Goddess Boot Camp(31)
I don’t expect an admission.
His dark blond brows lift just the tiniest bit, betraying his surprise. Then, shocking the crap out of me, a flush of pink crawls up his neck.
Gotcha!
He grumbles, “Let’s just get on with the exercise.”
“Fine,” I say, satisfied with my victory.
Besides, if he drops me, I’ll have an excuse to skip out on the rest of these stupid exercises. I’ll be bleeding from the head, but I’ll be doing it at home.
Holding my arms straight out to the side, I close my eyes and fall.
Halfway to the ground, my eyes fly open. He’s not going to catch me. He’s not going to—
A split second before I hit the ground, his hands slip under my pits. My heart racing, I scramble upright and whirl around. “You almost let me drop!”
“You did not trust.”
“Of course not!” I smack him on the shoulder. Hard. “You were going to let me fall.”
“No.”
“No?” My jaw drops. “My skull was inches from tile.”
“Did it hit the ground?”
“Well, no,” I stammer. “But if you had—”
“Everything all right here?” Stella chirps. She’s been making her rounds of the partners, checking on the whole I-trust-you-you-trust-me status.
“No,” I snap. “It’s not all right. He sucks as a partner.”
Stella glares at me. Right, like she’ll listen to any words against Xander.
“This exercise,” she says slowly, “is not about your partner.”
I just cross my arms. As if anything I say is going to convince her that Xander’s at fault here.
“Hold this for me.” She hands Xander—who spears me with a nervous scowl—her clipboard. Holding out her hands, she says, “Try with me, Phoebe.”
“Yeah, right.”
Her jaw clenches so tight I can see it.
“Just try,” she practically growls.
Fine. Whatever. I spin around, fling out my arms, and hesitate. My heart is still pounding from my almost crash with Xander.
“This time,” Stella says, her voice soft and reassuring, “don’t think about trusting me to catch you.”
“Good,” I retort. “Because I don’t.”
“Instead,” she continues like I didn’t snap at her, “think about trusting yourself not to fall.”
“What?” That doesn’t even make any sense.
“Just try it.”
Fine, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I think, I. Will. Not. Fall.
I fall back.
She catches me yards before I hit the ground.
I hear clapping.
When I open my eyes, I see Stella and Xander on either side of me, standing over me.
“Congratulations,” Stella says, beaming. “You just earned your first merit badge.”
I stare at her clapping hands. “You’re not holding me,” I say stupidly.
She shakes her head.
“Then who—”
I twist my head back. No one is there.
“You are,” Stella says triumphantly.
I crash to the ground in a heap.
CHAPTER 6
PSYCHODICTATION
SOURCE: ATHENA
The ability to communicate telepathically, whether in words, feelings, or other ways, with another hematheos. Communication should not be attempted without proper training, because of rare but serious risk of brain aneurism. (See Psychospection for the ability to read another’s thoughts.)
DYNAMOTHEOS STUDY GUIDE © Stella Petrolas
WHEN I PUSH THROUGH the glass door of the ice-cream parlor, the owner waves. “Afternoon, Phoebe.”
I tell myself Demetrius knows my name because he prides himself on knowing every student’s name—not because I have an ice-cream problem or anything.
“How was camp today?” he asks.
Demetrius, a descendant of Clio—the muse of history—and a major throwback to the fifties, keeps the place in perfect Happy Days style. Chrome and sky-blue vinyl everywhere. A long bar with round, counter-height stools. A pair of cramped booths in the back with mini-jukeboxes on the tables. And just about any ice-cream flavor you could ever imagine.
I shrug. “Fine.”
“Phoebe,” Nicole calls out from one of the booths.
Troy waves and says, “Hey!”
“Be right there,” I say, then turn to Demetrius to place my order. “I’ll have my usual.”
My mouth starts salivating at the thought of that perfectly spherical scoop of mint chocolate chip perched on a crunchy brown sugar cone. Knowing Griffin is going to crack down on our training nutritional plan any minute now makes the indulgence even more enticing. Allure of the forbidden and all that.
“Not today,” Demetrius says. “I’ve got something better.”