by Holly Hook
Ronin knocked on the wooden conference room door.
"Enter," Zeus ordered.
Ronin pushed the door open with a faint creak.
The air in the conference room struck me like a wall of pure magic. Electricity merged with sunlight and moonlight, which I saw every time I blinked. I balled my fists as a sense of aggression filled me, but when I took my next breath, the scent of the ocean followed.
I backed away before my overwhelmed brain could figure out what I was about to walk into.
"Oh. So you're all here," Ronin said.
"Yes," Zeus said on the other side of my closed eyelids. "Enter, please. I know our presences are overwhelming and I will try to calm my own magic. We immortals often forget the effects we have on everyone else."
I opened my eyes.
And counted eleven immortals seated around the long table. Only two leather seats remained in the center of the table, one for me and one for Ronin. The gods had planned for this meeting.
The Olympians. All except for Hades were here. My gaze landed on Hera, whose auburn hair was tucked into a severe bun. Dressed in a lavender suit, she once again raked her gaze over Ronin and scooted her rolling chair closer to Zeus. The message was clear. A bit of anger brimmed in me. It wasn't his fault his father hadn't been faithful.
"Please, sit," said the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Aphrodite. She wore no makeup, but every feature and curve could make any guy fall to his knees. I nudged Ronin, who was staring at her, and he swallowed and led me around the table, past Dionysus, whose presence made me feel drunk and dizzy, and to the two empty chairs on the opposite end of the table as the doors.
Maria and Wendy remained in the doorway, and Zeus himself looked at them. "Step out, please, and leave us to meet. We will be discussing the logistics of how Giselle will transfer to Olympian Academy, the school I intended her to attend."
My mouth was dry and my throat was on fire from nerves, but I had to say something. I wished Cal and Mikey would catch up with us. Time was running out for my friends, Maria more than Wendy. "They want to transfer to Olympian, too."
Zeus, along with the other immortals, snapped his gaze to me and stifled a laugh.
And both Maria and Wendy balked, paling at the same time.
"I'm serious," I continued, pushing out the words. I could do this. Ronin squeezed my hand. It was time to pull out my bargaining chip. "I know you all want me here, and I want my friends here as a condition."
Jaws dropped. Ronin's grasp moved to my hand and tightened. He was sweating. The man in the tealish suit, Poseidon, let his jaw drop. He was a serious, old-looking guy who looked as if he'd come from years adrift at sea. I didn't know if I liked him, either. Hadn't he punished a war hero for twenty years for not offering a thanks?
"We are offering you a gift," Zeus snapped, making the chairs quake. "If we allow every student from Cursed Academy to transfer to Olympian, we will have an influx of people we won't know what to do with. Our funds can only stretch so far."
"That is true," Hera said, her voice a razor.
I doubted that, especially after Ronin got his new toy. Ronin cleared his throat and prepared to speak as more sweat snaked between his fingers and joined with mine. "We understand that. But Maria, Mikey, and Wendy are Giselle's close friends. Having them here will only aid in her development into a goddess of power. I know very well that negative emotions can bring out the destruction in Giselle, regardless of where she is." That lobbying class Ronin took was kicking in.
"That may be true." Zeus glanced at Wendy, who stayed stiff and silent. "But the reverse may also be true. Giselle will be bringing the essence of Cursed Academy with her. In addition, Maria and Mikey will only become the outcasts of Olympian were they to attend. There are no classes here that would fit their talents."
Though I was in the presence of the gods, a faint low groan filled the space between my ears. Anger rose in me. "I'm feeling the void right now," I said. "No joke. I want my friends here."
"You can make new friends," Hera said. "Your situation is fluid. If it were family, that would be a different story. We cannot change our families." She glowered at Apollo and his twin sister.
The sun god didn't miss a beat. "Giselle might benefit from having her friends with her at least some of the time," Apollo said. I was glad he was here. He was the most agreeable of the gods. Artemis sat beside him and nodded, looking younger than me with her hair pulled back. As I stared, a shimmering, silver glow seemed to emanate from her, though I couldn't quite see it.
"Silence," Hera ordered Apollo. The air thickened. Yeah, the twins were on the same platform as Ronin when it came to the jealousy.
"Apollo," said a god with a heavily scarred face, "has made an excellent point." Hephaestus. I'd heard in Divine History that he'd been born disfigured and went into metalworking because what else would a disfigured god do? And he gave off heat a lot like Prometheus had.
Hera narrowed her lips at him. "He spoke out of turn, as did you."
I wanted to scream in frustration. Even the gods were acting like regular people who couldn't decide what they wanted on a pizza, only this was worse because they couldn't decide who to let into their school. Mrs. Ershaw had been right. The immortals were people.
"Wife," said Zeus. "Let us bring this meeting back to order. Our son may have a good point. Hermes, do you have something to say?" He turned his attention of a clean-shaven young man who despite his suit looked like an athlete, a runner to be precise. I wondered if he actually wore winged shoes like in the myths, but I couldn't see over the table.
"I am undecided," the messenger god said. "Perhaps Giselle should have her friends. All connections are important, after all."
"They are monsters," Hera said, exchanging a nod with Poseidon.
I had to break this up. Did Ronin have to deal with this on a regular basis?
"Maybe there should be a vote?" I suggested. I wanted to get away from this dysfunctional family as soon as I could. Maybe I was lucky not to have a family. So far, some of those I'd seen hadn't been worth it.
"A vote," Zeus said as his eyes darkened. He seized the edge of the table. "We all run Olympian Academy together, but I am the head."
Translation: no.
"May I speak?" Hermes asked, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. He sounded as friendly as Apollo. "Giselle is, in fact, feeling the rise of her chaotic powers at the prospect of not having her friends here at Olympian with her. I can sense it right now. I say she should be allowed to have them here with her, despite the few complications it might bring."
"I second that," Apollo said with a warm smile. "They may face some ostracism, but that is part of any school. I believe making an exception for Mikey, Maria, and Wendy is in order."
"Yes," I said as the low groan died. Ronin's electricity flowed up my arm and into my chest, carrying the tingles of relief. Maria and Wendy both grinned from their position at the door. And as I watched, Cal and Mikey walked up behind them. Cal had wrapped a blanket around Mikey and left his arm around him. Mikey still looked normal. Relieved. And then nervous as his gaze landed on the meeting attendees.
"We could make an exception for Wendy, as she is a descendant of an Olympian, but we do not let budding monsters into Olympian Academy," Zeus continued, raising his shoulders. The electricity in the room swept over the rest of us, casting away the magic of the other gods. "Our system is meant to keep everyone in the place safest for them and safest for the rest of society. After the Awakening, you know what happened. And letting monsters roam free in the top levels of society will only cause more death and misery to the human world."
I gulped. The Awakening had been due to the gods flexing their powers when they woke, but they'd reigned everything in. Eventually. Now we had this. "What if Maria and Mikey are the two exceptions? They don't want to hurt people. They have futures lined up."
Cal caught on. "Mikey and I formed Orpheus. And I keep an eye on him."
"Very g
ood album," Apollo said with a nod, brightening the room.
"And Maria is going to be their manager. There's no point in her staying at Cursed Academy," Wendy added.
"I like what everyone is saying," Ronin said.
"We cannot have this getting out," Zeus said, slamming his fist down on the table. "It will send the wrong message to everyone."
Everyone jumped. My hair stood on end and Ronin scooted closer to me. It seemed the other Olympians feared Zeus and I couldn't blame them. Even Ares cringed and shifted closer to Aphrodite.
"Perhaps taking some prized students from Hades would be a good move," a woman I figured was Demeter said. She was the head of the world's agricultural departments and wore a golden lapel like Dionysus did, only hers was a sheaf of wheat. "It would teach him his place, would it not?"
"He, um, did steal your daughter," Ronin said with a nod. "I can understand you wanting revenge."
We had another vote in our favor. If we outnumbered Zeus, he'd have to give in, right? But the god's eyes were storm gray and the golden flecks within flashed like lightning. He did not enjoy being told what to do. The trick would be to make him think it was his own idea.
Or deliver an ultimatum.
I stood.
The immortals gasped.
I was going to be among them soon, so why not stand up for myself?
"Sit down," Athena ordered, training her intelligent, spectacled eyes on me. She was almost as terrifying as her father.
"No," I said. "If I'm so valuable, you won't kill me or anyone I care about. Or hurt or otherwise curse them, either."
Ronin stood beside me. "Giselle," he warned, very pale. Clearly no one had dared to do this before. But I wasn't going to ditch my friends and let them fall to horrible fates.
Zeus stood as well, mouth open like he couldn't believe what was happening. Hera remained seated but icy. The others just watched. Maria backed out of the room, but Wendy was daring enough to remain in the doorway.
"Sit down," he ordered.
"Look," I said. "Either my friends come to Olympian with me or I stay at Cursed Academy."
More gasps.
Zeus stared like a deer caught in headlights.
I looked right back into his eyes. "You have those two choices. The Lower Order would love it if I went dark. I don't want to risk them getting what they want, so having my friends with me is the only way. You heard what Hermes just said."
Hermes shifted in his chair.
What was I getting into?
Was Carmen getting to me?
Zeus grit his teeth and slowly sat back down. I was having influence over Zeus. My whole world felt like it was crashing down. Or expanding. Tingles ran under my skin, even as he trained barely controlled rage on me. My hair stood on end like it never had.
"Then your friends will be admitted to Olympian Academy, should they not fail our vision," he said, casting a glance at Wendy. "That is provided you do not go dark before your mark from Prometheus completely vanishes. Apollo has calculated that will take time. A few more months, in fact. Your marks should all be gone about the time of the end of the year dance."
"The end of year dance?" I asked, letting my tough facade drop.
"We can't interfere with them fading on their own or we break the Oath," Apollo said.
I took a breath. Though Zeus sat and once again wore a calm exterior, the air remained charged. He was not happy about my insubordination. I sat and the sensation decreased, but hung in warning. I might have stepped out of bounds, especially after Zeus had finally started to accept Ronin.
"Now, the war plan for the transfer," Athena said, all business.
"Yes," Zeus said. "Hades told me he is waiting for your marks to fade before he marks all the students in Cursed Academy himself. It's the only way he feels he can avoid breaking the Oath. When your brand vanishes, Giselle, you'll have very little time to find me. Hades, I believe, will mark his students as soon as possible because he knows some will want to change sides."
"Yeah, because everyone goes to the end of the year dance together," Ronin said with a nod. He loosened his hand on mine.
"Exactly. But unknown to Hades and the rest of Cursed Academy, we will have two separate dances this year. One at the usual venue, and the Olympian one right here on campus. Our plan is to have Hades and the rest of Cursed Academy several miles distant while you join us at Olympian. Hades will attempt to find you. Don't let him. And leak to no one that Olympian is backing out of the normal end of school dance, or the deal is off."
"Hades kidnaps women," Demeter added. I could practically see her rubbing her hands together, anticipating revenge.
"I know," I said with a gulp. That applied to immortals. And now I didn't dare mention that he was leaving my friends out of the conversation. For a bit, nobody spoke. "Thanks for opening the barrier a bit."
"It was difficult to do," Zeus said. "I needed to give my brother the illusion of control and ensure he was with us on working against the Lower Order. I wouldn't be surprised if he harbored sympathies."
So Zeus suspected. And he'd still placed him in Cursed. Maybe that was why Zeus tried to throw him under the bus with the whole Oath thing. Clever.
"A lot of people harbor sympathies," Athena said, nodding to Ares.
A few of the other gods nodded, though Hermes and Apollo remained still.
"So," Zeus said. "The Olympian party will take place here on campus, with the Cursed students going to the usual venue in Marchamp. That is your once chance. Understand?"
"Yes," I said, eager to be out of that conference room. "Understand."
Chapter Nine
Maria and Mikey surprised me later that night with a batch of sloppily made, but awesome cookies straight from the kitchen downstairs. Mikey, still wearing oven mitts, knocked on my dormitory door with the pan itself and held them up to my face as I sniffed.
"Special delivery," he said.
I eyed Ronin, who had collapsed on my bed from the exhaustion of today's earlier events. "Cookies? What for?"
Mikey screwed up his face. "For preventing me from becoming a full male Siren in the middle of that blizzard. I was close to maturing. If I'd seen Cal or even breathed in his scent, I would have attacked him. And then he would have had to attack me back, and he probably would have killed me. Cal said that once I mature, even he won't be able to restore me to humanity. And I don't want to end up like that."
Then Maria jabbed him in the ribs.
"Hey!" Mikey said.
"These cookies are also because you stood up to Zeus like a pro," she said.
I swallowed as Ronin walked up behind me, making a joint pop. "You didn't have to."
"You are the first person ever to stand up to Zeus," Maria said. "Now we're all going to Olympian so long as we keep proving ourselves."
I felt as if a spotlight were glaring down on me and I didn't like it. Ronin was right to say it was uncomfortable. If Zeus got angry at me and I pushed his buttons enough, there would be hell to pay. I just knew. "We don't know what 'proving ourselves' even means."
"I already told Ted," Maria half-squealed. "He's happy for me. I won't have to worry about sprouting a new eye in my head for a while yet. With Cal around, who knows how long we can hold those changes back?"
"Cal's got his work cut out for him," Ronin said.
Wendy came up and joined us a few minutes later--she had just gotten off the phone with her angry mother--and she, too, wore a rare smile. "We're all getting out of here," she said. "I thought it would be great having Hades here, but it's not. I think Serena was following me, but I lost her by taking the long way around the dorms. You never know with her."
Yeah. She liked creeping around in a shadowy form, one I had borrowed before. Wendy closed my dorm door behind me and we dug into some cookies. Once there were none left, Wendy dabbed her lips.
"How are we supposed to meet the gods' expectations?"
"Huh?" I asked, sitting on my bed.
Wendy took
the desk. "Zeus said we could get into Olympian so long as we kept proving ourselves. He didn't give us details. Sorry, but we're not out of the woods yet."
I gulped and looked to Ronin.
Ronin worked his jaw. "I don't know what that means. Will he have some kind of quest for you guys? Something difficult?"
"A quest?" Mikey asked, pacing. "Let's see. We've gone to the Underworld, escaped a burning underground bar, fought Dominique, almost been killed by werewolves, and dealt with Max screaming in our faces during Combat Training. What more does he want?"
"I don't know," I said, mood sinking into the floor. "Maria? Have you found out anything more about Percival?"
She shook her head. "I haven't. Just that he was definitely killed by the Lower Order. The whole thing doesn't make any sense."
* * * * *
As the weeks passed and the days slowly got longer, I watched my mark. Maria took pictures of our marks daily, in her dorm after classes, and compared them to photos of the day before. We always chose her room at the same time of day to guarantee we had identical lightning in each photo. "I'm wondering if Apollo's calculations are right," she kept saying as she studied the line of images on her laptop.
Maria had done a great job, and it was good to see that Apollo seemed to be right about the timing. Maria tracked herself, me, Mikey, and Wendy all in one file. And over the past month or so since Hades had taken over Cursed Academy, it was clear: our marks had faded by maybe a third.
"This is happening to everyone," Mikey said, leaning over Maria's screen. "People are starting to talk about it. At least Hades hasn't come out of his office much. He's a bit antisocial."
"That's good," I said, trying not to look at Wendy.
Wendy didn't seem to care. "That means no more new rules, and no more having everyone glare at me like it's my fault. I bet Hades put up that barrier partly to get back at me for stealing Lethe water from his realm."
"It was Zeus," I reassured her, not sure if I was right.
Wendy coughed like she didn't believe me. "Hades is the type to hold grudges. And he still hasn't said what became of Percival's spirit. He doesn't answer his office door when people knock."
