Ares' Shield (Halfling Academy Book 3), page 1
ARES SHIELD
HALFLING ACADEMY
BOOK III
EMBER-RAINE WINTERS
Copyright © 2023 by Ember-Raine Winters
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Also by Ember-Raine Winters
1
The tray clangs as I drop it on the table and take a seat. The cafeteria is full this afternoon, and everyone happily ignores my foul mood.
Raven drops into the seat across from me with a raised brow.
“What is your problem?” she asks.
“Just watch,” I say, pointing to Jayden.
He’s finishing up getting his food and I would bet money that he will end up sitting at his own table all alone.
He’s the only child of Hades so he gets a table all to himself. Only he rarely sits at it. He almost always sits with us.
Until recently. Until Draven threw a damn tantrum. Now, he rarely sits with us in the cafeteria and barely even speaks to me.
I’ve had enough.
Jayden finishes up at the buffet line and our eyes lock. His brows pinch in a frown as he glances at my table and then back to his empty one.
He shakes his head and walks over to his table and sits down.
“See?” I ask, throwing up my hands.
“Yeah, but he’s been doing that a lot since we got back from the underworld.”
“That’s my point. We were fine while we were in the underworld, then Draven spouted off at the mouth and I seriously want to zap them both.” I pick up my sandwich and take a huge bite.
“He’s a moron.” Raven shrugs.
Dax waves at me from the Ares table and I sigh, but wave back at him.
He’s still on my shit list for the problems he’s caused, but he’s gotten better about acting like an asshole and trying to fucking kiss me.
Thank fuck for that.
“He’ll get over it,” Raven says around a mouthful of her sandwich.
“It never should have been something he needed to get over.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention and I turn to glare at Mia as she slinks over to Jayden at the Hades table.
“B?” Raven waves a hand in my face.
“That bitch just won’t give up, will she?” I snarl.
Raven turns and her eyes widen at the sight before us. Mia runs her fingertips over Jayden’s shoulder and he flinches.
“What are you doing, Mia?” Jayden yells.
“You looked so lonely over here, so I thought I would keep you company,” she says with a pout.
She scoots closer to him and my hand clenches into a fist as lightning crackles beneath my skin. The lights in the cafeteria flicker and all eyes turn to me.
“I told you, Mia, I don’t want you and never have. You’re just embarrassing yourself now.” Jayden pushes her away from him.
Taking several deep breaths, I do my best to calm myself. He pushed her away. He is always pushing her away.
I unclench my fist and grab my sandwich as I continue to watch Mia’s humiliation unfold.
“Even after what Draven said, you still want her,” Mia screeches.
This girl has fucking issues. I move to stand, but Raven grabs my arm across the table and shakes her head in warning. Strangling the idiot is not the answer.
“It’s not just about Beth. Your desperation is kind of disgusting,” Jayden says.
“Ouch,” Raven says with a giggle. “That was fucking brutal.”
Jayden turns his glare on Raven and then glances at me before storming from the cafeteria in a huff.
“I’ve had enough of this,” I say and push myself up out of my chair.
Is he pissed at me because of Draven or is there something else going on? I can’t help it if entitled assholes in this school refuse to take a fucking hint. I’ve been as subtle as a semitruck.
He can’t go all possessive alpha and then fucking ignore me like this. I’m over it.
He’s going to talk to me. I’m not giving him a choice this time.
The doors to the cafeteria fly open as I push through them into the bright sunshine. Students sit in small groups around the quad, chatting. It’s one of the few times since I’ve been at the academy that it’s been calm like this.
“Argh,” I growl as I storm across the quad toward Jayden.
I don’t understand what’s going on with him. Things are better than they’ve been since I got to the academy but he’s still distant.
I’m over it. If this is about stupid pouty Draven, I’m likely to scream. We need to stop letting other people and their opinions get between us.
“Jayden,” I shout.
Whispers fill the air from the students that dot the quad. I ignore them, my glare firmly on the stubborn-ass son of Hades.
Jayden glances at me over his shoulder and groans. “Not now, Beth.”
“Yes, now, Jayden.” I cross my arms over my chest and tap my foot.
My uniform skirt flutters in the breeze, bringing Jayden’s gaze down to my legs. He can stare at me, but he won’t talk to me or tell me why.
Boys are stupid.
“What is it, Beth? I’m kind of in the middle of something.” He tilts his head back to the sky.
Adrian nods to me over Jayden’s shoulder and shrugs. He’s not going to be any help on this apparently. I scowl at him.
“It looks like you’re chatting with Adrian. Super important.”
“Beth,” Adrian says and trails off.
“I don’t want to hear it, Adrian,” I growl.
Adrian holds up his hands in surrender and takes a step back from me. He knows better than to fuck with me.
“What do you want, Beth?” Jayden sighs.
“What the hell is your problem? Why are you acting like this?” I stomp my foot.
Adrian slowly backs away from us.
Guess he’s not going to be any help to Jayden either. Good.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He turns to walk away.
What the fuck? It’s going to be like this again? Why does he have to be so fucking moody? I didn’t even do anything wrong.
“Is this about that idiot Draven?” I ask, gripping him by the arm and spinning him back to me.
“Not now, Beth,” he says through gritted teeth.
“You have got to be kidding me. You are sitting here letting an idiot who knows nothing about us get in your head because of who your father is.” I tighten my grip on his arm.
“It’s a problem, Beth, and you know it.”
“Why? I met your father and I think he’s great.”
Jayden peels my fingers from his arm and squeezes my hand before turning and walking away.
“You know nothing about him,” Jayden calls over his shoulder.
“No one who names a vicious three-headed hellhound Spot can be that bad,” I yell at his back.
His shoulders stiffening at the mention of Cerberus is the only reaction I get as he stomps away.
Asshole.
Why won’t he just tell me what the fuck is going on?
It’s fucking ridiculous.
Pain shoots through me and I stumble as someone knocks into my shoulder. “What the hell?”
I turn on the person with lightning crackling in my palms, but he doesn’t even acknowledge that he just basically shoved me.
His eyes are glassy and vacant as he keeps walking straight into the woods.
“Hey,” I shout. “Are you okay?”
He doesn’t answer or acknowledge me at all. What the hell is going on? Where is he going?
“Hello?” I wave my hand in front of his face as I jog to keep up with his long strides.
Still nothing. It’s like he doesn’t even see me.
What do I do? Should I follow him? Is someone or something controlling him?
I follow the guy through the forest. He tramples the underbrush without a care and twigs break with his every step. He’s not worried about being quiet.
He doesn’t appear to be worried about anything. We get to a small pond, and he doesn’t even stop as he changes course to walk around it. The nereids peek out through the depths of the pond, watching us with inquisitive eyes.
“Can you spray him with water?” I ask the closest nymph. “I don’t know what’s happening to him.”
The girl giggles, her blu
He doesn’t even flinch. He doesn’t reach up to wipe the water from his face or turn in the direction of the nereid.
The nereid shrugs helplessly as I curse under my breath. Nothing is stopping him from wherever the hell he’s going.
“Ahhh, it’s fine. Thanks for trying,” I say to the blue-haired girl.
Something isn’t right. Wasn’t I just thinking that everything was finally calm? Of course, I jinxed myself.
As the guy leads me deeper into the forest, I start to question my sanity.
Am I really following a strange demigod that I don’t know deep into the forest when there’s something clearly wrong with him?
I should have grabbed Adrian or Raven before venturing into the woods like this. But I never would have found him again out here.
The branches of the trees scratch at his arms and face as he pushes through them without a care. The dryads are not going to be happy if he damages their trees, but he doesn’t seem to care.
What the fuck is wrong with this guy?
“Hello? Hey, you. What the hell are you doing? You’re going out into the middle of nowhere, bro,” I shout at him.
Still no signs of life. Just his stomping feet taking him farther away from the damn academy.
How can I knock some sense into him? I call my magic to me and lightning crackles in my palm before I fling a tiny bolt at the guy’s back.
A small grunt fills the quiet forest but other than that, he doesn’t react. He can feel pain, but it doesn’t do anything to deter him from his trail. If you can even call it a trail.
He’s storming through the forest with one singular focus, and actually following a path to get there isn’t that focused at all.
I adjust the straps on my backpack as I pick through the forest, trying desperately not to upset the dryads even more as I silently apologize for any damage done by this guy.
Should I grab the shell from my backpack and call Raven? What would she be able to do about it? The guy is huge. I distantly remember seeing him in the Ares common room, but I can’t remember his name.
Would Raven be able to talk some sense into him? Probably fucking not. It’s like he’s not even there.
“C’mon, bro. Where the fuck are you going?” I throw my hands up in frustration but continue to follow him.
I shiver as the buzz of the wards skates down my spine. They are still very much intact since we rescued the Hermes kids. Thank the fates for that because I don’t want to fight any monsters inside the academy grounds again.
The guy doesn’t even slow his pace as we come up to the wards.
“Dude, you don’t want to walk through there.” I reach out and grab his arm, but he pulls away.
He shoves me to the side as I try to step in front of him to block him and pain shoots up my hip as I land on it on the ground.
What the fuck?
I scramble up from the ground and watch in horror as he walks straight through the wards. They part around him like nothing, and he continues on his path. I stare with bated breath, waiting for a monster to come out of nowhere and attack him, but nothing happens.
He just walks out of the academy. He stomps through the forest until he’s out of sight.
How the fuck is this possible?
I creep to the wards and the buzzing rattles my teeth as I reach out to touch them. It’s a solid wall in front of me and I jump back as electricity that isn’t mine zaps me.
“Ow, shit.” I fling my hand to get rid of the sting.
How the hell did this happen? How was he able to get out without permission and I got zapped?
There is definitely something wrong here.
I step away from the wards and pick my way through the forest back to the academy when a dryad steps out in front of me.
“Have you seen that before?” I ask.
“No, but there are rumors of the ones with dead eyes.”
“Dead eyes?” I ask stupidly.
“They’re empty and I don’t like what they are doing to the trees,” she pouts and lays a green hand on the trunk of the nearest tree.
The tree rustles at her touch as if in a breeze, but there is no wind in the forest.
“I don’t like it either. I’m sorry.” I shake my head and scan the forest. “I don’t think he was actually doing that.”
“Demigods aren’t usually that mean.” She sticks her bottom lip out.
“What are the rumors?” I ask.
She’d said there were rumors about dead eyes. Are there more people missing from the academy that I don’t know about?
“People with glassy blank eyes are leaving the academy. They get beyond the wards somehow.” The dryad shrugs.
Is this another situation like with the Hermes students a few weeks ago? To what end though? I’m almost positive that guy wasn’t a Hermes descendent.
The Hermes students are the only ones who can keep the wards going so if there is something sinister happening here, then why did they pick that guy to control?
There are more than just him? What the fuck? Why haven’t I been told?
Because you’re a fucking student, Beth. You don’t get to know all the secrets.
But I seriously should have been told, unless Rebecca doesn’t know.
“Shit, how many have been spotted? Did they all come this direction?” I ask.
“I don’t know, a few?” she asks.
Why the fuck is she asking me? This is the first I’m seeing of it. What is happening?
“Has anyone seen them out here? Does the faculty know what’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” she screams and grips the ends of her hair, pulling at it. .
“Sorry, I get that. I’m just trying to get all the facts before I sound the alarm.” I shake my head.
“I don’t know anything.” She glares at me.
“I get it. You haven’t seen anything.” I wave her off and stomp through the forest.
I’m sure to give it a lot more care than the fumbling mind-controlled student who just blundered though without care.
I make my way back to the small pond and scan it for the nereid that sprayed the guy in the face not long ago.
Several nereids poke their heads out of the pond and watch me as I crouch close to the water.
“Had you seen anything like that before?” I ask the nereids, but they just stare back at me.
“I don’t think they’ve seen anything either,” the dryad whispers from behind me.
“Don’t speak for us, dryad.” The nereid from earlier stands in the pond and crosses her arms over her chest.
“You weren’t speaking for yourself. She’s trying to help.” The dryad stomps her foot angrily and the trees sway.
Please tell me there isn’t about to be a brawl between the tree spirit and the water spirits. I don’t want to be in the middle of that and accidentally get impaled.
“Look, you don’t need to fight. I just want to know if you have seen anything like the guy I asked you to spray earlier.” I hold up my hands in surrender.
“No.” A different nereid stands in the water. Seaweed coats her body, covering her modestly.
“That was the first time you saw someone with blank eyes?” I ask and she nods.
The nereids rarely leave their waters for anything so it would make sense that the dryads would see more than they do, but it still doesn’t help when only one of the dryads has surfaced to give me vague rumors.
This definitely isn’t helping me figure this out. Why the fuck did that guy leave the academy? I don’t think it was of his own free will, but if they are changing tactics when it comes to trying to weaken the academy, this isn’t good at all.
We really need to figure out who’s doing this and why. If not, the world is in some serious shit.
2
My feet pound against the packed dirt as I race through the forest back to the admin building. I need to find the headmistress and tell her what I just saw.
