by Holly Hook
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Thank You!
Cursed Academy
Year Three and a Half
Book Five of the Cursed Academy Series
By Holly Hook
Chapter One
I didn't have to worry about maturing now because I wouldn't make it that long.
Our charming new principal, Hades, offered a nod to the dining hall, but there was zero joy in it. His frown and dark beard made him look more sour than he had in the Underworld. The dark god shifted slightly on the stage, black robe swishing, sending Zeus a sideways glance. At the same time, a wave of dread washed over the four tables of the dining hall. Barely contained anger lived in the gold flecks of the god's eyes.
No one in the dining hall spoke. Even Wendy, his descendant, didn't applaud. Instead, she lowered herself behind Mikey, who sat in front of her. Maria shot me a frown. Not a smooth introduction. As Hades waited, his frown deepened, though he squared his shoulders. The immortal was used to this sort of reaction, then.
We had stolen from the Underworld last year.
Now the guy we'd angered had taken over Cursed Academy.
And worst of all, he was sympathetic to the Lower Order. Like Prometheus, he couldn't join or help them, but the Division Oath left his inner world free. Zeus had exchanged one sympathizer with another. How could Zeus not see what was going on? Or feel the cold, thrumming dread that now filled the dining hall? Hades was Wendy times ten.
Unfazed by the horror standing beside him, Zeus tapped the microphone again. Not that he needed one, because all immortals could project their voices like pros. "My brother will do his best to remove Prometheus's old markings and brand you himself, so that you all remain in Cursed Academy and are able to finish your proper education. This will also ensure that we continue the order set out in the Division Oath. I do not know what will happen to you or your current marks now that Prometheus is gone. We must play a waiting game. Some things remain mysteries even to the immortals."
Zeus stepped away from the mike, and I knew it was Hades's turn to speak. I cringed. What was he doing here? He had already made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the modern circus of the surface world.
"He's not happy to be here," Maria whispered, echoing my thoughts.
"Then maybe he won't stay long?" I hissed, praying his gaze wouldn't land on us. Even whispering felt terrifying in this atmosphere. Hades might have told Dominique about the Fortress or someone who knew Hades had done it for him. We still hadn't solved why the Lower Order showed up at Zeus's secret mansion last summer.
"Students," Hades said with a voice deeper than a pitch black cave. Another ripple of dread froze everyone and penetrated to my bones. "I know this is very short notice, for myself and for you. I will serve as principal of your Cursed Academy campus for the near future. It was a difficult decision for me to make, leaving my wife who is only with me for part of the year." He eyed the skylights and the gray winter sky. With the power still out from the Lower Order attack on the plant, it was the only light.
Maybe he wasn't here to get revenge. There was a chance Zeus had dragged him out from the Underworld and he'd go back as soon as he could. I eyed the dining hall doors, hoping Ronin had stayed behind, but the doors stayed shut. And I gulped as another thought hit me. Now to transfer schools, I'd have to face Hades. Possibly one on one.
"However, as I have taken the Division Oath, I do not know if I can remove Prometheus's marks without adverse effects. I will look for a way to mark you myself, though this may take some time and may still technically break the Oath."
Frost formed on my fork and on my breakfast. A faint green glow hung in the air. Hades balled one fist like he wanted to lash out. Zeus was throwing Hades under the bus. Hey, brother. I want you to risk breaking the Oath and slipping into a comatose state in Tartarus. It was a jerk move, even to someone like Hades. And I was starting to see why Hades had sympathy for the people trying to blow up Zeus's power plants.
Heavy guilt settled in my chest. I shouldn't be having these thoughts. Nobody was perfect, but the Lower Order was worst of all. At least Zeus didn't go around murdering people.
Students muttered around me, but Hades made no effort to silence them. Zeus folded his gray-sleeved arms and nodded.
The dark god spoke again. "For now, your classes will continue as normal. I suggest that you keep rumors to yourselves as well. There are a lot of things happening and lies will not help any situation." Then he looked straight at us, narrowing his eyes in memory and malice.
I shuddered. The message was clear. We were not to speak of his sympathy to the Lower Order or there would be literal hell to pay.
* * * * *
After the immortals, Olympian Guards, and staff swept out of the dining hall, explosive chatter broke out among the four tables. Rumors were already flying. Not that it mattered for most of the school. Hades's words were only meant for us.
If we talked, we would definitely die. And Hades felt just as powerful as Zeus. Even if we went to Zeus, I sensed the sky god wouldn't be able to stop him. The two were bound by the Oath and couldn't war with each other.
And the Oath didn't protect us students, as Prometheus had shown. It only stopped the immortals from attacking each other.
"Zeus has no idea what he's done," Maria said, shoving her tray of cold food away.
"That's clear," Wendy said. "I regret everything I ever said about wanting Hades to show up for once." She eyed her sword, frowning. As if she were cursing her luck. From the corners of my vision, I spotted people staring at her.
"So you remember everything now?" Mikey asked.
"I think so." Wendy ran her hand through her dark hair. "I wish I hadn't. We're going to have to avoid Hades."
"He's principal." Mikey let his face slap to his open palms.
"And he also doesn't like the other Olympians," I added. "Maybe he came up here to make sure I go dark. He'd be good at it. Not as good as Celestus, but Hades would make it work." I wanted Ronin. Would Hades hate him as much as Prometheus had?
Wendy put her forehead in her open palm. "He can't help the Lower Order, but he won't try to stop them, either."
"Could he undo Zeus's barrier around the schools?" I asked.
"I don't think so. Then he would be helping them," Maria said, leaning across the table. "But like our old principal, he'd look the other way if something were to happen."
"I still don't like this," I said.
Wendy took a bite of her breakfast. "I don't, either. Wow, I'm so glad I no longer hold grudges. With one exception." She winked in Serena's direction.
"We know there's a way around the Oath." Maria said. "All an immortal has to do is convince themselves they're not breaking it in any way, like Prometheus did. And of course, they have to do it well."
"He technically didn't break the Oath," Mikey said.
"No, he didn't. But Hades is clever," Wendy said.
Yeah. That was the problem. And I doubted he'd like Ronin being around me, since everyone who even remotely hated Zeus hated my boyfriend by default.
Chapter Two
Class was tense. And cold.
The instructors seemed tense, too. Mrs. Allenson kept glancing at the door as she lectured us about ancient monsters, monsters that even Cursed Academy never saw. And in Combat Training, Max kept looking over at the archway that led to the Cursed side of campus. A bit of sweat had formed on his forehead which made no other sense in the bitter January cold.
And all the while, the titan's mark remained on my forearm. It even burned when I looked at it in the full sunlight. And when I did that, Max yelled at me to pay attention.
We were throwing discs at targets when the air filled with dread and made my hair stand on end. As I lifted my small metal disc and aimed it at the red crosshair set up on the other side of the arena, I tried not to look at the dark god standing like Death at the entrance.
Hades remained for what felt like minutes, when in reality it was just seconds. Wendy, who practiced beside me, didn't look at him. Instead, she worked the side of her mouth and threw her disc, missing the target by inches.
"Focus!" Max shouted, positioning himself between the ruler of the Underworld and us. And by the time our instructor moved, Hades had left.
I was glad for him even if he did like to yell at us students. Max was a hard ass on the outside, but he gave a crap about us.
Only Celestus seemed calm, though depressed, among all the staff members. He taught our self-employment Career Exploration class as he had before, sitting behind his desk once he had us take notes on business budgeting. I guessed Hades hadn't told him to get lost, but my tutor's golden-flecked eyes appeared dull. Like something had been scooped out of him since Prometheus revealed his real intent. His former best friend had all but betrayed him. As Celestus talked about the logistics of managing our money, he opened and closed one fist.
But whenever he looked to Serena, he forced a smile. Maybe he was trying to extend a bridge back to his sister. I wished him luck.
Celestus stopped me with a nod when class let out and sat behind his desk.
"Hey," I said, stopping on the other side of his desk once everyone else, including Wendy, had filed out. We hadn't spoken since busting Prometheus.
"It was a long weekend," Celestus said. "If I'd known Hades would come here, and none of us did, then I might have thought twice about telling Zeus about Prometheus."
"How long did you suspect he was sympathetic to the Lower Order?" The question had burned all weekend.
Celestus frowned and tapped a pen on the notebooks we'd turned in. "Did you know Prometheus wrote me a glowing recommendation letter when I graduated four years ago?"
"I heard."
Then my teacher turned his elvish gaze up at me. All traces of joy had left. "My first rumblings that something was wrong came when I told Prometheus what job I'd taken. When I said I got hired by Apollo to study the Lower Order, he just...didn't seem very happy for me. And when you've dealt with a sibling like Serena all your life, you can tell when someone's hiding resentment."
I hadn't thought about it that way. "You're smart." A blush rose into my cheeks. "I'd better get going. You know, so people don't think you're trying to do anything that would get you fired."
"Good idea," Celestus said. He grinned. More heat flooded through my body, replacing the low groan I just realized had lingered in the background all day. "I'll keep an eye on Hades for you. Don't worry too much. This could be your chance to get out of here. By the way, I'm no longer your after school tutor. I talked to Ronin like a man, and he's taking over again."
"Zeus had nothing to do with that?"
"No. I'm mature and was never trying to get in the way. I trained you because I felt like I owed Prometheus after all he'd done for me. But now I'm free."
* * * * *
At least I had a new ally. Ronin and I met at my dorm after dinner, and Hades remained gone. I was glad for my secured dorm and that I had the only keycard in existence. Even Hades couldn't get in.
And Ronin and I still had total privacy and my room wasn't too cold, being on the top floor.
"Let's see how your training goes after this," he said with a grin, pulling his shirt off and tossing it beside my bed. "Now that we don't have to stay here after school, we're free. In fact," he said, raising his eyebrow in that typical Ronin fashion, "we don't have to be in any hurry to go train. What do you say?"
Sweat broke out over my body. Ronin's abs were perfect. I sat on the bed beside him, running my hand over the perfect peaks and valleys. His jeans hung low. My heart raced as I traced my finger down the crease between his hip and his abs, sinking it under the band of his jeans, feeling him shudder at my touch. "What do you think?" I pressed my chest against his, guiding his hands under my shirt, letting him help me shed my mundane layers.
Ronin was amazing as always, electricity itself, and we went for three rounds as I took in his warmth, his energy, his light. The light outside faded, but by the time we collapsed against each other, exhausted, I had filled with light. A warm glow. Ronin lay beside me, tracing random shapes on my back, and I wanted to lie under the sheets for the rest of the night, just spending time together. His touch even now sent sparks of happiness under my skin.
"I think we scared the darkness away," I said.
"That was my goal." He traced a big circle around my shoulder blades. "Do we even need to train tonight? I'm content to lie here."
I eyed the battery-powered clock. I knew what the right answer was, and it was to get off campus. After making love, I always felt like this warm glow would last forever, but in an hour or so, I'd be back to that having that background groan in my head. "It's frigid and horrible out there, but I think we need to go over to Olympian for a while. I need to absorb that atmosphere, if you know what I mean."
Ronin poked me in the back. "What? I'm not enough? But I see your point. Out we go. At least Olympian has lots of generators to keep it warm in these outages."
After we dressed and got in some heavy coats, Ronin and I walked over to Olympian, careful to step out the back door. After checking and sensing no dread that came with Hades (or Wendy, to a lesser degree) we cut across the now-dark combat arena, shivering.
"Why don't we go inside?" Ronin asked.
"We can't go back."
"No. I mean, why don't we find an empty classroom in Olympian Academy?" Breath spiraled in front of him, reflecting moonlight.
I stopped and stared at him. Ronin was just a dark figure outlined with stars and night sky. "But then our trainings won't be a secret anymore."
"It's freezing out here and gets dark early," he said. "Now that we need to spend some extra time holding your inner darkness at bay, we need another plan for these after-school trainings. They won't do much good if we don't last." Underneath his words, a frown lurked. Ronin didn't like the idea of us getting discovered.
A low feeling of dread filled the air.
I whirled, looking across the silent arena and into the archway that led to the Cursed side. "Wendy?" Well, I hoped.
"Come on," Ronin whispered. "At least we know when he's around."
I shuddered as the cold turned to a stab. I guessed that Hades was within fifty yards, not too close, and possibly aware of us. He was dread incarnate. While Wendy just made my hair stand on end when she was in a bad mood, Hades took that up ten notches. I wanted to break into a full run. The feeling was so much worse at night.
We hurried to the Olympian side of the arena, and as we crossed through the archway, the feeling dissipated. Wrapping his arm around me, Ronin led me down the trail, through the woods, and
fully onto the Olympian grounds. We crossed the smooth layer of crunchy snow that now covered the lawn, walked past the dark Healer and Oracle houses, which had candles in the windows, and entered the back door of the main campus building.
Just then, the power kicked back on and one by one, the overhead lights and electric chandeliers burst to life. Glorious heat blasted out of the vents, bathing us in relief.
"Yes," Ronin said, spreading his arms. "I thought we'd be without power for weeks. Zeus came through."
I couldn't imagine repairs on the power plant happening so fast, but here we were. The gods themselves must have done the fixes. The temperature rose and Hades had never felt so far away.
An electric sign tower that rose from the polished floor pointed you in whatever direction you wanted to go. Another sign above us now read Rear Welcoming Hall. Ronin snorted when he caught me looking at it.
"Poor choice of name," he said. "Come on. We can use the gym so long as nobody's training in there too late."
"Sounds good." I didn't want to be on the Cursed campus. Already, Ronin's electricity filled me again, and the low groan had all but vanished. Could we just stay the night over here?
Ronin led me down a wide, marble corridor on the left. I felt as if we were walking through an actual temple. The hallway was empty. Our footsteps echoed off the marble. I breathed in some of that clean, warm air. I was willing to bet the students here didn't have to do their own laundry, but I didn't want to ask Ronin. I knew how he'd react.
“In here,” he said, stopping at a huge set of metal double doors obviously built to take a beating. Inside, a gym spread out, and it seemed almost as big as the combat arena. Ronin sighed in relief.
“What's that for?”
“No one's here. We got lucky. There's a party up on the fourth floor tonight with tons of booze, so people are distracted.”
“And you didn't go.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Don't tell Zeus that.”
