Jennifer Armentrout - Half-Blood

And why you didn’t cal any of us? There isn’t a single place in this world that doesn’t have cel service.”

“I’d go with she probably kil ed someone.”

I tilted my head back and spotted Jackson Manos in the group of halfs I didn’t recognize. He looked exactly as I remembered him. Dark hair parted down the middle, a body made just for girls to drool over, and equal y dark, sexy eyes. I gave him my best smile. “Whatever, you douche. I didn’t kil anyone.”

Jackson shook his head as he approached us. “Do you remember dropping Nick on his neck during take down practice? You nearly kil ed him. Good thing we heal as quickly as we do or you would’ve put him out of training for months.”

We al laughed at the memory. Poor Nick had spent a week in the infirmary after the incident. Our good time and general curiosity drew the other halfs to the couch. Knowing I had to answer some of the questions regarding my absence eventual y, I came up with a pretty bland tale about Mom wanting to live among mortals. Caleb looked at me doubtful y, but he didn’t push it.

“What the hel are you wearing, by the way? It looks like the guy’s training uniform.” Caleb plucked at my sleeve.

“It’s al I have.” I gave a dramatic, pitiful sigh. “I doubt I’m going to get out anytime soon, and I don’t have any money.”

He grinned. “I know where they keep al the training clothes here. Tomorrow, I can pick you up some extra stuff in town.”

“You don’t have to. And besides, I don’t think I want you shopping for me. I’d end up looking like a stripper.”

Caleb laughed, the skin around his blue eyes crinkling.

“Don’t worry about it. Dad sent me a near fortune a few weeks ago. Guess he feels bad for being a dick of a father.

Anyway, I’l get one of the girls to go with me or something.”

The pure—Thea was her name—eventual y made her way over to where we sat. She seemed nice and genuinely interested in me, but she asked the one question I feared.

“So has your mother… reconciled with Lucian?” she asked in a smal , childlike voice.

I forced myself not to show any reaction. “No.”

She looked surprised. So did the halfs.

“But… they can’t divorce,” said Caleb. “Are they going to do the separate house, different zip code thing?”

Pures never divorced. They believed their mates were predestined by the gods. I’d always thought it was a load of bul , but the “no-divorce” thing explained why so many of them had affairs.

“Uh… no,” I said. “Mom… didn’t make it out there .”

Caleb’s mouth dropped open. “Oh. Man, I’m sorry.”

I forced myself to shrug. “It’s okay.”

“What happened to her?” Jackson asked, as tactless as ever.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to tel them the truth. “A daimon got her.”

That led to another round of questions, al of which I answered truthful y. Each of their faces mirrored shock and awe as I got around to the part where I’d fought and kil ed two of the daimons. Even Jackson seemed impressed.

None of them had even seen a daimon in real life.

I didn’t go into detail about my meeting with Marcus, but I did tel them my summer wasn’t going to be al fun and games. When I mentioned I’d be training with Aiden, a col ective groan sounded.

“What?” I looked around the group.

Caleb kicked his legs off my lap and stood. “Aiden is one of the toughest—”

“Roughest,” Jackson added solemnly.

“Meanest,” threw in a half-blood girl with brown hair cut über-short. I think her name was Elena.

Unease shifted through me. What had I gotten myself into with him? And they weren’t done with their descriptions.

“Strongest,” another kid added.

Elena glanced around the room, her lips curving.

“Sexiest.”

There was a round of sighs from the girls, but Caleb frowned. “That’s not the point. Man, he’s a beast. He’s not even an Instructor. He’s a Sentinel through and through.”

“The last couple of graduating classes got assigned to his area.” Jackson shook his head. “He’s not even a Guide, but he weeded out over half of them and sent them back as Guards.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. That didn’t sound al that bad. I was about to point that out when a new voice interrupted.

“Wel , look who’s back? If it isn’t our one and only high school drop-out,” drawled Lea Samos.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I made it to five.

“Are you lost, Lea? This isn’t where they’re handing out the free pregnancy tests.”

“Oh, boy.” Caleb moved to stand behind the couch, getting out of the way. I didn’t blame him. Lea and I had a legendary history. The write-ups Marcus had gone over for fighting had usual y involved Lea.

She laughed that husky, throaty laugh I was al too familiar with. I looked up then. She hadn’t changed a bit.

Okay. That was a lie.

If anything, Lea had grown more beautiful in the last three years. With her long copper-colored hair, amethyst eyes, and impossibly tanned skin, she looked like some sort of glamorous model. I couldn’t help but think of my own boring brown eyes.

While my own stel ar reputation had my name whispered on many lips during my time here, Lea had literal y prowled the Covenant—No. She’d owned it.

Her eyes dropped the length of me as she stalked across the rec room, taking in the oversized shirt and rumpled jogging pants. One perfectly groomed brow arched. “Don’t you look lovely?”

She, of course, was dressed in the tightest and shortest skirt known to man. “Isn’t that the same skirt you wore in the third grade? It’s getting a little tight. You may want to go up a size or three.”

Lea smirked and tossed the mass of hair over her shoulder. She sat in one of the fluorescent moon chairs across from us. “What happened to your face?”

“What happened to yours?” I retorted. “You look like a damn Oompa Loompa. You should lay off the spray tanning, Lea.”

There were a couple of snickers from our impromptu audience, but Lea ignored them. She was focused on me

—her arch-nemesis. We’d been at this since we were seven. Sandbox enemies, I guessed. “You know what I heard this morning?”

I sighed. “What?”

Jackson sauntered to her side, his dark eyes devouring her long legs. He moved behind her and tugged a strand of her hair. “Lea, knock it off. She just got back.”

My brows rose as she motioned him down with a flick of her little finger. He lowered his mouth to hers. Slowly, I turned to Caleb. Looking bored with the display, he shrugged. Instructors couldn’t prevent the students from hooking up. I mean, come on. With a bunch of teenagers thrown together, it happened, but the Covenant frowned upon it. Usual y the students didn’t flaunt it.

When they were done tonguing one another, Lea returned to staring at me. “I heard Dean Andros didn’t want you back. Your very own uncle wanted to place you into servitude. How sad is that?”

I flipped her off.

“It took three pures to convince her uncle she’s worth keeping around.”

Caleb snorted. “Alex is one of the best. I doubt it took much convincing.”

Lea opened her mouth, but I cut her off. “I was one of the best. And it did. Apparently, I have a bad reputation and he felt I had missed too much time.”

“What?” Caleb stared at me.

I shrugged. “I have until the end of summer to prove to Marcus I can get caught up in time to join the rest of the students. It’s no big deal, right, Lea?” I faced her, grinning. “I think you remember the last time we sparred? It was a long time ago, but I’m sure you can recal it quite clearly.”

A pink flush crawled over her tanned cheeks and her hand crept to her nose in what looked like a subconscious move, drawing an even bigger grin from me. At such a young age, our sparring was supposed to have been an absolutely no-contact training exercise. But one insult had led to another, and I’d broken her nose.