Magic Trials (Half-Blood Academy #1)(6)

“Uh...” I blinked. “I thought everyone could tell.”

“We couldn’t,” Jasper said. “I think your need to protect us and your intense reaction to the demon threat brought out your power.”

“Or the flame could have come from Circe,” I said, turning to my witch friend. “Did you feel like it generated from you? You’ve been practicing fire spells.”

She bit her plump lower lip and mused for a second before she nodded. “It could’ve. I’ve cast fire spells before, though nothing as big as that. But when facing the demon, I could have enhanced the flame. I felt the power blast in the air. Everything happened so fast I couldn’t trace my spells. I need to practice more on my power to conjure up fire at will.”

I nodded in approval. “You’re a natural, Circe. We can clean up the courtyard for you to practice.”

Circe beamed.

Jasper gave me an unreadable glance, but he didn’t look convinced that the flame was Circe’s witch fire.

“What do you guys need?” I asked, changing subject. “You two go ahead and stew the shimera.” Jasper was the best cook among us, so cooking was his lot. I grabbed my backpack. “I’ll go take the other shimera to the market.”

“Maybe I should go to the trade?” Jasper said, concern in his brown eyes.

“No way,” I said. “I’m the best trader, and you don’t even bargain much.” I knew he was worried that I might get attacked alone. I grinned at him. “I know all the shortcuts, and I run damn fast. No one enjoys messing with me.”

Jasper gave me an appreciative look. “You’re a vicious fighter, and everyone who isn’t awfully dumb has learned that you’re also vengeful.”

“Hey, be careful with my reputation,” I said.

“You can take me with you, you know,” Circe said. “I can watch your back.”

She wanted to escape the chore of skinning the shimera.

I smirked. “Go home, kids.”

I waved goodbye.

The next second I tensed, sensing a new threat.

Jasper growled as if he’d felt it, too—the looming of predators.

Circe widened her nervous eyes. “What now?” She grabbed the three remaining spells from her pocket. “We can’t deal with another demon attack.”

“Run!” I yelled.

All three of us burst toward the warded library.

Only a few more blocks and three more turns and we’d reach the building. We had more weapons in our dwelling.

Movements blurred all around us.

A pack of six werewolves intercepted us from two opposite corners, four of them in werewolf form. As one, the three of us swerved in another direction, only to meet a gang of a dozen armed humans blocking the other end of the alley.

Crack wasn’t a bad place to live, as it wasn’t in the grasp of either the demons or the demigods. The only downside was that horrible humans and rogue supernaturals kept migrating to this settlement, and some decided to rule this patch of land.

They usually fought in the town’s center. Few of them ventured into the edges where monsters took the dark forest and the three of us occupied an abandoned library.

The old gangs basically left me alone, my crazy reputation encouraging them to give me a wide berth.

But this time, instead of avoiding me, they’d decided to gang up on me.

The three of us halted in the middle of an ambush and pressed our backs against each other.

Snarling, Jasper tore his T-shirt off and shifted in an instant.

Circe hissed, her shaking hands tight on the three spells she had left.

I flashed my usual syrupy smile, regarding the werewolf pack that appeared to be a bigger threat before flicking my reckless glance toward the human gang who still feared and resented me.

“Hello, David, right?” I purred, making eye contact with a rough-looking human leader in his thirties. His left ear was missing, and I might have had something to do with that. From how he glared at me, I’d bet he hadn’t forgotten the incident and he wasn’t going to forgive me any time soon.

“I see you don’t wear a hat anymore,” I continued. “And you’ve made new friends. How courteous of you to introduce us to your big ass supernatural friends.”

The scar on David’s left cheek twitched, and I might have contributed to that long scar, too. Well, he wasn’t friendly to many women. I’d gotten caught up in the moment and defended them after I decided that he couldn’t be persuaded to be a bit more polite.

“Shut up, you crazy bitch!” David spat, but he had bad aim, and his second-in-command—what was his name, Jason?—was a bit too slow to avoid getting hit.

Jason winced and subtly withdrew a half-step, not interested in a second serving from his unstable boss.

“Today is your doom, bitch!” David declared.

“Haven’t heard the B word for a while,” I said, stalling so Jasper could have more time to recover and gather strength from his shifting and Circe could find a better chanting spell. She didn’t do well under stress, so I had to keep this as anxiety-free as possible. And I was still eyeing all the possible exits. “I kind of missed the name calling. By the way, have you heeded my advice and given the name David to someone else? David is a nice, meek male name that only suits—”