Page 39 of The Goddess is Awakened
“My mom would be so proud I’ve converted someone to read one of her kinky books.”
“I’ll have my mom mail it,” Ren said. “I’m pretty sure it’s still in my closet.”
“Also, I know a lot of your spare time is taken up with private lessons with Zion Skinner and I’m super jealous about that, but you should really talk to my dad, Gabriel. He loves teaching Dark Arts, but his passion has always been art. Gabriel has literally been begging to even just guest lecture in one of the magical painting classes.
“They’veseenhis portfolio and gone to some of his art shows, but they don’t think they can spare him from Dark Arts. He’s offered to do it on his breaks, but they said he's needed for his office hours in case anyone needs help. The whole thing is stupid because Dark Arts and magical painting can go hand in hand. Look at Dorian Gray’s painting.”
I’d probably take her advice because I’d heard the stories about Gabriel Morningstar and Dorian Gray’s painting. She was right about Dark Arts and magical painting. You couldeasilyslip a cursed object into someone’s house by gifting them a painting. It wasn’t a bad idea to talk to her dad.
Fuck. George Bell ended up pretty cool. I was the last holdout, and it took a while to actually hear what Chantico was trying to tell me, but getting to know her better didn’t sound like a terrible idea anymore.
george
Iwas glad I took a risk and kept going when I sat down to talk to Ren because he originally looked like he was completely revolted that I sat down at his table. I didn’t know what I actuallydid,but Oscar looked at me the same until he heard what I wanted him to paint.
We all got my mom book-related Yule gifts every year and my dad and I tried to outdo each other. Technically, as gods, we could just conjure whatever the fuck we wanted. My mom would still love it, but my dad didn’t like how artists were treated in this century. I’d only ever been alive in this century, but I agreed with him. Our requests might be totally bizarre, but we always threw work at an artist we liked instead of conjuring it.
My mom’s kinky Yule gift seemed to melt whatever ice Ren and Oscar had towards me. Church always sat with me during history, but after breakfast, Ren and Oscar motioned Matilda and me to sit next to them. Oscar’s ferret started chittering angrily at Mags.
“That rat had better stop yelling at me.”
“Chantico has been wanting me to talk to you for weeks, but she has reservations about the dog. She doesn’t like getting chased. Some of the familiars at my high school weren’t civilized.”
“Because their witches weren’t and wanted their familiars to terrorize Chantico. They were assholes. Mags doesn’t do that, but she doesn’t like getting yelled at by your ferret.”
“That’s fair,” Oscar nodded. “What kind of dog is that, anyway? I’ve never seen a dog like that in the United States or back in Mexico.”
“She’s a Xoteen. They are a breed only available in Hell. My family helped Lilith once. I wasn’t even born yet and my mom wasn’t even thinking about kids when that happened, but she’s always looked out for all of us kids. She brought us a Xoteen puppy when we were born.”
“Have you like,beento Hell?” Ren asked.
“Yeah,” Matilda said. “My grandparents live there. They visit us sometimes and we’ll go spend a few weeks there in the summer. My dad took me when my magic emerged so I could get a handle on my Hellhound with other people like me. There are colleges in Hell just for Hellhounds and demons and I’ll probably go there for graduate school, but after hearing my mom talk about this place so much, I wanted to come.”
“That’s so cool,” Oscar said. “Have you been to any other realms?”
Matilda and I both laughed.
“No. Our Uncle Loki probably isn’t welcome back in Asgard and doesn’t really want to go back. My dad has always preferred this realm except when he decided to sulk in the Aether until my mom was tricked into bringing him back. He never created a realm. Azren has one, but I only just met them like everyone else. We haven’t been invited.
“Our house is pretty normal. There was never this revolving door of gods visiting. There are only a few still living on this realm and Loki has pissed all of them off. If Loki hasn’t gotten to them, my dad has. Azren seems to be more like the two of them than the other gods because they are all friends.”
Azren was running late to class. Dexter came in right before class was about to start tucked under the arm of my idiot brother. Michael glared at the entire class like he was daring anyone to be mean to Dexter. Michael gave him a possessive kiss and Dexter came skipping into class. The seat in front of me was free, so I invited him to sit with us.
“Your brother does the caveman growly thing, but he’s such a good little bottom,” Dexter announced.
Matilda and I were both sipping on the latte we had taken from the dining hall and we both reacted the same. My coffee went down the wrong pipe and I started choking. I wasn’t immune to that because I was a god.
“Oh, my shit, Dexter! My idiot brother has never paid attention to anyone since I’ve literally been born and I’m happy it’s you, but Icannothear that shit,” I said.
“It makes me go to a bad place in my head,” Matilda moaned. “There are no pretty girls there.”
“I’m a pixie,” Dexter laughed. “I’msupposedto fuck with you. But for the sake of peace, Michael is off limits. I know I shouldn’t say this so soon, but I’m completely crazy about him.”
“We know our brother,” Matilda said. “We’re only a year apart. I’m pretty sure he feels the same.”
I just watched my idiot brother get crazy possessive over Dexter, so he was part of the family now. Dexter wasalsoone of Kaylee’s targets and had been subtly punking her with pixie magic since she started in on him. I needed the ghosts to trust me enough to answer Azren’s questions about a death curse and all they’d asked me to do so far was be entertaining and fight back more when Kaylee Krauss was being stupid.
The ghosts would have known Minerva’s secret and long history with this academy. Even I wasn’t sure how Lindsay and Kaylee ended up how they did in this decade with an aunt like Minerva.
