“Oh yeah?” I countered. “Well I’m gonna puke green slime all in your eyes!”
“We can go now,” I say, turning my back to the pair as they run and jump together in the moonlight, kicking up leaves and play-tossing each other onto the ground, a mini-mock battle.
“I don’t want to see this,” I repeat to Jordan, but he only shakes his head.
“You have to watch,” he tells me, no more joking in his voice.
“You can’t make me do anything,” I say, but even as the words leave my lips my body is turning back toward the scene, my one good eye forced open to see what happens next.
My mother, Maddox, comes bursting onto the scene, lips pulled back from knife-sharp teeth as she dives between me and my friend. I cower in fear, both then and now. My mother has always been terrifying. But young me hadn’t learned yet that her paws could hurt me as well as any monsters.
The wolf cub jumps in between his mother and the manticore, defending his friend.
Maddox’s eyes tighten in surprise, the growl in her throat dying out as she looks at her young. Then, with one swipe, she tosses me aside. I yelp and roll, kicking in pain as she bears down on the manticore…who doesn’t have the benefit of being her blood.
It’s her meal.
The manticore is gone in two snaps, my mother’s teeth grinding down on my friend’s bones. My child self whimpers, shifts into human form and runs—not to his mother for comfort, but away. Because right then, Maddox is the monster.
She dives after me and catches my ankle in her mouth, tossing me in the air. It’s a game we played often, but I’m not interested. I smack at her bloodied lips, crying as my hands come away red.
“She was my friend,” I yell at my mother, who shifts into human form, pinning my wrists to the ground.
“She was a monster,” Maddox says, staring me down. “And what do we do to monsters, little Nico?”
“Kill them,” I sniffle, terrified of my own mother.
“That’s right.” She breathes down into my face, and I shiver in the present, remembering the smell of raw meat in the night air.
“Aw crap,” Jordan mutters beside me. “They told me to bring tissues and I forgot.”
“I don’t need a tissue!” I snap at him.
Wiping his sleeve across his wet eyes, Jordan shakes his head at me. “Dude, there’s nothing wrong with crying.”
“You want me to cry for the poor little boy I once was? Is that it?” I force myself to scoff, even though my throat is tight. “That cave was half a mile from a major monster camp. If her parents had found me, I would’ve been the one killed. We were enemies. I needed to learn that. And I did.”
I quickly look away from Jordan, not wanting him to see the shine in my eye. Not tears. They’re just watering from the late hour, but he’d try and read more into it, I’m sure.
“Enough,” I say to Jordan, and this time he complies. Taking my hand, we ascend back into a cloud, the mist closing over us in a cold cloak.
5
We’re only up in the clouds for a few minutes before there’s a light glow beneath us, and the ground opens up below.
My heart leaps at the sight. I recognize the land...it’s my father’s family ancestral home. Jordan and I land beside the blazing bonfire. There are tons of werewolves, in human and wolf form, milling about. Drinking, talking, dancing, howling.
“This is…” I pause. No, it can’t be. “This is the year my mother left me with my dad’s side of the family. They had this amazing Christmas party. I’d never known what the holiday could be before then.”
“Awww, look at pimply Nico,” Jordan says. “How old are you there? Twelve?”
“Fourteen,” I say, not even mad. I am a bit pimply and a little skinny, and I can’t help but watch myself as my face glows in the firelight. I look so happy. I’m happy because…
“Nico!” Belle bursts out of the darkness and hugs me. “I want to dance; do you want to dance?”
“And who is that little lady?” Jordan asks, his eyebrows wiggling.
“Belle. She was visiting too. One of my cousin’s friends from another pack.”
Younger me stands up and swings Belle around. “I don’t dance,” I tell her laughingly.
“Oh, come on,” she pulls me away from the crowd of people. “Look, no one is watching, there’s no need to be embarrassed.”
So I pull her in and dance. Her head on my chest, her hand in mine, my other hand on her waist. My face is red from booze and the warm fire and from a weird feeling.
We sway under the winter moon and I feel that my heart is near to bursting.
After a moment she steps back and the warm spot on my chest feels cold. “I’m glad I got to meet you, Nico.”
“And I’m—” But I don’t get to finish because she stands on her toes and gives me a kiss. My first kiss.
I blink, surprised. Then I howl and pick her up and swing her around as she giggles.
“Let’s get back to the party,” she says. “There’s going to be a sing-song.”
“I don’t sing.”
“Oh, just like you don’t dance?!” she teases.
“I’m really glad I met you too, Belle,” I tell her.
“Stop it,” I tell Jordan. “Stop it here.”
“I can’t, bro,” Jordan says.
“Why not? Stop it in this moment when I’m happy. Really truly happy.”
“That’s not how this works,” he explains. “You have to see the good with the bad.”
I rub my face as I watch my younger self and Belle return to the fire. I did sing that night. And dance. And kiss. But in the morning, it all seemed like a dream.
“What happened?” Jordan asks as the night fades into day.
“Maddox came to get me.”
We zoom to a field outside the house.
“I’m staying,” I tell my mother, daring to defy her.
“With these soft house pets? I think not.”
“I met a girl; she’s moving to this pack in the spring.”
Maddox laughs. “I should have known. You are getting older. You’re sniffing around a little bitch? So what? You’re just a pup yourself, and you need to focus on what’s important.”
“I. Want. To. Stay.” I tell her again.
“Fine.” She grabs me by the scruff of the neck and pulls me into the house, toward the main hall where all my family—my dad’s family—and their friends are enjoying a Christmas meal. Mother throws me down in front of my dad’s mom, the matriarch of the pack.
“My boy wishes to be a part of your pack now,” Maddox tells her. I eye Belle, who looks concerned for me. At least she doesn’t look sorry for me.
“Nico is always welcome,” my grandmother growls. “You, Maddox, are not.”
“I am only here to show my son what is important.”
My grandmother stands. “You’ve always been a lone wolf. I warned my son not to get involved with you. You got him killed.”
“He got himself killed. And I won’t let Nico go down the same path. Pampered and soft, like all of you,” she spits.
It’s silent in the hall. Most people study their plates.
“Choose, Nico,” my mother tells me.
“Choose?”
“If you stay here, I am no longer your mother. I won’t have a son of mine be weak. Choose to stay here under this nice roof and sleep in a comfy bed with your new girlfriend. But you and me, we’re done.”
“Mother…” I’ve only known life with my mother. Then I came here and it seemed like a dream. But dreams aren’t real.
“Nico,” my grandmother tells me. “Your mother is poison. You must see that.”
“My mother is a great warrior,” I tell her. That is one thing I know. “She has taught me how to fight and how to survive.”
“But has she taught you how to live?” my grandmother asks.
I turn to Belle, desperate to not leave all of this behind. “Come with me,” I say to her. “Live with me an
d Mom.”
Beside me Maddox scoffs. “She’s the softest of them all. More bunny than wolf.” She strides to her side.
Belle colors and then she goes even pinker as her eyes meet mine. “Maybe we could start with a short visit?”
Maddox takes Belle’s chin in her hand, and then brings the pretty girl’s face up close to her own. “You’re welcome to stay with us, but you will hunt and kill alongside my son. And it will not be easy to keep up with him. Over the past few years he’s grown strong. Why just last month, he found a hive of sleeping harpies.” She chuckles low in her throat. “He slit every one of their throats just as they woke and then left them to choke on their own blood. A fitting death for a monster, I think.”
Belle jerks away from Maddox. “You lie! Nico would never do that!”
Once again Belle looks to me, but this time I can barely meet her eyes. I’d been so proud telling Maddox that story, but hearing her recount it to everyone here, it suddenly sounded monstrous.
And I was ashamed.
“I did it,” I tell Belle and watch as her eyes widen with horror. Unable to look at her anymore, I turn to my grandmother.
My grandmother’s eyes fill with pity. “Oh, my Nico,” she says softly. Sadly.
My blood boils and that famous Tralano rage takes me over. Why do they get to decide right and wrong? Maddox is right. They’re soft. I should be the one pitying them.
“My father was barely a sperm donor,” I tell her. “He died before I was even born. I’m not your Nico. And you’re not my family.”
I stand by my mother, proud and tall. “I’m a Tralano. My only family is Maddox.”
And just like that I turn my back on the life I could have had.
I watch myself leave with my mother and Jordan puts a hand on my shoulder.
“Tough man. I knew Maddox was a hardass but…”
“I never saw them again,” I tell him. And then, surprisingly, I hear myself admit the truth. “But I wanted to. Every Christmas I dreamed of returning…”
“You still could,” Jordan says softly.
“No, it’s too far past. They wouldn’t even recognize me now.” I shake my head. “Come on, let’s just go so you can show me the next horrible thing.”
The earth starts to tremble beneath our feet as Jordan takes my hand once more.
“Actually,” he says. “this time we’re gonna see something good.”
We’re outside the gates of Mount Olympus Academy. Rain pours down, jagged lightning slashes through the sky, and the whole earth shakes like it’s ready to crack in half.
Past Nico watches it all with his arms crossed over his chest. Like I don’t care. Or like I’m pretending to not care in case anyone is watching.
But, of course, no one is.
Zeus has just died and survival is the new name of the game.
“Wait a minute,” I say, turning to Jordan. “This didn’t happen on Christmas.”
Jordan frowns. “It didn’t? But I remember hearing bells and there were pretty flashing lights...” He bites his lip, obviously thinking hard. Suddenly his eyes light. “That’s right! Debris fell on my head. I was seeing double too, so definitely concussion and not Christmas.” Jordan shrugs. “Well, we’re here, so we might as well look around.”
“I’d rather not,” I reply.
But Jordan isn’t listening. “Look at that!” He exclaims, pointing to the gates of Mount Olympus as they twist, crush, and finally disappear into a yawning crevice that just opened up in the middle of the earth.
“Scientists later will call this area ground zero for the devastating earthquakes and tidal waves. Fun fact—it was a rogue wave that brought Edie to Mount Olympus and she ended her time here carrying her friends from the rising floodwaters.”
“Great,” I mutter, watching my past self pace in front of the mangled gates. I know what I’m gonna do next, but still I hate to watch.
“Can we go now?”
“Not until Nico of the past leaves Mount Olympus,” Jordan points to past me at the same moment that he backs away from the gates.
“There, I’m leaving. Are we good here?”
But Jordan isn’t fooled. He keeps watching as I shift into a wolf and then with a running leap, jump over the giant hole in the ground.
“You returned to campus,” Jordan observes.
I shrug. “What? I figured it’d be easy to pick off a few vampires in all the confusion.”
Jordan grabs my hand again and even though I try to shake him loose, we’re once again rising through the air, following behind my wolf self.
We watch as I stop and crouch low to the ground, so as not to be seen. Although no one’s looking my way. All attention is on another jagged bit of earth, even deeper and longer than the one at the gates. As we look that way too, Edie—in dragon form—bursts from the bowels of the earth, with her sister, Mavis, clutched in a talon.
Above, on steadier ground, Val, Fern, Cassie, and Marguerite await. They don’t wait for Edie to shift back before throwing their arms around her and Mavis.
As Edie becomes a girl once more, it’s clear that she’s crying.
“Zeus is dead. And the world is falling apart. And Greg...” Her voice breaks on that last word.
Her friend, Greg, traded his life to save Mavis from Hades. I still don’t understand why.
“Greg…” Jordan echoes sadly beside me.
“Was an idiot,” I finish, while past Edie launches into this speech about how they’ll fix this mess and that Greg’s sacrifice won’t be in vain.
Hepa joins them with Jordan’s arm slung over her shoulder. He does look a bit dazed. “Can we cut the group cheer short and start tending the wounded?” The earth trembles once more.
“That’s my girl,” the Jordan beside me says proudly. “She is not a people person, but she likes me.”
“Lucky you,” I say.
I sort of tune out as they all start to plan their clean-up and rescue plan. It’s so weird to be back at MOA again. I was sure I’d never see it again. Despite all the drama with Mavis and Edie, this is the place where I was happiest. When I got expelled...I wasn’t prepared for it. I’d just lost my mother and then I lost what I thought of as my home.
It wasn’t survival I was worried about; I was raised to survive. But at Mount Olympus I’d been around people who expected a future that was more than just survival. People like Edie came in and made up these mixed packs of people who became her family. They were so close they’d literally die for each other...or even for each other’s sister.
Jordan elbows me. “Hey, pay attention, man. I don’t want to rewind and watch it again.”
“But this was just a few months ago,” I remind him. “I remember everything that happened.”
“Oh yeah? Do you remember this?” He points to where Cassie stands with Mavis.
Cassie suddenly stumbles and her eyes go cloudy. “Things will be bad, but if closed hearts cannot open, they will be worse still. Civilization can be set to rights or completely shattered.”
When she opens her eyes, her gaze falls on where my past self hides. I squirm now as I did then, certain she’s talking about me. Cassie always did have a way of getting under my skin. We did time together in a monster prison and...she kept me sane. Kept the bitterness from eating me to pieces.
The worst quake yet cuts the moment short. The land bucks and rolls in waves. Smoke and dust fill the air as every structure around us crumbles. When the earth settles once more, everything has been flattened. The dorms, the amphitheater, even the archives.
Cries of pain and others pleading for help come from every direction. More than Edie and her crew of friends can possibly get to on their own.
There’s so much confusion that no one notices me pitching in to help.
I pull Fern and a student she was treating from beneath a column. Chester managed to keep from getting hurt by shifting into his chicken form, but he’s trapped and unable to get out. I dig him out by clawing away
some of the dirt beneath a slab of marble so that it can be slid sideways and create an opening. There are other people I don’t know except for vaguely recognizing their faces from around campus.
When only the dead are left, I slink away. Not taking one of the portals but creeping out through the swamp.
“Why’d you help?” ghost Jordan asks me now.
“I don’t know!” I explode. “They were pathetic and weak. Half of them probably got killed from something else once they portaled out into the world. Like Chester. He goes home to find most of his family dead. Then he’s out alone in the world, the easiest pickings ever.”
“And you saved him again,” Jordan observes.
“I used him. Because I needed someone loyal—and he owes me his life. That’s all.”
Jordan laughs. “Don’t worry, Nico. You don’t have to convince me you’re an asshole.” He claps me on the back and even though it doesn’t hurt, I stumble back and land on my butt—
In my bed.
I’m back in my house. And I am alone.
6
This has been one freaky Christmas Eve. First, I hallucinate my mother’s ghost, then I have the most intense dream ever...featuring Jordan, of all people. I can’t stand that guy. Of course he would show me all the terrible things from the past.
I sit up and rub my scarred face. Sometimes it aches where my eye used to be, but I think that’s just me remembering the pain. I stand and peel off my clothes. Why am I fully dressed?
“OMQ,” a voice says and I spin to find Cassie—sweet, innocent, good-natured Cassie—peering at me between her fingers.
“What are you doing here?” I bark.
She widens her fingers and looks me up and down. “I’m the g-g-ghost of Christmas Present and I...honestly, I can’t do this.” She throws up her hands. “Can you please put on some pants!”
I hurriedly get dressed, again. “So...you’re not really here either, right? You’re going to show me all the nonsense that is happening right now? Did I get that correct?”
Chaos & Christmas Page 3
