by Abbie Lyons
“Utter bollocks,” Morgan scoffed. “I don’t know why they include things like those here. They’re just old. That’s it.”
Teddy gave them a closer look, nearly pushing his face against the glass. “I think they’re kind of neat.”
“Classic Teddy,” I joked.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing,” I said with a laugh. “You just seem really into those shovels.”
I noticed Professor Frost—Wilder—was holding court over by a relic a few rows up. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it instantly became the most interesting thing in the room.
“Let’s go check that one out,” I said to the others.
“You want to check him out, you mean” Morgan teased.
I gave her a friendly punch. “Shut up.”
“Oh come on, he’s proctoring your exetasis. You’re practically—what do Americans say? Going steady. When’s the wedding date?”
I decided not to take the bait and strode toward, ahem, Professor Frost, with the others following. In the case behind him were several silver bracelets that seemed to emit a faint orange glow. They weren’t exactly the prettiest pieces of jewelry, but that glow gave them a quality that was almost transfixing.
“They’re incredible pieces,” he said, continuing his speech while giving me a subtle nod of acknowledgment. “Among the finest things in the entire collection, really. I don’t know why they’re tucked away in this little corner here. Somebody really screwed that one up.”
The glow grew a bit stronger, as if the bracelets were hearing his compliments and blushing.
“Of course, nobody has worn these in millennia,” he continued, “but it’s said that they grant their wearer the ability to create fear of a magnitude much greater than normally possible. Probably why somebody gave them the very original name Bracelets of Terror. I personally would’ve gone with the much more creative Bracelets of Scariness.”
The whole group laughed at the corny joke. He really had a way of charming you.
He smiled a devilish little smile at what he was about to say next. “As you know, though, something like this would be frowned upon by most demons today. They’re too powerful—they create too much fear. The potential for imbalance is very high. But our ancestors knew that sometimes things like these were needed to get the job done.” He looked sideways at the case. “Really are something to behold. Nobody will ever wear these bracelets again.”
“That’s a good thing,” came a low, unmistakable voice from behind me. Was Wilder really so mesmerizing that I’d failed to notice Raines arriving right behind me?
Evidently, Wilder had heard him, whether Raines meant him to or not.
“That’s a matter of debate,” the professor said coolly.
“Then let’s debate,” Raines shot back. “Not that it’s actually that complicated. Nobody needs the ability to create that kind of fear. Only a demon who enjoys creating fear would think that’s okay.”
“So, I guess you were listening to my lecture today,” Wilder said. “I hate to say I’m shocked, but—”
A chill settled in over our little group. Was it just me, or was Wilder being kind of a dick to Raines?
“Yeah, I listened,” Raines said. “I listened to every word. Forgive me if didn’t think the questions you raised were worth reflecting on too much in depth.”
Wilder folded his arms. “I’d appreciate if we had this discussion one-on-one at another time,” he said, his voice now lowered as well. “You know I’m always happy to talk with you.”
Raines’s eyes briefly flashed red. “I’d rather not.”
He stalked away, leaving the audience gathered before Wilder silent. I threw Morgan a glance, and the two of us—plus Teddy—backed away slowly.
“What was that all about?” I whispered.
“No bloody idea,” Morgan said. “Maybe Wilder caught the Infernal Three pranking his office or something.”
I glanced to where Raines had gone, and sure enough, he’d joined red-headed Collum and silver-blonde Aleksandr over in a corner.
We shuffled around a bit longer looking at various relics before taking our spots back in the elevator seats. Morgan explained that rumor had it there was far more down there than just the relics on display, but that nobody knew exactly what it was and that we were likely to never get the chance to return.
For some reason, hearing that bummed me out a little. The relics were pretty damn cool. I would’ve at least appreciated a souvenir postcard.
The trip back up proved to be much less nausea-inducing than the trip down, but now the weird feeling seemed to come from what happened between Raines and Wilder.
There was so much going on in the demon world that I didn’t understand—the magic stuff, for sure, but also, I was realizing, the social dynamics. Magic or not, we all still interacted, and everything from Camilla’s bitchiness to Teddy’s awkwardness to Raines’s and Wilder’s...whatever that was had me mentally mapping the various allegiances and rivalries. Some things about school didn’t change, demon or no.
“That was almost as fun as the trip down,” Teddy remarked as we made our way back to the Great Hall.
Morgan giggled. “Teddy, you are such a dweeb. Is that what you call it? Because don’t worry, I say it with admiration.”
“I don’t know about you guys,” I said, “but I’m gonna crash so hard when I get back to the room. That coffee is wearing off, and I’m liable to just drop to the ground at any moment.”
When we returned to the common room, it seemed like lots of people were hanging out and chatting, or even playing that fire ping-pong game that I still didn’t know the name of. I wanted to stick around and be social—I really did—or even attempt getting a snack from one of the demon vending machines. Besides, I was probably due to try to meet a few more people than the two I was already hanging around with. But that could wait for another day, because I needed some good ol’ fashioned shuteye.
Again, would be really handy to have some magic way not to need sleep. But no such luck.
“I’ll catch you back in the room,” Morgan said. “I think Teddy and I are going to grab some snacks and lounge a bit.”
I was this close to walking into the girls’ dorm when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t even need to look—it was obvious who it was before I even turned to face him. And while normally I’d be happy with a hot guy wanting to hang out with me, this was not the time.
“We need to talk,” Raines said, a little dramatically. Although there’s really no way to say those words not dramatically.
“Do we really?” I said. “Because I’m a human, remember?”
I mean, I was a human, at least partially, and I had no problem with it. Raines was the one who’d called me that like it was a dirty word.
He tensed his jaw. “Maybe that was out of line.”
“You think?”
“If I take it back, will you listen to me?”
That surprised me. Raines didn’t seem like the type to apologize. Granted, he hadn’t actually said the words I’m sorry for calling you a human like it’s a slur, but at the same time, I kinda felt the intention there.
“Fine. But can it wait?” I asked. “If you make me talk right now and I drop dead out of exhaustion, it’s totally gonna be your fault.”
He didn’t laugh. “I’ll keep it short, then. I know Wilder is administering your exetasis. Be careful. He’s bad news.”
This again. “Funny, I feel like I’ve heard the same about you,” I countered. “Like, verbatim. Seems like there’s an awful lot of bad news around here.”
“I’m serious,” Raines said. “Keep an eye out. I know he comes off all suave and charming, but that’s all a fucking front.”
What was it with everybody at this school and their fondness for saying the vaguest things possible?
“Why do you even care?” I asked. “Like, you barely know me, and half the time I see you, you’re glaring at me or whispering with your Infe
rnal buddies. And for that matter, what the hell is your issue with W—Professor Frost? He can’t be flunking you already.”
The red glow surged in his eyes, sending a shiver down my spine. Raines tensed, and blinked, and it faded almost to nothing. We stood there a moment longer than was comfortable, our bodies closer than was strictly necessary, the knot of his tie just inches away from my face.
“He’s my half-brother,” Raines said at last.
Chapter Nine
If you’re wondering how long it takes to get used to the fact that you’re attending a school for demons, the answer in my case is: a couple of weeks. Sure, there were plenty of things constantly surprising me, like hearing demon music for the first time (it’s loud and atonal) or trying demon delicacies in the refectory (bitter, sour, and as Morgan called them, “an acquired taste”). And seeing students or teachers transmorph briefly into all sorts of terrifying things definitely took some getting used to—especially since I was no closer to being able to do it. I was assured that I’d eventually get the hang of it once I settled in a bit more. But overall, it was surprising how quickly I adjusted to Hades Academy as my new reality.
Sure, Camilla was still a bitch. And yeah, it freaked me the fuck out that Raines and Wilder were half-brothers—at first, anyway. But after that confrontation in the common room, Raines had finally listened to my request and avoided me almost entirely. He certainly hadn’t called me “human” again in that snarling tone of his.
Besides, I quickly got distracted by how much work there was to do. Demon school was still school. And there was still a crapton to learn as evidenced by the fact that every class—aside from Remedial Latin—was routinely finding ways to blow my mind.
In pyromancy, we’d gone from teeny sparks to legit tongues of flame (which was a pretty metal way to refer to them, to be honest). In combat skills, which seemed to be basically the demon equivalent of gym class, but with more punching each other, we’d gone from basic agility drills to twirling fake swords and slashing at each other while jumping around on big wooden blocks that reminded me of the gymnastics equipment from elementary school. Even human history was starting to get interesting, since it turned out that the Ancient Romans had a lot more demonic interference than I’d appreciated.
“Pompeii?” Lattimore said with a grin. “That was us.”
Even Remedial Latin was getting less boring with Teddy there. Professor Stultior continued to catch some serious Zs, but Teddy and I were doing pretty okay working through the textbook ourselves, and I had to admit, it felt pretty badass to be able to hold conversations in a dead language.
And then there was Philosophy, which was overwhelming, and not least because Wilder was teaching it. I didn’t know if Raines’s warning was genuine or not, and I was inclined to think it wasn’t. Wilder was, I could not deny, dead sexy, especially when he wore glasses and a waistcoat over his dress shirt, but aside from the damage he was wreaking on my cardiac system, he also seemed pretty harmless—for a demon, anyway. A guy who handed out assignments like “compare and contrast the theories of demonological being as presented by St. Augustine and the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of Johann Weyer” seemed more secretly nerdy than secretly...whatever Raines had been trying to imply. Because if he were trying to give me a real warning, you’d think he’d be a little less cryptic, right?
All in all, it was pretty amazing—literally, it amazed me.
There was just one small problem: I couldn’t do shit.
“Regular” stuff like running around the demon gym, writing a history paper, or learning Latin vocabulary, that I could more or less handle. But the actual demon stuff? Zip. Zero. Nada.
The professors were all pretty reassuring. When I couldn’t produce enough flame from my fingertips to light one of our black practice candles, Professor Lamoureux patted my shoulder and murmured something French that at least sounded encouraging. When I couldn’t get my practice sword blade to glow green like everyone else’s, Professor Kawasaki—a petite Japanese woman who looked like a CrossFit instructor and could turn her fingers to claws in the blink of an eye—gruffly told me it might take time (never mind the fact that Camilla was already dual-wielding samurai swords that flashed from green to black to blue all in a single twirl). And when it came to my exetasis, well...I had another week before my first session. Guess the administration wanted to give us time to get adjusted.
At least my days were getting pretty routine. It had been so long since I’d had a routine that I forgot how good it felt not to have to wonder where your next meal was coming from or whether someone had changed the lock on the squat where you were keeping all your stuff. Most days, I got up early and headed to breakfast with Morgan and Teddy. Then it was classes until lunch, more classes in the afternoon, and then studying and chill-out time until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. Almost what regular college had to be like.
But, you know, with more flaming swords.
It was about three and a half weeks after we’d seen the relics—and just a week before my first exetasis meeting with Wilder—and the three of us—me, Morgan, and Teddy—were all huddled in the library with a bunch of books open and a history assignment to tackle. The library was just as impressive as the rest of the school, with six balcony levels and what seemed like endless shelves. Instead of desk lamps at the work stations, there were small candelabras stuck full of the same black candles we’d been using in pyromancy, which burned brightly but wouldn’t catch anything on fire (which we found out after Teddy knocked one over onto The Latin Language and You).
Morgan was in the middle of some childhood anecdote about accidentally invoking a lesser smoke familiar when her parents told her she couldn’t get a pet—”I just wanted a cat, they could’ve avoided the whole disaster with a single bloody kitten! I didn’t even understand what was happening!”—and I was laughing so hard my sides actually hurt.
“Shh!” an admonishing whisper came from the librarian, a severe-looking woman with an aquamarine pixie cut named Madame Lyra. Instinctively, we all leaned closer over the table.
“You know what,” I said. “We need a nickname. Why does the Infernal Three get to corner the market on having badass clique names?”
“More to the point,” Morgan said,” why are you obsessed with the Infernal Three?” She raised an eyebrow.
I hoped the candlelight wouldn’t show my blush. “I’m not,” I said. “I’m just wondering aloud.”
Morgan leaned back a little and shrugged. “It’s just one of those things. To the manor born. Or, what do Americans say? Born on third base and think you hit a double?”
“A triple,” I said, though I wondered why I even knew a baseball metaphor to begin with. “Think about it—third base?”
Morgan waved a hand, as if mortal Americanisms were beneath her, even though I now knew that she was pretty fond of them. “You know what I mean. Point is, you’ve got old demon family blood, people know. Even if you don’t make it known.”
“Cough, Camilla,” Teddy said. He literally said the word cough.
I had to smile. Then I remembered something. “I still don’t get how Raines and Wilder are related. Like, they couldn’t be any more different, right?”
“Probably not,” Morgan agreed. “I don’t even know which parent they have in common, and for a drama-loving bitch like me, that’s pretty shocking. But I didn’t really know anything about Professor Frost—sorry, Wilder”—she did goo-goo eyes at me, which I ignored—”until I got here.”
“I barely know anything about him either,” I pointed out. “Only that he’s doing my exetasis.”
I hadn’t meant to bring up the test, but now that I had, an ice-block feeling settled into my stomach.
“Are you feeling any better about that?” Teddy asked with concern. “I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, nothing to worry about other than the fact that I haven’t been able to do any of the cool demon things that everybody else seems to have no
problem with. That ain’t nothing to be scared about.”
“You’ll get there!”
“Perhaps we can talk about something other than exetasis,” Morgan said, eager to change the subject on my behalf. “I’ve just heard that the Elysium ball is in a few weeks!”
“Wh—” I started to say, but Morgan was already on it.
“What’s the Elysium ball? I never thought you’d ask! Once each year, the Hades Academy students join the Elysium students for a dance. The host switches each year. They’ll be coming here this time around.”
“Do the Elysium students and Hades students stand on opposite sides of the room like it’s some kind of middle school dance?”
“Pardon?”
“I guess that’s an American thing. Well, I’m psyched to meet some angels, I guess?”
Morgan giggled. “I’ve never even met an angel. Or a guardian, as they call themselves.” She snorted. “Though I suppose I could’ve met one and just not have known. They like to live among humans, too. They’re an awful lot like us actually, just much...nicer? The stereotype is that they’re real prats. Like...goody two-shoes types. I much prefer being a demon rather than being up there in the clouds riding on unicorns and such.”
“But that’s the best part” Teddy exclaimed. “I wish we had unicorns.”
“Well, buddy, just remember they’ve got unicorns but no giant elevators, so I guess we can call it even.”
I considered it for a moment. “Us and them together for a dance sounds like it could be a total shit show...I love it.”
Morgan smiled knowingly. “Oh, I’ve heard stories. Supposedly things can get absolutely bonkers. We often play pranks on them, but the ‘guardians’ are above things like that...the nerds.”
Teddy looked down, a sheepish look on his face. “It’s funny, actually. I almost got sent to Elysium.”
“Ha!” shouted Morgan, drawing another look from Madame Lyra. She switched back to a whisper. “That explains so much. You’re such an Elysium type, I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that.”
This time it was Teddy’s turn to answer my question before I even asked. “It’s a little confusing,” he turned to me and said, “but the line between angel and demon is thinner than you might think. We’re practically the same species, but the difference is more about...attitude, I suppose.”
