Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy by Belle Malory (most important books of all time txt) 📗

the marbled floors. Fresh flowers filled vases at every corner. Students sat sprawled along the furniture, chatting with one another, most of them already in their school togas. There were a few like me in normal clothes, and I wondered how many of them came from the human world.

I made my way up the stairs, garnering a few stares along the way. I tried to smile whenever I made eye contact, but no one ever smiled back. For students of love, they didn’t seem very friendly.

The second floor was a long marble hallway of doors, each marked with acrophonic numerals. When I got to my room, I knocked first, but there was no answer, so I let myself inside.

The room was small but elegant. The walls and floors were white, two twin beds at opposite ends of the room, along with two armoires and two small desks. A curved velvety chaise sat in the center against the wall, and a balcony led out to a view of the mountains in the distance. Half the room was flooded with someone’s belongings. Clothes were strewn across the bed, purses hanging from each end of the headboard. The desk on that side was covered with books, makeup, hair brushes, and perfume bottles.

I sat on the edge of my bed, sighing.

Now that I was finally here, it was becoming real. I already missed my silver and white bedroom with its sparkly twinkle lights, posters, and the constellations I painted on the ceiling. I missed the telescope by the window that Dad and I used to stargaze. I missed my purple stuffed unicorn, my cellphone, and definitely the TV.

And as much as I hated her, I missed Riley’s voice, listening to her talk for hours about music or her latest crush. I missed Dad’s hugs, and the way he still enjoyed tucking me in every night, even though I was seventeen.

Balance and inner clarity, I reminded myself, trying not to cry.

10

Around midnight, my roommate slammed the door open and flung herself on her bed before I could introduce myself. She didn’t bother turning on the light. I doubt she even realized I was there. Zack mentioned there wasn’t a curfew since moonlight hours were often needed for magical purposes. He also said a lot of people took advantage of that freedom. Late-night parties, secret rendezvous, and forbidden trips to Twilight Island were all commonplace.

I wanted to make a good impression, and since I was groggy from sleeping, I figured I would catch her in the morning. But only a few hours later, I woke again at the sound of voices outside the door. The clock on the wall said it was just past three—way too early to be up.

“She’s in my room,” said a scathing female voice, “and she reeks of Ares blood.”

Uh oh.

I slowly sat up, listening closer.

“Calm yourself, Ione,” said another voice, this one patient and motherly. “You’ve obviously been drinking, and you’re overreacting.”

Hold up. Did that mean we were allowed to drink?

“There has been a mistake.” I heard her pacing outside the door. “Or someone is pranking me. Either way, I want you to remove her from my room this instant.”

“There has been no mistake.”

“You’re telling me you put her with me on purpose?”

“Sheridan descends from Ares blood, but she was chosen by the Fates for Aphrodite magic. Give her a chance—”

“I. Will. Not.”

I winced. The conversation quickly spiraled into a full-blown temper tantrum. Within a matter of seconds, my roommate was screaming at the top of her lungs. She threatened to contact her parents, Headmaster Waddley, as well as several of the school’s donors. I rolled my eyes at the last part. She sounded like a spoiled rich girl, used to getting her way. But all the commotion led to nothing.

The admin eventually convinced my roommate that she would get nowhere with threats and that she was better off returning to bed. She did, very loudly, by opening and slamming the door in a fit of rage.

She stood in the center of the room. At nearly six feet, she glared at me as her blonde hair gleamed in the moonlight. She looked like a supermodel, probably as beautiful as Aphrodite herself, but her near-perfect features had contorted into an ugly scowl.

“Don’t get comfortable, fire-blood,” she seethed. “One way or another, you’ll be gone before the week’s end.”

I swallowed, listening to her huff and puff as she climbed back into bed.

Nice to meet you, too.

When I finally did get to sleep, I was haunted by nightmares. Yellow eyes stared down at me in the dark, like a snake hanging over my bed, watching and waiting to strike. It zapped my energy, paralyzing me in my bed. Whatever it was felt both foreign and familiar, like it was human…as well as something much darker. I tried to speak, tried to ask what it wanted, but it felt like a pair of hands were wrapped around my throat. Its magic was powerful, weighing me down with its intensity. It was too much. Too much weight. Too much force. Too much darkness. At any second, I was going to collapse…

I gasped for breath, and somehow, I finally woke up.

Tears stung my eyes. Swallowing hurt. I coughed, the inside of my throat tight and achy. For a dream, it felt so real. Like I’d just been strangled.

I looked around, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. The room was exactly as it had been, no creepy nightmare snake. Draping my legs over the edge of the bed, I surveyed the floor before standing.

This is crazy.

The last few days I’d been riding a nonstop rollercoaster of emotions, and the anxiety was catching up. That’s all this was. A bad dream due to a lot of ups and downs.

I let out a shaky breath and went to the closet to get ready. At least my cranky roommate already left for the day. I’d die if she witnessed me freaking out, especially after last night.

You’ll be gone