51. WEN

“This is so fucking awesome!”

Even before that follow-up declaration, recognition has already put out the fires of agitation.

I turn within the crushing hug to the dazzling ears-wide, onyx-lipped, pearly-toothed grin, gasping as my heartbeats subside, “Glad you think so, Matt. That makes you one in twenty-thousand.”

She releases me to straighten and slam a drop-dead gaze around. “Oh, don’t pay these fuckers any attention. They’re just jealous their powers aren’t as unique as yours.”

Her voice is so loud, I bet everyone in a hundred-foot radius heard her. I’m grateful I haven’t lost my only new friend around here over what I am, but I would have appreciated her defending me in a less inflammatory manner. I have enough ill-will targeting me as is, I can’t risk triggering this mess into a disaster zone.

I grimace, dropping to a whisper, hoping she’d get my drift. “I don’t they’re happy said unique powers could take away theirs.”

Matt crouches beside me, beautiful black eyes growing earnest as, even louder, she exclaims, “Don’t you dare validate their fucking prejudices, even in your own mind. All powers have a destructive side, but that doesn’t mean they’re not awesome! Yours happen to be the awesomest of all.”

Giving up hope that she’d keep her voice to my ears only, I sigh. “If they have a constructive side, I’ve yet to discover it.”

Her grin returns in full force as she jumps to her feet, voice ringing far and wide. “You will. Until then, it’s enough that you’re the first Null in millennia. Nah, being human, you’re the first of your kind in history. In existence! That’s fucking humongous! You shouldn’t be worrying about it, and you sure as Hell aren’t apologizing for it. Fucking Heaven, you should be celebrating it!” Her eyes round, as if at an incredible discovery. “You won’t believe what I just found out. It has to be a sign!”

From the way she’s dancing on her feet, she needs to make this a dramatic announcement.

Dredging up a smile, I oblige her. “What is?”

“The Academy is finally allowing us First-Years into Noctis!”

My mind glitches at the sharp change in subject.

I’ve heard about this place, what passes for a night club around here. The older cadets sounded like they’d take going there over Heaven. Since I don’t think Godric would ever accompany me, I’m probably the only First Year not burning for the privilege.

“The announcement was in the daily newsletter,” Matt elaborates, almost jumping up and down. “So what are the odds that we’d be allowed into Noctis, on the same day we discover you’re a Null? It’s a sign, I tell you! We go there tonight, to celebrate you!”

I blink at her rapid-fire enthusiasm, which never fails to startle me. But then being so gung-ho about everything is the reason she befriended me in the first place. It’s why she’s the only one considering my Null status a plus.

I smile gratefully at her, before turning my gaze to Sarah and the others, seeking their response.

“Incredible idea, Matt!” Sarah meets Matt’s enthusiasm and raises her a hundred. “Tonight, we celebrate Wen!” She turns to the others. “You guys coming?”

Jinny whoops. “Hell, yeah!”

A dreamy look settles in Cara’s eyes, wiping her usual harshness, making me realize again how stunning she is. “I’ve been dying to see this place. I hear it puts any Heavenly adjectives to shame.”

“Then we’re going.” Aela encompasses the other Unitas in a glance. “Will you join us?”

“By the Netherworlds of Faerie, we will,” Niala blurts out, before turning to glare at her Unitas. “Won’t we, ladies?”

As the other four mumble sheepishly, I realize that she has assumed the position of leader in her Unitas, like Aela has in ours.

After she declares she’s making her Unitas join our party, even if she has to drag them by the hair, Matt launches into the nitty gritty of planning the evening after our classes are over. Like a general, Aela maps out our path to Gabriel Aquatica, where Noctis is. Cara and Niala discuss what we’ll wear for our impression-making first social outing among the senior cadets. Sarah and Jinny fire up their tablets and inform us of the details of the establishment’s history, and the astounding selection they have on their menu. The rest of the girls forget their newfound aversion of me, and join in with excited questions and suggestions.

I watch them all in amazement, heavy heart lifting at this unexpected respite. Even if the rest of the Hall is still pelting me with abhorrence and hostility, Matt has managed to turn my immediate circle into an oasis of acceptance and camaraderie.

Reminding myself to thank her later for this miracle, I join in on the excitement.

Our overlapping voices are so raucous, I don’t register the new flurry of agitation spreading throughout the Hall—until everyone around us falls dead silent.

As muteness descends on our table, too, we exchange alarmed looks.

What now?

Reluctant to find out, I’m the last one to turn around.

A ragged sigh of relief escapes me when I see a procession of professors heading to the stage, led by Astaroth. He sure likes to have us rounded up and held hostage by the need for food to drop his announcement bombs.

As he passes a dozen feet away from our table, I almost jump out of my skin. Not because he catches my gaze, but at the sensation that zaps through my forearm. Where he once cut me, and mixed our blood.

The incident has been on the back-burner of my mind, since I’ve been attending his classes and I felt nothing at his proximity. He certainly hasn’t touched my mind, let alone barged in like Jinny does.

Now this shocking sensation slams the realization to the forefront, along with the dread. That I have two archdemons’ blood forever mixed with mine.

What that means and how it will manifest, I have no idea.

From what I just felt, I doubt it will be anything simple, or harmless.