Pure

“Well, I am an Apollyon.”

She reached out, patting my arm. “Not because of what you’ll become, but because of who you already are.”

The sting of tears hit my eyes, which seemed so weak. I pulled away, fiddling with the chain on the lamp. “I don’t know about that. I should’ve done something when Mom left the Covenant. And I really shouldn’t have gone after her when she’d turned, or at least, when Caleb showed up, I should’ve gone back to the Covenant, but I didn’t. I mean, what was I thinking?”

“You did what you believed was right.” She drifted to my side, resting her hands on the old, scuffed-up table the lamp sat on. “Rachelle probably would’ve smacked you for doing something so incredibly dangerous, but you made sure she had peace.”

“You think so?”

“Yes.”

A little bit of weight lifted off my chest, but my breath still sawed in and out. “I’ve messed up, really bad, a lot of times.” I squeezed the chain between my fingers. “I don’t think he’d be so proud.”

Laadan placed her hand over mine. “He would be proud. You followed your heart when it came to Rachelle, and yes, sometimes the decisions you’ve made have not been the right ones, but you know that. You’ve learned from them. And owning up to Telly about your role in what happened to your friend? That was brave and mature.”

I looked up at her—a pure-blood. This all seemed strange to me. It took me a couple of minutes to make sense of my own mixed-up thoughts and emotions over what she’d told me of my mother and father. “How did she met him—my dad? There aren’t many mortals around the Covenants. Did he work on Bald Head?”

Laadan’s smile seemed off, nervous almost. She pushed away from the table, ru

There was more to it than that, which filled me with all the more curiosity. So Mom had loved a mortal for many moons. They weren’t the first or last, I imagined. “What was he doing there? How did he die?”

A loud crash caused us both to jump. I whirled around, expecting to see a crap ton of books on the floor.

Laadan laughed nervously. “I forget that there are things here that move unseen.”

I looked at her sharply. “What do you mean? Spirits?”

She blinked and laughed again. “Yes, spirits. I’m a bit superstitious. This library doesn’t help, creepy as it is. I think one of the shelves collapsed in the stack.” Laadan came to my side, sca

I swung back to her. “Vanilla—”

“And pumpkin pie,” she finished, smiling. “I know where we can score some. Interested?”

My mouth watered. “I’m always interested in anything food related.”

“Good.” She threaded her arm through mine. “Let’s go gorge ourselves until we swear off food.”

At the door, I shivered and looked over my shoulder. The feeling of eyes boring into my back was unca

My father would be proud of me, even after all the stupid things I’d done—and probably would still do? It seemed hard to believe, but Laadan had known him and she had no reason to lie to me.

“Alex, are you even paying attention to me?”

“Huh?” I blinked, glancing up from my rock. We were in a wooded area off of the labyrinth, a few hours into our afternoon practice. “Yeah, I heard you. Dodge. Run. Stuff.”

Seth folded his arms.

“What?” I stood and brushed off my rear.

“I think you just fell asleep. That would hurt my feelings—if I had any.”

“Sorry. You’re kind of boring me.”

“Well, okay then. Let’s get to work.” Seth held up his hand, like he was going to throw a baseball. A blue ball of flames formed in his open palm. He released the tiny ball, launching it straight at my head.

I ducked easily. “Boring.”

Seth let go of another ball, but this time he sent it at my feet. I jumped onto the rock and yawned loudly. A devilish grin pulled at his lips as he slowly approached me. My foot caught him in the shoulder as soon as he came within reach. He retaliated by sending two balls of flames—one at my head and one at my legs. It took some fancy footwork to avoid them, but I did and I still managed to stay atop the rock.

I stuck my tongue out. “You can do better than that.”

He threw up his hands and a gust of wind hit me square in the chest. There was nothing I could do to block something like that.

“Remember to tuck and roll,” Seth called out, laughter in his voice.

If I hadn’t been flying through the air, I would have flipped him off. However, I did remember to tuck and roll. I hit the cool patch of grass shoulders first. I didn’t give my body a chance to recognize the impact. Rolling onto my feet, I suspected Seth would be making his move.

I was right.

A ball of fire grazed my head as I darted to the side. We went at this until he hit me with the element of air, knocked me down, and didn’t let go. Pi

“Get up,” he ordered, standing above me.

“I can’t get up. And you know that.”

Seth cocked his head to the side and sighed. “This is getting old, Alex. You excel at every aspect of fighting—not as good as me, but who am I kidding? No one is better than me.”

I rolled my eyes. “You like to hear yourself talk, don’t you?”

“Why, yes. Yes I do.”

“That’s why you don’t have any friends.”

“And the last time I checked, I’m youronly friend.”

My jaw clicked shut. Score one for Seth.

“But that’s not the topic of discussion. We are discussing that fact that you ca

“Gee, you think so?”

He increased the pressure until it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I squirmed, but that was about all. “What did I tell you about the elements, Alex?”

“Something about… magic being… all in the head,” I gasped.

“No. The elements are very real—obviously. You have to force yourself through it, Alex. Push.”

I still didn’t get what he meant by push, but he kept telling me to do it every time this happened.

“If you can’t push through it than you’re going to be a daimon snack again, Alex. They’re going to smell that aether in you and go crazy. You sure you want to be a Sentinel?”

Now he was just pissing me off. “Shut up, Seth.”

He stepped over me, planting his legs on either side of my prone body. Crouching down, he brought his face close to mine. “Remember, you’re not fast food to them; you’re like the best steak this side of the continent.”

“You say that… like it’s a good thing.”

Seth smiled like he knew some kind of private joke. “Concentrate. You need to concentrate on moving forward. Picture yourself sitting up, Alex.”

I stared at him.

He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Close your eyes and picture yourself sitting up.”

Cursing under my breath, I did as he asked. I closed my eyes and pictured myself sitting up. “Okay.”

“Focus on that image. Hold it in your mind. Focus.”

I did as he asked, but all I managed was to get one leg to bend. And that exhausted me. “This is ridiculous. A daimon would’ve already killed me by now.”

“A daimon would’ve already bitten into your skin by now.” His eyes fastened onto mine, refusing to let go. “But you know that, don’t you?”

A ragged breath leaked from my tightly pressed lips. My skin practically burned at the reminder, and Seth knew it.

“How many times were you tagged, Alex?” Seth reached down and brushed the hair off my neck. “I can count at least three on this side of your neck.”

“Stop,” I hissed.

His fingers moved over the scars on the other side. “I see three more, Alex.” Then his fingers dipped under the collar of my thermal, brushing over more scars. “How many here? Two or three… or even more than that? Want to add more? No? Then sit up.”