My question wiped away the semimiserable expression she’d been wearing. “Oh, it’s amazing. It’s about gods who were banishedfrom the world for centuries, and now they’re back and want revenge. The first book was fucking perfection, and left me witha moderate cliffhanger, so now I’m desperate. If only there was a spell to get these books out faster, but I can’t reallycomplain.”
Sara shook her head at us and went back to flirting with the fire elemental on her right. He had the sort of golden surferboy looks she liked, and at least one of us was on their way to getting some action tonight.
“She’s one of my favorite authors,” Haley continued, “and is independently published, which allows her to release at leastfour books a year. I don’t have the patience to wait for these yearly releases.”
I wasn’t what you’d call a reader. I loved the concept of it, but getting my brain to focus long enough to finish a novelwas hard. I’d started and abandoned more books than I could remember. “Maybe you can recommend a series for me to start.”Haley’s enthusiasm was addictive, and maybe I just hadn’t found the right books yet.
Her eyes grew even wider, and she bounced on the spot. “I’ve been desperate for a friend to share books with,” she gaspedas she rapidly hugged me, pulling away just as fast. “This might be the best day of my life.”
“Just point me in the right direction,” I told her. “Did you bring all your paperbacks with you to college? Do your parents mail them to you? How do you get these new books when they release at midnight?”
Her lips twitched. “The hardest thing I’ve ever done was leave my books at home. I smuggled in a few for emergencies.” Shepatted her pocket, because apparently a party was an emergency. “For new releases, I’ve figured out how to manipulate my e-readerto prevent it shorting out around magic. Back home I live in a human suburb so there’s no issue. Here, thankfully, it’s holdingup so far. I have a second, backup one, of course, if you want to borrow it.” Her genius was showing, and I loved that abouther.
“That would be amazing. Make sure you load your favorite sexy series on there for me to start.”
Haley bounced to her feet, shoulders back with her new mission. “I’m heading to my dorm to get it ready for you.”
“We’ll walk with you,” Sara said, getting to her feet as well, with the help of a surfy warlock. Turned out our resident partygirl had found a new interest, and she was out of here.
“I’ll wait for Belle,” I said, shooting them both smirks. “Enjoy the rest of your night and I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
Sara leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “See you later, witch.”
“Be careful,” I murmured, and she shot me a cheeky smile.
“Always.”
The three of them exited the party, just shy of Haley’s one hour, and she couldn’t have looked happier about it.
Alone now, I noticed Jensen in a crowd with his friends, and missing my brother, I was about to head in his direction, whenBelle stumbled toward me. She held two cans in her hands, but her face was pale, and in the flickering light of the fire Inoticed shiny tracks on her cheeks.
Panic grasped me as I rushed to meet her. “What’s wrong?” I asked, taking hold of her shoulders to examine her closely. “Are you okay?”
“Annabeth,” she rasped, sounding both pissed and in pain. “Sh-she jabbed me with an iron attack spell, and it knocked allair from me. I didn’t even see it coming.”
She pressed her hand to her ribs, and then worked up the side of her green sweater so we could both see the dark spatter ofbruises already forming.
A litany of curses spilled from my lips as I raged at that fucking witch. An iron attack was designed for blunt force trauma,and could break ribs if wielded by a strong enough witch or warlock.
“It looks bad,” I said, barely keeping it together. “I’m going to fucking kill her. I don’t know how, but if I have to throwher into the lake and watch the monster take her down, I’ll do just that.” I’d told my friends about my hallucination, andwhile none of them believed it was real, I’d had to mention it anyway.
Belle laughed briefly, before it died under her groan. “Fuck, remind me not to do that again. I mean, not that I don’t appreciateyour possibly mythical lake monster taking her down, but for now can we just get out of here?”
“You need a healer,” I said shortly, my gaze darting around to see if I could find Annabeth.
Belle didn’t argue, which told me how much pain she was in. “I can go back on my own,” she huffed, holding her side. “I don’twant to ruin the party for you.”
I leveled my best glare on her. “Like I would let you walk back alone while injured with that psycho witch running aroundout there.”
“Come on, killer,” Belle said with another strained laugh, noticing me still checking the crowd for Annabeth. “I love youfor caring, and as badly as I want to see you smack her around again, it’s not worth putting you in her crosshairs. She’s been avoiding you, and I want to keep it that way.”
Belle was the best friend a girl could have hoped for, and I thanked Selene’s light that Dad hadn’t dragged me out of college.I was closer to Belle, Sara, and Haley in a few weeks than I’d been with Trina and Olivia in years of friendship.
Friendships were weird in that way, but I wasn’t going to question it.
As we set off to leave, Trevor intercepted us. “Sister!” he exclaimed, sounding as if he’d indulged in more than plain oldbeer. “Where in the warlock have you been?”
“Brother,” I shot back dryly. “We’re heading out. I’ll chat with you later.”
