“Yes, I want it.”
I wanted to stay, even if it meant doing these trials.
Icouldn’t tell you why I did it. I hated most people, but I didn’t hate people I didn’t know. Usually, five minutes with them was enough to decide they were boring, unintelligent, and impertinent. I listened to some of these people ask questions and it was enough to know I already hated them.
I couldn’t believe my parentsletme get kidnapped. They knew how I felt about touching. I didn’t even likethemtouching me. I wasn’t a hugger. Some people thought it was rude that I refused to hug them when they wanted, but boundaries and my own comfort were important.
While my stupid brothers were off learning about the art of warfare, I was actually living in the current era. Yeah, you couldsend people to die for you, but there was no guarantee you’d win. Unless you were smart and figured out everything was online now. And if you used that to your advantage, you could get intoanything.
Which is why I whipped my phone out when the gorgeous redhead mentioned her insulin. I shouldn’t have given a shit. I could end up talking to her and she could be irritating. She might be one of those people that chewed too loudly.
I shouldn’t have even given a shit, but I set a program on my phone to search for the Bluetooth connection on hers. I didn’t peep on her texts and photos because I wasn’t a pervert. If she wanted to take selfies in her underwear, that was her business. I wouldn’t judge anyone for doing that. Not everyone was born rich and people paid a lot of money for that.
No, I figured out which app was connected to the continuous glucose monitor I could see peeping out at the bottom of her sleeve. It was a weird feeling. I didn’t know her. I shouldn’t even care. She seemed to have a handle on her diabetes and was pretty vocal about her needs.
She didn’tneedme creeping on that, but I just felt better if I could see there was nothing wrong. I didn’t even know why that was so important to me, but I felt better once I could check in on her.
Right, back to this absolute cluster fuck. If my parents justletthem take me, they might disown me if I left and tried to go back. And I would justnotbe disowned before any of my dumber brothers. If you asked me, Phillip should have been kicked out of the familyagesago.
A very serious-looking man who hadn’t really asked any stupid questions so far and had mentioned he wassupposedto be at Oxford right now shot his hand up. I might actually tolerate this one. He was polite and didn’t seem like a moron.
“I’m sorry, but what exactly are these trials? Are we meant to be in fist fights with witches and vampires?”
That sounded horrifically mundane. You couldn’t tell someone’s intelligence level and whether they deserved a place at university by their ability to throw punches. Florin was an excellent boxer, but a complete moron.
“Yes, I was getting there. That’s not what the trials are. The land around the castle will be divided into four quadrants. You’ll be given a map. Crystals are very important for magical work. There is one hidden in each quadrant. You’ll have to find all four crystals to complete the trials.
“The students on the supernatural side will be putting obstacles in your way. And we say thisevery yearand there’s always one team who ignores it. This isn’t a competition with other teams. You’re competing against the students trying to trip you up. There’s always at least one team who tries to sabotage everyone because they think it will make them look better.
“You have to find the four crystals before the timer runs out, not be the first team to find them all. There’s no need to start anything with the other teams. In fact, it’s generally frowned upon to do so.”
I despised cheaters. It was why I stopped playing games with my brothers as a child.
I had a feeling I was going to hate everyone here except the pretty redhead and the guy who was supposed to be at Oxford.
Headmaster Mykene at least acknowledged a lot of us had been snatched from our beds and hadn’t gotten to eat anything except the magic ice cream. She told us to exit through the right and there would be food waiting. This was where she wanted to meet with us privately to get a feel of us.
She waited until we all fixed a plate of food and started calling us. She called me first and told me to bring my food with me. The selection of food was decent, and I had options. I grabbed what I wanted and followed her to a side room.
Headmaster Mykene indicated I should sit across the desk and sat down. I wasn’t sure what she wanted to tell me in private. She had an extensive file in front of her with my name on it. Which was weird. It was almost like an intimidation tactic because I could see it and I didn’t really know why that information wasn’t on the tablet she was carrying.
“So, now that I have a face to the file, welcome. This is just a one on one for you to ask me anything and for me to get a read on you. Americans are particularly challenging unless you’re Native American. You’re a descendent from a god of certain regional pantheons and America is more of a melting pot. Your DNA is usually made of up several possible pantheons.”
“Mine is pretty boring. My father can trace his line to the Mayflower and they all believe certain people shouldn’t mix. It’s not just races. My father would have had a heart attack and died if I wanted to marry a Catholic. I mean, he kicked me out because I didn’t want to marry his choice, either, so that should narrow it down.”
“That’s where things get complicated. I was worried about telling you this, but I get the feeling you don’t like him very much.”
“I don’t, so talk away.”
“Blue Matthews isn’t your father.”
I fell out laughing. I could maybe believe supernaturals were real and I might be a reincarnated god, but my mother cheating on my father was absolutely ridiculous.
“I’m not sure why that’s funny.”
“My mother is a complete doormat who drank the patriarchy Kool-Aid. When she gave me the talk when I was old enough, she didn’t actually tell me shit. She said to just lay down and let my husband do what he wanted on our wedding night and warned me that sex should only be for making babies or when my husband initiated it. If she cheated on him, she would havetold him, and he would have dragged her ass in front of his entire congregation.”
“Be that as it may, your parents were having trouble conceiving a child. They prayed about it but eventually sought medical advice. Blue thought it was all his wife, so he demanded all the tests be run on her and refused any on him. She was completely healthy and fertile. Blue was the reason she wasn’t pregnant.
