Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Belle Malory [motivational novels for students .txt] 📗

“And her rage will consume her. If she can’t learn to master it, there’s a chance she will turn to dark magic. If that happens, it will come at the cost of many lives.”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Me, the quiet girl who lived in her books—she thought I was angry enough to kill people? Before attacking Riley, I hadn’t harmed so much as a fly.

My grandfather reached for my hand and squeezed. He was disappointed too. “Why must this be?” he asked Future.

“Engaging in violence hardens her spirit. Her bloodlust will intensify as her power grows.”

Once again, I saw those damned scissors puncture Riley’s skin. Future was right. I closed my eyes, remembering the way the blood seeped through her white shirt. Both of us stared in horror at what I’d done, both of our gazes twisted around the wound. For the first time, maybe ever, Riley looked at me with fear in her eyes. As much as I hated seeing that fear, it made me feel powerful.

“There is another option,” Future suggested. “She can branch out in a new direction, learn a different type of magic, one that will provide balance and inner clarity.”

“Which House?” Grandpa asked right away.

“Aphrodite,” Future replied. “There she will find solace and forgiveness within herself and for those who have hurt her.”

I nearly choked on that one. “The goddess of love?” I shook my head. “No way. I came here to get away from the problems that come from relationships.”

“To learn the way of love is first to learn to love one’s self,” Future said.

With the bitterness I carried in my heart, for both Connor and my sister, I knew that kind of magic would feel foreign. I didn’t want to forgive them, and I certainly wasn’t ready to forgive myself. “Give me a third option. Please.”

But Future would not say another word.

“We have spoken,” Present announced, banging her gavel once more. “You must make your choice, child. Ares or Aphrodite. We will approve your request for enrollment at Arcadia regardless.” The three of them simultaneously stood up to leave.

No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening. It felt like a cruel joke. I wanted to scream at Future to come back, but she slipped out the door before I could find my voice.

“Let’s go,” Grandpa said, steering me to the exit.

“Neither of those options work,” I screeched. “They might as well have given me two different paths to jump off a cliff.”

“Look, I’m not happy about it any more than you are, but the Fates are never wrong. We came to get their approval, and they’ve given it. We can’t ask for more than that.”

His arm came around me, guiding me back out into the hall. My vision blurred as the events of the last day began piling up. Losing my friends, my family, and my boyfriend all at once…it was too much. My life was collapsing like a dying star. The light was so faint, I could barely see a way back home.

7

Grandpa seemed even more disappointed than I was. He latched on to what the Fates said about Ares making me all-powerful, and he didn’t want to let go. We idled through the shops together, both of us wearing the same glum expression as we gathered my school supplies.

“Are you sure about this, Sheridan?”

I tossed a container of dried flower petals into the cart, and gave him a look that said, really?

“I just want to make sure you’re considering all of your options.”

“Even if I ignored all the stuff they said about me turning to dark magic, they said I would never return home if I enrolled in Ares.”

He snorted. “Is Davidson really all it’s cracked up to be? Your father can visit you here, you know.”

“Seriously, Grandpa?”

This place was a living dream, but it was supposed to be a temporary escape. A break while my sister and I cooled off. I had a real life to get back to. Real friends. Real relationships. College. He couldn’t just expect me to forget about all of that.

“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands in defeat. “Just figured I’d ask. Didn’t know you’d be so touchy.”

“How long did you plan to keep me in Mythos anyway?”

“Your dad and I agreed on one full school year.”

I swallowed. One whole year.

I didn’t realize it would be that long of a break. “And after the year is up?”

“Beyond that is entirely up to you. You’ll be eighteen at that point, but schools are different in Mythos. Since magic doesn’t birth until students are teenagers, their magical education continues well into their early twenties. I’m hoping you’ll choose to stay.”

Easy for him to say, he hadn’t left his whole life behind. “If you like it so much, why don’t you live here?”

“I do.”

I rounded my gaze on him. “I thought you lived in Florida.”

He shook his head. “I live in a beach house on Summer Island. The last few decades I’ve spent right here in Mythos, a large portion of that time spent teaching Magical Strategy at Arcadia. Before that, I worked for MEM.” I gave him a funny look, and he clarified, “Magical Enforcement Magistrate. It’s Mythos’s version of the FBI.”

I balked. Was everything he told me a lie? “And the military?”

“Actually, that was true. I gave it try for two tours. Most guardians like to step their feet in the human realm for a few years. It’s a rite of passage.”

Good grief. All this time, all these years, he’d been living right here in Mythos, traveling back for the occasional visit.

“Does Dad know about all of this?”

“Of course, he does. Your dad could’ve chosen a similar path. Matter of fact, he was raised right here on Autumn Island, back before your Nana passed. But for his own reasons, he decided to live alongside humans.” Grandpa crinkled his nose in distaste.

I shook my head, finding the whole thing difficult to swallow. “I still can’t believe Dad kept