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

blank canvas. However”—her expression became formidable, making it clear her next words needed to be taken seriously—“upon your next arrival to this class, I expect each and every one of you to respect your energy in complete and utter silence. That means the moment you enter those doors, there will be no talking, no whispering, and you will most certainly refrain from befouling my classroom with your incessant gossip.”

Her eyes landed on me, a sense of knowing in her sharp gaze. Oh god. She knew I was the subject of said gossip. I scooted down in my seat, as if that might help me disappear. Jett even gave me a look of pity. Great.

Thankfully, Professor Ambrosia turned on her heel, making her way back to the chalkboard. “Moving on. Please take out your books,” she said. “You’ll have to ask them to open for you.”

Ask…the…book?

Oh man.

I was never going to get used to this school.

On my way to my next class, I got lost. Zack wasn’t lying when he said this place was full of mazes. Somehow, I ended up on the outskirts, where the edge of the academy’s manicured lawn met with unruly forest.

“Looking for Mythonian History?” someone shouted, heading down a path that led away from the sidewalk. “This way!”

I looked up from the map the headmaster gave me, and a pair of lavender togas slipped through the trees. It seemed like a strange place for a classroom. Then again, this was a school full of mazes. If that’s the way the students were going, it must be that way. I treaded across the ground, looking for a pathway.

A branch snapped under my feet.

Netting came around me from all sides. The ground flew away as I was pulled higher and higher. I was dangling from the tree like an animal waiting for slaughter. My heart raced, and I gasped for breath, clawing at the rope around me.

Had I been booby trapped?

A sly familiar laugh came from below. I moved frantically to try and find its owner.

Her—Ione.

She was with a boy almost as pretty as she was. They stood there like gawking supermodels in their lavender togas, grinning from ear to ear.

“Trapped, fire-blood?” she called up to me.

I wanted to give her a snarky obviously, but stopped myself since they looked like the only people around who could help.

“Do you think you can get me down?”

She laughed again, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think so. I think you’re exactly where you need to be.”

That little—“Did you set this trap?”

“Does it matter? Either way, I wouldn’t help you. Like I said before, one way or another, you’ll be gone before week’s end. My advice is to leave now.” She turned to her pretty boyfriend. “Don’t you agree that’s wise advice, Felix?”

He nodded, grinning. “Very wise indeed.”

“See? Told you.” She actually had the audacity to wave goodbye. “Remember, fire-blood. Things can always get worse for you.”

Worse than being caught in a snare? There was something seriously wrong with that girl.

“What is your problem?” I shouted, but the two of them walked away. They pretended I no longer existed, heading back down the sidewalk. “And how am I supposed to leave if I’m stuck up here?”

I hit the netting with my palms, growling. My eyes stung. I was over this school. I wanted to go home, back to my own school where no one gossiped about me. I wanted to go back to the way it was before I found out about Riley and Connor. Before I tried to kill my sister. Before I found out about magic…

Magic.

I focused on the top of the net, trying to untie the knot with my mind. Then I tried to start a fire to sear it apart.

Nothing happened. Figured.

It was only my first day in, so it wasn’t like I was an expert. I had no phone either, thanks to Mythos’s stupid no-technology policy. Grandpa mentioned I’d have to contact him through the postal service. Absolutely ridiculous in this day and age, but apparently, that’s how things worked around here.

I sighed, looking around. Students were coming this way, a group of three red togas. I shouted, trying to get their attention.

“Hey!” I stuck my arm through one of the netting holes, waving it frantically. “Hey, you guys! Can you help me down?”

One of them heard me, thank God. A guy with shaggy brown hair and metal armbands. He turned to help, and the others followed suit, but they stopped as soon as they got a good look. The shaggy-haired guy shook his head. “Sorry, but we don’t help defectors. Get one of your own to help you out.”

“They won’t,” I mumbled, sounding more pathetic than I meant to.

He shrugged. “Not my problem.”

I gripped the net as I watched the three of them walk away, squeezing until my palms burned.

Aphrodite didn’t want me. Ares saw me as a traitor. Where the hell did that leave me in this school?

Sighing, I rested my forehead against the net. This was officially the worst first day ever.

12

My stomach growling, I rocked back and forth in my netted cage, pretending I was somewhere else. My dad set a hammock up in our backyard in Davidson. Nestled right between twin oak trees, it was the perfect spot to read or take a nap. That’s where I was, in that old hammock. Resting peacefully without a worry in the world.

Hours passed, and they passed slowly. Every so often someone came to point and laugh. Assholes. None of them ever offered to help.

The spring sun rose high in the sky, making me sweaty and uncomfortable. I’d kill for a drink of water, but I stopped myself from focusing on my discomfort. I was in my backyard hammock, resting peacefully, dammit.

A sharp whistle snapped me out of my daydream.

I felt his presence before I could find him. Goose bumps spread over my arms and the back of my neck tingled.

“Look what we have here.” His voice reverberated through my body,