack in the stone tablet. She’d been staring at it for the last fifteen minutes, analyzing the hairline crack with careful precision.

“Possibly.”

It looked the same as it did yesterday, but I didn’t want to squash her hope.

She set it aside, frowning. This had become a ritual for her, checking the tablet every morning, obsessing over whether the crack had grown. But I supposed even obsessive rituals were welcome in a place like this.

“Do you notice how Grey goes missing once a month?” she said, off-handedly, glancing at the door. “He left when the creature tried to break-in, and again last month on the full moon.” Her eyes widened as an idea occurred. “Do you think