The Power

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  Oh. Crap.

  Chapter 6

  My heart pounded in my chest, and a sliver of fear mingled with unease as I stared at the two pure-bloods. The one Seth had punched into next week tossed around the ball of abnormally bright flames like a mortal would play with a baseball.

  Keeping an eye on him, I took a small step back and to the side, out from behind Colin. Deep down, I knew reasoning with them was going to be pointless, but I had to try. “We don’t want any problems. We’re just getting something to eat.”

  “Does it look like we care what you want to do?” Icy Blond asked.

  “You should,” Colin challenged. At his sides, his hands curled into hefty fists. There was no missing them. “I don’t think you want to piss off the Apollyon again. Messing with her will do that.”

  “Fuck the Apollyon,” Icy Blond shot back, and the ball of flames hovering above his palm pulsed. “He’s still just a fucking half-blood when it’s all said and done. He isn’t worth shit.”

  The other pure-blood shot a nervous glance in Icy Blond’s direction. It didn’t look like he was that on board with what was going down.

  “You’re a bigoted idiot,” Colin spat. “And you’re—”

  Everything happened so fast, and I just reacted without thinking. Icy Blond cocked his arm back, and I knew he was about to let the ball of fire go. There was a chance that Colin wouldn’t be able to move out of its way as fast as he had the last time. I just really didn’t think.

  I threw out my arm, tapping into the power coursing through my veins. Figuring that putting the flames out would render the least amount of damage, I summoned the water element. The immediate buzz of energy was magnificent. It lit up every cell in my body as if they had been starving for it. Tapping into the aether, well, it was like coming home at the end of the day and finally being able to take a bra off.

  It was that good.

  Energy burst out of me, lifting the strands of my hair. There was a second where I saw the shock flickering over Icy Blond’s face, his response wholly comical. Mouth dropped open. Eyes widened. I sort of wished I had a camera to capture the moment. The ball of flames disappeared.

  Of course, I blew all of them in different directions.

  Icy Blond and his friend flew up in the air, knocked off their feet by a hurricane-force gust. Colin slammed back into the building. I’d meant to use water and that was not what had come out of me. Wind worked too, I guessed.

  I winced when the two pures hit the ground a good distance away, their impact rattling the nearby trees. The wind settled around us. A handful of seconds later, the two pures were up on their feet and they were . . . they were running.

  I felt like a total badass.

  Colin stumbled to his feet, eyeing me as he gasped, “Holy shit.”

  Grinning, I bounced a little as I lowered my arm and turned to Colin. I watched him straighten, relieved to see that he didn’t appear to be injured.

  “How did you do that?” he asked, shaking his head.

  “I told you I would be fine without Seth,” I said.

  He blinked once and then twice. “You are so not a mortal. What . . . what are you?”

  I wasn’t sure what I could say at this point. Colin knew I wasn’t a pure or a half, and he’d just seen me use the element of air. There was only the truth at this point. I drew in a shallow breath and met his gaze. “I’m a demigod.”

  Seth

  The moment Solos and I walked back through the inner walls, I knew something was up. Marcus was standing near the first set of tall statues. For a moment, I wondered if there were more nymphs appearing, spouting random crap, but that wasn’t it.

  Behind him, sitting on a bench lit by one of the lampposts, was Josie, along with the half from yesterday. What was his name? Cole? Ben? Hell if I knew.

  I frowned as we neared them. Josie looked way too innocent sitting there with her hands folded primly in her lap and her knees pressed together. I don’t think I’d ever seen her so . . . still. Or her face so perfectly blank.

  Something was definitely up.

  And why was she with Cole-Ben-whatever-the-fuck his name was?

  “What’s going on?” Solos asked, slowing down.

  I eyed them as I crossed my arms over my chest. “I have a feeling I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear.” I paused, letting my gaze slide to the half next to Josie. “Sitting a little close to her, aren’t you, bud?” The guy immediately scooted to the right while Josie frowned. He moved so far I thought he was going to slide right off the damn thing.

  Marcus arched a brow as he glanced back at the two on the bench. “There was an altercation between them and two pure-bloods.”

  I didn’t care what it looked like or what anyone thought. One second I was standing near Solos, and then I was in front of Josie, kneeling down so we were eye level. “Are you okay?”

  She glanced toward Marcus and then slowly nodded. “I’m fine.”

  Scanning every inch of visible skin, I wasn’t sure I entirely believed her. Yes, she was training and she could fight, but there was this illogical fear brewing deep in my gut.

  “What happened?”

  Josie bit down on her lip. “Well . . .”

  “She was going to the cafeteria to get something to eat,” the guy said, standing. He took one look at my face and moved behind the bench, like that would help him if I wanted to do something to him. “I was heading back to my dorm when I saw her. Alone. And with everything going on, I didn’t think it was safe for her to be out here and I . . .” He trailed off, swallowing hard.

  “I don’t think I asked you.”

  Josie sighed. “Seth.”

  “Why don’t you just piss around her?” Solos suggested.

  Raising a hand, I flipped him off without looking back at him. “I’m also not talking to you.”

  Standing, Josie punched me lightly on the arm. “Knock it off. It’s not a big deal. These two guys were being jerks and one of them threw a ball of fire at Colin.”

  “He missed me,” Colin added.

  My eyes narrowed.

  Josie continued as she grabbed hold of her hair and started twisting it in a thick rope. “Anyway, the one guy started to throw the ball of fire again, and I sort of didn’t think, you know? I kind of just acted.”

  And now I knew where this was heading.

  “She used the air element,” Marcus explained. “They know she’s not a mortal anymore.”

  A muscle began to tick alongside my temple. “Who are they? Besides this guy over here?”

  “The two pure-bloods, who Colin was able to identify, have been rounded up, and they will be dealt with for instigating violence,” Marcus stated, his voice even. “You do not need to know who they were.”

  I twisted toward him. “Is that so? I’m going to have to disagree.”

  “Doesn’t matter what you agree with, Seth.” Marcus paused. “I remember what happened to Jackson after he took training too far. This is my call.”

  My lips thinned as the blast from the past slammed into me. I hadn’t thought about Jackson for a long time. Had no idea if that overconfident jackass was even still alive. He had not been a fan of Alex, and during training one day he literally stomped her in the ribs. I’d paid him back for that. Ten-fold.

  “Jackson?” murmured Josie.

  I shook my head. That wasn’t something she needed to know about me. Hell, she already knew enough bad shit about me.

  My gaze met Colin’s. He held it for a moment and then lowered his. He knew who the two punks were, and I had a feeling he’d be more than happy to tell me. I was going to have a little chat with him later. “So, they know you’re a demigod then?”

  She nodded. “Sorry?”

  “You don’t need to apologize.” I curled my hand around the nape of her neck and squeezed gently. “You defended yourself. You did the right thing.”

  “Agreed,” Marcus stated. “No one was injured. If anything, she scared the two boys.”


  Her lips twitched at that.

  “It’s going to get out, probably very fast.” Marcus shifted his weight as he lifted his chin. “This was bound to happen, and I don’t think it’s going to cause many problems. If anything, it will keep the foolish ones away from her.”

  That much was true, but that did mean she would be treated like some kind of prized pony, where everyone would be staring at her. I didn’t want that for her.

  “Well, it really isn’t a big deal then?” Solos ran a hand over his head, straightening the knot of hair he’d pulled back from his face. “Here I was thinking she set someone on fire.”

  Josie’s lips pursed. “I only almost did that once.”

  Behind the bench, Colin’s eyes widened. Good. Josie was hot. Literally. After a few moments, with promises from Colin that he wasn’t going to say anything, everyone split off. Solos went with Marcus to inform him of our scouting, which wasn’t much of anything. There’d been no daimons nearby, but the strangest damn thing was the absolute absence of any animal or bird. That wasn’t exactly normal and we didn’t really know what the hell that meant.

  I walked Josie back into her room, and once inside I stripped off the Covenant daggers and the titanium-loaded Glock, placing them on her coffee table.

  “Are you really okay?” I asked her, tugging my shirt out of the tactical pants. “And not pretending like something else didn’t happen?”

  “I wouldn’t pretend that something didn’t happen.”

  Bullshit. Since I woke up in the infirmary after her demigod powers had unlocked, she’d been telling me that she really didn’t remember her time with Hyperion, and I knew that was a lie.

  Her nightmares confirmed that.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, walking into the bedroom.

  “Huh?”

  She sat down on the bed and toed her shoes off. “Are you okay?” she repeated as she pulled her sweatshirt off, tossing it on the floor.

  “Yeah.” I leaned against the doorframe. “Why are you asking that?”

  She raised a shoulder. “You were just kind of . . . distant during training and whatnot. Just making sure you’re fine.”

  My gaze dipped to where she wiggled her toes. Last night I’d slept in my own room, needing the space to clear my head and get the residual anger out. It hadn’t felt right being with her when I knew I really didn’t care if I killed that kid or not.

  Didn’t feel right being here right now.

  But this was where I was at, and I didn’t plan on changing that at the moment. Leaving was what a decent person would’ve done.

  “I’m okay,” I said finally. “So, you scared those pures?”

  She grinned as she nodded. “Dude, they got up and ran. And I mean, they ran. It kind of felt awesome.”

  I chuckled as I pushed out of the doorway. “Aren’t you a little badass.”

  “I was totally a badass. Like, I felt like a . . .” She paused, her mouth soundlessly moving as I pulled my shirt over my head.

  My grin was slow, indulgent, as her gaze dropped and roamed over my bare chest and stomach. I kicked off my boots, along with my socks. “What were you saying, Josie?”

  Shaking her head, she blinked rapidly. “I . . . I hadn’t meant to use the air element, though. I was going for water.”

  “Not surprised.”

  “Ass.”

  Stretching out on my side beside her, I winked. “What? Hey. At least you successfully used an element without doing serious damage.”

  “Oh. Wow. Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

  “Sure. If that makes you feel good about yourself.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a charmer.”

  “It’s what I excel at best.” I snagged her hand and tugged her down beside me. “On a serious note, you okay with people around here finding out what you are?”

  Her nose scrunched. Gods, I still found that cute as hell. “I guess. I mean, I don’t really have an option at this point. What do you think?”

  “I think it will be okay.” I slipped my finger under the strap of her tank top. “And if not, if you get mad, you’ll just blow them all away while trying to drown them.”

  “Shut up,” she laughed.

  “Or maybe one of Apollo’s powers will surface, and you’ll turn them into bushes that smell like cat pee.” I worked the strap down, baring the white, lacy strap of her bra. “That’s what he always threatens to do to me.”

  “Nice.” Pink flooded her cheeks and her eyes brightened with arousal. “How . . . how were things outside the walls?”

  “Boring,” I murmured, easing the white strap down. “No daimons or shades.”

  Her chest rose sharply. “That’s good news, right?”

  “Yeah.” I moved on to the tank top again, easing it further down her arm until the cup of her bra was exposed. The heavy swell of her breast strained against lacy edging in such a mouth-watering way. “There weren’t any animals, though. None. Come to think of it,” I said, dragging my finger along that lace, “I didn’t hear any insects either.”

  “That’s weird.” Her breath caught as the back of my hand brushed along the front of her bra. “What could that mean?”

  I lifted my gaze, smiling slightly when I saw that her eyes were closed. “Not sure. Solos is going to keep an eye on it.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Her hand found its way to my lower stomach. I was already hard. Seemed like I was permanently that way around her, but her mere touch caused me to thicken. “I went to the library again today.”

  “Find out anything?” I reached around and found the clasp on her bra. With a flick of my fingers, the cups loosened.

  “No,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t think I’m ever going to find her.”

  I drew my hand back to her front, hooking my fingers around the center of her bra. I tugged it down and the rosy, tight peaks came into view. Glorious.

  Easing her onto her back, I shifted down and brought my mouth to her breast. With a sharp gasp, her shoulders pressed into the bed as her back arched. Cupping her breast with my other hand, I ran my thumb over the tight nipple. She moaned as she threaded her fingers through my hair.

  “Maybe . . . maybe she doesn’t exist,” she said, her voice husky in a sexy way.

  “You’ll find her.” My voice was thicker, rougher when I lifted my head, staring down at my handiwork. My lips curled up on one side. “She’s got to be there somewhere.”

  Josie didn’t respond. She was breathing hard and fast. I felt her fingers working my belt loose, and then the button. The zipper went down next and then she halted, the tips of her fingers stopped at the band of my briefs.

  She was still hesitant. Like she didn’t know if she was doing the right thing, which blew my mind, because when it came to this, there was nothing she could do wrong.

  Not a damn thing.

  I lowered my mouth to hers as I drew the briefs down my hips and then reached between us, folding my hand over hers. I pressed her palm against my length, and there was no stopping the groan. Her fingers curled around me, and my jaw locked down as raw sensation pounded through my veins. Her hand began to move. Our tongues tangled, and the taste and feel of her nearly overcame me. She quivered under me, the movement of her hand growing more confident with each stroke.

  There was another part of her I wanted to taste again. Thank the gods she was wearing loose sweats, and it took nothing for me to slip my hand in them and get—

  “I see your glyphs,” Josie whispered, her voice awed.

  A fissure of power curled down my spine. More glyphs bled to the surface of my skin, shifting and forming different symbols, a response to the presence of a god.

  I jerked back. “Shit.”

  “Seth.” Apollo’s voice boomed from the living room. “You have got to be kidding me.”