Poseidon's Academy Box Set

by Sarah A Vogler

  ‘Okay,’ Alec agreed, looking as though he’d just found out he’d lost his powers. ‘I need to understand too.’

  The four of them marched into the palace and up to the fourth floor, where they found students whispering in corners, while two of the intruders stood by the staircase, watching.

  Hailey stormed towards the boys’ dormitories, not caring about getting into trouble for breaking the rules. She needed answers. And she needed them now. She grabbed the door handle.

  ‘Hailey, wait.’

  The voice belonged to Madam Grayson. Hailey spun around to face her. ‘I have to see Aaron. I need to know what’s happening.’

  ‘I know,’ Madam Grayson said to Hailey’s surprise—she’d expected her to say that wasn’t an excuse to break into the boys’ dorms. ‘But he’s not in there. No one knows where he is. If you find him, tell him Amathia wants to see him.’

  ‘Where would he be?’ Demi said after Madam Grayson walked off.

  ‘Hiding,’ Hailey replied, and suddenly had an idea of where. ‘Come on, I think I know where he is.’ She descended the stairs down to the entryway and veered through the left archway, fairly confident Aaron was borrowing her hiding spot.

  Hailey burst into the stable and marched straight to Rain’s stall, peering over the gate and finding Aaron crouched in the corner. Rain was lying next to him, enjoying being scratched behind the ears.

  Aaron’s eyes widened for a split second when he saw them, and then his face morphed into a mask of indifference. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘Looking for you.’ Hailey unlatched the gate and held it open. ‘There’s not enough room in there for all of us.’

  With a heavy sigh, Aaron came out of Rain’s stall.

  ‘Well,’ Demi prompted, crossing her arms, ‘we’re waiting.’

  ‘What do you want me to say? I think you’ve already worked out the truth for yourselves.’

  ‘We want to hear it from you,’ Jayden said. ‘What’s really going on?’

  Aaron shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. ‘Fine. My dad is in charge of PET.’

  ‘We know that already. Did he trick you into giving up the palace’s location?’ Hailey asked. Although she had no idea how he could have done that since none of them actually knew where it was, as it was always moving through the sea.

  ‘No,’ Aaron said, and then hesitated. ‘I suppose it won’t make things worse to tell you the truth… When Poseidon’s Academy announced they were accepting Others, my dad made sure I got in. This whole thing has been a mission. I was sent here to help him and his team. Last year was recognisance. I needed to explore as much of the palace as I could and map it out for him—the wand helped a lot with that. I also profiled teachers to learn what powers they had so my dad’s team would know what they were up against. I told him everything,’ Aaron admitted, lowering his eyes. ‘They found a really powerful Hecate to create a spell and potion that would link them to the travelling magic in a Hermes stamp, since letters are the only things able to materialise in here from the outside world.’

  ‘How could you?’ Demi stared at Aaron as if he’d just stabbed her through the heart.

  ‘We’ve been friends for four years.’ Alec was giving Aaron the same hate-filled stare as Demi. ‘Were you lying the whole time?’

  ‘No.’ Aaron’s voice was desperate. ‘Just this past year. Our friendship wasn’t a lie, I promise. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. So, so sorry.’

  Hailey clenched her teeth, anger bubbling in her stomach like a frothing cauldron about to boil over. Aaron had betrayed them on purpose, and all he could say was that he was sorry. ‘How’d you do it?’

  ‘I told you, with a Hermes stamp and letter.’

  ‘No. How’d you give your dad information about the Academy when there’s a spell that prevents us from talking or writing about the palace?’

  ‘I let an Athena look in my mind. I showed her the memories of everything I’d learned about the Academy.’

  ‘You’re a traitor!’ Demi spat. ‘This school will probably close down and become an attraction now because of you. I don’t ever want to see you again!’ She stormed from the stable.

  Alec said nothing, merely shook his head and stalked off.

  ‘Come on, Hailey. Let’s go.’ Jayden tugged her arm.

  ‘Wait,’ Aaron said.

  ‘What?’ Hailey snapped.

  ‘My dad knows about the nereids.’

  Jayden’s jaw dropped. ‘You told him about the Underworld?’

  ‘No. I kept my promise to Amathia on that one. But I told him they’re a threat and want the gods back in power. PET follows them everywhere now, and they’re not allowed in the sea. You don’t have to worry about spying on them anymore, or about them doing anything. You’re safe from them,’ he added the last bit with a pointed glance at Hailey.

  ‘Good to know.’ Hailey’s voice was pure ice. Did he really think getting his dad’s people to watch the nereids so Hailey didn’t have to was enough to make up for what he’d done? ‘And speaking of nereids, Amathia wants to see you.’

  ‘Good thing she can’t expel me, since my dad’s in charge now.’

  Hailey didn’t even smirk. She turned her back on him and left.

  10

  Prison

  Hailey half-opened her eyes to glance at the seashell and mother-of-pearl clock on the wall. ‘Medusa!’ she cursed, shooting out of bed when she saw it was 8am. She’d slept through the conch shell. ‘Demi,’ she shouted, rushing to her snoozing dorm mate ‘We’re going to be late for class.’

  ‘No classes today,’ Demi mumbled, rolling away from Hailey. ‘Military took over.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ Hailey’s chest squeezed as she remembered Aaron’s betrayal. She glanced back at her bed, feeling a strong urge to crawl under the covers and try to forget how messed up everything was.

  No. I can’t hide. It won’t change anything. She also wanted to see what was happening. PET took down half the school population in seconds yesterday, but that was because they’d been ready for an attack. The teachers had probably come up with a plan to ambush them during the night and take control back—or maybe Amathia had figured out a way to dump them into the sea—surely there was some type of magical failsafe for if intruders broke into the palace.

  The heaviness in Hailey’s chest lifted slightly and she smiled, realising there was no possible way the soldiers could still be in power. There’s probably a celebratory party happening right now.

  She pulled on a pair of shorts and a top, shoved her feet into ballet flats, and stepped into the hallway. Her stomach dropped. A female soldier with jet black hair loomed in front of the door to the common room. I guess the teachers didn’t take control back.

  ‘No loitering in the hallway,’ the soldier barked.

  Hailey blinked. Seriously? They weren’t even allowed to stand in the hallway.

  ‘I said no loitering,’ the soldier barked again.

  ‘Sorry,’ Hailey mumbled and strode towards her. She hesitated for a second when she neared the common room door, unsure if she was allowed to leave. But the soldier didn’t say anything when Hailey turned the handle and scooted outside.

  The common room was unusually quiet and empty, with only fifteen or so students hanging around, sitting in groups and not saying anything. None of them were Jayden or Alec, or Aaron—not that she was looking for him.

  A girl in one of the groups whispered to her friend, and a soldier Hailey hadn’t noticed standing by the stairs stormed towards her. ‘No whispering. If you want to talk, you do it loud enough that I can hear you.’

  ‘S-s-orry,’ the girl stuttered and lowered her eyes.

  Why are there soldiers watching everyone? And why can’t anyone whisper? Hailey didn’t want to ask any of the second years here what was happening, in case the soldier yelled at her. The main hall will be a good place to get answers, she thought, figuring there’d be more students there.

  Hailey strayed
towards the gruff soldier guarding the stairs—it was the same soldier who had shot Master Anderson. She gulped when he focused his hard black eyes on her.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Scar demanded.

  ‘Um, the main hall… for breakfast.’

  He grunted and stepped aside. Hailey hurried down the stairs to the entryway, where more soldiers stood in front of the left and right archway. What is going on? She didn’t want to be yelled at again for loitering, so she darted through the middle archway into the main hall, the mouth-watering scents of crispy bacon, hot sausages, flaky croissants, buttery waffles, and about a hundred other smells greeting her.

  Big orbs of light floated beneath the ceiling, illuminating the hall, which was longer than it was wide. Over a hundred mother-of-pearl tables stretched across the vast space, each one covered in gold plates, goblets, and cutlery that glittered under the orbs’ light.

  To Hailey’s relief, most of the tables were packed with students, who were actually talking. But there were soldiers too. Hailey counted four patrolling the rows of tables, no doubt eavesdropping on everyone’s conversations.

  ‘Hailey.’

  Hailey followed the direction of Jayden’s voice and spotted him sitting with Alec on the right side of the hall. She wandered over and sat down on one of the ten scallop-shell chairs bordering the table. ‘What’s happening?’ She kept her voice quiet. ‘Are we in jail now or something?’

  ‘Some fourth and fifth years attacked a few soldiers last night.’ Jayden pushed around the scrambled eggs on his plate. ‘Guess the show PET put on yesterday in the grounds wasn’t enough to stop them. PET apparently stun-gunned them and slapped neutralising bracelets on their wrists. And now Aaron’s dad has decided to amp up security.’

  Hailey flinched at the mention of Aaron’s name. ‘So did he ever go back to his dorm?’

  ‘I wouldn’t know.’ Alec stabbed his fork into the untouched sausage on his plate. ‘I moved my stuff into Aaron’s dorm and took the spare bed.’ He shoved his plate away.

  ‘I would have done the same. I’m sorry about this, Alec,’ Hailey added, imagining that he was feeling ten times more betrayed than her, since he’d been friends with Aaron the longest.

  ‘Don’t apologise for him, Hailey. He did this.’

  ‘At least he made it so that we don’t have to worry about the nereids anymore,’ Jayden pointed out, always managing to find some good in everything.

  Hailey was relieved about that part. Now she wouldn’t have to spend hours hiding in the stable or having nightmares about the gods returning, but that still didn’t make what Aaron had done okay.

  ‘Thanks for ruining my sleep-in,’ Demi groused, plunking down beside Hailey.

  ‘Sorry, I forgot about all of this,’ Hailey said, motioning to the patrolling soldiers.

  ‘It’s ridiculous. I got yelled at for standing in the hallway. And then there was this big guy with scars on his face blocking the staircase. I told him to move and he was all like “where are you going?”.’

  Jayden tensed. ‘Demi, please tell me you didn’t push him down the stairs.’

  ‘I considered it,’ Demi muttered. ‘But I didn’t,’ she added before touching her gold plate and summoning pancakes smothered in maple syrup, Nutella, and cookie dough ice cream. She brushed her fingers against her goblet and conjured a chocolate milkshake, complete with whipped cream and big chunks of chocolate.

  Jayden clicked his tongue. ‘Ever heard of diabetes?’

  ‘I’m a stress eater.’ Demi cut a piece of pancake and shovelled it into her mouth, sighing in content.

  ‘I think I’ll join you.’ Hailey touched her plate and closed her eyes, thinking of the unhealthiest breakfast she could. She opened her eyes a few seconds later, finding her gold plate had morphed into a bowl brimming with chocolate chip ice cream. Yum. She sank her spoon into it and mimicked Demi’s sigh of satisfaction when the ice cream’s sugary goodness hit her tongue. She supposed not having the teachers around to ensure everyone ate a healthy breakfast was one positive for PET being in charge—a tiny positive.

  ‘Ice cream for breakfast? I don’t think you need the extra calories.’

  Hailey clenched her spoon and turned to meet Venus’s violet eyes. She was standing with the twins. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘To know why you did it,’ Venus said, acting as though Hailey had hurt her feelings, but she could see the hint of a smirk.

  ‘Did what?’ Demi tapped her fork impatiently against her plate.

  ‘Gave up Poseidon’s Academy to the military.’

  ‘That was Aaron,’ Alec corrected, his face hardening.

  ‘But you’re his best friends. You must have known what he was doing and were helping him.’ Venus shook her head. ‘It’s so disappointing.’

  ‘We didn’t know anything about it,’ Demi hissed through gritted teeth.

  The students nearest them were staring, and Hailey realised exactly what Venus’s plan was: to make everyone hate them too. ‘You’re just trying to get back at us,’ Hailey snapped. ‘Go away.’

  ‘I know I’m right. You were always together, whispering about something, and then you went missing for days with some ridiculous excuse about getting locked in a room. You were scheming the whole time. Stop being cowards and admit it.’

  ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, Venus,’ Jayden said evenly.

  ‘Fine, keep lying, but I know the truth, and I’m sure the rest of the school does too.’

  With a flick of her curls, Venus spun around with the twins and was hit in the back with a scoop of ice cream.

  Hailey stared down at her hand, thinking she’d unconsciously thrown her ice cream. But her spoon was clean. She glanced at Demi, who was scooping ice cream off her pancakes, reloading for a second attack.

  Venus whipped around. ‘You’re dead!’ she snarled and lunged.

  A soldier grabbed her arm and yanked her back before she could touch Demi. ‘Break it up.’

  Venus tore her arm from his grip. ‘Whatever. The little traitors aren’t worth it anyway.’ She stalked off with the twins, melting ice cream dribbling from her curls.

  The soldier’s eyes shot to Demi. ‘No throwing food,’ he barked before resuming his patrol.

  Alec held his stomach, looking as though he were about to throw up. ‘Do you think that’s what people think? That we were involved too?’

  Hailey only had to glance around to know the answer. Students were pointing at them and whispering, while others glared. ‘Yep. That’s exactly what people think now.’

  ***

  Hailey’s eyes fluttered open when a letter materialised on her desk. She smiled as she settled on her clamshell chair and opened the letter addressed in her mum’s handwriting. It smelled of her vanilla perfume.

  My sweet Hailey,

  You’ve only been gone a week, but it feels like a month. I already miss you like crazy! I was thinking of getting a pet to keep me company. Maybe a cat? They’re self-sufficient, aren’t they? Or I heard you can buy miniature pegasi now. Wouldn’t that be cute? Although with my luck it would fly away. Maybe I shouldn’t get a pet?

  Anyway, just wanted to let you know I’m bored, so write me back.

  Love you, kiddo

  xx Mum

  Hailey picked up a pen and began scribbling a letter back.

  Mum,

  I miss you too! And something crazy has happened at school. The military has taken over. It sucks! They’ve cancelled classes and watch us everywhere we go. And they said they’re going to give the palace’s location to the government, so I don’t even know if Poseidon’s Academy will be a school for much longer. I wish they’d disappear! And Aaron too. Because this is all his fault. He’s been a spy this whole time, feeding his dad—the leader of the takeover—information about the palace. Can you believe that? I hate him so much for what he did!!!

  Hailey sighed and scrunched up the letter, tossing it to the ground. Stupid PET had taken everyone’s stamps so that th
ey could read the students’ letters before sending them—they didn’t want anyone outside of the Academy knowing about the takeover. Although it was probably a good thing her mum didn’t know about PET, since it’d just freak her out, and it wasn’t like her mum could do anything about it.

  Hailey grabbed a clean piece of paper and began scribbling again.

  Mum,

  I miss you too! If you really want a pet, get one, but make sure you feed it TWICE a day—even if it’s a cat. School is really busy at the moment, so I might not be able to write you back as often. But I’ll try. I promise.

  I love you.

  Hailey shoved the letter into an envelope, scrawling down her home address before throwing on some clothes and tiptoeing past Demi’s bed, where her best friend was sleeping with a pillow half covering her face. She slipped into the hallway and prayed to the Tyches that PET would be gone. Her heart sank when she saw a female soldier standing by the common room door.

  ‘No loitering.’

  Hailey rolled her eyes, sick of being treated like a prisoner, and marched towards the soldier. She held her letter out. ‘Can you post this… please?’ She had to force the last word out. It was ridiculous that she had to get permission to send a letter.

  The soldier snatched it. ‘No loitering,’ she repeated.

  ‘Okay, I’m going.’

  Hailey pushed into the common room, lowering her eyes when a few students shot her glares. It wasn’t me. It was Aaron, she muttered in her head, moving towards the stairs, where yet another soldier stood. He raised his hand to stop her.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘To get breakfast, obviously.’

  ‘You better watch your tone or you won’t be going anywhere.’

  Hailey ground her teeth, biting back the urge to call the soldier a power-tripping jerk. Seriously, what right did PET have to take over her school and then treat her and the rest of the students like criminals?