She shakes her head, and her silky hair is hard to look away from. “I know the guys won’t want me telling you this, but I don’t know about all this godslayer stuff. Just a couple weeks ago, I was finishing high school and prepping to go to college for my nursing degree.”
My brows rise. “Really? You’re kind of built more like…well, an Amazon.”
To my surprise, she laughs, and the sound is pure and honest. “I’ve always been tall, but until this whole thing, I was more lanky. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve gotten real boobs, nice hair, and some curves I never imagined.”
I grin. “We changed too. Even though I’m still pretty mousey.”
“Mousey?” Her gaze runs over me. “That’s the last word I’d use to describe you. And actually, as much as the guys are measuring their dicks and talking the big talk, I think it surprised them to find out one of the gods is a beautiful woman.”
I feel my cheeks heat. Has anyone ever called me beautiful before? “Uh, thanks?”
She laughs again. “So were you…normal before this too?”
I get the feeling the guys wouldn’t want me telling her anything, but I can’t see the harm in it. “Yup, just finished finals and was trying to figure out what the heck to do with my life.”
“College? Work?” she asks.
I shrug. “I got into a few colleges, but I wasn’t sure about financial aid yet. I knew my foster parents would probably kick me out as soon as they could, so I was trying to find a place I could live too.”
An expression I don’t understand crosses her face. “My family was freaking out when I suddenly decided to switch my whole plan and come to some God Fire school they’d never heard of.”
“My foster mom had already thrown my stuff outside,” I say, a humorless laugh exploding from my lips.
And now I can identify the expression. There’s a look of pity written across her face. “It sounds like growing up, things weren’t exactly easy for you. I’m surprised. I kind of thought the gods would all be spoiled kids.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand the logic of why I became a god at all.”
Her expression changes. “You don’t know?”
I tense. “Do you?”
She nods slowly. “You were marked…right? Or was it one of the guys who was?”
“Marked?” I repeat the word, confused.
“Yeah, one of you had to have the mark on you somewhere.”
For one second, I’m confused out of my mind, wondering if one of the guys has a weird mark somewhere that I never knew about. And then I remember that night in the library, how the book illuminated something on my skin.
A mark.
My heart races.
We all became gods because of me?
I did this? To us?
“Are you okay?” she asks, leaning forward.
I shake my head, knowing I’m trembling. “I remember a mark on my arm that night, and then I found the book…”
She lets out a noisy breath. “So someone in your life must have served the gods. Someone powerful, who performed a spell that would allow the gods to enter your body. They were probably meant to do it when you were a child, so they could take over easily. My guess is someone gave you protection somehow until you came of age.”
I shake my head. Who would do something like that? “No one in my life could’ve done that…”
“Are you sure?” she asks. “Because the books I’ve been reading said that was the only way the gods could be reborn. A child has to be sacrificed as a gateway back into this world.”
“It must be wrong.” My voice comes out small. I don’t sound confident.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “But the book you mentioned…it should tell you these things, right? As like a guide to your new life?”
“It was blank,” I tell her, shaking my head.
“Did you use your god-magic on it?”
I frown. “No, how would I do that?”
She doesn’t answer for a long minute, and when I look up at her, she’s studying me with the strangest expression.
“What?” I ask, feeling uncomfortable. Have I said too much?
“As soon as we turned into godslayers, we were given a small window to leave our own lives, and then a man trained us, hard. He told us how dangerous you would all be. He told us the stories of what you’d done.” She pauses. “I never expected that you guys would be so clueless, about yourselves, and about your powers.”
I rub my face, feeling the strangest urge to cry. “I’m trying to figure it all out.”
Suddenly, she’s beside me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “Listen, our trainer made it sound like we had to kill you, but Mr. Time says there’s another way. I can’t speak for all the godslayers, but a few of us aren’t killers. We don’t want to hurt you. We’ll do what we can to save your lives, okay?”
I feel like a child when I nod, fighting back tears.
“But listen, be careful. It was made clear to us that we can never go back to our old lives until you’re dead. And some of us… Well, they’ll do anything to go back.”
I look up at her. “But not you?”
She shakes her head. “I was born to help the world. I’ve always felt that way. But I won’t have an innocent person’s blood on my hands.”
“We don’t want to hurt any of you either,” I say.
She raises a brow. “Really? Because some of your guys seem a little…hostile.”
I laugh. “Ignore them. They’re just protective of me.”
“So the five of you are dating or something?”
I feel my cheeks heat. “Or something.”
She laughs, but gets a funny look on her face. “Is that something with our powers? Where suddenly we want more than one guy… We can picture a life with several of them all belonging to us.”
I can’t help but smile. “Thinking of any particular guys?”
It’s amazing when her face turns bright red. “Not exactly!”
Then, we’re both laughing. And the world seems a little less dark.
Suddenly, Van is standing before us. “What the hell, Izzy?”
I jerk, and her arm drops away from my shoulder. “I was just talking to...”
“Jessica,” she fills in.
“Jessica,” I say.
“The enemy,” Van practically hisses.
I give him that look I’m starting to master. “She’s not my enemy, so calm the hell down.”
His teeth audibly crack together. “Well, lunch is fucking served.”
I turn to Jessica, and she loops her arm through mine. “Want to go make it clear we aren’t joining in their dick-measuring game?”
I grin. “Absa-fucking-lootly.”
Chapter Four
Van
At lunch, Mr. Time sits at the head of the table, as if he’s the dad and we’re all part of one big fucked-up family. He starts out by introducing us to the godslayers, one by one, and then he introduces the godslayers to us. Jessica, the only female among them, greets us with a smile. Tuck is a tall, massive godslayer with a scruffy beard, and an arm behind Jessica’s chair at all times. Clancy sits on her other side. He’s the only one that doesn’t look like a football player, and his glasses and soft smile makes it a little hard to believe that he might one day kill us. And then there’s dark-haired Finn, with the bright green eyes and a glare every time one of us even moves. He’s got asshole written all over him.