by Eliza Raine
‘This is a simple test,’ said Dasko once we’d all taken our places. There was a numbered sheet of paper in front of us with lots of tiny line drawings next to a blank space. ‘You just need to write the ancient Greek word for each image that appears in the dish. There is a drawing on you exam sheet to help you if you miss one. You have forty minutes.’ I took a deep breath, and put my pen to paper as he called, ‘Begin!’
Icarus’s lessons paid off. When the forty minutes was up, there were only four or five that I knew I’d got wrong and another couple that I’d made a half-decent guess at. But the rest, I had known. I tried to catch his eye again as we left the classroom but he looked resolutely ahead, ignoring everyone. A pang of sadness jolted through me as I realized I would have no excuse at all to sit with him each day now that the language exam was done.
My last exam that day was water element. Hermes was back, overseeing, but I felt no nerves at all as we lined up down the side of the room. When it was my turn, I tuned into the ocean surrounding the academy, and let its power fill me. I turned to the water-wall and held up my hands, remembering what Dasko had done the first day he had brought me into the water room. I drew the water above me, forming and shaping it with my will, until a small family of turtles made entirely from water swam through the air around my head. I smiled at the little gasps from my fellow classmates.
‘Very good, Pandora,’ said Dasko, beaming.
‘Very good, indeed,’ echoed Hermes, his voice ringing and lyrical. I glanced at the god, and lost control of the biggest turtle, taking a sharp breath as the cold water dropped from the air above me straight down my shirt. A few people laughed and Dasko chuckled.
‘I still think that warrants a pass. Next.’
There was an air of exhaustion at dinner that night, and the temple nearly emptied once the plates and tables had vanished. Zali and I followed suit, and mercifully, I slept well for a change.
The first exam the next morning was History of Mythology. Zali and I tested each other on everything we had been revising all through breakfast, but my nerves still skittered as I took my seat in the classroom.
‘You will have three tests. One on the Olympians, one on the Titans, and one on demigod demons,’ Dasko told us all. ‘Half an hour for each. You can turn over your first paper now.’
It went as well as I could have hoped. There were lots of questions I did know the answer to, like ‘What is Nyx goddess of and who is her husband’ and lots of questions I had to guess at, like ‘How many children did they have and name three.’ I thought I did best on the Titan questions, but I supposed it was unsurprising that I would remember the most details about my own ancestors. Dasko told us he would be marking all our written papers over the next few days, and we would have to wait for the results. We were given a twenty minute break until the next exam, which for me was Swords and Spears.
‘Ready to get whooped?’ Tak winked at me as I met him at the side of the training ground.
‘Big words from a little boy,’ I teased back.
‘Oooh, you’re on.’
‘Class!’ roared Agrius and we all fell silent. ‘Today Hermes will be judging whether or not you are good enough to pass this test.’ I gulped and Tak looked sideways at me. His face echoed my thoughts. Maybe we should be taking this more seriously. ‘Choose either sword or spear. Swords over here, spears over there,’ he bellowed, gesturing to either side of the field. It was an easy choice for me, I was much better with a sword than a spear. Tak looked at both sides thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged at me and headed over to the spears. Gutted as I was to see my training partner leave, I thought he’d made the right decision. Tak was really good with a spear. Eight of us had picked swords and I looked around at the others, my confidence faltering slightly as I laid eyes on Vronti, standing straight and looking fierce and cold. Agrius stamped over to us and there was a now familiar flash of bright light, then Hermes was standing next to him. He ran his finger and thumb down his red beard as he regarded us all bowing our heads.
‘Vronti, as head boy you can start. Pick your partner.’ I seethed inwardly at Agrius’s blatant favoritism, knowing exactly what would happen next. He did it every class and I never did well out of it. Agrius hated me.
‘Pandora,’ said Vronti, turning to face me. I made an effort not to groan out loud as adrenaline pulsed through me. This was going to be tough.
I took a wooden practice sword from the tub and Vronti and I faced each other in the center of the training ring. Part of me wanted to ask after his sister, but as I looked at his steely, emotionless face I couldn’t bring myself to. What if he thought it was a cheap shot to distract him? Besides, I knew her condition wouldn’t have changed.
‘Three, two, one, go!’ Agrius had barely finished yelling when Vronti came at me, fast and hard. I yelped as his sword crashed down on my shoulder, leaping sideways. Pay attention, Pandora, I chided myself. I focused in on his sword, his arms, tried to watch his muscles to anticipate which way he was going to move next. I parried his next three blows and managed to get one of my own in, which he easily blocked.
‘Titans don’t belong in this school,’ he hissed at me as I panted opposite him.
I glared at him. He was wrong. I did belong here.
‘I’m not dangerous,’ I said, swinging at his legs. He jumped lightly out of the way and brought his sword down quickly at the same time, almost catching my wrist.
‘Not with a sword, clearly,’ he sneered. Anger spiked in me.
‘Why do you hate Titans?’ I asked him, lunging again and changing direction at the last minute. He moved fast but I just clipped his ribs.
‘Zeus hates Titans, and there is no greater example to follow,’ he said, glowering.
I pulled a face, adrenaline surging through me now as my anger built.
‘What if I’m nothing like other Titans? How can you judge me knowing nothing about me?’
‘My father says you are.’
My eyebrows leapt up in surprise. Zeus had said that? About me? The distraction was all he needed. Vronti charged forwards, bringing his sword down and kicking out at my legs at the same time. I threw myself into a roll, hitting the floor hard but avoiding both his sword and kick. I launched myself back to my feet as I came out of my tumble and blindly swiped the sword around me in an arc, hating that my back was to him. I felt a satisfying thud as my sword connected with something solid and I whirled around. Vronti was stumbling backwards, a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face. Somehow, I’d hit him in the head.
‘Enough! First blood to Pandora,’ growled Agrius. ‘Which is the only thing saving you because Vronti was clearly the better swordsman,’ he glared at me.
‘Agreed,’ said Hermes. ‘Next.’
Vronti gave a snarl of frustration, throwing his sword back with the others and stalking back to the group. He swiped at the blood on his brow and gave me a look that I was sure could wither plants, it was so full of venom. True hatred glinted in his eyes. I looked away uneasily and dropped my own sword back into the tub, panting slightly. I’d been lucky, but I’d passed.
My next exam was Magical Objects. When we entered the underground room the long table held three daggers. Professor Fantasma handed us all a sheet of paper and told us to go and sit on the cushions. Once I was sitting, I studied the paper. There was a simple sketch of each dagger and underneath there were three separate sentences. I read them carefully.
‘This man is a fearsome hero, wise in battle and strong in might.’
‘This man is a coward, who lies and cheats to save himself.’
‘This man has no physical strength but would die to save his family.’
‘Class,’ said Fantasma, and we all looked up at her. ‘You have five minutes with each weapon. I want you to match the weapon to it’s previous owner, as described on your paper. These were all very passionate characters, who have left strong imprints on their daggers. You should be able to work out who owned which.’ I
lined up with the others to take my turn holding the daggers, not knowing what to expect. It had taken me weeks to connect with Nix, but two of the goblets had given hints about their unpleasant intentions in seconds.
As soon as I picked up the first dagger I felt an overwhelming urge to hide amongst the bookshelves at the back of the room. I actually took two steps towards them before realizing what I was doing. Focus, I told myself. I concentrated on the weapon. It was a plain blade, with a worn handle wrapped in dark red leather. Did it want me to run because it was scared or because it wanted me to defend someone? I closed my eyes, trying to connect with it. A frisson of fear ran through me. This was the cowards knife, I was sure. The next dagger was delicate and feminine, and the hilt had three tiny rubies pressed into each side. I felt nothing at first, but after a minute or so, I couldn’t keep dad and Mandy’s faces from my mind. Was this the dagger of the man who cared so deeply for his family? When I took the last knife I was sure of it. The urge to use the dagger was huge. I wanted to use my arms, my legs, my power, I wanted to exert myself. There was no doubt this dagger had belonged to a fighter.
I went back to my paper and wrote down my answers. Most of the other students completed their papers in a similar time, but a couple kept returning to the knives, clutching them with eyes squeezed shut. When everyone had finally written something down, Fantasma collected the papers and told us we would get the results soon. It was probably the easiest and definitely the shortest exam I’d had so far, I thought as I headed back to my dorm room to start revising for tomorrow’s geography test.
22
I was feeling nervous as I ate my breakfast on the third and final day of exams. Geography would be hard, but fire was my biggest concern. My patchy control over the volatile element made it impossible for me to feel confident about using it under pressure. At least swimming shouldn’t be as bad.
Fire was my first exam of the day and I was restless when I reached the fire room, keen to get it over and done with. Hermes was already there when I entered, and I couldn’t help noticing that Neos was keeping his distance. How was he hiding his identity from an Olympian? I thought of Icarus’s words. I don’t trust him. I had no doubt that Neos was more powerful than he was letting on. But as long as he could help with the death demon and my fire magic, I was sure I had no choice but to work with him.
There were only six of us in the class, so my turn came around quickly.
‘Could you conjure a flame, please?’ asked Neos as I stepped up to the central dish. I summoned a small fireball, which hovered over the bowl. ‘Thank you. Now, can you move it around?’ I did as he asked. I prayed silently that he wasn’t going to show Hermes what I could really do. If I lost control in front of Hermes I would fail. ‘Good. Now extinguish it.’ I snuffed the flame out. ‘Now create a wall of fire at the end of the room.’ I’d watched the previous three students go through the exact same motions, so I had no trouble doing everything he asked. Hermes nodded wordlessly when I finished and then the next student stepped up. As she repeated the steps, a sense of relief washed through me. I’d made it through the fire exam without setting anyone, including myself, on fire.
Geography was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. My hours and hours of revising with Zali and pop quizzes with Gida must have worked, because I actually felt a little excited when I saw the first of the three papers was on Olympian Ships. ‘Describe the differences between Whirlwind class ships and Typhoon class ships.’ I wrote fast, pouring everything I knew about the differences in the number of masts, types of weaponry and class of longboat each of the ships had. The second question was easy. ‘Name the four forbidden realms.’ Hephaestus’s Scorpio, Hades’s Virgo, Aphrodites’s Pisces and Artemis’s Sagittarius. ‘Describe the seasonal climates on three realms of your choice.’ I wrote furiously, citing the extreme seasons on Apollo’s Capricorn, and the wild electrical storms on Zeus’s Leo and the ever mild warmth of Hera’s Cancer. When the gong signaled the end of the test I felt surprisingly pleased with myself.
The very last exam was swimming and I didn’t feel as confident as I had expected to as I changed into my swimsuit. Arketa was so good at ruining my swimming classes, and had managed to beat me in almost every race one way or another. When we arrived at the pool I was relieved to find that Hermes wasn’t present. Miss Alma was already in the water though and she beckoned us all in to join her.
‘As with your other exams, this is not a race, but you have a time limit of eight minutes. There are five chests out at various points in the ocean. Some are only accessible through pipes and they all contain flags of different colors. You need to collect one of each color. There are two breathing boxes at the furthest edges of the course in case you can’t get back to the pool.’
We had used breathing boxes in our classes before and I looked out at the ocean to try to locate them. They were small glass cubes filled with air that you could swim underneath and put your head in, and I could see one at each end of a massive network of pipes, bending up and down and left and right like a maze. I could also see two chests floating in isolation, one much further out than the other.
‘You will go in groups of three. Arketa, Pandora and Alexander, you’re up first,’ Miss Alma said. My heart sank. Of course I would be in Arketa’s group. I couldn’t help looking at her as we waded through the pool towards the teacher. She gave me a spiteful glare in return. I would just avoid her, I thought. Go for whichever chest she wasn’t going for.
‘On my mark, get set, go!’
I launched myself from the pool through the dome with a big breath. Arketa went straight for one of the chests out in the open, and Alexander went for the other one. That left the maze of pipes for me. I swam quickly towards the closest entrance, my heart skipping a little as I saw how dark it was inside the navy blue tubes. I pushed my senses out into the water, hoping to find the chests inside that way, but I could only sense living things and the chests stayed invisible to my powers. I picked a direction and swam, my power creating currents to speed me up. The tubes gave off a kind of glow and it actually wasn’t as dark as I had initially thought it was. They were wide too, and there were lots of short pipes leading off each one straight back out into the ocean so it wasn’t claustrophobic. It only took a few seconds to find the first chest, sitting in the middle of one of the longer pipes, and I lifted the lid quickly, pulling out a yellow flag and tucking into the side of my swimsuit. I needed more air. I kicked towards one of the exits and emerged from the pipes on the left side of the course, and swam fast to the breathing box there.
I took a few big breathes as soon as my head was inside the dry box, looking through the clear glass for the other two. Arketa was at the second exposed chest and Alexander was nowhere to be seen. I ducked out of the breathing box and headed back to the pipes. Arketa would be going there next and I’d rather not come across here inside the tubes. I weaved through them, looking for the other two chests, pumping my fist when I finally came across the second one. I took the blue flag and swam towards another exit, clear blue water visible at the end of the pipe. Once I’d made a brief stop at the breathing box I dove back towards the pipes, passing Alexander on his way to get more air. He had a blue and green flag tucked in his shorts, so he still had the yellow chest to find in the pipes. There was no sign of Arketa. I headed as far to the right of the course as I could, then ducked into the pipes again, coming across the last chest almost instantly. I grinned as I pulled out the green flag and tucked it in with the others. Just the two easy ones left to get, I thought, as I span towards an exit tube. I went straight for the breathing box, hoping to get enough air to get the last two flags in one go, then get back to pool. As my head entered the air filled box I saw Arketa, pushing her head up into the other breathing box. I could just make out four colored flags at her hip and I screwed my face up. She was going to beat me. Again. Then my attention snapped to a movement behind her, dark and distant in the sea. I pushed my senses out quickly, probing the
water for life, and recoiling as they hit the creature approaching the course. It was a shark. And it was hungry.
I waved frantically at Arketa, pointing behind her. At first she just glared at me, but then she turned. The shark was closer to her, and approaching fast. I took a massive breath and pushed myself down and out of the breathing box at the same time Arketa did but the shark was faster than both of us. My blood seemed to freeze in my veins as I saw it gliding through the water towards her, it’s jet black eyes shining and it’s mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. She was heading for the safety of the pipes, which were closer to her than the pool. The shark opened it’s huge jaws and chomped down on empty water as Arketa slipped inside the pipe just as it reached her. Relief washed over me and I started to swim for the safety of the pool when I noticed Alexander pop out of a tube just a couple of feet from the shark. I felt its reaction, frustration turning to predatory calm as it locked onto the boy. I summoned my power, drawing as much as I could, then unleashed it at the shark, trying desperately to guide the burst of energy. I watched the tight current of water I had created slam into the shark, knocking it off course and out of the way of Alexander. His fear-filled eyes met mine and he swam faster than I’d ever seen him swim, towards me and the pool. My lungs were starting to burn, but Arketa was still in the pipes. I couldn’t leave her there. The shark had wheeled, and it’s cold beady eyes found mine. With a flick of its tail, it began to speed towards me. I flung more energy out towards it, fear battering against my control as the creature opened its mouth, giving me a terrifying view of the teeth that would shred me to bits if I couldn’t stop it. I could feel its excitement for the imminent kill. I closed my eyes, and poured my consciousness into the water around me. My vision changed completely, and the shark became a tiny blip in an infinite world of blue. I focused in on it, and pushed, with all the strength of the mighty ocean. I came back to myself and opened my eyes in time to see the shark flying backwards through the water, so far it that it was soon indistinguishable in the distance. It was as though it had been flicked away like a fly. A spasm clutched my chest and panic bolted through me as my mouth opened involuntarily and sea water gushed in. Then strong hands were on my shoulders and I tried desperately to stop my body taking the breath it was desperate for as I was dragged, lightning fast through the water. We crossed into the pool but not before my lungs won. Pool water filled my mouth, nose, chest, and I was only dimly aware that I was being pulled out of the water and held up on my hands and knees. Blind panic had fully taken control of me and I couldn’t breathe at all, until something hit me hard on the back, between my shoulders. I heaved, the water leaving my chest as retched over the tiles, and began taking ragged gulps of air.
