My Ex From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #1)

If you play with fire, you're gonna get spurned (Part 3)

My concentration was shot so I headed back to my room. Theo and Hannah were waiting for me.

"She's gone." Hannah was visibly upset. "Her roommate, Jessica, said that when she returned to her room after class, Cassie's stuff wasn't there. Ms. Keeper was waiting for her to tell her that Cassie's parents had come to get her and that Cassie was being hospitalized for a nervous breakdown. She won't be here for the remainder of the term."

"Jessica didn't believe it, did she?"

"She wasn't sure what to believe." Theo said. "She saw Cassie leave class and couldn't understand what else it could be. Why would Ms. Keeper lie about it?"

"That's the million dollar question." I frowned. "Ms. Keeper appears and Cassie disappears? It's too much of a coincidence. We need to find out more about this woman."

"The timing sucks," Theo agreed.

"You think it's related?" Hannah asked.

"I'm not willing to chance it," he replied.

"But you said you'd be able to tell if anyone from Olympus was here," I retorted.

"This goes way beyond Olympus. I had no idea Kai was here until you told me. Thing is, how did she get past the wards on this place?"

"Kai did," Hannah pointed out.

Theo shook his head. "The wards keep out anyone intending to cause Sophie physical harm. And encourage Sophie to stay in. Whatever brought Kai here, it wasn't to hurt Sophie."

"Unless we count head games," I muttered.

"Head games won't get you killed unless you leave school grounds," Theo replied. "My guess is he's on a recon mission to learn what happened and report back."

"At which point he'll try to kidnap me again?" Was I going to have to constantly look over my shoulder?

"Not if you stay within school grounds, he can't."

"Let's reason this out," Hannah said. "If Ms. Keeper isn't here to hurt Sophie, then what? Especially since the only one who may have come to harm is Cassie?"

"We have to draw her out," I said. "It's the only way."

"Absolutely not." Theo was adamant. "We don't want a total cockup. Nothing happens until we know why she's here. If she's even a problem. We don't want to tip our hand that we're on to her."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "I should just sit here and do nothing? Cassie could be killed."

"Whatever has happened to Cassie is most probably done. We will get to the bottom of this."

There was about as much a chance of me being patient as there was of me winning the Miss America pageant. Actually, if I'd still had my original body, then the odds would have been on me wearing that crown.

Goddesses didn't just sit around. What was the point of being a deity if all I did was dance in meadows? I needed to use myself as bait and see if I caught a Counselericus Evilicus.

The only question was how?

The answer came to me the next day. Even though he'd only been at Hope Park two days, Kai had become the flavor of the month. I sat on the bleachers during lunch, watching him play soccer with some guys in the grass center of our track.

It was difficult to tell who was trying harder to impress him, the jocks on the field or the girls on the sidelines. The more impervious he remained, the more they fell all over themselves.

It surprised me that certain guys were trying to gain Kai's favor. Like the husky Jackson Birt. Jackson might have resembled a grizzly, but he was definitely not smarter than your average bear. His motor skills sucked, too. Brother should have stuck to feats of brute strength because watching him attempt to juggle the ball from foot to foot was just embarrassing.

Although perhaps less so than Veronica Chen scooting around to remain in Kai's line of sight at all times. The highlight being when she elbowed Bethany in the head.

I grinned just as Kai suppressed his own and caught my eye.

Even from this distance, I felt the chemistry crackle between us. Until he ruined it by looking abruptly away and bestowing a crooked grin of sympathy on Bethany.

Kai didn't count as human so Hannah's rules didn't apply. I could get him alone and ...

That was it! I would go outside, alone at night, and do some training. Unleash my power. If Ms. Keeper was here because of me, she'd be bound to come and check it out. Especially with me all vulnerable and by myself.

I heard a burst of female laughter and glanced over at the group of popular kids. Given the way Bethany, Veronica, and a couple of other girls were staring at me, a crack had obviously just been made at my expense.

I consoled myself by imagining acts of horrible retribution, while I thought more about my plan.

I didn't say a word to Theo and Hannah. They'd just forbid it or want to come with me and I couldn't take that risk. Hannah was human and as such, killable. For all intents and purposes, Theo was as well. I doubted he had any powers.

Given how many times he must have wanted to kill me over the years, the fact that I was still standing had to be evidence of his lack of super power, not his abundance of will power. Because had I been Theo, I sure would have blasted me on more than one occasion.

While I probably was killable too, at least I had powers and a fighting chance.