by Eliza Raine
‘Neos,’ he shrugged. ‘A lowly demon, trapped in that box with those two other fools for all the wrong reasons. But now I am free, thanks to you, and we can go and find Oceanus.’
‘Why would you want to find him? Didn’t he trap you?’
‘Mistakenly, yes. But Titans and Olympians need to roam this world together, and he and Prometheus can make that happen.’
The words of the poem rang in my mind.
‘You want peace?’ I asked warily. ‘What kind of demon are you?’
‘A fire demon,’ he grinned, and a halo of flames appeared over his head, casting flickering orange shadows over his handsome face. ‘Let me prove to you that I’m not a bad guy.’
I scowled at him.
‘What happened to Dimitra?’
‘The third demon. Soul snatcher,’ he said distastefully. For a second I couldn’t breathe. It was my fault.
‘How… how do we get her soul back? How do we stop it?’
‘The demon is one of the Keres. They’re the demigod spirits of violent death. Normally they only take souls from the dying, but this one’s gone rogue and has taken a soul from the living. They’re not easy to catch though, and as for retrieving Dimitra’s soul… Only an exceptionally powerful god could talk Hades into that. He owns the souls the Keres take.’
‘A god like… like Oceanus,’ I said slowly.
‘Indeed,’ he grinned at me. ‘I’ll tell you what. Let me teach you fire magic. Let me help you catch the death demon. Then, when you’ve seen I’m on your side, we can go and find Oceanus and return that student’s soul.’
I regarded the demon, the fire halo still hovering above him. I believed that he didn’t want to hurt me. After all, he’d had plenty of opportunity to do that already. And he was answering my questions. So far, this was the most information I’d managed to get about the box. And if he knew how to stop this Keres demon, then I really didn’t have a choice.
‘Alright then,’ I said, warily and he clapped his hands together delightedly. ‘How do we stop the death demon?’
‘We’ll need to lure it to us.’
‘How?’
‘You’ll need to make a potion. It’ll need ingredients. Very rare and dangerous ingredients.’
‘I’m not studying potions until next semester,’ I said.
‘Then you’re going to have to be a bit sneaky,’ Neos said, red eyes flashing.
‘Why can’t you make it?’ I asked.
‘I’m a demon. If I touch powerful artifacts, boom.’ His flame halo burst into a small explosion behind his head and I jumped back. ‘Demons no-touchy,’ he grinned.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
‘How do I know I can trust you?’ I said.
‘You don’t. But I know how to find Oceanus and nobody else does, so… the way I see it you don’t really have a choice if you want to stop the soul snatcher.’
I rolled my eyes.
‘That’s blackmail.’
He shrugged.
‘I am a demon. It’s how I operate.’ He gave me a cocky look. ‘How about you let me give you some tips on fire magic, and then you decide?’
Before I could answer, flames leapt up around us in a burning hot ring and his eyes seemed to come alive. Fear shot through me, and I felt the presence of the ocean deep inside me. My power focused in on the water wall at the back of the room.
‘Ignore the water, Pandora. Feel the fire,’ Neos said quietly. ‘Let the heat seep into your skin. Let the feeling burn through your veins, pump your heart, fill your chest. Let the heat in.’
His voice was seductive, impossible to resist, and I found myself doing what he instructed. Heat seared through me, not burning me but making me feel alive. I held my hands out as the power blazed through my limbs, and the ring around us roared into an inferno.
Neos cried out in delight and threw his own arms out. The flames disappeared in an instant. I gaped around me, my skin tingling and prickling, the oceans presence reassuringly back in place in my mind.
‘Was that me?’ I whispered.
‘It sure was. I knew you had it in you,’ he beamed.
‘I… I don’t want power like that,’ I stammered, remembering the girl who had nearly burned down the school. ‘I can’t control the water, let alone…’ I trailed off, picturing the roaring flames.
‘You won’t be able to do that again without me, don’t worry. We’ll work on it,’ Neos said. I looked at him, surprised that I felt reassured by his words. His red eyes faded slowly back to brown as he looked back at me. ‘We’ll make a great team, Pandora,’ he said.
5
‘You’ve got to be joking.’ Icarus stared at me. ‘You just had a private lesson in fire magic from a demon? What part of be careful did you not understand!’
‘It’s not my fault!’ I protested. ‘And if he knows how to stop the soul snatcher then we have to try.’
We were at our usual meeting place, at the top of the pegasus tower, but since I told Icarus what had happened in my detention with Neos, I suspected there wouldn’t be any kissing tonight.
‘Dora, the poem said we had to kill all the demons, not befriend them!’
‘I haven’t befriended him,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m not stupid enough to trust him. But he knows things Icarus. We need him.’
Icarus rolled his eyes and turned away from me.
‘Do you have any better suggestions?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he answered eventually. ‘But I don’t like this.’
‘Neither do I,’ I said, laying a hand on his arm. ‘But we need to do what we can. It’s better than sitting around helplessly.’
He looked at me, his eyes softening.
‘It’s not your fault, you know. What happened to Dimitra.’
‘Of course it is,’ I said, dropping my gaze. ‘I let the demon loose.’
‘But you didn’t attack her. You don’t need to risk your life to save hers.’
‘Yes, Icarus. I do. I’m responsible and she’s completely innocent.’
He fell silent.
‘What if this potion Neos wants you to make is actually to make him stronger or something? What if it’s not to lure the soul snatcher at all?’ he asked suddenly.
‘I thought that too,’ I said. ‘Once he’s told me the ingredients, I’ll ask Nix about them. He should know about that sort of stuff.’
Icarus nodded.
‘OK then. Let’s catch a Keres.’
‘You’re going to help?’ Hope and gratitude filled me as I looked at him. He took my hand and squeezed it hard.
‘Of course I am. I’ll always help you, Dora.’ His intense green eyes looked deep into mine and my breath caught.
Maybe there would be some kissing tonight after all.
It was Saturday the next day, and when I woke up I found a note had been left for me. I evaded Zali’s curious questions with some made up nonsense about Icarus leaving me a love letter, and she gave me a cute grin and left me to open it in peace. I immediately felt bad for lying to her.
Pandora,
The Keres are drawn to violent death. So assuming you don’t want to kill anybody, we will need the following ingredients to make the potion we discussed.
Fire rafe
Human blood
Manticore feather
Rust from the armor of a hero who died in battle
Good luck! Neos
I blew out a long breath. Well I was human, so the blood was easy enough, as long as we only needed a little bit. A manticore feather… I had no idea where to start. I also had no idea what a fire rafe was, and as for rust from the armor of a hero who died in battle… My mind flashed on the Magical Objects classroom, filled with ancient relics. Surely there was something in there?
For our weekend chores we cleaned the showers together with two girls from the next dorm room, and as usual they gave me a wide berth. I listened in on their conversation though, which was dominated by chat about Dimitra. The dryad girl had been moved to th
e guest rooms in the front temple, one of the girls had heard, and there had been no change in her condition. I scrubbed at the bathroom tiles harder, resolving to go to the magical objects classroom that afternoon, to talk to Nix and to look for rusty armor. I needed to help her as soon as I could. But when we returned to our rooms we found a note pinned to every door announcing an impromptu archery tournament that afternoon.
‘I wonder if that’s so that they can keep an eye on us all together?’ said Zali. That made sense, I thought, but it would make carrying out my new plan impossible that afternoon.
We met Tak and Icarus down by the training field. An unavoidable thrill rippled through me when I spotted his massive black wings in the crowd. They were magnificent.
‘So, archery time,’ grinned Tak, rubbing his hands together as we reached him.
‘Reckon you’re going to win this time?’ Zali teased him.
‘For sure,’ he answered, jutting his chin out.
‘Nope. I’m going to beat you today,’ I told him with a wicked smile.
He’d come tenth last time. I had come twelfth. There were just under eighty students in the school, so we were both pretty good, but our months training in swords and spears together was making us more and more competitive with each other.
‘You’re on, Titan girl,’ he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me. Icarus laughed.
‘Please beat him, Dora,’ he said. ‘We won’t be able to bear the smugness if he wins.’ Icarus’s laugh was cut off when Agrius stamped through the middle of our group. Tak started to protest but fell quiet when he realised who it was pushing past us. Chiron trotted in his wake, smiling kindly at the students around him.
‘Everyone ready?’ Agrius boomed as he got to the middle of the training field. We all cheered in agreement. ‘Five groups. Knockout rounds,’ he yelled and the air fizzed with electricity, then colored sashes appeared around all our shoulders. The four of us all had different colors and I was wearing red. That meant I would compete with the other reds and the top two of us would go on to compete with the top two of the other groups.
‘Good luck,’ I said, and headed off to where the red sashes were gathering. Zali jogged off to the blues, Tak sauntered to the greens and Icarus skulked towards the yellows.
My group was a mix of students from each year, and thankfully none of Arketa’s crowd were wearing a red sash. Vronti was though.
‘I heard you got detention,’ he said to me as I reached the group. I paused in surprise. The silver-haired Zeus twin had never spoken a word to me before.
‘Uh, yeah,’ I muttered.
‘As head of year, I need to reprimand you,’ he sneered and defensiveness pricked at me.
‘Reprimand me? Wasn’t that what the detention was for?’
‘You’re setting a bad example. You attacked a student.’
‘No I didn’t!’
‘There were ten eye-witnesses,’ he said, folding his slender ams.
I clenched my hands into fists at my side and gritted my teeth. He was never going to believe that Neos had created the flame.
‘Fine,’ I hissed.
‘Dusting library bookshelves. An hour every night next week,’ he said, and turned away from me.
‘What! But I-’
He whirled back to me, cutting off my protest.
‘Want to make it two weeks, Titan girl?’ he snarled, his grey eyes boring into mine. I closed my mouth and glared at him. ‘I thought not.’ He gave me a smug smile and joined the line of students waiting their turn to shoot at the targets. I seethed at his back, the anger making me hyper-aware of the churning currents around the school. Why was he allowed to hand out double punishments? I had too much to do trying to save Dimitra’s soul to be dusting bookshelves! Guilt that it was my fault Dimitra’s soul needed saving in the first place crept through the anger. I would just have to manage, I told myself.
By the time it was my turn to shoot a grim resolution had settled where the playful competitiveness had been. I would show Vronti that I wasn’t weak or soft. I picked up a bow from the stack beside me and nocked an arrow. Drawing back the string as far as I could, I released a long breath out, focused on the red circle in the center of the target twenty feet away and loosed. It thudded into the target, dead center. Nobody clapped. I was the Titan girl, they weren’t going to cheer for me. I nocked a second arrow quickly, and aimed at the next target, twenty-five feet away. My arrow landed just outside the red center circle. The third target, thirty feet away, was always the hardest to get right, but I landed my last arrow easily inside the second ring.
Satisfaction thrummed through me as Agrius peered at my arrows, then nodded reluctantly.
‘Vronti and Pandora. Next round.’ The other other students trudged away to sit in the temporary bleachers now lining the back of the field. Tak waved at me as I approached him, standing with another boy in a green sash.
‘Nice shooting,’ he said.
‘Vronti gave me an hours worth of chores every night next week,’ I growled.
‘That sucks,’ Tak frowned.
‘Tell me about it.’
‘So now you need to beat him at archery? I like the motivation,’ he grinned. ‘But I’m still gonna win.’
‘Huh,’ I grunted. Currents surged through the ocean around us, and I glanced up at the dome. Power pulsed through the water, massive and strong and lethal and I felt it in my veins. I could beat Tak and Vronti.
I was matched with the winner of the yellow group, and easily landed my arrows inside the smallest two rings, moving me through to the next round. I felt my focus tightening as the competition progressed, steady energy pumping through me and making me more determined. In no time at all there were only four of us left. Vronti, Tak and an eagle-shifter girl called Alexsis. Her eyesight was excellent, and I knew she would be tough to beat. But as long as I came out ahead of the two boys, I’d be happy.
Tak went first. He got his first arrow in the red center circle easily. But his next two went wide, and he only just made the thirty feet target. He gave me a shrug as he walked past me standing in line.
‘I might still beat you,’ he said cheerfully.
Vronti went next. His first two arrows made the red circle, and his third landed on the outer edge of the smallest ring. It was a good effort, but I’d already managed similar. Adrenaline started to flow through me as I stepped up to take my go. I could beat him.
My first arrow hit dead center on the closest target. I moved onto the second quickly, sharpening my focus on the middle of the target. On a long breath out, I loosed. My arrow flew straight into the middle of the red dot. Satisfaction coursed through me and I did a little fist pump. One more to go. My hands stayed steady as I aimed, and I knew when I loosed it was a good shot. It landed almost exactly where Vronti’s arrow had, but it was too far away to see which was closer. I heard a collective intake of breath from the spectators as Agrius stomped over to the target and peered at it. After a long moment, where I almost forgot to breathe, the big man reluctantly pointed at me. Vronti glared at me, then strode away towards the bleachers. A ripple of clapping sounded and I turned to see Tak, Zali, Icarus and Gida cheering for me. Warmth flooded my chest.
‘Very nice,’ said Alexsis, walking past me. ‘But you’re not going to win.’ The smile she gave me was a friendly one though, and I realized her words were competitive rather than mean. It wouldn’t be so bad if she won. After all, I’d beaten that silver-haired jerk and that’s what mattered. I watched as she lifted the bow, drew back her elbow and took a deep breath. Then she froze, and I was close enough to see that her whole body was shaking. I stepped forwards, unsure what was happening, when suddenly she lifted off the ground, her head tipping backwards and the bow clattering to the ground. I rushed forwards, just in time to catch her as she dropped, lifeless to the ground. We both tumbled to the floor, but I was able to keep her head from hitting the ground, catching her shoulders with my arm.
‘Alexsis!’ I shouted, lowerin
g her gently to the grass and pushing her blonde hair back from her face. I gasped. Her eyes were solid, onyx back.
6
Everything after that was a bit of a blur. Chiron galloped over to me and Alexsis, and Agrius pushed me out of the way, easily lifting the girl onto his back. Miss Alma and Professor Fantasma appeared quickly, and began escorting panicked students to the dorms. I got to my feet slowly, relief washing over me when I saw Icarus hovering behind the centaur headmaster.
‘Pandora, you were closest, did you see what happened?’ Chiron asked me.
I shook my head mutely.
‘She probably did it,’ muttered Agrius loudly. Chiron glared at him. In a way though, Agrius was right. It was my fault.
‘She froze, began shaking, then fell,’ I whispered.
‘Go back to your dorm now,’ Chiron said gently. I nodded and walked past him and Icarus rushed over, wrapping his arms tight around me, his wings folding protectively around my body.
‘Dora, that could have been you,’ he breathed. I looked up at him. I hadn’t even considered that. ‘You went right before her…’ He stared into my eyes, his concern and relief etched on his face.
‘It should have been me,’ I mumbled.
‘No. No, only we can fix this, Dora. You need to stay safe.’
‘I’m OK, Icarus,’ I said. ‘But we need to go to the Magical Objects classroom.’
He looked at me and I could tell he was about to say we shouldn’t so I spoke before he could.
‘We have to try and do something. Like you just said, we’re the only ones who can.’
‘Pandora, Icarus, to your rooms, now!’ yelled Miss Alma, her voice penetrating the bubble Icarus had cocooned us in with his wings. He leaned forwards, kissing me quickly on the cheek.
‘I’ll meet you there at ten tonight,’ he whispered.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered back gratefully. Then he was gone, jogging towards the boys dorms. I turned in the opposite direction, picking up my pace when I saw Zali.
