Pure

“You don’t know Lea. You don’t know how she is.”

“Does it matter how she is? You can’t fight everyone who says something negative about you. If I approached people the way you do, I’d be fighting all the time.”

I rolled my eyes. “People don’t talk bad about you, Aiden. Everyone respects you. You’re perfect. They don’t think you’rea daimon. Anyway, there’s a new happy family entombed in the lobby back there.”

He frowned.

“There’re furies in the lobby—statues of them.”

Aiden dragged a hand over his head, sighing. “We were afraid that might happen.”

“Why are they here?”

“The Covenant has been breached, which is something the Council assured would never happen. It was part of their agreement with the gods ages ago, when the first Covenant was established. The gods see this breach as the Council not able to handle the daimon problem.”

My stomach flopped. “And what does that mean, exactly?”

He grimaced. “It means, if the gods believe the pure-bloods have lost control, they will release the furies. It’s not something anyone wants. The furies will go after anything they perceive as a threat—daimon, half-blood, or…”

“Apollyon?” I whispered. Aiden didn’t respond, which confirmed I was correct. I groaned. “Awesome. Well, hopefully that doesn’t happen.”

“Agreed.”

I shifted uncomfortably, my brain unable to really process the new threat. “What are you doing over here, anyway?”

Aiden pi

“Clive was supposed to escort me back to the dorm, but that kind of fell through.”

His eyes narrowed and then he sighed. Tipping his head toward the dorms, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark cargos. “Come on, I’ll walk you back. You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

I pushed away from the doors. “Cuz there’s a daimon still on campus? And furies ready to attack?”

He glanced down at me, frowning. “I know your flippant attitude is an act. It’s probably what made you turn an apple into a deadly weapon. You of all people know how serious this is.”

My cheeks flushed at his reprimand. Guilt twisted my stomach into raw knots. I stared down at the markings on the pathway. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the person you should be apologizing to.”

“Well, I’m sure as hell not apologizing to Lea. So you can forget that.”

Aiden shook his head. “I know what Lea said upset you. I can even… understand your reaction, but you have to be careful. People are—”

“Yeah, I know. People are watching me, blah and blah some more.” I squinted at the shadows of the patrolling Guards. It was the time between dusk and nightfall, but the lamps hadn’t kicked on yet. The largest buildings—the ones housing the school, training facilities, and dorms—slipped dark shadows over the pathway. “Anyway, do you guys have any idea where the daimon could be?”

“No. We’ve searched everywhere and are still searching. Right now we’re focused on keeping the students safe.”

We stopped at the bottom of the steps outside my dorm. The porch was empty, a sign of everyone’s unease. Girls usually hung out here, hoping to get some guy time in. “Did Melissa see the daimon? Was she able to give some sort of description?”

Aiden ran a hand over his forehead. “She barely remembers anything from the attack right now. The doctors… well, they think it’s the trauma. A way of protecting herself, I guess.”

I looked away, grateful it was dark outside. Why couldn’t I forget what’d happened in Gatlinburg? “It’s probably more than just that. She’s a pure. Where one of us would be trained to pay attention to details, to gain as much information as possible, she wasn’t. She’s just like a… normal girl. And if the attack happened at night, she probably thought it was a nightmare. Waking up to something like that? I couldn’t even imagine.” I stopped. He was staring at me strangely. “What?”

“It’s just that you’re thinking along the right lines.”

I couldn’t keep the goofy grin off my face. “I’m that awesome. I know.”

His lips twitched as if he wished to smile. “So, how much trouble are you in?”

“Grounded basically, but I guess I got off light.” I was still smiling like an idiot.

“Yeah, you did.” He looked relieved. “Try to stay out of trouble and pleasedon’t sneak around the grounds. I doubt the daimon is still here, but you never know.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I folded my arms over my chest. “Aiden?”

“Hmm?”

I stared at Aiden’s boots. They were shiny, never scuffed. “It’s starting, isn’t it?”

“You’re talking about what your mother told you, aren’t you?”

“She said this is what they would do. And Eric’s still out there. What if he’s behind this and—?”

“Alex.” He leaned toward me. We were close, but not as close as we’d been in the gym. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Eric or not. We’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I’m not scared.”

Aiden reached out, brushing his fingers over mine. It was a brief touch, but my body tingled nonetheless. “I didn’t say you were scared. If anything, you’re too brave.”

Our gazes met. “Everything is changing.”

“Everything already has.”

Later that night, I tossed and turned. My mind wouldn’t shut down. The daimon attack, the apple assault, bitchy furies, the impending Council session, and everything else kept cycling in one giant, endless cluster. Each time I flipped over, I grew more irritated at the prospect of another sleepless night.

The trouble sleeping had started about a week after returning from Gatlinburg. I’d fall asleep for an hour or so before a nightmare crept into my dreams. Mom was usually in those nightmares. Sometimes I relived fighting her in the woods; sometimes I didn’t kill her, and other times it was just me and Daniel, the daimon with the too-friendly hands.

Then there were the dreams where I wantedto be turned into a daimon.

I’d flipped onto my stomach and shoved my face into the pillow when I felt a strange tingling in the pit of my stomach—like the butterflies right before a first kiss, only much, much stronger.

I pushed up and squinted at the clock. Past one in the morning, and I felt wide awake. And hot—really hot. Thinking the temperature controls may’ve gone all wacky again, I got up and opened the window by the bed. Cool, damp air rolled in from the ocean, providing some relief. I didn’t feel like I’d crawl out of my skin at any moment, but I still burned—like all over. I ran my hands over my face, aching in a way that reminded me of the time I’d spent with Aiden. Not our training sessions, oh no—but the night before I’d found Kain, the night I’d lain naked in Aiden’s bed.

But I remembered more than the physical stuff. Words I’d never ever forget in a trillion years— you got inside me, became a part of me.No one had ever said anything like that to me—no one.

I glanced at the clock again, sighing. Fifteen minutes went by, then twenty minutes, then half an hour. Finally, I stopped paying attention to the time. My heart pounded until I squeezed my eyes shut. I could almost see Aiden now, feel the soft

brush of fingertips and hear those words again. Then, without any warning, the itchy feeling vanished. The cool air coming in from the window suddenly felt brutal.

“What the hell?” I flopped onto my back. “Hot flashes? Really?”

It was a long, long time before I fell asleep.

CHAPTER 3

EVERYTHING DID CHANGE THE NEXT DAY.

Olivia and I shared a trig textbook in class, trying to figure out the difference between a sine and cosine. Considering we’d be spending the bulk of our adult lives hunting and killing daimons, learning trigonometry seemed pretty pointless, so we really didn’t apply ourselves.