Gift of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy 1)

I had a flashback to my first day, and how this whole place had seemed intimidating and vaguely ominous, with its twisting corridors and dark stone walls. None of us even knew where we were. We’d had to take a portal to get here, and the school itself was in some unidentified, remote part of the world.

Walking through the halls toward the cafeteria, I couldn’t help the shiver that ran up my spine.

Since I had returned from the godly realm, I swore I could almost feel a dark energy simmering and pulsing throughout the hallways.

There was something strange going on here.

Something had gone wrong with the Gods’ Challenge.

And the three people I wanted to talk to most were drifting away from me.

Several more days slipped by, and my mind was still full. I did everything I could do to just let my worries go. I kept telling myself that nothing good would come of pushing for answers about the Gods’ Challenge, of trying to figure out something I would never understand.

But the thoughts kept coming, and the dreams never stopped, and anxiety kept pulling at my gut.

Just keep your head down, Aria. Just keep your head down and get through this. When you’re done, you’ll get to go home. You can go back to your life in Boston and forget this ever happened.

The only problem was, I didn’t want to forget.

Not the bad parts,

And not the good.

I clutched my books to my chest and rounded the corner, stopping abruptly as Merrick walked past me. Our gazes locked for a moment, and it felt like time stopped.

The guys and I had barely spoken since we’d come back to school, and every day, I felt their absence in my life more and more.

Yet still, every time I saw them, I ran the other way.

It was cowardly and stupid—I’d at least grown enough as a person over the past few months to admit that.

But I was terrified.

I could feel myself standing on the edge of that cliff again, gazing out over open sky, fearing the fall even as I craved it.

If I jumped, what would happen?

I would be risking my heart not just once, but three times over.

Every night, my dreams took me back to the cave, letting me replay every incredible minute of what had happened between us—first Merrick and me, then all of us.

They took me back to the long conversations Trace and I had gotten into as we tromped through the jungle, discussing everything from music to classic comedies to which strange creature in the godly realm would make the best pet.

In my dreams, I remembered the feeling of having Lachlan beside me as we fought, his strong body moving gracefully despite his size, his gaze flicking toward me often to make sure he had my back.

In my dreams, we were all a team because we wanted to be. There was no truce just for convenience, no promise that our partnership would end soon.

There was just us.

Together.

The weirdest part was that, even as I’d started to avoid the guys, they had seemed to be avoiding each other. As if we were all trying to avoid anything that reminded us of what’d happened in the godly realm.

“Ari.”

Merrick’s voice was low, and his footsteps slowed. He was several feet away from me.

Too far away. Much too far.