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“Noah,” I murmur, “you can’t do this.
My heart hammers in my throat. My head feels empty, and I don’t know what to do. But I can’t let Noah kill Jacob. I don’t want him to bear the guilt of that.
I’m about to go to him, but Noah’s faster. He reaches Jacob in a few strides and holds the flaming black sphere in front of his face.
“You’ve asked me to release you before. What do you want me to say? You still don’t deserve it. Think long and hard about what you’ve done. Pine for your sister and never forget what kind of a person she was. She wouldn’t want me to take your life. So for her sake, I couldn’t bring myself to do it even if I wanted to.”
The tears stream from Jacob’s eyes. He sobs quietly and slumps forward. He looks so exhausted, so fragile, and so lost.
“If Frances really meant something to you, then try to get back on your feet. Pull yourself together and try to lead some kind of a life. You owe her that much.” With that, he shoves Jacob away from him and flings the burning orb at his feet. “Now get lost. And don’t ever ask me to kill you again because it’s never going to happen!” With that, he turns around, glances at me, and mutters, “Let’s get out of here.”
I take one last look at Jacob, still kneeling on the ground. He seems torn. Finally, he drags himself to his feet, glances at me, and disappears into the darkness of the Odyss.
Chapter 6
Attention please,” says Mr. Laydon, clapping his hands. I suppress a yawn and stretch a little to wake myself up. Last night was pretty short thanks to my excursion with Noah. I’ve been drinking gallons of coffee all morning to keep myself awake. But I’m at the point where the caffeine’s not really doing much anymore. I glance wistfully at the door, even though I know Ayden won’t come today. He has another meeting with the hunters to plan the upcoming raid on the Noctu. Today they’re discussing the exact timing. Thinking about it makes me feel sick. Another fight, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“As you all know, we have a new student with us today,” says Mr. Laydon, launching into a speech that doesn’t bode well.
At that moment, the door to the gym opens and Claire enters. She looks picture-perfect: black leggings, trendy top, even her braided hair looks like a work of art that some stylist must have spent hours on. In any case, she makes a dramatic impression. All eyes are on her as she goes to stand beside the teacher with a polite smile.
“Miss Cunningham has no key spirit, and many of you are probably asking yourselves why she’s here. Well, it’s quite simple.”
As I suspect everyone else is doing right now, I mentally answer his absurd question: she’s a Cunningham. Of course the rules don’t apply to her, which is why nobody’s asking themselves why she’s here.
“She knows our world like no other. Her family has several members on the Council and is highly respected and influential.”
Good of him to emphasize that again, in case it escaped anyone’s attention.
“She’s been educated from a young age for a future role on the Council, and she has been well prepared for that position. She still has no key spirit, but that could change at any time. In any case, she’ll continue to receive the best education possible, and that’s exactly why she’s here. Even without a spirit, Miss Cunningham will play an important role in our world someday.”
I mentally roll my eyes. More lies. I don’t get why they have to keep hiding this stuff from the students. Why can’t the Council be honest and tell them about the goddesses of destiny? I guess because the truth is hard to stomach. What would happen to this world if the younger generation knew that everything in their lives was predetermined? That there are a lot of things they have no influence over? I expect many of them would be discouraged from trying to overcome adversity or striving for their dreams.
“Miss Cunningham will train with us. First, she’s going to watch each one of you closely and observe how good your connection to your spirit is and which techniques you use. Then, she’ll spar with one or two of you. So as you can see, it’s going to be a very enlightening class for all of us.”
Kate and I exchange a glance. We’re both unsure exactly how this is supposed to work when she has no spirit. Although I’m pretty sure Claire’s not defenseless. The confidence she radiates is proof of that. She stands there, self-assured and without a hint of shyness, studying each one of us attentively. She already seems to be drawing conclusions.
I stretch again and try to ignore Claire’s gaze. I should just focus on training and block out our observer. To warm up, I run a few laps with Yoru and then send my spirit a little odeon and command him to throw his first fire hexes.
I’m trying to keep my flow of odeon consistent, and since I’m not very energetic today, I pitch it at a lower level. I hope that doesn’t encourage Claire to select me as a training partner. But it seems I’m in luck. She chooses Monica, whose little monkey is rampaging around the gym, spraying his water hexes everywhere. As cute as her key spirit looks at first glance, Monica and her monkey are pretty sly. So I’m surprised when Claire picks her as an opponent.
I pause and watch Monica send odeon to her spirit. Her monkey becomes huge and fierce-looking. His sharp teeth alone are intimidating enough. Monica smiles. She’s seems to have been waiting for this. It’s not every day that you have a chance to put a Cunningham – a future Council member of high standing – in their place. I can imagine what she’s hoping to garner with her victory: the attention of the Council and proof that she has hunter potential.
Monica commands her monkey to pull out all the stops. Her spirits summons a gigantic wave, which surges across the floor and then towers above Claire. She watches the attack with a stoic expression, then she turns and runs at lightning speed. The mass of water follows her, thundering behind her delicate figure. She moves faster and faster and then stops in front of Monica.
But Monica sees through her ruse. “You really think you can turn my own hex on me?”
She nods to her spirit, who increases his magic. The wave moves faster, spiraling up into the air, and then it breaks over Claire and sweeps her away. I gasp as she disappears from view under the mass of water. Monica’s eyes dart around in search of her too, but she can’t locate her.
The water slowly recedes, and suddenly I register a rapid movement to the right. I turn toward it and can’t believe my eyes. Claire is standing beside her opponent. She rams her elbow hard into Monica’s abdomen, causing her to bend double. Then she quickly grips Monica’s arm and throws her to the ground in a perfectly rehearsed sequence of moves. The moment her opponent hits the ground, Claire is already stooping over her with an arm around her neck, ready to cut off her air supply at any moment.
“Your water may be powerful, but you have a tendency to neglect your right side. The flow is pretty weak there. It didn’t take much to escape it. And once your magic is circumvented, you’re no longer a threat.”
Monica stares at Claire with wide eyes. There’s a look of fear in them, which merely elicits a smile from her opponent. Eventually, Claire lets go of Monica, flicks her hair over her shoulder, and folds her arms across her chest. The rest of us wear expressions of surprise. Nobody figured a person without a spirit could be so dangerous. But a Cunningham, especially one who’s also a miraya, should never be underestimated.
I dry my hair and put on a sweater and jeans. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Claire getting changed too, and she’s not alone. A few other girls have gathered around her, trying to engage her in conversation.
“You were incredible. And you did all that without a spirit,” says Marisol, regarding Claire with doe eyes.
