Mantle of the Gods

I’d earned two abilities.

I didn’t know anything about how many a normal person was supposed to learn, but I had gotten two.

I had a feeling that if I told Aelin about how many abilities that I’d got, then she’d know something was different about me, but I didn’t know how I wasn’t going to use another skill, especially one that sounded as useful as Dash.

I had completely forgotten that Aelin had leveled up too when I felt my skin tense.

“Atlas?” Aelin got in my face to get my attention. “Did you feel anything?”

“What did you do to me?” I felt weird, but couldn’t put my finger on what was different.

Aelin knocked on my arm. Instead of it being spongy and giving, it gave off a solid thunk.

“It’s Harden!” She smiled and seemed genuinely happy.

I tried pushing on my own arm, and it definitely was stiffer, but I could still move my arm around like normal. It was like my skin only got hard when it got hit.

“That’s really cool. I’m sure Ether will enjoy it a lot since we don’t have armor right now.” I needed to find a way to talk to Justia and probably Ether too, but definitely Justia.

“Yeah, but it only works on one target at a time.” I saw a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I know something else I could use it to harden that Ether might enjoy too.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“Whoa!” I held up my hands. "I don’t need any help in that department!” I could feel my ears burning and my cheeks were hot.

Ether started laughing, which encouraged Aelin to join in. I could tell that Justia was trying to hold back, but the laughter was so contagious that she broke down and joined them.

“Okay, we’ve had our laughs.” I sighed as they tried to calm down.

“What did you get?” The bubbly blonde started dancing around in the middle of the trail.

I pointed at the road. "Pebble Shot.”

Two rocks the size of marbles shot out of my finger. They shattered as they hit the ground, leaving small indentations.

“That’s…” Aelin looked at me. "Something.”

“I think it would have trouble hitting the skellies and as fast as the snakes are, I’m not sure if I could hit them either.” I shrugged. "But maybe it’ll be useful against the floor boss.”

“Maybe!” Aelin shielded her eyes as she looked in the direction of where the door was. "Are we going there now?”

I looked at the other two. "We’ve got enough fruit for tonight, might as well head that way.”

They nodded and Aelin began skipping as we started walking down the trail. It would have been faster if we’d cut through the grass, but I think we were all tired of fighting snakes.

I motioned for Justia to hang back. She slowed down until the two of us were walking side by side. Ether must have noticed what we were doing because she ran ahead and started talking to Aelin about something.

“What’s wrong?” Justia looked concerned.

“I got two abilities.”

I would have thought that I’d be used to Justia’s The Sky Is Green face, but I wasn’t.

“Two?”

I nodded.

“What else did you get?” She looked skeptical.

“Dash.” I stumbled as my legs started moving faster than I was used to.

“Atlas! You okay?” Aelin yelled from almost a hundred feet away.

“I’m fine, Aelin!” I dusted myself off. "I tripped over my own feet!” It wasn’t a lie.

“I didn’t expect it to go off just by naming it.”

I got to see the face again.

“Okay, so I don’t know exactly how spells and skills work.” I shrugged. "But this creates a problem.”

“With you trying to kill yourself?” Justia raised an eyebrow. "Because that skill seems dangerous.”

“I agree. I’m going to have to get used to it.” I looked at her. "But if Aelin hasn’t figured out that I’m an Abnormal by now, she definitely will once she sees me use a second skill.”

“What are you saying?” I saw concern on her face.

“I’m asking if you think we can trust her.”

“Oh.” The green-skinned Healer looked up the road. At first, I thought she was looking at Aelin, but then I realized she was looking at Ether. "And you want to know what I think?”

“I might love Ether, but you’re the one who got bound to me.” I shook my head. "I’m pretty sure that means if I die, you die.” I kicked a rock. "So I want to know what you think, because you probably know her the best.”

Justia stopped walking and I made it a few steps before I turned and looked at her.

“I think we can trust her.” Justia took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” I swallowed. "So we need to have a long team conversation before we fight this boss.”