Hailey shot to her feet. ‘Who are you?’
‘Artemis, your half-sister.’
‘My sister? Did Zeus send you? I will not kill anyone else for him.’
Artemis leaned her bow against the cedar tree. ‘Zeus doesn’t know I am here. I have heard your pleas to be rescued, to be saved, and I am here to answer them.’
‘How?’
‘Like this.’ Artemis threw her arms out.
Tremors tore through the ground, and the earth moaned as cracks ripped through it. Hailey thought it was an earthquake, but then she realised the ground was shifting. The tiny copse that had once been a village was breaking away and drifting into the sea like a floating island. What in Tartarus?
It was a while before everything became still again.
Hailey gazed around. ‘What did you do?’
‘I am creating a forest for you,’ Artemis explained. ‘My aunt Demeter has leant me her powers.’ She threw her arms out again and the ground shook once more, expanding and growing out in every direction as trees and bushes multiplied, creating a forest. Next she clicked her fingers, and beside her materialised golden hinds, pegasi, hares, birds, dryads, naiads, and dozens more creatures.
Athena petted a golden hind between its antlers. ‘These creatures have volunteered to move here and keep you company,’ Artemis said. ‘You can only spread your disease to humans, so you are safe to become friends with the nymphs. You do not have to be forever alone, Pandora.’
Pandora scooped up a baby hedgehog, cuddling it in her arms. ‘Why? Why would you do all of this for me?’
‘Because I, too, was born from one of Zeus’s affairs, and Hera tortured my mother, so I harbour great sympathy for those who have endured similar mistreatment.’ Artemis gazed around, admiring her handiwork. ‘You will be safe here. There are no monsters, only gentle creatures.’
Hailey burst into tears. She placed the hedgehog down and rushed to Artemis, wrapping her arms around the goddess. ‘Thank you.’
Artemis stiffened, acting as though she’d never been hugged before. ‘I must return Demeter’s powers.’
‘Of course.’ Hailey stepped back, wiping at her eyes. ‘Thank her for me, too, please.’
‘She doesn’t know what I used them for.’ Artemis retrieved her bow from the tree. ‘I am the only one who will know of this place. If Hera ever found out, it would not end well for you.’ Artemis vanished, and so did the world. When it popped back, Hailey was standing with a dryad who had hanging moss for hair; it was Azaria—the head dryad her class had met on their Monsters and Creatures excursion.
‘I can’t believe it’s been a year since this became my home,’ Hailey told Azaria, smiling at the trees with faces. ‘Thank you for staying with me all this time.’
‘Of course,’ Azaria replied. ‘I love you, Pandora. Everyone does.’
‘That’s not true.’ Pandora’s shoulders slumped. ‘The world hates me. They think I am evil because I killed so many people. They don’t understand that Zeus tricked me into it. They call me the bringer of death.’
‘You are not evil, Pandora. You are as innocent as the golden hinds that roam these woods. You never have to harm anyone again.’
‘I can make sure of that.’
Hailey’s head whipped around. A woman wearing a peacock blue gown and a gold diadem in her auburn hair stood behind her. Hera! ‘How did you get into my forest?’
‘You don’t recognise me?’
Hailey shook her head.
Hera’s features hardened. ‘I am Hera, Queen of the Gods—and Zeus’s wife.’
Hailey gulped. ‘How did you learn of this place? It was meant to be a secret.’
‘Oh, Artemis had a little too much ambrosia wine and was bragging about how she had hidden you from me. But I found you. And now it’s time for you to pay for your mother’s sins.’ Hera clicked her fingers. When Artemis had done it, docile creatures had appeared. This time monsters blinked into existence… hydras, Nemean lions, cyclopes, arachnes, and chimeras.
Medusa! Hailey bolted, not daring to turn back as hisses and growls sounded behind her. She ran and ran, darting through the trees and leaping over fallen branches. This memory sucks! Hailey thought, just as something grabbed her ankle, tripping her a few yards from a flowing stream. She flipped onto her back, terror clawing at her heart.
‘Come to me, dinner.’ An arachne yanked on a line of spider web attached to Hailey’s boot.
‘No!’ Hailey screamed, trying to kick free. But the arachne dragged her closer, twigs and dead leaves scratching against her legs and hands as the monster reeled her in like a fish. Not another giant spider! Hailey thought, wishing she could close her eyes and be back in Amathia’s classroom.
‘Take my hand, Pandora.’ Hailey glanced back. A naiad stood half-submerged in the stream, reaching her hand out. Hailey flipped onto her stomach and stretched out her arm, but she couldn’t reach.
‘Just a little further,’ the arachne cooed, yanking the web again.
Hailey dug her nails into the dirt and tried to kick free. The boot attached to the arachne’s web loosened and Hailey shot forward, grabbing the naiad’s hand and splashing into the stream. Her body flowed with airiness, like she was floating, and then she was coming up from the water in a field of daisies.
‘Thank you,’ Hailey told the naiad, slumping down on the ground.
‘I’m sorry, Pandora, but the woods are no longer safe for you.’
Hailey shifted onto her knees, the sun beating down on her. ‘Please, I don’t want to be alone. My friends are in the forest. It is my home.’
The naiad’s crystal blue eyes brimmed with regret. ‘We cannot protect you from the monsters. I am sorry.’
‘No!’ Hailey cried when the naiad sank down in the stream and vanished. ‘Don’t leave me!’ She clawed at the water. ‘Please, come back!’
The world flashed white for what felt like the hundredth time, and Hailey waited to see where she’d appear next, but this time she came out of the memories, back into the classroom. Pandora lingered by the memory ball, eyes hesitant.
Hailey wasn’t sure what to say or do. Pandora’s memories were a lot to take in. All those dead people… she’d killed so many—or more like Zeus had tricked her into it.
Pandora must’ve taken Hailey’s silence as a sign that she wanted to hear more because she went on to say, ‘After that I wandered from place to place for a couple of years. I found that I could control my powers better, but eventually people got sick if I stayed anywhere too long. I used to beg Asclepius to heal them. Sometimes he did... Sometimes he didn’t. I spent most of those months alone. And then the gods died and the worst thing imaginable happened… I absorbed the power of immortality, becoming cursed to a life of utter despair. The one positive was that I could return to the forest and be with my mother and friends again without fear of dying—at least not permanently. The monsters killed me hundreds of times over the years, but I always came back.’
Hailey felt sympathy swelling in her again, thinking about how alone Pandora must have felt and knowing it would never end. But that didn’t explain why she’d decided to come out of her isolation to kill them. ‘Did the dryads and naiads tell you to kill us?’ Hailey asked, thinking the only explanation was that they were friends with the nereids and wanted to help them take Poseidon’s Academy back.
‘No,’ Pandora said, her voice sad with regret. ‘Nemertes came to me. I don’t know how she found me, but she did. She told me she could take my powers away and make me normal so that I could leave the forest and live a human life where I never made anyone sick. And that I could grow old and die like I’ve been dreaming about for centuries. But the price was coming here and using my disease-spreading power. I told her I didn’t want to hurt anyone. But she said you were all cruel and had stolen her and her sisters’ home, and that you were planning to kill them.’
That does sound like something Nemertes would say.
Pandora rubbed a finger on
Amathia’s coral desk. ‘I’ve killed so many people throughout my life, and I thought what’s another few hundred? Especially when they’re bad people. After that I would never kill again. I agreed, and then I found out that Nemertes lied to me. You weren’t cruel. You were good. But it was too late. I couldn’t stop what had already started, so I tried to help.’
Hailey scoffed. ‘To help? What did you ever do to help us?’
‘I told you that I learned to control my powers a little over time, enough that I can protect certain people from getting sick—at least for a little while. I kept you and Aaron safe, and Madam Norwood, and most of the Hecates. I protected you. And I pretended to be sick because it would slow the disease down if I wasn’t around you.’
‘But you knew there was no cure so it was all pointless.’
‘That’s not true.’ Pandora stepped away from the desk. ‘No one has ever tried to create a cure before. I hoped that you could.’
‘Why didn’t you just tell us? Why did you wait until the absolute last second to reveal who you were?’
‘Because I didn’t want you to hate me. I was praying to the Tyches that you would find a cure and no one would ever learn I was responsible for Poseidon’s Plague, and that I could keep living here.’ Pandora’s shoulders slumped. ‘I guess there is no cure.’
Fury bubbled inside Hailey so strong she had to grip the desk beside her. ‘You let people suffer because you didn’t want us to find out the truth? That’s not an excuse, Pandora. If you’d admitted to us what the nereids had asked you to do, we could have helped somehow before you spread your disease.’ Hailey took a breath, the image of Demi dying in her bed with blood pouring from her eyes flashed into her mind. ‘And Demi. You made her one of the first people to get sick. Why would you do that to her when she hasn’t done anything to you?’
‘I didn’t want to,’ Pandora pleaded. ‘But I didn’t have a choice. I was spending so much time with you and the others that if none of you had gotten sick, the nereids would have suspected something. I wouldn’t have let her die though. I swear. I am so sorry, Hailey.’ She moved towards her.
‘No.’ Hailey threw up a hand to stop her. ‘Sorry doesn’t change anything. What you’ve done is terrible. And yes, the life you had was also terrible, but that doesn’t mean you get to say sorry and be forgiven for trying to kill everyone.’
‘Hailey, I—’
‘I don’t want to hear any more, Hope—Pandora—whatever your name is. I want you to reverse what you’ve done. Now.’
‘Of course.’ Pandora drew a dagger from her boot.
Hailey tensed. ‘What are you doing?’
‘The only way to stop the disease is for me to stop using my powers, and to do that I have to die.’
‘But you’re immortal.’
‘Yes, but there are ways for me to stay dead longer than usual. If I stab myself, I will stay dead for a few days before my body finally pushes the dagger out. It will give Madam Mendem enough time to heal everyone. Although you might need to bring in more Asclepiuses.’
‘But their powers don’t work on your disease.’
‘Only because I was spreading it. Once I’m dead the disease will be too. Trust me, it’ll work.’ She plunged the dagger into her heart.
33
Blue Skies
Hailey fiddled with her necklace as she watched Madam Mendem clasp Demi’s deathly white hands. Blood-stained tissues were scattered around her on the bed, and empty potion bottles littered her clamshell side table. Please let this work. Please let this work.
Demi mumbled, her muscles twitching. Hailey lunged to her side. ‘Demi?’
Madam Mendem let go of Demi’s hands, stumbling back to Hailey’s bed, half-collapsing as she entered into a coughing fit.
Hailey glanced at her. ‘Are you all right?’
Madam Mendem nodded. ‘Yes, dearie. Just need to rest for a moment.’ She laid back on Hailey’s bed, blood seeping from her eyes and dripping onto Hailey’s pillows.
‘Hailey?’
Hailey whipped her head back around, the tight knot around her heart snapping like a rubber band as pure joy and relief flooded her. ‘Demi! You’re okay.’ She scooped her into a hug, tears trickling down her cheeks. ‘I thought you were going to die.’
‘Hails,’ Demi’s voice was muffled, ‘you’re crushing me.’
‘Sorry.’ Hailey let her go and stared at her, making sure none of the sickness lingered in her features. Her skin’s olive tone had returned, and her eyes sparkled bright like emeralds.
Demi pushed herself up, leaning her back against the wall. ‘Stop staring. It’s creepy.’
‘I can’t believe you’re okay.’
Demi looked at Madam Mendem and then back at Hailey. ‘How exactly is that? I didn’t think an Asclepius’s powers worked on this disease.’
Hailey’s heart sank. Demi needed to know the truth about Hope, and Hailey was pretty sure it would crush her. It would crush all her friends to know Hope was really Pandora, and was responsible for Poseidon’s Plague.
‘Hailey, what happened?’
Hailey sighed. ‘It started on the Isle of Trials…’ It took a good ten minutes to catch Demi up on all the facts, in which time Madam Mendem recovered and left to heal more students.
‘That harpy!’ Demi exclaimed when Hailey finished. ‘I can’t believe she tried to kill me.’
‘I know, but she made it right in the end,’ Hailey said, not sure why she was defending Pandora.
‘I can’t believe she’s Pandora. I mean I’m really angry, but at the same time, it’s a little cool Pandora actually exists—but not that she has the power to kill people.’
‘She showed me her memories.’ Hailey glided a finger along the edge of Demi’s clamshell side table. ‘She wanted me to understand why she was desperate enough to do what she did. She had a very lonely life,’ she added, that damn sympathy seeping through her anger again.
Demi crossed her legs. ‘So we’re okay with her trying to kill us?’
‘No, of course not.’ Hailey didn’t care how horrible Pandora’s life had been, nothing could warrant killing over five hundred people. ‘But I can sort of understand why she did it.’
A knock interrupted their conversation.
‘Come in,’ Hailey said, turning around to see who it would be. She almost fell over in surprise when she saw Amathia in the doorway.
‘Demi, I’m glad to see you have recovered.’
‘Me too. Dying was so boring and gross.’
‘Where have you been?’ Hailey asked, although it came out more as an accusation. Amathia wasn’t there when the school had needed her most. And everything had almost been lost because of it.
‘Acquiring this.’ Amathia held up a jar of blue liquid.
Demi leaned forward. ‘What is it?’
‘Something that will reverse the illness.’
‘So why didn’t you get it from the start? Why did you wait so long?’ Hailey tried to keep her tone from sounding demanding.
‘Because it is very difficult to acquire,’ Amathia explained. ‘And because I feared the disease could re-infect a person. I thought at the very least it would give us more time to find a cure.’
‘Well, we have a cure now.’ Demi swept away the bloody tissues on her bed; they landed on the pearl floor, vanishing a heartbeat later. ‘I don’t feel like I’m dying a slow painful death anymore.’
‘I know,’ Amathia said. ‘Madam Grayson has informed me of everything. But Madam Mendem cannot heal all of these students on her own. This liquid will have to heal others.’
‘What is it?’ Demi asked. ‘The sap of some rare flower that only grows at the bottom of a volcano?’
‘More like deep in a cave,’ Amathia said with a sad smile. ‘Well, I must distribute this. I will return later.’
Madam Mendem and a team of Asclepiuses Amathia had brought from the outside world spent the next two days healing everyone, except for the members of PET. Hailey stood in Jak
e’s dorm with Amathia and Aaron. Everyone else was busy showering and running around the school after being bed bound for so long.
Amathia lingered at Jake’s side with a vial; it contained the last of the blue liquid that had helped restore hundreds of students. She pressed it to Jake’s cracked lips and tipped it into his mouth.
Ten whole seconds passed before Jake opened his eyes. He sat up, shaking his head, and frowned when he saw Amathia, Hailey, and Aaron, his hand moving slightly towards the sword resting beside his bed. ‘What happened?’
‘You became ill with Poseidon’s Plague,’ Amathia explained, placing the empty vial on his clamshell side table.
Something clicked in Jake’s head, and he leapt out of bed. ‘The nereids—they escaped. I need to find them.’
Aaron blocked his dad when he tried to rush for the door. ‘We found them.’
‘Oh.’ Surprise flashed across his face. ‘Good work, Aaron. And you’ve obviously found a cure too,’ he added.
‘Yes,’ Amathia said before Aaron could. ‘My sisters gave us the cure.’
‘And did they tell you how they created the disease?’
‘My sisters uncovered a potion created by Hecate. They said she gifted it to Poseidon. He obviously never used it, and my sisters have kept it all these centuries. They chose to unleash it when you seized control of their home.’
Hailey and Aaron exchanged a confused glance. Why is Amathia lying? Hailey kept her mouth shut about Pandora. Obviously, Amathia had a reason for keeping the truth from Jake. One that she would ask her about later.
‘Where is this potion?’ Jake inquired.
‘Gone. There was only enough to cause one epidemic.’
‘Oh, that’s good,’ Jake said, but Hailey saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
‘I suppose now that you’re feeling better, you’ll get back to kicking everyone out of the school and blowing it up,’ Aaron said bitterly.
Jake looked at him. Looked at him as if he were seeing his son for the very first time. ‘Aaron, can we have a moment alone, please?’
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