Chapter Six
“Aella? Aella?”
I snapped back to reality by a hand waving in my face.
“Aella, you okay?” Daciana asked. “You’ve been spaced out all morning.”
“Oh, uh, sorry,” I said to my staring friends. “I’m just nervous. First day and all.”
“Nothing to be nervous about,” Tycho said. “We’ve got your back. The six of us will stick together. No matter what. That’s how Sisypheans survive in this place.”
We rounded a corner, joining a line of novices heading to our first activity of the day: breakfast.
I fell in behind Daciana, boring a hole in her head. She was named in the prophecy. I could make the case that the son-of-Zeus part could be about another son of Zeus, not Alex, but a wolf who crosses domains? That’s Daciana for sure.
What does that mean? What part does she have to play in all this, and should I warn her?
Friends let friends know when a trapped, manipulative, vengeful god is weaving a web to drag them into their schemes.
But the second you open your mouth, she’ll know,another voice reminded. She boasts about her allies, and one who is using her ability to see the future to place me, my mom, Alex, and Selene where she wants us on the chessboard is a strong ally. She and Selene could also place someone close to us, ready and waiting to strike if I break Selene’s rules.
My head whipped around, seeing all the sleepy, hungry faces in a new light.
Friends also don’t put friends in danger, so what do I do? I could warn Daciana and Alex to try and save them, and just put them in more danger.
I fretted all the way to the mess hall.
“Oh my goodness...”
I’d been in my fair share of cafeterias, from New York public schools to New York asylums, and none of them came close to this.
Mosaics dominated the walls, surrounding us on all sides with battle scenes, stories, and lessons from the lives of the Greek gods. The story of Athena and Arachne splashed across the tiles beside me. Zeus saving his siblings from their father’s stomach. Hades dragging Persephone to the underworld.
It was the most beautiful wall décor I’d ever seen, and it still paled in comparison to the sight before me.
A gushing fountain claimed the middle of the space—a myriad of pretty, serene women holding water basins that spilled into the pool and flowed out through the moats carved into the floor—creating lazy rivers spreading through the mess hall.
It took me a second to notice the river lines carved out a space, and each space was more magnificent than the last.
Water jets shot into the air and fell in a graceful arc over a funky, lumpy-looking table made of blue coral. Placed around it were seats shaped like starfish.
“Poseidon,” I whispered.
Next to Poseidon’s was a space with seats shaped like the back of a chariot and an impossible, shifting, fiery yellow orb on the floor beneath the table. Apollo’s sun.
A miniature Parthenon housed Athena’s eating space. A clamshell table and crashing sea-foam chairs for Aphrodite. An incredible green, flowery haven with real hedges and hanging green vines declared the space for Demeter. Every one of the twelve major Olympian gods was featured, even Hades. If the dark, shadowy space in the corner that was mostly obscured by a huge rock wall feature was anything to go by.
It was all amazing, especially the homage to Zeus.
A clear path led to the opposite end of the room and stopped before the feet of a grand stone staircase. Up and up it went, carrying the platform almost to the lightning-and-thunder-painted dome. One long table was placed up there with twelve golden ch— No, twelve thrones.
I didn’t need to grow up in Olympia to know that was the ultimate lunch spot.
“Wow,” I breathed. “Guys, let’s sit up there.”
Theron snorted. “You’ve got great taste, Aella, but we can’t sit up there. We can’t even look at it for as long as we have.”
“What do you mean?” Daciana asked.
Ionna saw what we were talking about. “This whole area is for the Titans,” she said, “and that table is for the future Twelve, also known as the imperial heirs.”
“Future Twelve?” I repeated.
She tipped her chin. “The lucky few tapped to rise and take the seats of the current council members when they die or step down. As in—”
The doors banged open behind us.
“Them,” she finished.
It was in that moment I understood every slow-motion movie scene and camera-clinging close-up. They blew in on a wave of sweet perfumes, musky colognes, and glittering, shining armor—a band of drop-dead gorgeous models headed off to war.
Twelve guys and girls. Twelve demigods. Five guys and seven girls—two of them Alexander and that horrible Hera’s daughter, Sirena.
Sirena clung tight to his arm while she whispered in his ear. Alex’s laugh rang through the mess hall.
On Alex’s other side, a guy hung his arm over his shoulder—comfortable like only a best friend could be, but beautiful like I’d never seen. Long, copper waves flowed from the roots and ended in soft curls. It framed a face that it tried to soften and feminize, but for his full downturned lips and dreamy eyes, soft wasn’t what I’d call his thick brows, diamond jaw, or dimpled chin. The guy was molded in clay by divine hands, gifted the kiss of life, then sent to earth to put the memory of Adonis to shame.
The guy hung off Alex, but his attention fixed on the rest of the six girls in their group—who swarmed around him like bees diving for the honeypot.
Tycho shot between me and Daciana.
“Hey, Calix,” he called. “Did you have a good summer? You look great, man. Like you were working out— I mean, not like that. Not in a weird way. Just that you looked like you’ve been training. Not that you didn’t look like you trained before! You’ve always looked really strong, and athletic, and tight—”
Calix blew past Tycho without a glance in his direction.
I threw Tycho big eyes. He slunk back to us with a face so ashen, I’d have said he was sick. “Uhh. What did I just witness?”
Nitsa rolled her eyes. “You just witnessed Tycho’s massive, embarrassing crush on Calix Lambros.”
“Don’t have to call it embarrassing,” Tycho snapped.
“It is embarrassing because Calix doesn’t even know you’re alive. Calix doesn’t know anyone outside of their little gang is alive. All he cares about is training, training, his future council seat, and more training.” Nitsa hooked her arm through his and mine. “You’re better off falling in love with Alexander if you’re that desperate to moon over a gorgeous, unattainable, hot, steamy bowl of ambrosia.”
I have no idea why I blushed. She wasn’t even talking to me.
“At least Xander will acknowledge your existence,” she said.
“That’s not how it works,” he muttered. “I can’t help it. It’s like he uses his power on me every time he walks into a room. I turn into a babbling idiot chasing his heels, even though I know he’s not interested in men.”
“What’s his power?” Daciana asked.
Nitsa led us toward the Dionysus area and kept walking, leaving it behind.
I glanced back in confusion as staff streamed out of the kitchen carrying plates. They served the Titans as they took their seats in their multicolored, godly paradise.
“He can create this pink, sweet gas that makes you fall in love with the first person you see.” She gave me a look. “I’m not talking cute, flowers-on-their-birthday, kisses-in-the-rain love. I mean, obsessive, passionate, will-claw-the-eyes-out-of-anyone-who-looks-at-them love. Worse, it doesn’t matter who the person is. A toothless keeva. A drooling, snapping monster. Your own brother. He’ll make you want nothing more in this world than to rip off your clothes and jump them.”
I grimaced. “Yikes. Tell me he’s a good person who’d never use his powers for evil.”
She shrugged. “We wouldn’t know. Calix Lambros doesn’t waste his time—or his power—on the likes of us.”
“The likes of us? What do you mean?”
“Sisypheans,” Tycho mumbled, and he looked miserable to go with it.
“I don’t understand. None of you were Sisypheans before yesterday.”
“But I was still a cow before yesterday,” Nitsa reminded.
“And I still never used my power,” said Tycho.
“The strong finds the strong.” I followed Nitsa’s glance up to the Twelve’s table as she led us past it. “Power finds power. Popular finds popular. That’s the way it’s always been and always will be.”
I didn’t know where Nitsa was leading us until my eyes lit on a staircase. I didn’t notice it amid all the beauty and wonder of the decked-out mess hall. We rounded another rock wall and I landed on where those twelve steps down led.
A bunch of very normal tables and regular seats lined the plain, nondecorated space. Seriously, the white walls and gray, stained floors couldn’t have been blander and more boring if they had hired the world’s worst interior decorator to come in and make it more unwelcoming.
The only claim to brighten up the spot was all the water running down from the Titans’ spot, forming a kind of cool waterfall. Other than that, the only thing to look at was the food table pushed against the back wall. Novices were already lining up to get their plates, forks, and breakfast.
“Are you kidding me?” Daciana’s nose screwed up like she smelled something bad. I hoped it wasn’t the buffet. “The Titans are served their meal, and Sisypheans get to scoop cold eggs out of a bowl? Why?”
“You’ve both asked and answered that question,” Theron replied. “Because we’re Sisypheans and they’re Titans.”
“Shit,” Ionna swore. “We were too late. All the good seats are taken. Now we’ve got to sit next to the waterfall.”
“Why is that a bad thing?” I asked. “It’s the only spec of effort they put into making our lunch spot nice.”
She shook her head, rubbing her temple. “I had a vision that we won’t be saying that when breakfast is over. But I could be wrong, or it could be a vision of another day. Oh well. We’ll see.”
With that, we got in line for our food. Despite the buffet carrying none of the gourmet quality meals I saw on the Titans’ plates, everything I laid eyes on looked delicious. Spiced eggs, bread, cheese, sausage, porridge, lamb stew, fresh fruit, yummy-looking pastries, four kinds of drinks—including wine.
“At least they don’t plan to starve us.” I loaded my plate with everything.
“They wouldn’t do that,” Nitsa said. “They think we’re useless against monsters, but there are other jobs we can do for the army. They’ll give us everything we need to train and do those jobs, but them”—another glance at the imperial heirs—“they’ll get everything they want while they train. Get used to thinking it’s unfair, but don’t bother saying it. No one’s going to care.”
I didn’t know what there was to say in response. Neither did Daciana by the matching wide eyes she gave me.
I changed the subject as we headed for our table. “Is there any chance that we’ll get a tour of the castle? This place is massive, and the school map in the handbook was no help. The you are here dot was so tiny, I had to squint.”
Tycho laughed. “No tour, but we can go exploring after lessons today. There’s already word spreading that a couple of children of Poseidon found the perfect lake on the grounds for skinny-dipping.” His gaze traveled up. “We could go. Cool off after a day of training. Meet demigods from all over.”
“Is Calix going to be there?” I asked, blunt as a truck.
Tycho flushed. “How would I know? I’m not his social secretary.”
“That’s a yes,” Daciana muttered under her breath.
We snorted, covering laughs.
“All right, let’s do it.” I glanced at the bracelet. “An afternoon swim sounds great.”
I wasn’t saying no to a venture in and around the castle, no matter where it took me. The first clue in the prophecy was that three would stand guard. What else would they be guarding but Selene’s prison? If I learned anything from the ridiculous number of movies and books I read while trapped in a psych hospital, it’s that you never take a riddle too literally.
The three standing guard could be three people, three rocks, three trees, three fluffs of pocket lint! The point was I needed to be looking for a weaver, a deceiver, and a believer, and I needed to look everywhere without prejudice or assumptions. My mom was counting on me. I wouldn’t leave a single stone unturned if it meant I had to bust through the damn walls. I was searching every inch of the academy.
I still need more information though. The weaver, deceiver, and believer could be anything in this place, and I don’t know a damn thing about Deucalion or this world.
I inhaled my spiced eggs, considering. I saw a library marked on the school map, but I needed a shortcut through the days, months, maybe years of studying it’d take to learn everything about Olympia.
I scooped the last bite and stood up. “I’ll be right back, guys. I need to talk to Alex about something.”
“Alex?” Theron said. “Alex who?”
“Alexander. Alexander Damien,” I added at his blank stare.
Theron cracked up. “Good one, Aella, but seriously, which Alex?”
“That Alex.” I pointed up. “Don’t let anyone touch my porridge while I’m gone.”
“Aella, wait—”
I took off.
“Wait!”
I hit the stairs and bounded up them two at a time. Selene was very serious about me not telling anyone the full truth of why I was here, but she also engineered my meeting with Alex for a reason. He was named in the prophecy as the person who’d break the chains, so there was no keeping him out of it.
I’d tell him just enough so that he could help me decipher the prophecy but not so much that Selene would lose her bodiless shit.
Jumping over the tiny river, I hit the steps to the Twelve’s spot and climbed up. A faint realization that it had fallen quiet tickled me. I didn’t pay it any mind.
Alex paused with his fork partway to his lips, locking on me as I topped the stairs. Everyone stopped eating and dropping kisses on Calix’s chin and chest in the case of the two girls sitting on either side of him.
“What the hell is this?” Sirena pulled a face like I was vomit on the carpet. I hadn’t noticed before that she had the cutest little pygmy owl riding her shoulder. “Are you lost, Sisyphean? Your slop hole is down there.”
“Stuff your beak, princess. I’m not here for you.”
“Excuse—! Who do you think you’re talking to!”
Dismissing her, I turned to the guy sitting at the head of the table beside her. “Hey, Alex. Do you got a minute? There’s something important I need to talk to you about.”
Brillant eyes beheld me, giving away nothing.
“It’s about my mom,” I continued when he didn’t move or speak. “I remembered something that might help so...”
Stare.
“I’d really like to talk about it in private.” I stepped aside, gesturing at the steps. “After you.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking me dead in the face. “Do we know each other?”
“Haha. Everyone’s making jokes today. But for real, it’s important.”
Alex tipped his head, brows snapping together. “I’m pretty sure it’s not me you’re looking for. We’ve never met— Oh, wait.” He snapped his fingers. “You’re the girl I gave directions to yesterday. Look, I was happy to help you out, but don’t make a big thing of it.”
My jaw dropped with every word.
“We’re not friends.”
The words were a punch to the gut. “Alex—”
“Didn’t you hear him?” Sirena leaned over, resting her head on Alex’s shoulder. “You’re not friends, so stop calling him Alex.
“Ugh, don’t you hate it when the peasants act so familiar?” She scoffed. “Our parents sit on the council. They have to pretend to care about you and your little problems. Not us. So blow away, trash.” She and the other girls all made a shooing motion at me like they practiced the timing beforehand. “You’re not allowed up here, and you’re definitely not allowed to talk to my Xander.”
I bit my tongue, penning in a nasty reply to Sirena. I only had eyes for Alex.
“Are you serious right now?” I asked softly. Visions of our night together flashed through my mind. “This is how it’s going to be?”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.” Just like that, he turned his back on me and fell into conversation with Calix. I could’ve been Tycho throwing compliments at his feet for all the attention he paid my existence.
“Are you still here?” Sirena snapped.
Her voice grated on my nerves, providing the anger needed to stop me from crying. I got it. Alex was back with his fancy, powerful, popular friends. He was done slumming it with the half-mortal Sisyphean who’d fallen into his lap and recruited him for a suicide mission.
Whatever. If he was done with me, I was done with him. It was stupid to be upset over his backing out of our friendship. What friendship? I’d only known him a day.
“Hey. Is she bothering you, Sirena?”
A couple of Titan boys fixed narrowed eyes on me from the bottom of the stairs.
“As a matter of fact, she is.” Sirena tossed me a smirk. “Get rid of her, please, boys. For me.”
Their chests puffed up. “Anything for you, Sirena.”
“Wait. There’s no need to—”
Water jets burst from the tiny rivers. Five words were all I got out before they blasted me in the face and sent me flying head over heels.
“Ahhh!”
I blew off the platform... and fell.
Crash!
My body slammed on our breakfast, exploding eggs, porridge, stew, and mugs of ale in my friends’ bellowing faces. They gaped at me—covered in food and wine while up above, the Titans laughed their asses off.
“Too bad the little daughter of Eirene couldn’t kiss her way out of that.”
“Who does she think she is talking to Alexander?”
“Sesza.”
“Toova.”
“Crazy.” “Crazy.” “Crazy.”
I choked—so humiliated I could die. Peeling my aching body off the table, I ran through their laughing, shouting, and jeers. The first bowl of porridge bounced off my shoulder when I passed the Apollo court.
Food rained down on me from everywhere. Blinding me, soaking me, bringing the memories.
“Ahh, run away, little useless Sisyphean. That’s all you’re good for!”
I burst out into the hall, thankful at least I made it that far before I started crying.
“DON’T STRESS ABOUTit.” Daciana threw her arm around me, pulling me in for a side hug. She was fresh and minty from her shower. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“It most definitely was my fault.” We lingered by the dorm entrance, waiting for the others. “Because of me, we all got an unwanted food bath and had to come back here and clean up. We’re late to our first lesson on our first day.”
“That was not your fault. It was the Titans.” Theron snagged his bag off the couch. “No, it was mine. I keep forgetting you don’t know the rules around here. We’re supposed to stay away from the Titans. Don’t bother them. Don’t get in their way.
“But those rules go triple for the Future Twelve,” he said, jogging over. “We’re not supposed to speak to them unless spoken to. And even then...”
“You’re not serious,” I cried.
“Dead serious,” Nitsa said. “They’re among the strongest demigods in Olympia, and they’re tapped to rule the country. They have to focus on learning, training, and killing monsters.” She snorted. “Can’t have useless Sisypheans like us distracting them.”
“Basically, they’re like royalty,” Daciana said. “Can’t go running up to the King of England and give him a high five.”
“The king of what?”
“I get it,” I said, voice soft. “It’s still wrong.”
“It is wrong.” Nitsa joined in on the hug pile. “And it won’t happen again. I promise.”
No, it wouldn’t happen again because I was done with Alex and this fucking school. I didn’t come here for any of this shit. I was only here for Mom. The minute I found her, we were hitching the first nasty potion out of this place.
Deucalion Academy could have its backward rules and bully demigods. It had nothing to do with me.
“You looked absolutely pathetic. Flopping and flailing around in human slop? You should be embarrassed. You let those god spawn get away with that when you could’ve used your power and made it as though it never happened. You’d better learn to control your ability before you find me. I will not accept failure.
“Weakling.”
I clenched my teeth. There was a hundred percent certainty she didn’t need to add that last dig or say any of that unhelpful shit. It’s like the gods granted me a devil on my shoulder but forgot I was supposed to get an angel too.
Soon, we were clean, wearing fresh uniforms, and ready for class again. Students streamed out of the rooms when we set foot in the long marble hallway. We were so late, we missed the first lesson.
Boots shuffled in and out of my peripheral vision. The hall was stuffed with students heading in every direction. We may have the same schedule, but there were many instructors teaching them. According to my schedule, the six of us had battle strategy with Captain Hondros next. Luckily for us, they handed out schedules by going down the dorm hall—giving out one set until they ran out and moved on to another set. Everyone in my dorm had the same classes.
Straightening my back, I forced myself to brush off what happened at breakfast and return my thoughts to the prophecy. I had to keep my eyes open for any sign of the three guards. The entrance to Selene’s prison was the key to finding Mom.
Our group made for the classroom at the end of the hall, two doors away from the reflection room. I followed my friends inside a dim, gas-lantern-lit room and confirmed beyond all doubt—the goddesses of fate hated me more than any being in all five dominions.
Sirena sat front row before the instructor. By her side was Alexander. I avoided her self-satisfied grin as she nuzzled his ear and slid past the back of Alexander’s head.
Didn’t look like our instructor had arrived yet. In the meantime, we were free to spread out and grab seats in the coolest classroom I’d ever been in.
High, sloped ceilings depicted a famed battle scene between its rafters. The round tables were ornate, sturdy creations that easily seated four people. Gray stone walls peeked through the space of the twelve-foot-tall bookshelves, and just like in movies, there was a moving rail ladder to go with it.
Like the mess hall, I noticed at once there was a clear difference between where Alex and Sirena were sitting and the seats Theron, Ionna, Nitsa, and Tycho were heading toward.
Theirs were cushioned thrones placed before proper desks with drawers and a hook to hang their bags. We got simple wood tables to go with simple wooden chairs.
The room was set up with a big split down the middle. Sisypheans on one side, Titans on the other.
Bang!
Jason, Dimitri, Castor, and Sebastian Barba blew into the classroom.
Wonder if he’ll reveal those supposed magnificent powers today? Although, talking to ghosts sounds pretty magnificent to me.
Sebastian glanced up and locked eyes with me as the thought floated out of my head. Icy-blue pools trapped me, holding me still in the middle of the aisle. No, it wasn’t him that held me still. It was me. I didn’t want to look away.
It wasn’t that he was beautiful—because, gods above, was he. It was the swirling mystery behind those eyes. Sebastian gazed at me like he knew more about me than I did, and wouldn’t I give anything to know how?
A head blocked my vision.
“Move.” Sebastian shoved the guy out of the way, nearly making him face-plant across the desk.
He got up and was struck twice.
“Quicker,” Castor drawled, shoving him again and sending him flying the rest of the way.
Vasileios, the kid who could make wheat grow from stone, rolled off the desk and scurried away. The look on his face was so much like the one I knew was on mine when I ran from the mess hall.
The fluttering butterflies in my stomach caught fire and died a terrible death. Sebastian and his crew weren’t beautiful. They looked like every other hideous bully to me.
“All right, ladies, gentlemen, and demigods. Now is your chance before the captain arrives,” Sebastian said. “We’re open for business.
“Hellstones for your enemies. Paradise flowers for all your party and sexual needs. Lethe water for that morning-after regret. As for me...” Sebastian trapped my gaze. “When we’re snuggled up in a quiet, cozy corner, I’ll tell you exactly what I’ll do for you.”
Giggles sounded all around me. I rolled my eyes so hard I hurt myself.
Girls and guys were out of their seats and rushing them—shouting over each other for their prizes.
“Let’s go.” Nitsa grabbed my arm and took off running for Jason.
“Why do I have to come too!”
Jason spotted her running up with me hostage. He broke into a smile. “Nitsa. Hey, darling.”
“What? Me? You know who I am?”
“Course I do. I make it my business to know all the beautiful women around me.”
Nitsa was not rolling her eyes with me. The girl looked like she might faint from the blood rushing to her cheeks.
“Um, how much for a paradise flower?” she asked.
“Twenty gold drachmas.”
Her face fell. I didn’t know what a drachma was, but from the look on her face, it was a lot.
“But...” Jason pushed through the crowd, eyes only for her. “Since it’s you, it’s free.”
He waved his hand and a delicate, beautiful flower appeared on his palm. Petals like angel wings, it drew me in with a sweet, intoxicating aroma that scrambled my head. Flowers were my life, and I’d never seen one so beautiful, so perfect, so mine. I needed it. I needed—
I ripped away, tossing my head. “What the hell was that?”
Neither one of them seemed to hear me. Jason placed the flower on her shaking palm. “For you, gorgeous. Think of me while you use it.”
“I w-will.”
“Nitsa,” I hissed.
She reddened. “Wait, no. Not like that. I didn’t mean I’d think of you while I was doing that—or anything! I—”
“I know exactly what you mean, Nitsy baby.” Tipping her chin, he placed a featherlight kiss on her lips. His eyes burned with such intensity gazing at her, my knees felt weak. “Anytime, anywhere. Just say the word.”
I gaped at him as the female mob finally got hold and dragged him away, all clamoring for free flowers and kisses.
Nitsa’s throat bobbed hard. “I think I’m in love.”
“That’s not love, Nitsa.” I looked around as the line around the guys got longer, and money started changing hands. “That’s the upsell.”
A door slammed. People pocketed their goods and made for their seats so fast it blew my hair back.
I made for the seats our friends saved for us. Nitsa didn’t.
“Let’s sit next to Jason.”
“Again, why did I have to come too,” I cried.
Nitsa practically crawled over laps and desks to get to Jason. Her flying elbow caught a nose.
“Hey!”
“There’s my Nitsy girl,” Jason said. “Make some room.”
Nitsa wedged between Jason and a Titan girl who did not look pleased at being pushed aside. She snuggled under his arm, making me sigh.
Nitsa was free to sleep with whoever she wanted because this was definitely where that was headed, but it was hard to watch since I smelled eau de sweet-talking-phony all over the guy. I knew a little something about people who made you feel special until they got what they wanted from you.
After private things I’d told a girl I thought was my friend in the psych ward ended up in a trending TwitTalk article, I learned every compliment and smile comes with a price.
I had zero interest in joining his fawning crowd and turned away. My seat next to Daciana. Gone.
I scanned the rows, finding that every seat was gone except for two—one next to Sebastian Barba and the other right next to Alex. I took a seat next to Sebastian, ignoring the look Alex threw me when I crossed in front of him.
A tapestry rustled and a man stepped out from behind it.
“Quiet. We have much to review this morning.” Captain Hondros moved out and took his place at the podium—giving me a proper look at him and his missing forearm.
He stood high, but not as high as Commander Vasili. A head shorter than him and stockier too. Muscles piled on top of his shoulders, arms, and stretched the calves of his pants. Hondros opted for the long ponytail like Sebastian, though his was a wave of curls like the ones hidden around Alexander’s pointed ears.
Thinking of Alexander made me look at him. Looking at him pissed me off, so I flicked back to Hondros. There wasn’t a scar or sign of violence on the parts of him not concealed by clothes. The sign that he may have seen hard times in battle was the limb cut off below the elbow. But I couldn’t say for certain. He could’ve also been born without it.
Loam-brown eyes swept us as I did him. “Welcome, novices, to Deucalion Academy. I am your battle strategy instructor, Captain Hondros. To begin, I will ask you basic questions to test your knowledge. I expect a correct answer to every single one of these questions. Wrong answers indicate that not only did you piss away your time in school, but you also didn’t crack open your academy-issued textbook before you walked into my class.
“Both are unacceptable. I have no tolerance for laziness. I do not abide slacking. Anyone who saw fit to walk into this room unprepared will be given the gift of not doing it a second time.”
A tentative hand went up. “What does that mean, sir?”
“It means if you get an answer wrong, the entire class will be assigned a two-scroll paper on the correct answer due tomorrow. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Captain,” everyone chorused.
I sank low in my seat. Oh no. This won’t be good.
“Let’s begin.”
Hondros plucked a clipboard off his desk. His workspace was no less impressive than ours. A podium, a desk, a worktable, bookshelves lined along one wall, and on the other, a collection of tapestries featuring more famous battles.
“Beginning here.” Hondros pointed at Alexander. “What is a sphinx’s weakness?”
“Knowledge. She will kill herself if you answer all of her riddles correctly.”
A curt nod was his only praise for a job well done. “Cirillo, how would you identify the true form of an empousa?”
“By looking at it. Empousas are demons that take the form of beautiful women to lure foolish men to their deaths. They don’t adopt these forms for women.” Sirena tossed him a wink. “That’s why you army boys can’t ride without us. You need the girls to protect you.”
That got a laugh out of the class and nothing from Hondros. He continued on, asking each student a question.
I got sweaty under the collar the closer he got to me. Everyone was answering correctly and easily to questions about monsters I’d never even heard of. I did read a little bit from the textbooks Luca bought me, but I only discovered I was attending the academy when they kidnapped me. I didn’t have time to learn everything these demigods knew their whole lives.
“Vanda.”
I sat up straight. “Yes, sir.”
“We’ll address why you’re sitting in the wrong section later,” he barked. “How do you kill a kampe?”
I scanned the depths of my knowledge, searching for one mention of a kampe at any point in my life.
It turned up its answer. “I don’t know what a kampe is, Captain.”
A muscle ticced in his jaw. “Then it’s fortunate you’ll learn what they are in the process of writing me a two-scroll essay. Same goes for the rest of you.”
Groans tensed me in my seat. “Useless fuck! You can’t read either?”
“Enough,” Captain sliced in. “Next question, Vanda.”
What? Me again?
“How do the offspring of the Calydonian boar differ from their forefather? Why does this trait make them harder to kill?”
I felt it coming before I opened my mouth. Squeezing my eyes shut, I said, “I don’t know what a Calydonian boar is, sir, let alone how the offspring are different.”
“Idiot!”
“Everyone knows this!”
“Captain, give the useless the essays,” one of the girls clinging to Jason begged. “Not us.”
“It does not work like that,” Hondros replied. “In battle, the failure of one brings the ruin of many. You are responsible for each other now, as you will be when you march side by side. Vanda decided she was too good to pay attention in her classes.”
I burned to correct him. Shout that I didn’t know this world existed a week ago!
“I’m certain you’re all now motivated to help her learn what she must know before she enters my class again.”
I could feel the hostility like a restricting band across my throat. I wanted to believe he wasn’t inciting them to do what it sounded like, but this man didn’t look na?ve to me.
“Vanda,” he continued.
I stifled my groan.
“Why are all harpies born insane?”
Fury burned my throat. I wasn’t a genius or teacher’s pet, but I’d never been one to make trouble in class. I did my homework, studied, got good grades, and loved going to school. Actually, I never understood all the teen shows and movies that said school sucked. What could be better than spending most of the day with your best friends, then running out to the pickup lane to a mom waiting with surprise ice cream?
But right then, sitting in that room and being forced to say “I don’t know. I don’t know” over and over as they heckled and called me stupid... I hated school more than a millennium in the psych ward.
“Vanda.” Hondros’s voice sharpened. “Answer me.”
“I do—”
“Harpies are born mad because they’re trapped here in Olympia with us.” All heads swiveled around. “In the ancient times, they had the whole world as their hunting ground. A veritable buffet of evildoers to capture and torture as they hauled them screaming to Tartarus. Now, there are only us demigods, and we fight back. They enter life knowing they’ll spend their entire existence unfulfilled and unsatisfied,” said Sebastian Barba. “Wouldn’t that drive anyone mad?”
“Though your answer is correct, Barba, it was to come from her mouth, not yours. Do not speak out of turn again.”
Sebastian tipped his head. “I’m confused. Didn’t you just say we’re all responsible for each other? She clearly didn’t know the answer, so I helped out my fellow sister-in-arms.”
“Be silent,” he snapped. “Now, Vanda—”
That time, I didn’t stifle my groan.
Daciana threw me sympathy from across the room. “Why won’t he let up on her?”
“Excuse me, wolf.” Hondros spun on her. “Did you speak?”
Daciana stared him dead in the face. “Yes. I said you’re picking on her and should ease up.”
His face hardened. “Is that what you believe I’m doing? Picking on her.”
“Absolutely,” Sebastian called.
“I will not tell you again,” Hondros roared, whirling on him. “Be silent.”
Sebastian made a show of buttoning his lip. I blinked at him, eyes huge. What was with this guy? Hondros looked ready to tear up the podium and beat him with it.
“The purpose is not to pick on you,” he said, glaring at us both. “This information is vital. You cannot defeat a monster you do not know. Something as simple as knowing what the smell of sulfur means will save a life. Don’t you agree, Vanda?”
My glare heated to destroy his. “Yes, Captain,” I forced through gritted teeth.
“Next question. What do the three heads of a cerberus represent?”
They represented something? All I knew about those three heads was they were all vicious, growling, snapping beasts with rank breath.
“I do—”
“The past, present, and future,” said a voice becoming all too familiar. “That’s why they’re near enough to impossible to kill. One head sees everything you plan to do. You’re dead from the moment you decided to attack.”
If I thought his vein was jumping before, it was out of control then. “You’re trying my patience, boy.”
He shrugged. “You’re trying mine. For whatever reason, she doesn’t know this stuff, so instead of making her classroom enemy number one, why don’t you do the job you’re paid to do and teach her?
“My guess is you won’t because torturing students is the only thing that gets your blood pumping south ever since the battlefield chewed you up and spat you out.”
Someone gasped. It was me. This was a different world from Haris Day. I went to school with a bunch of spoiled rich kids, and still none of them would’ve dared speak to a teacher that way. Daddy’s money didn’t buy your way out of a month of Saturday detention.
“Out! Out of my classroom!”
Smirk hanging off his lips, he spread out his hands. “I’m sitting right here, waiting for you to make me.”
Hondros advanced on him—fist raised to unleash a punch or his power, I couldn’t tell.
“Stop!” I jumped up, toppling my chair. “It’s my fault. I should’ve read my textbook. I knew I didn’t know any of this stuff, and I shouldn’t have assumed you’d teach the basics— I didn’t think,” I rushed out. “I will answer the next question right, or I’ll do ten scrolls for each one I’ve missed.”
He turned on me, eyes bulging. I couldn’t even be sure he heard a word I said. “You, your protector”—he spat the word—“and the entire class will give me twenty scrolls if you respond incorrectly.”
“Oooh. Mean little son of Anteros, isn’t he?” Selene laughed a strange, tsking chuckle. “Fitting that a man of such misfortune should be host to the god of unrequited love. I’m sure torturing my little child of fate does make his blood run south. Surely no man or woman has given him the honor.”
I tried to mute her nastiness, focusing on the question that would seal my fellow novices’ hatred. “Agreed.”
“Where do mermaids make their home?”
Discomfort prickled the back of my neck. Everyone was staring at me.
“Help me,” I whispered, barely moving my lips.
“Why should I?”
“Because it’ll be hard to look for you if I’m buried under scrolls for the next year.”
“What was that?” Hondros demanded. “Speak up, girl.”
A sniff sounded in my ear. “Very well.”
I repeated her reply word for word. “Mermaids do not exist. Olympia was founded by people from many lands, and their history, myths, and traditions molded with those of ancient Greece to create something that is entirely their own. But there were never mermaids in Olympia. The closest creature is the half-woman, half-bird sirens who build their nests on rocky, uninhabited islands.”
A tense silence followed my response. Though we were locked on each other, I felt the eyes pinging from me to Captain Hondros.
“Correct.”
I didn’t have to breathe a sigh of relief. Half the class and all my friends did it for me.
“That just leaves the twenty scrolls on the monsters Barba answered for you.” My chest tightened. “That applies to everyone. On my desk first thing tomorrow morning. Get to work!”
“Fuck’s sake,” shouted a boy I didn’t know. “You’re pissed that you got it up the ass for boot-licking around Alex, so now you’re messing everything up for the rest of us.”
My face caught fire. I was hardly boot-licking around Alex! What was with these jerks?
Nasty, poisonous glares pinned me to my seat.
“Why did you do that?” I asked Sebastian.
“You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t say thank you!” I took out the scrolls, quills, inkwells, and other wildly old-fashioned stuff Luca put in my pack. Cell phones clearly didn’t like it in this world, but that was no excuse for not having pens. “I also didn’t ask for help.”
He chuckled. “I’m not one to sit by silently while a pretty girl is getting bullied by a grown man.”
“Don’t try that sweet, flowery, flirty shit on me. It doesn’t work.”
His smirk didn’t go anywhere. “Have we met before? Because I’m sure I’d remember if we did. What’s with all the hostility?”
I sniffed, snapping open my textbook. “No hostility. I’m just not fond of guys who smile to your face but play games behind your back. What was with all that yesterday? Refusing to show everyone your real powers? Saying that you run the school now?”
“These are my real powers. Anyone saying otherwise can prove it,” he replied, shrugging. “And I do run the school.”
“You couldn’t run your way out of a paper bag.”
He cracked up. “That’s funny. It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s funny.”
“Is this what you think running the school is? Mouthing off to teachers, pushing people around, selling your powers, and sleazing all over every girl with a pulse?”
“I’m a bit more choosy than that.” He winked. “I like you for way more than your pulse.”
I sputtered. “You’re focusing on the wrong part of that question!”
“Because it’s the only part I understand,” Sebastian said, cocking his head. “What do you care who I mouth off to? I only push people who are in my way, and they’re my powers,” he whispered exaggeratedly, “I can sell them if I want to. Do you yell at painters for selling their talents?”
“I— That’s not— Don’t twist my words.”
“Don’t hold back what you really want to say. Out with it, Vanda.” His grin was doing funny things to my aforementioned pulse. It reminded me of Justin’s as he draped all over Kylie, feasting on my pain. “Tell me what I’ve done so wrong in the zero minutes you’ve known me.”
Leaning in, I matched his smile. “Zero minutes was all I needed to figure you out. You guys are all the same.”
“You guys?” he asked, pushing his lips out and his brows up almost adorably.
“Yes. You hot, popular, athletic, powerful guys who’ve grown up hearing your whole lives how hot, powerful, and athletic you are. You only see people as a means to feed your ego, or your wallet, or your condom.”
“Hmm. What’s a condom—? Oh, wait,” he said, holding up a finger. Sebastian fixed over my shoulder like he was looking at someone. “Really? And that works?” He nodded, returning to me. “Do go on, Vanda. You were saying something about me being hot and us filling a condom?”
“Ugh!” I cried, inciting a “silence!” from Captain Hondros. “You’re not getting this, so let me spell it out for you,” I hissed under my breath. “Your white-knight routine doesn’t work on me. Neither does that smirky grin, your cheesy come-ons, or your band of Hell Boys. You want to impress me? Then being an asshole isn’t the way to go. All I know are assholes. But an actual decent person who doesn’t lie or betray me?” A vision of Alex floated in my mind and caught fire—crumbling to ash. “The shock of that might kill me.”
“Wow, then no deal.” He flopped back in his seat. “Wouldn’t want to kill you, so I’ll stick to being an asshole.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slow. The strangle-grip on my quill kept me from putting my hand around his neck. “I don’t like you.”
“Aww. Really?” He pouted. “Now I’m going to spend all night crying into my pillow.”
“You’ll spend all night humping your pillow, you pathetic, bitter virgin!”
It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. Normally, I’d never go around using someone’s sex life, or lack thereof, as an insult. I left that to my former, violently explosive roommate, Trixie, who yelled the same thing at me when I wouldn’t let her borrow my toothbrush. Although it was the toothbrush she’d said I spent all night humping, and that’s why I wouldn’t give it to her. False and false.
Not that Sebastian cared about what I said or why. The man laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his seat.
“That’s it,” Hondros roared. “Out. I want you out!”
Wheezing, Barba picked himself up. “Damn, Vanda, you’re hilarious. Even though you stole that from your old roommate, you still had the petras to say it.”
I stilled. I might’ve asked what petras were if I could speak. How did he know? Was his real hidden power that he could read minds?
“Oops. Didn’t I mention that she’s here?” Sebastian stood up, shoving his things in his pack. “Trixie pulled a knife on the wrong guy, and he threw her down a flight of stairs. Tragic, sure, but at least she’s willing to tell me everything she knows about you, that medieval torture chamber they locked you both in and that you don’t know basic monster knowledge—”
“Wait,” I rasped. “Please.”
“—because you’re from the mundane world,” he finished. “She’s also got a funny story about you ending up in that hellhole because you told the people in her world that monsters kidnapped your mom?”
My breaths came too fast. I went from protecting Sebastian from a charging Hondros to wishing he’d storm over and finish what he started. Anything to stop the words coming from his mouth.
“Gonna want to know a lot more about that,” Sebastian breezed. “Probably talk it out later with your dad, Crisanto Vanda, right? Cool guy. Every time since the first I laid eyes on you, he’s been right by your side.”
I whipped around like I’d seen him. My dad? Daddy? He was with me?
“You intrigue me, half-mundie. Something made you cross from your safe, monster-free world into this nightmare, and I’m going to find out what it is.” He bent, brushing his lips against my ear. “No one’s ever talked to me the way you do. They hear son of Hades and take off running, not willing to chance what I’ll do to them if I ever...” His fingers skimmed the back of my neck, popping goose bumps on my body. “Get serious.
“But not you. You don’t know enough to recognize what you should fear and when you should run, and even so”—he met my narrowed eyes—“you look ready for the fight.”
Sebastian snapped up, making me jump. “Congratulations. Whatever plans I did have for Deucalion will have to wait. You’ve my full attention now, Aella of New York City. Don’t disappoint.
“Hell Boys,” he called, strolling off. “We’re done.”
With that, Sebastian, Dimitri, Castor, and Jason walked out in the middle of class, leaving a red-faced shouting Hondros and dumbfounded me behind.
Of all the stomach-twisting things Sebastian said, only one thing stuck in my brain.
“Dad...”
“NEXT IS HISTORY, THENself-mastery,” Ionna said. We left battle strategy and molded into the crowd of novices shuffling to their classes. “Afterward, the mess hall opens for two hours. Once it’s closed, it’s closed and we don’t eat again until it opens after the day’s lessons. The class we missed was field medicine, then we have combat training in the afternoon.”
I barely heard her. Selene was shouting too loudly in my ear.
“Kill him. Why are you still here? Kill him! I will not allow that Hades spawn to interfere with my freedom. Too long I’ve waited,” she screeched, making my ears ring. “Find him. Kill him!”
“No!”
Ionna jumped, clutching her chest. Nearly everyone in the hall stopped and stared at me.
“What the hades? What’s wrong, Aella?”
“I’m sorry,” I rushed. “I uh— I saw him try to grab that girl’s ass.” I flopped my hand too fast for them to point out any him or girl. “No, you asshole,” I barked at the crowd. “Keep your hands to yourself.”
“Too right.” Ionna bumped my shoulder. “Good catch.”
I forced a tight smile and continued with my friends to history. Selene had finally shut up, but my mind was still clamoring. What did this mean? What do I do? What would Sebastian do?
As much as it burned my gut, he was right that I didn’t know enough about this world to know who I should fear, who I should trust, and who I should run from.
Selene claimed she only wanted her freedom, but by her own words, she’s suffered more than even the monsters have. Monsters wanted to slaughter all the demigods, break free from Olympia, and bring hell on earth as their fuck-you to the gods. How much more hatred did someone who’s stewed alone in the dark for centuries have for them?
Did I trust Selene? Hell, no.
As for who I should fear? Alex says it’s the council. His own father was the Zeus councilman, so I deferred to his experience on that one. If he said his father was someone I never wanted to meet... I believed him.
But where did that leave Sebastian Barba and his Hell Boys? He didn’t make any threats or do anything that anyone with his power wouldn’t have done. The dead came to him. If the ghostly remnants of a paranoid, stabby klepto came to me, telling stories about the half-mortal girl sitting right next to me, I’d be curious too.
Especially if death hadn’t made Trixie honest, and she was currently whispering in his ear all the horrible things she’d done over the years and blamed on me. The girl once announced in a group therapy session that we robbed a gas station attendant when we were thirteen, and she drove the getaway car. Never even met the fucking chick before the hospital, and she had us as lifelong partners in crime.
He can be as curious as he damn wants! He can’t get in the way or involved.I twirled my bracelet. Selene could be in someone else’s ear right now, ordering them to kill Sebastian. I don’t want anyone hurt. I don’t want to risk Mom. I just want all of us to get out of this safely without triggering any doomsday plans.
The question is... how?
My brain sputtered and died on that question. How did I convince Sebastian to back off? Why should he do it just because I ask him to? I didn’t exactly endear myself to him. I damn sure didn’t like the last girl who called me a pathetic, bitter, pillow-humping virgin.
“Bathroom,” I blurted, seizing on the sign above a door down the hall. “I’ll catch up with you guys in class. Save me a seat.”
“Will do,” Daciana said as I darted into the bathroom.
Mercy smiled on me because no one else was inside. Falling on the water basin, I opened the tap, filled my hands with cool, soothing water and splashed my cheeks. I heard the door hinges creak.
“Aella.”
My head shot up. I locked on to Alex, the mirror showing him closing and locking the door.
“Good,” he said. “I thought you didn’t notice me signaling you in class.”
“Signaling me?” I spun around, droplets flying across the marble and down my uniform. “Why would you be signaling me? You don’t know me. Never met the desperate Twelve groupie before. I’m just some weirdo who asked for directions.”
“Aella, come on,” he whispered, hands out as he closed the distance. “You know I didn’t mean any of that. I had to say it.”
“You had to humiliate me? You had to stand by while your friends threw me around the room and covered me in their breakfast? I don’t fucking think so.” I charged past him.
“Aella, wait, let me— My father has me watched!”
I slowed, hand on the knob.
“Everywhere I go. Everything I do. Everyone I talk to. It’s reported back to him.” Soft hands grasped my waist, gently turning me around. “He said it’d stop when I turned eighteen, but you know what happened at the inn.”
“He came with an army squad to haul you away,” I muttered.
“Exactly. The second I moved an inch off the line. Took a little freedom for myself.” He smiled. “Wanted one night to dance and be with a beautiful girl.”
I hated myself for blushing.
“He was right there to shove me back again,” he finished. “I don’t believe for a second that he doesn’t still have people here in the academy watching me now, so yes, I said all those horrible things so those people wouldn’t start watching you too.”
“But why?” I asked despite myself. I should be stomping out the door with a string of go-fuck-yourselves on my lips, but I wasn’t moving. “Why does he have you watched? Why is he so controlling?”
Alexander sighed. Breaking away, he leaned against the toilet bowl. “He says it’s because I’m his only son and heir. With every assassination and kidnapping attempt against me—”
My eyes blew wide.
“—he’s gotten more paranoid and restrictive.”
Slowly, I closed the distance, leaning back next to him. “Why does that mean you can’t talk to me?”
He gave me a lopsided smile. “You haven’t read the handbook, have you?”
“That damn handbook,” I muttered under my breath. “I started it, but it’s thicker than the seventh Harry Potter book. How many words does it take to say don’t drink, do drugs, wear short skirts, or set anything on fire?”
He laughed, and it broke the tension. “No idea what a Harry Potter is, but the handbook says a lot more than that. It’s got a whole section on what Sisypheans aren’t allowed to do. Fraternize with Titans is top of the list.”
“You have to be kidding me? That doesn’t make any sense. We’re in the same class.”
“Only because instructors complained about having to work double the hours to teach the same thing twice in a day. Now they’ve got us in the same room, but we might as well be miles apart.”
“Why is it so important that we be separated?”
“The monster scourge is bad. I wish there was a bigger, better word for it, but all I’ve got is bad. Monsters outnumber us. They’re stronger than most of us. Cleverer than I want to think about. They were made to slaughter us, and they do a very good job.
“That’s why those put into the Titan class are so important to Olympia. They can make a real difference to the war effort. Save countless lives. They can’t be distracted from their training by...”
“...the useless,” I finished. “It’s that serious? Hanging out with me and my friends is such a distraction it’ll tip Olympia off the edge into destruction?” I scoffed. “Sounds like a bullshit excuse for discrimination to me.”
“That’s exactly what it is. Wasn’t too long ago that people believed we were given our powers for a reason. The gods gave the best and strongest to the demigods they favored, and the demigods they thought were worthless or could never achieve glory—”
“Turned into cows and talked to horses.”
He tipped his head. “The way people see it is there’s no reason for us to have anything to do with each other. We’ll train on the same field, but we’ll never be in the same unit. We’ll never go on missions together. You’ll never walk the halls beside me in the palace, and we’ll never marry or have kids because demigods like me aren’t—”
“—allowed to date down.” I filled in all the horrible stuff for him so he wouldn’t waste energy thinking of a nicer way to say it. “Basically, I’m useless to the army and useless to you, so why would you or any Titan talk to me?”
He hesitated, then nodded.
“What’s the punishment if we are caught fraternizing?”
“There was no punishment until five years ago,” he confessed. “Tensions heated up between the two classes. Titans were going too far. Using their powers to bully and harass the Sisypheans until one day, and one Sisyphean, got their own back.”
“What did they do?”
“His name was Lysandros. Child of Eris.” Alex saw my blank look. “Eris is the goddess of discord. In her wisdom, she granted Lysandros the power to produce her golden apples of discord. One bite and it amplifies your negative emotions ten-thousandfold. Like if it bothers you the way your friend smacks her lips when she chews her food, suddenly you hate that quirk with every fiber of your being. The next thing you know, you’re punching her teeth in for smacking on an orange.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, yikes. Complete disaster if monsters ate his apples, so he was put in Sisyphean with no hope of using his power in battle. Because of that, Titans bullied him—calling him a useless dog, beating him up, using him for target practice. They didn’t let up until one morning they all took a bite of apple porridge.”
I hissed. “Do I want to know what happened?”
“They tore each other—and the academy—apart. Dozens injured, millions of drachmas in damage, and two dead.”
My jaw dropped. “People died?”
He nodded. “They had to shut down the school for a whole season for repairs. Such a thing has never happened before. Headmaster Drakos was buried under demands to not only separate the classes again but to build another academy and shove the Sisypheans there. Titans needed to be protected from the bitterness and jealousy of the disfavored.”
“That’s fucking rich. I mean, of course it’s terrible that his revenge got so out of hand and people died, but it wasn’t bitterness or jealousy. It was one bullied kid lashing out because no one was protecting him.”
“Hence Drakos’s solution. Titans and Sisypheans”—he waved his finger between us—“don’t fraternize. Can’t bully you if I’m not glancing in your direction. Can’t get bullied if you’re not in my way. Now if there’s a problem between a Sisyphean and Titan, both parties are harshly punished because we’re not supposed to be talking to each other anyway. Threat of the reflection room makes it easy for people to follow the rule.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “The same thing applies to friends? If I’m friends with you, we’ll both be punished?”
“We’re not supposed to be friends,” he said softly. “Obviously, I don’t agree with this stupid, ignorant shit, but your power determines your path and station in this world, and we’re not on the same one—according to other people,” he quickly added.
“So if your father finds out you’re hanging with a lowly Sisyphean, he’ll be mad.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he finds out I’m hanging with a Sisyphean,” he replied, surprising me.
“But then why—?”
“I care if he finds out I’m hanging out with a girl who has no record in Olympia past a week ago. I care if he finds out that monsters are using your mother as bait.” He moved in front of me, taking my hands. “I care if he finds out I’m helping you save her. I care if he has you locked away or executed.”
“He would do that?”
“Aella.” His eyes were hard. “I love my father, and he loves me, but none of that changes a thing. Maximos Damien is not a kind or even a good man. He’s ruthless, calculating, and power-hungry. He’s brutal to men and monsters alike.
“Drakos’s solution to the Titan/Sisyphean rivalry was a few new rules to the handbook. My father’s solution was to ban Sisypheans from Deucalion Academy and instead force all future eighteen-year-olds with useless powers to ten years of hard labor and indentured servitude.”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Alex had to be exaggerating. No person could suggest something so horrible outside of a supervillain movie.
“I told you the council couldn’t find out that the monsters are planning something with you at the center, but truth is, I only meant my father. He cannot know that a half-mortal is running around the academy, working to spring a monster trap. He definitely can’t know that his only son and heir is helping her.
“He’s the one who’ll have you killed, Aella. He’ll say it was to protect me. He’ll say it was for the good of Olympia. He’ll say a lot of things... but you’d still be gone.”
My jaw worked. “If— If— If us being involved is the problem, you don’t have to be. This is my fight.”
“What nonsense are you saying, girl?”
Sometimes, I’d forget she was listening until she shouted in my ear.
“The son of Zeus breaks the chains. He must be involved. He already is.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. You and I are in this together.” He brought our hands together and pressed them to his chest. “I’m not telling you this to scare you. I only want you to understand why we have to pretend we don’t know each other. When your mom’s safe and we’ve stopped whatever the monsters are planning, then I won’t give a shit what his spies report back about you and me, but until then, all I care about is keeping you safe.”
“I understand,” I whispered. “Thank you. You’re the only one looking out for me. I forgot that for a moment.”
“I gave you reason to forget. I was such a filthy, rotten toova. It’d serve me right if you never spoke to me again.” He dropped a kiss on my fingers. “I promise I’ll never let it go that far again. Anyone points a bowl of porridge in your direction, I’ll boil them.”
I giggled. “Good. The punishment will fit the crime.”
We laughed.
“There’s still so much I don’t know about Olympia,” I said after we sobered. “I’d spend all night reading the handbook if I didn’t have a mountain of scrolls to crawl out from under.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” He winked. “I know a guy.”
“A guy?”
“A son of Janus. He duplicates things. Like dozens of punishment scrolls we, and especially you, shouldn’t have to do. Colin will take care of that, leaving you free to come to the lake tonight.”
“The lake?” I toed the ground, keeping my ballooning giddiness down. “I heard about that actually. My friends and I are planning to go, but is it okay? You said we can’t be around each other.”
“We’re both novices. Course we’re going to be around each other. We just can’t let anyone know about us,” he said.
I thought I loved the way he said my name. Turned out I loved the way he said us more.
“Tonight will be great because you won’t be the only Sisyphean there. Barba’s putting the word out about the sons of Hades selling their powers.” Anger crept into his voice. “Went from a bit of fun to their personal marketplace. I was pissed but not anymore now that you’ll be there.”
A frown crept onto my lips. “About Sebastian Barba. Is he someone I need to worry about?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what’s his deal? Is it normal to go around selling your abilities?”
He shrugged. “Well, yes, actually. Children of Hecate sell their spells and potions. Children of Demeter sell their crops. Children of Hephaestus sell everything they make. It’s really the only way to make a decent living after you get out of the army. They’re not doing anything against the rules, but standing up during placement and announcing they’re open for business?” Alex whistled. “Just because they didn’t break Vasili’s rules doesn’t mean they didn’t piss him off. That’s never a good idea.”
“But what about him?” I pressed. “Is he dangerous? Should I be worried about him?”
“I have no idea.” Alex rocked back on his heels, lips pushed out while he was thinking. “Some would say every child of Hades is dangerous, but I’ve always believed it’s the person, not the power, that matters. Plenty of seemingly harmless demigods have used their useless ability for evil.”
I wondered if he was thinking of Lysandros.
“But I don’t know much about Sebastian Barba. Only rumors. He was born at the palace—unlucky for him. There was no hiding from the council that there was a son of Hades right down the hall. When it was discovered, his mother took him and disappeared. Father and I moved into the palace after it all went down.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I cried, waving my hands. “Why would she take her kid and run?”
He looked me in the eye. “Because she’s a good mother.”
I quieted, not knowing what to say. Something told me the reasoning would not make me like Olympia very much, and I couldn’t deal with that right then. There was no sense hating a place I couldn’t leave. Not until Mom was by my side.
“But to answer your question,” he continued. “No. You don’t have to be worried about him, because he’s not dangerous to you. No one is while I’m around.”
My secret smile was back. “We should go. Class either has started or is about to start.”
Alex swept out a hand. “After you.”
I was heading for the door when that hand caught my wrist.
“But one last thing—”
The room spun.
I gasped as our lips connected in a shower of sparks.
Impossible nonsense of course, but right then, I could’ve sworn on everything that ever was that Alex’s power surged through us—igniting my blood and making my nerve endings singe and spark to life.
He kissed me deep, unrestrained, and amazing. I confess, I thought my first kiss with Alex would be sweet, short, and polite. He was such a gentleman. A guy like him would double-check before plundering and dominating my tongue like a wanton whore.
Thank goodness I was wrong.
Explosions burst behind my eyelids like a million billion fireworks going off at once. I moaned into the kiss, throwing my arms around him and hanging on for dear life. My knees were weak. My legs noodles. Without him holding on to my waist, I’d float away, faint, melt into goo, or all three.
We broke apart gasping. A mere glance in the mirror revealed puffy lips and flushed cheeks—for both of us.
“Finally,” he panted. “Been waiting years to do that.”
I giggled. “We’ve only known each other a few days.”
“And I should’ve kissed you the moment I met you.”
I was trying and failing to keep it cool. Girls like me didn’t regularly make out with smoking-hot men of any type—let alone demigod royalty.
“Tonight,” he whispered, dropping a light peck on my lips. “We’ll sneak away. Find a spot just for us.”
“You most certainly will, but the spot you find will be my prison.”
My jaw tightened. I’d flush the bracelet down the toilet if I could. The goddess sure knew how to interrupt a moment.
“Just for us.” We kissed. “See you then.”