Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
A tense silence followed my response. Though we were locked on each other, I felt the eyes pinging from me to Captain Hondros.
“Correct.”
I didn’t have to breathe a sigh of relief. Half the class and all my friends did it for me.
“That just leaves the twenty scrolls on the monsters Barba answered for you.” My chest tightened. “That applies to everyone. On my desk first thing tomorrow morning. Dismissed!”
“Fuck’s sake,” shouted a boy I didn’t know. “You weren’t satisfied with getting Galen killed. Now you’re messing everything up for the rest of us.”
Me? They were blaming me for Barba’s rebellion and Hondros’s power trip?
Nasty, poisonous glares trailed me out the door. I didn’t need help for that question. The answer was yes.
My friends practically hustled me through the halls, carrying me back to the dorm. We burst in and slammed the door like a mob was coming for us.
“What the hell?” I burst out. “Is every instructor like that? Will every class be like that?”
“That was our fault,” Nitsa said. “We thought they’d give you a break ’cause they all know you’ve been in the reflection room. I underestimated what bastards they can be.”
The guys nodded in agreement. Seems they were all like this.
“Have they really been treating everyone like this all week?” I asked, flopping on the couch.
“Not everyone,” Tycho corrected. “The Sisypheans. One week and we got the hint. The Titans can do no wrong. The Sisypheans can sit down, shut up, and just be glad we’re here.”
“That’s awful. I’m sorry, guys. All I did was walk in there and make it worse. Forty scrolls in one night? That’s impossible.”
“Course it is,” Theron said. He dropped his head against the door, gazing resignedly at the ceiling. “When we show up more than a few scrolls short, it just gives him an excuse to pile more punishment on us. But you can’t blame yourself, Aella. That was all Sebastian.”
“Does he always speak to teachers like that? I thought my eyes would fall out of my head and roll out the door.”
“Oh my gods.” Nitsa dropped down beside me. I had no idea why she was whispering. “The guy is unreal. Most days, he just sits there, staring off into space like all of this is a waste of his time.”
“And we were lucky for it,” Ionna threw in. “It’s when he speaks... That’s when there’s trouble.”
They didn’t have to explain further. I saw it for myself. “Did he finally reveal his power? Is it as mind bending as everyone thought? Is that why Hondros put up with him for as long as he did?”
Nitsa tossed her head. “It’s been nothing but smoke creatures. At first I thought it was cruel, but now I know why they make us reveal our powers to everyone on the first day. Sitting next to someone in class and having no idea what he can do to you...” She trailed off, expression grim.
“Demigods only get one power,” I reminded. “That power can take different forms like it does for a shapeshifter like Sirena, but it’s still just the one. He isn’t lying about playing with smoke. The question is, what else can he do with it?”
“Maybe he’ll tell you,” Ionna replied.
“Me?”
“This morning was the first time he came to someone’s rescue. He didn’t speak up for Daciana.”
“I doubt that was about me,” I said, pushing up. “I wasn’t looking for a rescue. More likely, Hondros pisses him off and he jumped on a chance to humiliate him. Speaking of, we should get started on those scrolls. And I need to get caught up on the week, so we don’t get any more.”
We buckled down and passed the next hour studying, reading, writing, and prepping me for what was coming. Sirena, the Titans, and Hondros caught me off guard. I wouldn’t walk in with my head down again.
“Next is history, then self-mastery,” Daciana murmured to me. We molded into the crowd of novices shuffling out of the dorm wing. “Afterward, the mess hall opens for two hours. Once it’s closed, it’s closed and we don’t eat again until it opens after the day’s lessons.”
“That leaves combat and field medicine for the afternoon. Not so bad.”
“Think again,” Nitsa said, falling in step with us. “After that, we have mountains of coursework and studying to do. They really pile it on in the first couple months to prepare us for the culling.”
“The culling,” I repeated. “They mentioned that in the welcome book. It’s a test to determine if we’re ready to move on to the second part of our novice training. Did they tell you guys more about it while I was away?”
“No, nothing,” Daciana said. “I asked our history instructor because she’s less horrible than the rest, but even she was cagey. She said something like ‘knowing too much about the test will change it.’ Whatever that means.”