The next Wednesday afternoon, in weapons class, Mr. Val hauled out knives.
"None of you have played with these yet. They are probably the hardest of weapons to use. At least with throwing. Stabbing is completely different, but that's for another day. Today, I want to see if you can hit the target."
He spoke of good technique and then demonstrated it a couple of times. It seemed easy enough, but I'd probably miss the whole target.
The first girl hit the target, but on the edge. The second missed altogether, and the third hit it between the bull’s-eye and the edge.
Mr. Val waved me up and handed me a knife. It felt lighter than I expected. I took a deep breath and aimed. Something about this felt natural. I didn’t even hesitate. I whipped my hand back and threw the knife.
It landed dead center.
Well. I knew which test to take first.
After the dance that night, I slipped off my heels and rubbed my feet. At least I could finally walk in those awful shoes. I wasn’t a half-bad dancer either, though I wasn’t great by any means. Josie met me outside the door.
“You know, I don’t get why I have to do dance with the cherubs as well. The boys are all shorter than me.”
Josie laughed and looped her arm through mine. “You’ll be rid of them soon enough. I heard you killed it in weapons.” She sighed. “You know what, I don’t want to go back to our room yet. You wanna go up to the tower and look at the stars with me? My mom and I used to watch them on clear nights.”
I really just wanted to go back to my room and be alone, but I didn’t want to disappoint Josie.
On the way to the tower, Josie regaled me with the story of how she obtained Cupcake. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going because Josie told stories with her whole body, and it was highly entertaining.
I ran right into another girl. "Oh, sorry," I muttered and continued walking.
"Bitch, get back here."
I rolled my eyes. Really? I spun on my heel and went back. She was a goddett.
"How can I help you?" I asked. I wasn't going to apologize again. Once was sufficient.
"You need to watch where you're going."
"Noted. But maybe you should too."
"Excuse me. Who the hell are you?" she spluttered.
"I'm Olivia. Who the hell are you?" That girl had some nerve being a snot.
Her eyes narrowed. "I'm Chantel, and no one talks to me like that. Especially not a puny cherub."
The name rang a bell. Ah. Yes. “Nice to meet you. I understand we’re from the same Goddess Mother.” I took another step toward her. She wrinkled her nose. “Guess what, puny cherub or not, I’m closer to her than you are, so I’ll talk to you however I want.”
Then I turned, grabbed Josie by the hand, and dragged her out of the hallway.
"Do you realize you pissed off the queen bee of goddetts? She won't let this go."
I shrugged. "I'll be fine. I know how to throw a knife."
Josie shook her head. "Her words will hurt you far more than a blade."
It took a good ten minutes to hike all the way up the stairs to the tower. Josie pulled me down onto the blankets spread on the floor, and I gasped.
The stars felt like they were right on top of us.
“Look, there’s Cancer.” She pointed, but I had no idea what I was looking for. “Oh, and Cassiopeia and Libra.”
She chattered on about the constellations, and even though I didn’t have a clue about any of them, it was nice to relax for a bit.
She stopped talking abruptly and rolled over and faced me. “Thanks for being my friend. I was really lonely before you came along.”
Awww. “I love being your friend. I don’t have any.”
“I bet you have lots. You just don’t remember. Promise me we’ll still be friends after you get your memory back.”
“Duh, of course we’ll still be friends.” Josie was the nicest person I met here. I wasn’t about to abandon her just because my memories came back.
Josie smiled. I hadn’t really thought about friends before. Maybe there were girls out there upset that I disappeared. My heart tightened. I had to find out who I was.
Chapter Seven
Liv
The next three days flew by. Aside from magic, I didn’t suck at anything. Okay, so I fell over myself in defense, but for some reason that didn’t surprise me. I also avoided Chantel and her cronies, so overall everything was good.
Whispers got back to me though. Chantel was telling everyone I wasn’t actually descended from Bast and that Lila must’ve made a mistake. Chantel was playing with fire though. I wouldn’t want to be around when Lila heard that rumor. The goddesses were not to be messed with.
I still couldn’t remember anything, and that ate away at me. Once I was brave enough, I questioned all the teachers, and not one acted as if they could help me. I spent quite a bit of my free time in the library searching books on memory loss and spells, but found very little.
Every night I journaled and tried to jog any personal memories out, but nothing worked. Sometimes people asked me things, and I’d be surprised by the answer. Like Josie asked what my favorite flavor of ice cream was, and I popped off with cookie dough, but I hadn’t had any of that since I arrived.
On Thursday morning, I met with Goddess Kathryn, and after a few exercises, she told me I was ready to test in persuasion. I wasn’t sure I was ready. Sure, I could persuade the pretty boys Kathryn brought in to bring me flowers and do my homework, but that was different. They weren’t obeying me. They were trying to impress every girl in the room. I had a feeling it was much more difficult in real life, but I wouldn’t get a chance to find out until the test. Though maybe the test was with those same pretty boys. Then it’d be easy.
The next morning, Josie and I were hiding out in the library from Chantel, who was on the warpath after Lila put her in her place for saying I wasn’t descended from Bast.
Josie flopped down on a couch and scratched the library cat under the chin. “I warned you.”
“What’s she gonna do?”
Josie shrugged. “Just don’t underestimate her.”
A servant approached me. “Mr. Val would like to see you,” she said.
I raised my eyebrows at Josie. No teacher had ever called for me before.
Josie looked down at her hands. “He’s probably going to ask you to test like Goddess Kathryn did.” Her voice was tinged with jealousy.
“Hey,” I said. “This is a good thing. Then we’ll be together.”
“Yeah, until you surpass me. I’m not ready to test in anything else. I suck at persuasion, and it should be easy.”
I let out a breath. “I really gotta go. But I’m not going to leave you behind, I promise.”
I entered the weapons room cautiously. Mr. Val was a stern man who didn’t take crap from anyone. He was terrifying when he had a knife or gun in hand. I asked around though, and he’d never stabbed anyone, so maybe I shouldn’t be so nervous.
A handful of girls from various ages stood around the weapons room. Mr. Val finished up helping a girl with a bow and arrow and then waved me over. The girl let her arrow fly and hit the bull’s-eye. She beamed at Mr. Val, but he was staring at me. She huffed and notched another arrow.
Mr. Val moved us over a few feet. “I want to see how well you do with the rest of the weapons. You were brilliant with the knife, but until I see the others, we won’t know if you have natural talent or not. Why don’t you start with archery?”
The bow felt comfortable in my hand, and he didn’t even need to tell me what do. I notched the arrows with ease and let them fly. Arrow after arrow hit the bull’s-eye. I was fast too. No hesitation.
He whistled. I wasn’t sure why I managed to do so well. There was something natural about the weapons, as if I’d handled them many times before. Maybe my memory was erased not to protect me, but to protect others from me.
“Okay, let’s try the guns.” We made our way over to the sh
ooting range, and a few girls followed us. They whispered to each other. Were they impressed or scared? Or maybe they were jealous.
“I want you to try three different handguns. The twenty-two, then a revolver, and finally the forty-four. I’m going to start you out with a moving target because I want to see what you’re capable of.”
“What do I aim for?”
“The forehead. Go as rapidly as you can. When you run out of ammo, just pick up the next gun.”
I nodded and grabbed the first gun. I felt as if I should be nervous, but I wasn’t. The gun was comfortable in my hand, and I knew exactly what to do. I found my target, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
I moved quickly through all three guns. Thirty seconds later, a cloud of smoke surrounded me. Mr. Val clapped his hands, and I spun around. The group of girls watching had grown.
“Spectacular,” Mr. Val said.
The targets moved forward. All five had several shots only in the head.
Mr. Val wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ve never seen someone so adept with weapons before. I want you to test as soon as possible so you can help mentor other girls. Let’s see how you do with a sword.”
He strode off to the sparring ring, and I followed, a little shocked by his declaration that he wanted me to test right away. Though I probably shouldn’t be. I totally nailed that. A tall girl with wide shoulders fell in step next to me. “Hi. I’m Beth. Who’s your Goddess Mother?”
“Excuse me?” We stopped at the edge of the sparring ring. I kept an eye on Mr. Val. He was studying the sword wall.
“The goddess you are descended from?”
“Oh, Bast.”
Her face fell. “That’s too bad. I thought for sure you were from Sekhmet like me. There aren’t very many of us.”
“Yeah, sorry. Is Bast a warrior goddess?”
Mr. Val took a couple of long swords off the wall, swished them around, and put them back. He moved along the wall to weapons that looked a little more Asian in nature.
“Not traditionally, though I haven’t studied her much. Have you been trained in weapons?”
“I don’t think so. But you know, there’s not many of us who are descended from Bast, so maybe this is common.”
“Nope. The last test Chantel passed was weapons.”
“Good to know. She hates my guts.” This girl was full of all sorts of beneficial information.
Beth sniggered. “I heard about that. She’s planning a very gruesome death for you. Now I understand why. She struts around like she is queen because she’s a descendant of Bast. It’s a good thing Josie has Cupcake, or you’d be in real trouble.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Like I couldn’t defend myself. Everyone warned me about Chantel, but as far as I could tell, she threatened a lot, but never followed through.
“Chantel is a sneaky bitch. She won’t do anything to you in public, but she’s been known to sneak into girls’ rooms and leave them nasty presents.”
“I don’t see how Cupcake helps.”
“Chantel is terrified of him. Though, that is probably because Cupcake bit her once.”
“Josie said Cupcake wouldn’t bite.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She said I wouldn’t die if Cupcake bit me. Geesh. I had to be more careful.
“He will if you threaten Josie. Chantel threw a fit after she was bit and tried to get Cupcake thrown out, but Goddess Lianna disagreed. She really wants Josie to stay.”
“Why?”
Mr. Val took down two samurai swords and walked back across the room.
“She’s got raw, lethal talent. She’ll be valuable to them when she’s fully trained and can use her talent on Jinn, but for now, she’s volatile. She’s had two roommates before you, and none of them ended up well. They both transferred to other sanctuaries.”
This did not mesh with what I knew of Josie. Sure, she was a little weird, but she was always friendly and sweet. Even if she did have a six-foot cobra.
Mr. Val shoved one of the Samurai swords into my hand. “Less talking, more swinging.”
Chapter Eight
Gabe
Have you seen her yet?" I asked. Ali found out the girls came into town on Saturday afternoons. Not all of them. Only the ones who wanted to. Liv snuck out far more times than she should have when I told her to stay home. She had to be crawling the walls.
"No," Melissa responded through the phone.
Main Street was crawling with at least twenty future goddesses. Ali stayed home. If a goddess found me and locked me up, I could get out again. If they got him, there was no way to know where he would be, and it could be years before we saw him again. No, this was something only Mel and I could do.
Lots of girls eyed me, but I was waiting for only one. It was odd being around them. Some were nearing full goddess, but they didn’t even glance in my direction. It made me wonder when they learned how to sense us. I kept my guard up. Sure, I could get out if I was trapped, but if I ran into the wrong goddess, especially one who knew me already, she’d send me right back to Bast. Or worse. Natalia.
I see her. Melissa texted.
Where?
By the bookshop.
On my way.
I jogged the three blocks and stopped dead in my tracks. My chest tightened at the sight of Liv’s smile. A smile she’d given me many, many times. The desire to rush up to her and kiss those beautiful lips was overwhelming, but I had to restrain myself. First I had to see if she remembered me or not.
She was laughing with another girl outside the bookstore. The other girl pushed open the door, and they went inside. I moved quickly toward the building. A figure crept out from around the building, and I glanced his way before entering. His eyes met mine. Samir.
I let the door go and spun around, but just like that he was gone. I ran around the building, but he was nowhere to be found. I looked up and down the street.
I entered the bookstore, now worried not just about if Liv remembered me or not, but about her safety. Samir had not only seen me, but he’d also seen her.
Liv’s voice floated over a bookshelf. "So, I can't decide what to test in first—weapons or persuasion."
"Persuasion should be easy. Also, I can't believe you are so good at weapons. I swear, that might be the one class that prevents me from becoming a goddett. I can't even get the knife to hit the target, let alone the bull’s-eye. But you. You killed it."
“Yeah, I still can’t believe I hit it dead center my first try. I'm still a little weak with a sword though."
It surprised me to hear that Liv was good with a weapon. She’d always been a little klutzy, and those skills required good eye-hand coordination.
The girl snorted. "Weak. You beat everyone in your class."
"But I can't beat Mr. Val yet. Until I can do that, I won't pass."
"Oh, pah-lease. Macy told me you've only sparred with him once, and he was sweating by the time it was over. That man never sweats."
"Macy talks? For real? She doesn't say anything to me."
Liv seemed so carefree. Like her world hadn’t turned upside down. It was nice to see, even if my insides were torn apart.
I had to know if she knew me. I slowly crept around the corner, and my heart raced. This was the moment of truth. She would either recognize me, or she wouldn’t. The girls continued to chatter but didn't notice me. I stopped a few feet from them and perused the books in the self-help section. I didn't want to get caught looking at 100 Ways to Improve Your Relationships, so I moved closer. Liv laughed but still didn't look up. She wore the ring that was my vessel. Did she know what it was? She was so close I smelled her shampoo. It was different, more flowery. But still her.
I cleared my throat, and they both stopped talking. I met Liv's eyes. No recognition flickered at all, and my stomach fell. Even if she were faking it, there would have been some sort of flash in her eyes that indicated she knew me.
"Nice ring," I said, hoping for anything. I was desperate now.
She dro
pped her eyes to her hand. "Thanks," she replied indifferently.
Disappointment flooded my body. She had no idea who I was.
"Excuse me," I said and slipped past them to the back of the store.
"Oh my gosh. He was totally flirting with you," the other girl hissed.
"No, he wasn't," Liv replied, giggling.
I turned back to look, and her eyes were still on me. I grinned at her, and she dropped her gaze. She grabbed her friend and rushed out of the store.
I followed her. I had to. Samir was out there somewhere. We’d brought her here to protect her from him. And he’d found her.
The girls strolled down the street, arm in arm, and whispered to each other. I kept my eyes open, ready to take on Samir, but there was no sign of the murderous bastard.
Liv and her friend turned the corner and a musical voice floated out of an ice cream shop.
A full goddess.
Shit.
I didn’t hesitate. She’d sense me soon if she hadn’t already. I flashed back to the house and sent Melissa a quick text after I landed on the porch.
Liv’s walking down Second Street. She just left Main. I saw a goddess. Can you follow her and make sure she’s safe?
I didn’t want to use Samir’s name and scare Melissa unnecessarily. The fact was he was in town. Doing what was anyone’s guess. But Samir was on the bottom of my lists of worries at the moment.
I waited.
Eyes on her. She and several other girls are getting Ice cream. There is a limo waiting to take them back to the sanctuary.
I let out a breath of relief. Thank you.
Tell Ali I’ll be back later. I’m going to do some shopping.
I shoved the door open. Ali was sprawled out on the couch, phone in hand. “You know, staying behind really sucks.”
The Glowing Sands (Sons of the Sand Book 3) Page 4
