Page 17

I wanted to do this before I knew about the trust. I never had the chance to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn’t allowed to have any of the phases the girls my age had. My father plotted my life in a way that would look best for him and never cared what I wanted. He even had my future husband picked out.

There wasn’t much I could do about that until I turned eighteen, but as soon as I was, I was like, nope and got disowned. It always felt like I was supposed to be doing something and now I knew what it was.

Professor Mykene had been pretty open about everything so far. She kept my business about my father between us, which I appreciated. There wasn’t even a second of existential crisis. I was relieved he didn’t sire me. I never planned to speak to my parents again, but I had some modicum of respect for my mother for what she did.

In any other situation, I wouldn’t, but my father was verbally and emotionally abusive to her on a good day. He’d yell at her because she didn’t serve mashed potatoes with dinner that night and then yell at her again when she made it the very next night.

I never saw him raise his hand to her, but he did to me all the time. He was completely the type to think their lack of children was her fault and he was also financially abusing her. She did what she thought she had to do because in her world, she’d be shunned for leaving the pastor.

Still, I didn’t really want my business broadcast to total strangers. I had no problem sharing it with friends I might make, but I didn’t know these people and didn’t want to deal with their bullshit.

I had my team, and they seemed cool. Lucian and Liam were both intense in completely different ways. Khalid was just so laid back; he would make a good buffer. I could see us getting through this, even though I had a feeling Liam was going to poke Lucian as much as he could.

A few people jumped and screamed when Headmaster Mykene waved her hand and a wall of swirling silver appeared. I didn’t and I should have. I wasn’t even allowed to wear black nail polish because my father thought it was too close to witchcraft. Which was stupid, but anyway. I thought it was insanely cool.

“Pay attention to what I just did because you’ll be learning how to make portals your first year. Not every supernatural can make them, but a lot can. It’s the safest way to travel and if you’re ever being attacked, you’re going to want to be able to make one because no one can follow you if you close it fast enough.”

“You can also call rabid attack birds through them,” Lucian muttered, rubbing his hand.

“You’re scared of a bird?” Liam asked. “Mate, you are going to get your arse kicked here.”

“I’m not scared of birds! And it wasn’t a regular bird. It was a god’s familiar.”

“If were-corgis aren’t real, I want my familiar to be a corgi.”

“You’d only get a corgi familiar if you were born a witch, Mr. O’Breen,” Professor Mykene said.

“Well, maybe a witch will let me play with theirs,” he shrugged.

“Anyway, if you’ll all step through the portal, we’ll be at the ritual site and I can explain everything.”

“You want us to trust you and walk through that?” someone asked.

I’d give it to Liam. He just marched straight through it with no fear and then popped his head back out.

“My cock didn’t fall off, and it’s pretty cool in here. You lot sure hold grudges. It’s like you’ve never been drugged and kidnapped before.”

“This was the first time anyone succeeded,” Lucian muttered.

Interesting.

Khalid just bowed like a gentleman.

“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to say ‘ladies first’ here or for me to go first because I suspect my idea of cool and Liam’s are drastically different.”

I was pretty sure everyone’s idea of pretty cool was different from Liam’s, but honestly, I kind of liked that about him. The guys in my youth group saw my father mistreating me on several occasions and acted like I deserved it and should fix myself. Liam just heard he wouldn’t pay for my insulin pump and offered to stab him. That was really intense, but I could actually appreciate that.

I’d have to eventually ask him if he was the one who left me the dick, but not now.

Khalid and Lucian looked surprised when I grabbed their hands.

“We’re a team. We go together.”

“Ready when you are,” Khalid said.

Lucian was just staring at our joined hands like he was trying to figure something out. I went to let go because I thought he didn’t like it and we kind of just met. He tightened his grip on my hand like he didn’t want me to and looked towards the portal like he didn’t want to discuss it.

I wasn’t going to make him, so we stepped through. We appeared to be in a very big cave with pools of hot springs. There were sigils painted on the walls and floors. The cave was lit by thousands of candles and there were a group of people standing at the back.

“Welcome. We always take bets who is going to walk through first and who they might be. It’s never who you think it’ll be. Sometimes, the war gods are the last to come through and sometimes, they are first. I heard the tattooed one is probably a trickster and that tracks. They are naturally curious and like shiny things. They are always the first ones through.”

“Don’t go getting all comfortable and thinking I’m predictable because of your knowledge of tricksters, love. I’m always going to surprise you.”

“Oh, we know. The new Loki is currently a sophomore and the new Anasi just graduated. It probably means something that we’re getting so many tricksters.”

Liam just shrugged.

“I’ve got a weird feeling in my arsehole that I’m not a trickster. That label is like having sex with a lass and accidentally wearing her knickers home. It doesn’t feel right.”

“That happen to you often?” Lucian drawled.

“Twice and it made me feel pretty, mate.”

“What are we supposed to do here?” Khalid asked, redirecting everyone.

That’s what I wanted to know. I should have been terrified. This had been drilled into me for ages that this kind of thing would invite demons to possess me and be a one-way ticket to Hell. If the other gods were real, then my father’s was, too, which meant Hell was a possibility.

I probably should have asked a lot more questions when I was meeting with Headmaster Mykene.

“Now that we’re all here, we’re ready to get started. You’re all going to need to get a little wet. All you need to do is—Oh, dear.”

And, Liam was somehow naked and running towards the hot springs. How did he manage to lose his clothes that fast? The pools might not be that deep, but he hooted and went for a full cannon ball that splashed a lot of people.

Liam came up soaking wet and I really shouldn’t be thinking about how insanely hot he was since he was slightly unhinged. Like, unhinged enough to cut off someone’s dick, wrap it in a bow, and leave it on my pillow, but yeah, Liam was hot.

He was smirking at me and he winked.

“If you didn’t get a good peek, I can get out, Sage.”

I wasn’t a virgin. I took care of that after I got kicked out. I’d been flirted with a good bit on my travels. Some of the guys were way more offensive than Liam had been so far, but Liam just made me blush.

“Please, stay in the water, Mr. O’Breen. The ritual doesn’t require nakedness.”

“What kind of horse-shit, magic ritual requires clothes? I feel like history lied to me.”

“A lot of that history is human propaganda. Another rule I didn’t think I’d have to tell you, Mr. O’Breen. Don’t show other students your penis unless they ask. Moving on. The ritual is simple. Simply submerge yourself in one of the pools with your chosen team. You need to go completely under. The sigils and the herbs we are burning will do the rest.

“You’ll be shown a vision. It’s a hint of who you were. It might not make sense now, but you’ll probably laugh you didn’t see how obvious it was when you figure out who you were. Some of your magic will start to unlock on the trials. Those are also hints. Learn to use it as you go as it will help you in the trials.”

Here went nothing. I should probably be asking a lot more questions and I definitely wasn’t getting naked, but I was getting in that pool.