AllFreeNovel
Share Us
9
PROGRESS IS PROGRESS
ARIA
Iwas distracted.
With the arrival of Azazel and Tyler hanging like a proverbial guillotine over our heads, I wasn’t focused during night class. Training during the day had been intense, but there were so many of us, no instructor had paid express attention to me. I’d been able to get away with being absent-minded, letting Reese nudge me when it was time to refocus.
That wouldn’t happen with Lucia hyperfocused on Reese and I, though. As the day had gone on, I’d forced myself to worry about other things.
I’d helped Neo with the fae children, which wasn’t that much work, considering the fae nannies frowned at everything we did and hovered obsessively.
Fae children were delicate and tiny, but brilliant—even the toddlers were fast learners. Unfortunately, they were also wildly mischievous and had very little control over their powers.
Since I hadn’t seen any fae openly use their powers aside from the King, Queen, and Hemlock, I had assumed that they were only able to control vines and trees. I was wrong; they could controlallelements.
(Or, as the scholars had been trying to tell the little ones,manipulateorcoaxthe elements.)
Personally, I wouldn’t last five minutes in a classroom with little pyrokinetics, but Neo had managed to escape unscathed. He even worked mostly with the older kids, and ones of mixed species who could usually fly; those children were much stronger than their full fae classmates, to boot.
What was truly interesting was the way they were treated—or rather, the way that theyweren’t. Unlike back in America, where they’d be treated like social pariahs or criminals, they were treated with equal respect by both their peers and teachers here.
I was impressed.
I’d let my work with Neo take precedence over my panic about Azazel and Tyler, and it had distracted me until it was time for our night lessons. I was more focused on the present by then, determined to get through whatever version of Hell Lucia had managed to come up with tonight.
I thought I was, at least, until Reese and I met at the entrance, and we heard the crowd before we saw it.
There was a makeshift boxing ring set up in the center of the training yard, circled by a small crowd of students from our morning sessions. Lucia stood in the middle of the ring, hands on her hips. She was clearly waiting for us and motioned for us to join her in the ring.
I didn’t even notice Sariel or our friends in the crowd until we were up close.
“We’re moving your first assessment up,” she started by way of explanation. The chatter from the small crowd died down as she spoke. “You’re going to go up against my top two students from regular training.”
Two fae stepped out of the group. I mentally groaned at the sight of them.
These two weren’t exactly popular, but they were well-known for being cocky overachievers. While there was no favoritism at play, the instructors did acknowledge when their students were doing well, and these two were always doing well.
“Rose will be Reese’s opponent. Micah will be yours, Aria,” Lucia said. “The rules are simple. You pass the test by getting your opponent on your back by any means necessary. You’re allowed to tap someone in after ten minutes with no success. ‘Any means necessary’ does not mean ‘try to kill each other.’ Make me proud—Commander Thorn is watching.”
Reese and I backed away to climb out of the ropes. Neo appeared at the side of the ring, his eyes glued to Reese and a deep frown on his face.
“I don’t know if you’ll need to tap someone in or not, but the Commander said it can’t be me,” he said.
I almost laughed at the way he was pouting. “It’s because you might kill a future Guardian by accident, Neo.”
“More like on purpose,” Reese amended, glaring at him. “If you can’t handle this, you need to leave. I don’t need you distracting me with your overprotective bullshit.”
A snicker sounded out, and I turned my head to find Rose and her friends glaring at Reese and Neo. Or… maybe just Reese.
I glanced between Reese and Rose. “Does Rose have a problem with you?” I asked her, interrupting their squabbling, which was mostly her squabbling and him staring at her silently.
“One, she’s a bitch. Two, she wants Neo but can’t because he’s making everyone think we’re together,” she snapped, glaring at Rose over my shoulder.
I gaped. “She said that to you? Wait. Wait a minute—”
“Would you prefer it if the fae men thought you were free to sleep with them? Do you want to find out if they understand the meaning ofconsent, Reese?” Neo asked, his eyes hooded as he looked at her. “Because I can tell you right now that the women donot.”
