Poseidon's Academy Box Set

by Sarah A Vogler

  Cady left the room, beginning to wind her way back to the entryway. Am I doing the right thing? She didn’t know. But she was in too deep now. There was no way out. She’d made that deal when she’d been so angry… so humiliated. She would have given anything for Venus to suffer at the time. And then Nemertes had given her that love potion. Jayden had only had eyes for her after that. She couldn’t lose him. She’d do anything to keep him. He was the only good thing in her life.

  When Cady drifted into the entryway she froze, her eyes widening. Hailey and her friends were there. Have they figured out I’ve been scheming with the nereids?

  ‘Cady?’ Aaron’s hands dropped to his sides.

  ‘I… What are you doing here?’ They don’t know anything. Don’t make them suspicious.

  ‘Us?’ Demi crossed her arms. ‘You’re the one sneaking back from wherever you were. And where exactly was that?’

  ‘I was… I couldn’t sleep. It was so cold. I went to the stable thinking it might be warmer in there—that maybe Hephaestus had installed warming lamps for the horses.’

  ‘Why are you walking around alone?’ Hailey asked. ‘You’re lucky whatever is taking people didn’t get you.’

  ‘Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It might be warmer wherever the others are.’ Cady rubbed her arms, pretending to be cold, despite the fact she felt as warm as a cup of cocoa on a winter’s day. Nemertes had told her before the takeover of her plan to stop the palace in the Arctic Sea and lower the force field, so Cady had stolen warming potions from the Hecate room. She hated seeing the other students freezing, but Nemertes had promised her it was only temporary—that once the gods returned, she would put the force field back up. ‘Why are you out here?’

  ‘We’re about to solve the palace issue,’ Demi bragged. ‘We’re going to get the nereids to reverse what they did and bring back Amathia and everyone else. So you just go back to bed, and when you wake up in the morning, we’ll have saved the school.’

  Cady’s eyes widened. The nereids could tell them about her and what she was doing. ‘The nereids? You shouldn’t go after them.’

  ‘We’ve dealt with them before, we know how dangerous they are,’ Hailey said.

  Cady suddenly noticed another girl lingering behind Aaron, and thought she might be seeing things because that girl left last year. Why is she here? ‘You, um. You’re Hope, aren’t you? I thought you left.’

  ‘I came back for a visit before all of this happened,’ Hope said. ‘Amathia told me to stay out of sight, though, since I’m not technically a student here anymore.’

  Cady raised an eyebrow. That sounded more like a lie than anything, but she didn’t have time to figure out what was going on.

  ‘You really should go back upstairs.’ Aaron’s fingers tapped impatiently against his leg. ‘Jayden wouldn’t want you out here alone.’

  Fear clutched at her heart. ‘You didn’t ask him to go with you, did you?’ She didn’t want him anywhere near the nereids or Stetho.

  ‘No,’ Aaron said.

  ‘Good. I, um, wouldn’t want anything happening to him.’

  Demi raised an eyebrow. ‘But you’re okay with something happening to us?’

  ‘No, that’s not what I meant. I… I…’

  ‘Go back up to bed, Cady,’ Aaron said. ‘And please don’t tell anyone you saw us down here.’

  ‘I won’t.’ Cady skittered past them and up the stairs. She needed to warn the nereids that Hailey and her friends were coming. Her skin turned as clear as glass, making her practically invisible. She climbed the steps into the common room and dropped her camouflage when she saw the fourth year unconscious on a sofa. That makes things easier. Cady darted into the girls’ dormitories, jogging down to her empty dorm.

  ‘Vkalike.’ The orb floating beneath her ceiling flared to life, flooding the dorm with light. Her dorm mate had been one of the first students to go missing. Nemertes had made sure of that so there would be no one to question Cady about why she was always disappearing in the middle of the night.

  She grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled a quick letter.

  Nemertes

  Students are coming for you. They want answers about Stetho.

  Cady

  She didn’t bother shoving the note in an envelope. She simply folded it and wrote, Nemertes, The Nereids’ Chamber, Poseidon’s Academy on it before pressing a stamp on the front. It vanished a heartbeat later.

  Cady turned her attention to her mother-of-pearl chest of drawers. She opened the top drawer, shifting aside the scattered books she’d stuffed into it. Hidden, at the very bottom, was a gold pouch. She grabbed it and tipped it upside down; a gold bean-shaped seed fell into her palm. She’d seen Demi holding the seed the day everyone was supposed to go back home. Cady had known that was never going to happen, because she’d stolen the travelling necklaces and left them in the nereids’ room, as per instructions Nemertes had sent her in a letter.

  She’d recognised the seed from an entry in one of the library books she’d read. It had said the gods were feeling magnanimous one day and had created seeds capable of bringing humans to Olympus. But they’d wanted only worthy humans to earn such an honour, so they’d hidden the seeds in three griffins’ nests. Each pouch contained two seeds. One seed was to work out they weren’t meant to be planted, and the second was to figure out their true purpose. As far as Cady knew, she would be the first human to ever use one.

  This is the right choice, Cady told herself before popping the seed in her mouth and swallowing.

  She blinked and she was somewhere else. A white marble palace big enough to house a family of giants gleamed in front of her, surrounded by giant pillars. A cloud stretched beneath Cady, so big it took up the entire sky. She assumed the cloud was like the grounds at the Academy and was always moving, never giving anyone the chance to discover what secret it carried. A smile tweaked Cady’s lips when she thought about the fact she had worked out where Olympus was—something the Government and archaeologists had been trying to do for centuries.

  Cady approached the high gold gates in front of the palace. Amathia had told her in Ancient History that the Horae had guarded the gates against anyone unworthy entering the Olympians’ home. But they were dead now, so there was no one to stop her.

  The gates creaked and moaned as she approached, opening inwards, welcoming her in as if they knew she was there to restore the gods.

  ‘This is the right choice,’ she said aloud, trailing a hand over the palace’s smooth marble, watching how the gold streaked through it glittered in the sunlight.

  She came to a stop in front of double gold ornate doors that were so tall she had to crane her neck to look up at them. ‘This is the right choice,’ she told herself again. ‘This is the right choice. This is the right choice.’ Cady repeated the sentence over and over again until she was brave enough to push the doors open.

  Stale musty air rushed up to greet her as she entered the entryway. It was massive—triple the size of the Academy’s entryway. The diamond floor sparkled as sunlight poured down from the glass ceiling high above. Cady realised she must be on the other side of the world to Poseidon’s Academy, since it was night there and day here.

  Marble pillars ran down the length of the open space, and between them the palace stretched on and on, leading to different rooms. Cady needed one in particular: the throne room. Her eyes settled on the end of the entryway, where twin staircases curved their way upstairs. Between them stood another set of gold double doors. They look imperial enough to lead to a throne room. She drifted towards them, her footsteps echoing around the vast space.

  She pushed open the doors and froze, gazing into the circular room, where twelve thrones curved around the inside. In ten of them sat gods. Real gods. And not just any gods. The Olympians! Cady’s legs trembled as she inched towards them, her knees threatening to buckle. It was one thing to see them through a memory ball, but another to really see them. They’d been alive up here this
whole time.

  Frost dusted the gods’ blue-tinged skin and coated their hair. Their eyes were open, staring at one another, and Cady thought for a moment they might turn to her. But the gods remained frozen in their thrones. Once she was sure they wouldn’t suddenly wake up, Cady slinked towards a youthful goddess wearing a crescent moon diadem. She sat on a silver throne that had a slight glow to it, as if it were imbued with moonlight.

  ‘Artemis,’ she mumbled, before moving to the next throne. This one was solid gold, and had tiny suns engraved over it. The golden-haired god sitting on it looked as young as Artemis, which made sense because he was Apollo—Artemis’s twin.

  She shuddered when she approached the next god, cold dread spilling through her. His pure black throne had spikes sticking from its sides, waiting for someone to trip and impale themselves. Ares’s black eyes bored into her. Cady quickly darted to the next throne, which had a scallop-shell back like the chairs at the Academy, only much bigger. The goddess sitting on it was so beautiful that it had to be Aphrodite. A burst of anger swelled in Cady when she saw the goddess’s violet eyes. They matched Venus’s.

  ‘I’m doing this to stop Venus and other bullies like her,’ Cady reminded herself, moving away from the goddess.

  The throne beside hers was made of various metals, and shimmered like a dark rainbow streaked with copper and silver. It was empty. But Cady guessed it was probably Hephaestus’s. The throne next to his was also empty—a plain wooden one. Perhaps Hestia’s? What happened to these two gods? Maybe not all the Olympians made it back from the Great Battle.

  Beside the empty thrones was one carved of stone. A pair of wings was engraved on the backrest, making the god sitting on it look as if the wings were sprouting from his back. Cady recognised him by the staff beside him. Two snakes intertwined around it, and a small gold orb rested at the top of the staff, flanked by a pair of wings. The caduceus, she remembered its name from Powers class, and that it was a magic wand Hecate had created for Hermes. And that’s who this god was... Hermes, the messenger of the gods.

  Beside him was a throne made out of leather-bound tomes that looked as old as Cronus, the god of time. The goddess sitting on it had a spear frozen in her hand. Athena. What’s inside those books? There were no titles printed on their leather spines, nothing to give away what knowledge the goddess of wisdom and war protected. Cady didn’t dare touch them, not with Athena’s eyes watching her.

  The throne next to hers looked like a tree, with branches clawing out of the top of it. Husks of dead flowers and shrivelled vines covered it, giving it away as Demeter’s. Next was a glass throne adorned with jewels and shells. Poseidon sat on it, his trident leaning against the armrest. Cady was tempted to touch it. To use it. But she doubted the gods would appreciate her causing an earthquake that tore apart their palace. Beside him, sitting on an ivory throne decorated with peacock feathers, was a goddess wearing a gold diadem on her head of dark auburn hair. This was Hera, Queen of the Gods.

  Cady swallowed nervously and walked up to the final throne. Three steps led up to it. It was a cloud—an actual cloud that looked as if it had been plucked from the sky outside. Lightning sparked inside it. There was no mistaking it as Zeus’s throne. He sat on it, a ring of gold leaves on his head. His blue eyes bored into her. What if he can see me? What if he’s frozen but is still aware of everything happening? Cady didn’t want to anger him by making him wait. Or any of them, she thought, realising all the gods’ eyes seemed to be following her.

  Cady gulped and veered towards a black onyx chest that sat in the centre of the throne circle. Nemertes had told her she’d have to work out how to awaken the gods when she got here. This chest was the only thing around. It must have a potion or spell in it to bring the gods back.

  She dropped to her knees beside it and reached out a hand. She paused, her fingers an inch from the black onyx, which was so polished her reflection stared back at her. Once she opened it, there would be no turning back. Am I really doing the right thing? If I open this chest and awaken the gods, they might destroy the world in vengeance. But what other choice do I have? I’m here now. And I can’t get back down. If I don’t wake them up, I’ll die here. And here was not a place she wanted to be. Not with their eyes staring at her.

  Please let this be the right choice.

  Cady threw the lid open.

  Black lights swarmed out like flying beetles. Cady squealed and lurched to her feet, sprinting out of the throne circle. The lights ignored her, zooming instead towards the ten gods and slipping into their partially-opened mouths.

  Panic wrapped around Cady’s chest like strangulation seaweed. She glanced towards the open double doors, only ten or so steps away from her, deciding if she should make a run for it. ‘Please let me have made the right choice,’ she prayed to the Tyches as the frost melted from the gods’ skin and hair, as if sunlight were warming them from the inside.

  The Olympians began to stir, blinking their eyes.

  ‘What is happening?’ Artemis snapped. ‘I thought we were supposed to freeze.’

  ‘We did,’ Zeus replied, his voice full of authority. He rose from his throne, his eyes locking on to Cady, who was standing halfway to the doors.

  Her legs threatened to give out as chills spread over her body like insects crawling over her skin. He’s going to kill me. The messenger always dies. Why didn’t I think this through?

  ‘A human,’ Ares spat. He lunged up and held out a hand, like he was about to summon a fireball. ‘I will take care of it.’

  Cady squeezed her eyes shut. Please don’t let it hurt.

  ‘What?!’

  Cady peeked an eye open. Ares was staring at his empty palm, dumbfounded.

  ‘We relinquished our powers, remember?’ Aphrodite said, talking down to him as though he was a fool.

  ‘I want them back. Now!’ Ares demanded, his gaze shooting to Zeus.

  ‘Sit down, Ares,’ Zeus ordered.

  Ares jutted his jaw but complied.

  Hera remained in her throne; she touched the back of Zeus’s hand. ‘What is happening, Zeus? Do you know this human?’

  Cady’s entire body was trembling. Why had she come here? Of course the gods wouldn’t let her live. Nemertes had lied when she’d said the gods would reward Cady. The gods despised humans, and she doubted she would be an exception.

  A smile touched Zeus’s lips. ‘It worked. We’re alive. The threat of humans has passed, which is why this one’—he nudged his head to Cady—‘has awakened us.’

  ‘Did Nemertes send you?’ Poseidon leaned forward to look at Cady with eyes as blue as sapphires.

  Cady managed a nod. Her throat was too tight and dry to speak.

  ‘How is she? How are all my nereids?’

  Cady opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

  ‘I think humans are even more daft now than they were when we ruled,’ Apollo remarked with distaste.

  ‘I do not care about your nereids.’ Zeus silenced Poseidon. ‘What year is it? How long has it been since our reign?’

  Cady swallowed, trying to clear the dryness keeping her from talking.

  ‘Speak!’ Zeus snapped.

  ‘It-t-t’s 2019,’ Cady stammered out. ‘You’ve been dead—I mean gone—for sixteen centuries.’

  ‘Sixteen centuries!’ Demeter shrieked. ‘I was not aware it would be that long.’ She rose from her throne. ‘I have somewhere to go. Let us eat ambrosia to regain our powers.’

  ‘Sit down, Demeter,’ Zeus ordered. ‘We need to know what has become of the world before we go anywhere.’

  Demeter pursed her lips and dropped back onto her tree throne.

  Cady stiffened as Zeus approached her. He doesn’t have his powers. He can’t kill me—at least not with lightning.

  ‘Tell me of the world,’ Zeus said, stopping a few feet from her. ‘What has happened since the battle?’

  Cady dropped her gaze to Zeus’s chest. She didn’t think he’d appreciate her staring him in
the eyes—eyes the same azure blue shade as Hailey’s on a clear sunny day. ‘Um, well, when the gods died—I mean, the other gods… not you… obviously—their powers fell from the sky. Now humans have them.’

  ‘Unworthy scum!’ Poseidon growled. ‘I told you before we froze ourselves that this would happen,’ he said to Zeus. ‘They stole our powers.’ His furious eyes settled on Cady. ‘YOU stole our powers!’ He clutched his trident, and a tremor jolted through the floor.

  ‘No.’ Cady shook her head. ‘I didn’t. I don’t have a god power. I came here so that you would take your powers back. Too many of my kind abuse them. Nemertes said you would make it right. That is why I awakened you.’

  ‘And how do you know Nemertes?’ Poseidon pressed.

  ‘I… well.’ Cady hesitated. She doubted Poseidon would be happy about his palace being a school.

  ‘SPEAK, HUMAN!’ Poseidon roared, and another tremor shot through the floor, this one so powerful the entire room shook.

  ‘The palace is a school now,’ Cady blurted out.

  Poseidon’s face burned red, and Cady thought the god might actually burst into flames. ‘There are humans in my palace?’ he spat. ‘I will not stand for it!’ He slammed his trident down.

  The ground shook with the force of an earthquake, and a thin crack tore through the diamond floor from where Poseidon’s trident had struck it.

  ‘Enough, Poseidon!’ Zeus said as Cady lost her balance and toppled forward. The King of the Gods stormed over to him, keeping perfect balance, as if immune from the earthquake. He ripped the trident from Poseidon’s hand.

  The shaking stopped, the room falling still again as Cady climbed back to her feet, trembling.

  Zeus threw the trident aside, sending it sailing over the throne circle and slamming against the wall. ‘You said you don’t possess a god power,’ he said, focusing his attention back on Cady. ‘What did you mean by that?’

  Cady tried to ignore all the glaring eyes on her. ‘Um, the gods’ powers mutated in some humans, creating unique powers. We’re called Others, and considered beneath those with god powers.’