Page 58 of The Stone Initiation
Fabulous.
“I’ll test your endurance, your stamina, your strength, and your mental fortitude. Fail in any of those and you fail my class. Fail my class and you go straight to the admin bin, you do not pass go, you do not collect any fucking money, do you understand?”
A chorus of yes sirs filled the room, and I found him staring at me once more.
“Do you understand,” he said again, aimed at me.
Unlike the others I wasn’t frightened of the admin bin. I wasn’t here for his approval; and I didn’t like the fact that he seemed to have made up his mind about me already.
I crossed my arms and met his gaze coolly. “I understand, but feel free to repeat yourself if it makesyoufeel better.”
Several gasps filled the room, but Master Farnell wasn’t fazed. In fact, his lips curved in a thin smile. The kind of smile I’d expect to see from someone accepting a challenge.
“A smart mouth won’t save you from a graynite, halfblood. But feel free to exercise it to your heart’s content if it makesyoufeel stronger.”
Ouch.
He turned on his heel and strode to the main doors to close them. “Today you will be put into pairs, and you will fight. There is only one rule. No death. Once you’ve had enough, stay down and your opponent wins. Simple.” He turned to face us. “This will allow me to assess your abilities and separate the adept from the inept.” He lifted his chin. “Medic time will be allotted to those who may need it.” He looked right at me when he said that.
Bastard.
I hated this guy, and I barely knew him.
He started calling names and pairing us up. The first pair were gargoyles I hadn’t spoken to yet.
“Palia and Sharniza.”
Palia grinned at Shar.
“Touron and Dayn,” he continued.
One of Curi’s buddies stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. He was no bigger than Touron, but he was stockier. Touron rolled his shoulders and bounced on his feet, ready to rumble.
He called out two more names. Two males paired up leaving me, Ginia, Curi and another male gargoyle, unpaired.
Ginia looked over at me and smiled. Looked like we were going to be fighting, but I felt sorry for the other male. He wasn’t as stocky as the other goyles in his human form. I’d seen him around the dorm, and he hadn’t looked at me in disgust which gave him points in my book. It sucked that he was going to be paired with Curi who was a total bastard.
“Ginia and Saffe,” Farnell said.
Wait, that meant…
My pulse went wild.
“What?” The word exploded from Touron’s lips.
Curi grinned, cold, and evil, and my stomach clenched.
Oh shit. I was about to fight Curi.
CHAPTER25
“I’ll take Curi,” Touron said quickly. “Give Cameron to someone else.”
Farnell stared at him flatly. “You’ll fight who I assign to you. You follow orders. That is what a guardian does.”
“With all due respect,” Tour-on bit out, “Curi is a sadistic asshole.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Farnell said.
