Free Keeley Thomson (Book 3): Mistress of Souls by P.S. Power Page A

get the damage healed enough she wasn't in constant agony.
    It hurt, but the move had been the right thing to do, she was nearly certain. As she learned to keep it from hurting as much, she'd adapt. Now it was just a matter of doing it until she could try and actually go somewhere. The next room over was probably a good first step. She still had a lot to do first and a lot to figure out. Too much probably, but that was the life of excitement that she got to live now. No one had ever claimed being a Greater Demon would be easy after all.
    No, Darla and the others had actually hinted pretty strongly that it would most likely kill her before the next few weeks were out. Simple, painless or easy hadn't been mentioned at all.
    As she drove to school Keeley kept the healing going, stopping for donuts and eating three dozen sitting in the school parking lot, leaving two dozen more just sitting, in case she needed to come out at lunch. It would look funny if she tried, but she could always claim it was due to an eating disorder. Pretend to go throw up after or something. It would work best just not to let anyone see though.
    Classes were slow again, though at least in math they got to learn something new. She picked it up the first time through and started working on the homework problems, which got Mr. Nevotney to come over as he spoke and looked at what she was doing. He smiled when he saw it and checked her work, looming over Keeley's shoulder.
    "We should get you into Math Decathlon. The team could use someone like you." It wasn't a command, so she decided to let the statement go for now. For one thing she was thinking of trying out for the next school play, after Halloween. She might not have time to do both. Maybe not even that, depending on the Demon related business required of her. Still Mr. Nevotney kept explaining the simple process to the rest of the class while she finished the obvious assignment and the extra credit. It was probably too showy of her, doing it all in class, but it really was more interesting than just listening to the man speak. He was a nice person, but not exactly a dynamic entertainer.
    A good teacher made sure the students were engaged. Of course a good student did their part by making that easy to manage, but she was a little out of sorts, wasn't she? Her head hurt a little still, even as she tried to heal and that was making her slightly cranky. It was an act of will not to snap at people and to force herself to smile instead. A lot of people were trying to get her attention too. Most of them were subtle, using no more than a small smile or wave.
    "Hey, it's Keeley!" This came from the side, which made her have to turn to look at who said it, even as she recognized the voice. Quince.
    He looked like a boy of about sixteen, but was a Durg, which was basically like a mentally handicapped Greater Demon. Physically tough, long lived and even with the ability to change shape, if very slowly, over decades rather than hours or days. They weren't bright though. About like an average human. That sounded mean even in her own head, but humans had an excuse. They only lived for a brief period of time. Durgs had to do things over and over again to learn them well enough to seem like a regular person. It wasn't the same thing at all.
    They had the time, but not the brains for it. Quince was decently bright for one of his people though. He'd managed to find his missing brothers using ancient divination tricks and simple sleuthing after all. That had to be tough, since they'd been hidden and had taken him nearly ten years to pull off. He hadn't given up though. Keeley didn't know for certain, but kind of thought that Darla was still planning on killing those other Durgs, since they'd accidently murdered Rob, who was one of her people. Only loosely perhaps, but the whole area was hers. Especially Raintree. Anyone hurting any of the students there would need to be ready to face Darla over it. Keeley too, if in a