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It was like falling through the universe and watching the worlds blur by. Exotic forests, strange cities of alien beings, deserts, and oceans of all colors swirled around us at high speed, and we kept slipping through them.
Until finally, the endless azure sky no longer spun.
I still clutched my mates’ hands as we touched down hard on a sidewalk. As soon as we were steady on the ground, my mates held me in the midst of their tight embrace.
I let out a rasped breath and inhaled. The air smelled earthy, with a hint of lemon and ocean salt.
“We’re back,” Axel said excitedly, breaking away from the group hug. “We’re back on Earth, in Staten Island. We’re back at the Academy.”
Axel was born on this island. This was truly his home.
With sunlight on my face, I squinted to take in the lush garden to the left, a century-old tree in the center of the courtyard. Skyscrapers of steel and glass rose in the far background, and near us stood several old stone buildings with elaborate carvings that marked their rich tradition.
Memory flooded back before my fluttering eyelids.
I pointed to the end of the courtyard and cried in thrill. “I remember that place. That’s where you dragged me to the class of Olympian Glory and History, Paxton. You didn’t allow me to change my mismatched socks, or grab a donut for breakfast.”
Héctor, Axel, and Zak turned to snarl at Paxton. I hadn’t even mentioned the incident of me being beaten half to death under Paxton’s supervision in the training room.
“Guys,” I said. “That was a long time ago. What I meant is how far we’ve come, all of us.”
I thought of the first day Axel had dragged me to Half-Blood Academy, aka Half-Death Academy. Zak hadn’t listened to my pleading and watched the Blade of Runes toast me. Paxton had tried to bend and break me, and Hector had wanted me all to himself.
Now we were all here, together. And I was more in love with them, after all that we’d gone through.
Paxton dropped to one knee, held my hand, turned it, and kissed my palm with his sensual lips. “Allow me to make it up to you for the rest of my life, Buttercup.”
Was he kind of proposing to me? Had Dad’s big words about the wedding gotten into my mates’ thick heads? My mates were super hot, but who wanted to get married at twenty-two in this age? I’d be the laughingstock of the academy, and I hadn’t graduated. I still had two years to go.
But should I even be a student again? I could take down any power on Earth easily. I was the biggest shark in the pool now. But maybe one more year would be worth it just to sit through class and hang out with my friends.
I yanked back my hand, which appeared rude, but I didn’t want the sea demigod to have a chance of producing a ring. I’d better take precautions with these demigods. Immortals were unpredictable when they weren’t crazy. And I didn’t want my other mates to follow suit and drop to one knee or something.
“Demigods!” Shouts rose all around us while Paxton still knelt before me.
A company of Dominion soldiers rushed toward us like hard waves from all directions.
Paxton jumped to his feet, drawing his sword, and bared his teeth. He was battle ready in an instant.
My mates leapt into a protective formation around me.
Zak and Axel brandished their blades in front of them, growling, eager to cut down anyone who came close. Héctor whooshed out his massive obsidian wings, which turned steel hard, and his death light hissed on his flaming blade. Their power rolled off them, charging the air with terrifying electricity.
We’d been in various enemy territories this whole time. We’d forgotten what it was like to have our own army around.
The Dominions halted their advances as one, stunned at their leaders’ hostility and level of craziness, and then they made the smart move—they all dropped to one knee in surrender and renewed their fealty to the demigods.
And if I wasn’t mistaken, I believe I caught a glimpse of One-eighth, the first-year privileged rich girl who bullied my friends, constantly picked fights with me, and tried to land one of my demigods, among the kneeling soldiers.
“Demigods?” a leading soldier asked uncertainly. “You’ve finally returned?”
I recognized him—the lieutenant of the Dominion of Gods. His hair was still military short and brown. He wore the same uniform with a three-bar badge and an insignia of an eagle piercing lightning—the symbol of the Dominion army.
“Cameron.” I grinned at him. “Where is my old sidekick Marie? Are my friends Nat and Yelena around? Could you bring them to me?”
My grin dropped as I thought of my friends. Last I saw through Mom’s spyglass, they were sent to fight at the most hazardous frontline. I needed to either join them or pull them back soon.
Cameron’s hazel eyes squinted at me. “Marigold? We searched everywhere when you disappeared, and then the demigods went after you.”
