Page 14 of A Drop of Anguish
I might be human, but I’m more monster than he’ll ever be.
I turn to the last page and find scrawled handwriting that wasn’t there the last time I opened it—before that night.
I will never let you face your nightmares alone.
Jarron
I blink at the words. What does that mean? Did he write it before he chased me down and stopped me from entering the games? How could he have? He had minutes to get to me in time. There’s no way he wrote that then.
It had to be after.
But then… why hasn’t he come back to school? He’s not here, and I’m facing my nightmares. I mean, maybe they’re not the worst of my nightmares, but the pushback from students is only getting worse. Several powerful beingshateme here.
Maybe he’s protecting me from Mr. Vandozer and the Akrasia Games, but they’re not my only nightmares.
Winding dark thoughts slither in and leave poison in their wake.
My next several breaths are shaky. Reading those words have made a truth I’d been avoiding painfully clear.
My heart aches.
I’m tired and scared and so veryalone.
I have Janet and Lola, and I love them, but it’s not the same. There are things I haven’t shared with them. Truths that weigh on me, carving deeper each day. Maybe I just need to open up to them. Maybe it’s only me causing my loneliness by keeping them at arm’s reach, but it hurts to even think those things, let alone say them out loud.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come back to this school after all. What if I’m not ready for this?
Tears sting my eyes.
“I miss you,” I whisper to the pages. “Both of you.”
I miss my sister so much it’s painful, but that anger I’d used to push down that pain is no longer as sharp. Instead, helplessness has made its way in. I’m nothing. No one.
Everyone at this school knows it.
And Jarron… I flop back on my bed. With him, I was beginning to feel powerful, and damn if that didn’t taste sweet. Now, I’m left with the bitter reminder that I’ll never feel that way again.
Not unless I achieve it myself.
6
A Fight with a Fae
Ikeep my hands tightly curled around the straps of my backpack as I march into the arena. A few of the panes of glass above are a slightly different color than the rest, but otherwise, you’d never know this place collapsed in on itself only a couple weeks ago.
Yep, just something else that was my fault,no biggie.
I try to get the note from the jinn out of my head before I start my first advanced combat class.
Even though this is a non-magical combat class, I’m no longer with the beginners. Shadow Hills Academy requires even their high-level magic students to complete this class, which means I’ll literally be fighting Elite supernaturals in a ring.
I find a quiet spot and stretch, eyeing the groups of powerful people who watch me with confident grins, eager to get a piece of me. This is basically an academy-accepted way to kick my ass.
The only thing working in my favor is the fact that I have taken self-defense classes since I was very young, and every person here will underestimate me significantly.
“Are you ready, Candice?” Coach Tvanitti asks quietly as she approaches the corner I’ve been huddled in for the last ten minutes.
Nope, not even a little bit.
