Page 140 of Psycho Gods

“I promise you flew!” Sadie said aggressively and glared at the other people in the forest, daring them to contradict her.

“I hope so,” I mumbled as I concentrated on not passing out as I asphyxiated on air. Fatigue and zero progress after hours of effort were killing me.

It was like running in place.

Banging my fractured skull against a brick wall.

Being trapped at Elite Academy.

Fighting in a battle against monsters.

Killing when I wanted to rest.

“She’s lying to try to make you feel better,” Jinx’s voice rang inside my mind. “Nothing happened.”

Her voice cleared the haze.

It sounded like she was speaking directly into my ear. Each word was crystal clear and nothing like the fuzzy connection that had cut out in the middle of battle.

I stopped spiraling and glared over at her, nearly falling over from my sudden movement. The unfamiliar weight distribution pulled me lower into a hunch.

I gasped out clouds of water vapor.

Hyperventilated.

Jinx leaned against a tree next to Scorpius, who clenched her elbow in a tight grip and made sure she didn’t fall over. Since Warren was currently in ferret form, wrapped around her neck, it seemed the king had taken his place.

She had a black cast on her wrist. She said she broke it tripping while trying to maneuver into bed.

Annoyance flared in my gut. What was taking the prosthetic so long? The High Court couldn’t be this incompetent.

Black sunglasses hid Jinx’s face as she watched me with a bored expression. Standing next to the tall devil, she almost came up to his shoulders. She no longer looked like a small child.

Had she always had curves?

She was definitely getting taller.

“How old are you again?” I asked in my head, forgetting to be annoyed that I hadn’t made any progress with flying. “You don’t look fourteen.”

Jinx’s voice echoed crisply through my skull. “I’m older than you.”

I scoffed aloud. “Good one.”

“What?” Knox’s mismatched eyes focused on me. “Who are you talking to?”

“A crazy bitch,” I mumbled as I turned back to the angel.

In my peripheral vision, Jinx and Scorpius shared a smirk. When had they become friends? I sensed danger.

“Try again,” Knox said encouragingly as he showed me how to push my shoulders back. Now that I had earned my wings, the angel captain was nothing but pleasant and positive.

In fact, he made it a point to be nice to everyone in the camp.

His attitude differed vastly from how he’d acted during the Legionnaire Games, and contrasted with the haughty arrogance of the rest of the angels.

They used the term grounders frequently.

They sneered when we gave them instructions.