Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)- Meg Xuemei X Page 0,46

anywhere. I won’t let you lose your lunch.”

“Demigod Paxton said no food,” Yelena said. “He didn’t say no water. But if you’re really hungry, I’ll get you a sandwich, no matter the consequences.”

“Nope, pip,” I said. “I’m not hungry at all. But water would be awesome. Our guy Nat can always find loopholes in their rules, and Pigston isn’t too great with logic.” I chuckled at my own joke, took the bottle from Nat, and drained half of the water. Then I grinned at my friends. “Thank you for not abandoning me.”

“You have us,” Nat said. “We’ll watch your back when those bitches come for you.”

For the first time since I’d come to the Academy, I didn’t feel so alone anymore.

I still missed Jasper and Circe dearly. I didn’t know if they fared well in the Other Academy or not, but I bet they couldn’t do any worse than I was.

Rhiannon, a second-year from our dormitory, had mentioned that the next dinner where we ate with the Other Academy students would be in two weeks. She was dating a shifter who attended there, so she was looking forward to mingling with them as well.

“We gotta go,” Yelena said. She never liked to be late for class.

After this morning, I didn’t blame her. Thanks to that distasteful drama caused by the sea demigod, no one would dare test his patience by being late for class.

But shouldn’t that asshole worry more about demons than me? No matter how rotten I was, I couldn’t be worse than a demon, could I?

I hurried toward our combat lessons with Nat and Yelena. Combat sounded awesome. It’d be way more fun than weight training, running laps, and any bullshit about the Olympian whatever’s glory.

At this point, I had loads of pent-up aggression, and I could use the class to legally beat the shit out of one of the clique snobs. Hopefully the teacher would pair me up with Demetra.

I could fight. I’d been a hunter.

We stepped into the training classroom in a low-rise, mauve building, and I noticed from my friends’ wary expressions that I was way more eager than they were. The clique and all the other new initiates were already in the room, standing in front of the instructor, who turned out to be Lieutenant Cameron.

“I didn’t expect that dude,” I murmured to Yelena. “This isn’t funny.”

Marie was in the room as well, checking an assortment of weapons on the walls. It was the first time I’d seen her since the ritual.

I jogged toward her. Now that I’d survived, I needed to know where the Dominions had put my personal property—particularly the weapons they’d stripped from me in Crack. I needed them back.

“Hey, Marie,” I called, smirking at her to warm her up.

She arched a wary eyebrow at me. “You got yourself into trouble again on your first day?”

“Me?” I asked innocently.

“I have ears everywhere, you know.”

“So you say. You’re the assistant instructor?”

“We rotate,” she said, picking up a longsword from the wall and testing its weight.

“Better the devil you know,” I said.

“Which devil?” she asked, then indicated her chin toward the entrance, and my smile sank.

Paxton strode into the room in a black T-shirt that displayed his huge biceps and cut chest. Loose trousers hung low on his hipbones.

Everyone bowed at the sight of the demigod, except me.

Involuntarily, I put a hand on my hip. Did he come to fight or seduce?

I got my answer quickly. All the girls’ faces brightened up, even Yelena’s. She only dimmed her smile when she spotted my sour look.

A demigod had that kind of power over everyone. It reminded me of how Axel had made everyone in the street kneel before him in Crack.

“What the fuck is the swimming boy doing here,” I whispered to Marie while she was still bowing. “He shouldn’t be here, right? Shouldn’t he go fight demons and protect humanity instead of idling around the training hall and harassing poor initiates?”

I had a bad feeling that he’d come for me.

I didn’t want him to be here. I didn’t want him to be anywhere near me.

Marie held back a laugh and whispered back. “Do not talk to me during the training. You’re a bad influence, and I don’t want to go down with you. You might have caught the eye of the Demigod of War, but I’ve got no one to watch my six.”

Paxton had made me a pariah in the Academy.

The assistant instructor sent me a pitiful, pained look. “The demigods have never