Page 46 of The Goddess is Awakened
“You’d better do something bigger than snakes because I’m about two seconds from shifting and taking a bite out of her pancake ass to prove a point,” Matilda said.
Felix tucked his locs behind his ears.
“If you can do witchcraft, then it’s technically a fair fight. You aren’t flinging god magic at a witch. That changes a lot.”
Balthazar upended about ten pixie sticks into his mouth.
“No one would blame you if youdidthrow god magic at her. She’d probably make a really cute hissing cockroach for a bit. I had one as a pet, but she mysteriously went missing when I took a girl back to my place before I met your mom. She either stole my roach or killed it. Ibondedwith that roach. I dumped her when she refused to tell me what happened to it. It was dark times, man.”
My mom patted his hand. I adored Balthazar, but he got ridiculous on sugar sometimes. He probably did have a pet roach that went missing and he probably did break up with that woman after, but it wasn’t as dramatic as he made it out to be.
“We can get you a new roach,” Mom said.
“I’ll bet Felix eats roaches when he turns into a cat. He’s going to eat my roach, Ripley.”
“Shut up. I do not. Who gave him sugar?”
Balthazar just started giggling. It was a legitimate question. My mom didn’t let us have sugar after a certain time of day when we were younger because we turned into terrors. It was kind of a family effort to keep it away from Balthazar after seven at night unless you were under the age of twelve, then you were one of his conspirators.
“Who gave him sugar and didn’t share?” Dad asked, conjuring his own Pixie Stix.
My mom and Felix just rolled their eyes.
“Is anyone giving you shit because you’re the only Hellhound there?” Bram asked Matilda.
Things used to beverydifferent for Hellhounds when Bram was Matilda’s age, but things weren’t like that now. Bram, our parents, and his mom made damned sure to raise Matilda not to take shit from anyone because of what she was. She didn’t even need me as backup if anyone tried, though I’d always be there.
“Everyone has been really friendly with the exceptions you already know about. The freshmen vampires are being run by an idiot, but the older vampires are great.”
“Try not to break too many hearts, my love. Your siblings miss you and so do we, so maybe walk over and visit one weekend. Mags, look out for my kids. They are insanely powerful, but only eighteen. George, you aren’t a doormat and if you really can do witchcraft, everything you worried about is moot because the fight is technically fair now,” Mom said.
My dad just shrugged.
“I would have killed that girlagesago.”
I just smiled. Maybe one day, I’d get to the point where I was comfortable using my magic like my dad did. My family was mixed supernaturals and breakable compared to me. Someday, I might feel comfortable killing someone, but I’d be taking someone’s family member away, and I knew how I’d feel if someone came for mine because I was being annoying.
But this changed everything. I could fight back without worrying about going too far. My mom didn’t teach me any nasty magic that would be fatal. I wastiredof acting like I was the better person so I didn’t maim someone.
And there was the matter of Azren’s feeling. Azren was here publicly as the God of Death. Azren was a master shapeshifter like Loki, but they hadn’t come here undercover. They could have. You’d have to be pretty stupid to murder anyone with them here, but Azren’s feeling hadn’t gone away.
The ghosts had the answers and I might be the only one they would confide in before students started dying. And all they really wanted from me was to start fighting back.
Kaylee Krauss and her minions didn’t know it yet, but it was game on.
drake
Ghosts didn’t really come when a basilisk asked quite politely. I was leaving the TV on in my room for them, but I was pretty sure they only haunted my dorm when I was gone. My roommate was a banshee I pretty much never saw because they were terrified of losing their scholarship. The university library wasn’t as extensive as the Library of the Profane, but was open much later. Jorah was practically sleeping in there.
Banshees foretold death, but they couldn’t see the past and they didn’t have the same connection to spirits as witches did. Jorah was cool when he was back in our room and I completely understood why the ghosts paired me up with a walking death omen.
The ghosts would know what happened to my mom. They’d know who was killing students. They wouldn’t talk to a basilisk and I already knew how they felt about Azren. I also knew Azren thought George Bell was how to get the answers from the ghosts, but why did it have to bethatwitch?
Even the toxic witches who were awful to people here didn’t stare at me like I caught George doing. Some of themdidstare. Lots of people at this academy did. They invited me to their dorm room for sex or hit on me when I caught them. That, I got. I didn’t like how that girl looked at me.
I didn’t know who else to ask because everyone else was awful or would expect something from me. I wasn’t fucking anyone. Anyone who didn’t think their magic cooch was going to recruit a basilisk was going to want shit like a lock of my hair or my toenails for a spell.
Why couldn’t another god give their creations the ability to commune with spirits?
