Tentatively, she skewered a piece of pancake with her fork and popped it into her mouth. She expected it to disappear or taste like cardboard. But it tasted like her mum’s: overly sweet and gooey in the middle.
‘So, what are your stories?’ Demi asked Alec and Aaron, taking another bite of her brownie.
Aaron swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You know, where are you from? How did you two meet?—I’m assuming you know each other, because you act like it. I need to know this stuff if we’re going to be friends,’ Demi said matter-of-factly.
Alec and Aaron exchanged a look, as if deciding whether Demi was being serious or not. ‘Okay,’ Aaron eventually said. ‘We’re both from the UK—Manchester, specifically. I moved there with my parents and sister when I was ten. I met Alec at Manchester’s Primary School for Others. He was new, too, and we just kind of became friends.’ Aaron twirled his fork, flecks of marinara sauce landing on the table. ‘Did I pass? Can we be friends now?’
‘I feel like I don’t know you well enough yet,’ Demi teased, using her spoon to scoop up the side serving of vanilla ice cream she’d conjured. ‘Did you live somewhere before Manchester?’
‘Lots of places,’ Aaron said, shovelling more spaghetti onto his fork. ‘But Alec’s the one with the really interesting background. Go on, tell them where you’re from.’
‘I’m originally from Manchester,’ Alec began in a reserved voice, still pushing around the roast potato on his plate. ‘But because my dad’s an archaeologist, he was always going on digs. My mum and I moved to wherever the dig was. I spent three years in Greece, two in Rome, and one in Egypt before we moved back to England.’
‘You must have changed schools a lot,’ Hailey said as she conjured a mint-chocolate milkshake in her goblet.
Alec shook his head. ‘No. My mum and dad are Athenas, so they home-schooled me while we lived overseas. Manchester’s Primary School was the first school I’d ever been to. We moved back because my parents thought I needed to be more social,’ he added quietly, blushing.
‘So, what about you three. What are your stories?’ Aaron asked.
‘We’ve been friends since grade one,’ Demi said, licking chocolate sauce off her fingers before launching into a detailed history of their friendship. Hailey could tell from the glazed look in Aaron’s eyes that he regretted the question almost immediately. Unfortunately for him and Alec, they had to endure Demi’s babbling for another twenty minutes before the scraping of chairs against the pearl floor saved them.
‘Looks like it’s time to head back up,’ Jayden said, watching the hall empty.
Demi leapt up. ‘I can’t wait to unpack.’
Madam Grayson patiently waited for all the first years to file back into the common room.
‘I have to tell you about classes so listen up. You’ve been separated into six groups. You’ll find your group number at the top of your timetable, which has been left in your dormitory—along with your suitcase. Classes start tomorrow at 8.30. And I’m sure I needn’t remind you that any power misuse will result in wearing a neutralising bracelet.’
The threat was lost on Hailey, who suppressed a laugh. Neutralising bracelets blocked the wearer’s powers. They’d originally been invented as a punishment for criminals, but were now used in schools as well.
‘Later, boys,’ Demi said after Madam Grayson dismissed them. ‘Let’s go, Hails.’
Hailey waved goodbye to Jayden, Alec, and Aaron before disappearing back to her dorm with Demi, where she found her blue polka-dot suitcase resting beside her bed with a green piece of paper perched on top.
She grabbed it, her grin widening with every subject she saw: Ancient History, Monsters and Creatures of the World, Creative Arts…
‘Ugh, they teach Maths, Science, and English here too,’ Demi moaned. ‘And PE, that’s even worse,’ she proclaimed, dropping down on her bed with a huff.
‘Physical Education isn’t that bad, and there’s plenty of other interesting subjects.’
Demi sighed, unconvinced.
‘What group are you in?’
Demi peered down at her matching green timetable. ‘Three.’
‘Me too.’
That cheered her up. ‘Thank the Tyches.’
Hailey placed her timetable on her nightstand, hoping the clamshell wouldn’t eat it, and turned back to her suitcase, eager to clutter the room with her things. She unzipped her bag and gasped.
A painting of herself stared back at her. She stood on a shoreline, dark waves caressing her feet. Her eyes were her favourite shade: azure blue—the colour of a cloudless sky. She gazed up at the twinkling night sky, one arm raised towards a cloud that had parted to reveal a full moon. Its beam fell on Hailey’s face, making her pale skin glow and her long auburn hair glimmer.
A sticky note clung to the bottom. For when you miss the sky xx Mum
So this was why her mum had banned her from the studio.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Demi cooed, appearing at Hailey’s side. ‘Where are you putting it?’
Hailey lifted up the painting, which smelled like her mum’s vanilla perfume. ‘Um, I think above the desk.’
‘Good idea.’ Demi picked up the amber eyedropper bottle that Evonee had also snuck into Hailey’s suitcase. Its label read Anywhere Stick. ‘You hold and I’ll stick,’ she instructed Hailey, squeezing the eyedropper over the wood on the back of the canvas.
Hailey pressed the painting to the wall and stood back to admire her mother’s masterpiece. Her new dorm felt homier already.
‘I wish I had a cool painting of myself to stare at,’ Demi remarked, strolling back to her own side as Hailey dug into her suitcase and pulled out her new stationary kit. Her mum had bought it yesterday so that Hailey wouldn’t have an excuse not to write her every day—students weren’t allowed to bring their mobile phones to the Academy, so it was back to writing good old fashioned letters. She sat at her coral desk and began writing, thanking her mum for the painting and telling her she’d arrived at the palace, which was amazing.
She never got to tell her mum why it was amazing, though, because at that moment, her hand started trembling.
‘Hailey? What’s wrong?’ Demi, who had been busy stuffing drawers, rushed over.
‘I don’t know.’ Hailey fought for control of her hand, which had put tiny ink dots all over her letter. ‘It won’t stop shaking.’
‘I’ll get Madam Gray—’
The pen slipped from between Hailey’s fingers, her hand turning limp. ‘No, it’s okay.’ Slowly, she raised her hand, rotating it to make sure she had control back. ‘That was weird.’
Demi picked up the pen and studied it. ‘Did your mum buy this from a joke shop?’
Hailey shook her head. ‘No, it’s a normal pen. It worked fine until I went to write about the palace…’ The palace the nereids want to keep a secret. Things that hadn’t made sense to Hailey earlier clicked into place. ‘That’s it. It was the palace.’
Demi frowned. ‘What was the palace?’
‘Didn’t you find it weird you’d never heard about a whirlpool being the portal to Poseidon’s Academy, or that jewel and pearl trees grow in the grounds? Aren’t those the things you’d expect people to brag about?’
‘Yeah, that is strange. But what does that have to do with your hand?’
Hailey grinned, pleased with herself for making the connection. ‘Someone did something to the palace so that you can’t tell anybody who hasn’t been here about it. That’s why my hand kept shaking until I dropped the pen.’
‘So the palace can protect itself. I have to try.’ Demi’s hand shook the moment she touched Hailey’s pen to paper. ‘Cool.’
5
Classes Begin
The next morning, something that sounded like a horn tore Hailey from her dreams. She bolted up in bed, staring at the unfamiliar surroundings for a moment before remembering where she was and relaxing—at least until the horn blared agai
n.
‘Ugh,’ Demi grumbled, pulling a pillow over her head. ‘What’s that horrible noise?’
The horn bellowed a third time. ‘I’m guessing a conch shell.’
Demi tossed her pillow, sending it smacking against the wall. ‘I have to wake up to that every morning? It’s worse than my alarm clock.’
‘Come on, it’s our first day of classes.’
That got Demi’s attention. She flew out of bed and lunged for her uniform, which hung on the door next to Hailey’s. She was dressed in seconds.
Demi tapped her foot impatiently at Hailey, who was pulling on her knee-high socks. ‘Hurry up, Hails. We don’t want to be late for our first day.’
‘You’re the one who didn’t want to get out of bed,’ Hailey pointed out, walking towards her uniform. She stepped into her midnight blue skirt, the hemline resting a few inches above her knees, and pulled on her button-down light blue shirt. Her striped midnight blue and gold tie went on next, which she got Demi to help her do up.
‘You’ll get the hang of it in no time, Hails,’ Demi assured her, making a perfect knot. ‘It only took my dad two lessons to make me an expert.’
The “d” word shot a jolt of pain through Hailey’s chest, and she automatically grabbed the gold heart pendant hanging on a chain around her neck. Her name was engraved on it in her dad’s elegant cursive. He’d been a Hephaestus, and had used his powers to make it for her on her eighth birthday. He’d died that same day.
‘Your eyes are grey today,’ Demi noted, holding out Hailey’s midnight blue blazer, which had the Academy’s emblem—a gold trident with the letters P and A encircled by a swirl of water—stitched onto the breast pocket.
Hailey shrugged on the blazer. ‘Must be raining above the surface.’ She slipped her feet into her black buckle-up shoes and stared into the mirror above her chest of drawers, a smile creeping across her face as she admired her new uniform. She was actually at Poseidon’s Academy, about to start classes. This was the first day of her life for the next five years, which she imagined would be the best five years ever, because she’d be free from the burden of her powers, and she’d be living in an Olympian gods’s palace—who knew what kind of magical things she’d come across in here.
‘Let’s go.’ Demi flung open the door.
Hailey hesitated, suddenly remembering she’d told Alec, Aaron, Kora, and Tahlia about her powers. They’d promised they wouldn’t tell anyone, but she didn’t know them well enough to trust them yet. What if they’d blurted to everyone about her being a Zeus? By now all the first years could know, and even the older students.
‘Hailey, why are you just standing there?’ Demi asked from the hallway.
‘I’m coming,’ she said, slinging her book bag over her shoulder and edging into the hallway, expecting to be accosted by a horde of girls. Her shoulders relaxed slightly when not a single person looked her way.
‘I can’t wait for our first class,’ Demi said, bounding down the hallway. ‘And breakfast. We get to have whatever we want. I’m having waffles with ice cream,’ she declared, throwing the door to the common room open.
Hailey tensed. A few dozen students lounged on the sofas and armchairs, chatting to their friends. A couple of them gazed up when the door clicked shut behind Hailey, but their eyes only lingered for a second. Hailey smiled. Her new friends had kept her secret. She knew she couldn’t keep her powers hidden forever, especially when one of her classes was Powers. But for right now, she loved being ordinary.
After eating breakfast, Hailey, Demi, Jayden, Alec, and Aaron headed to their first class—by the luck of the Tyches, they were all in group three. They followed the map on the back of their timetables, venturing through the left arch in the entryway and making their way through a maze of hallways before they came to a mother-of-pearl door engraved with the words Ancient History. Hailey gazed at it with wonder, curious to know what awaited her on the other side. She imagined a museum crowded with ancient artefacts thought to have been lost after the Great Battle, like Poseidon’s earth-trembling trident, and Hades’s cap of—
The door swung open, revealing Amathia. She smiled at the first years. ‘Good morning. Please come in and find a seat.’ She glided from the door, her blue shimmering dress flowing behind her.
Hailey expected to see the museum she’d envisioned. Disappointment greeted her instead. The room was simply a classroom filled with coral desks and scallop-shell chairs. The only ancient-looking things were the yellowing pieces of parchment that lined the jewel and shell-decorated crystal walls. Each piece was different, with some containing detailed family trees that dated all the way back to the Protogenoi—the primordial gods who’d created the world—and others showing drawings of gods, such as Nemesis, and people, such as Perseus, with copious information scrawled beneath them.
Amathia stood before a long polished coral desk covered in stacked papers, books, and pens. The only other thing on it was a crystal orb that looked similar to the one Master Anderson had thrown into the sea, except it was twice as big and clear rather than blue.
‘Come. There’s no need to be frightened,’ Amathia said warmly.
‘Hurry up,’ Demi prompted Hailey and the boys, leading them to the front row, which everyone else was avoiding, no doubt feeling a little intimidated by the 1600-year-old nymph standing at the front of the room.
Hailey dropped into a seat a few desks across from where Amathia stood. She supposed having the class taught by a nereid would make up for the lack of artefacts.
‘Welcome to your first Ancient History lesson,’ Amathia said when everyone was seated. ‘Today’s focus will be on how your ancestors inherited the gods’ powers. I believe it more beneficial to show rather than tell, which is why I use a watwdaom nnavv.’
A what? Hailey waited for Amathia to explain—and hopefully translate—what she was talking about. Instead, she pressed her fingers to the crystal orb on her desk.
White light enveloped the room, forcing Hailey to close her eyes against the brightness. When she opened them, she gasped. She wasn’t in the Ancient History classroom anymore. She was standing on the rocky terrain of a cliff’s ledge, staring at a battle raging a hundred feet beneath her.
Humans garbed in armour rode elephants and horses, and tens of thousands more acted as foot soldiers, brandishing swords, axes, and spears. The clash and clang of their weapons and their war cries reverberated off the encircling cliffs as they battled their enemy.
The gods! Hailey gaped, watching them dispatch dozens of humans at a time with their powers. She wanted to scream and run away, but her legs wouldn’t move. She was forced to watch as the Olympians, by far the most powerful gods on the battlefield, murdered her ancestors…
Zeus turned the sky black, commanding dozens of explosive lightning strikes that filled the plain with ear-splitting thunder and sent thick smoke curling into the air from the fires left in their stead. Poseidon drove his glowing trident into the ground, opening gaping rifts that swallowed everyone in their path. Ares mercilessly wielded his sword, slashing through human after human, leaving his hands and armour dripping with blood. Athena whirled her spear around, skewering anyone who came too close.
Apollo’s hands glowed, sunlight bursting from his outstretched palms, blinding and scorching everyone within twenty feet. Artemis fired off arrows while commanding an army of ferocious beasts that used their pointed teeth and enormous talons to maim and kill their victims. Aphrodite bewitched males with pink mist she blew from her mouth, forcing them to turn on their allies. And Hera threw crackling white fireballs, incinerating the humans they collided with.
Demeter, Hermes, Hephaestus, and Hestia were the only Olympians Hailey couldn’t spot among the chaos.
She’d read about the Great Battle between gods and humans when she was younger—even seen the movies—but the stories didn’t come close to portraying the devastation and terror of the battle.
Corpses were piling up on the ground below, tainting t
he air with the sharp metallic scent of blood. If Hailey had had control of her body, she would have thrown up. But she remained trapped, watching the gods slaughter her ancestors, who fell by the hundreds.
And then things changed.
Screams pierced the air, and the gods collapsed one by one. Deserves you right, Hailey thought, watching the gods squirm in pain as their immortality expired.
Hailey spun around, or more like her body did without her permission, to face a wall of rock. ‘Odina,’ she called in a voice that wasn’t hers.
A hand the same grey shade as the rocks reached from the wall. Hailey clasped it with slender fingers—fingers that weren’t hers. It wasn’t her body, she realised.
It’s Amathia’s!
Hailey didn’t have time to dwell on the discovery. The hand yanked her towards the wall, and she braced for pain. But instead of smashing into the rock, she passed through it, her body overcome with airiness, like she was floating, for a split second before she emerged in another surrounding.
This time, rather than standing on a cliff’s ledge watching a battle unfold beneath her, Hailey stood at the base of a cliff. The sea roared around her, its waves crashing against the rock she was balancing on, threatening to knock her onto one of the many jagged rocks encircling her.
But the danger of falling was lost on Hailey, who stared towards the land. In the distance, numerous fires burned. Thick acrid smoke rose from the angry flames, blackening the sky. The fires were too far away to see what was burning, but Hailey was pretty sure it was the gods’ temples and shrines: the sacred places her ancestors had built so they could worship the gods.
The sky rumbled with an invisible storm, and shimmering gold sparks showered through the black smoke like glittering rain. Hailey wanted to reach a hand up and touch the falling sparks. But her body—Amathia’s body—dove off the rock.
Everything flashed white, and Amathia’s classroom reappeared. Hailey looked to make sure her friends were beside her. Each of them wore matching expressions of amazement and bewilderment, which told her they’d shared in her experience. She still had absolutely no idea what had happened though. How it was possible she’d travelled back in time to watch the Great Battle.
Poseidon's Academy Box Set Page 4
