The Demon Demigod

by Eliza Raine

  ‘Yeah, snakey lizardy things with big wings.’

  I laughed.

  ‘I know what a dragon is! I just didn’t know you had them in Olympus.’

  ‘Oh yeah, I forget you’re from the mortal world.’

  ‘Where are you from?’

  ‘Cancer.’

  ‘That’s Hera’s realm?’ I asked.

  ‘Yup. It’s real nice. All forest and lakes and big white stone houses.’

  ‘How did your parents react when you found out what your power was?’ I asked tentatively.

  ‘My older brother was a manticore shifter too, so not that surprised,’ he grinned. ‘Off to the academy I went.’

  ‘Oh, cool,’ I answered, trying to imagine how different his childhood would have been from mine.

  ‘So, what do you want to do with your powers? Do you want to stay at the academy and specialize in something?’

  ‘Um…’ I said. What I really wanted to do was become powerful enough to get back home to my dad and Mandy. But beyond that… I really wasn’t sure anymore. ‘I want to see Olympus,’ I answered eventually. ‘It sounds incredible.’

  ‘It is, but it’s only safe to see about half of it. I’d love to see one of the forbidden realms.’

  ‘Me too,’ I said.

  His eyes shone as he looked at me and I couldn’t help smiling. His enthusiasm was nice.

  ‘Do you, um, want to dance?’ he said, eyes darting from mine to the dance floor.

  ‘Oh, I, um, well, um…’ I spluttered, genuinely shocked. People usually avoided me completely. They certainly didn’t ask me to dance. The thought of Icarus pushed through my sudden elation. ‘I’m sorry, Thom, I can’t.’

  ‘Oh, OK,’ he said, looking down with a small smile. ‘I’m not very good at dancing anyway,’ he said.

  ‘Me neither,’ I told him and we both looked around the room awkwardly, the conversation now broken.

  ‘Isn’t that Tak?’ Thom said suddenly, pointing. I turned and looked at the dance floor.

  Tak was dancing to a slow song, the rhythmic beat pulsing through the room, his arms locked around the waist of a tall, pretty girl. It was Roz, I realized.

  Oh no. Where was Zali? But before I could tear my eyes off the pair to look for her, Roz was leaning into him and their lips met.

  ‘Good for him!’ exclaimed Thom. ‘Roz is alright.’

  I hardly heard him, scanning the temple for Zali’s dark curls, praying she hadn’t seen the kiss. But when I finally found her, she was standing staring at Tak and Roz, a hollow expression on her face.

  ‘I have to go,’ I told Thom quickly. ‘Thank you though, for talking to me.’

  ‘Yeah, sure, any time,’ he called after me as I raced towards my friend.

  ‘Zali?’

  She turned her face to me as I reached her, and I could see the tears in her eyes straight away. I glanced sideways at Tak and Roz, still on the dance floor and still kissing.

  ‘I told you he didn’t like me,’ she whispered. I only just caught her words over the beat of the music.

  ‘Zali, Roz kissed him, and you know what boys are like-’ I started, but her lip started to wobble and then she was running past me. I jogged to the punch table, put both my glasses down, and took off after her towards the exit.

  I found her in our room, crying quietly on her bed.

  ‘Oh Zali, I’m sorry,’ I said, sitting down gently beside her. She looked up at me, her tear streaked face making my heart ache for her.

  ‘I knew it. I knew it all along,’ she said sadly.

  ‘Just because they got carried away and kissed at a dance doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you,’ I said.

  She scowled at me, fresh tears falling from her amber eyes.

  ‘I think it’s pretty clear who he likes,’ she said.

  ‘He may only be with her because he doesn’t think you’re interested.’

  She shook her head.

  ‘No. I can’t compete with Roz. She’s gorgeous and clever and funny and…’ she trailed off.

  ‘You’re all those things, and more,’ I told her, taking her hand and squeezing it. ‘And you’re his best friend. I’m sure if he knew how you felt-’

  ‘No! No way am I ever telling him now,’ she said fiercely. ‘No, he’s made his choice.’

  ‘They just kissed. I don’t think there was any choice-making involved,’ I said gently.

  Zali huffed.

  ‘I don’t care. I’m moving on. Like you said before, there are plenty of attractive demigods at this school to choose from.’ She sat up straight as she spoke, swiping at her wet cheeks with her palms.

  ‘Well, if you’re sure, then good for you,’ I said.

  ‘I am sure. Tomorrow you’re going to see a new Zali. One that’s not waiting for an idiot boy to grow up.’

  ‘Sounds awesome,’ I told her, and leaned forward to give her the biggest hug I could.

  15

  I woke a number of times in the night though, dreams of swirling fire and raging tidal waves jerking me out of sleep, and I was sure I could hear the soft sounds of crying coming from Zali’s side of the room. I wanted to go to her, to try to help, but I knew when I was sad I needed time alone. I prayed that she would start the next day feeling the feistiness I’d seen in her, instead of the hollowness I knew first-hand from losing Icarus’s trust. When I thought about him, and the look on his face when Thom had come over, I couldn’t help cringing. I knew that for once I hadn’t done anything wrong, but the timing was awful. Typical. But I clung to the fact that he had been willing to talk to me. He had even brought me a drink. Surely that had been a peace offering? It opened the door to me trying to talk to him, at least.

  I got out of bed before Zali the next morning and I left her sleeping as I went to breakfast ahead of my Sunday water lessons with Dasko. I figured she needed the rest.

  ‘Are you doing anything to try and catch the death demon?’ Dasko asked me as I stood in the shallow end of the pool, concentrating on holding a human sized ball of water above me.

  ‘Of course I am,’ I said, turning to him. The ball of water crashed down over me. I let out a long sigh as I peeled my wet hair from my face. This was why we were practicing in the pool, I reminded myself.

  ‘Good,’ he said. ‘I wonder, if only a Titan could have let the demons out of that box then maybe only a Titan could destroy them.’

  ‘Do you know how to destroy a death demon?’ I asked him, a glimmer of hope in my words.

  ‘There are a few ways, but they all require dangerous weapons or powerful beings. I think it’s outrageous that the students are expected to deal with this themselves,’ he said, his normally friendly eyes flashing angrily.

  ‘So, the teachers aren’t doing anything?’ I asked, not expecting him to answer honestly.

  ‘The teachers are doing what they can, but Zeus’s orders were clear.’ He looked at me, intense for a moment. ‘What are you planning to do to kill it?’

  I sighed, and started to speak, but I already knew what would happen.

  ‘Professor Neos is the third demon. He’s told me how to make a potion that will lure the demon to us.’ I watched as Dasko’s face screwed up in frustration.

  ‘That cursed language!’ he exclaimed. Whenever I tried to tell him anything about Neos he couldn’t understand a word I said.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said quietly.

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ he sighed.

  ‘It is.’ My words barely came out a whisper and his stance softened as he looked at me.

  ‘Pandora, most people would have opened the box. I don’t blame you.’

  ‘Icarus wouldn’t have. He told me not to. You told me not to. And now those poor people are lying there with their souls stolen, all because of me.’ Hot tears were gathering at the back of my eyes.

  ‘Want to know a secret?’ Dasko said.

  I met his eyes and nodded.

  ‘I knew you’d open the box.’

  My mouth fell ope
n.

  ‘What?’

  ‘If I’d had any idea at all of what was in it, then I never would have helped you find it, I swear,’ he said, stepping towards me. ‘But I knew that a Titan relic like that was sure to unlock both your powers. And I thought there would be more clues to where Oceanus and Prometheus are. I really had no idea at all that there would be dangerous demons in there. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.’ His earnest, honest eyes were locked on mine and something close to relief was washing through me. It was still my fault I’d opened the box. Nobody forced me to do that. But at least I could share the burden with someone else. At least I knew Dasko would have done the same thing.

  ‘Why did you tell me not to open it?’

  He spread his hands apologetically.

  ‘I had to. It was the best way to ensure that you did open it. And if you hadn’t, then we’d have given it to Zeus as planned.’

  I stared at him, trying to work out how I felt. Had he used me? But to what end? Nothing in the box could have helped him, he wasn’t a Titan.

  ‘Why do you want to help Titans so much?’ I asked him suspiciously.

  ‘I told you before, I think it’s time your ancestors and the Olympians made amends. Immense power could be unlocked if the immortals worked together. You’re the key to that, Pandora. You and Icarus.’

  ‘Icarus will be furious with you,’ I said quietly.

  ‘If you tell him, then yes, probably.’

  ‘We’re, um, not talking right now.’

  Dasko quirked an eyebrow.

  ‘You need each other. Especially if you want to defeat this Keres demon. You two are the strongest students in this school.’

  I screwed my face up.

  ‘That’s not true.’

  ‘Maybe not yet, but you have the potential to be.’

  I looked at him doubtfully.

  ‘What’s in the ocean around us right now?’ he asked me.

  I pushed my consciousness out into the sea easily, barely having to concentrate to do it.

  ‘The turtles are half a mile under us, there’s a pod of dolphins to the east…. Three wales above us. And something else but it’s not something I’ve seen before. Some sort of serpent I think,’ I answered.

  Dasko smiled at me.

  ‘Do you know how rare it is to be able to do that?’

  ‘But I can’t even control the water in this pool properly.’

  ‘That will come with time and practice. But your raw senses and power… that can not be taught, Pandora. And the way that Icarus can feel and manipulate air is the same. You two could achieve incredible things.’ I thought about Icarus soaring through the skies over the glittering ocean and an overwhelming feeling of belonging built inside me.

  ‘I have to get him to forgive me first,’ I mumbled.

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I lied to him.’

  ‘His upbringing wasn’t like other kids. He may take longer to forgive than you would. But I’m sure he will. You two have a bond.’

  A bond. I liked that. I hoped to the gods it was true. I missed his wicked grins, the way his eyes lit up when he talked about seeing the world, the gentleness behind the hard front he put on. I missed his kisses.

  ‘I hope so,’ I said.

  But in flying class on Monday morning he walked straight past me, and looked at nobody the whole lesson. He leapt from the ledge as soon as Miss Alma said he could, and didn’t return until the end of class. He still wasn’t coming to sit with us at meal times either but to my dismay, Roz was. She and Tak made small playful faces at each other over their food, whilst Zali stabbed moodily at hers. She was putting on a brave face, trying to come across as indifferent, but I could see the sadness in her eyes when she looked at him. Tak didn’t seem to notice that his best friend wasn’t herself and I wondered how he could be so clueless. I wasn’t so sure now that Zali had been wrong about him liking her. Maybe he really wasn’t interested in her in a romantic way.

  Much as wanted to dislike Roz, for the sake of my roommate, I couldn’t. She was bold and funny and asked me questions about my life back home. I found myself caught up in her wide-eyed reaction when I told her about films and TV screens and the cinema.

  ‘That sounds unbelievable,’ she breathed.

  ‘It is unbelievable. It’s all made up, on computers and stuff,’ I said. ‘Not like here, where it’s real.’

  ‘So in a world where you can’t see and mostly don’t believe in magic, you make pretend magic for people to read about and watch?’

  ‘Well, yeah,’ I said.

  ‘And you can make it look real, even though it isn’t?’

  ‘With actors and computers, yeah.’

  ‘That’s crazy,’ she said.

  I laughed.

  ‘I guess it is. If I ever go back, I’ll bring you back a movie.’

  ‘Never mind that, I want one of those computer things,’ she said.

  16

  On Tuesday I had Advanced Magical Objects class, and I entered the underground classroom to a weirdly tense hush. Suppressed murmurs rippled through the few other students as they crowded around the long table at the end of the room and I moved closer, curiously. My eyes fell on three goblets, all completely different from each other.

  ‘Good day, class,’ Professor Fantasma’s voice croaked across us. Students stepped aside to let her ghostly form reach the table. ‘As promised, we’re going to look at cursed objects today.’ I felt a surge of excitement. ‘These three vessels can hold liquid. One will turn that liquid into precious metal. One will turn the liquid into a powerful seeing tonic. The other will kill the drinker.’ I drew in a sharp breath. ‘Who would like to guess which does what?’

  Nobody stepped forward but everyone craned their necks, peering closely at the goblets. The first one was the largest. It had a rim of tiny blood-red rubies pressed into the bright gold metal it was made from. The ring of rubies was repeated halfway down the body of the goblet, then small strips ran down the length of the stem, fanning out at the bottom on the base of the cup. The second goblet was made from a shining silver metal. It didn’t have any gems encrusting it, but it did have intricate, beautiful patterns carved all over it. I could see Greek columns, swirling clouds, curling vines and roses and much more. The last goblet seemed to be made of marble. It looked identical to the rock that made up the columns in the temples, thin veins of ash color running though the white material. It was shorter and stubbier than the other two and it looked heavy.

  ‘Does the gold one make the precious metal?’ asked a girl called called Skye.

  ‘What makes you think that?’ Fantasma asked her.

  She shrugged.

  ‘It’s gold and has expensive gems in it.’

  ‘Very good. But no. It’s meant to make you think that but it’s a trick. It’s actually the lethal one.’

  ‘Then the silver one with the patterns is the seeing tonic one,’ said a boy called Felix. ‘Aren’t the patterns something to do with oracle language?’

  ‘Very good indeed,’ Fantasma praised him. ‘These are the glyphs the oracles used to curse objects with magic.’

  My mind flashed on the suit of armor I’d seen the night we’d sneaked into the advanced tower, and the swirling patterns I’d seen appear on the leather fighting gear my reflection had been wearing. Surely that hadn’t been anything to do with oracles?

  ‘Why would seeing the future be a curse? Surely the goblet is a gift rather than a cursed object?’ Skye said.

  ‘To see one’s own future is no gift, I assure you,’ the professor said seriously.

  If I knew my own future, I’d know if I would ever get back to dad and Mandy, I thought. I’d know if I was going to be able to catch the death demon and return the souls I’d caused to be stolen. Would that be worth seeing something bad?

  ‘So, the last and most simple goblet creates precious metal. That marble cup is one of the most valuable things in all of Olympus.’

  We all pee
red closer at it.

  ‘How come it’s here in the academy then, instead of with someone rich?’

  ‘Aha, that’s a very good question, Pandora,’ Fantasma said. ‘Line up here,’ she said, and motioned for us to stand in front of the goblets. ‘I want you all to hold each goblet for a moment or two. Close your eyes and feel for magic. Feel for the cups desires, its strength and its needs. Try to work out if you trust each one.’

  I waited nervously behind Felix as he held the gold cup. It had taken weeks for me to sense Nix in the phoenix feather, wouldn’t these be the same? Felix moved on to the next goblet with a small shudder and I stepped up to the table. I studied the goblet a moment, the rubies a deeper red than I’d ever seen. They really did look like blood. I hesitantly put both hands on the goblet and lifted it. A cold tingle passed through my fingers as they made contact and I jumped slightly, my nerves on edge. I’d felt that feeling at home before, but always written it off as static shock. I concentrated, and the tingle changed. It was as though ice was filtering from my fingertips all the way up my arms. As I looked at the cup the red of the rubies seemed to blur and grow, as though the metal was turning that deep red too.

  I put it down quickly, goosebumps raised everywhere across my skin.

  ‘Evil. Definitely evil,’ I muttered. The beautiful silver cup was next. I picked it up almost eagerly, turning it in my hands to inspect the intricate carving. There was no specific image, it was just as though somebody who loved flowing lines and tight spirals had doodled all over it, with a perfect result. I concentrated, trying to feel something from the goblet. But there was nothing. No hum or fizz or tingle of energy. No sense of hope, happiness or doom. Just… nothing. I shrugged and placed it back on the table, stepping up to where Felix had just returned the marble goblet. He gave me an uneasy look and I frowned as I picked it up.

  I needed this goblet. I needed this goblet. The thought flooded my mind, repeating itself over and over again. Not just the goblet. I glanced around the room, searching for glinting metal or shining jewels. I needed all of it. All these precious things were wasted down here in this windowless pit! The thought was so strong it scared me, and I forced myself to drop the cup back on the table. I let go too early and it teetered alarmingly on it’s base a moment, then mercifully settled flat.