Huh?
You should never relax your hold. Then he flipped me off his shoulder. I hit the mat with a loud grunt. Aw, did you just fall?
No. I rolled onto my back, wincing. I attacked the floor.
He dropped down, planting one leg on either side of mine. He caught my chin. What were you and Aiden doing in practice yesterday?
I grabbed Seths wrist, intending on snapping it. Seth appeared to guess my intentions, because his eyes narrowed into thin slits before he slipped his hands away from my chin. We were practicing, and why do you need to sit on me to talk to me?
Because I can and I like it.
I wanted to hit him. Well, I dont like it. So get off me.
He leaned forward instead, his face only inches from mine. I dont like
your practices with Aiden. So no, I wont get off.
My throat felt dry. You just dont like Aiden.
Youre right. I dont like him. I dont like the way he looks at you, and I really dont like the way he looks at me.
I tried to keep my expression blank, but I felt my cheeks burn. Aiden doesnt look at me weird. And he looks at you that way because you are weird.
He laughed. Yeah, I dont think so.
Could Seth be picking up on my feelings for Aiden like hed picked up on my fear while I was in Gatlinburg? If so, that would be really, really bad. What are you getting at?
Seth rolled off and sat cross-legged beside me. Im not getting at anything. By the way, I do have something to tell you.
As long as I lived, Id never get used to the way Seth switched topics so frequently. He made my brain hurt. What?
There was an attack at the Tennessee Covenant last night. It was a half whod been turned. He cut up a pure, drained him of aether, and tossed him out of a seventh-story dorm window.
Horrified, I jackknifed up. Oh, my gods! Why didnt you say something at the beginning of practice?
He stared at me. I clearly remember telling you I had something youd be interested in knowing and you said it was doubtful.
Well, you could have explained it a little better. I fell back against the mats. Holy crap, what are they doing about it?
The same thing they are doing here, but they caught the daimonit was a Guard once upon a time, and since the pure died, theyre taking more extreme measures.
Like what?
Theres talk of segregating the pures from the halfs.
What? I shrieked.
Seth flinched and scooted away. Ouch. Damn, Alex, I can only imagine what you sound like in the throes of
Are you serious? I sat up again, folding my legs under me. How can they do that? We share dorms with the pures. And classes. Its the same everywhere!
From what I hear, theyre going to put all the pures in one dorm and all the halfs in the other. And change the class schedules.
I rolled my eyes. Oh, so theyre going to make the dorms co-ed? Yeah, that is going to go over well. Everyones going to be having sex.
Sounds like my kind of place. Seth grinned. Maybe I can get a transfer.
Do you ever take anything seriously? I pushed to my feet.
Seth shot to his feet, towering over me. I take you seriously.
Eyeing him, I stepped back. This is serious, Seth. What if they do something like that here? What if this is the beginning of everything changing?
The ever-presentand annoyingmix of smugness and amusement faded from those eerie, golden eyes, revealing a level of gravity I didnt think Seth was capable of. Alex, everything has already changed. Dont you see that?
I swallowed and folded my arms around me, but it didnt stop the sudden coldness from washing over my body like Id stepped into the freezing downpour outside.
Aiden had said the same thing.
There are two of us, Seth said quietly. Everything changed the moment you were born.
I tapped my finger along the edge of the keyboard. I was having one of those nights where I questioned everything that ever was, and I was getting on my own nerves.
I blamed Seth.
Everything changed the moment you were born.
I tried not to think about how the whole Apollyon business worked most of the time. Usually I pretended like it wasnt a big deal. But that didnt mean I wasnt dealing with it, I just knew there was nothing I could do about it. Its like not crying over spilled vodka and cranberry juice or whatever. But there were timeslike earlier with Sethwhen the idea of becoming this thing that people expected something miraculous from, and were also scared to death of, terrified me.
I stared at my computer screen, forcing myself to stop worrying about the Apollyon stuff and what was happening at the Covenants. I then played about a dozen rounds of minesweeper and solitaireanything to keep my brain nicely blank. It worked beautifully for a short while.
Another question poked at me. Why had Lucian intervened on my behalf? And why was Lucian handing over so much information to Seth? Yes, he was the Apollyon, but Lucian was the Minister and Seth was just a half-blood. Why would Lucian allow Seth to be privy to such information?
Then there was the business with the Council. I had this feeling I didnt have many fans on the Council and my time with them was going to suck daimon butt.