POSEIDON’S
ACADEMY
BOOK 1
SARAH A VOGLER
First Published in Australia by Aurora House
www.aurorahouse.com.au
This edition published 2018
Copyright © Sarah A Vogler 2018
Typesetting: Allen Smalley
Cover design: Simon Critchell
The right of Sarah A Vogler to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN number: 978-0-6483509-5-8 (Kindle)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication entry:
For my parents, who have
always believed in me
Contents
Acknowledgments
Greek Mythology Pronunciation Guide
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
Poseidon’s Academy Reading Group
Want to Know What Happens Next?
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Writing Poseidon’s Academy and getting it published has felt a lot like battling a minotaur—the arduous process brought me to my knees many times, making me think my writing career was over before it had even started. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have a multitude of amazing people in my life, who have cheered me on and helped bring Poseidon’s Academy to life.
Thank you to my parents, Sharyn and Stephen, for reading every grammatically-flawed story I wrote as a kid, and for spurring me on to follow my dreams. Thank you to my best friend Lauren for acting as my one-woman cheerleading squad, always giving me that burst of motivation when I needed it. Thank you to my writing buddies—Sarah, Shannon, and Kara—for all your constructive criticism. Thank you to everyone who offered to read my novel, or parts of it, and gave me advice. Thank you to Nikki Williamson and Philippa Donovan for appraising my book and pointing out areas that needed strengthening. Thank you to my tutors and lecturers at The University of Queensland, especially Kim Wilkins and Charlotte Nash-Stewart, for helping me grow as a writer. Thank you to my publisher, Linda Lycett, for helping make my dreams a reality. And thank you to Sharnai James-Mcgovern for proofreading. Without each of you, Poseidon’s Academy would still be a work-in-progress.
Greek Mythology
Pronunciation Guide
(Note: this is a general guide only. Certain names have varying pronunciations.)
THE GODS
Aceso: uh-key-so
Anemoi: uh-nem-oy
Aphrodite: afro-die-tee
Apollo: uh-pol-o
Ares: air-eez
Artemis: ar-tuh-miss
Asclepius: as-kleh-pee-uhs
Athena: uh-thee-na
Chione: key-own-knee
Demeter: deh-mee-tur
Hades: hay-deez
Hebe: hee-bee
Hecate: hek-uh-tay
Hephaestus: huh-fes-tus
Hera: hair-uh
Heracles: hair-uh-cleez
Hermes: her-meez
Hestia: hes-tee-uh
Hypnos: hip-nos
Persephone: per-sef-uh-nee
Poseidon: poh-sigh-den
Prometheus: pro-me-thee-us
Protogenoi: pro-toe-jen-oy
Thanatos: than-uh-tos
Titans: tight-ens
Tyche: ty-key
Zeus: zoos
NYMPHS
Dryad: dry-ad
Naid: ney-ad
Nereid: neer-ee-id
PLACES
Elysian Fields/Elysium: e-lee-zee-uhn fields/e-lee-zee-uhm
Olympus: uh-lim-pus
Tartarus: tar-ta-rus
MONSTERS AND CREATURES
Centaur: sen-tor
Cerberus: ser-bur-us
Chimera: ky-meer-uh
Cyclops: sigh-clops
Erinys/Erinyes: e-rin-es/e-rin-eez
Harpy: hahr-pee
Hippocampus/Hippocampi: hip-uh-kam-pus/hip-uh-kam-pee
Lycaon: lie-kay-on
Medusa: meh-doo-sa
Minotaur: min-uh-tor
Nemean Lion: nee-me-un lion
Pegasus: peg-uh-suhs
Scylla: sil-uh
Siren: sigh-ren
Sphinx: sfingks
Stymphalian Birds: stim-fey-lee-uhn birds
1
The Letter
Hailey perched on the roof of her two-storey brick house, oblivious to the pair of teenage girls giggling at the end of her street. One of them pressed her hands onto the road. The asphalt shuddered and moaned, great big cracks tearing through the black ground as water gushed up from underneath it, transforming the road into a crystal blue lake. The second girl stirred her hand through the water, ice blasting from her fingertips and shooting down the lake, freezing it solid.
‘Ice rink,’ both girls shouted. ‘Ice rink. Ice rink.’
Children piled out of houses, pulling on skates and scrambling onto the frozen water.
Their laughter didn’t register with Hailey, whose gaze remained fixed on the envelope clutched in her hands. It smelled of salt, reminding her of sunny days at the beach. The address read:
Miss Hailey Woods
12 Golden Fleece Place
Calliope Gardens
London
A gold trident bordered by the letters P and A was stamped on the back, with a swirl of gold water encircling it. Hailey’s stomach grew heavy as she thought about the letter inside, which would either inform her of her acceptance to or rejection from Poseidon’s Academy: the high school every eligible teenager in the world strived to get into.
Poseidon’s Academy was no ordinary high school. It was an underwater palace that had once been the Olympian god Poseidon’s home. No one had ever seen it—aside from accepted students, who whispered of jewel-encrusted walls and sea-nymphs.
Hailey doubted Poseidon appreciated the conversion of his palace into a school, but he wasn’t in a position to complain considering he, and every other god, was dead. And had been for sixteen centuries now—compliments to humans killing them in the Great Battle.
Although Hailey supposed you could say they had lived on—at least in a small way—because when they’d died, their powers had showered from the sky to the human race, turning everyone into demigods. And since then, the gods’ powers have passed down through each generation, so every human in the world has a power.
The cold touch of a raindrop sliding down Hailey’s cheek had her gazing up at a grey cl
oud encroaching on the sun. She flicked her hand at it, watching the cloud speed away out of sight, leaving the sky azure blue.
Hailey was a Zeus. The only Zeus in over a century, to be exact, which meant her powers came with certain expectations. Her mind flashed back to the last Powers class she’d had before the summer holidays...
Hailey stood in a grassy field, the sweet and earthy scent of rain hanging in the air. Her teacher, Mrs Pritchet, loomed behind her with the rest of her class. But Hailey was too busy focusing her powers to remember they were there.
Warmth flowed through her fingertips towards the black sky, and a rope-shaped tornado whirled to life fifty yards ahead of her.
‘Not good enough, Hailey.’ Mrs Pritchet marched to Hailey’s side and clucked her tongue. ‘That feeble thing couldn’t even pick up a shovel.’
‘I’m trying,’ Hailey protested.
‘Try harder.’
‘Yeah, make it bigger,’ one of her classmates called out from behind her. ‘Big enough to rip someone’s roof off.’
‘I bet she can’t do it,’ she heard someone else say.
‘There’s no way,’ someone replied. ‘She sucks at being a Zeus. I’d be so much better.’
Hailey blocked out their voices and concentrated on intensifying the tornado. The warmth flowing from her fingertips grew hotter, and her hands trembled. The tornado expanded into a funnel shape, stirring up the grass and dirt and whipping about Hailey’s auburn hair.
‘Good,’ Mrs Pritchet said. ‘Now create a second one, while keeping the first one contained.’
Hailey’s hands trembled even more. ‘A second one?’
‘Yes. Do it now.’
Hailey gulped. She kept one shaking hand extended towards the tornado and moved her other hand slightly to the left, where a rope tornado materialised beside the first one, whooshing in and out of existence as Hailey tried to control it. Pain bloomed in her head. ‘I can’t,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘Do it.’
Hailey focused on growing the second tornado, the heat pouring from her fingertips burning like fire. Come on. You can do this. A wave of dizziness swept over her, and a trail of warm blood trickled from her nose. She couldn’t take it anymore. The tornadoes vanished in an instant as she hunched over, fighting the urge to pass out.
‘We’re not finished,’ Mrs Pritchet snapped.
‘That was so lame,’ one of the students complained.
‘Told you she couldn’t do it.’
When the dizziness passed, Hailey straightened, wiping the blood from her nose. ‘I’m not strong enough,’ she told Mrs Pritchet. ‘Please don’t make me do it again.’
‘You have to, Hailey. You are the only Zeus. The one person with the King of the Gods’s powers. And that means you have a responsibility to this world to master your abilities. Or are you forgetting about the prophecy? It says—’
‘I know what it says.’
‘Then I shouldn’t have to remind you how important harnessing your powers is. I hope your next Powers teacher won’t tolerate your laziness. Now try again, and this time do it properly.’
The memory pressed against Hailey’s chest. She was sick of the pressure that came with being a Zeus. That’s why getting into Poseidon’s Academy was so important to her, because being underwater meant no sky. No sky means no powers. No powers means freedom.
She glanced back at the envelope. Inside it she could feel something with two pointed tips. She resisted ripping the letter open to find out what it was. She’d promised her two best friends she’d wait for them so they could open their letters together.
A door creaked open below her, and a few seconds later a redbud tree blooming purple-pink flowers sprang up ten feet to her left. Standing on one of its branches was her best friend Demi. ‘Come on, Hails. I’ll give you a lift down.’
Hailey leapt to her feet, forgetting she was on a slanted roof. She lost her balance and tumbled forward, the envelope flying from her hand as her arms flailed, trying to grab on to something. But there was only air. Air. Wind!
Warmth surged down Hailey’s arms and shot from her fingertips as she toppled over the roof’s edge.
A gale of wind rushed up and caught her, suspending her in the air. At the same time, two flower-coated tree branches wrapped around her waist. ‘Thanks,’ she called to Demi as the tree branches lowered her into the backyard: a grass-covered square edged with drooping sunflowers.
‘No problem,’ Demi called back, using her powers to unwrap the branches around Hailey’s waist and shrink them back into the redbud tree.
‘Nice form.’ Her friend Jayden stood in front of her, grinning. ‘That landing was much better than the last time you fell off the roof, but not as good as the time before that, or the time before that.’
‘What can I say, I like practising my acrobatics,’ Hailey joked, and then noticed a red mark on Jayden’s forehead. ‘What happened to your head?’
‘Someone turned your street into an ice rink again,’ he said simply, running a hand through his spiked up black hair before holding out an envelope. ‘You dropped this.’
Hailey took it back, her stomach growing heavy again now that she was no longer distracted with plummeting off the roof.
‘Don’t you dare open those without me!’ Demi warned, leaping from the redbud tree, which was back to its twenty-foot size, and bounding over to them. ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ Demi ripped her envelope open before she’d even finished her sentence and snatched out the letter. ‘We are pleased to inform you,’ Demi read aloud. ‘I got in!’ She bounced on her toes. ‘I got in! I got in!’ Her emerald green eyes darted to Hailey and Jayden, and she stopped bouncing. ‘Hurry up and read.’
Hailey blew out a breath and peeled open the envelope, unfolding the letter inside.
Dear Miss Hailey Woods
We are pleased to inform you of your acceptance into Poseidon’s Academy. Please find enclosed a travelling necklace that will transport you to Poseidon’s Island where you will meet your fellow classmates before departing for Poseidon’s Academy. Please also find enclosed a list of required supplies and textbooks.
First term begins on 1 January. Your departure time is 4.33pm. Please ensure you place the enclosed travelling necklace over your head at this exact time in order to avoid any collisions.
Warm regards
Guinevere Grayson
First Years Overseer
The letter almost dropped from Hailey’s hands as the heaviness in her stomach washed away. She’d done it. She’d gotten into Poseidon’s Academy. In four months she’d be at a new school with people who didn’t know who she was or what she could do. And even if they did know about her powers, they couldn’t make her use them.
She glanced back into the envelope and pulled out a gold winged pendant hanging from a thin chain. It was beautiful. More beautiful than her own bronze travelling necklace, which only allowed her to travel within London.
‘You got a necklace!’ Demi exclaimed. ‘That means you got accepted.’
‘Me too,’ Jayden said, holding up his own travelling necklace.
‘Awesome!’ Demi squealed, throwing her arms around their shoulders and squeezing them into a group hug before bouncing on her toes again. ‘Next year is going to be the best year ever.’
‘Yeah, I can’t believe we all got in. Blue skies.’ Hailey was beyond grateful she’d be starting her new life with her best friends.
‘I’m not surprised, considering how amazing our powers are.’
‘Modesty, Demi,’ Jayden rebuked her.
‘It’s true.’ Demi flicked her wavy brown hair behind her shoulder and raised her arms. The dying sunflowers sprang to life: their stems straightened, and their petals glowed vibrant yellow. ‘How many Demeters my age can do that?’
‘About as many Poseidons as can do this.’ Jayden curled his fingers at the garden hose, which lay abandoned a few feet away. It hissed to life, water spurting from the nozzle. Jayden waved hi
s hand at the garden, and the water blasted up, showering over the flowers like rain.
‘Modesty, Jayden.’ Demi mimicked his censorious tone.
‘That looks much better. Thanks, kids.’ Hailey’s mum appeared from the side of the house. A variety of paint colours smeared her skin and overalls. Even her auburn hair, which was tied in a ponytail, was speckled with blue.
‘Happy to help, Evonee.’ Jayden waved his hand to shut the hose off.
‘We got into Poseidon’s Academy,’ Demi blurted, holding out her acceptance letter as proof.
‘I figured that,’ Evonee said and moved towards Hailey, pulling her into a tight hug. ‘I’m so proud of you, kiddo. But I can’t bear to be separated, so I’m coming with you.’ Evonee broke from the hug, shrinking several inches while her face seemed to stretch and contract at the same time.
‘Mum, don’t,’ Hailey begged, but it was too late. Her mum had already reverted into a thirteen year old.
‘How do I look?’ she asked, her voice soft and sweet.
‘Change back,’ Hailey demanded, covering her eyes.
‘I love your Hebe powers,’ Demi said.
‘I definitely think you could sneak into Poseidon’s Academy with us,’ Jayden added.
‘Hear that, sweetie? We’re going to be roomies.’
Hailey pressed her hands tighter against her eyes. Seeing her mum the same age as her was a level of creepiness her brain could not handle. ‘Mum, stop it.’
Evonee laughed. ‘Okay.’ Her voice had lost its girlish tone.
Hailey relaxed when she saw her mum looking like her usual thirty-year-old self. Although technically she was more like forty—being a Hebe, she could control how young she looked. ‘Thank you,’ Hailey said. ‘I wish you could come with me,’ she added.
‘Me too.’ Evonee’s smile faltered. ‘Well, I need to get back to painting. Congratulations everyone.’ She turned to leave and then glanced back at Hailey. ‘Oh, and you’re banned from the art studio.’
‘What? Why?’
‘It’s a surprise,’ Evonee said and scurried off before Hailey could pester her further.
‘Hang on.’ Demi squinted at her acceptance letter. ‘This says we start January first. That’s forever away.’
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