I actually feel like a spider as I round the side and then push my way to the middle at the top. The ropes beneath me shake, but I don't let it deter me. I have to beat this clock or else I have to do it all over again.
Plus, with the audience beneath me, I can't show my weaknesses. I need them to respect me or else they're going to leave us. I have to be brave. I have to dig deep and conquer this stupid web.
I know the time is ticking down, but I refuse to give up. I jump three ropes to make it to the top of the rafters in the training center. I slam my fist against the rafter like I just climbed Mount Everest.
A loud clapping erupts below me, and I slowly make my way down the rope web. I'm panting, unable to get a good breath in me. My adrenaline is pumping in my veins, and it's like the best high in the world.
"Good." Lex nods at me, and a small smile plays on his lips. I walk past him and return to my place in the group. Carter is next, and we all watch as he nails it in one try.
I lose track of time after the rope web. Lex makes us begin the entire round of drills over again, starting with push-ups and pull-ups. I begin to count the hours by how many times I think I'm going to throw up. I'm up to seven when Lex blows a final whistle.
"Take a quick lunch break. And, by quick, I mean you have ten minutes to eat and digest before I hand you over to Alexius." Lex blows his whistle again, and then we all run for the bleachers. Well, I don't run because my legs are so beat up I think they may fall off at any moment.
"How are you feeling?" I ask Kara as I take a heavy gulp from my water bottle.
"Really good, actually." She sits between Junior's legs on the bleacher below. He wraps his arms around her shoulders and starts to massage her back. It's really freaking cute.
I look around for Ollie and Ari and find them on the opposite side of the gym near the web. Ari stands with Cristos, his leg propped on the bottom step of the bleacher, talking and laughing as they shove chips into their mouths. Ollie chats with Dimitri and Magdelina just two steps up. Jealousy rips through me. Now she's set her sights on my other guy…
"This is what y'all up here call training?" Nikon and his sister Nikias saunter over to where we sit. Their dark hair sways with their steps, almost like they planned their movements to match with each other.
"I can run 'em circles in a second. High knees, my ass. Let's get to some real fightin'." Nikon high-fives his sister as they pace in front of us. Mikey mutters something beside me, drops his ham sandwich and teleports right next to Nikon and flips him backwards. Nikon lands hard on his back and splinters the wood floor the force is so hard.
Nikon immediately jumps back up, his sister sprinting to his side. Mikey teleports back to his seat and picks his sandwich back up and takes a big bite, acting as if nothing happened at all.
Nikias steps forward and slaps the sandwich out of his hand. It lands on the ground, completely falling apart on the nasty gym floor.
"Whoops," she laughs down at him and steps on the bread with her cowboy boot. Its pink heel digs into the bread, leaving a print behind her as she walks away.
"If she wasn't a girl, I'd murder her ass." Mikey pounds his fist into his open palm, growling as Nikon and Nikias walk to the other side of the room.
"Can't fight your own battles?" Lisa yells after Nikon. He flips her off as they continue to walk back to their parents.
I focus back on my peanut butter sandwich and bottle of water, shaking my head at the annoying siblings. They're worse than Dimitri and Cristos are. And that says a whole lot since Dimitri is practically my enemy.
"All right. Get in line!" Alexius yells as I'm just finishing my sandwich. I hurry up and pack my lunch and put it into my gym bag. I take a final swig of my water as Linus grabs my arm, knocking the bottle to the ground.
"What the heck?"
"Come with me." When we're out of the training center's main gym, Linus turns and faces me. "I found an unlocked office that we can use. I want you to take me back into a dream."
Linus opens a wood door and hurries inside, slamming it and locking it behind us once I've cleared it. The center of the room is empty, like Linus came in here before and moved all the furniture to the perimeter.
"What do you want me to see?" I'm suddenly nervous. I'm afraid that I won't be able to perform—what if I can't conjure up what he wants to see? I'm not confident enough in my abilities to bring me back a third time to the same place.
"Same as last time. But," he says, as he sits in the middle of the floor. He pats the ground beside him, and I walk over. "I want a new vantage point. We can't walk around as much. I need you to get us on that hill."
"I don't know how."
"Just imagine you're on the hill. Relax, but visualize. My mother believes in you, and so do I. This can help us big time on Friday if we know what we're up against."
I shrug my shoulders. "I'll try."
"That's all I'm asking." His eyes lighten, the violet sucking me in and making me want to do well. I want to help as much as I can.
This time, I shut my eyes first. I bow my head to the ground and conjure up the image that I saw last time. I picture myself on the top of a hill. But, then I change the image. I put my eyes at the top of the hill, looking down at me and Ari and Ollie and the group behind us.
I picture Hades coming out from somewhere behind with Hermes and their army of evil gods flanking them. I see their red eyes, feel the hatred run through the air. I feel the anger in my bones at the sight of Hermes.
Linus takes my hands in his, and then blackness swallows us.
"You've done it. My god, you're a prodigy." Linus lifts me into his arms before I even open my eyes. When I do, I see that we're on the top of the hill, the same place from when I had the vision of the dead bodies.
Only now, it's before the war. Nobody is dead yet. Nobody is fighting. It's the calm before the storm, and an eerie feeling erupts in the pit of my stomach. I feel sick and tingly.
"We need to be painfully still and even more quiet. We can't tip him off that we're here. I'm sure he knows, but I don't want him to know where we are."
"Are you talking about Hermes?"
"Yes. You know his skill?"
"Your mom told me after he kicked me out of a vision."
"Okay—Shh, they're here."
The lineup is exactly the same as before. The groups of people behind us are huddled together. My friends are all holding hands, looking like they'd kill for me. Kara is here, her body trembling with fright. But she's here. I guess I do hold that promise up.
The air thickens and heats. Tension slithers around me like a split tongue licking my toes. I feel dizzy, almost as if I might faint. I can feel their presence much more being this close.
Linus crouches down so he's close to the dirt and waves me down, too. I tuck my knees under my butt and lean so my face is parallel to the ground. I don't hear anything. And then their voices find me.
"Kill anyone. Except the girl, of course. Leave her for us." I hear Hades before I really see him. But, then he emerges from the ground, coming up through a square opening like he's on a lift.
"They're just children." Hades's head turns so fast that, for a moment, I think it snapped. He walks right up to the person who spoke up and towers over him menacingly.
"You kill anyone. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir. Ye—yes," he stutters and falls back in line. Hermes grins like he just made the person do that. And then it's like he's a hunting dog. He senses us, I'm guessing.
His nose sticks into the air and he looks from left to right three times, looking high and low. Linus' hand finds me and pushes me back down. I look over at him, and his eyes are squeezed shut, wrinkled in all the corners.
"He's found us. We need to leave. We got what we needed. Get us out of here," he pleads with me.
"I don't know how to do it."
"Just shut your eyes and fall out. Or think of the room we left from."
I drop my head to the ground and push again
st it. I try to break free from the dream, but I've never done this before. I press my eyes shut as hard as I can, but it doesn't work.
My head starts pounding against my skull. My vision starts to blacken, but for the wrong reasons. I can't pass out in the vision. Would that bring me back to real life?
"Hurry," Linus whispers, and my eyes instinctively dart open. But, I don't see Linus. I see Hermes, and he's sprinting straight for me. I shut my eyes again and plead to be taken back to real life.
And then I black out.
"What the hell was that, Linus?" I shove him away from me when we return from the vision and step backwards. My face is burning hot and something drips from my nose.
I wipe my nose with my pointer and thumb; they come back covered in hot blood. Linus steps towards me, and but I hold up my other hand and step back, putting distance between us. I don't know what the hell just happened.
"I had to know that he could do it for sure. I had to see him do it for myself."
"Who? Hermes? I told you that he could."
"I know. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you my plan. I just had to see it."
"Why? It doesn't help us at all. What do you gain from that?"
"If we're spying on them through our dreams, don't you think he's doing the same to you? We need to protect you. You can't be anywhere near the training center."
"What?" I stagger backwards, my head hurting again.
Suddenly, the door next to me bangs open, nearly hitting me in the face. I flinch away, holding my hand over my face since my nose is still bleeding.
Ollie looks between Linus and me with anger in his gaze. I have to put distance between us. I can't deal with this right now. I run from the office to the training center as fast as I can and stop when everyone is staring at me.
"Oh look, the lil' girl got herself a lil' nose bleed," the Louisiana brat sneers. I look down and my shirt is covered in blood. Who knows how long I was bleeding? It could have been the entire time I was in the vision.
"Call me a 'lil' girl' again." I mock her thick accent and root myself on the ground. I won't let her treat me badly. I won't let her come here, to my school, and think that she runs the place.
"You can't be here," Linus says from behind me and grabs my elbow. "It's for all of our safety."
"Fine."
I grab my bag from the bleachers and sprint out the doors. Everyone is in the training center. I'm the one who's left out. I don't even have Professor Onassis to talk to. Just then, I remember that my dad is staying at Professor Onassis's house. I sprint there to see if he's still staying there. I haven't talked to him in a day despite the fact that he's only a few feet away from my dorm room.
"Dad?" I call as I knock on the door.
"In here, sweetie. What do you need?" His voice is worried. I push my way in and shut the door behind me. The house smells magnificent; immediately, I feel like I'm home. I drop my bag in the empty entryway and find my dad cooking in the kitchen.
"What are you making?" I sit on the stool at the countertop and try to look past him to see what's on the stove.
"I was going to call you. I hoped you would come by for dinner. We're having breakfast." He looks over his shoulder and smiles at me, warm and inviting. "Ryder, you're bleeding." He rushes over to me, ignoring the food on the stove, and takes my chin in his hand.
"I'm fine." I brush him off, but it doesn't work. He grabs a roll of paper towels from the kitchen counter and wets it under the faucet. He hands it to me and I press it to my nose. Immediately, the first towel is covered in red.
"Thank you," I tell him.
"Stay for dinner?"
"Of course. I really need this."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
final days
Everyone is silent when I step into the dining hall the next morning. Everyone's nerves bounce off the walls. I walk to my table after I grab my food and sit across from Kara.
"I don't know if I can handle it," Mikey says.
"My arm is so sore that I swear it's going to fall off," Lisa says. She rolls her eyes and reaches her hand up to her tricep and rubs it.
"When do we have to go to the training center?" Carter asks, just as Lex walks by.
"I said yesterday for you all to be there at ten sharp. You have seven minutes." Lex stops at the table to speak and then moves on. He smiles at me sadly before he leaves through the double doors.
"He's so hot, but his drills are so hard," Lisa says. Carter shoulder-bumps her, and she giggles. He wraps his arm around her shoulder possessively.
I look across the table as Kara clings to Junior like they may never see each other again. I pray to any god that will listen that it's not the case. They talk quietly, Kara and Junior, and I look away, not wanting to intrude on their private time.
"Why can't you train with us?" Mikey asks, and it takes me a minute to realize that he's talking to me. I look over at him.
"Linus seems to think that Hermes is spying on us through my head."
"No way," Carter gasps.
"I don't know. But, to keep what you're all learning a surprise, we just want to be safe."
"That makes sense," Lisa says, nodding her head.
I catch Linus' gaze from across the room, and he's watching me intently. I furrow my brows, squinting at him, as if asking him what he wants. But he turns away and goes back to a conversation that he's having with the Louisiana group. Nikias glares at me, but I don't pay her attention.
I notice that Ari is missing from the training center—he's not sitting with the teachers or Ollie. In fact, I don't really remember seeing much of him yesterday either. I didn't see him at all after I went into the vision with Linus. Maybe he went with Cece to retrieve the person she thinks will help us.
Ollie notices me looking around and waves, smiling his wide grin with his perfectly straight, pearly teeth. I take a second to just admire him. His eyes are so blue, it's like staring into a perfectly cut sapphire. He radiates energy and love. I can feel what he puts out from across the crowded room, and it cuts a dagger straight from him to me. He suddenly frowns, and I hate it because he should be happy all the time. I know it's my fault.
I muster a wide smile and shoot it right back at him. I try to convey my love, but I haven't thought about my own curse in days. I have to figure that out. I have to go back to the beginning and really dig deep into what I feel.
I decide that that's what I'm going to do while everyone is busy in the training center today. I'm going to figure out who my soul mate is by diving into the past and really discovering my relationship with each of the guys.
"Ryder, are you in there?"
"What?" I look up and see all my friends standing in front of me.
"We're going to the training center. Are you okay?" Kara asks.
"I'm fine," I say and wave her along. They walk out the doors, the rest of the people in the room following.
"I'll miss you today," Ollie says and then kisses my forehead. He runs his hands through my hair, and I let my head tilt into it, loving the attention.
"I'm going to do some soul searching."
"Oh, yeah?" He rests his forehead against mine and stares right into my eyes. I can't look away.
"Yeah. I have only a few hours before I make a decision."
"Well, I hope it helps. I feel like you've been avoiding me lately."
"I haven't at all."
"It's just the only time I see you is when I find you. Are you doubting our connection?"
"No." I sigh and take his hand in mine. "Not at all. I'm just trying to focus on the war and training and making sure we're all ready."
"I understand. Dream hop away." He waves his arm out like a magician revealing his trick.
"Is that even a thing?" I ask back, laughing under my words.
"I just made it a thing," he laughs back. "I believe in you, Ryder. You'll be great."
"Thanks," I mutter, because it's the last thing I feel right now.
I finish eating in silence
and dump my tray into the trashcan in the middle of the long aisle. I'm not in a rush to get back to my dorm room since I know I have all day to dream before any of my friends are done training.
I walk back, conserving my energy, and slowly trek up the stairs. The room is bright, the sun streaming through the double window. I lock the door behind me, shutting myself in, and then prepare for a day of long dreaming.
I draw the blinds down, casting the room in dark shadows and weird gray light. My bed is made, and I sit on top of the covers, lying back against my pillow.
I place my hands over my stomach and start to control my breathing. I slow my pace, taking deeper breaths, and begin to relax. I shut my eyes and start to think about what I want to see in the vision. Ollie's face appears behind my lids, and I go with it.
It isn't long before I fall into bliss.
I wake up in a dream—the first of the day. I hope that this one has Ollie, because I was thinking of him when I laid down to meditate. I want to know more about my relationship with Ollie. I feel like there are still things that I don't know and am unsure of. Whereas with Ari, he's more of an open book.
I'm in a low-ceilinged house. There's a brown couch and a small ten-inch television with bunny ears on the top sticking out in strange angles. I'm clearly in a pretty recent time.
I find Ollie in the next room, the kitchen. It's small with a black and white tiled floor and white appliances. Immediately, I think I'm in the fifties, but I'm not a hundred percent sure.
Ollie looks exactly as he does now. His hair is cropped short, his face clean-shaven. Even his clothing is similar to what he wears now. His jeans are dark and tight. His white t-shirt clings to the muscles on his chest. But over his clothes is a woman's apron with red cherries printed on the front.
"Dear, you're doing my job." I watch myself skip into the room. My outfit matches the pattern on the floor. My dream self wears a knee-length black and white polka dot dress. It flares out like an umbrella, making my legs look lean as it ends just above the knees.
The Broken Curse Page 13
