Kallie didn’t question anything, just nodded.
Marcus made a face. “Goddess, what are we getting intothistime?”
“Nothing we aren’t mixed up in already,” I responded. “Trust me, you’re gonna want to hear this.”
Marcus went to object further, but Charlie elbowed him. I began heading toward the forest on the other side of the prison yard. Kallie looked behind us, but the other students on the grounds were either too busy playing games or talking to be concerned about where we were heading.
Oberi guided Charlie through the trees. Charlie used his Earth magic to move some of the branches and plants out of the way, though Marcus— the wonder he was— still kept tripping over them anyway. “Ouch! Ava, do you know where you’re going?”
“It’s not far,” I responded. “It’s just a secret.”
“I’m half-convinced you’re leading us out here to murder us,” Marcus protested.
“Nah, you’d be dead already.”
Charlie let out a chuckle, and Kallie hissed with laughter. Marcus scowled and grumbled, “I’d like to see you try.”
Finally, we came to the large rock formation Charlie and I had found last semester. It loomed overhead, in the middle of the woods. Marcus balked about going inside, but Kallie dragged him in after Charlie and me. I lit a fireball for light, and once we entered into the giant empty chamber in the middle of the formation, both Kallie and Marcus gasped.
It was the same stone room I’d summoned the ancestors in. It looked as empty and forlorn as it had when we’d last been here. Kallie and Marcus circled the room, while Oberi sniffed the floor and Rishi ran after a mouse he’d found hiding in one of the rock’s pores. Charlie’s hands roamed the stone, and he smiled as he observed the structure with the use of his Nivita magic.
It was so nice to see him happy. This was as natural a place as any for him to be. It was the perfect spot.
“This place is like an evil lair,” Kallie said as she looked around in awe.
“Yeah,” Marcus added. “Acriminallair.”
That sounded pretty damn good. “Okay, I think this place needs a name. All who are in favor of calling this place the Criminal Lair?” I asked.
There was a show of hands, and everyone agreed. I gave a nod. “Awesome. So now we have a code on where to meet.”
“Butwhydo we need it?” Marcus asked. “What did you bring us here to talk about?”
My mouth went dry, and I cleared my throat. “Take a seat. We might be here a minute.”
I set my fireball on the floor. I sustained the flame as I sat cross-legged in front of it, and my friends sat around me in a circle. Oberi and Rishi preoccupied themselves with the mouse, though every now and then, Oberi’s eyes flickered back to me.
“I didn’t tell you guys everything that happened during the Darke Games,” I began.
Charlie opened his mouth, but Marcus cut in first. “Oh, no,” he started. “Not this again.”
“Stuff happened when you guys were possessed by the lichen,” I said.
“Was it when you were talking to yourself in the middle of the woods?” Kallie asked. “Because I reviewed the tapes, and I’ve got to be honest with you, that was a little weird.”
“Because I wasn’t talking to myself,” I said. “The person I was talking to was actually a god. Coyote, the Koigni god, to be exact. He helped me figure out how to save you guys during the Games.”
Charlie, Marcus and Kallie didn’t say anything, and I worried they really did think I was crazy. I rushed to explain. “Technology wouldn’t capture him on tape, and even if everyone else was there with me, no one would be able to hear and see him but me. And you guys, I think.”
“Why us?” Kallie asked.
“Because he told me that I’m a demigod, and so are all of you.”
Marcus blanched. Charlie shook his head no, like he couldn’t believe it, but Kallie’s look was introspective— like she might actually consider it.
I gave a frustrated noise. “Come on, guys. You can’t tell me it doesn’t make sense. All of us were using crazy magic during the Games, and we’re all First Year students. We’re more than talented supernaturals. We have to be.”
“Are yousureCoyote came to you?” Marcus asked. “I’m not saying you were imagining things, but we were all pretty stressed out during the Games. You could’ve had a trauma response.”
