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"Oh I…I thought Aphrodite ith Adonis or so?"

"Aphrodite has pretty much been with everyone She even hooked up with one of the Sentinels I know, and he ended up with a nice scar as a reminder of the no-touchie-touch policy"

"The Sentinels… You’ve mentioned them before" She tapped the Nook on her knee "You said they were ht?"

"Yeah Now the Sentinels are more of a mix of pures and halfs"

The Nook continued to bounce "And the Sentinels are like the godly version of the aro before the Council--well, used to A lot of this has been abolished for about a year, but back in the day, at the age of eight, ent before the Council--twelve pures who oversaw each of the Covenants, which are schools near the largest communities, and it was detero into servitude I obviously went into training We got basic education, but it was ing froa, to basic er play There’s thousands of Sentinels Used to be more…" Before I helped kill a whole truckload of them

"So you’re a Sentinel, too?"

"Yes And no First and foremost, I’m the Apollyon, but I was trained just like any other Sentinel Probably pushed harder, and I was never really with them Even when I was in classes with the others, I was always separate soame was officially over

A huge part ofher so much "The halfs and pures knehat I was They kneas different, and since I could easily knock one of them into next year, it didn’t make them real comfortable around me Neither were a lot of pures Everyone liked to stare when I was around, but people didn’t get too close" Unless the pures and halfs were female, most steered clear of me All except the few connections I’d made with those who’d been at the Deity Island Covenant, and I hadn’t seen any of the "You really didn’t have friends growing up?"

"I had no one," I adlanced at her, and she was staring at me, not with curiosity but with a visible need to understand, to relate It ritten all over her face Maybe that’s why I kept talking, telling her things only one other person knew Maybe it was because I thought, out of everyone I’d ever known, this girl…she’d understand "The very second I opened my mouth and tookthe teriver as as warm and fuzzy as Medusa She hadn’t wanted me You see, relationships between halfs and pures were forbidden We kneas because of the potential for an Apollyon, but it’s also because halfs have always been looked down on, but reat love affair between her and whoeverit on with the help, until she got pregnant by one of them Then not so much She probably would’ve drowned asped "No, she wouldn’t have done that"

"Pures did that all the time, Josie, and that would’ve been od who came to her before I was born and told her what I was"

"God, that’s just terrible"

My hand tightened on the steering wheel "Then I became her party favor For years, I only saw her when she wanted to see me--twice a week for dinner and whenever she wanted to tote me around society parties as her special son, the Apollyon No one called me that then, but everyone who saw aveexpensive and rare handbag Stared at Whispered about Touched Stroked Then stored away until she wanted to impress more of her pure friends, who had lost respect for her the nant by a half-blood, but probably wanted to gawk at rew to hate pures" I cutin a deep breath "Anyway, I wasn’t allowed to address her as ‘iven name, ‘Callista’ Mommy Dearest would shit a brick if she knew the truth--that I wasn’t supposed to be the Apollyon Maybe she had known Either way, there’d been no friends The only toys I’d found were ancient things that no kid wanted to play with, and then I went before the Covenant They’d taken one look at me, knehat I was, and I was taken away froland where I began my education From there, I was shipped to the Covenant in Nashville"

I paused, caught up in ood place for me "I haven’t been back to the Islands since that day, and I was eighteen when a Minister at the Covenant in Nashville informed me that my h she hadn’t been much of a mom, she had been my flesh and blood She mattered, even if I hadn’tme, and I couldn’t look at her, because I knew there’d be pity in her gaze I probably should’ve kept my damn mouth shut

"So…so that’s why you have a little bit of an accent?" she asked