Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(24)

“All twelve of the runes have imprinted on you,” Axel declared. “That’s incredible.”

“It’s impossible. She can’t be a descendant of all twelve major gods! No one can,” Theodore said, his silver eyes widening, but he was elbowed out of the way.

The demigods were in charge now.

The dagger in Theodore’s hand dulled, and the flame vanquished.

“My blade!” Theodore called. “Both the flame and runes are gone.”

“She absorbed all of them,” Zak said, lightning twirling in his royal blue eyes as he studied me like he’d just seen me, truly seen me. “She’s taken all of them as if they were her birthright.”

The runes still twirled all over my body as if trying to decide where they should settle down.

“Just make up your mind already,” I groaned.

Axel tore his gaze from the runes and smiled at me. “You live, Marigold,” he said. “Just as I believed that you’d prevail.”

He gave the impression he wanted to pull me into an embrace to congratulate me, but I was still so mad at him that I shoved him away, then I put a hand up to prevent him, or any of them, from getting closer to me.

I had no idea what these runes were going to do to me and was terrified they’d change who I was. I was comfortable with the old Marigold. But a primal part of me already knew that the blood runes had triggered something dark and dangerous, something that had been buried deep inside me.

“Remove the runes, please,” I said harshly. “I don’t want them.”

That was when the burn started.

Embers of fire sparked off my skin. Then the runes turned to leaping flames. In an instant, I became a human torch from inside out.

Agony tore through me, and I howled.

“What’s going on?” Axel shouted, face paling. “Ice, Paxton!”

The Demigod of Sea conjured icy currents and poured them onto me.

The fire burning inside me hissed and sizzled, turning hotter.

“Stop!” I screamed.

The fucker was making it worse.

“It’s not working,” Paxton said in dismay. “She’s burning from the inside.”

No duh, asshole!

“Help her!” Axel screamed. “How could this happen? Theodore, you’re the fucking priest. You know all the runes. If you don’t fix her, I’ll skin you alive!”

“I don’t know how,” Theodore yelled back. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. As I said, this has never happened before.”

Axel’s icy wind slammed into me as I rolled and writhed on the ground, tearing my robe off in agony and shrieking as the fire scorched me like hellfire from the inferno—not that I’d ever visited Hell.

This was Hell.

“Get out!” Zak shouted at the Dominion soldiers and the other initiates, and the hall emptied in seconds except for the demigods and their priest.

For a nanosecond, I was grateful to him for preserving my last scrap of dignity.

“Hang in there, Marigold,” Axel shouted, crouching beside me, devastation written all over his face. Like he cared! He’d brought me to this. “We’ll figure out a way to stop the burn.”

“She must have hidden power that we don’t know about,” Theodore diagnosed, as he and the demigods all squatted around me, peering down at me. “The runes are sentient, but they haven’t been this active for centuries. It must be her power calling the runes’ power. When they sensed the power in her, they jumped to her without me etching a basic rune on her.

“She insisted she was human, but you said she was anything but human, right, Demigod Axel? You must have sensed the power in her, too. I think you’re right. The runes have triggered or activated her veiled powers, as they were designed to do. I believe that she contains more than one god’s power, and the powers in her are fighting for dominance.”

“This makes no sense. How can all twelve runes choose her?” Zak said. “We’re the demigods, the most powerful beings on Earth. Even we don’t have all the powers. Even we have less than three dominant powers. I need to call my father.”

“By the time you get a hold of Zeus, Marigold might be dead,” Axel grated. “I’m calling my father now. At least he’s on Earth.”

“But Ares is in the battle zone with Lucifer,” Paxton said. “Aren’t they negotiating another treaty now?”

While the bastards kept debating, fire boiled every inch of my skin. At this point, I wanted only death. I couldn’t bear another second of this torment.

“Behead me,” I shouted as I clawed my skin to expel the fire or the poisonous runes. “End this torture now, Axel, and I’ll forgive you for this hell you brought me to.”

“I can’t,” he said. His hand touched my face. “I can’t let you die. Please, give me a bit more time and let us figure out how to save you.”

“There’s no saving me,” I screamed. “Give me a quick death!”

I lunged for the ritual dagger, still in Theodore’s hand, determined to slice my own throat and end this. But that fucker ducked away swiftly, and the force of fire dropped me on the ground again.

When a new wave of agony hit me, I lost my shit.

I cursed the demigods between my hoarse screams. “Fuck you! Who gave you the fucking right to decide who’s worthy? I had a good life, fuckers! At least I was free and had friends... and you had to rip that life from me and send me to this inferno.”