‘Oh, I will. I’ll just tell Madam Grayson what you said about my powers being worthless, and how when I offered to help you out of the spider webs using them, you refused. And she’ll believe me, because you’ve made it pretty clear to everyone what you think of Aphrodites.’
Hailey wasn’t convinced Madam Grayson would believe her, especially considering how Madam Grayson had admitted to seeing past Venus’s sweet-as-chocolate act to her rotten core. But she needed to get her friends out of this. ‘I’m a pathetic excuse for a Zeus.’ The words sliced her insides like razor blades.
Venus beamed. ‘Yes, you are. Okay, boys, I suppose you can free them. We’ve got tiaras to win.’
Sword Guy cut Hailey and Demi loose before slashing a path ahead. The other boys formed a circle around Venus and the twins, protecting them from the loose strands of web floating about, while they followed after Sword Guy.
Jayden, Alec, and Aaron hesitated, staring towards Hailey with sympathy—or maybe it was pity. Either way, it made her feel even worse. ‘I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s go before the web reforms.’
The boys took the lead, with Hailey and Demi following after them. Hailey ducked and flinched away from the broken strands of web as she walked, afraid of getting stuck again.
‘Don’t listen to anything she said,’ Demi whispered from behind her. ‘You’re an incredible Zeus, and she’s just jealous.’
‘Thanks,’ Hailey said, swallowing around the lump in her throat. She would not let Venus make her feel like a failure. Hailey’s powers were a thousand times more powerful than hers, and if she wanted to, she could whirl Venus away on a tornado or freeze her in a snowstorm. She wished she’d left her to roast on that fire.
‘Do you want me to trip her into a web?’ Demi offered when another conch shell sounded from somewhere behind them.
Hailey shook her head. ‘It’s okay. I don’t think I can handle her screaming anymore.’ Hailey replayed images of Venus toppling down the sand dune and of her falling off the vine. She smiled. She’s the pathetic one, not me. ‘And we’re almost finished,’ she told Demi, nudging her head towards the tunnel’s approaching exit.
Hailey and the others piled out of the tunnel, stepping back into the forest. An explosion of cheers greeted them. The other teams stood around the cave’s exit, clapping and hollering. Amathia, Madam Norwood, and Master Anderson stepped towards them as the cheering stopped and the students began breaking apart.
‘Congratulations on finishing the course,’ Master Anderson said, slapping Sword Guy on the shoulder—he didn’t even blink, his eyes still empty.
‘You’ve come in eighth and ninth place,’ Madam Norwood informed them. ‘Something to be proud of.’
Aaron’s face fell. ‘That’s last when you take into account the seven teams who quit.’
‘Yes,’ Madam Norwood admitted. ‘But you finished, and they did not.’
That seemed enough to make Aaron smile.
‘Where’s my tiara?’ Venus demanded.
Amathia raised an eyebrow. ‘Tiara?’
‘Madam Grayson said if we finished she’d give me and the twins each a tiara. Where are they?’
‘I think you will have to take that up with Madam Grayson,’ Amathia replied. ‘But until then, I hope the satisfaction of finishing a very challenging race is enough to keep you content.’
Venus scoffed. ‘Hardly.’
Hailey resisted the urge to kick her.
‘There are dematerialisers over there who will escort you back to the palace.’ Madam Norwood pointed to a group of students standing a few yards away, beside bushes growing juicy blueberries. Some of the other competitors were already making their way towards them.
Hailey and the rest of her team joined the crowd. She was grateful she’d be getting a ride straight back to the palace. Her entire body ached, and she thought if she closed her eyes, she might not wake up for a week. She never wanted to run in an obstacle race again—she’d rather wear a neutralising bracelet for an entire year.
The team in front of them vanished, blinking out of sight so quickly it was if they’d never been standing there. A second later a senior girl materialised in front of them and held her hands out. ‘Everyone link up.’
Jayden basically had to wrestle Venus to get her hand.
Tingles spread through Hailey’s body and the world spun, mixing into a smear of greens, blues, and yellows that reformed into the palace’s grounds, where students cheered and threw potion vials into the air. They exploded into a shower of sparkling fireworks.
Madam Grayson strode towards them from the crowd of teachers standing near the trees with seaweed rope wrapped around them. ‘Well done on finishing. You’re all still alive, so that’s a good sign.’
‘Where’s my tiara?’
‘There is no tiara, Venus.’
‘What? You lied! You can’t lie, you’re a teacher.’
‘Let’s call it misleading you. You needed an incentive to finish the race. Otherwise, you would have given up at the first obstacle, so I led you to believe there’d be a prize.’
‘But—’ Venus sputtered.
‘I’m still happy to offer up neutralising bracelets, if you’re interested.’
‘No,’ Venus said quickly.
Hailey suppressed a laugh; it was nice to know Venus wouldn’t be getting what she wanted after all.
7
Spying Again
Hailey stood back in the lantern-lit cavern from the obstacle course race, peering down the six tunnels. ‘Hello,’ she called out. ‘Demi? Jayden? Anyone?’
‘I’m here.’
Hailey whirled around, her breath catching. Hades. Hailey shook her head, backing away from him. ‘No. We put you back to sleep. You’re trapped in Tartarus.’
‘But you are in Tartarus.’ He nudged his head behind Hailey.
She spun around and almost collapsed when she saw jewels trapped inside the rock walls and a myriad of tunnels. ‘No!’ she cried. ‘I don’t want to be here. Let me go. Please!’ she begged.
‘Too late,’ Hades said, right before lightning stuck the ground and Zeus materialised.
Hailey’s eyes flew open before Zeus could strike her. I’m safe. I’m in my bed. The gods are dead, she told herself over and over again until her racing heart slowed, and then she remembered the nereids being in the stable. How could she have forgotten about the nereids? That stupid race had completely distracted her and made her too tired to even remember them after she’d returned to the palace.
Furious at herself, Hailey leapt out of bed. The nereids had already had too much time to devise a plan to resurrect the gods, and she wouldn’t let them have any more. The sun was rising, its rays making the crystal doors of the window sparkle with rainbows, so she didn’t feel too bad about shaking Demi awake.
‘Go away,’ Demi groused, feebly trying to push Hailey back.
‘No, Demi. You need to get up.’
‘Why?’ she grumbled, keeping her eyes firmly shut.
‘Because we forgot to sort out the nereid issue yesterday.’
‘So? It can wait a few more hours.’
Hailey bit her lip. Yeah, it probably could wait a few more hours, considering they’d given the nereids a whole day to plan in private. And Amathia was no longer supervising a race, so could keep an eye on her sisters. But that didn’t settle Hailey’s nerves. She blamed the nightmare for that. It had reminded her that the gods could return, especially if the nereids were allowed to enact whatever plan they had in the works. And she absolutely refused to let that happen.
‘It can’t wait,’ Hailey said to Demi, who must have sensed the urgency in her tone, because she stopped arguing.
‘Fine,’ she gave in, finally opening her eyes. ‘But I’m going back to sleep after.’
‘Thank you.’ Hailey slipped into the hallway and headed for the common room, while Demi trailed behind her, yawning.
A few students sat by the fire, far too absorbed in thei
r conversation to notice Hailey and Demi creeping towards the boys’ dormitories.
Hailey pushed the door open and smacked into Brennan.
‘Sorry,’ Hailey stammered, her face growing warm.
Brennan’s eyes widened with surprise. Hailey guessed he didn’t bump into many girls in the boys’ dormitories. ‘Oh, it’s you.’
Hailey crossed her arms, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about being in her pyjamas. ‘Sorry again. We were just…’ She didn’t have a ready excuse.
‘Trying to visit our friends.’
Hailey shot Demi a look that said are you insane? She didn’t know anything about Brennan, so who was to say he wouldn’t run straight to Madam Grayson’s dorm and turn them in for breaking into the boys’ dormitories.
Demi gave a trust me look. ‘Basically, I forgot to do my homework last night, and our friend Alec is a genius, so I’m hoping he can help me.’
‘But it’s 6am. On a Sunday,’ Brennan pointed out.
‘Yeah, well I can’t sleep or enjoy my weekend until I’ve done all my homework. It’s like a form of anxiety.’
Hailey suppressed a laugh. Demi was more a do-your-homework and study-for-tests-at-the-last-minute kind of person.
‘Look, I don’t care why you want to see your friends, but if you want, I’ll take you. It’s the least I can do,’ Brennan said, giving Hailey a pointed look.
Great, Hailey thought, he’s one of the people who thinks I’m special because of my powers. ‘Brennan, just because I’m a Zeus doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to help us or be intimidated by me. I’m normal like everyone else, and that’s how I like to be treated.’
‘Um… I… I just meant that I owed you after I helped Venus attack you.’
‘Oh.’ Hailey’s cheeks burned. Good one, Hailey, assuming that anyone who acts weird around you clearly thinks you’re a superstar. Way to act like an arrogant—
‘Thanks for the offer,’ Demi said. ‘But there’s hardly anyone here. I think we can get through on our own.’
‘Okay. Well, if you ever need help getting somewhere, let me know.’ He scurried off before Hailey could snap out of her embarrassment to thank him.
Demi grinned at her. ‘I think he likes you.’
Hailey rolled her eyes. ‘No, he just thinks I’m an idiot. Now let’s hurry up.’ She snuck to the end of the hallway and knocked on Alec and Aaron’s door, while Demi went to wake up Jayden.
‘Um, come in.’ Hailey had been expecting a mumble, but Aaron sounded wide awake. She opened the door and found him standing in front of his desk on the right side of the room, one hand behind his back and an anxious look on his face, like Hailey had walked in on him stealing something.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt whatever you were doing.’
‘I wasn’t really doing anything.’ Aaron whipped an envelope out from behind his back. ‘I was just about to send my dad a letter.’
‘You do that. I can wait.’ She glanced away from Aaron and wasn’t surprised to find his side of the dorm strewn with books and crumpled clothes, and Alec’s side meticulous with not so much as a book spine out of place in the stacked pile on his desk. Even his sea-silk sheet and duvet—which he was currently dozing under—were crease free.
Aaron pressed a stamp onto the envelope, the letter vanishing, before he turned back to Hailey. ‘So what’s wrong?’
‘We forgot to talk about the nereids.’
‘Right. I guess I’ll wake Alec up.’
Hailey settled on the floor between the two beds and was soon joined by Demi, Jayden, Alec, and Aaron.
‘I say we strangle them in their sleep,’ Demi volunteered before anyone else could talk. ‘Then we never have to worry about them again.’
Jayden yawned. ‘Nymphs don’t sleep.’
‘Oh, yeah.’
‘I think we tell Amathia,’ Alec offered, going with his usual tell-a-teacher approach.
‘I don’t know.’ Hailey crossed her legs. ‘She’ll probably just remind us that she spoke with them and not to worry.’
Hailey really liked Amathia, but when it came to her sisters, she tended to be very naïve, and Hailey didn’t want to trust that things would be okay just because Amathia said they would. She’d told Hailey the same thing last year, and the Olympian gods had almost been resurrected. She needed to find out for herself if the nereids were up to anything, and that meant doing some spying of her own.
‘I think Alec could be right this time,’ Jayden countered. ‘Last time we took up spying, we became prisoners in the Underworld. Plus we told Madam Grayson and Amathia we would stay away from the nereids.’
‘We also stopped the gods,’ Demi pointed out. ‘And ruined the nereids’ plans. Basically, we saved the world.’
‘Aaron, what do you think?’ Jayden asked.
Aaron had been staring at his desk, but he jumped when Jayden said his name. ‘What?’
Jayden frowned. ‘Are you okay?’
His eyes flicked to the desk again, only for a second. ‘Yeah. Just got distracted. What was the question?’
Demi chucked a pen at him. ‘Pay attention. What do you think we should do about the nereids?’
Aaron tossed the pen onto his desk. ‘Oh… um… I think we tell Amathia and leave it up to her.’
‘What?’ Demi’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re the one who’s always saying we need to take things into our own hands, and now you want to leave it up to Amathia.’
Aaron shrugged. ‘It’s not like we can follow them into the water. Amathia can.’
Hailey cocked an eyebrow at him. He was being weird again. Last year he would have demanded they start spying straight away, but now it was as if he didn’t even care. Her suspicions about the potion wearing off re-emerged. It was the only thing that could explain his change in personality. He was probably terrified of the nereids trapping them somewhere like the Underworld again. Hailey was scared, too, but she wouldn’t let the nereids win.
‘Okay, how about a compromise,’ Hailey suggested. ‘We tell Amathia, but we also take up spying. Amathia can follow her sisters into the water, and we can spy on them when we’re not in class.’
‘How?’ Alec asked. ‘We don’t have the wand to make us invisible anymore.’
‘We can hide in Rain’s stall. If we’re lucky, we’ll be there when they take the horses out, and hopefully they’ll let something slip.’
‘I can deal with that.’ Demi leaned back against Aaron’s bed.
Alec shifted nervously. ‘I don’t see why we can’t just leave it up to Amathia. Why do we have to get involved again?’
‘Because I want to know what they’re doing, too, and Amathia might miss something,’ Hailey explained.
‘Okay,’ Jayden said. ‘It seems reasonable enough. Let’s go see Amathia.’
‘I think I should go alone,’ Hailey said. ‘I’m the one who saw the nereids, and if we go together she’ll probably guess we’re spying again,’ Hailey added before anyone could argue.
‘Are you sure?’ Demi asked her.
‘Yes.’
A letter materialised on Aaron’s desk, and he lunged for it. He went to open it and then seemed to remember he wasn’t alone. He turned back to them, hiding the letter behind his back. ‘You should probably go now,’ he told Hailey and Demi. ‘You don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the dormitories when everyone wakes up.’
‘Okay,’ Hailey said, feeling a little bad for not siding with him. She’d try and talk to him later and let him know that if he didn’t want to spy, he didn’t have to.
Hailey knocked on the Ancient History classroom door, her nerves twisting her stomach. She wasn’t sure how Amathia would react. She doubted she’d be mad about Hailey sneaking into Poseidon’s stable, but she worried that maybe Amathia would get offended and think Hailey was accusing her of not protecting the school.
The door swung open; Amathia stood in its frame, her usual kind smile in place. ‘Yes?’
�
�I need to tell you something.’ Hailey took one step into the classroom and froze. Nemertes lurked beside Amathia’s desk.
‘We can finish this conversation later, Nemertes,’ Amathia told her sister, keeping the door open for her to leave.
‘Very well, sister.’ Her tone was acid, making it sound as if she wanted nothing more than to strangle Amathia. She shot Hailey a venomous glare before slamming the door behind her.
‘I apologise for my sister’s behaviour. Nemertes has not been in a very good mood since school recommenced. Would you like to sit?’
‘No, I won’t be long,’ Hailey said, remaining by the door. She hesitated a second before saying, ‘I think your sisters are plotting how to wake up the gods again, and probably how to get rid of us,’ Hailey added, knowing killing off the school population was at the top of the nereids’ list too.
Amathia’s face remained neutral. ‘Why do you think that?’
‘Because I saw them taking the sea-horses for a ride, and that’s what they did last year when they were planning the world’s demise.’
‘I assure you my sisters are merely riding the horses. They know the consequences if I catch them doing anything untoward again.’
Hailey’s heart sank. Amathia didn’t believe her. Her face must have reflected her disappointment because Amathia went on to say, ‘I keep a close eye on them and follow them whenever they leave the palace. All they speak of is what a horrid sister I am.’
‘I know they’re planning something.’ Hailey’s voice was desperate. ‘I can feel it.’
‘If they are, I promise I will learn of it and foil them. It’s not your responsibility to worry about my sisters, Hailey.’
‘Why do you let them live here?’ Hailey asked, the question came out more as a demand. ‘You know they’re evil. And I don’t think your excuse about this being their home too is a good enough reason to let them stay here, not when they want us all dead.’
‘That is a fair question,’ Amathia said, nodding her head. ‘There is an expression you humans have that I think explains why… keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. If I banished my sisters, it would be much harder to track them and find out what they were up to. While they are here, I can keep an eye on them.’
Poseidon's Academy and the Deadly Disease Page 8
