Her father stroked her hair and murmured soothing words that made no sense but Cassandra, for once allowed herself to be completely vulnerable. All she wanted was for him to hold her and tell her that everything would be ok again.
They sat there until the sobs eventually subsided. The sun was about to set and even though Cassandra had thought she would never get up again, she finally found the strength to do exactly that. Her father patted her shoulder and they saw that Mia still stood at the exact same spot where Heracles had left her, unmoving, unseeing and uncaring.
While Cassandra and Heracles had sat there, some of the Claimed had come up to see what they could do. From them she heard that Summer, Jim and Hector were still alive and at the infirmary now for treatment. Then they went to carry Bear, Sam and the Minotaur down to the university grounds again.
Finally, Cassandra winced in pain when she moved to follow her father.
“How bad is it?” Heracles asked and Cassandra closed her eyes to breathe away the pain.
“That bad, huh”, Heracles said and then she heard him move about.
He seemed to wrestle with something and when Cassandra wearily opened one eye, she saw her father pulling and tearing at the Fleece. The Fleece seemed to resist him but either Heracles was lucky or he was indeed still much stronger than he looked because in the end he succeeded. He came over to Cassandra and placed a hair on her shoulder. When the Fleece’s magic, much weakened because the hair wasn’t attached to the sheepskin anymore, started working on her, she fell into a deep, healing sleep.
Her father held up a second hair and after a moment’s deliberation put it on her heart. He knew it was a ridiculous thing to do because the Fleece could not heal something that was only broken in the metaphorical sense. Or could it? He didn’t care. She was his daughter and he should have protected her. It was his fault that she was in such a bad state, his fault that she had to go through this all by herself. But not anymore. From that day on he would be there for her. He waited until he was sure that she was fast asleep and then he took her into his arms. He told Mia to follow him and then he took his daughter home.
25 Summer Break
Three days later, Cassandra returned to the plateau. She still felt a little pain in her shoulder but it didn’t trouble her much. She had had a good talk with her father and in the end they had decided that they would get to know each other after the summer break.
He had claimed her as his own. When Cassandra told him that that wouldn’t matter if Pandora couldn’t stay at the university, he had promised that her sister could stay as long as she wanted and that they would give her time to heal.
In general, Cassandra found her father to be more emotional about their reunion than she would have thought. He suggested several times that she move in with him, which she refused, telling him that she liked their little house and she wanted to be close to her friends. In the end she was almost glad to be able to get away from him for some time.
She and Hector had accepted a summer job a while ago and even though they would be leaving three days late now, they were still planning on going. Hearing that, Heracles had wished her good luck for her travels and had then handed her a sword in a simple black leather scabbard, telling her that she shouldn’t dare refuse that, too. He hugged her and told her to take good care of herself. She even had to promise to write from time to time and with that they had parted.
When Cassandra took a closer look at the sword later, she found it had her name carved into the hilt and when she swung it, it felt like it had always belonged to her.
Standing on the edge of the cliff that had cost them so dearly a few days ago she held on tightly to the sword, reminding herself that she would have to atone for what had happened on that day in times to come. Down at the beach, chunks of Scylla’s body were still lying around in various degrees of decay. As no one had bothered to remove them, Cassandra could smell the rotten stench even from up here.
She wished she could tell Charlie thank you for saving them that day. She knew that a hundred swords could not have done the damage from without that Charlie had done from within. But their friend, who was now the god Dionysus again, had disappeared right after he had killed Scylla and Cassandra guessed that he was already on his way back on Mount Olympus for a family reunion.
By killing Scylla, Charlie had also released the little boat with Wolf, Sol and Beatrix in it. Both Wolf and Sol had survived practically unharmed but some of Scylla’s stomach acid had sprayed on Beatrix’s face and eaten into her hair and skull. Ms. Nightingale had done her best to save her but she would have died if the Golden Fleece hadn’t done its magic on Beatrix as well. Even though Beatrix hadn’t died that night, the Fleece had left half her face disfigured by terrible scars and the hair on that side of her head would never grow back again. Once again the Golden Fleece had worked its terrible magic.
Bear had been buried the day before. Cassandra had watched his funeral from afar. Only Ben, Alexander, Sol and Wolf had been present for his burial and even though Bear had betrayed them, his friends had still honored him. It had been Alexander who had said the prayers and laid the hammer Bear had used as his favorite weapon on his tombstone. When they had left, only Wolf had remained standing at the freshly dug grave. When he thought no one was watching, he had broken down in front of it, crying. Cassandra, who had felt like she had seen something she shouldn’t have, had spoken a silent prayer and then retreated.
She thought of Mia who hadn’t reacted to anything they had asked her. In the end they had given up and sent her to a “safe” place; probably the same Pandora would have been sent to if it hadn’t been for Heracles’ promise that she could stay as long as it would take. Cassandra had gone to say good-bye to Pandora and had met Medusa in her human form there. Cassandra still hadn’t been allowed to talk to her, not even to say good-bye, but Pandora’s grandmother promised to look after her while they were gone.
When she asked where Madame Margot was, she was told that the sorceress had fallen ill and was unable to see visitors. Cassandra, thinking about Madame Margot’s eyes, which definitely had a chocolaty note to them, resolved to look a little closer into said Madame’s doings once she came back from her tour through Eastern Europe.
She had hinted at Heracles that Madame Margot might have something to do with what had happened but Heracles had reacted quite harshly, telling her that she had no idea what she was talking about and that Madame Margot was entirely harmless. She had always suspected that there was something going on between the two of them but now she was almost sure that her father might be protecting the woman for exactly that reason but she had also seen doubt that he had been quick to hide. Cassandra could see that they still had a long way to go but it was a start.
When Cassandra had gone to see Sam during one of his nightly watch duties after that fateful day, she had heard Beatrix scream until finally someone had the mercy to sedate her. Sam said that Beatrix wouldn’t stop looking at her disfigured face and had attempted suicide three times since she had been rescued even though Sol kept telling her that the only thing that mattered was that she was alive.
Sam, who looked his old self again, seemed to be one of the few who didn’t have any lingering hard feelings towards her and was accommodating enough until Cassandra asked him to let her talk to Alexander before she left for the summer break but Alexander had given clear orders not to let her through under any circumstances. Even though Cassandra hadn’t expected anything else, she still felt hurt.
“Wait until after the summer break”, Sam murmured when he saw her pain.
When she asked about Ben, his face became a neutral mask.
“Take my advice and stop pursuing this path”, was all he said. “You have done enough damage, don’t you think?”
Cassandra, about to say something else, nodded and then she left. She thought of the way the band on Ben’s wrist had glowed, how Arissa had looked at him knowing that he didn’t have a choice and knew that Ben would suffe
r almost as much as she did. When she turned the corner she saw Sam was watching her go. He raised one of his fingers a fraction and she knew it was his way of saying thank you for saving his brother.
“I would do it again”, Cassandra whispered, knowing he would hear her.
Cassandra was jolted back into the present when she saw movement down at the beach. It was the dead servant girls’ brother, the one angry at everything and everyone. He had come to look at the creature that had killed his sisters but there was no satisfaction for him down there. She saw him ball his fists and then heard him scream something she didn’t understand. In the end he hung his head and turned around to leave. Cassandra felt for him but knew that he would have to let go now.
Cassandra had gone to see the family the next day but they had already heard what had happened. The boy hadn’t been there and the younger sister, who still had to take care of the mother, had cried. Cassandra told her how sorry she was and then left. There had been so much she would have wanted to say but in the end there had been no words.
With one last look at the spot that had brought so much desperation, Cassandra turned around to walk back home. Hector was waiting for her with their bags. Summer and Jim, like many others, had only survived because of the Nereid’s help that day and were still shaken from the whole experience. They clutched at each other, Summer looking pale and beautiful and Jim, who was almost two heads taller than Summer now, wished them well for their journey. Then Summer started crying and Cassandra drew her into a hug, telling her to take good care of their little home. She hugged Jim, who instantly turned a deeper shade of purple.
“Stop growing”, she said and Jim smiled awkwardly.
He was almost as tall as her now and thin as a stick but he looked happy. He promised to try and then vanished back into the house. Cassandra waited until Hector had said his good-byes to Summer and then they went down to the beach.
When they passed the palace, Cassandra thought she saw someone standing on the balcony but the sun was in her eye and when she looked again that person was gone. Another time she thought she felt Ben’s non-presence but it was gone when she tried to look harder.
They waited by the shore until they were finally picked up by a ship that would bring them closer to their destination. They went looking for their cabins but before they disappeared below deck, Cassandra turned around once again. The island on which the university stood was wrapped entirely in fog even though it was a clear day, and had disappeared from view.
Three months. That’s how long they would be away. Three months to try and sort out her feelings. To make sense of everything that had happened that year. Cassandra breathed in and closed her eyes. Three months was a long time. But maybe not nearly long enough.
Epilogue
“You failed”, the woman in the mirror said sharply. “Miserably.”
The girl with the now all-white hair bared her perfect teeth and stuck her finger at the mirror.
“No, mother”, she hissed. “We failed.”
“Your failing to control Scylla cost us one of our own and Mia is lost as well”, Hera hissed back. “It looks to me like you are too weak to see this through.”
Arissa, who a few days back might have felt insulted, didn’t even listen. A lot had changed since that day on the beach. She had discovered a power in herself she hadn’t known existed. She knew she was much stronger than everyone thought and she would show them. And sooner or later she would get rid of them all. Especially her brother, who refused to die no matter what she did, wouldn’t survive the second year here at the university, she would make sure of that.
“I will do everything it takes”, Arissa said and Hera’s face softened into a grimace of mock understanding.
“I know you will, dear”, she said with no trace of warmth in her voice. “And that is why you will continue to listen to me and do as I say. Otherwise, I might just tell my husband about your little plot to kill his favorite son and then you will spend the rest of your days in the deepest corners of Hades. If you are lucky.”
“I thought Zeus couldn’t know about your involvement in our little scheme”, Arissa answered and it was hard to control the hatred in her voice.
She and Hera weren’t allies because they trusted each other, they were in on it together because they had the same ultimate goal. Well, almost. Hera wanted to get rid of all divine descendants because they were an abomination, something that shouldn’t exist, just like she believed that humans were no more than vermin populating the earth who would eventually destroy themselves once there was no divine protection for them anymore. Arissa was fine with destroying the other demigods and especially getting rid of her brother but she would like to have something left to rule over once she became Achilles’ successor here on earth.
She had never understood why it should be Alexander instead of her. The prophecy said that their mother, the nymph Thetis, would give birth to a child greater than its father but she was Zeus’s child as well. Still, her father hadn’t even considered her. And she would make him pay dearly for it.
“Whom do you think he would believe?” Hera said acidly. “His loving wife or the daughter who tried to kill her brother even during birth?”
Arissa’s umbilical cord had wrapped around Alexander’s throat and almost strangled him. Arissa had wished a million times that she would have gotten rid of him there and then.
And now there was this girl, Cassandra, who kept getting into her way. It wasn’t enough that it had become harder to control Ben lately, now she also had to reckon with that stupid bitch who saved her brother over and over again. She would have to go as well. Unfortunately, she had lost Mia whose magic had allowed her to control the creatures she had called even though neither the small hydra, nor Medusa nor Scylla had come through for her.
“Fine”, Arissa replied and took a deep breath. “We’ll return home tomorrow and we’ll find a way.”
“Not on Mount Olympus”, Hera said sharply. “If you try anything up here, I will personally see to it that you will be punished. Do you understand?”
Arissa sighed.
“Of course, mother”, Arissa said and turned around. “I have to go pack now. See you soon.”
With that she simply walked out of the room. She needed to say good-bye to one more person who had been very helpful these past few months. She walked across campus with a hood drawn over her head, careful not to be seen by anyone. When she arrived at the round stone building, it took her a while to find the spot where she needed to press to open the hidden door.
When she entered the room, the woman she had been looking for, lay sprawling on some cushions like she had been waiting for her and was lazily playing with a necklace in her hand.
“I hope no one saw you”, she said languidly.
Arissa didn’t answer. Of course no one had seen her.
“Give it back to me”, Arissa said and stretched out her hand. “Bear shouldn’t have taken it. It was a stupid thing to do.”
“Almost as stupid as letting Mia live”, the woman said. “We should have cut her throat properly.”
Arissa remembered with a shudder how her body had been taken over by that foreign force because it had been the only way to give enough power to Mia without revealing who was helping them. Now Mia had become a loose end and Arissa still felt like she wasn’t entirely back to her old self.
“Ready to go home?” the woman said, sensing Arissa’s discomfort and enjoying it.
“As ready as ever”, Arissa replied and snatched the necklace dangling from the woman’s hand. “See you next semester, Circe.”
And with that she went away.
Circe, who was known to most other people as Madame Margot, arched her back like a cat. She had enjoyed the rush of power when she had been in Arissa’s body. The dominance of a demigod such as Arissa combined with her own substantial abilities had been… intoxicating. It would be hard to control herself now that she had tasted that kind of power again. She heard
a noise, wrinkled her nose and sighed. Then she turned herself into Madame Margot. Of course Heracles only knew that version of herself. It was softer, prettier and more sensual than her true self. But most of all it was easier to control herself that way. For today. But who knew what tomorrow might bring.
ACknowledgements
Writing a book is fun. It is also a lot of work and takes up time and space that is not always easy to come by. During the writing of this book, my husband and two children were very patient with me, putting up with a frequently empty fridge, heaps of clothes lying around and an absent-minded Mummy that forgot to pack the right shoes for practice (or in one case forgot to bring them at all); I love them all the more for it.
My thanks go to my really good friend Kate who not only proofread the book but also inspired me to even think of trying because she simply went ahead and changed her life and dared to dream – thank you for your courage and for being my inspiration! Thanks also to your family who also helped a lot with the book!
My bright and beautiful sister Hanna was the driving force behind writing this book. From the start, she listened to my ideas, read through every version and always encouraged me to write more and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. My thanks also go to my parents who are always there for us and are the best parents you could wish for and to all my friends who told me to go ahead.
I also want to thank Miri Gebert who made the cover look perfect; she is a delight to work with and I am looking forward to working with her again for The Dark Ones, University of the Gods Trilogy, Part 2. I also want to thank Mary Hood for creating the beautiful, serene cover art; your art is an inspiration. For more info on her work, take a look at her website: www.whimsicalmuse.com. It’s magical!
Music is the soundtrack of our lives and there were two songs that could frequently be heard in our house when I was writing the book: David Guetta’s Lovers on the sun gave me the rhythm and Nickelback’s What are you waiting for additional courage.
The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) Page 32
