Deadly Game: An Academy Bully Romance (Academy of the Gods Book 3)

by River Ramsey

  Fenrir was doing a convincing job of pretending to be hungry. Either that, or he really had skipped breakfast. Either way, Helle looked like she was ready to piss herself.

  Hades stepped out at the exact right moment, when her terror was at its zenith and Fenrir was crouched, ready to go in for the kill. Her face went pale as a ghost, and in that moment, it was obvious that Hades was even more of an unwelcome sight.

  Strange reaction for someone without a guilty conscience, really.

  “What are you doing here?” she cried, her back flattened against the slick rocks. Her eyes darted wildly between them, and she didn’t even seem to have noticed us.

  “I was going to ask you the same question,” Hades said calmly, sauntering toward her. He stopped at Fenrir’s side, glancing over at the monstrous creature. “I see you’ve met my friend.”

  “What the fuck is that thing?” she demanded, her voice cracking with fear. I could tell she was trying not to look directly at him, as if his void of inky black fur might swallow her whole.

  To be fair, I’d felt pretty much the same way the first time I’d seen him in that form.

  “It’s a hellhound,” Hades answered smugly, patting the top of Fenrir’s head. He snarled in response, but his fiery glare was still focused on Helle. “And before you ask, no, he’s not a new addition to the sim. He’s quite real.”

  Helle’s eyes widened, and her confusion soon became more horror. “I’ll scream,” she said, her voice tightening.

  Hades cocked his head to one side. “Now, why would you go and ruin a friendly conversation? We’re just talking.” His lip curled back into a malicious sneer he only reserved for those he truly despised. “You wouldn’t want what happened to Kore at the trials to happen to you, would you? Go running out of here wailing about a hellhound…” He clicked his tongue. “People might think you finally snapped. I’m sure they’d question your story then.”

  I could practically hear Helle gulp from across the room, over the sound of the rushing waterfall. She didn’t respond, whether it was because she knew she’d been caught or she was simply too paralyzed with fear to do so.

  “And it is just that, isn’t it?” he pressed, taking another menacing step toward her. Fenrir inched even closer. They could get along well enough when they had a common enemy. “A story.”

  Helle’s guilt was as plain as day, and she sank against the rock behind her back like her knees were going to give out at any moment.

  “What do you want?” she demanded.

  “I want to know why you lied,” Hades answered. “Why did you tell Odin and Kunzite Kore is the one who killed your twin?”

  “She is,” she protested.

  Hades was good at masking his irritation. His face didn’t change, but the moment he snapped his fingers, Fenrir lunged with a snarl fit to wake the dead.

  Helle’s shriek made my ears ring and as she cowered against the rocks, sobbing a barely intelligible concession, Fenrir stopped just short of tearing open her throat. He snorted hard enough to disturb her long tresses and stood frozen and growling, awaiting the next command.

  “Well?” Hades asked impatiently. “Why did you do it?”

  “He made me,” she cried, trembling from what seemed like a combination of terror and anger, judging from the bitterness in her voice.

  Hades frowned. “Who?”

  “Thor,” she choked.

  Now I was the one in shock. I could feel Dionysus watching me in confusion, but I had no more of an idea ofwhat she was talking about than he did.

  “Thor?” Hades echoed. “Please. You really expect me to believe he’s the one who put you up to this?”

  “It’s the truth,” she cried desperately.

  “Why?” he demanded.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Fenrir glared threateningly.

  “You’d better give me something more than that. He’s not very patient.”

  Helle’s wide eyes flitted to the beast, then back to Hades. Whatever stubbornness she’d been holding onto, I could tell it had broken in that moment. “I don’t know why he did it, but he blackmailed me.”

  “Blackmailed you how?” I asked, stepping out into the simulation. Hades could ream me out later, but I wanted answers and I wanted them firsthand if my own brother was involved.

  Helle looked surprised to see me for an instant, but any relief my presence might have brought quickly faded when she realized I was there for the same reason as the others. Dionysus wisely chose to remain in the shadows. No reason he needed to get dragged into all this more than he already was.

  Suddenly, Helle refused to look any of us in the eye. There was no mistaking the shame that came over her, and for a moment, it seemed like she was going to be willing to die rather than come clean with whatever truth my brother had lorded over her.

  “It was me,” she said hoarsely. “I’m the one who killed him.”

  “Phrixus?” Hades asked. It was the first time I’d heard him sound shocked since I could remember. That made two of us. “Why? How?”

  “It was an accident,” she said, hugging herself. “I caught him sneaking out, after he was with her.” She said the last bitterly, as if it was too distasteful for her to speak Kore’s name out loud. I knew she hated her, but it went a hell of a lot deeper than I’d ever imagined. “We argued by the stairs, and I pushed him. I didn’t mean to,” she added quickly, as if she was desperate for us to believe her. For what little it mattered, I did. “I tried to grab him, but it was too late.”

  “So you pinned the blame on someone else,” I said coldly. “And now you’re trying to drag my brother into it.”

  “I’m telling the truth!” she yelled. “Thor came to me and told me he saw what really happened that night, and that he’d tell your father and have me arrested if I didn’t frame Kore.”

  “Kunzite claims she saw it happen,” Dionysus interjected, finally stepping out. Hades shot me a glare, as if I had any control over what he did. “Was she lying, too?”

  Helle shook her head. “I used my powers to manipulate what she saw. I projected it into her head.”

  “And Odin was eager to believe it,” Hades muttered bitterly.

  He wasn’t wrong, but I was still reeling from the revelation of my brother’s role in all of this too much to think about our father’s negligence. “What did Thor say?” I demanded, stalking over to her.

  “Loki,” Dionysus warned.

  I ignored him, holding her gaze, daring her to lie to me. “Well?”

  She gulped again. “I swear, I have no idea. I just did what he told me. Please… Please, just let me go.”

  “If you say a word about any of this before we get to the bottom of it, he’ll come back for you,” Hades warned, looking back at Fenrir. The hellhound was still watching her hungrily, licking his jowls. He played the big, bad wolf like a pro. “And it’ll be the last time.”

  Helle nodded tearfully and we left her to the remnants of the hijacked simulation. My thoughts were still reeling. All the answers she’d given us only raised far more disturbing questions. Questions I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to at all.

  Chapter 17

  Kore

  There had been plenty of low points in my time at the Academy, but sitting in a dank cell for the better part of a day and night definitely took the cake. I wasn’t even sure who knew I was here, if anyone. All I could think about was whether Dionysus and the others had gotten wrapped up in it. The fact that I was still alone was an odd relief.

  With nothing but time and my own thoughts to contemplate, I kept going over that bizarre counter in Odin’s office. Helle was one convincing liar. I’d never seen her muster such convincing crocodile tears. But why would she lie about something so vulgar? Surely even she was ashamed of using her brother’s death like this.

  Unless…

  The unsettling possibility that she might not have been lying at all constantly reared its ugly head. I thought back to my fi
ght with Hades, and the other side of me that had taken control more than once. What if there was a third time? What if I really had done something awful and I just couldn’t remember it?

  All this time I’d spent trying to figure out who Phrixus’ killer was, and I was still on the list of suspects. If that was true, then I deserved a hell of a lot more than being locked up in a basement. At least I couldn’t hurt anyone else here. Especially the people I loved.

  The ‘L’ word was another ghost that had been haunting me as of late. I couldn’t deny it, as much as I wanted to. I loved them. Fenrir. Hades. Loki. Dionysus. I loved each of them in a different way, and every moment apart felt like a unique kind of torture.

  Maybe it was the consort bond, but that wouldn’t explain why I felt so inexplicably drawn to Dionysus. And there was no way he could be one of them. Even fate wasn’t that cruel.

  The one constant that kept playing in the back of my mind was the name I’d woken up screaming.

  Eris.

  My time of solitude had confirmed one fragment of the past, at least. As fuzzy as my memories surrounding my recent death were, I was now certain that was the name the siren’s eerily seductive voice had been whispering to me in the water.

  The only question was, who was she?

  I’d never heard the name before, but in some way, I already knew it. I knew it deep in my soul, beyond conscious recollection. The same unknowable thread that tied me together with my guys.

  What was going to happen when that thread finally broke?

  The creak of the dungeon door sliding open, scraping against the stone floor, made my spine ache. I looked up from my perch against the wall on the stone bed I’d been given in lieu of actual furniture. The heavy footfalls told me it wasn’t a student, but I hadn’t actually seen Odin since Kunzite had thrown me in here. He’d spoken of a trial, which gave me hope that they weren’t just going to execute me, as unorthodox as the school could be, but that left plenty of unpleasant options on the table.

  When I saw Thor round the corner and come to stand in front of my cell, I wasn’t sure what I felt. Cautious optimism, maybe. Had Loki sent him? If they knew where I was, I had hope. I wasn’t alone.

  “Well, this is awkward,” Thor said flatly, looking around the dimly lit corridor. “The school year hasn’t even started and you’re already in trouble.”

  Usually, that remark would’ve been enough to set me off, but there was something in his tone that I didn’t like, and it wasn’t mere sarcasm. I stood, feeling more vulnerable on the floor, and approached the bars. “Let me guess. Your dad sent you to interrogate me?”

  “Wrong on both counts,” he answered, reaching for something in his jacket. The jingle of keys made my heart race. Was he seriously going to let me out?

  I watched in confusion as Thor opened the cell door, but something made me step back. Instinct. Self-preservation. Maybe it was something in his eyes, or in that strange whisper lingering in the back of my mind, reminding me that I was never really alone--not even when I wanted to be.

  “Why so skittish?” he challenged, holding up his bare hands. “I thought I was your favorite teacher.”

  “Not sure where you got that idea,” I said, doubtful that getting on his good side was going to work, whatever his intentions were. I hadn’t counted on being released, but as long as I was on this side of the door, the warding over the metal bars would keep me from being able to use my powers. Thor’s strength, on the other hand, was always available for his command.

  “Why are you here?” I demanded, making my voice as firm as possible. I’d been in my share of fights with men twice my size, and I wasn’t going to back down just because the odds weren’t in my favor. If he thought I was going to be easy prey, he had another thing coming. I just had to get past him so I could use my power.

  “I suppose it doesn’t matter if you know,” he answered. “You won’t be telling anyone.”

  There was no mistaking the menacing meaning behind his words. I backed up, shifting slightly to the left in hopes of moving toward the door without him noticing.

  “Never thought you’d be one for revealing your master plan, but shoot,” I answered, biding myself as much time as possible. “I’m curious why your dad sent you to do his dirty work.”

  “My father?” He raised an eyebrow, and the amusement in his tone made me second guess my assumption that Odin was the one who’d ordered him to come here. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ve made enemies far more powerful than him.”

  I frowned, struggling to understand the meaning behind his cryptic threat. Then, it hit me. “Cronus?”

  “And they say you’re a poor student,” he said wryly, slipping a blade from his jacket. I recognized the glowing runes on the hilt. It was a far cry from his legendary hammer, but definitely capable of killing a run-of-the-mill goddess, even if I was technically undead.

  I darted out of the way, barely missing his blade as it plunged into the wall. It cut through the stone like butter and he pulled it out easily.

  He was slower, but not as much as I’d hoped. I made a beeline for the door and he grabbed a fistful of my hair, throwing me back into the wall. I hit the ground with a thud and the impact knocked the breath out of my lungs.

  Before I could get back on my feet, I felt a burly knee plant itself in my solar plexus as Thor knelt over me, his blade poised to cut my jugular. “It’s nothing personal,” he taunted. “For what it’s worth, I admire the fact that you gave my useless brother a run for his money.”

  Rage welled up within me and I realized how fucked up it was that I was more upset on Loki’s behalf than the fact I was about to die. Before I had the chance to use my last thought to chastise myself, I felt a familiar push in the back of my mind. Just like before, my silent passenger was using my anger and adrenaline as a doorway. This time, I didn’t try to stop it.

  The instant I released my grasp on control, I felt another consciousness overlay my own. This time, I remained aware of what she was doing. Thor’s eyes widened as if he could somehow see the change that had taken place before him, but my hand jutted out and pushed against his chest, throwing him back before he could respond.

  He hit the wall as my body rose, and I felt the entity’s consciousness merging with my own. It was a strange, almost violating feeling, but there was no room for fear or even anger. Only the pure, swirling power of chaos within.

  I realized there were vines breaking through the cracks in the walls only when Thor staggered away from them. “That’s impossible,” he gritted out, still gripping the blade tightly in his right hand. “The ward.”

  “You should know better than to believe in the impossible,” I taunted. This time, the words weren’t quite like my own, but I wasn’t entirely detached from them, either. It was like a phrase spoken in a dream, stemming from a deeper part of my mind than I was actively aware of existing.

  Thor lunged again and the vines surged out, wrapping around his arms and legs. Another slithered around his neck, tightening and constricting. I could feel his pulse through the vine, more acutely than I’d ever felt the verdant extension of my power before.

  “What...are you?” he choked, straining to pull the vines away with brute force. Every time he managed to snap one, another took its place. It soon became clear he was fighting a losing battle, and when I saw the fear of death in his eyes, something in me froze.

  Stop, I cried, struggling to regain control of my limbs. Of my power.

  It was no use. The vines obeyed her better than they ever had me, and while I wanted to distance myself from this part of me I couldn’t control, there was something that made me fear we weren’t entirely separate, after all.

  I wanted to kill him. To crush the breath from his lungs. There was another part of me that wanted to stop. The part that loved Loki and knew that bringing harm to his brother would only hurt him, regardless of the circumstances. That part was trying so hard to break through, but when I finally started to think it ha
d gained control again, Thor cut through one of the vines with his blade.

  A shriek of rage and pain issued from my mouth, and I felt the cell crumble around me. Vines were piercing the stone at such a rate that there was more green than gray, and the cell door swung off its hinges.

  The earthquake soon spiraled out of my control, and I feared the entire Academy would collapse with it. The stone caved in and Thor let out a startled cry that abruptly cut off to the sound of great stones falling. I was certain I was next when the vines formed a cocoon around me, hardening and shielding me from the continuing wreckage. It felt like forever before the quaking finally ceased, and I tore my way out of the cocoon.

  For the moment, I was back in control, but when I saw Thor’s hand peeking out from beneath a stone, sitting in a growing pool of blood, I knew the damage had already been done.

  I backed up in horror, collapsing on the rocks behind me. I managed to struggle back to my feet and headed toward what had once been the stairwell in a daze. I summoned what was left of my strength to form a thick vine and tear the rocks away, but I soon realized it was no use. There were too many. I’d have to find another way out.

  A glimmer of light up ahead gave me hope. The prison must have extended underground, beyond the width of the Academy, because I could see a patch of sky. I pushed my vines up, tearing away the stone and used one to climb up through the enlarged gap.

  Once I was out, I collapsed on the grass and looked up at the partially caved-in wing of the Academy. The prison was underneath the storage, so it was unlikely anyone would be inside. At least that limited the number of lives I’d claimed, but the blood on my hands still felt too thick to ever wash off.

  Shame overwhelmed me, and I could still feel the chaos brewing underneath, waiting to resurface. This time, I wasn’t sure I could reign it in before it destroyed everything in its wake.