by Abbie Lyons
AND BY TODAY I MEANT that night.
I wasn't a genius strategist, but this was the best I could do. Because I realized that ever since the first day, when I had walked in inadvertently on Marius and whoever else was there doing whatever it is they were doing, I hadn't been back in the temple. I didn't even know what laid down the corridor that he burst out of. If there was something there, I wanted to know what it was.
And if I ran into someone, well, at least I could say that I was writing for Lucy's newspaper.
I strode quickly across the campus, shivering a bit. It was a crisp night, with the sky a velvety blue and a few stars winking above me. I'd left Violet at her desk, still studying, and had wrapped myself in one of the Elysium blazers to keep warm.
It would be nice that they issued us some tights with these skirts, I thought bitterly, hunching my shoulders. Above, the temple loomed. As I got near, I craned my neck to look up at it. It really was impressive for something that was only used occasionally for ceremony. The statues looked out unseeingly, their faces illuminated from some unseen light source, like gods, or like archangels, I supposed.
I had to admit that I was kind of curious about the whole deal. Knowing that there was this much mythology to the real world was undeniably fascinating, but I didn't need to know every detail. I just needed to know that thing. That reason that they had needed Scott, and maybe the reason he died.
Whatever secret the Order of Eden was keeping.
I slowly thumped up the stone steps, the sound of my feet echoing a little more than I'd like. I glanced around, but saw no one. It was after midnight and a Thursday, so it was not like anyone would be out and about on campus partying. I should be alone. Finally, I was in the atrium, where the blue glow of the obelisk illuminated everything.
I had a flashback to the first day I was here, an intense sense memory, the feeling of the wall at my back, going invisible. I stopped in my tracks. Had that been Chaos too? Would that be what it was like if I disappeared at a moment of huge imbalance. Just go invisible and then stop existing altogether.
I shivered. I didn't like to think about it. I had to push onward across the atrium, quickly darting around, but still seeing no one. The corridor ahead was dark, and I found myself wishing I knew how to summon one of those little flame things like Marius had. I just had to rely on my vision. I stuck out a hand to grasp the wall on the left side, navigating myself forward into the darkness.
The first few steps were terrifying. The light instantly fell away, almost preternaturally quickly, but soon my eyes did adjust and I could make out what seemed like an endless hallway.
I kept walking and walking and walking, the distance receding into the darkness for God knows how long.
And then finally, I reached the end.
A blank wall.
“What the hell?” I whispered between my teeth. I looked back over my shoulder. Darkness. Had they just been hanging out in the hall or something? That seemed so weird.
I felt like I'd come out on a wild goose chase. It was late and I was tired and I'd have to make up some dumb bullshit for an article for Lucy just to cover my tracks. In frustration, I pounded a fist against the empty wall.
It disappeared.
I leaped back. The stones had turned into a shower of blue sparks that fell away into nothing, and beyond, I saw another room. It was round, like a rotunda, and had seven marble seats sitting in a circle.
And the seats weren't empty.
It didn't take long for me to recognize the figures.
White-blonde hair, Aidan. Auburn hair, Marius. And the other five all from Casablanca house too, sitting stone still, their eyes blank and glowing, their lips moving, and an unearthly sound coming from all around.
Until it stopped.
Marius jumped to his feet. “Who's there?” He looked out into the distance with those eyes and I couldn't tell if he could see me or not.
I took a step back, thinking I might be able to escape.
But I couldn't.
With a snap, his wings expanded and he flew forward, reaching his hands and grabbing me by the shoulders before I could escape. He dragged me forward into the light of the atrium, right into the middle of the circle. And the other six blinked, the glow dissipating from their eyes, the sound stopping, and looked at me.
“I told you,” Marius said. “I told you, I told you.”
“You told me what? You told me to investigate. I'm investigating. I'm here.”
The look on Aidan's face was pure panic. The other five were murmuring to themselves.
“Do you know what you've just done? Do you know what you've just ruined?” he cried, his voice reverberating against the high ceiling. “Let alone the fact that it's incredibly dangerous for a human to be anywhere near this—”
“Stop acting like you've ever cared about me being human,” I said.
“You're human?” Aidan turned around. The color had drained from his face.
No point in denying it. “Yeah.”
“I didn't know,” he said. “I didn't know.”
“It's okay,” I said. “You didn't do anything.”
“I—” He looked at Marius, then looked at me, then hung his head. “I did do something.”
Marius had fury blazing in his eyes. “Explain,” he gritted out.
Aidan pursed his lips and began. “Well, after the funeral, I just saw how vulnerable you looked, Quinn. I don't know. I know I was there to get Scott, but I felt like I should just keep an eye on you. You kind of looked like a mess. And when I was watching you, I saw you help that guy in your neighborhood. And I thought, she can't be a bad person. And then I was like, maybe it would be helpful if you knew more about Scott? Just a little bit. So I gave the letter to that guy and said he should give it to you, but I never meant...It wasn't supposed to bring you here.”
“You mean you're the reason that she ended up here?” Marius said. “You gave her the letter?”
“Not directly,” Aidan said. “It wasn't supposed to be for her. Just something for her to have.”
“How could you?” Marius said. “How could you? This was so irresponsible.”
Another flap of his wings and he had grabbed Aidan.
“This threatens everything we're working for. Everything.” He darted a glance back at me. “Everything,” he finished. “This isn't acceptable. You have to—”
“No!” I launched myself between them and shoved them apart. No easy task, considering they were both pure muscle.
“He has to accept the consequences,” Marius said.
“No,” I said. “Don't—”
“I don't have a choice, Quinn,” he said. “None of us do.”
The others nodded.
“It's what we have to do to fix what was wronged. It's about balance.”
“That's messed up,” I said. “If anyone should be blamed it's me. I'm the one who came here and threw everything off.”
“No good can come of hurting you,” he said. “That’s not punishment. That's just harm. Not avenging anything.”
He looked at Aidan, his jaw set, and if I wasn't mistaken, tears glimmering in his eyes.
“I'm sorry,” he said. “I'm sorry.” He grabbed Aidan by the shoulders and pressed his forehead to his, then he shoved Aidan into the center of the circle and dragged his arm across his eyes to wipe them.
“I don't think you're going to want to see this, Quinn,” he said in a low voice.
“But—” I stammered.
“Leave!” Marius roared. He flung out an arm and I flew backward back into the hallway, the wall materializing in front of me as I landed hard on my ass, stunned.
From whatever lay beyond that wall, I heard the snap of flames and a cry of pain.
Without a second thought, I got to my feet and sprinted all the way back to the dorm.
Chapter Seventeen
The day of the ball dawned with a weirdly carnival-like atmosphere. The entire campus had been decorated with streamers
and flowers and a big glimmering sign that said Welcome Hades in midair.
Classes were canceled and there were all kinds of little activities set up around campus on the lawn, even literally cotton candy. Not that I had any stomach for it.
“Man, this shit is so good,” Steve said, powering down what must have been his third or fourth cone of the spun sugar. “This is really gonna wreck my macros for the day, but I can't stop.”
Lucy had a pad of parchment out and was scribbling furiously, taking note of all the festivities.
“Quinn, do you think you can get me your copy in another few hours?” she asked, not looking up. I still felt shell shocked from the night before, and I was panicked at the thought of what was going to happen tonight. Everything felt so out of my hands.
“Uh, maybe,” I said. “Hey, what's that?”
A groaning mechanical sound in the air drew both Steve's and Lucy's attention away from their preoccupations. Ahead of us on the grass, a massive...metal flying machine settled with a whoosh.
“It's the dragon,” Lucy said. “The demons are here.”
The thing—dragon?—opened, and students started pouring out. The demons looked surprisingly like us, except wearing different color uniforms. And at first I felt kind of relaxed. Nothing bad was happening. But then a wave of overpowering nausea hit me. It was like the entire ground had slanted away under my feet. I stumbled a bit.
Was this it? But no, I was fine. My skin crackled with what felt like static electricity, but I was still standing and still alive.
If Lucy and Steve had noticed anything, they didn't say.
“Okay, just one more. So I can try the blue flavor,” Steve said to no one in particular. “But then I'm cutting myself off.”
“It'd be great to get an interview with the dean of Hades,” Lucy said. “People would really like that. I think. I think it would really show some intellect and depth.” She looked around, but not at the demons, back toward the quads.
“What're you looking for?” Steve said stickily through a mouthful of blue cotton candy.
“Oh, nothing. No one,” Lucy said. She chewed her lip. “Um, has anyone seen Aidan?”
Steve shrugged. “I didn't see him come out of his room today, but the dude's a late sleeper sometimes. Who knows?”
“Did you guys have a date?” I said. My chest felt cold.
“I mean, sort of,” Lucy said, flushing. “He said maybe we'd meet up at a specific time at a specific place to, you know, walk around and enjoy stuff. I guess that's a date. I mean, it's not a date. I shouldn't take it personally. I'm sure he has a good reason. If he's, you know, standing me up. Like an emergency practice.” She looked at Steve, who shook his head.
“Nah, they canceled all that for the ball. None of the team guys were out of the field. Trust me. I would know.”
“He has a good reason,” I said. “For standing you up.”
“He does?” Lucy looked at me, hopeful. “Did he tell you something?”
“Oh, no, not exactly, but...” My mind flashed back involuntarily to last night at the temple. “Something came up. You just have to trust me.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, I just have to trust you? Trust you about what? What happened?”
“It's not a big deal,” I said, even though it obviously was. He just got beat to a pulp, or worse, by Order of Eden guys. “But it has nothing to do with you. So...”
“It has everything to do with me,” she said. “He's standing me up. Why are you being so cagey? First, you flake out on the article, because I know you're not going to finish writing it. And now you seem to know something about my dating life that I don't even know.”
“It's not like that,” I said. “Look, I'm sorry about the stupid article, but—”
“It's not stupid,” Lucy said. “You're always brushing this off, like it's just some idiot pursuit. I know you're anti-social, but I'm really trying to be nice. I do think you're a good person, Quinn. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us have your standoffish attitude. I want to make friends, okay. I'm tired of being alone. I'm tired of being lonely. I'm finally here and I'm not going to give up on rebuilding myself. And if you want to have a bad attitude, fine, but I don't need that.”
With that she turned on her heel and stalked away.
Steve swallowed. “Uh, well.” He put a hand to his stomach. “I don't feel great. And that was awkward.”
“Maybe it's from all the goddamn sugar you're eating,” I snapped. I felt bad. But Lucy had really cut me to the quick.
She was right.
“Hey,” Steve said. “Easy.”
“You're not going to make the team, Steve,” I said. “You can barely fly. You're always beating yourself up. And the team roster is full. I literally don't know what you're thinking.”
“Wow,” Steve breathed. He stood in silence a minute. “Harsh.” He stared at me. “I think Lucy was right, Quinn.” He threw his empty paper cone at my feet and walked away.
I WENT BACK TO MY ROOM to pack.
When I got to my room, though, I realized how ridiculous that was.
I didn’t own anything. The clothes in the wardrobe, the textbooks, even the stupid sparkling water—none of it was mine. I’d only brought the clothes on my back and a tiny tabletop game piece.
There was no point in me staying here. Leaving was the only thing that made sense. But at the same time, not having anything really to take with me—it felt pathetic. Anticlimactic.
I paused in the quiet of the dorm room, turning Meladryne over and over in my hands. The paint job was admittedly kind of crappy, now that I looked at her up close. Her eyes were crooked, and some of the color from her breastplate blobbed onto her skin.
I’d never really taken to the whole roleplaying game thing. For one, I had a crappy imagination, and for two, I was never good at remembering all the rules. Scott was constantly having to remind me to roll this dice or that one, even if all I—sorry, Meladryne—wanted to do was drink some water or take a nap. “Roll for initiative, my ass” became my de facto catchphrase.
But all the things that frustrated me about the game seemed to be what Scott loved about it. He loved being the dungeon master, making up these elaborate mythologies that he kept behind his screen, insisting on writing them by hand and keeping an embarrassing amount of paper records so that he could bring them back out for his weekly game.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have fun. Scott did so much to include me, even sharing the craft beer and organic cheese puffs and making sure none of his geek friends were dicks to me. It was just that ultimately, I didn’t get it.
“Can’t we play Sorry?” I’d ask. “Or Monopoly? Scrabble?”
Scott and his friends would huff and groan—not that they were really pissed off. It was kind of a schtick.
“Bo-ring,” Scott said. “No imagination.”
“Yeah, but the rules make sense,” I countered. “Roll the dice, go that many places, get to the end first, win big. Here it’s like, roll the dice, maybe you’ll get to do a thing, but actually there’s an even better thing you should be doing and didn’t know about, and oh, by the way, there’s a gelatinous cube about to eat you.”
“That would never happen,” one of Scott’s dude friends muttered.
“My point is, I like games with rules.”
“Rules?” Scott said. “Where we’re going, we don’t need rules!”
I sighed. “Great, Scott.”
His friends good-naturedly laughed at our little brother-sister Back to the Future routine. It was kind of a thing we did.
“Dude, you’re a computer programmer,” I said. “Rules are literally your business.”
“And that’s why I’m the DM,” he said. “There are rules, but only I get to know them. The rest of you just have to flail around with the system and do your best to figure out the lay of the land. But I”—he spread his hands out wide—“get to see the whole map.”
“It just doesn’t seem
fair!”
“Life isn’t fair, Meladryne.” He’d winked. “Now roll for initiative.”
“Quinn?”
“Yeah.” I startled from where I was lying in bed. It was Violet, attired in her dress for the ball, looking elegant and very smart.
“Are you getting ready? I was just in the bathroom, so I wasn’t sure if you needed to—” Her expression fell when she saw me. “Gods, Quinn. Are you okay? You look—”
“Yeah, I look terrible,” I said. I swung my legs to the side of my bed. “I feel terrible, too.”
It was true. That’s part of why I wanted to leave. The intense waves of energy I'd felt since the demons arrived hadn't let up. But more than that, I felt guilty. And I was starting to think that maybe guilt was a more powerful force than anything magical. Guilt was the reason I was trying to find out what happened to Scott, because I felt like somehow it was my fault, and if I knew it wasn't my fault, maybe the guilt would go away. But in doing that, I'd racked up all new kinds of guilt, ruining friendships I didn't even realize I was building, getting people in trouble for trying to help me. Maybe I was doomed. Maybe guilt was just a way of life for me.
“I'm fine,” I said, extremely unconvincingly. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I can wait for you,” Violet said. “We can walk over together.”
Somehow, I’d pissed so many people off, but not my roommate. I shook my head. “No, you should hurry up. Don’t be late because of me.”
“You’re not even dressed,” Violet said.
I shrugged.
“You’re not going.”
I froze. Then I shook my head.
“No. I’m not.” I stood up, feeling steadier than I had all day. “Actually, I’m leaving.”
“Leaving?” She looked genuinely alarmed.
“It’s...complicated,” I said. “But don’t worry. Seriously. You’ve been a great roommate. And I bet the ball will be really fun. So—”
“I know your secret.”
It took me a good ten seconds to fully parse what she’d said.
“What?” I said. I wasn't so stupid as to admit that I had a secret. But I was surprised.
