Page 110 of A Drop of Anguish
“If you’re sure—”
She holds out her hand, palm up. “Let’s do this. For all of Minor Hall.” I allow an honest smile and put my hand over hers. Lola does the same.
Lola spins in the air. “The Akrasia Games are going down.”
43
Portal To Hell
Janet, Lola, and I march out of Minor Hall together with our heads up.
Jarron is leaning against the wall casually, hand in his pocket and everything. Except, his body exposes his emotions are less than calm, considering his eyes are pitch-black and there are curling horns sprouting from his hair.
I leave Janet and Lola at the gate and approach the volatile half-demon. “Hey,” I whisper. “I’m here.”
“I’m not doing a very good job of staying calm,” he tells me.
“I can see that.”
He steps forward until he’s towering over me. His fingers have sharp blade-like tips, but when he carefully touches my cheek with the base of his palm, it’s smooth and gentle. “My bright one.” The words rumble from his chest, low enough the others may not have even heard it. “I’m supposed to protect you. You aren’t supposed to ever have to face danger like this again.”
I meet his stare like a challenge. “I don’t need a protector. I need a partner.”
Finally, his horns and claws retreat. “I know. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.”
I wrap my arms around him, cheek against his chest. His resounding sigh holds a hurricane of emotions. We remain like this, hearts pounding in unison, arms clinging to each other, for several moments before I finally pull back.
Pretty sure he’d have stayed like that forever if it meant delaying this dangerous quest.
I hold out my wrist. “Can you help me?”
His now entirely human fingers, silver rings and all, grasp my forearm. He runs the pad of his thumb over my wrist. “There are two,” he whispers.
I glance down to find the small red dot that appeared after the secret vow. “One is a secret with Janet and Lola.”
“Secret?” he whispers.
“Mmhmm,” I say, trying to pretend not to be utterly distracted by the sensation of his fingers running up my forearm.
He gives me a knowing look.
“They’re—they’re in the Forest of Nails,” he tells me. How he knows that I haven’t a single clue.
My stomach sinks. Of course they are. The Forest of Nails is where my sister died, or at least, where they found her body, and it’s not far from campus.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we pass the front door of the school and head down the corridor labeledPortals.
The Forest of Nails is only three miles away. I can’t imagine there is a portal that leads there from here.
“Trust me,” he says.
The hair on my arms rises as we enter the large corridor lined with portals on each side. Their pulsing magic all at once feels like electricity. The magnitude of so many worlds colliding into one presses down on me.
I cross my arms and try my best not to let the oppressive magic get under my skin. This is not an enemy I can fight, but it feels like an enemy all the same. These worlds, full of people who’d see me as a meaningless bug.
It’s not the danger that bothers me. It’s the realization of how little I am in comparison.
I wonder if that’s how Lola feels on a regular basis.
