Apollyon

She made a show of slowly closing her book and putting it aside. Biting back a groan, I walked into the room and leaned against the desk. “What?” I demanded, folding my arms.

My arch-nemesis stared back at me unflinchingly. Whatever I’d dished out at her over the years, she’d always returned. In some ways, we were a lot alike. We were two alpha females, constantly at one another’s throats.

But it was more than that.

In a flash of disturbing insight, I knew why we’d become sandbox enemies so very long ago. When I was younger, before Mom had yanked my butt out of the Covenant, before Lea and I hated each other, we used to be decent. That is, until one day, I’d said something terrible to her.

Even at the age of ten, Lea had loved her pure-blooded stepmother and half-sister—to the point that the rest of us halfs thought something was wrong with her. Most of the pures ignored their half-blood children, especially the ones who hadn’t birthed or sired the half-bloods. Stepparents in our world were truly step-monsters. But in Lea’s world, her pure-blooded stepmother must’ve loved her dearly. Every Monday, after spending the weekend with her stepmother, Lea would talk about all the wonderful things they’d done together—shopping, watching movies, and getting ice cream. None of us had that with our step-monsters. Lucian used to lock me in my bedroom when Mom wasn’t home.

So naturally, we’d been jealous.

We’d dogged her constantly about her love of her stepmother. Destroyed the dress she had bought Lea by spilling cranberry juice on it. Hid the tiny photo album Lea carried with her all the time. It had been polka-dotted with pink stripes, full of these pictures of her and Dawn, her pure-blooded half-sister. Once I’d found a card Lea’s stepmother had written to Lea, tucked away in one of her textbooks.

I had ripped it to shreds in front of Lea, laughing as she cried.

Then one day, while we were all ru

After class, I had found Lea sitting in the courtyard with her friends. Followed by Caleb and a few others, I’d stormed their circle and stood in the middle. And I’d said the biggest, meanest thing I could ever say to another half-blood.

“You have more pure-blood in you than half.”

The same thing Seth had said to me once before.

Come to think of it, I think I may have spit on her, too.

Lea pretty much hated me after that, and honestly, I don’t know how I had forgotten that. Then again, I probably chose to forget what’d started our sandbox hate. I always chalked Lea’s animosity toward me as a product of her general bitchiness, when in reality I had been nothing more than a bully.

It seemed too late to apologize now, and knowing Lea, it wouldn’t change anything, not that I expected it would.

Lea watched me now, head tilted to the side as if she knew where my thoughts had gone. She smiled tightly. “You let up on the air element while we were fighting.”

My mouth dropped opened, but she rushed on.

“I wouldn’t have broken your hold if you hadn’t let up. I felt it lessen—the pressure—and I didn’t realize right away that you did it, but I figured it out,” she said, as if she wanted to prove that she’d been smart enough to see through it. “What I don’t get is why you did it. You could’ve pushed me straight through the ground. Gods know you never had a problem coming after me before. What’s so different now?”

Unfolding my arms, I gripped the edge of the desk. I had no idea what to say. Lea was right. I hadlet up on the air element, and that wasn’t the only thing she called me out on. A few months ago, if I’d had control over the element then, I would’ve tossed her around the forest for the fun of it, maybe even thrown another apple at her face. Anything was possible.

I tugged on my hair, pulling the thick braid over one shoulder. Lea waited for my explanation and I felt my cheeks redden.

Her amethyst eyes narrowed.

Blowing out a low breath, I rolled my eyes and tossed my hair back over my shoulder. “Okay. You got me. I did let up, and I did it because I remember how much it sucked to be held down like that and be helpless. I hatedit when Seth did it to me.”

She paled under her ever-present tan. “He… he did that to you?”

“In training,” I said, dismissing where her mind was obviously going with that. “Anyway, I just couldn’t do that to someone else, even if that person isa stuck-up, tan-as-leather hooch.”

Lea watched me a moment, then cracked a smile. “And that’s coming from Alex, Covenant dropout extraordinaire and psycho Apollyon.”

My lips twitched. “Ow. Burn.”

Turning her head, she hid her grin but quickly sobered as she faced me. “You’ve changed so much, Alex.”

Part of me wanted to deny it, but it was true. As I stared back at the copper-haired girl, I realized we’d both irrevocably changed. There was no going back to the girls we’d been over the past summer.

Lea sighed and her nose wrinkled. “So… this is awkward.”

I laughed. “Yeah, it is. I feel like I need to insult you some more.”

She leaned back in an arrogant sprawl as she raised her hands. “Do your best.”

“It’s too easy,” I said, letting go of the desk, feeling the blood rush back into my fingertips. “I’ll just wait for you to do something to tick me off. I’m sure it won’t take long.”

“Probably not,” she replied. “I’m surprised you’re not all up Olivia’s butt.”

I arched a brow. “Trying to tick me off so soon? I’m surprised.”

Lea shrugged and then there was a pause. “Olivia told me that you saw Caleb twice. Was that… was that true?”

I nodded. “I saw him when I went to the Underworld, and he visited me right before I escaped.”

Her thick lashes swept down. “Was he okay?”

And then it hit me. It wasn’t concern for Caleb or anything, but the reason she was asking had to do with her half-sister. “Yeah, he was more than okay. He was happier than he was before he passed.” A lump formed in my throat and I focused on the empty bookshelves. “He said my mom was there, too, so I’m sure your parents and Dawn are there… and they’re okay.”

She drew in a choked breath, and like me, she suddenly became focused on the frayed edges of the couch arm. All half-bloods had been trained to show no pain, and gods forbid we cried. The whole show-no-weakness mantra was hard to leave behind.

I dropped down on the cushion beside Lea and picked up the book she’d been reading. Turning the book over, my brows flew up as I got an eyeful of the hottie on the cover. “Wait. Is this book about aliens?”

She snatched it back from me. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“But they’re hot aliens.” She tapped on the guy’s face with one thin finger. “And he can be my ET any day.”

I laughed outright, and it did feel a little odd to be laughing with Lea of all people, but she smiled a little. Lea and I would never be BFF’s, but I wondered if, one day, we’d actually consider each other friends.

A sharp slice of pain shot from behind my eyes and across my temples. Wincing, I stood and took a deep breath. “Do we have any Tylenol around?” Another shot of pain, like fire streaking through the vessels in my brain, caused nausea to rise in my throat. “Or a sledge hammer? Something?”

“I’m sure there’s something—hey— hey—are you okay?” Lea’s voice suddenly sounded so, so far away, but her hand was on my arm.

“Yeah, I’m… okay.” I took a step and felt a tremble in my legs. Muscles twitched, gave way.

An explosion flashed white in the dimly lit room, blinding me temporarily. I thought I screamed a warning. I thought I turned to move in front of Lea, but when the intense white light receded, I wasn’t in the little room anymore.