Magic Secret (Half-Blood Academy #2) - Meg Xuemei X Page 0,49

care of. I wiped that part of Theodore’s memories,” Paxton said, training his gaze on me. “Your friends also caught a glimpse of your rampaging fire before I sealed the door with ice.”

“You won’t touch Yelena and Nat, ever,” I said, a death threat in my voice. “They’re loyal to me.” I turned to Héctor, twirling his dark hair around my fingers. Speaking of friends, I needed to see my old coven. I would plead and beg if I had to.

“Héctor,” I said, gazing up at him through my lashes.

“You don’t need to bat your eyes at me, lamb,” he said. “Anything you want, ask and you’ll have it.”

“Axel separated my former team from me when he dragged me to the Academy,” I said, stealing a quick glance at the war demigod as he puffed out a resigned sigh. “He put them in the Other Academy, as one of them is a shifter and the other a witch. They are like my family, and I haven’t seen them for a long time. The Academy has a rule—”

“Consider it done,” Axel said, wiping his hand across his face. “You’ll never let me live down that I brought you here, will you, Cookie? We’ll make tomorrow a mingling day between the two Academies. You’ll see your shifter and witch friends at dinner in the Hall of Bridgewater.”

CHAPTER 13

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The name fit. The Hall of Bridgewater was situated on the center of a bridge. Part of the dining hall looked like it was floating in the air. The river beneath separated the main campus from the second campus that belonged to the Other Academy.

I strode into the dining hall, my heart exuberant at the prospect of seeing Jasper and Circe after our weeks of separation.

Yelena and Nat flanked me. They were my squad now. They’d seen me use the rainbow fire to blast open Paxton’s icebox. They’d seen it chase Paxton out the window.

They’d asked me about it and at my warning, had promised to seal their lips. The demigods had promised not to touch my friends and not to tamper with their memories as they’d done to their priest.

I scoured the hall, which bustled with life and noise, looking for Circe and Jasper.

The canteen was larger than a stadium with hundreds of tables. Most seats were taken. We weren’t among the first wave that had arrived here. None of us had been to this bridge before, so we’d made a few accidental detours en route.

I hoped there would be enough food for us, but my worry eased when I spotted that diligent servers kept refilling the food trays on the counters.

My stomach grumbled at the smell of delicious meat.

“The descendants sit on the west wing,” Nat said. “The other supernaturals stick to their side on the east wing. They don’t mingle. The Olympians think they’re above everyone, and the supernaturals don’t give a fuck about the descendants, though they resent being viewed as second class.”

I turned on my heel toward the east wing.

The Olympian students hushed to silence at my appearance, their conversations fizzling out. All eyes honed in on me.

In less than two weeks, I’d gained a reputation at the Academy. Demetra had my eternal gratitude for telling whoever was willing to listen that I was the demigods’ new whore and that I wouldn’t last. I’d bet all my money she’d give her soul to be their whore.

For her gossipy mouth, I planned to reward her with some fist-punching in the ring one day. Axel had promised to teach me hand-to-hand combat as my personal trainer after Héctor said he didn’t need him anymore in the Manhattan hot zone where they were looking for that ultimate weapon.

Good news was that the demons hadn’t gotten their hands on the Living Flame either. Somehow, the weapon had eluded both species.

Anyway, Demetra wasn’t the only one who’d spread the rumor about me.

Other students, including the third-years, had seen how I’d gone up against the Demigod of Sea. So all of a sudden, I also had this crazy bitch reputation, just like in my old days in Crack.

Some things never change.

My notoriety didn’t hurt me much. No one liked to fuck with crazy, except Demetra and her crew. Most students watched me from a distance, pointed their dense fingers at me when I wasn’t looking, and otherwise evaded me like a plague.

That was fine. At least they didn’t get in my face and didn’t get in my way.

I hadn’t come to the Academy to make friends,