I ran toward him, but only got about three steps before Kai pulled on the back of my dress. “I wouldn’t advise it,” he warned.
“It’s Bethany, you dolt,” I said, twisting around in his grasp. “She did this.”
His grip tightened. “She only amped up what was already there.”
“So he has a crush on me? So what?”
Kai let go of me and spun me to face him. “You were going after him. I’ve told you before, Sophie, don’t play jealousy games with me.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Don’t you dare pull that caveman act on me. I’m not going to be ordered around or dictated who my friends are. And Anil is my friend.”
Which oddly enough, had become true.
Light started to spark from Kai’s fingers. His eyes went totally black.
This was way over the top on the overreacting scale. Had Bethany done something to him, too?
No. Aphrodite’s arrow. He looked as crazed as I had felt when I wanted to kill Artemis.
Talking wouldn’t help. I rose up on my tiptoes and kissed him. Hard.
I didn’t know if it would actually work, but what a great test.
“Better?” I asked. Kai’s eyes had returned to their regular brown, which was good.
He stared at me, clearly unimpressed. “I’m rethinking the ‘no deicide’ rule. Aphrodite and Jack are really pissing me the hell off.”
“Good. I’ll help. Meantime, I have to check on Anil. Can I do that without you killing him?” I brushed the dirt off my dress.
His jaw clenched but he nodded.
I patted his cheek. “Back in a sec, my Prince of Darkness. Better still, go scout. Find Bethany and/or the crown.” I headed across the grass to Anil.
“Are you all right?” I asked him as he got to his feet.
He laughed. “Nothing a little duct tape won’t cure. I’m a wrestler. This ain’t no thang. Like one time—”
I held up a hand. “Don’t share.”
Before I could come up with some lame explanation for Kai’s actions, Anil took a step toward me, hands outstretched. “You look amazing.”
I took a step back. “Are you going to grab me again? Because I’ll fling you off myself.”
He laughed.
O-kay. If he wasn’t even curious about how Kai had managed to fire him across a lawn, it was probably safe to assume he wasn’t thinking clearly. “Do you want to go find Bethany?”
Anil frowned. “Why would I want to do that?”
Was I wrong? “Why indeed? Can you do me a favor?”
He looked a bit too eager. I felt bad.
“Go hang out somewhere quiet for the next hour? Please. And don’t ask me why.” I wanted him safely out of range of whatever might go down. Hope Park was supposed to be a safe haven. I had a terrible feeling that Kai throwing Anil might be the least of the harm my classmates would experience if I didn’t successfully complete this challenge and stop Bethany and Jack. Neither of them cared who they hurt in their quest to get what they wanted.
Anil took my hand. “What do I get in return, Bloom?”
I glanced over my shoulder nervously to make sure Kai wasn’t there, but he’d left. “My undying gratitude?”
“Not enough.”
A sudden noise made me pivot. More classmates. They swarmed us, picked me up, and began to carry me away, Anil still holding my hand and keeping pace. “Hey!”
Anil single-mindedly ignored my protests. “A date. With me.”
“You do see I’m being carted away, yes?” I slapped away the hands that were pawing at my dress.
“Yeah. To our date.”
Was this a spell? Or was Anil finally snapping into stalker mode?
The mob entered the school on the dorm side and jogged up the stairs. My head bobbed furiously, since these kids didn’t have a smooth system for toting hostages.
“Anil, listen to me. Forget anything Bethany has told you. Remember? ‘Doggy Style’ ain’t your thing?”
“B ain’t so bad. She set me straight on how you feel. I feel the same way. Tonight is about you and me, babe.”
And twenty-five onlookers. Bethany was such a bitch. She’d been able to manipulate Anil because he wanted it to be true. And while he maybe shouldn’t have believed her, it wasn’t his fault for wishing otherwise.
I felt terrible that my desire for friendly flirting had also played a part in this. I vowed to get out of it with the least possible damage to Anil. Physical and emotional.
I tried to raise my head and see where we were going since all the ceiling tiles looked alike, but one of the minions yanked my hair down, restricting my view. “How about a raincheck?”
“Nope,” he said cheerfully. “It’s now or never.”
Given the circumstances, I was willing to bet that “never” meant “do it or you die.”
“In here.” He led the students into his dorm room and motioned for them to set me down.
My first thought was that Anil was startlingly neat. My second was that I was in his room with the way out guarded by nine students and Anil was lighting a Santa-shaped candle in a misguided attempt to set the mood.
No wonder I’d never seen him with a girlfriend. One day, he and I were going to have a little talk about what girls really wanted, but until then …
I rushed the door.
The minions surged forward and threw me back toward the bed. I cracked my head on his wall.
Good thing I tended to heal fast because I’d been bruised far too much today.
“Not there.” Anil led me to his desk chair. “Sit.”
I crossed my arms.
He hit me with a killer smile, that combined with how well he filled out his suit, in any other circumstance (and without Kai’s existence), would have made me crush on him. “I dig the stubborn, girl. But I know your weakness.”
If he knew Kai was my weakness, why taunt me with him?
From outside his window, lightning snapped furiously as booms of thunder shook the grounds. I squinted into the dark hoping for a glimpse of Theo or Festos but all I could see were the evil fireworks.
Anil snapped his fingers. The door opened wide enough for a plate with a piping hot pizza to be passed through. He set it in front of me with a flourish.
“Dinner is served. And afterward,” he motioned at his laptop, “I have a most excellent selection of flicks for your viewing pleasure.”
Oh, the irony. I’d bitched to Aphrodite about a proper date with dinner and a movie, and lo and behold, here it was.
After a fashion. Except wrong time and definitely wrong guy.
I stood to leave.
“Anil. Let me out or I’ll hogtie your butt and stuff it in your closet.”
He chucked me under the chin. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”
That did it. I quickly calculated the number of bodies versus the square footage of the room, realized I had no clue what any of that meant, and opted for wrapping the door guards up in my vine and sweeping them out of the way so I could get out of there.
I tore only a smallish hole in the wall between Anil’s room and his neighbor’s as I flung them through. Success.
Anil didn’t seem to care that I’d just slingshot kids through a wall. “You can’t leave,” he said, blocking me with his body.
Fine. If Kai could channel scary god voice, so could I.
I stared into Anil’s eyes. “Let. Me. Through.”
Remarkably, it worked. He moved.
But only to step in closer. Anil gazed at me, obviously turned on, and said, “You are so hot.” Then he kissed me.
The ground rocked.
Not from the kiss.
I opted for a simple yet effective move and kneed Anil as hard as I could in the groin. He dropped to the floor like a stone.
Outside, I saw flames shooting from the ground up toward the sky. Guess Festos was getting all God of Fire on their asses. Good. I hope it hurt.
As I turned to leave, I paused on Anil. His lo
ok of agony coupled with confusion led me to believe that, now he really was free of the compulsion. Was pain the key to overriding Bethany’s hold? And if so, how could I possibly wield pain without actually hurting any of the students?
I wanted to explain my actions to Anil, but there was no time. “Long story. Just stay here, okay?”
“Not going anywhere,” he ground out painfully, still curled in the fetal position on the floor.
“Good boy.” I paused and knelt down beside him. “I’m sorry I gave you the wrong impression about us.”
Anil grinned. “No worries, Bloom. I never wanted you long-term anyway.” I found his candor shocking, disgusting, and hilarious.
I snagged a piece of pizza. No point letting it go to waste.
“Soph?”
I glanced down at him. “Yeah?”
Anil’s expression turned serious. “I don’t get everything going on around here. Be careful.”
I glanced out the window again but all was silent and dark. I prayed that the wards had held and the minions were gone.
I squatted down and patted Anil’s shoulder. “You too.” Then I stepped over his body, raced into the hallway and headed to the door that connected the guys’ and girls’ dorms, managing to down the slice of pizza in three bites on my way.
Festos was right. I did have that “raised by wolves” thing going on. I made a vow that if I saved the world and survived, I would totally work on my table manners.
The door between the sides was usually left open. Or at least unlocked, despite school rules to the contrary. Not this time.
I heard a couple of students approaching so I opted not to blast the door off its hinges. I raced down the stairs, intending to go around to the staircase to the girls’ side of the dorm, so I could get back up to Bethany’s room.
But the smell of fire made me detour and run full out toward the cafeteria. Were the Gold Crushers and Infernorators burning us out?
I flung the caf door open, panting, my hand on the cramp in my side. I skidded to a stop at the sight of a bonfire, ringed by about ten students, Theo and Festos. In a camp setting, it would have been cheerful. In my school, it was trouble.
The students waved various pointy utensils, grunting and gesturing menacingly at my friends.
On the plus side, human foes not supernatural ones. On the minus side, magically compelled kids and fire. On the scale of potential disasters, still pretty minor. “How villagers pitchforking.”
“That’s nothing like smoking them out,” Theo snapped at Festos. They were both grimy, sooty and sweaty. Theo had lost his jacket and Festos’ left sleeve was torn and scorched.
“Where do you think the smoke comes from?” Festos asked. “Fire.”
Theo gestured to a couple of the students who’d been stuck with wooden spoons, now lighting them like torches. “Which you’ve now armed them with. Great job.”
I gave a sharp whistle. Or rather, more of a sputter because I totally couldn’t do those kinds of whistles. “Put it out, you idiots. Someone is going to get hurt.”
As if I’d cued it, one of the kids at the back tripped, sending everyone cascading like dominoes into the fire. Spoons skittered along the wooden floor, which went up in a blaze.
Dust is highly flammable.
So are students.
Coughing, my eyes watering, I blasted the sprinkler system.
Water rained down on us.
No more flames, just sooty puddles, burned out boards, and soggy kids.
The sprinklers shut off automatically.
I smacked Festos. “How are we supposed to explain this?”
“That’s your problem. You’re the one who hosed us.”
I wrung out my hair. “Because the students were on fire.” Happily, the water pretty much rolled off the netting on my dress. Yay, synthetics. But the boys were damp.
As were my flats. I did a little shuffle, trying to find somewhere dry to stand.
Festos rolled his eyes. “Please. They’re fine. They used a little stop, drop, and roll to smother the flames. The real tragedy is my suit.”
Save me from these Gods and their infuriating egos. “It was an inferno.”
“The school and the students need to stay intact,” Theo said. “Not a challenging concept.”
“It’s not like you’re really a student here,” Festos protested.
“That’s irrelevant,” Theo said. “This place burns down and my wards for Sophie are useless.”
“And if Doucette thinks I had anything to do with all this stuff, I’ll be booted out for sure,” I said. “We need to get out of here.” I strode quickly toward the outside door. I didn’t want to be seen exiting by anyone in the school hallway. I had no intention of being the prime arson suspect.
“Now focus, we have to win the crown before Bethany catches up with us. And we have less than two hours.” I explained about the new meeting time as I flung the door open and we stepped outside.
Back into the cold, which was extra freezing now that we were also wet.
Theo peered at my face. “Are you bleeding?”
As his finger came out to touch the spot, I realized it was probably just pizza sauce from my recent scarfage. I quickly wiped it away before he could find me out. “Just a little nick. Don’t worry about it. First things first. Find Bethany. You try the gym. I’ll check upstairs in case she decided to do some primping before her grand coronation.”
“You going to make her an offer she can’t refuse?” Festos asked.
“You could just lock her in the bathroom again,” Theo reminded me.
I shuddered. Playing that prank on Bethany at the last dance we’d had had gotten me into this mess.
If I hadn’t fed her laxatives and locked her up before taking her place at a rendezvous with Kai … well, the universe had paid me back for that trick in spades. “Definitely not.”
I smiled cruelly. “There’s only one way for me to have a fighting chance. The tattoo has to go.”
“Uh, Magoo,” Theo pointed out, “Pretty sure that won’t help your case at the meeting. Bethany will definitely rat you out.”
“Do I have to blast it off?” I asked. “Or could I just damage the tattoo enough so it no longer works?”
Festos and Theo exchanged a look. “That could work,” Festos said. “But make sure you slash or scar through the entire thing. That should render it neutral.”
Finally getting to hurt Bethany.
Who knew this would be the best dance ever?
Eighteen
I glanced at Theo as the three of us ran through the school. “So the father thing?”
“Yeah?” Theo replied, trying to brush soot from his sleeves as he ran.
“How did that work exactly? You actually put your love stick inside a lady pocket?”
“Shaken not stirred,” he said blandly. “I wanted a kid.”
“The miracle of turkey basting,” Festos called out from behind us, his cane thumping with each step.
“Liking you a little less right now,” Theo replied.
We split up in the front foyer. Theo and Festos went to scout out the gym and lower hallways, while I headed upstairs. We agreed to meet back in fifteen minutes.
Personally, I hoped that I’d have already dealt with Bethany by then.
It wasn’t too hard to avoid the roaming packs looking for me. Without Bethany’s direct guidance, they were pretty unfocused and hey, there was still a dance to attend.
I made it up to Bethany’s room in minutes, and flung open her door.
Bethany laid on her bed in a sultry pose. Except the effect was ruined by her weird twitchy faces.
Kai pushed away from his lean on her desk and grinned at me. “I got you a present.” He motioned toward Bethany.
“Aw, that’s so sweet. Does she come with a gift receipt?”
“Nope. Non-refundable.”
I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t moving or insulting me or something. Carefully, I sidled over t
o the bed and poked her. She just made more twitchy faces.
“Whatever did you do?” I asked in fascination.
“Used a little compulsion of my own,” he said.
I frowned. “But your powers make people want to kill themselves. This doesn’t look like a suicide attempt. More like she’s malfunctioning.”
“Yeah, well, she is. My force of self-loathing is warring with her heightened sense of self and ego. She’s stuck in a loop unable to actually do anything.”
We both startled as she twitched especially violently.
I clapped my hands in delight. “I love this present.”
“Thought you would,” he said smugly. “Now you can go win the crown.”
“Yeah. But first there’s something I have to do.” I pulled Kai over so he stood directly in Bethany’s eye-line and kissed him with everything I had.
“Evil,” he laughed, and kissed me back.
The arrow lust threatened to explode between us. Only my thoughts of Hannah were enough to stop me.
“We’re good,” I said lightly, noting that Bethany was in full-on spastic mode.
“For now,” Kai said.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Bethany. “He said ‘for now.’ That means more kissing later,” I explained helpfully.
Her right leg spasmed.
“I am so happy right now,” I sighed. “There’s just one last thing to make this perfect.”
I sat down on the edge of her bed. “This is probably going to hurt,” I said. “You know, psychologically.” I placed my hand over her tattoo and sent out a quick pulse of green light.
Bethany jerked but couldn’t attack me, still stuck in her loop.
“Whatever have you done?” Kai sidled up beside me, sounding intrigued.
“What I had to.” I moved my hand away to check the damage. Sure enough, the tiny bit of light I’d shot at it had been enough to wreck the tattoo.
“Interesting,” Kai said.
I glanced up at him and could have sworn he was looking at me with respect. O-kay. “Let’s see if it worked. If my stupid classmates can choose for themselves again.”
As we headed to the door, I spared a glance back at Bethany, who thrashed violently on the bed. “Is she going to hurt herself?”
Kai paused, his hand on the doorknob. “Do you care?”
My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy Book Two) Page 24
