6. Kiera
Chapter 6
Kiera
T here is a deep power within everything—oceans, mountains, and even the Brimstone mountain that is Ortus Island. The ship beneath my feet bobs through the currents, slicing through waters darker than a moonless night. It carries the hordes of Mortal Gods closer to the giant beast of ebony spikes that glisten under the muted sunlight above. Clouds hover closer than they've ever seemed before and I'm not sure yet if it's symbolic of a threat or nature's concern. The pit in my stomach opens up and consumes everything within me as the ship coasts towards a rickety-looking dock that looks like it’s ready to sink beneath the frothy, diseased-looking waters.
I half expect the God Council to be waiting for us, but there's no sign of them as we disembark and are ushered by wan-faced Terra who appear more skeletal than any actual dead body I’ve ever seen. Ruen and Theos hover close by, but it's Kalix that draws my attention. He strides forward, the first of those descending from the ships to set foot from the docks onto the hard stone land of the island. I'm not far behind. Sniffing lightly, all I can smell is the sea salt air and musky smoke on the breeze as if someone recently lit a fire and let it burn out.
The entrance that leads from the docks into the island's mainland is twin jutting figures of carved brimstone. The faces of Danai and Tryphone peer down on us as we file towards the opening it creates. Two figures appear at the mouth, a man and a woman, a reflection of polar opposites. Where the man is pale from the shining bald top of his head to the ruffling loose pants he wears as part of his obvious Terra uniform, the woman is born of ebony with ropes of hair blacker than night and a full mouth that curves down as she examines us as we approach. When she speaks, it's with a resounding, confident voice.
"Welcome, students.” Footsteps slow to a stop at my back as I come to a halt alongside Kalix. He crosses his arms over his chest and stares back at the woman and man.
"My name is Zalika and this is Nubo. We are the Terra responsible for this island. We welcome you to our beautiful home. The Gods wish us to inform you that they will see you all very soon. Each and every one of you has been invited to this island, the first of its kind and the original Academy, to bless these lands to celebrate the three hundred year anniversary of the Gods' arrival to our world. Three long, glorious centuries with our Divine Lords and Ladies deserves only the greatest Spring Equinox ceremony we can provide."
Lights appear down the long dark tunnel-like pathway behind them, steadily growing closer. There are two and then more. A long line of them descending from the higher plains of the mountainous island towards us. The closer they draw, the more precise the outline of those carrying the staffs of lanterns becomes. Waxen faced men and women stalk forward, their faces empty of all emotion or expression. Their clothes are all the same, long loose pants and matching shapeless tunics. No dresses or skirts to separate the women from the men here like there were in Riviere.
"The Spring Equinox is a fortnight from today," Zalika continues as her associate remains silent, his dull glossy eyes staring out, unblinkingly over the growing horde of students. "Our Terra will direct each of you to your new residences and there will be no classes for the duration of your stay here. The celebrations will last for the next several days, culminating on the eve of the Equinox wherein you shall all be invited to a grand feast."
"What about our clothes?" I want to turn and tackle whoever calls out the question, but Zalika merely smiles at someone somewhere behind me.
"Not to worry, you shall all be provided for," she answers, her smile growing. I blink and focus on her mouth; black painted lips are stretched wide over pearl white teeth. For a moment, I could have sworn they were sharper than normal, almost like the teeth of a shark.
Both Zalika and Nubo stand to the side as the Terra behind them arrive. At least twelve on either side of the island's caretakers, twenty-four in total. "Those from Perditia please follow to the left and those from Riviere, follow to the right," Zalika announces.
"Come on," Ruen whispers as his hand touches low on my back. When it became normal to accept his touch, to accept all of their touches, I can't pinpoint, but I find myself following his quiet words. As we gather towards the emotionless Terra and start to make our way up the right side of the path, I pass Zalika and Nubo and a jolt shoots through me.
My feet halt and bodies spill around me. Ahead, Kalix continues to walk. When Theos pauses at my side, Ruen waves him on and then does the same with Maeryn and Niall. "What is it?" Ruen demands, his head pivoting back and forth. "What do you see?"
It's not what I see. Spinning, I look back at Zalika and Nubo as more and more students pass by them. As if they sense my attention, the two of them each lift their heads and gaze back at me. As one, the two island caretakers smile, the stretch of their lips mirrored on the oddly different faces. The teeth aren't sharp as I originally thought, but they're not the dull flat of a mortal’s and neither is their skin. They are acting like Terra, but they're not . Not at all.
Zalika and Nubo are Mortal Gods. Older than the students they’re now overseeing, but no less Divine. Power infuses each of their features, from the dots that line Zalika's brow to the clean-shaven head and face of Nubo. They're not Mortal Gods like we are. Instead, they must be older, perhaps decades or even a century older, and they are powerful.
My breath seizes in my chest. "Kiera?" Ruen's voice is distant as is his touch on my arm, urging me to turn around and walk towards the Terra leading us farther from docks, away from our only means of escape—an escape I knew before we even set foot on those ships would never be open to us.
We're all trapped now on an island of brimstone and darkness.
Ruen has to practically lift and carry me away from the two Mortal Gods of unknown age to get me moving. It isn't truly until we're well enough away that they're a blur even to my heightened vision—vision that is slowly but steadily growing better with each passing day since the brimstone shard was removed from my neck—that I come back to myself and manage to walk on my own.
"Ruen?" I glance up at him, but he merely shakes his head.
"Later," he tells me, glancing around. "When we're alone."
I don't have a chance to question whether we'll ever be left truly alone in a place like this. We’re bustled along the pathway leading further into the island. The veritable sea of Mortal Gods flows towards the Academy walls as if they’re going to a festival rather than the gallows.
Only the Darkhavens and I seem to realize that we’re here for another purpose entirely.
I keep my mouth shut as we catch up with the others and finally reach the end of the long path separated by the jutting spikes of brimstone to our destination. It's a castle, though not from any of the storybooks or fairytales I'd read from or heard in childhood. This castle is all sharp angles, like a crown of knives reaching towards the heavens with a single slit of an entrance lit with lanterns on either side.
"This way," one of the Ortus Terra says, their voice devoid of intonation as they usher us forward. Two separate entrances, each one opening like the slice of a blade as we file in one at a time. The smell of fire and dust grows heavier in my nostrils. Despite the lanterns hanging at the front entrance, the inside of the structure needs no added illumination.
The walls, black and opaque on the outside, are completely transparent from a little more than halfway up the arching walls, allowing the sunlight to stream in from above, lighting up a new pathway forward. Kalix and Theos are already there, at the end of the long front hall with Terra calling names and separating off into groupings, leading more and more students down various tunnels off the main entrance. It reminds me of my first introduction to the Riviere Academy and being given a tour, but no, it’s something else entirely. Though there’s no denying the opulence of the beautiful brimstone building, there’s an air of decomposition in the wind. A stale scent that lingers, thick and headache-inducing.
How could I have known that accepting Caedmon’s job would lead me here? Then again, that was the point, wasn't it? I wasn't supposed to know because if I had, I'd never have chosen this. Salvation. Ruination. Two sides of the same coin. Why do I have to be the one to flip it?
The deeper we travel into the guts of the brimstone castle, the more the back of my neck itches almost as if the reminder of where I once held the shard beneath my skin is trying to warn me of something sinister. Our group ascends a staircase to a secondary floor. Unlike the primary hall, this one needs the assistance of oil-lit sconces embedded into the corridor at various intervals. The sound of voices and the chattering conversations of the others have faded into the distance as we pace behind a skinny, fragile-looking mortal with a staff gripped between two hands.
Sometime later, the Terra stops and turns to face us at the end of a short hall. "Males to the left," he announces, gesturing with his lit staff to a row of doors to one side of a hallway, then he immediately switches to the doors on the opposite side. "Females to the right." Cold eyes land on Niall where he stands slightly behind Maeryn. "The Terra may follow me to the servants' rooms."
My brow puckers, but I bite my tongue against requesting Niall to stay here with us. No doubt the Terra will run back to the Divine Beings and those strange Mortal Gods with the information. Maeryn, too, doesn't look happy, but she doesn't say anything as Niall glances over at us and then moves to trail behind the dead-voiced servant as they go back the way we'd come.
Peering up one side of the corridor and then down the other, I frown and cross to the corner wall to peek around and into the next hall. There are more doors on either side, but no one between. An eerie silence echoes back at me. It’s unnerving, almost as if we've entered a different world—one that swallows sound and turns its inhabitants into ghosts. Quickly returning to the others, I find Maeryn with her back pressed into a door and two of the five bedroom doors open to reveal large interiors with beds, wardrobes, and windows.
"In here," Ruen orders, tucking his head towards one of the open doorways on their side of the corridor.
We file inside, even Maeryn, though she maintains a careful distance from the Darkhavens as she strides across the room to a single chair against the wall and plops down into it. In turn, I move towards the window, frowning as I notice the grime and dust coating its surface. Running one fingertip down the pane of glass, it comes away brown.
"This is certainly different than Riviere," I murmur absently, rubbing away the dirt onto my trousers before pivoting to face the room.
It’s beautifully decorated with arching walls and ornate frames reflecting large flowery painted images in great depictions of sea monsters and castles. The cloak of ill use and neglect, however, hangs heavy over what might have been a luxurious chamber.
"Something's not right about this place," Ruen agrees, crossing his arms as Theos is the last to step inside the room and close the door behind him. "Surely the Academies are not this different."
"That’s because this isn't an Academy," Kalix replies as he strides across the room to my side. He takes a seat in front of the window, stretching out on the settee in front of it, propping his legs up on one end and reclining back on the other.
"What do you mean?" I ask, frowning at him.
He gestures to his lap. "Sit on my cock and I'll tell you." He grins.
Maeryn makes a noise of disgust in her throat as I give him a definitive ‘no.’ Kalix's green eyes flash red for a brief moment as he passes her a deadly look. Just as quickly, though, the red shimmer disappears and his features smooth out as he returns his gaze to me.
"My lap then," he insists.
"No." I grind my teeth as I repeat the word. “This isn't a playground, Kalix. What do you mean this isn't an Academy?"
He groans.
"Kalix." Ruen's tone is a warning.
Kalix snorts in response. "It's fucking obvious," he says. "This place isn't a school." He fixes me with his impenetrable gaze. "It's a prison."