by Holly Hook
Maria grabbed my arms. "Breathe. We'll figure it out."
"Only we haven't," I said.
"I bet Wendy had a hand in this. Or the Lower Order found out from someone that you used to live out here. They were asking about you, and if anyone dug up dirt, it was her."
She'd been fighting them, too, so I wasn't sure about that. But Wendy was the best lead we had.
I silently thanked her for thinking for me. I didn't know what I'd do without Maria or Mikey.
And Ronin.
Inside the store, muffled shouts followed. He was letting Randy have it. I felt a bit sorry for Randy because I knew how it felt to be stuck. And now Randy would never escape. A god descendant all along, but not good enough to attend either academy.
But he'd made his choice and that sent a tingle of satisfaction across my skin.
We stayed silent and circled back around to the front as we tried to listen, but the door opened, and Randy flew out, stumbling. More like he was tossed out. Ronin was awesome.
"Don't come near her again. Go back to your lawns," Ronin shouted.
Randy glanced at me once, cheeks red, before he turned away and stalked back towards town. The four of us watched him go.
And once he was gone, Ronin turned the corner, joining us and pumping his biceps at the same time. He grinned. "No one messes with the Roninator."
"That's your nickname now?" My heart raced at the sight of him. He was impossibly hot.
"As the son of Zeus, I might as well own it. Randy is never going to bother any of you again."
"Did you get any information out of him?" I asked.
"Randy really doesn't know what Achlys was thinking. Looks like he was just her pawn," Ronin said. "If I thought he knew something, I would have given him another black eye to match the first. Has he always been that way to you?"
I had to catch Carmen up on more than just the happenings back at Cursed Academy, then. "Then we don't know who tried to do this to me."
Maria pinched me on the arm. "We can always find out."
She sounded so confident that she got my panic down. I breathed out as my heart slowed.
"Okay. You guys have to catch me up on all this," Carmen said. "What was up with Randy?"
"We will," I told her. "But I want to talk to Ronin in private for a bit, if that's okay."
She grinned. I read everything I needed to in her eyes. And I still had to tell her about the stuffed unicorn picture.
Ronin and I walked some distance behind the store, where no one ever walked, and we trudged through high weeds that had never been mowed, not even by Randy.
"Nice place," Ronin said. "Giselle, believe me. I tried to get answers."
"I believe you. Ronin, what's going to happen when we get back? We have to figure out who staged this."
"Agree," he said. "One hundred percent agree. I should have done more in there, but I couldn't. It was horrible. She just brought out everything, you know?"
He was apologizing. And Ronin's despair went right down into the Underworld.
"Don't apologize. Achlys was doing a number on everyone," I said. "And you got me to use my powers. I destroyed a goddess. No wonder the Lower Order wants me."
Ronin lifted an eyebrow at me as we walked. "And if you forget everything, you'd be easy for them to control. Yeah. You need to train more."
"You're still saying I suck." The old Ronin was back, but I didn't mind. Not one bit.
"Well, yeah. You could have destroyed misery much faster than you did." He winked, making me dizzy. "Look, we need to get you completely over at Olympian. But you still have Prometheus's mark, and we can't let whatever he's doing put a lid on what you learn to do. I bet he's using you to get more funding for Cursed."
"But how will we do that?" I asked. "And I don't want to leave Maria and Mikey." But Olympian called. I was supposed to be there. I knew it.
"We won't just ditch them," Ronin said. "And they won't want you to get caught by the Lower Order, either. Your mark's going to be an issue, though."
I held up my arm. My sleeve fell back, revealing the shining green hand holding the flame. "Is there any way to remove this?"
"That's what I'm determined to find out. Giselle, don't give up. There has to be a way. And we have great people helping us." Ronin took my wrist, gently, and lowered it to make room for another kiss.
His lips filled me with electricity and life. This time, with no danger looming, we embraced, and I pressed against Ronin's chest, which seemed perfectly chiseled to fit me. And somewhere behind us, Carmen gasped and whooped.
END OF YEAR ONE
Thanks for reading Cursed Academy, Year One! I always found Greek mythology fascinating - there’s so much to work with. I’m currently working on Cursed Academy, Year One and a Half, which I expect to come out in July, so stay tuned! You can follow me on Amazon to know when it releases!
And if you love paranormal romance and vampires, be sure to check out my other current series, too!
Vampires. A forbidden romance. And a war that could tear the two of them apart.
Nightside is a YA paranormal romance and the first book of the Forgotten Vampires series. Preorder today! Releases June 15, 2019.
You can find it by tapping HERE for US, HERE for UK, HERE for CA, and HERE for AU.
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--Holly Hook
Holly Hook is the author of several Young Adult fantasy, science fiction, fairytale, post-apocalyptic and adventure series. She has been writing since very young and publishing her work since September of 2010.
