Blood Oath (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book Two) (29 page)

He gave me that "I think that you’re so lame" look. I was huffing like a bull raring to fight. "Sixteen, today’s my birthday, not that it’s any of your business."

He was absolutely the most conceited guy I’d ever met. And all I wanted to do now was kick butt and show him that I deserved to be here just like him.

He sighed, then gave me an "I’m so bored" look. "Since today’s your birthday, I’ll take it easy on you. We’ll do some sprints to get your cardio up, and then we’ll take it from there. We always stretch before working out. Let’s get to it." He leaned down and started stretching.

I just stood there, looking at him angrily with my hands crossed over my chest.

Chaos looked over at me with irritation. "Are you going to stretch or just stand there pouting?"

I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at him. Barely. I reached down and mimicked his motions.

He stood up and looked at me impatiently. "Ready now?"

Before I could respond, he took off running up the hill. I took off after him, huffing and puffing tiredly. The problem with the hill was that it was steep, rocky, and very slippery, a fact that I found out with my first wobbly step. I slipped and landed on my knees with a thump. I scrambled to my feet and continued slipping and running up the hill. Chaos, on the other hand, just sprinted up the hill effortlessly. It was as if he had wings on his sneakers. When I reached the top, he was standing there looking at me with a very familiar bored expression on his face as I leaned over, trying desperately to catch my breath.

"I think Celeste could run faster than you." He looked at me with a mocking glint. "You know what? I know that she can because she’s beaten me up this very hill several times."

I looked at him nastily. Whatever.

"Okay, break time is over." He turned and sprinted down the hill as if he had wings on his sneakers.

I spun around and jogged carefully down the hill. The problem was that the path down the hill was even worse than it was going up. I slipped halfway down, scraping my palms. I quickly got up and jogged, then tripped on some rocks, then got back up. It was a total disaster. When I finally reached the bottom of the hill, Chaos was leaning against a tree calmly drinking a bottle of water. He didn’t even look like he had broken a sweat. He reached down and grabbed another bottle of water and tossed it at me, barely missing my head before I quickly caught it.

"Happy birthday!" he said in a less than enthusiastic voice. "And don’t ever say I never got you anything. Enjoy." He spun around and quickly walked away.

I was truly shocked as I just stood there watching him.

He stopped, looking over his shoulder, his gray eyes alert. "And make sure you get here on time tomorrow. We need to work on your reflexes. That catch was pathetic." He strode away, disappearing through the forest.

I looked down at the water bottle, contemplating how far I could throw it—like "hitting the back of his head" throw it. Oh, whatever. I flopped down on the ground, drinking the water greedily. For what seemed like forever, I sat there plotting ways I could get back at him, until I exhausted myself. I could say without a doubt that I hated his arrogant butt with every bone in my body.

It started to get cold, and I wanted away from the hill, so I crawled to my feet and stood on very shaky legs. My muscles were begging me to just stop as I used my staff as a crutch to hobble all the way back to the castle.

My pants were caked with mud, but I didn’t care as I shuffled painfully through the forest, then through the garden. I was relieved, to say the least, when I finally spotted the castle. All I wanted right now was a hot shower and to lie in my bed and forget that this whole horrible day had ever happened. I stormed into the dorms, practically crawling up the stairs to my room. When I finally got there, I opened the door and slammed it shut, causing them to look at me with mouths gaping open.

Rosalinda snickered. And I gave her a very nasty "don’t even play with me" look as I held up my hand.

"I wouldn’t if I were you, Princess Rosalinda. I’m not in the mood right now," I snarled.

Jessica spun around in front of me. "Do you like my outfit?" She looked super confident in a fitted gray tank top, draped black vest, and chic black skinny jeans that hugged her curves, with sassy leopard-print wedges.

I grunted at her tiredly, my limbs dragging awkwardly. "Super cute. Troy will be all over you, Jess."

Jessica twirled a blonde strand of hair around her finger nervously. "What happened? You look like you were crawling through the mud commando-style. Absolutely awful."

"Thanks for the compliment." I kicked off my muddy boots and plopped onto the floor tiredly.

Rosalinda scooted out of the way. "Ewww, I don’t want any mud on me." She tossed her long black hair over her shoulders, preening in a jewel-tone blue top with ruffles at the shoulders, her skinny jeans hugging her thin frame as she tapped her suede-peep-toe-platform encased feet.

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "All I want right now is a hot shower and to crawl into bed."

Brooklyn looked at me with disbelief as she fluffed her shoulder-length bright red hair. "Are you kidding me? Today’s your birthday, and you’re going to that party tonight even if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming. Besides, I heard that some super hottie
Elementi
might show up." She fainted playfully. "And if you think the
Ares
are hot, the
Elementi
are even hotter." She was bubbling with excitement in a brightly colored light blue tunic with a one-shoulder design that bared her neckline of a multicolored tiered necklace, her tall, slim body in fitted bright red jeggings and vivid pumps.

I closed my eyes tiredly. "Right about now, I don’t care. Training was brutal, and I’m really not in the mood to party," I mumbled, already half asleep.

Brooklyn rolled her eyes and shook my shoulder roughly to wake me up, which only earned her an "I’m going to kick your skinny behind" look.

"Don’t even give me that look. I’m not scared." She tossed her hair and flipped her red hair over her shoulders. "Here at Transcendence, we train real hard, but we party even harder. You just have to learn how to balance training with fun, or else you’ll end up being a sour-faced training machine like Petra. Besides"—she smiled, jumping up and down excitedly—"the
Elementi
might be there. You’ve got to go."

Zora’s face scrunched up with annoyance as she pushed her straight brown hair from her eyebrows when she looked up from her laptop. "If I have to go to this Horae party, then you do too. I’m putting off doing some serious homework for this thing." Even she was dressed to party, in a flowing gray lace top over a black camisole, black skinny jeans, and black leather over-the-knee riding boots.

"Seriously, I don’t get what’s the big deal about the
Elementi
."

Brooklyn’s eyes widened. "Because it’s not every day that they show up at Transcendence, that’s why." She pulled me up and pushed me toward the closet. "And it’s not every day that we get to party with them. Come to think of it, I’ve never hung out with young
Elementi
. And then there’s this rivalry between the
Ares
and
Elementi
. They can’t stand each other."

"You had me at rivalry. I just love a good fight in the evening," I mumbled tiredly as I pulled some clothes from the closet.

They all burst out with laughter. I swung around to look at them angrily. "What’s so funny?"

Jessica pointed at the seat of my pants. "The whole back of your pants is caked with mud." Her blues eyes twinkled with laughter. "Awful. Absolutely awful."

I gave them a dirty glare. "Umm, you wouldn’t think it was so funny if you had Drill Sergeant Chaos as your mentor. You want to talk about absolutely awful?" I huffed angrily as I twisted in the mirror and caught the image of my mud-caked butt and burst out laughing. Jessica was right. It was absolutely awful.

I stormed angrily toward the bathroom.

Brooklyn laughed loudly. "Uh, hold on. What you need is the soaking room before you take a shower. Follow me."

I followed her out of the room, slamming the door for good measure. Through the door I could still hear them laughing hysterically.

"Whatever," I muttered under my breath as I followed her down the hallway, where she pushed open a heavy mahogany door to reveal a huge open bathroom that held several monster copper claw-foot tubs bubbling with some thick, gold-tinged, gooey foam substance.

I backed away warily. "Uh, what’s that?" The refreshing scent of zesty citrus hit me all at once.

Brooklyn dipped her hand in, up to her elbow, then pulled it out, displaying the gold sticky substance with flecks of sparkles that clung to her skin. "It’s healing foam. We bathe in it, especially after grueling workouts. It heals wounds and bruises, making you good as new."

Walking closer to the tub skeptically, I peered in, watching as the goo gurgled and popped like thick lava. "Okay, so I get in and soak, then what? How do I know that this stuff won’t stick to my unmentionables?"

Brooklyn’s lips quirked with merriment. "Really? Unmentionables? You just soak for at least fifteen minutes, then rinse off in the steam showers." She pointed over to the other side of the bathroom. "Then poof, you’ll be good as new and, hopefully, not as grumpy." She peeled back the hardened goo from her arm. "See you." She walked out of the bathroom, leaving me looking around with awe.

I stripped out of my clothes, relishing the warmth of the heated floors against the bottom of my feet before stepping into the warm gold goo. I sighed as I slipped further down, letting the citrus scent envelop me. Brooklyn was right; I could feel the pain in my knotted muscles rapidly easing away. I slipped down further in the goo, all the way down to my chin, allowing it to work its tingling, healing power.

Sighing, I closed my eyes, almost falling asleep before I realized that I had been in the tub way too long. Taking the cue, I stepped out of the tub, the goo solidifying against my skin as I padded over to the steam shower. I sunk into the steam of the shower, washing away all of the goo, and washing my hair with the zesty shampoo. When I was done, I wrapped myself in a fluffy white robe while I toweled off my hair.

I got dressed in my favorite dark blue skinny jeans and black T-shirt with "NYC Alert" written across my chest in pink letters. Rosalinda balked when I stepped back into the bedroom.

"Are you kidding? The jeans are cute, but that T-shirt is simply hideous, and you don’t even have any makeup on. Come on, at least put on some lip gloss." She held out the lip gloss quickly.

I stuck out my tongue playfully. "I don’t need it. I think I look fly."

Jessica giggled. "Come on, Gabi, it’s your birthday. Live it up a little."

Brooklyn grabbed a blouse and a bottom from her closet. "Put this on. It’s cute." She looked over at Rosalinda impatiently. "Give her some makeup." She examined my hair, which was pulled tightly into dog-eared ponytails. "Okay, for tonight, let’s try something a little bit different with the hair, shall we?"

I backed away quickly. "No way, I always wear my hair like this."

Jessica looked at me with puppy dog eyes. "Gabi, come on, stop being such a pain."

"Okay, but tonight only." I looked at Brooklyn and Rosalinda grudgingly. "Work your magic, beauty queens."

They both rubbed their hands together gleefully, and when they were finished, they stood back and examined their handiwork with great satisfaction.

"It’s a girl, an actual pretty girl," Rosalinda squealed mockingly.

Jessica giggled. "Don’t pay attention to her. You look awesome, Gabi. I mean, you always look good, but you look like a rock star."

I scrutinized myself in the mirror, barely recognizing the person wearing a sleek dark gray leather jacket with a lace tank underneath and tight, curve-hugging black skinny jeans tucked into knee-high chocolate brown suede boots. My hair cascaded around my face in loose, fluffy curls. Even my cappuccino skin glowed, and my heart-shaped lips glistened with pink lip gloss. I touched my hands to my hair, watching as my bangle bracelets clanged together.

I cleared my suddenly dry throat. "Well don’t get used to it," I grumbled, walking over to the door quickly.

Brooklyn gave Rosalinda a silent high five before we hustled out of the dorms, getting lost in the excited crowd heading over to the party. We weaved our way into the door, and the party was already in full swing, with music so loud that it vibrated against the walls. The room was pitch-black except for the laser lights periodically shooting through the air in synchronization to the beat of the music. The air bubbled with untamed energy as the bass from the music thumped melodically and people danced with untamed abandon.
Neophytes
with red and white cups in their hands carelessly sloshed their pink contents on the floor.

"Are you serious? Liquor?" I asked, annoyed, as I almost slipped on the wet floor.

Brooklyn laughed, "That’s not liquor. It’s way stronger. They call it ‘the ruckus’ because it’s a combination of a power elixir and a healing elixir. It’s like a crazy energy drink that keeps you going and going. But it leaves you with a wicked headache after."