by Holly Hook
"That's the library, right?" I asked. "Why do they lock it?"
"Valuable books?" Maria asks, rubbing her hands together. "I'm strong and might be able to get in."
"I'd help, but suave only gets you so far," Mikey said, rubbing his hair back.
I held back a laugh. We checked the surroundings for anyone, but this area was dark, like the library was an afterthought. There must be thousands of books in there, far more than what we had in Colton Corners's tiny shack.
Maria pulled on the doors, and yep—locked. Super locked. She tugged again, and one of the doors bent outward a bit, but held.
"These are strong," she says. "Well, they have to guard against god descendants. I should have known."
"What if they have alarms?" I asked. "If they guard students with never-before-seen powers, then they're going to guard out-of-print old books." Maybe this was a stupid idea and the old books just had the same info the new ones did. Or bad info. The gods themselves would know better about their history than humans who copied down old stories.
"Well, what do we have here?" a woman asked behind us.
I whirled, all logic fleeing like riders being thrown from an out-of-control carousel. We were caught. Already. Olympian must have security cameras or even magic that caught people like us trying to see how the other half lived.
But it wasn't Olympian students standing there, or even staff, unless they all wore creepy black robes and hoods like a cult. Six people had snuck up and fanned out behind us, arms folded in a very official fashion.
I swallowed.
I'd seen images of the Lower Order on TV, the terrorist group of rogue monsters and dark god descendants who attacked the gods and their employees. I'd heard what the news called them. Enemies of civilization. A threat to order. Haters of all that was light and good.
These people dressed the same.
I gulped.
"Who are you?" I blurted.
The leader, the woman who had spoken, was old with a pair of black tattoos on her cheeks, a pair of matching wheels with what looked like intestines surrounding a pointed flower inside. She turned her mouth up into a smile, bringing her wrinkles up to a strand of pure gray hair that hung over one cheek. There was nothing nice about it.
Everything about this woman screamed witch. Didn't they come from a dark magic goddess?
"Crap," Mikey said, backpedaling into the door.
Yeah. These weren't Olympian people.
"Sorry," I blurted, losing my composure. "We needed some books for our homework, and is there a way to unlock this library? The one we have at Cursed sucks, frankly, so we tried—"
The witch stepped forward. "You've awakened. We feared you never would."
Maria snapped her gaze to me.
But I ignored her. Ice spread through my veins, and not the powerful kind. "What do you mean?" These people weren't Olympian Academy peeps. A man behind the witch had very hairy eyebrows and hair growing on the backs of his hands. A low growl emerged from his throat. A werewolf for sure, a descendant of Lycaon, who got punished for killing one of his own children. Another woman had fangs and though she also wore a black robe, I guessed there was a serpent body underneath. The other three people stood off in the shadows, but I figured they weren't any better.
The witch snapped her fingers with authority. "Grab her."
The werewolf and the serpent lady fanned out behind her.
My heart leapt into my throat. I was about to face capture by the Lower Order.
"Maria!" I yelled, pressing against the door. "Mikey!"
But Mikey pressed against the building as the serpent and the werewolf came up the steps. I reached for that icy darkness—if there was a time to make someone disappear it was now—but it was absent. Instead, pressure settled on my chest as the witch held me in her stare. Was she doing something to me?
Maria stepped in front of me, slapping the werewolf across the face, and the force of her blow sent him reeling back down the steps. The sound snapped me out of my paralysis, though the pressure stayed, almost like it was blocking the inner darkness. The witch grinned as the others approached from behind her. We weren't going to win this fight, me least of all. Why was I suddenly useless?
“Get back,” I threatened. “What do you want with me, anyway?”
The werewolf pushed himself off the steps. The snake woman slithered closer, her bottom half whispering against the marble. I reached up to shove her back while Mikey tried to block the way. The snake woman, easily a head taller than me, seized my wrist and grinned, revealing her fangs.
“Let go of her!” Mikey shouted, shoving her away. Her grip broke and I backpedaled. The woman hissed at Mikey, locking him in her dark, hungry glare, while the werewolf closed in on me from behind. I whirled to find him lifting a hairy hand—now more of a paw—and before I could react, he shoved me into the library wall as claws dug into my flesh.
Pain erupted. He was strong. My shoulder burned with a scratch. "What is happening?"
“Don't damage her too badly,” the witch said, walking up the steps with her buddies behind her.
“What do you want?” I shouted. Dumb question. Me. But why?
The werewolf closed in, claws bared, while Mikey and the serpent woman stared each other down and circled, trying to hypnotize each other. Maria shoved back another guy, this one a buff muscular dude. The air thickened with tingling magic. I reached for that swirling darkness, but the pressure stayed on my chest, and as if sensing my panic, the witch grinned bigger and bigger. She reached out with one wrinkled hand—
The world flashed and a crack of thunder shook the air.
A bolt snapped in front of my face, throwing the witch, who crashed into the werewolf. Both went down. I took a breath of ozone, blinking away a zigzag afterimage. The werewolf now lay against a pillar, grasping his chest with what was now a hand again, while the witch pushed herself up and backpedaled into her comrades. Mikey and the serpent woman broke their staring contest and whirled to face the source of the bolt.
And then I saw why.
Ronin stood there, all muscular and hot, panting as if he had just run a marathon. Sweat dripped down the sides of his temples as he lowered his open palm. He glared not at me, but at the witch, who shuddered in his presence.
“Ronin?” I asked. “I can explain. My friends and I—”
Did he just hit the Lower Order with a lightning bolt?
That would mean—
Whoa.
He's a descendant of Zeus.
Ronin, still shaking, took a step forward. “Get off this campus,” he ordered. “And stay off the Cursed Academy campus, too, or I'll destroy all of you.”
“You're pathetic,” the witch said. “Always have to be your father's dog, don't you? Do you play fetch, too? Are you going to tell daddy to strike us down?”
She hit a nerve. Ronin worked his jaw in that hot, infuriating way of his. “I'm not his dog.” She backed off and waved to her cult buddies. “Come on.” Then she motioned to the werewolf, who peeled himself from the pillar. “All of you. Now.”
Ronin sucked in a breath, expanding his chest.
And the black-robed people shuffled to the front gate, vanishing into the night. Ronin watched them go, turning his head to follow them as they disappeared. Silence dragged out as I stared first at Mikey, and then at Maria, and then at Ronin again.
Ronin. Was Zeus's son?
I'd heard of god descendants, but never of their actual children. My mind spun. Ronin refused to look back at me as he curled and uncurled his fists.
After the footsteps of the Lower Order had faded, Ronin slowly turned and faced me.
He opened his mouth, probably to congratulate me for being an idiot, but then his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the ground.
Chapter Nine
Ronin grunted as he hit the ground.
And he got on me for tripping.
Well, maybe I did make people fall over because that was what just h
appened. My heart raced despite the cult leaving and before I knew it, I was running to Ronin.
“Ronin. What just happened? How did you know I was out here?” I asked, shaking his shoulders. But Ronin didn't respond. Sweat shone on his face and his arms were cold and clammy. Panic exploded in my chest until I saw that he was breathing. “Maria. Mikey. What happened to him? We might need the healers.”
“No way,” Mikey said. “They'll bust us for being over here. We'll get stuck rolling boulders up a hill or something. I heard Zeus likes that punishment."
I didn't care. “Ronin! Wake up!”
“Shh. The cult,” Maria said. “They looked like Lower Order people. I can't believe they came here."
A shudder raced down my spine. What was the last thing the Lower Order had done? Collapsed one of Athena's printing presses. Yeah. And if they wanted me, it couldn't be good.
And Ronin—
"He overexerted himself," Maria said, kneeling beside me.
“We have to go, then,” Mikey said. “Tried to sway that lamia, but she was working on me, and well, I don't want my blood sucked tonight. Grab him."
He was right. We had to get Ronin out of here. He might be a jerk, but I couldn't leave him in case the Lower Order came back. I'd ask how he found me later. “Someone get his shoulders. Mikey,” I say. “Maria. You're both stronger than me.”
They got his shoulders and legs, leaving me with the easy job of navigating us back to Cursed Academy. Ronin remained unconscious, so I grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse as we walked back across the main driveway and then along the tall fence. His pulse was fast and panicked, like he had a fever, but his skin was still cold. Not good. Even the children of gods could die. They were mortal like everyone else.
“What's wrong with him?” I asked Maria. She seemed to have the answers.
“He used too much magic. I've heard it's easy for Zeus's descendants to do. The magic comes out of their bodies, and a lightning bolt, well, that takes a lot of energy. I think he'll be okay if he rests for a while.” Maria adjusts Ronin's shoulders under her arms and keeps backpedaling. We then slide Ronin through the hole in the fence while I get the job of holding up the phone flashlight.
I sucked in a breath.
Ronin sapped himself for me?
More likely, he just didn't want the Lower Order on campus. And he'd kill me when he woke. But what if he died? The thought sent my heart out of control again. I wasn't sure how to feel about that.
Thanks to Maria's strength, we got Ronin back to the window of the weaving room. Sliding him through wasn't too hard for her and Mikey, and I closed the window behind them. “I can't believe this. We just stole a guy from Olympian Academy.”
Maria grinned. “That's an accomplishment.”
I blushed. At least she didn't seem too worried and that was a good sign. “Where do we put him? Do we even have healers over here?” I guessed the answer was—
“No. They're all at Olympian,” Mikey said.
Figured. “Um, my room? If we're going to hide him—”
Maria gasped. Still with his shoulders in her grasp, Ronin groaned. “Yes."
Why did I have to blurt that out? “No!”
Maria giggled. Mikey grinned at her.
And so they carried Ronin up to my room while I kept my hand slapped over my mouth. Numb, I unlocked the door after a couple tries with my keycard. Maria and Mikey them deposited Ronin on my bed—on my bed—and backed away together as if daring me to do something.
My whole body tingled as I eyed Ronin, sleeping, his head on my pillow and his dark hair splaying out. My pillow would smell like Ronin for sure after this. How could I lie there again? Did I want to? “What have we done?” I asked.
“Well, we've just put a super hot guy on your bed,” Mikey said.
“When he wakes up, this will not be good,” I said. No. It wouldn't be at all. Ronin would be furious at me for causing all of this. Maybe Olympian made him guard the place and he was just doing his job.
“You know, you might want to lock your door in case the cult comes back,” Maria says.
So I did. I whirled on my new friends, crossing my arms, but it was clear they were having a blast playing this joke on me. And I didn't completely hate it. It was something Carmen would do. Wow, I missed her.
And Ronin...
I wondered what it would be like to lie there with my hand on his chest...
No. Not the epic jerk. Never.
The three of us stood guard over Ronin all night. I checked his wrist every few minutes, and each time I did, his skin had warmed a tiny bit and his pulse had slowed and become more relaxed. Maria was right that he'd just need some time to recover. At last, as the clock went past one and then one-thirty, we agreed we should try to sleep.
“Classes tomorrow,” Maria said.
“More Combat Training?” I asked.
“Yep,” Mikey said. “And Wendy. After we bested them yesterday, they won't be happy. Hopefully we'll just have archery.”
We settled on my floor, and I was glad Maria and Mikey were staying with me. Ronin remained asleep on my bed, and he even started to snore lightly as if he was slipping from a faint to a regular slumber. It was another thing I could get at him for. Even Grandma said I never snored, and that was something. At the thought of her, I checked my phone. Nothing. Carmen had of course left a ton of messages, saying that Randy said he missed me, and that they were going to sneak up and see me really soon. Good luck with that. I texted her back, letting her know I hadn't died yet. Of course, she didn't respond with it being this late, so I stuffed my phone back in my pocket.
My phone alarm went off the next morning and when I opened my eyes, Ronin was still sleeping on my bed. He had turned onto his side, letting his dark hair spill over his cheek, and he was gripping my pillow as if it was a teddy bear. The sight brought a laugh to my lips, but I clamped my hand over my mouth to stop it. Instead, I pinched Maria on the arm, drawing a yelp from her, and as she pushed herself off the floor and raised a hand at me, I pointed.
Maria did the same as me and laughed silently into her hand.
Then she whispered, "I have an idea." She stepped over Mikey, reached into my closet, shuffled through my box of stuffed animals, and drew out a pink unicorn.
"You're not going to," I whispered.
She responded by grinning evilly and replacing the pillow with the unicorn. Now Ronin hugged, well, the unicorn.
Maria got out her phone and snapped picture after picture. “You're going to have so much ammunition against this jerk,” she hissed.
A tingle raced over my scalp as I struggled not to laugh. “Is this necessary?” I asked. Ronin had drained himself almost to the point of death for us last night, and I didn't want to thank him by texting embarrassing pictures of him to everybody. Well, unless he became a complete ass again. And what were the chances of that?
“Well, use it as a backup plan,” Maria said. “Come on. We have to get to class. Ronin will wake any time, I'm sure, and he'll wonder where he is, but he'll figure it out soon enough.”
“Won't someone come looking for him?” I asked.
Ronin muttered nonsense in his sleep. His eyelids fluttered like he was deep in a dream. “I bet the people at Olympian get to sleep in. They're training to be rich people, remember? It's us who will have the grind.”
She had a point. Maria texted me her photos of Ronin, which I saved (while trying not to laugh) and we took turns showering while Mikey woke up and stretched. Ronin remained asleep, hugging the stuffed unicorn, and my phone buzzed with return texts from Carmen. We'd visit you, but my parents' car broke down. Again.
I couldn't resist. I texted her the photo of Ronin. That would give her food for thought for the next month.
Then I shut my phone down before it blew up. My heart raced and my palms sweat. Ronin didn't have to know what I'd done. A big part of me wanted to be out of the room when that happened.
Mikey woke and stretched. He chec
ked the time. "We have ten minutes until class. No time to eat. We'll have to leave this guy. But he knows everything so he can find his way back.”
“I bet he gets all kinds of perks,” Maria says. “He won't even get in trouble for being late to his own lessons. I had no idea he was Zeus's son. It's no wonder Hera looks so angry in all those magazine pictures with him."
I thought of Zeus and how stern he was at the sorting. “You sure? Have you even seen Zeus?”
“No,” Mikey admitted. “Don't tell me you're worried about this guy.”
Ronin groaned, let go of the unicorn, and turned over, thrashing. He punched at something invisible and settled down again. A nightmare. What could Ronin possibly be scared of? He'd single-handedly evicted the Lower Order last night.
I was worried about him, as much as I hated to admit it. And now I felt bad about sending the photo to Carmen.
Maria and Mikey ushered me out of the room, and I locked up, glad the door would open from the inside just fine. After checking the hall, we hurried down and across the campus grounds, leaving Ronin behind. The other first years were lined up for combat training today, and instead of Ronin, we had another teacher standing there today, a muscular dude with a buzz cut and golden-flecked eyes. A god descendant, and probably also from Olympian Academy judging from his white toga with the shiny silver-blue trim. He stood with his hands behind his back, military-style, and I didn't need to ask Mikey or Maria which god he must have come from. Ares's descendants almost always wound up in the military, and they were strong, good fighters who healed well.
And they usually had tempers.
Gulp.
The guy glared at the three of us as we rushed into the arena.
“If you are early, you are on time,” he explained with a glare. “And if you are on time, you are late. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Maria said, but not without a hint of sarcasm.
We joined the line. Thankfully Wendy was at the very end of it, away from us and also farthest from the instructor. I didn't dare ask for his name. And I also didn't dare ask what the lesson was. A bunch of paper targets were set up in a line on the other side of the arena, almost impossibly far away, and I knew instantly I could never shoot arrows close to that distance. I'd probably just kill the ground.
