Chapter 3
Chapter Three
We rush through the halls of the academic building following the Hermes kid and I shiver. “I thought this place was creepy before. Now that I know there’s a creepy dungeon in the basement, it’s worse.”
“Yeah, I’m not exactly excited to visit the creepy dungeon either, but we don’t have much choice,” Raven says.
“It’s really not that bad. It’s not like a creepy dungeon so much as a modern prison cell block,” the Hermes kid says. He opens the door and holds it open for us to go through first.
As we descend the stairs, I grip Jayden’s arm with both my hands, waiting for something to jump out at me. It’s embarrassing, really. I jump in headfirst to slay monsters but I’m scared of a creepy basement.
At the bottom of the stairs is a long hallway lit with sconces. There’s a heavy metal door at the end that buzzes with magic and shouting sounds from the other side. That has to be Zeke making an ass of himself trying to get out.
“I can’t even call him an idiot for this,” Raven grumbles. “Because it’s not him.”
“When he’s back to normal, I’m sure there will be plenty of new things to call him an idiot for, Raven,” Dax says.
I chuckle because Dax isn’t wrong. Raven is constantly lovingly calling her brothers idiots. It’s her love language with her family.
“Shit, what happens when we do get them out of it?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” Jayden asks.
“Are they going to be even worse about the other students than before after Mia’s betrayal and being taken over?” I run a hand down my face.
“That hadn’t even occurred to me. This could be even worse. Can we even let them out of there after they are freed from the magic?” Raven asks.
“Hold on,” Jayden says, raising a hand. “Let’s not borrow problems. We have enough of them today. One thing at a time.”
“You guys ready?” the Hermes kid asks.
I nod and square my shoulders as he removes the magic from the door.
Zeke’s roar is louder with the magic off the door.
They must have used magic to muffle the sounds in case students were in the building.
It’s smart. A passing student could get the daylights scared out of them with the racket he’s making.
“Let me go. You cannot contain me.” Zeke slams himself against the bars.
“Give it up,” I scoff. “We already know you’re not Zeke.”
“We just don’t know who’s controlling him.” Raven crosses her arms.
A sadistic grin spreads on Zeke’s features as his gaze locks with mine. “Well, well, this is great timing.”
“Who the fuck are you? I don’t have all day and I would like to ask you to kindly fuck off out of my friends’ minds.” I glare at the trespasser in Zeke’s body.
“You don’t know?” A laugh explodes from Zeke’s throat.
It’s a seriously unhinged sound and dread stiffens my body.
It can’t be though, right? She would send someone else to do her dirty work.
Sweat beads on my neck and I turn to Jayden with a grimace.
An expression of horror mars his face as he pulls me behind him.
Raven has her battle ax in hand in a second, ready to square off should she try anything.
Because it is a she and the worst woman in the world. The goddess controlling Zeke is Hera and she wants me dead more than anything.
“What do you want?” Jayden snarls.
“You do realize that it’s a punishable offense to be rude to the queen of the gods. I could strike you all down where you stand,” Hera says.
“No, you can’t. The spells on the walls and bars of that cell block all magic. You’re basically human in there,” the Hermes kid says.
“Let my new pets go and you won’t suffer the consequences,” Hera screams.
It’s odd to see Zeke speaking like this with different mannerisms. They simply don’t fit Raven’s idiot brother at all.
“Pets?” I ask in disgust. “They are Ares and Apollo’s sons, not new pets or toys for you to play with for your own amusement.”
Jayden shoots me a glare over his shoulder. “Be quiet, baby. Stop drawing attention to yourself.”
“No, I’m not going to let her focus her ire on you and Raven to protect myself.” I step around Jayden.
“I have heard the tales the other gods tell about how noble you are. It won’t save you from me, you know. I will go through everyone you love to get to you if I have to.”
“I will defeat you if it’s the last thing I do. You will not harm another one of mine,” I seethe.
“You think a lowly bastard of my husband’s has the power to defeat me.” Her laugh is maniacal. “I will crush you. Just like I had done to your mother.”
I lunge for the bars without thinking. Magic crackles at my palms. Red tints my vision. The only thing in my thoughts is Hera’s death. Arms wrap around me from behind and I thrash against them.
“Beth, baby. You can’t win this fight like this. She isn’t actually here. That’s Zeke’s body.” Jayden pulls my back against his chest.
Hera bursts into raucous laughter, clearly enjoying my outburst and the rage coursing through me.
I don’t care that it’s Hera speaking through Zeke’s body, I want her dead for what happened to my mother.
She ordered the hit on me and my mother.
We were a way to get back at my father for his infidelity.
It has to fucking end. If I have to be the one to end it, I will… and happily. Even if I end up in the underworld. With my dying breath, I will end her.
“I’m coming for you, bitch,” I scream.
“Oh, little fledgling goddess,” Hera coos. “I have millennia of experience. You don’t stand a chance.”
“Really?” Raven snaps. “Those millennia of experience sure worked out for you when we destroyed all your plans five times over.”
Zeke’s expression contorts with rage. “You will all pay the price for your insolence.”
“Get out of my brother,” Dax grumbles. “This is just weird.”
“You think to make commands of me? The queen of the gods,” Hera roars.
Kira steps forward. “You’re nothing more than an enemy of this academy, you know the one you have tried to destroy on multiple occasions? I’m surprised any of the other gods sided with you.”
“You young ladies should have sided with me. What I’m doing will benefit females most of all.
We will rise up against the men who rule and look at us as fools to be trifled with.
We will change this patriarchal society into a matriarch and no man will ever be allowed to treat us like second-class citizens again. ” Hera glances between Raven and Kira.
“You see, normally I would be all for girl power and sticking it to the man,” Raven says. “But you’re forgetting a few crucial details with this plan of yours.”
“And tell me, oh wise one, what am I forgetting?” Hera smirks.
“One, everything you have tried to do so far has damn near ended the world you wish to rule.” Raven raises a brow.
“I can just make a new better world where women rule and men bow to us.” Hera waves a dismissive hand.
“You can, but we will all be dead so that doesn’t really work for me.” Raven taps her foot impatiently. “And two, you’re a vindictive bitch that I wouldn’t want running an HOA, let alone the damn universe.”
“Uh, Raven. I think that’s enough, bestie. We get the point.”
Steam about shoots out of Zeke’s ears as the goddess bares her teeth at us. She’s going to snap at any second. I glance at Kira to see her reaction but her expression is carefully blank.
“I think Raven forgot a reason.” Kira grins.
“Oh? What’s the third reason?”
“To you, Beth is enemy number one, but to us, she’s our savior. I’m not fighting for a world without her in it.” Kira shrugs. “We both know that in your perfect little girls rule utopia, Beth is dead and gone, punished for her father’s mistakes because you’re too weak to take him down on your own.”
“Shit, Kira, shut up,” I say. “You’re just going to make this worse.”
Hera flies into an epic toddler temper tantrum and lunges at the bars again.
Zeke’s forehead smashes into the bars and blood drips down his tanned skin into his eyes. She screams and repeatedly throws poor Zeke into the bars in a last-ditch attempt to get to me.
“You will pay for siding with my husband’s bastard daughter. Anyone who sides with her will be destroyed. Painfully. It will last until this injustice is fully punished. Or…” Hera trails off almost thoughtfully, but I’m guessing this is for dramatic effect.
The queen seems like the type that loves the dramatics.
“Or what?” I ask, taking the bait.
It’s not going to be anything good. I already know it has to do with me from the sly smile on Zeke’s face. She thinks she has me. Does it have to do with her comment about me being so noble? It’s a definite possibility. She thinks she has all the cards here, but we have foiled her plans repeatedly.
“Or you turn yourself in for execution. You have two weeks or I destroy Hermes’ caduceus and everyone and everything you love.” Hera drops the bomb with smug satisfaction. “I’m very generous for giving you that time, am I not?”
“You think giving her two weeks to decide whether she will let you kill her is magnanimous or something?” Jayden scoffs.
“Not happening,” Raven agrees. “We can defeat you without sacrificing Beth.”
Hera laughs again. She thinks we’re amusing flies to be swatted. She can think again because we have everything on the line. We have nothing left to lose and that’s dangerous for anyone who opposes us.
“Beth, you have a choice to make. Do you lose your friends and die a painful death or do you sacrifice yourself to save the rest? Are you going to be selfish? That doesn’t sound like the stories I’ve heard about you.”
Zeke drops to the bed in the corner, unconscious again, and I glance at my friends. “That was a mic drop if I have ever seen one.”
“She thinks she’s already won,” Raven says.
“Her arrogance is going to be her downfall,” I agree.
“You’re not thinking about this, right?” Jayden grips my hips and pulls my back into his chest.
“No?” I ask. “I mean if it can save you all from dying…”
“Fuck no,” Raven snarls. “You’re not sacrificing yourself.”