Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(45)

To my shock, my undiluted hatred for him made him flinch.

“However,” I said. “Patience isn’t my strong suit, so I won’t wait for Lucifer and his legion to beat your ass.” Despite the excruciating pain throbbing through me, I remained articulate.

I threw up my hands, calling for my awakened magic.

My energy blast had probably sent Jack to the netherworld, so it should do some considerable damage to the asshole who stood six yards away from me.

“You dare to fight me, Marigold?” he asked lethally, remaining every bit in control.

“Not to fight you,” I said softly. “To kill you.”

My blood boiled inside me at the call of war.

Twelve runes rose to my skin, twirling up on my neck and slithering up my face.

“It’s impossible,” Cameron said. “She’s got all twelve powers.”

Nothing was impossible. I’d just proved that.

“Calm down, Marigold,” Marie called. “Please calm down. Don’t do anything you’ll regret later. Let’s talk about this.”

“Talk? After all this, you want to fucking talk?” I laughed without mirth. “And regret isn’t in my vocabulary.”

I could feel my eyes glowing. The last thing I wanted was to calm the fuck down.

“Let her come to me,” Paxton said. “Let’s see what she’s got.”

My power rose.

It wasn’t lightning, water, air blast, or any of the powers from the twelve houses of the Olympian gods whipping around me.

A sheet of dark crimson fire, more like hellfire, surged toward the demigod.

“Burn him to Hell!” I howled.

Solid ice walls formed around Paxton and the rest of the class. The demigod sent the storm of his icy current crashing into my fire.

The impact of the two opposite forces sent shockwaves all around and tore through the ceiling.

Concrete, dirt, and rocks rained down with water and ice. Pieces of wood caught fire and flew in all directions.

The students scattered as fast as their feet could carry them, staying clear of Paxton and me.

I pushed my fire toward the demigod, my body trembling from the strain.

But my flame grew weaker.

I realized in dismay that I had no more magical juice left, just throbbing pain in my core. Embers of my fire sparked then smoldered as they died on my fingers.

The Demigod of Sea called off his storm.

I wobbled, waiting for the demigod to strike me down. My hands stretched like claws, ready to leave a trail of blood on his face when he came to me.

Instead of murdering me, he turned to Marie and ordered, “Call the healers. Now.”

Just then, Axel and Zak charged into the training hall, their gazes sweeping to me in utter shock.

I grinned at them savagely. I was but a standing, bloody meat pulp.

“What the bloody hell?” Zak thundered. “Who hurt her?”

Axel’s fiery eyes scanned the room, looking for threats, before alighting on me again.

“Who touched my Marigold?” he roared in rage.

My vision blurred as black dots danced before my eyes. I’d held on long enough. I still fought to stay conscious, though I’d now welcome a break from the unceasingly excruciating pain pounding in my skull, in my every cell.

I don’t know if Zak or Axel reached me before I fell on my face.





CHAPTER 12




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As if I was floating above my body, I saw myself curled up on the ground, my lavender hair spilling around my gory face. My left cheek split open, as were my lips. My left eye was a black circle and my right one a patch of swollen red.

I was a grotesque sight, but all I felt was a cold, detached emotion.

I must have died.

As I peered at myself more closely, I noticed that though broken, I was wrapped inside some kind of a protective bubble made of pale crimson light.

Axel, Theodore, and a healer crouched outside the orb.

None of the students were in the room. It was just the demigods, the priest, the healer, and me—my body and my ghost.

Axel touched the boundary of the bubble, and a slew of crimson lightning shocked him, throwing him back.

“None of us can take down her force field,” Theodore said. “We’d better stop trying and wait for her to wake up.”

“How could she erect such an orb in such a state?” the healer, a dark-skinned mature woman in her thirties, murmured as she put a healthy distance between herself and the bubble.

“Her magic must have kicked in and created it to protect her,” Zak said.

He was facing off against Paxton to prevent him from getting near me.

“We need to get her shield down, or she’ll bleed out,” Axel said, devastation and grief in his dark-golden eyes.

“We don’t want to force it down and hurt her,” Zak said, one hand rubbing his temple, the other up in the air to fend off Paxton. “We need to call Héctor back. He’s an expert on shielding.”

“Let me try it,” Paxton said. “I might be able to bring down her shield so our healer can fix her.”

At the sound of his voice, all my emotions wheeled back. My hackles rose, my skin prickled, and cold hatred burned through me.