In two places.
It’d also landed me in suspension for three weeks.
Lea’s plump lips thinned. “You know what else I know, Alex?”
I folded my arms over my chest. “What?”
“While everyone here may believe whatever lame excuse you gave for your mother leaving, I know the real reason.”
Her eyes sparkled with malice.
Coldness settled over me. “And how do you know?”
Her lips curved at the corners as she met my stare. I vaguely noticed Jackson moving away from her. “Your mother met with Grandma Piperi.”
Grandma Piperi? I rol ed my eyes. Piperi was a crazy old woman who was supposed to be an oracle. The pures believed she communed with the gods. I believed she communed with a lot of liquor.
“So?” I said.
“I know what Grandma Piperi said to make your mother go crazy. She was crazy, right?”
I was on my feet without realizing it. “Lea, shut up.”
She looked at me, eyes wide and unfazed. “Now Alex, you may want to calm down. One little fight and you’l be cleaning toilets for the rest of your life.”
My hands clutched. Had she been in the room, under Marcus’s desk or something? How else would she know so much? But Lea was correct, and that sucked. Being the bigger person meant walking away from her. It was harder than I ever imagined, like walking through quicksand. The more I moved, the more the air around me literal y demanded that I stay and break her nose again. But I did it, and I made it past her chair without hitting her.
I was a total y different person—a better person.
“Don’t you want to know what she said to your mother to make her crazy? To make her leave? You’l be happy to know it had everything to do with you.”
I stopped. Just like Lea knew I would.
Caleb appeared at my side and grabbed my arm.
“Come on, Alex. If what she’s saying is true then you don’t need to fal for this crap. You know she doesn’t know anything.”
Lea twisted around and threw one slender arm over the back of her chair. “But I do. You see, your mother and Piperi weren’t alone in the garden. Someone else overheard her conversation.”
I shrugged off Caleb’ grip and turned around. “Who heard them?”
She shrugged, studying her painted nails. I knew right then and there, I would end up hitting her. “The oracle told your mother you would be the one to kil her. Considering you couldn’t stop a daimon from draining her, I guess Piperi meant it in the abstract sense. What good is a half-blood who can’t even protect her own mother? Is it any wonder why Marcus didn’t want you back?”
There was a moment when no one moved in the room, not even me. Then I smiled at her, right before I grabbed a handful of copper hair and yanked her out of the chair.
Screw being a better person.
THE WAY HER MOUTH DROPPED OPEN AS SHE
FELL backwards almost made up for her cruel words.
Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to do anything, thinking the threat of being expel ed was far too great. Lea didn’t know the power of her own words.
I jerked my arm back, ful y intending on undoing whatever the doctors had done to fix that perky little nose of hers, but my fist never landed. In fact, Caleb got to me before I could take another step toward her. He literal y carried me out of the rec room, and then put me down and blocked my path back to Lea. There was a wild grin on his face as I tried to dart around him.
“Let me pass, Caleb. I swear to the gods, I’m going to break her face!”
“Back not even a day, Alex. Wow.”
“Shut up.” I glared at him.
“Alex, knock it off. You get into a fight and you’re going to get kicked out. What then? Be a servant for the rest of your life? Anyway, you know she’s lying. So let it go.”
I glanced down at my hand and noticed several strands of red hair wrapped around my fingers. Sweet.
Caleb saw the vicious gleam in my eye and seemed to realize staying near this room wasn’t going to end wel .
Grabbing my arm, he al but dragged me down the hal way.
“She’s just a stupid girl. You know she was just talking crap, right?”
“Who knows?” I grumbled. “She’s right, you know? I have no idea why Mom left. She could’ve spoken to Grandma Piperi. I don’t know.”
“I seriously doubt the oracle said you would kil your mom.”
Unconvinced, I punched the front door open.
Caleb fol owed close behind. “Just forget about it, okay?
You’ve got to focus on training, not Lea and what the oracle may have said.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Okay. Then you could ask the oracle what she told your mom.”
I stared at him.
“What? You could ask the oracle if it bothers you that much.”
“There is no way that woman is stil alive.” I winced at the blinding sun. “It was three years ago when Mom could’ve talked to her.”
Now Caleb gave me the same look.
“What? She can’t be. She would have to be… like a hundred and fifty years old by now.”
Pures had a lot of power and an oracle would have even more, but none of them were immortal.
“Alex, she’s the oracle. She’l be alive until the next one comes into power.”
I rol ed my eyes at Caleb. “She’s just a nutty old woman.
Communes with the gods? The only things she communes with are the trees and her bridge club.”
He made a sound of exasperation. “It never fails to amaze me that being what you are—what we are—you stil don’t believe in the gods.”
“No. I do believe in them. I just think they’re absentee landlords. Right now, they’re probably hanging out somewhere in Las Vegas, screwing showgirls and cheating at poker.”
cheating at poker.”
Caleb jumped away from me, his feet landing on the white and tan pebbles. “Do not let me be standing next to you when one of them strikes you down.”
I laughed. “Yeah, they’re real y watching and taking care of business. That’s why we have daimons running around draining pures and kil ing mortals for the fun of it.”
“That’s why the gods have us.” Caleb grinned like he’d just explained everything.
“Whatever.” We stopped at the end of the stone pathway.
From here, we either went to the girls’ dorm or the boys’.
The two of us stared across the flooded marsh. Woody plants and low growing bushes dotted the brackish water, making crossing the mess almost impossible. Beyond that was the forest—literal y a no man’s land. When I was younger I’d thought monsters lived in the dark woods. When I’d gotten older I’d learned that fol owing the marshes led to the main island, giving me a perfect escape route when I’d wanted to sneak around.
“Does the old hag stil live in there?” I asked final y. What if I could talk to Piperi?
Caleb nodded. “I guess so, but who knows? She comes down to the campus every once in a while.”
“Oh.” I squinted in the harsh light. “You know what I was thinking?”
He glanced at me. “What?”
“Mom never told me why we needed to leave, Caleb.
Never once during those three years. I think I’d be… more okay if I knew why Mom left in the first place. I know it doesn’t change anything that happened, but at least I’d know what the hel was so important we had to leave here.”
“Only the oracle knows and who knows when she’l be back here? And you can’t go to her. She lives way back there. Even I don’t venture that far into the marshes. So don’t even think about it.”
My lips curved at the corners. “Al these years, and you stil know me so wel .”
He snickered. “Maybe we can throw her a party and lure her out. I think she was down here for the spring equinox.”
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