“You have to do it again,” he insisted, returning to his Instructor of Annoying Jerk-Face position. Legs spread wide. Arms across his chest. “You have to do it more than once, and not when you’re just pissed at me.”

My skin prickled with frustration, and anger was like lava in my blood. Screw wind, though. I was so damn sick of the dummy. Sick of not being able to do it correctly every time. Sick of my missing mom and my absentee dad. Sick of the nightmares. So over the responsibilities I never asked for.

Just sick of everything.

Like a flower blossoming for the rain, whatever existed deep inside me opened up. A chasm ripped open, like it had when I blasted Hyperion. Pure power rippled through me, and this time when I lifted my hand and opened my palm, I wasn’t summoning the element of air. I tapped into the power of the gods, the energy that gave life and ended it.

Seth made a sound of surprise.

Whitish light powered down my right arm, circling like a cyclone, and then the intense white bolt of light erupted out of my palm and slammed into the dummy, lifting it back into the air again. The dummy continued to climb, higher than the trees surrounding the campus.

Akasha covered the dummy, the intensity too much for the plastic and fake flesh. It exploded with a loud crack, shattering into a million little pieces that rained down several feet away.

Closing my hand, I dropped my arm and turned to Seth. “There.”

He was staring at me again, his gaze feverish this time, and the glyphs were out, sliding across his skin.

“And yeah, I did that on purpose, jerk-face.”

Seth said nothing as he took a step toward me, but I was ready to explode like that stupid dummy. “I totally get that I need to be better at this, but I’m trying. I’m doing my best. I didn’t have years and years of training. I’ve had months, so excuse you if I get a little distracted by the random eagle or boob-shaped clouds!”

His features were tight, highlighting the angular sharpness of his cheeks, and he was still coming at me with this hungry look on his face.

I was so not finished.

“And I know I’m going to have to be freaking awesome to fight Hyperion and the rest of the Titans. Trust me. I think about it every day,” I told him, my voice warbling as tears clogged my throat. “And I try not to, because when I do, I think about—” I cut myself off, shaking my head. “You know what? Never mind. I’m going to go eat my emotions.”

I started to turn away, but Seth wrapped his arm around my waist and drew me back to him. I hit his hard chest and would’ve bounced off if his arm hadn’t clamped around me.