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

by River Ramsey

  I ran for Atlantis as fast as I could, and I never looked back.

  Chapter 18

  Hades

  It was rare that anything shocked me, especially where the other gods were concerned, but I had to admit, Helle’s admission had me stumped. I couldn’t think of a reason why Thor of all people would want to frame Kore for Phrixus’ murder. What could he possibly have to gain from that?

  Seemed Loki wasn’t the only trickster in the family.

  Getting to Kore with one of the other guards on watch was nigh impossible, but we had a plan. Loki was going to shift into something capable of tunneling through the underground foundation of the prison, and we’d go from there.

  Before we had the chance to put the plan into action, the earthquake hit. At first, I assumed it was one of the other students having a meltdown, but no one with that kind of power had stayed behind on break. Not as far as I knew, at least.

  The four of us rushed in the direction of the chaos, and as soon as I realized it was coming from the wing above the dungeon, my heart plummeted. I’d never felt time slow down unless it was an intentional manipulation of my father’s power, but there was a first time for everything.

  Whatever it was causing the earthquake, Kore was at the center of it. I ran faster than I ever had, but when we finally reached the door leading into the prison, it was not only unguarded but blocked off entirely by fallen stone. The hallways around us were shaking, fresh pieces of rock crumbling each second, and the entire structure didn’t look like it would hold for long.

  “She’s down there,” Dionysus cried, his voice sharp with horror.

  Before I could give the command, Loki shifted into a great bull and started tossing aside large pieces of stone with his horns. Fenrir followed suit, digging furiously with his giant paws. Dionysus and I weren’t quite as productive, but we set to unearthing the hidden passage all the same.

  The minutes that passed felt like hours, and we seemed to be making so little progress. When I finally caught sight of a clearing behind the stone, I was still far from relieved.

  She was down there, and there was no fucking way she could have survived the building collapse, unless her power had somehow protected her. The only thing giving me hope for that scenario was the fact that it didn’t feel like a giant hole had been torn in my soul yet, leaving nothing but an empty void where she should have been. Where she had been ever since I’d brought her back, and maybe even before that, if I was being honest with myself.

  I pushed the fruitless line of thought away and focused on widening the space between the rocks. Loki shifted into a small black cat and shimmied through the hole. I heard his paws hit solid ground on the other side, so it seemed stable enough. Once there was an opening big enough, I slipped through and Dionysis was close behind me.

  I dropped down onto an uneven floor that had once been solid concrete and was now more of a collage of jagged rock. Just taking a single step forward required calculation, but Cat Loki easily navigated the winding tunnels. We followed the spots he chose, careful not to take any missteps that would collapse the tentative stability of the tunnels.

  When we finally reached the holding area, all I could recognize of it was a few twisted iron bars that had been misshapen by the falling rubble. Loki paused and lifted his head to sniff the air.

  I smell blood.

  His words dissolved the fragile calm that had allowed us to think clearly enough to get this far, and Dionysus and I both started tearing away stones and fallen chunks of plaster in a frantic search that couldn’t end well.

  Fenrir finally made it through the pass and came barreling through more recklessly than I would have liked. He sniffed the air as well and his sharp golden eyes met mine.

  The blood isn’t hers.

  The announcement filled me with as much relief as confusion. We kept digging anyway and his chuff alerted us to the fact that he’d found something. A large hand stuck out from underneath a heavy pile of stone, and blood was already pooling at my feet.

  As the giant wolf made quick work of the rubble, my confusion only amplified. The body lying beneath the stone was broken and bloodied, but unmistakable nonetheless.

  It was Thor.

  We all turned to face Loki, stunned into silence. He seemed to be having the same problem and I’d never seen him so unexpressive as he was then, staring at his brother’s mangled corpse.

  For a long moment, he said nothing. In fact, I was pretty sure he’d stopped breathing. When at last he spoke, he turned back toward the rest of the chaos surrounding us and announced in a surprisingly calm voice, “She’s not here.”

  He was right. Now that I was calm enough to think clearly through the panic, the connection that had led me to her every time she was in danger, both in the waking world and the Ether, was telling me she wasn’t here. Wherever she was, she must have gotten out in time.

  Or she’d been the one to cause the earthquake in the first place. I wasn’t sure how that was even possible, given that I thought I’d seen every permutation of her power available, but if Kore had taught me one thing, it was to never assume anything was impossible when it involved her.

  “Up there,” Dionysus said, pointing to the glimmer of light peeking through the ceiling. Loki shifted into the form of a raven, disappearing into the sky up above. A few seconds later, he tossed down a green vine.

  “She definitely went out this way,” I muttered, tugging to check its sturdiness. Once we all made it up top, with Loki and Fenrir shifted back into their human forms, I took in the ruins of what had once been the east wing of the Academy.

  “She always joked about tearing this place down, but I never thought it would be literal,” Dionysus murmured, looking around the empty field. “Where do you think she went?”

  I glanced Fenrir’s way immediately only to realize the others were all looking at me. “What? I’m not the resident bloodhound.”

  “No, but you found her at the well,” Dionysus countered.

  He had a point. Whatever link existed between the four of us, it seemed I was the one capable of tracking her down even more than Fenrir. “It’s not something I can just turn on and off.”

  “Try,” Loki pressed.

  I would’ve had a few choice words for him, if we hadn’t just found his brother’s body. I tried to focus and identify whatever it was that had sparked the sixth sense the last time. Both times it had happened, it wasn’t conscious. It just became a premonition that was too unsettling to ignore.

  Something drew my attention toward the sparkling blue city in the distance. I didn’t know how I knew, but something told me she was there. “Atlantis. That’s where we start.”

  “We should split up,” Fenrir suggested. “The city’s huge. We need to cover as much ground as possible.”

  I nodded. “I’m fine on my own. One of you should go with Dionysus.”

  “Why do you say that like I need a chaperone?” he asked sourly.

  Fenrir snorted. “He can come with me.”

  “No,” Loki said brusquely. Dionysus gave him a startled look. I definitely hadn’t expected that reaction, either. “I’ll take him.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “That should probably be up to him.”

  “It’s fine,” Dionysus interjected, even though he seemed anything but comfortable with the arrangement. “We shouldn’t waste any more time.”

  “Fine,” I sighed. Whatever was going on with Loki, he was far from alright, but we didn’t have time to sort it out. Dionysus probably had a better chance of keeping him in line than I did. “I’ll take care of the...scene before I head out.”

  Loki just nodded and started walking toward the city gates, Dionysus following reluctantly behind him. Fenrir gave me a look before he set off on his own, but there was no diplomatic way to say you were going to get rid of the body of your best friend’s family member.

  Of all the shit I’d thought I would end up doing over break, it sure as hell wasn’t this.

 
; Chapter 19

  Kore

  I’d been hiding in Atlantis for the better part of two days, holed up in a small room in the furthest reaches of the city. The glamour attached to the pendant around my neck had cost pretty much all I had on me, but it hid my more distinguishing features. I’d traded my lavender locks for black, and my eyes were now a pale but unremarkable blue. The plain clothing and smattering of freckles across the bridge of my nose would hopefully suffice to hide my true identity.

  It wasn’t a plan, exactly, and I didn’t feel any better for having had the last two days to think. If anything, I was even more overcome by guilt than I’d been before, and every minute that passed, the burden seemed to grow a little heavier.

  All I could think about was Loki. About how he’d found out and how much I wished I could be there to comfort him, even though I was the one who’d caused his pain.

  How he must hate me.

  I went back and forth on whether I should go back and turn myself in, but every time the guilt was close to winning out, I reminded myself that the prison hadn’t been enough to stop Eris--to stop me--from killing anyone. If I went back, I’d only be endangering the mission. Not that hiding out in a city was much better, but Atlantis had safeguards and I was in a sparsely populated area. The building I’d chosen had only a few units, and mine was the only one that was occupied. It was the safest place I could be for everyone else, for now.

  Tomorrow was a luxury I didn’t have to dream about.

  Part of me wished I knew how to get back to the Ether, but the pendant Ares had given me didn’t come with an instruction manual. It felt like the coward’s way out, but I deserved to be banished there, and I would be safely out of the way. I still had Hermes’ card, and the symbol was starting to get worn down from how many times I’d rubbed my thumb over it.

  Maybe he could get me there. The idea of never seeing the others again was almost too painful to bear, but even worse was the idea of facing them again.

  That night, I finally ventured out when hunger became too much of a nuisance to ignore. I bought some cheap fare at a stall in the market, where contraband potions were sold and smuggled into the human world. If I stayed, at least I knew I’d be able to find easy work, but living more than one day at a time wasn’t on my radar.

  I kept my hoodie pulled up over my head as I ventured through the back alley, feeling paranoid but unwilling to take the risk of letting my guard down. They were certainly looking for me by now. It would be obvious that my body wasn’t buried in the rubble, and they would come to the natural conclusions. The OSTF was probably combing Atlantis, and all my old haunts back home.

  All I could do was hope they weren’t harassing my friends. Knowing Mom, she’d probably publicly denounced me already. I wished I could reach out to Jazzy and Baylor to warn them, but I knew making contact would only put them in more danger. They were ride or die to the end, and ditching class was one thing, but I didn’t want them getting caught up in this mess.

  Halfway home, I became aware that I was being watched. A glance over my shoulder offered no suspects in a crowded street of hustling gods and goddesses, but my pounding heart told me it was more than just paranoia.

  I still wasn’t sure if Eris had left, or simply integrated herself into my personality, but either way, my intuition had been sharpened ever since her last appearance. I’d always been able to feel the earth like an extension of my own body--or maybe my spirit--but the range had grown exponentially. I could separate the vibrations of footsteps when I focused, and I could tell there were two people moving against the flow of the crowd.

  I rounded a corner and quickened my pace, deciding to see if they were really following me or not. There was no reason to come back this way, where there was nothing but a few back alley doors and trash cans. I felt my pursuers draw close nonetheless, and now I knew for sure they were following me.

  Breaking into a run, I headed in the opposite direction of my crash pad. I made as many turns and course reversions as I could to throw them off, but they remained steadfast and were gaining ground.

  When I felt their paths diverge, I realized what was happening. They were trying to close in on me, and I had only a couple of paths to choose from up ahead. Whoever this was knew the city’s layout well.

  Just as I was about to choose the path to the right, which led back to the market, where I could hopefully lose them in the crowd, one of the footsteps disappeared entirely. I didn’t have time to stop, so I kept running until I heard the familiar trill of a raven’s caw.

  I froze in my tracks and stared up at the jet black bird perched on the ledge of the building above me at the dead end of the alley, his blue eyes piercing with familiarity.

  My heart stopped and turned to lead in my chest, and my feet rooted themselves in the pavement. Time seemed to slow down, until I heard the footsteps behind me, closing me in.

  “Kore!” Dionysus’ voice was sharp with worry, and I was almost as shocked by that as I was by the sight of him. For a moment, I was convinced I was dreaming, and it wouldn’t be the first time. Loki always visited my nightmares in his spectral form, but it looked like it was finally time to face him for real.

  Part of me was relieved. You could only hide from a part of yourself for so long before you ran out of strength.

  “What are you doing?” Dionysus demanded, taking my arm as if I was going to run again. “Why did you run?”

  “I didn’t know it was you,” I said hoarsely, even though I knew that was only half the reason. I would’ve wanted to run all the more if I had known it was them, but I was too ashamed to admit to being that much of a coward.

  The sound of scuffling behind me suggested Loki had shifted back, and he must have come from wherever he’d first shifted, because he was almost fully clothed, save for his button-down shirt hanging open. I didn’t have the guts to meet his eyes, but the stern set of his jaw was enough of an indication of why he’d come.

  Dionysus released my arm as Loki came to a stop in front of me. I was trapped and we all knew it. Now that I knew who was following me, it was no surprise that I hadn’t been able to give them the slip.

  There were no words. I just stood there, staring at him like a deer in headlights, even though I was the oncoming semi-truck. My heart was pounding in my ears, making it impossible to hear anything else.

  He took a step forward and my body turned to stone. Here it was. The moment of truth.

  “Loki, I’m so sorry.” The words came out hoarse and strained, and I regretted them not because they were untrue, but because they were woefully inadequate. What the hell was sorry supposed to do? Sorry didn’t fix anything.

  For a moment, he said nothing. If I dared to meet his eyes, maybe they would have held the answer to whatever he was thinking, but I didn’t. When he pulled me into his arms and held me to his chest firmly enough to crush the breath from my lungs, it felt like the bottom dropped out of my reality.

  I didn’t know how to respond, and I found myself paralyzed by confusion. For a few seconds, I couldn’t even remember how to breathe. My heart wanted to sink into his arms and return the embrace I craved more than air, but my brain wouldn’t let me give in to the delusion. Or hell, maybe it was a hallucination. That seemed far more likely than him not hating me.

  “I know,” he murmured in my ear, his face buried in my hair. “It’s alright. I know what happened.”

  “You do?” I croaked, sounding as pathetic as I was afraid of.

  He just held me tighter, and I realized I couldn’t have pulled away even if I wanted to. As far as I was concerned, though, we could stay like this forever and it wouldn’t be long enough. “Helle told us what happened,” he answered, pulling away just enough to cup my face in his hands. The sadness in his gaze was more of a punishment than his rage and hatred would have been. Those, I expected and deserved, but this, I wasn’t sure what to do with. It was a new side of Loki, and the feelings I already had for him were making it even harder to face
.

  “Helle?” I asked, finally more bewildered by his words than his presence.

  “It’s a long story,” Dionysus said, coming to stand beside us. His hand on my shoulder was warm reassurance, and I felt safer between them than I had in days. He glanced around the alley. “We shouldn’t stay here.”

  Loki nodded, his arm still around my shoulder as he led me toward the corner. “He’s right. Last I heard, they were searching New York, but they’ll probably get here before long.”

  I didn’t need to ask to know who he meant by they. His father. Kunzite. Half the damn world of the gods. For all I knew, Hades and Fenrir were after me, too. The thought was too much to bear, but dissociation had already kicked in and I wasn’t fully aware of how we ended up back at my hotel room.

  Dionysus clearly wasn’t impressed by the surroundings, but he draped a blanket over my shoulders and sat on the other side of the sofa. Loki was on my left, and I think he was the one who’d brewed the steaming cup of tea in front of me.

  “Drink,” he urged, putting the paper cup in my hands.

  I raised the rim to my lips and made myself force down a few sips for his sake. I still didn’t know what to say, and their explanation of what had happened after the earthquake left more questions than answers. At least I knew Fenrir and Hades were looking for me, but not for the reasons I feared.

  “I don’t understand,” I said once I could finally get a hold on my racing thoughts. “Why would Thor tell Helle to frame me?”

  “We don’t know,” Dionysus said in a quiet tone. “Helle claims she doesn’t either.”

  I fell silent, contemplating the words Thor had said before he tried to kill me. I hugged myself, trying to think clearly through the guilt and muddled energy that had been coursing through me at the time. “Before Eris came out, I remember him saying something about Cronus.”

  “Eris?” Loki echoed, frowning. “That’s the name you cried out in your sleep.”