Hailey slid off her stool. Something slammed into her left cheek, cold biting into her skin. Her head snapped to Riley, who grinned a few feet away, moulding another snowball in his hands.
‘I don’t want to play,’ Hailey said just as another snowball smacked into her other cheek.
‘Oops, it slipped.’ Charlie stood to her right, holding his hands up to show he was no longer armed.
Hailey slumped back down on her stool. She’d wait for them to get bored and leave her alone before making her escape, not in the mood to explain her motives to them.
Riley pelted a snowball at her vase—attempted vase—almost knocking it over.
Hailey crossed her arms. ‘I’m not playing, so you might as well torment someone else.’
‘But we want to torment you,’ Charlie protested, scooping up a handful of snow.
‘Charlie, give us a minute,’ Riley told him.
Charlie packed his fistful of snow into a ball. ‘Why?’
‘Just go find Ava.’
Charlie chucked the snowball over his shoulder. ‘Whatever.’
Riley planted himself on the pottery wheel stool beside Hailey. ‘You do know you refusing to have fun won’t stop what’s happening outside, right?’
Hailey shrugged. ‘I know. But it feels wrong to have fun when our friends are dying, and when we’ll be next.’
‘I get that.’ Riley swiped snow out of Jayden’s clay bowl. ‘But if Demi was here, would she really tell you to sit around sulking? Or would she tell you to make some snowballs and peg them at people?’
Hailey picked at the dry clay on her hands. ‘I understand what you’re saying, but it doesn’t change how I feel. I want to do something, not pretend everything is fine.’
‘It’s okay to forget for a little while. Enjoying yourself doesn’t mean you care any less about your friends. You deserve a break.’
Hailey hated to admit it, but he did have a point. Sitting down sulking wouldn’t change anything. ‘I was actually planning to use this distraction as a way to sneak out and get some answers.’
‘The teachers and PET are taking care of that. What can you do that they can’t?’
Attack the nereids. Although she supposed Jake could technically do that. Maybe she was being premature in her hunt for a cure. In two more days, the nereids would be weaker and more likely to talk. ‘Nothing, I guess.’
Riley leapt off the stool and held his hand out to Hailey. ‘Well, come on then. Fun it is.’
Hailey managed a weak smile. ‘Okay.’ She let him lead her into the chaos, where about thirty snowballs pelted her before she made it to Jayden and Aaron, who had built themselves a small barrier of snow to hide behind.
‘I brought reinforcements.’ Riley dropped behind the barrier with Hailey.
‘Good work.’ Jayden ducked out of the way of an incoming snowball.
‘You can help me build ammunition.’ Tahlia was crouched near Jayden, forming a giant pile of snowballs. Aaron grabbed one and pegged it.
‘Be quick, the enemy is getting closer,’ Aaron prompted her.
Hailey peeked over the barrier. The “enemy”—which included Charlie and Ava—was a few yards away, keeping low to dodge Aaron and the other students’ snowballs. ‘Okay.’
***
Hailey stared at her and Demi’s dorm door. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten there, and she didn’t care. All she wanted was to see her best friend. She pushed the door open.
Demi lay cocooned in her duvet again, her breathing fast and shallow. Across from her, on Hailey’s bed, sat Hope. She pinched a gold seed between her fingers—the same seed Demi had stolen from a griffin’s nest last year.
‘Hope, what are you doing?’
Hope rolled the seed between her fingers. ‘Do you know how to use this?’
Hailey shook her head. ‘No. I forgot Demi even had it.’ She realised Hope didn’t look sick. ‘I thought you had Poseidon’s Plague?’
‘I feel better now. But Demi and your other friends don’t have much time.’
‘Hailey?’ Demi grabbed Hailey’s arm, blood spilling from her eyes. ‘Please. You have to save me.’
The painful lump returned to Hailey’s throat. ‘I’m trying.’
‘Save us, Hailey.’
Hailey whirled around. Tanzy, Lexa, Brennan, and all the other infected second years stood behind her, blood leaking from their eyes and dripping to the while pearl floor as they begged Hailey to save them.
And then they started coughing.
Hailey opened her eyes. Argh, I don’t need dreams reminding me of how messed up everything is. She was about to roll over when she realised she could still hear coughing. Jayden lay beside her, a hand pressed to his mouth as cough after cough ripped through him.
Hailey bolted up. ‘Jayden?’
‘Stay back. I’ve got Poseidon’s Plague.’
She watched Jayden leave the gym a minute later. That’s it. No more waiting. Hailey jumped up.
‘Where are you going?’ Alec asked, him and Aaron the only students, besides her, still awake in the gym.
‘After the nereids.’
Aaron grabbed her arm. ‘No, you’re not.’
Hailey turned on him, her eyes pure fury. ‘Seriously, Aaron? You’re happy to let Jayden, Demi, and all our other friends just die? What happens if we get sick too? Who will go after the nereids then?’
‘I hate to say this,’ Alec said, chewing his lip, ‘but Hailey has a point. If we get sick, then they’ll be no one.’
Aaron let Hailey pull her arm free. ‘I know. I was going to say we have to wait until morning.’
‘Why?’ Hailey demanded.
‘That’s why.’ Aaron nudged his chin to Madam Grayson, who had returned to her post in front of the gym doors, her eyes fixed on Hailey, waiting to see what she’d do.
Hailey doubted any amount of begging would convince their overseer to let them out. And trying to escape now would probably lead to Madam Grayson never letting Hailey out of her sight again. She sank back to the ground in defeat. ‘Fine. Morning it is.’
29
The Hunt
Hailey didn’t get any more sleep after Jayden left. She kept trying to think of how she’d escape the gym. Getting sick seemed like the only way anyone ever got out of this place, but she doubted Madam Grayson would believe all three of them had suddenly contracted Poseidon’s Plague.
She sat with Aaron, Alec, and Tahlia in the corner, whispering as they tried to come up with a plan. ‘I don’t suppose you’re strong enough to take out the entire room?’ Hailey asked Tahlia.
‘No, but I could take out Madam Grayson. I don’t think any students would stop you from leaving.’
‘That’s an idea.’ Hailey would rather avoid dosing Madam Grayson with sleep dust, but what her and her friends were about to do was for everyone’s benefit, since they’d all get sick eventually.
Tahlia curled her legs up beside her. ‘So what will you do when you see the nereids?’
‘We’ll release Alec on them.’ Aaron grinned.
‘Me? I can’t hit girls.’
‘They’re not girls,’ Hailey retorted. ‘They’re monsters posing as nereids.’
‘I won’t do it.’ Alec crossed his arms.
‘Let’s just improvise,’ Hailey said, already thinking this was taking too long.
‘Hailey, it’s important to have a well-thought out plan,’ Aaron countered. ‘Improvising doesn’t equal success. And we’ve only got one chance at this.’
‘I don’t care. We can come up with a plan on the way.’
Aaron tossed the blanket from his legs. ‘Fine. Ready, Tahlia?’
‘Wait.’ Tahlia nudged her head to the gym doors. ‘Something’s happening.’
The gym doors clicked shut behind a student who had just walked in. She whispered something to Madam Grayson before disappearing back outside. Madam Grayson’s gaze zeroed in on Hailey’s group, and she wandered towards them.
Alec hugge
d his pillow against his chest. ‘Medusa, do you think she knows?’
‘No,’ Hailey said, the word barely a whisper. The closer Madam Grayson came, the easier it was to see the grief behind her eyes. ‘It’s something else.’ Hailey stopped breathing. Please, Tyches, don’t let Demi be dead. Please don’t let us be too late.
‘Aaron,’ Madam Grayson said when she reached them. ‘I’m sorry to say that your father has contracted Poseidon’s Plague.’
Hailey almost sagged to the ground in relief. Demi was okay.
Aaron shrugged. ‘And? Nearly everyone has Poseidon’s Plague.’
‘He’s been asking for you.’
Aaron’s eyes narrowed, as if he sensed a trap. ‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. But it must be important if he’s willing to break the quarantine measures he put in place. He’s on the sixth floor, in his dorm.’
‘I don’t want to talk to him.’
‘We’ll come with you for support,’ Hailey offered, seeing a way out of this gym that didn’t involve knocking Madam Grayson out.
Aaron frowned at her and then realisation lit his face. ‘Oh. Yeah, I guess that would be okay.’
Madam Grayson shook her head. ‘Colonel Wynton only said Aaron could go.’
‘Well, I’ll only go if Hailey and Alec can come too. I don’t want to be alone with him.’
Madam Grayson looked between the three of them, her gaze probing, like she was trying to read their minds and see if they had an ulterior motive for leaving the gym. ‘Fine,’ she gave in. ‘But no detours—that means visiting Demi.’
‘Okay,’ Aaron agreed. ‘No visiting Demi.’
‘Bye, Tahlia,’ Hailey said, and headed from the gym with her friends. She was a little surprised to find no soldier outside. Has Poseidon’s Plague infected all of PET?
They headed past the classrooms and towards the stairs, which Aaron started to go down.
‘Where are you going?’ Hailey asked, coming to a stop.
He cocked an eyebrow. ‘The nereids’ room.’
‘We need to see what your dad wants first.’
‘No. He hates me. I don’t want to see him. And you’re the one who’s been all gung-ho about seeing the nereids.’
‘I know. But your dad might want to see you because they told him something about the cure. We need to go there first.’
‘I agree with, Hailey,’ Alec said. ‘If he broke quarantine, there must be a reason.’
There was a long pause before Aaron sighed. ‘Okay, we’ll check it out.’
They trudged up to the sixth floor. No soldiers lurked on the stairs waiting to stop them, or in the common room. It felt a little eerie to Hailey, as if there was no one left in the palace.
‘Do you want to go alone?’ Alec paused in front of the door to the dorms.
‘No. Come on.’ Aaron shoved open the door and marched into Jake’s dorm.
Jake lay pale and sweaty in his bed; his array of weapons still glinted dangerously around the room. ‘Aaron,’ Jake croaked, struggling to push himself up. ‘I told you to come alone.’
‘Well, I didn’t.’ He crossed his arms. ‘Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of my friends.’
‘Fine.’ He sounded too tired to argue. ‘But come closer.’
Reluctantly, Aaron did, stopping next to his dad, while Hailey and Alec lingered by the door. ‘What do you want? Did you find the cure? Because that’s the only reason I’ve come here.’
Jake swallowed. ‘I was getting close. The nereids were weak. But I couldn’t fight Poseidon’s Plague. I collapsed and they… escaped.’
‘Escaped!’ Hailey exclaimed. No, no, no. They needed the nereids for the cure.
‘You need to find them,’ Jake told Aaron. ‘You need to find out what they know.’
‘What about your soldiers?’
‘They’re all sick.’
‘Oh, so I’m a last resort.’ Aaron turned to leave, and Hailey saw the pain on his face before his dad grabbed his wrist and forced him to look back at him.
‘No. You’re my son. I know I haven’t been easy on you, but that’s because I wanted you to be great. I love you, Aaron. And I’m sorry I’ve never told you that before.’
Aaron tore his wrist from Jake’s sweaty hold. ‘You’re sorry? You manipulated me into betraying my friends. You locked me in a dungeon. How is that love?’
‘I—’
‘I don’t want to hear it. I’ll find the nereids. I’ll get the cure. But as for you and me, we’re done.’ He stormed past Hailey and Alec, who darted out after him.
‘Are you all right?’ Hailey asked Aaron as he stomped down the stairs.
‘Doesn’t matter. We’ve got other things to worry about.’
‘I can’t believe the nereids are free. Where do you think they are?’ Alec glanced around as they passed the third floor, as if expecting them to be lurking nearby.
‘Their room is a good place to start,’ Aaron said.
Hailey suppressed an eye roll. ‘Seriously? Their room? I don’t think they’re stupid enough to stick around. They’re probably in the sea and not planning on coming back until everyone is dead. We need to get to the stable and take the sea-horses out to find them.’
Aaron didn’t slow his pace as he stepped into the entryway and veered through the left archway. ‘I don’t think they stuck around either. But maybe they left some clues behind. And if they didn’t, then we’ll grab the sea-horses.’
‘Okay,’ Hailey agreed. She wasn’t sure what the chances of the nereids leaving behind anything were, like detailed instructions on what Poseidon’s Plague was and how to cure it. But at the same time, the nereids probably assumed everyone was too busy dying to bother breaking into their room, so it was worth a shot.
‘Now what?’ Alec asked when they stopped outside the nereids’ room.
‘We go in.’ Aaron pushed the door open. Pearl and seashell-encrusted mirrors lined the walls, accompanied by giant clamshell sinks, each with a brush resting on it. In the centre of the room stood a glass statue of Poseidon, similar to the one in the entryway. Four white sea-silk chaise lounges circled the statue, and Hailey could easily imagine the nereids lying on them while they stared up at their former leader. Creepy.
‘What do they need all these mirrors for?’ Alec stared into one. ‘And these sinks.’ He glided a hand along the outside of a clamshell.
‘They’re nymphs, what else did you expect?’ Aaron replied simply. ‘Come on, let’s start looking.’
Hailey glanced around. There really wasn’t anywhere to look. There were no drawers or shelves—and she couldn’t see any bottles sitting on the sinks labelled Cure. Alec peered under the chaises, and Aaron ran his hands down the walls.
Hailey frowned. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Trying to find a secret passageway. Come help me—one of these jewels or shells might be a button.’
Hailey shrugged, deciding it was better than declaring defeat. But she felt the more time they wasted here, the less chance they had of catching the nereids. She wanted to go after them now, but there was a chance—a tiny chance—that Aaron was right. She started on the wall directly opposite the door, while Alec took the one to the left.
Hailey dragged her hands over the bumpy wall, pushing hard enough that if one of the jewels or shells was a button, it would press in.
She paused when she got to the middle of the wall, where a painting taller than her hung. Poseidon stood on a rock in the middle of the sea, with twenty-three nereids circling his feet, gazing up at him with adoration. Gross, was Hailey’s first thought, and then she remembered how in movies safes tended to be hidden behind paintings, and a safe would be a pretty good place to hide a cure.
Hope bloomed in Hailey’s heart. She could imagine it now… a safe made of adamantine—the strongest metal in the world—that required a key to open it, which Nemertes probably hid on a chain around her neck. Hailey wouldn’t need it though. Alec would be strong enough to break
through it, or at least phase his hand through the door and un-click the lock somehow.
She lifted the painting, ready to let triumph swarm her, but surprise gripped her instead. It wasn’t a safe. ‘I found a crystal tunnel.’ Tiny lights embedded in its walls revealed a long passageway.
Aaron darted to her side. ‘Good. I’ll follow it.’
‘We’ll all follow it,’ Hailey corrected.
‘We don’t know what’s on the other side,’ Aaron argued. ‘It could be a hydra they’ve been collecting venom from and poisoning the water with.’
‘We go together,’ she said firmly.
‘I don’t think we have much choice,’ Alec whispered and pointed at the door.
Voices were drifting towards them. The nereids!
‘Inside. Quickly,’ Aaron hissed, pushing Hailey towards the passageway, which Alec was already scurrying into.
‘No.’ Hailey dug her heels in. ‘We came here to confront them.’
Aaron’s jaw jutted, and Hailey could see him battling the urge to toss her into the tunnel. ‘Hailey, if we hide, we could overhear something. But if they know we’re here, they’ll never talk.’
Of course. Hailey thought. The voices were closer now. She scrambled into the passage, which was tall enough for her to stand up in. Aaron climbed in after her, and replaced the painting to conceal them, the lights embedded in the crystal walls glowing brighter, banishing the darkness.
‘Looks as though the humans have been in here,’ Nemertes hissed as a door slammed.
Hailey’s breath hitched. She might have been happy to confront the nereids, but that didn’t mean she was stupid enough not to be terrified.
‘Was it really necessary to return here, sister?’
‘Yes, Nesso,’ Nemertes’s icy voice replied. ‘I wish to watch them die. Every last one of them.’
‘And what about the girl?’
‘We already have what we want. I do not care what becomes of her. Throw her to the sea-monsters.’
Hailey gulped. She had an odd feeling the girl they were talking about was her, since they’d always hated her just a little more than other humans—thanks to the prophecy about a Zeus defeating the gods.
Poseidon's Academy Box Set Page 56
