by R.K. Ryals
Chapter 29
Conor
I'm beginning to wonder what I've gotten myself into. I am demoted, I am reassigned to Emma, I am reinstated, and I foolishly volunteer to be her Guardian. Now I am embroiled in a complicated mess. It probably doesn't help that I'm pretty sure I've fallen for my own mark.
"You okay, Reinhardt?" Grace Withers asks.
The Guardians are sitting on the garden's stone wall, our eyes trained on the class before us. Considering the subject is first aid and the instructor is Marion, none of us are worried about violence.
"I heard your girl Emma has caught herself a drex," Tom Henry says, his eyes narrowed.
There are urgent whispers down the wall. My side throbs with the reminder, and I fight not to rub the phantom wound that almost killed me.
"Rumors cause dissention, Henry," I say.
"So it isn't true?" Sean Thomas asks carefully.
I don't answer.
"She should be destroyed," Tom murmurs.
There are whispered agreements around me.
"No more than your girl, Lyre," I say coldly.
Between the two girls, Lyre is the violent one. Emma would never intentionally hurt anyone.
And you know this for sure after this short a time? I ask myself. I ignore my own conscious, my eyes on Emma. She looks distracted and deservedly so.
"Lyre can't steal magic from others or bind herself to flesh eating monsters," Tom spits.
Emma looks up, and I know she feels the anger coming from the Guardians. It's something I can't protect her from—the hatred, the fear.
"She should die," Tom continues.
I look down the wall, my eyes finding the hazel-eyed gargoyle easily.
"I'll stand between her and any of you foolish enough to attempt murdering her."
All eyes are on me now. Grace looks between the two of us.
"No one's going to attempt anything. That's not our job. Let's just leave it up to the Council. Got it?" she says quietly.
Everyone agrees, but there are still murmurs along the wall, and when Tom's eyes meet mine, I see death there. He has been with Lyre too long. Her Demon mother has the ability to control men, to entice them, to corrupt them. I know better than anyone that Lyre has inherited the same ability.
Our eyes move back to the circle of hybrids. There is avid interest among the group, their eyes on Marion as she demonstrates how to cauterize a wound. The Demons heal quicker than most, but as hybrids, wounds are also more fatal for them than for their Demonic parents. They already know how to die. Any information on how to preserve their life is golden. The school's protection only lasts for so long.
I focus my attention on Emma. She is leaning forward, speaking occasionally to Fiona Windgate, a blonde-haired Demon who is both outspoken and opinionated. Fiona keeps scooting away, but she is fascinated by Emma, her gaze flicking occasionally in Emma's direction. And she isn't the only one. Hesther and Gwenyth Garner, twin daughters of the Demon Onoskelis, are also watching Emma. They are red-haired hybrids with blue eyes and freckles who can choke a man simply by clenching their fists. They can also use their voices to create echoes. It's an eerie thing and disorienting.
"Have they ever visited like that before with each other?" Grace whispers next to me.
She has noticed the hybrids' interest in Emma. I am hoping she is the only one.
"I'm not sure," I answer as my eyes glide over the group.
A broad, black-haired hybrid is watching Emma as well, his dark eyes bright. Grace's gaze follows mine.
"Bruno Riley. He's the son of the Demon Tephras," Grace murmurs.
I stare hard at the boy. He's at least nineteen with a black t-shirt that sits plastered to a sculpted chest. His interest in Emma is more than obvious.
"Tephras? The dirt devil?" I ask.
Grace nods.
"Yeah, and Bruno has the same ability as his father. He can do some serious damage with wind and soil. He can also cause seizures."
This is comforting to know.
"Any of the hybrids ever date another hybrid?" I ask.
Grace shrugs.
"If they have, they haven't done it under our watch. And they have never shown a visible interest in another hybrid in any form, friendship or romantic."
This is even less comforting. I don't know what Emma is doing, but I fear for her. The other Guardians are noticing the differences in her. They are scared, and they are uncertain. This fans the flames of prejudice already lit within them. Demons have taken a lot from us and from mankind. But what the other Guardians refuse to see is the good in the hybrids we are forced to watch. I have more faith in the Council. They saw a reason to preserve half-mortal Demons, to build the Acropolis in the first place, and I have to trust that's enough.
Chapter 30
Emma
