Fortune Academy: Year Three - J.R. Thorn Page 0,40
thralls in tow.
I gave Olivia a raised brow. “Ollie?”
She sighed and pushed me out the door. “I’ll explain once we’re alone,” she whispered.
“And give me a hug,” I added.
She smirked. “You bet.”
“I got this,” Olivia called after Melinda when the muse turned around and shielded her eyes against the light to check on our progress. “You go on ahead!”
I glanced up at the sky. As usual, there wasn’t any sun to speak of, but the atmosphere warmed with a red glow as if in perpetual sunrise. “How close to Hell are we?” I asked my Hunter.
“Close enough that we’re past the surface layer. This heat says Fortune Academy’s realms have progressed further in. That’s not a good sign. Whatever Calamity is up to, it’s trying to merge with Hell.”
“Does that mean our plan won’t work?” I asked.
He hefted the angelstone and it sparkled as he gave it to me. “I think it knows what we’re up to and it’s trying to take over Hell before we trap it.”
Sighing, I took the stone, then thought better of it. “You should hold onto this.”
Dante gave me a raised brow. “You sure?”
I nodded before handing it back. “Yeah. I don’t know what the Dean might try and that stone is our only shot at defeating her. It belongs with someone I trust.”
Dante’s features remained stoic, but I spotted the twitch of his jaw. It meant a lot to him that I would trust him with something so important.
“What the hell have you guys gone through?” Olivia asked, making me chuckle.
“Forget us!” I yelled before wrapping my arm around her neck, pulling her in for a hug. “What about you? I thought I’d lost you.”
“Yeah. I’m okay, Lils. But seriously, when I saw you fall into a fiery pit in the ground, I lost my shit.” She chuckled as she pulled away. “It’s how I tapped into my powers, actually. It hurt, you know? Seeing you disappear like that. The pain and regret on your face that you had to leave me behind even though you didn’t have a choice.”
“I didn’t want to,” I insisted as I grabbed her hands. “I shouldn’t have left. Not without you.”
“No,” she said, her voice stern. “They would have killed me and everyone else. You made the right choice.”
I bit the inside of my lip because no matter her logic, I didn’t believe her. Leaving Olivia behind was one more sin to add to the pile of unforgivable acts that said why I deserved to go to Hell.
Or go back to Hell, anyway.
“So what happened?” I asked.
She smiled and tugged me along. My Virtues followed, protective and a step behind as we walked onward. Melinda and a few of her thralls had gone on ahead. They surrounded her like some zombie escort service, but she seemed happy. Too happy to be the Melinda I remembered.
“I don’t know, exactly,” Olivia admitted as she squeezed my hand. “I just felt all of this pain and I was terrified. Then something inside of me escaped and it went out in a shockwave. It took everyone’s memories with it. The Dean didn’t know who I was and when she saw I was a Light Mage, she thought I was here to help, and I’ve been more or less in charge ever since.”
“You’re in charge now?” Hendrik asked.
“Don’t sound so bitter about it,” I chided. “You’ve always underestimated Olivia.”
My best friend glared at my mate. “Why did you keep him alive, anyway? You could have let him burn down there.”
Hendrik’s dark eyes danced with warning. “Come here and say that to my face, you—”
“Hendrik,” I warned, and he fell silent.
“We’re her Virtues,” Orion said, his tone patient. “We’ve all been through Hell and back, literally, and I promise you that we’ll protect her with our life.”
Olivia gave the demigod a raised brow. “Interesting.” She nudged me. “What’s a Virtue?”
Right. Guess I had some explaining to do in the whole savior-of-the-world department.
The rest of the walk to the freshman dorms—or what had once been the freshman dorms—consisted of me filling in my bestie about me being the Champion of the Third Echo of Calamity and how I had called all my Virtues to assist me in the fight. She laughed when I told her that the Dean was the Conduit of evil and chaos we planned on trapping in Hell once I found Cole and awakened the full potential of my powers.
“Damn, and I thought I had it rough keeping the Academy in one