“Uh… no,” I said. “Mom… didn’t make it out there.”
Caleb’s mouth dropped open. “Oh. Man, I’m sorry.”
I forced myself to shrug. “It’s okay.”
“What happened to her?” Jackson asked, as tactless as ever.
Taking a deep breath, I decided to tel them the truth. “A daimon got her.”
That led to another round of questions, al of which I answered truthful y. Each of their faces mirrored shock and awe as I got around to the part where I’d fought and kil ed two of the daimons. Even Jackson seemed impressed.
None of them had even seen a daimon in real life.
I didn’t go into detail about my meeting with Marcus, but I did tel them my summer wasn’t going to be al fun and games. When I mentioned I’d be training with Aiden, a col ective groan sounded.
“What?” I looked around the group.
Caleb kicked his legs off my lap and stood. “Aiden is one of the toughest—”
“Roughest,” Jackson added solemnly.
“Meanest,” threw in a half-blood girl with brown hair cut über-short. I think her name was Elena.
Unease shifted through me. What had I gotten myself into with him? And they weren’t done with their descriptions.
“Strongest,” another kid added.
Elena glanced around the room, her lips curving.
“Sexiest.”
There was a round of sighs from the girls, but Caleb frowned. “That’s not the point. Man, he’s a beast. He’s not even an Instructor. He’s a Sentinel through and through.”
“The last couple of graduating classes got assigned to his area.” Jackson shook his head. “He’s not even a Guide, but he weeded out over half of them and sent them back as Guards.”
“Oh.” I shrugged. That didn’t sound al that bad. I was about to point that out when a new voice interrupted.
“Wel , look who’s back? If it isn’t our one and only high school drop-out,” drawled Lea Samos.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I made it to five.
“Are you lost, Lea? This isn’t where they’re handing out the free pregnancy tests.”
“Oh, boy.” Caleb moved to stand behind the couch, getting out of the way. I didn’t blame him. Lea and I had a legendary history. The write-ups Marcus had gone over for fighting had usual y involved Lea.
She laughed that husky, throaty laugh I was al too familiar with. I looked up then. She hadn’t changed a bit.
Okay. That was a lie.
If anything, Lea had grown more beautiful in the last three years. With her long copper-colored hair, amethyst eyes, and impossibly tanned skin, she looked like some sort of glamorous model. I couldn’t help but think of my own boring brown eyes.
While my own stel ar reputation had my name whispered on many lips during my time here, Lea had literal y prowled the Covenant—No. She’d owned it.
Her eyes dropped the length of me as she stalked across the rec room, taking in the oversized shirt and rumpled jogging pants. One perfectly groomed brow arched. “Don’t you look lovely?”
She, of course, was dressed in the tightest and shortest skirt known to man. “Isn’t that the same skirt you wore in the third grade? It’s getting a little tight. You may want to go up a size or three.”
Lea smirked and tossed the mass of hair over her shoulder. She sat in one of the fluorescent moon chairs across from us. “What happened to your face?”
“What happened to yours?” I retorted. “You look like a damn Oompa Loompa. You should lay off the spray tanning, Lea.”
There were a couple of snickers from our impromptu audience, but Lea ignored them. She was focused on me
—her arch-nemesis. We’d been at this since we were seven. Sandbox enemies, I guessed. “You know what I heard this morning?”
I sighed. “What?”
Jackson sauntered to her side, his dark eyes devouring her long legs. He moved behind her and tugged a strand of her hair. “Lea, knock it off. She just got back.”
My brows rose as she motioned him down with a flick of her little finger. He lowered his mouth to hers. Slowly, I turned to Caleb. Looking bored with the display, he shrugged. Instructors couldn’t prevent the students from hooking up. I mean, come on. With a bunch of teenagers thrown together, it happened, but the Covenant frowned upon it. Usual y the students didn’t flaunt it.
When they were done tonguing one another, Lea returned to staring at me. “I heard Dean Andros didn’t want you back. Your very own uncle wanted to place you into servitude. How sad is that?”
I flipped her off.
“It took three pures to convince her uncle she’s worth keeping around.”
Caleb snorted. “Alex is one of the best. I doubt it took much convincing.”
Lea opened her mouth, but I cut her off. “I was one of the best. And it did. Apparently, I have a bad reputation and he felt I had missed too much time.”
“What?” Caleb stared at me.
I shrugged. “I have until the end of summer to prove to Marcus I can get caught up in time to join the rest of the students. It’s no big deal, right, Lea?” I faced her, grinning. “I think you remember the last time we sparred? It was a long time ago, but I’m sure you can recal it quite clearly.”
A pink flush crawled over her tanned cheeks and her hand crept to her nose in what looked like a subconscious move, drawing an even bigger grin from me. At such a young age, our sparring was supposed to have been an absolutely no-contact training exercise. But one insult had led to another, and I’d broken her nose.
In two places.
It’d also landed me in suspension for three weeks.
Lea’s plump lips thinned. “You know what else I know, Alex?”