by Chris Howard
The blade shivered in my grip. I was just as surprised as Matrothy, and nearly dropped it. The sword was heavy, longer than my outstretched arm, with a dark metal blade.
My fingers tightened around the grip, and it made me feel safe. The director couldn’t hurt me while I held this.
“Go on, you monster.” The right side of my face starting to sting. “Give me one reason to keep your head on your shoulders.”
Praxinos, did you hear that? That sounded promising, said Andromache’s excited whisper in my head. She’s threatening to behead someone! I’m beginning to like this new Wreath-wearer.
Ephoros’ body stretched across the ceiling and curled down over the top of the director.
“Princess, is this thing bothering—” He stopped abruptly, recognizing Matrothy, and sounded disappointed. “Oh. It’s you again.”
With a sloshing sound like the agitation cycle in a washing machine, Ephoros edged further around the walls and plunged a finger over the director.
I hardly noticed. I couldn’t stop looking at the fingernail-sized opalescent green plates that covered my arm. Shot one last glare at Matrothy, who now stood dumbly inside the column of water, and I lowered the sword and looked at what the hell I was wearing over my PJs.
My whole body was covered in shimmering armor of paper-thin green-blue plates. It was high on my neck and went about halfway down my thighs like a short dress with leggings of the same scaly stuff underneath. And it was light. I felt it pressing in on my shoulders and spine, like the deep water’s squeeze against my skin.
Putting my weight on one leg, I lifted my foot away from the hem of the armor, checking out the leggings of the same overlapping plates running to my ankles. Something cold and smooth against my face, and I reached to touch armored cheek plates. They continued up around the top of a helmet with a ridge that started above my forehead and went to the base of my neck.
The sound of the office door closing startled me. I looked up at Ephoros. Matrothy was gone, probably off to brush her teeth again.
“Princess,” he rumbled and the whole school could probably hear him. “These are the arms and armor the great Queen Andromache—when she was your age—left in offering at the Arctic temple of Poseidon. You have called me and I was seeking you. I have brought your battle gear. The king has awakened the Olethren.”
I blinked up at him. “Who?”
“Not who...It is an army. The king’s army of the dead. He may not know your name, but he knows a Wreath-wearer has survived, and he is angry. It will not be long before the Olethren march out of the rivers near here and destroy you and everything around you.”
“Olethren...”
I knew that word. It was something Praxinos or Andromache had mentioned.
Olethren! Both Praxinos and Andromache shouted together.
I jumped in surprise. “They’re not here yet, but the king knows I am here.”
We must ready for war! Andromache cried fiercely.
Who are you speaking to, Kassandra?
“Ephoros is with me. He has brought armor and a sword...for me.”
Excellent!
Are you dense? You expect Kassandra to fight off the army by herself?
You tottering old fool! How dare you. When I was queen, I didn’t tolerate bad behavior. I’d have had your head lopped off if you took that tone with me!
And I would have turned you into a hagfish before you—wait, you are one already.
“I don’t even know what to do with a sword.” I talked right over them, swishing the blade around like I’d seen in videos—women wearing way too little swinging swords way too big. Looked just about as useful in battle as big tits and bikini armor.
I will teach you, dear.
Yeah, you’re not out here in the real world. “Won’t that take too long? Praxinos is right. Even if I can swing this thing properly, what can I do against an army?”
One trained swordsman can hold off many in the right place like a narrow hall or a doorway. Remember what the three-hundred at Thermopylae accomplished?
I shook my head, glanced up at Ephoros. Who? Did they fight the Olethren?
Andromache continued with the certainty that she was completely understood. There’s more to it than just stabbing and parrying. And there are other ways of fighting the Olethren.
I turned the word around in my head.
“What does their name mean? Olethrios is destruction and ruined.” How do I know that? Praxinos and Andromache both went silent. “Olethrion, Olethros...Is that what this army will do? Destroy everything?”
Most assuredly, said Praxinos with authority. An ancient magic binds them together and gives them a sort of half life. My...My grandfather created them to fight the Telkhines. Remember I told you that he used their own enchantments against them? The creation of...
I leaned against the bookcase, my stomach cramping up.
Oh, go on and tell her! Stop wasting our time. They are dead, Kassandra. Disgusting. Waterlogged skeletons and worm-eaten carcasses that can walk where they’re told and kill whatever gets in their way. His grandfather, King Polemachos, gathered up the decaying corpses of three thousand men who sank beneath the waves with their ships and drowned—and there are many more today. Polemachos bargained with the one who lights the way of the dead, made deals with immortals. He gave the dead something like purpose. He filled them with horrible power and they kill anything they touch. Wherever their rotting feet tread the ground dies. If you come across a brown, decaying path that crosses the seafloor you know that the Olethren have marched to war.
“Are you not feeling well, princess?” Ephoros’ voice boomed down at me.
I bent forward, dry-retching. A blast of cold, and I looked at my hands, then up the sleeves of my pajamas. The sword and armor had vanished with the rising tide of fear. I swallowed and ran my tongue over my lips, tasted something warm and bitter.
“Oh!” I gasped, dripping blood to the floor, and threw my head back. I jumped to Matrothy’s desk, tugged out ten sheets of tissue from the box on the corner and clamped them around my nose.
I didn’t know if it was a latent response to the director’s punch in the face or my reaction to an army of dead warriors coming to kill me. Either one could give you a nosebleed.
Meanwhile, Praxinos and Andromache continued to argue in my head. I didn’t pay much attention to their back and forth squabbling with the sudden attention I had to give the blood running from my nose. I took a breath and made my body go completely still. Only my heart remained in motion, thumping uncontrollably.
...but the Olethren will have to come out of the water. How do you know the old magic will work oversea? It has never been tried!
I tell you it will! Praxinos was enraged, but there was an edge of uncertainty in his voice. He just didn’t want to lose every argument to Andromache. Her sword will be useless. Using their enchantments against them is our only way.
My voice came out in a high whisper. “Why, Praxinos?”
The Telkhines were not originally from the sea. They never forgot what it was like above the waves. They were cursed and imprisoned in the sea...
“Lady Kassandra?” Ephoros bent his head lower, obviously seeing the fear in my eyes when I looked up at him.
“There is a king with an army who wants to kill me,” I whispered. “I cannot fight him alone, Ephoros.”
“Beneath the sea I can help you against the Olethren. For a short time. Up here, I cannot. It is doubtful I would be effective in the rivers. I am weakened, diluted without the ocean around me. I can only fight them beneath the waves.”
“Have you fought them before?”
Ephoros paused as if not wanting to answer me. “No.” He made a slow rumbling sound. He might have been thinking about past undersea battles, but I bit my lip, tried to see if he’d show anything in his expression, thinking that it was odd that he hadn’t met the dead armies before. Wasn’t he with Ampharete?
“Why didn’t you save my m
other? And defend the fortress of House Rexenor?”
I expected guilty hesitation, but Ephoros answered at once. “I was very far away, too far to return to her in time. I felt her calling me, crying for me, but I could not reach her...in time.”
There was silence between us for a minute, and then I said “Oh” faintly.
“And you are not alone. You wear the Wreath. You have been speaking to one of the past wearers.”
“Two. Praxinos and Andromache...are awake.”
He nodded as if expecting them. “They are the longest reigning of the seaborn rulers.”
I bit my lip, still holding the tissue to my nose. I wasn’t thinking of the voices in my head or the giant water deity taking up most of Matrothy’s office.
“Do you know where I can find lithotombs? I think I know where my father is. Will you help me rescue him?”
“They are well-guarded,” he said with hesitation. “But if that is what you wish I will take you there.”
Praxinos gave me an indignant snort. What is it you are thinking? You are being led into a trap!
“I was there, Praxinos. My father spoke to me.”
Listen to me! You cannot run from the king, even with Ephoros’ help.
For once, I agree with you, came Andromache’s disappointed voice. We cannot have you running into the blue without sword practice.
You cannot survive without water, and anywhere there is water he will find you. But you can prepare for this. If you stay on land...far inland—
“I need to go into the sea, Praxinos. I am not from this thin world!”
But that is what your grandfather wants. You will fall into his hands and he will kill you just like he killed your grandmother, Pythias, and your mother! Ampharete underestimated...
His voice trailed off.
Anger stirring inside me, tugging at its leash. “I am the Wreath-wearer. Ephoros can help me in the sea. Up here he cannot.”
I took their silence—which was very out of place—as permission to go. I’m out of here.
“Ephoros, show me how to travel through the water.”
Chapter 16 - Jill and Nicole to the Rescue
The door burst in and Nicole and Jill skidded to a stop halfway to Matrothy’s desk. They looked afraid, stunned, and angry all at once. Nicole’s eyes widened at the blood on the floor and the wad of tissue I held to my face.
“What did she do to you?”
“Kassandra!”
Both of them rushed me, grabbed me and almost tackled me, Jill by the shoulders, Nicole wrapped her fingers around my forehead and pushed my face up to look at the swelling cheek and bloody nose.
Felt like Jill was trying to get me in some kind of wrestling hold. “We came to rescue you.”
“What’s going on?” Nicole went on breathlessly. “We snuck out of the hall. Matrothy just passed us near the stairwell and...acted like she didn’t know who we were.”
Jill looked at Nicole, frowning. “We didn’t really do much sneaking. I think you left Autumn on the floor.”
“She deserved it.”
“I’m not saying she didn’t.” Jill shook her head. “I’m just saying we didn’t do much sneaking. You attacked Autumn and we ran like hell.”
Nicole nodded. “And when we turned down the main hall, Matrothy was there staring around like she needed a map.”
“Scared the shit out of us!”
“But she didn’t even look up.”
I wiped my nose again, glancing around the room to see that Ephoros had vanished. I pulled in a deep breath, let it out slowly.
“Listen to me. I have to do something... I mean... I think something very bad is going to happen here.”
“Bad? Like Matrothy’s going to start beating us all?”
“Bigger than Matrothy...and worse.”
I hesitated, saw the immediate doubt in their eyes, in Jill’s before Nicole’s. What could be bigger and badder than Matrothy beating us all?
“I can handle her,” I said quickly. “You are my closest friends, my only friends... I need...” I couldn’t find any words to really convince them. I knew that anything I might say would sound insane. “I’m...”
Should I tell them I was a princess of the seaborn? I sighed away the temptation. How would that sound? I wouldn’t believe it myself if weird shit didn’t happen every couple days to convince me. And I was very aware of my own name, Kassandra, the prophetess no one believed. I frowned. I might as well be called girl-who-cries-wolf.
Should I show them Ephoros first and then tell them? Would they drop dead of fright right in Matrothy’s office? Probably. If I pretended Matrothy was threatening me could I conjure up the sword and armor?
“I’m not sure,” I said at last. I put my hand to my cheek and it felt cool against my red swollen skin. Nicole and Jill stared at me, waiting for an explanation. “We should get back to the hall.”
“What?” Jill grabbed my arm. “You can’t say ‘something bigger than Matrothy’ and then back up and pretend you didn’t say it.”
“Yeah, what do you mean? Kassandra, you tell us what’s going on.”
I closed my eyes for a few seconds, opening them after drawing another deep breath. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
Nicole pointed at the door. “What did Matrothy do to you?”
“It isn’t her... anymore. She can’t hurt me.”
Nicole folded her arms with a frown. Jill glanced over and mimicked her, one eyebrow going up. They both shook their heads at the same time.
“I don’t think so, Kass. She’s been beating you most of your life. What can you do against her? She’s taller. She must have a hundred pounds on you.”
“But I have... Look. Just let me think about it. I want your help.”
Jill waved dismissively. “What’s there to think about? Tell us what’s going on.”
“We’ll help you whatever it is.”
I closed my mouth and breathed out my nose, growing angry. You don’t understand. A tightening fury started in my stomach.
“Would you help me if I told you that I’m not sure what I am? That I hear voices of long dead royalty in my head? That there is an army of drowned rotting soldiers marching from the bottom of the ocean to kill me? That I have a descendent of a sea god for a friend? Would you?”
Jill and Nicole exchanged looks and backed up a step.
“Would you?”
“Are you... going insane?” Jill asked delicately.
“Answer me! Would you believe me?”
“What have they done to you?” Nicole’s voice went cold, and she looked around for the perpetrator, both her hands curling into fists.
I shook my head.
“Was it poison?”
“Mind-altering drugs? Don’t tell me it doesn’t happen. The government does it all the time. I’ve seen it on TV!”
“Electroshock therapy? Weird psychological experiments?” Jill added grimly.
Nicole shook one fist. “If Matrothy has done this to you, I’ll kill her.”
I stared at them, my anger fading. I dropped my shoulders and breathed. There was a roaring in my ears that drowned out Praxinos’ voice. He had been complaining about something for a few minutes, and Andromache was telling him to shut up so she could listen to me.
“Close the door. Let me show you something.”
There was an instant of panic on Jill’s face. She backed her way to the door and pushed it closed. Nicole backed up too.
Safety in numbers, and if the door remained open they had a better chance of escaping if I did something...that needed to be escaped from.
“What about Matrothy?” Jill pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.
“She won’t be back,” I said. “I’ll show you why in a second.”
Nicole and Jill glanced at each other.
“Are you sure you’ll help me?”
The two of them nodded.
“You need to be sure.” I pointed at Jill and then at Nicole
. “There’s no going back once I show you.”
They looked at each other again, both nodding, but I could see fear there, too.
“Ready,” said Nicole.
“We’re with you,” said Jill firmly, squeezing her lips thin.
I closed my eyes and dropped my shoulders, exhaling slowly. I kept my voice low, but had to say it aloud. “I hope this works.”
Then I pulled up an image of Matrothy, plastered her right in the center of my imagination. Oh, that did it. My throat constricted. The nightmare grew huge, hideous, teeth snapping at me. It pressed in close and made me take a step back.
Jill and Nicole gasped in shock.
I opened my eyes, feeling the slight pressure of the helmet against my head and cheeks, and the weight of the scaly armor on my body.
Then my knees almost buckled under me, a dump of energy, a wave of dizzy, and I had trouble standing. I grabbed the edge of Matrothy’s desk.
When I got my eyes to focus clearly on the room, Jill and Nicole had backed up against the door, their eyes on the sword in my fist.
“Who—?” Jill breathed. “Who...”
I gave them both a nod. Yeah, sword, armor, shocking as hell, isn’t it? “Who am I?”
Both of them nodded. I drew in a few deep breaths, trying to get my balance back.
Spent another minute fiddling with the thought that I had shown them enough for them to believe me. I don’t have to show them Ephoros also, do I? What about telling them that I was a princess? The Wreath-wearer? What about people of the sea? The witch in the lake? And the voice of that other woman in the lake...
I bit my lip. Ephoros had to come with me unless I could get Jill and Nicole out of the room long enough to do that water drop in the eye thing. I needed Ephoros to help me get through the water pipes.
“I am Kassandra...”
I wanted to tell them my family name was Alkimides but I didn’t need that to get around the school yet.
“I grew up at St. Clement’s Education Center in Nebraska, part of CCS—child custody services...and I have two friends—also in the program, Jill and Nicole, who broke a bunch of rules to rescue me from the evil director, Matrothy.”
