Page 32 of Blood of Hercules
“It’s f-fine.” I held my dripping finger over the two bubbles on the back.
Quickly, I handed the paper back to her.
Wiping my finger on my sweatshirt, I waited for her to walk away.
She didn’t move.
I looked up at her.What is it now?
Her face was pale, and the paper was shaking in her hands as she trembled.
“What’s happening?” Nyx hissed. “Why did your heart rate just increase?”
“I don’t know.”
The teacher didn’t move—she looked like she’d seen a Titan.
Her eyes flickered to my face, then back to the page, and her pupils were blown out. A tendril of smoke curled off the paper like it was on fire. She took a step away from me like she was afraid.
“What is it?” I asked.
Nyx’s warm scales slid against my neck. “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing.” I gripped my wrists tightly as phantom pain spiked up my arms. “I didn’t do anything.”
The teacher opened her mouth and closed it, like she couldn’t find any words. Students turned to see what the holdup was.
Whispers started.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
The entire gym stared at us.
“Steal a gun from a mercenary,” Nyx said. “Shoot her in both legs, then run for it. Do it quickly. I’ll cover you.”
My eyelid twitched. “You can’t justshootpeople,” I whispered (I wasn’t built like Dorean).
Nyx hissed, “Sorry I’m the only one of us actually trying to problem-solve.”
“Shooting people is not problem-solving,” I hissed back.
“That sounds like something someone would say—” Nyx paused dramatically. “—who’d never actuallysolveda problem.”
“You’re insane.”
“If I had opposable thumbs, the thingsI would do,” Nyx said. “The sexual moves I would try out, thepositionsI would?—”
“Please stop talking,” I begged.
Miraculously, Nyx listened.
Mr. Brewer walked quickly down the aisle toward the rapidly paling woman holding my test. “Julie, what is it? Why did you stop collecting the tests? We have to get out of?—”
She showed him the test, and he went dead silent. There was a rapidly growing hole on the page, and it was steaming, like someone had dripped poison on it.
Mr. Brewer staggered back.
“Protocol,” Mr. Brewer blurted out loudly, and every head in the gym turned to stare at him. He pulled a small handbook out of his back pocket and flipped through it. His hand was also shaking.
