“Wait for me after class. I wanna hear about the God Squad,” Steph said.
“God Squad?”
“Yep.”
• • •
The class turned out to be about as tepid as expected, even worse after I checked my schedule. Today was a double. I was stuck in there for almost two hours listening to Mr. Burke talking about the greatest villains of all time. He asked the class to shout out names of history’s most notorious betrayers. I had no idea. I just put my head down and tried to take notes to stop myself from falling asleep.
Juggling school, training, hunting, and now these new Grigori—the “God Squad,” according to Steph, who still couldn’t separate the angel issue from the broader God dilemma—was wreaking havoc on my downtime. It was starting to feel like there just weren’t enough hours in the day. But I was determined to prove to Griffin that I could manage a normal life and school while still doing my job as a Grigori.
The other option, finishing school at the Grigori training center in New York, sounded like a terrible idea. Even if Lincoln could go with me, I wasn’t prepared to leave Steph behind, or my Dad, and, well, school mattered too. All my art classes were here and I would start my scholarship course in four months. I’d worked really hard to get the spot and I had every intention of making the most of it. As far as I could see, the art program at the Academy was lacking to almost nonexistent.
“Any more names?” Mr. Burke yelled out particularly loudly in my direction.
Whoops. I’d been dozing.
I sat up tall. I’d heard some of the names—Marcus Brutus, someone Arnold, Bernie Madoff.
“Violet?” Mr. Burke was standing at my desk. He expected me to answer. Great.
“Um, well…” Blank.
“How about a hint, Ms. Eden. Perhaps if I start you off with…the kiss of…”
“Ah, Judas, sir?” I offered hesitantly, not knowing if the name had already been said.
“Excellent,” he said condescendingly, already walking away and returning his attention to the rest of the class. “Judas is perhaps the greatest betrayer of all time. Death in a kiss—it doesn’t get much worse than that. Anyone else?”
By the time Steph and I emerged from class, my brain was fried. Steph, as usual, looked as if she had been revived for the day.
After she pushed me into the bathroom to fix up my dishevelment, I filled her in on the newbies—who I refused to refer to as the God Squad—while sifting through her cosmetics bag-of-everything.
“The Rudyard guy sounds weird. You should be careful, Vi. Just because they’re Grigori doesn’t give them a free pass down Trustworthy Street.”
I nodded while attempting to comb out a stubborn knot and was once again glad to have Steph on my side. For all her banter, she made solid points and was always in my corner—a true friend. One of the very few.
“Yeah. I guess I’ll find out more this afternoon. I start training after school. You wanna come?”
Steph looked a bit unsure. “Do you think I’ll be allowed?”
I put my hand on hers for a quick second. “Steph, you’re my best friend. I don’t care what they think. If you want to come, they’ll have to deal with it.”
She beamed at my reflection in the mirror. “Are you sure, Vi?” Then she handed me the mascara.
I smiled back, even though there was a part of me that worried. Who was I to bring Steph into this world of immortals and eternal wars? She had no power to defend herself. Getting her mixed up in it all was selfish and I knew it, but I couldn’t push her out of my life. I needed her. She was one of my people.
“Hey, how’s Marcus?” I asked, suddenly realizing she hadn’t run off to meet him or even mentioned him today. The two of them had been joined at the hip for the last few weeks. I was sure it would be any day now that they made their relationship official—if they hadn’t already.
“We broke up,” Steph said, heavy on the blasé.
I put down the makeup bag and gave her my full attention, wide eyes and all. “Why? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I was the one who…did the breaking.”
“Oh, well…Why?” I didn’t understand. Steph thought that Marcus was the perfect guy. He ticked all the boxes. He was preppy good-looking, mega smart, came from a socially “in” and highly funded family, and he worshipped her.
“Let’s just say I learned a thing or two when I saw what you went through with Phoenix. I mean, I just figure…I don’t want to do something that…You know…”
“That you’ll regret,” I finished for her, looking down at the grubby bathroom-floor tiles.
“I’m not saying you should regret what happened. I…I just mean…Seeing how that all affected you…helped me make a few decisions of my own.”
“So Marcus wanted to…” I raised my eyebrows.
She nodded. “It was fair enough too. I mean, I thought that was what I wanted as well, but in the end I just knew, although he was good on paper, I didn’t love him.”
I was surprised. Steph rarely expounded. She was a “doesn’t explain, doesn’t complain” girl. I wasn’t sure what to think. I was glad for her, that she felt confident to make the right choice. Marcus was a nice guy, but if she wasn’t with him for the right reasons, then I was relieved she hadn’t done something with him that she would have regretted.
I knew all too well how that felt after what had happened between me and Phoenix. I still felt the residue of the connection it had formed. And although that had broken, I wasn’t entirely sure if the price for that one bad decision had been fully paid. Seeing Lincoln’s reaction when Onyx raised the subject of Phoenix last night made me wonder if Lincoln would ever truly get past it.
Could I ever really ask him to?
• • •
The afternoon got better, marginally. I zoned out in religious studies and finished the day with art and a study period, which actually gave me a chance to catch up on homework. Within twenty minutes of last bell, Steph and I were getting off the bus near Lincoln’s place.
Because Lincoln had the biggest space, it had been set up as a kind of command center for the time being. I was grateful to him for so quickly volunteering the warehouse. We had even pushed back half of his furniture to set up the training arena.
Steph and I walked up the few steps to his front door, and I got the same exhilarating buzz that I always did when I knew he was near. I knew it was partly the angel in each of us recognizing the other, but to me, it was mostly human. I wanted things to work out for us so much—even though I knew it went against Grigori code.
There had to be a way.
Griffin let us in and didn’t spare me the disapproving look when he saw Steph. “This isn’t a social gathering, you realize. Your training is already limited by your hours at your other school.”
“Steph is a part of my life. She has a right to see this and understand it. It’s not like I’m bringing in cheerleaders, Griffin,” I said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
He wasn’t impressed but stood aside so we could enter. Steph, unfazed by Griffin’s concerns, brushed straight past. “Hello, Grandpa,” she quipped.
I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Griffin’s expression.
My eyes scanned the room quickly. Everyone was there, right at home it seemed.
All except one.
Nyla and Rudyard were sitting close together on one couch.
Too close for just friends or Grigori partners.
Spence and Salvatore were on the other couch, engrossed in the PlayStation. Zoe was in the kitchen pouring herself an orange juice.
After I got through the introductions with Steph and had relaxed a little when Rudyard didn’t try any more power tricks on me, I turned back to Griffin.
“Where’s Linc?”
“Talking with Magda. She got back last night. I think they�
��re in his room.”
“Oh, okay,” I said, starting to walk in that direction.
“Hey,” Griffin snapped. “We start in two minutes. Zoe and Salvatore spar first, then you and Spence.”
Wow, it will be weird sparring with someone other than Lincoln.
“All right. Two minutes,” I echoed.
I went to Lincoln’s room. Magda had been away visiting an old friend. She’d been gone almost two weeks. I could see Griffin was glad to have his partner back. I just hoped Lincoln wasn’t too excited himself. Magda wasn’t exactly subtle at hiding her feelings for him, or her dislike of me. If it hadn’t been necessary for me to become Grigori to save Lincoln’s life, my guess was that she would have preferred it if I hadn’t embraced.
I was about to push the slightly ajar door open when I heard them talking. I couldn’t help myself from pausing to listen.
“Are you sure?” It was Lincoln. “Absolutely sure?”
“Yes,” Magda said, sounding forlorn. I could see the back of her shoulders through the crack. She was sitting on the bed.
Lincoln wasn’t sitting. I could hear him pacing around the room, the heels of his loafers clicking against the wooden floorboards. I opened myself up to him for a moment, and through our link, I could sense his panic.
“How? How are you so sure?”
“Lincoln, I followed all the steps. I know how to be sure.”
“So he wasn’t lying then,” I could hear him mumble, could almost see his hands over his face.
What’s going on?
“Doesn’t look like it. What do you want to do about it?” Magda asked, sounding so unsure, so unlike her.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should tell the others?”
“Do you think it’s the wisest idea to involve everyone else? People could get hurt, Linc.”
“You’re right.” Lincoln sighed. “What do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we should talk to Griffin and Violet.”
Well, there’s a good idea.
“No, you are right. I don’t want them to know about this, especially Violet.”
WTF! I felt myself tensing with every word.
“Okay. If that’s what you want, we can keep it quiet for now. Just you and me—like old times.”
“Yeah, the others don’t need to be involved. Thanks, Mags,” Lincoln said softly, the last two words slightly muffled. I was sure they were hugging.
I heard footsteps.
Oh no, no, no.
I quickly moved away from the door and took a few hurried leaps back down the hall to see Griffin walking toward me.
“Come on!” he said. “We’re ready.”
Lincoln’s door swung open. He and Magda both emerged. He looked so tense, and I could see him trying to hide it from me. Even if I hadn’t overheard their scheming, I would have known something was upsetting him. People who are scared of getting found out all have that same deer-caught-in-headlights look. I should know—I was trying to hide a similar guilty expression.
He forced a smile and glanced worriedly at Magda. They were both wondering if I’d overheard anything, though Magda didn’t look worried so much as satisfied. Actually, she looked annoyingly elegant. Her long, blond hair rippled softly around her face and down her back, a baby-blue sweater showed off her tall, mega-slim figure, and to top it off, a stunning sapphire hung from her necklace, perfectly positioned to make everyone’s eyes go…there. Everything about Magda screamed expensive. Suddenly, my oh-so-average presentation became all I could think about, and Magda, of course, was looking right at me as if that was all she was noticing too.
“Hey,” I said to them both, throwing up a lukewarm wave before spinning on my heels to face Griffin. “I’m ready; let’s go,” I said in a way that made it sound as if it had been me waiting for him. My attitude wasn’t lost on him, but thankfully he let it slide.
I sat next to Steph, who, as it turned out, had found herself a new friend. I’d forgotten that she could speak Italian. When she and Jase, her brother, were younger, their father used to take them on some of his business trips to Italy. I think she even spent a year there when she was about twelve.
Salvatore looked as if he had died and gone to heaven. Clearly, being deprived of any coherent conversation had taken its toll. I did a double take when I saw the unusually eager look on Steph’s face.
“Salvatore!” Zoe said, clapping her hands in his face. “Come! Time to fight,” she yelled, while she mimicked boxing hands as if he were deaf and dumb.
Steph looked appalled.
I watched in a bit of a daze, Lincoln and Magda’s conversation replaying in my mind and Rudyard and Nyla in my peripheral view—joined at the hip. Nothing made sense. Had Lincoln been lying to me all this time? Had he really just been making excuses for why we shouldn’t be together? Nyla and Rudyard were clearly more than just partners, and if they could be…
• • •
Zoe fought like a cat. She leapt and darted with economy of movement but freaky speed. Salvatore had a more reserved and calculated approach. Not as flashy, but you could see instantly that he was to be respected. It was all over fairly quickly. Zoe won the spar, getting Salvatore into a potentially lethal hold. But I was highly suspicious that Salvatore had let her win.
“You’re up,” Steph said and then gulped loudly beside me. When I looked at her, all the color had drained from her face.
“It’s okay, Steph. It’s just training. Remember, we are a lot stronger than normal people,” I said, still completely preoccupied with Lincoln. He and Magda had only just joined everyone else. Clearly, they’d had more talking to do.
Not again. Please, not again. Lincoln promised no more lies.
“Violet, your turn against Spence. Nyla does a lot of the combat training at the college, but since she hasn’t watched you fight before, she will only observe tonight and then plan a program for you tomorrow,” Griffin said in his umpire voice.
“Okay,” I said, making my way onto the mat to stand opposite Spence.
We hadn’t really had a chance to talk since first meeting at the airport. “You ready?” Spence snapped at me as if I were holding up his life.
Oh, this is going to be great.
“Yep,” I said. Punching him in the face was going to be my pleasure.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Magda lean in and whisper something into Lincoln’s ear. Her hand rested on his shoulder and I was sure she glanced at me, looking for a reaction.
I didn’t even see Spence coming. It wasn’t that he’d done anything extraordinarily stealthy; I had just been pathetically distracted. I took a jab to the gut as punishment.
I tried to pull myself together. I knew this was important. Rudyard already had his first impression of me, but I knew this would be Nyla’s. Not to mention that everyone was watching to see what all the fuss was about.
Barely three minutes later, I was flat on my back. I’d managed to get in a few good moves, but Spence had fought fiercely—at times even a little underhanded for a training session—and I never had a second to get myself together.
“See?” he barked. “This is stupid! We come all this way to train with this chick and she can’t even last long enough to make me sweat.” He stormed over to Nyla and Rudyard, leaving me sitting on the ground. “It’s not fair. I’m a good fighter. I should be allowed to hunt! I shouldn’t have to wait for my partner.” He flung a hand back toward me. “She doesn’t even know how to handle herself against me and she’s allowed to hunt.”
Steph stood up, hands on hips. “Hey, macho man. Have you ever disabled more than half a dozen exiles in one go? While you’re lying on the ground dying?” Steph had a nice way of getting to the point.
“Who are you, anyway? This isn’t a spectator sport, you know,” Spence spat at her.
&n
bsp; “I’m the one who’s going to explain two very important things to you. First, you need deodorant…like now. Second, if you thought beating Violet in a bit of sparring and then boasting about it like a total idiot would somehow make you look like some kind of underappreciated hero-in-the-making, you are so out of luck it’s almost funny.”
Spence looked around the room as if he were waiting for someone to drag Steph out and throw her on the street.
Rudyard stood up and put an arm out for Nyla to join him.
“We are finished for tonight. We’re going back to the hotel. Zoe, Salvatore, and Spence, we expect you for dinner.” Rudyard gave Spence a brief nod. “Strong fighting.” Then he turned to Steph. “You, Stephanie, are welcome to watch any training sessions Violet invites you to. I find your approach…effective.”
As they walked out the door, Rudyard looked back at Lincoln and Magda and then lowered his gaze toward me and winked, stirring something in me. It made me feel vulnerable, as though somehow he saw through me, somehow he knew why I’d fought so badly and was letting me off the hook. But he couldn’t know. He couldn’t have overheard Lincoln and Magda. And he sure as hell couldn’t see my heart twisting itself into an ugly knot.
Salvatore put a hand out to help me up. It seemed like it was obvious to everyone that Lincoln hadn’t approached. I could see his disappointment. I’d fought badly, and I knew that since he’d been responsible for all my training to this point, I had let him down too. Things were just getting worse and worse.
I needed some air and made for the door. I still had my rules: no running and no quitting. I thought being Grigori might make me consider them less often, but I found I was still having to seriously resist the urge to take flight at times. Like now.
Steph raised her eyebrows as she saw me walking out. She was offering to join me, but I just shook my head. I knew she wouldn’t push it.
I walked a little down the street and sat on a neighboring fence. Although Lincoln lived in a busy area, his street was short and relatively quiet. It used to be entirely old warehouses, but now there wasn’t one building that hadn’t been converted into a trendy home.
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