Page 72 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse

I didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

“Oh, Lucia, you… you shouldn’t. You can’t trust him.”

“You don’t think I know that?!”

“And yet, it hasn’t stopped you.”

I sighed. “I’m only human. There’s only so much temptation I can resist.”

“And he’s a lot of temptation.” She nodded, and it seemed that she understood the magnitude of what I was dealing with. “Still, it can’t end well. You have to be strong.”

“How? Just tell me how?!”

She shrugged. “More work? Chocolate? Other guys? All the above?”

I had, in the past, used a new toy to forget an old one. Maybe it would work now, too.

“I vote for chocolate,” I said. “Three layers of it.” They had a fantastic chocolate cake at the cafeteria, each layer iced with rich milk chocolate that melted in your mouth. It was almost as decadent as Drevan’s mouth. Nah, not really.

“Sounds good to me.” Jenna patted her stomach, and we headed toward the cafeteria.

On the way there, Jenna started a different conversation—one that was easier than the last one, but not by much.

“So… we’re all bored,” she said. “You heard Sage.”

I grunted in response, knowing well where this was headed.

“C’mon, Lucia, you said you would teach me what LeBeau taught you.”

“We’ve gone over this. It’s not a good idea. We could get in trouble.”

“No one has to find out. I bet Sage and Benjamin would love to join.”

“What?! No!” Involving more people would just make it more likely that we would be found out.

“It shouldn’t be only you getting to have all the fun,” she complained.

“That’s not fair,” I said. “And it’s not fun, it’s dangerous.”

“If we wanted a safe, boring life, we wouldn’t have become students at the league.”

That was a fair point, but still. “We could get expelled, Jenna.”

“You didn’t get expelled.”

“There were extenuating circumstances.”

She halted in front of the cafeteria door. “If we’re helping you, wouldn’t that count as extenuating circumstances?” She raised an eyebrow, looking righteous.

Then, I don’t want your help. That was what the old Lucia would’ve said, and maybe it was what I should’ve told her then, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak the words. It would have been mean and a lie.

“Anyway,” Jenna went on in a nicer tone, “if it’s our choice, it would be our fault if we get expelled, not yours. Right?”

I nodded reluctantly.

She smiled. “Let’s tell the guys. I bet that will put Sage in a better mood right away.”

Jenna was right. During dinner, the mention of learning how to do an actual summoning put Sage in a better mood. It didn’t happen right away, as she’d predicted, but he gradually warmed up to the idea. Benjamin also seemed excited, though, of the four of us, he was the one who brought up the most cautious objections. We were considering sneaking out to the Fray Room at night, but he’d never left his dorm room past curfew, unlike Jenna, Sage, and me. He really liked to follow the rules.