by Holly Hook
The instructor paraded in front of us, arms still behind his back. He looked ridiculous in that white toga and that military haircut. No one dared to speak or move. This was supposed to be a class, not basic training, right?
"Now," he said. "You will each choose a bow for today's lesson. Some of you will be natural archers. Others will fail. You will hold the bow centered to the target while standing slightly off-center. Then—"
"Max."
A very deep, intimidating voice rang out from the entrance to the arena. Max stopped, arms still behind his back, and whirled on his closed feet. He stayed expressionless, but his pupils widened, betraying nerves. "Yes, Zeus?"
Zeus?
I couldn't resist. I joined everyone else in facing that direction.
Zeus stood there, still in his gray suit and tie. The air electrified as the god put his own arms behind his back and puffed out his chest, looking all-important.
My knees quaked. The god had figured out what we'd done. Someone must have told him.
Ronin must have told him.
Ronin stood behind Zeus, blinking sleep from his eyes and digging his foot into the ground. He turned his gaze down as if he were a kid in trouble.
I held my breath. My chest hurt for Ronin. But the feeling vanished when Zeus pointed to me, Maria, and Mikey, snapping his fingers with the other hand. "Those three. I need to speak with them."
Max looked at us in confusion as the line of fellow first years gasped.
It was clear this didn't happen often.
Next to me, Mikey muttered a curse.
Maria paled as her gaze fell on the powerful god. Ronin said nothing. If he knew about the stuffed unicorn, he wasn't showing it.
Together, and in a tight group, the three of us marched over to the god. I tried to read Zeus's expression, but he remained stony. Almost like a statue, though the golden flecks in his eyes sparkled with life.
"Follow me," he ordered, turning his back to us.
Dead silence fell. Zeus walked down the gravel trail. My heart pounded. I might have thrown up my breakfast if I had eaten any, or worse, thrown up on Zeus's shiny, new shoes. He walked with purpose down the trail and back towards Cursed Academy. Maybe that was a good sign? I didn't know. Maybe the gods took you to an office to chew you out.
Or maybe, just maybe, something good would happen. But between the glares Ronin kept sending me as he walked, I didn't think so.
In the end, we went back to the main building, which was empty except for some third years milling in and out of the weaving room. Passing that, Zeus opened the door to the meditation room and waved us inside. Well, we'd be among fluffy pillows, so that couldn't be too bad, right?
"Sit," he ordered. Though he spoke softly, the god's voice filled the entire room.
Ronin gave me a sharp nod.
Yeah. He was mad.
The air in the room was so thick with energy that I could barely breathe. Was that ozone already filling the air? I plopped down on a pillow beside Maria and Mikey, trying not to look directly at the god. How could anyone tolerate being around him for more than a minute?
I waited for Prometheus to appear to join in on the grilling, but the mysterious titan remained absent. Did he even know who had strolled in?
I looked at Ronin, who remained standing on the other side of the meditation room. He also stood with his hands behind his back, super professional, not daring to speak. Right now, he looked almost as statue-like as his father. His father. How could Ronin withstand this? I sensed nothing but tension and cold between them.
Zeus shocked me by sitting down on a pillow and stretching his leg.
Outside, thunder rumbled.
"My son went missing last night, and from what I understand, he needed to bail you out from the Lower Order, who dared to invade Olympian's campus last night." He sounded so neutral and emotionless it was scary.
There was the blame. An invisible weight settled on my shoulders. Ronin told him everything, then. Well, I had the unicorn pictures, at least.
"Yes," I blurted. What was the point of lying? What would I tell Zeus when he brought up us trying to break into the library? Ronin told him about that for sure.
"We were just—" Maria started.
"The Lower Order," the god continued, "has never tried to cross onto the campus of either Olympian or Cursed Academies before. Until now, they have spent their energy attacking the operations of myself and my family. The woman who attacked you. Describe her to me."
I let out the breath I was holding, careful not to let the god hear it. This was about the Lower Order, not us.
I'd go with it. "She was old. Gray hair. She had two circles on her cheeks that had a bunch of squiggly lines in them. And those circles looked like they each a flower in the middle."
Zeus worked his jaw. Now I could see the family resemblance. "Symbols of Hecate, the goddess of dark magic. She may have been Dominique Alhren, descendant of the dark goddess and the head of the Lower Order." He looked at Ronin, eyes hard.
The leader of the Lower Order? Yikes.
Ronin nods. "Yeah. She was bold."
"You say 'yes,'" the god chastised.
"Yes," Ronin said.
Maybe this was part of the reason Ronin was a jerk. If I had a father like that, I might be a jerk, too. Of course, I had Grandma. And I didn't go around making fun of people all the time.
"The head of the Lower Order came after us? Why?" I asked. My heart once again rose into my throat. I was tired of being in the dark.
"Silence, please," Zeus said to me, softening. "Dominique is a powerful witch who resisted education at Cursed Academy after she developed her powers. She went her own way, and practicing magic without our guidance corrupted her. After surrounding herself with monsters and other witches, she began to carry out attacks on my power company, trying to disrupt service to millions of people. On Athena's publisher. Even on Aphrodite's makeup producers and fashion events. She hates order and civilization. Giselle Bowman, you have a power no one has ever seen, but I sense great potential in you. There must be a reason the Lower Order wanted to kidnap you. Dominique must have used magic to track you down as she tries to track down and recruit others with power. I wanted you to study at Olympian."
A tingle swept over me.
Me? Great potential?
Maria and Mikey snapped their gazes to me.
It was true.
I had been robbed of my chance to go there.
Behind Zeus, Ronin snorted in silence. That was more like him. He was going to see his photo shoot for sure.
But his father didn't notice. Still sitting, he leaned forward, holding me in that golden-flecked stare. "Prometheus, however, claimed you for Cursed so you must continue to attend classes here. We cannot break the Oath. What he did was wrong." Hatred burned in the god's eyes.
I swallowed. More like gulped. I'd sensed the tension between the god and the titan. Like there was something very ugly boiling under the surface.
"Well, I can't leave now, can I?" I asked, lifting my wrist to show my mark. Hope fluttered in my chest.
Zeus nodded. "You are right that you cannot. The gods and titans made a binding agreement after the Awakening, an agreement meant to protect this world." Zeus nodded and crossed his legs. For an older guy, he was nimble. "You must continue to train here at Cursed, but after hours, you're not bound. After you finish with your classes here each day, you will come over and train at Olympian. In the meantime, I will magically protect both campuses from the Lower Order. For your safety, you should not leave."
I sat there, stunned, staring at the god with my mouth gaping open. Go ahead, make fun of me. But Zeus didn't. Ronin would make all kinds of comments about me being special for sure. But when I glanced at him, no sarcastic smile spread across his face.
"You want me to train at Olympian?" I asked.
"We need to tease out whatever you can do—and it could be anything—before the Lower Order comes back for you," Zeus explained. "
If they dared to cross onto our campus, they will try to come for you again. Dominique, I'm sure, believes she could use you to wreak damage on the world. You must be ready to face them again, whether that's in several years or next week."
Dizziness overtook me. It was happening. "What's different about training at Olympian? I mean, we have combat training at Cursed."
"At Cursed, you train to be guards. Soldiers. At Olympian, you train to be a leader. Do you agree to your new schedule?"
A tingle swept over me.
Once again, I was escaping.
The electric feeling swept through the room again, making every hair on the back of my neck stand. Zeus held me in the most serious glare I'd ever seen, and my whole body tensed. Another, much louder rumble of thunder sounded from outside.
I was not to say no.
"Yes," I said, not sure how to feel.
Zeus faced Ronin, who had stayed still the whole time. "Ronin. You are to train Gsielle and work on developing her powers. We will see how talented she is."
"Yes, sir." He flicked his eyes towards me as he spoke.
Ronin would be training me?
Oh, no. Even my new secret weapon wouldn't stop the horror now. But my body also tingled all over in ways I didn't understand. That might mean Ronin putting his hands on my arms, showing me how to use weapons, showing me how to get into the right stance...
"And Giselle," Zeus said. "Do not walk anywhere on your own. Ronin will escort you everywhere."
Chapter Ten
We were dismissed from the meeting.
Ronin disappeared, following Zeus down the hall, and he didn't show again through Exploratory Arts. But when Natalia dismissed class, I found him standing in the hall.
"Come on. Looks like I get to babysit," he said with a sneer.
Great. "Funny." I should have asked him how he found me last night, but I couldn't. There was just too much swirling through my head. Ronin walked beside me to Magical History, snorting every time I took a corner clumsily. Second, third, and fourth years stared after him as we walked past. The fourth year serpent girl tried to hold him in her gaze, but Ronin ignored her sway like a champ and kept up on his mission.
And at no time during his walk did he mention waking up on my bed. Maria pouted as we walked into Mrs. Allenson's classroom.
Ronin stood outside the door once I was in my last class, leaning against the wall, while Mrs. Allenson lectured us about the centaurs and their drinking problems. She also didn't fail to tell us a few fourth years at Cursed always turned out to be centaurs every year when they fully matured, which made people squirm, Maria included.
Well, I wouldn't be that, at least.
We took notes but I couldn't stop checking to make sure Ronin was still there. At last, the teacher went and closed the door, blocking my view of him. I wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved.
"You're going down," Wendy whispered.
I tried to ignore her glares and the feeling of dread she sent my way as we went to dinner. And low and behold, Ronin followed me there, too, and stood against the wall across from our table. A lot of people's gazes flicked over from him to me. Yeah, drawing attention to myself was going to go well.
And down the table, Wendy was stabbing her green beans and staring me down.
I sat beside Maria and Mikey.
"This isn't tense at all," Mikey said.
"No kidding." How was I supposed to eat?
"She's been talking about you," another girl, whose name I think was Sarah, said beside us. "Why do you have Ronin following you everywhere? And why did Zeus talk to you earlier?"
Great. People were talking about that, too.
"Because she's a dude magnet?" Maria asked.
"Maria!" I blushed. And still against the wall, Ronin shook his head and snorted. He heard us. Extra great.
As soon as we were alone, I was unleashing the stuffed unicorn picture. If I didn't faint first.
"Really. Why? He's only here for combat training. Did you do something bad?" Sarah asked. "Zeus doesn't come out here often. Why was he here with Ronin?"
So it wasn't common knowledge here at Cursed about his parentage. "I might have sneaked over to get a look at Olympian Academy last night. I guess he has to watch us?"
"We've all done that," Sarah said. "Wendy thinks you two are going out. And that's not a good thing."
I waited for Sarah to finish with, and she must be stupid, because Ronin would never go out with the likes of me. But she didn't.
"We're not going out," I said, loudly enough for Ronin and Wendy to hear. I didn't want to face down a descendant of Hades. Especially since my powers had proven unpredictable.
But despite my words, Wendy and her gang stood up. All four left their trays behind as they paraded over to us, Wendy in the lead. Her golden-flecked, dark eyes trained on me with hatred and jealousy.
"Uh, oh," Mikey said. "Girl fight incoming."
"Hey, Wendy," I said.
"Can you just leave her alone?" Maria asked. "She's not trying to push you off your perch. Like anyone wants to be Hades's great-great-great-great times anything grandchild."
Sarah studied her tray like she could vanish into it. Mikey went dead silent.
Wendy snapped her glare to Maria. "You have room to talk? I might even have the power to send people to the Underworld. Do you understand me?" As she spoke, her palms glowed green.
"Is that a threat?" I asked.
"What do you think?" Wendy asked. "You might have some freak ability, but you're no god descendant. I can see it in your eyes. You'll probably just become some low-life monster descended from something that crawled out of Tartarus. You're not even a titan descendant. And that's second rate."
Around us, everyone turned to watch. Even the guys stood up, anticipating a chick fight. I should get up and shove Wendy back, just to show her she wasn't going to push me around. And Ronin was watching.
But I couldn't stand. My terrified limbs held me in place. Where was the dark power now? "Look, maybe, but trust me, I'm not trying to step on your toes."
Weak.
"Really? Then where is my birthright sword, you—"
"Whoa. Whoa," Ronin said, appearing to the side. "Break it up, girls. Giselle doesn't need to get hurt. The staff don't want that, hence me being the babysitter." He spread his arms, emphasizing that last word, and Wendy, as if falling under a trance, backed into her friends.
Babysitter?
A fresh wave of heat filled my cheeks. Of course Ronin still thought I was a disaster. And I was. He hadn't even thanked us for saving him from the Lower Order.
Wendy grinned at me.
And Ronin nodded, indicating I was to continue my lunch.
I hated him. Hot tears of humiliation threatened to spill out, and as I sat, Wendy backed off like she'd won the fight. Though she no longer glared at me, my muscles stayed painfully tight as Ronin returned to his post.
But his hand brushed my back as he did, secret and forbidden, leaving a trail of pure electricity.
* * * * *
"Do you have to walk with me all the time?" I asked as Ronin and I left the back of the main building. We were headed to Olympian, and I was mostly talking to keep my nerves down.
"Yes. Because you'll never stand up for yourself." He grinned. "You would have died if I hadn't been there."
"And 'babysitter?'" I asked, balling my fists. I wasn't sure how to feel.
Ronin eyed the setting sun. His breath spiraled in front of his face. It would be a cold night. Yay. "Okay, so you can open holes in reality by accident, but not much else. Wow. I'm impressed."
"What you did was humiliating."
"I know." He did not sound sorry. But his touch lingered on my back.
"Awesome."
"Maybe it's better you didn't punch Wendy," he said, all serious. "Hades's descendants aren't common but they tend to have grudges. When they want something, they take it. You know the story of Persephone, right? Hades just kidnapped
the goddess."
"I know the story. Yeah." They told that one in high school Magical History. Were we having a non-jerky conversation again? Had Ronin just embarrassed me to get Wendy to back off? A tingle swept over my scalp. "And then her mother Demeter got all mad and stopped things from growing."
"Yes. Wendy wants me, and if I wasn't Zeus's son, she would have found a way to have me. I hate coming over here to help out with classes. Prometheus isn't the only reason."
My chest constricted as we turned down the gravel trail. "And now it looks like I'm in the way," I said. There. The dizziness was back, making the world tilt, and I'd fall over in front of Ronin before we even got to combat.
"Exactly. Which is why you can't be," Ronin said.
He looked at me for a second before turning away.
Was that regret in his eyes?
No way. Not Ronin. I was still the geek who couldn't keep her footing. Or maybe his hot body and those perfect eyes were getting to me. Focus, Giselle.
We walked through the shared arena, which was now empty and full of evening shadows, but Ronin didn't stop there, so I followed him through and out the other side, to another gravel trail that must lead to Olympian Academy. Silence dragged out. Ronin led me off yet another path, one that went farther back into the woods, and soon we came to a large opening in the trees surrounded by tall, stone pillars. A couple of dull stone statues, both eight feet high, stood on either side of the clearing. One was a very stern-looking man and the other an equally stern woman. Both wore togas, but looked carved recently because they had no wear. I shuddered just standing in the presence of them.
"What is this?" I asked.
Ronin grinned at me. "I don't know what you're doing here, but Zeus wants you to train in this arena. Golems are hard to fight, even for most god descendants."
