by Lucy Roy
She’d been terrified when she’d seen that dream; a memory, if Hestia was to be trusted, that had put her on the ground in a heap of pure terror. I didn’t want to do that to her again without having more information first.
A memory.
It made no sense. My immediate thought had been that it was her memory, but I didn’t see how that could be possible. It made more sense that it would be someone else’s memory, planted in Tessa’s mind for some unknown purpose. The more I considered that idea, the more logical it seemed. That memory, as well as those I’d seen during her transformation, had seemed to be from her perspective, but considering I hadn’t actually seen her face, there was no way to be sure that it was actually her experience.
But whose was it? And why Tessa? Why now?
I needed answers and had no clue where to get them. Hestia no longer seemed forthcoming, and Apollo had been very clear in his desire to abandon the topic of Tessa and her dreams entirely.
I dragged my pillow over my face in an attempt to drown out the moonlight that washed across my bed through the picture windows in my bedroom. I needed to sleep, but my mind refused to quiet down.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slowly began counting backward from one hundred, imagining each number being slowly drawn in the air in front of me. The exercise had the usual effect, and I barely remember reaching thirty before I started to drift off.
Chiron didn’t believe in allowing the recruits a final day to sleep in before beginning their training, and I tended to agree with him. Best to just hit the ground running. They were no longer in the human world where snooze buttons and “just five more minutes” were acceptable.
What I categorically did not agree with was his use of a bugle to wake them on the first morning of training. For centuries, I’d tried to get him to abandon the obnoxious gold horn, but that seemed to make him want to use it even more.
Today, I was especially averse to the unimposing little instrument that hung at his waist. I was exhausted. Mentally, if not physically. Even though I’d eventually managed to drift off last night, my mind hadn’t gotten the rest it needed. When I woke up this morning, I grew even more irritated when I realized I’d completely forgotten to go find Tessa last night.
The three blasts Chiron let out on that infernal horn the moment he opened the door to the girls’ dorms pierced through my brain like an ice pick.
“Good morning, ladies! Up and at ‘em’!”
A loud crash sounded from one of the rooms, while vicious cursing in Spanish came from another, causing Chiron to look at me in amusement.
“I swear, the expletives these recruits come up with just get better with each generation.”
I laughed, trying to force back the groggy feeling that still hung over me. “Maybe they can teach a few to the older gods. I’m about sick of being told to feed myself to the crows each time Apollo or Athena gets angry.”
Chiron snorted, then adjusted the buttons on his breakaway pants. “Because Athena gets angry with you so frequently.”
“You’d be surprised,” I muttered, then, lowering my voice, I asked, “How long will it be until you show them your centaur form this time?”
He shrugged but didn’t look at me. “Soon enough.”
He was quiet for a moment, then smiled and gazed fondly at the bugle in his hand.
“You know, Nathaniel, I don’t know what you have against the bugle. I find it to be quite effective.”
I chuckled. “That’s all that matters, then.”
Based on the rumblings coming from the rooms, I assumed all the females were, at the very least, out of bed.
“Come on, it sounds like they’re all up,” I told Chiron. “Let’s go deal with the men.”
He grunted, then sounded the bugle one more time, causing me to wince.
“Fifteen minutes, girls! Don’t make us come back here and drag you out!”
Jerking his head in the direction of the door, we made our way over the male dorms to get the other half of the recruits up.
A short while later, the recruits had assembled in the courtyard, all clad in their black training uniforms, looking at us expectantly, albeit with more than a few groggy expressions. The Mentalist recruits especially looked exhausted, thanks to Charlise’s insistence on working out their powers on day one.
“Now that we’re all assembled,” Chiron began, holding out his hands, “Welcome to your first day of training. In just a few moments, we’ll make our way to the training arena, which, as I mentioned when you arrived, is just outside Olympia. Our transport awaits in front of the portal field, along with some of your mentors, the rest of whom will meet us there. We’ll be going by carriage this time so you can get a tour of the village on your way.”
He nodded toward me, giving me the go ahead to lead them down the hill toward five large, red carriages, each drawn by a massive white stallion.
Despite having seen them thousands of times before, I was always struck by the beauty of the Olympic stallions. They were stunning creatures, each a vivid white with bright blue eyes, standing ten feet tall with a wingspan of nearly twenty-five feet. They were highly intelligent and had always been friends to the Elders. Each generation, they were always at the ready to make the first journey to the arena with the new recruits.
Chiron clapped his hands from the front of the group to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s get moving, everyone! Twelve to a cart!”
As the recruits began boarding the carriages, I made my way to Chiron’s side. He never felt comfortable riding the carriages driven by horses, so he always made the trip to the arena on foot.
Once the recruits were loaded up, Chiron murmured to the stallion on the first carriage, and they began moving slowly up Main Street, which stretched up the mountain directly away from the portal field.
The mentors began giving their charges a tour of the town, pointing out the various restaurants and shops that lined the cobblestone street.
The older buildings—mainly the library and a few businesses—dated back about eighteen hundred years to when some of the Ischyra decided Olympia should become a place for more than just housing. A few establishments—a tavern and a small restaurant—were opened, and from there, Main Street slowly began to grow into its current form. The original stone buildings still stood tall, but they were now interspersed with the wood construction of newer structures, their thatched roofs replaced with more modern solar shingles that provided power to the village. I always appreciated seeing how the residents took pride in taking the village from its original stone-hut dwellings to a place that was enjoyable to live.
“So, have you worked out your plan with the Mentalist recruits?” Chiron asked from beside me.
“More or less. Charlise said they did well last night, although some will need quite a bit more work than others.”
“I suppose that’s to be expected. What are your thoughts on this generation overall?”
“It’s difficult to say. They seem eager, that’s for certain.”
“I’ll give you that. Eagerness doesn’t beget talent, though. Plenty of our students have taught us that,” he pointed out. “Remember a few centuries back, the boy who was so anxious to prove himself against the empousa?”
I thought for a moment before recalling the recruit he was talking about. “Yes. Jeremiah.”
The sixteenth-century Ischyra had felt he could take on three of the vampiric females on his own. He’d come across their nest while on his first patrol in London. Rather than leave and seek assistance, he’d gone in on his own to face the creatures. There were no witnesses to his death, but based on the blackened flesh surrounding his wounds, it was deduced that one of the creatures coated her fangs with a serum made from the godsbane flower, a fairly common trick among their kind. His partner, who’d been patrolling just one lane over, had arrived only in time to see the predators flee.
“Eagerness combined with a hefty dose of arrogance,” Chiron remarked, shaking h
is head. “I’ve seen quite a bit of it the last few days.”
He cast a quick glance over his shoulder.
“The boy named Damien and that Mary girl, to start,” he muttered.
I laughed. “You may be right about Damien. Charlise doesn’t care for him, I know that much. I don’t think you’ve got to worry about Mary, though. She’s far more nervous than she’d like us to know, and she’s much smarter than she lets on.”
“You’ve seen their minds, then?”
“Yes, I’ve scanned them all, several times. We may need to keep an eye on some, but I’ll withhold judgement for the time being.”
“How do you think they’ll fair once they know of the rebel threat?”
I grimaced. “I’m not so sure. A part of me worries that the idea of using their powers in the real world so soon will lead to sloppiness in their training, but we’ll see.”
“Then I will follow your lead," he clapped my shoulder, “…and hope that you’re right.”
“No pressure, though?” I smiled wryly.
He laughed. “None at all. Now, why don’t you go over your training plan with Charlise one last time before we get there? She should be about done giving the tour by now. I’m going to go the rest of the way on my own.”
“Will do. I’ll see you at the arena.”
I watched as the centaur made his way to the tree line so he could shift into his equine form for his morning run through the forest.
I always envied his ability to seek out solitude and let himself be free. No matter where I went, it felt as though that kind of peace would always elude me. Something would always be required of me because my gift was so very rare. My trips to Earth were the only reprieves I got from the hectic world of Olympus.
Sighing, I glanced back at the carriage Charlise was in charge of, which happened to be the one Tessa and her friends had boarded. I saw the recruits laughing with one another as Charlise passed around a box of granola bars—what she considered “brain food.” Tessa’s smile was wide as she bantered excitedly with the others, and I could only hope that meant she’d gotten a better night’s sleep than I had.
19
Tessa
I couldn’t help but grin as I took in the sight of my new home. Trees with fluffy pink and white flowers ran down either side of Main Street, casting shade across the stone and wood buildings that housed various businesses. A quick scan of the bright signage revealed a uniform shop, several clothing stores, a book store, a salon, a coffee shop, and a grocery store. Restaurants were scattered among them—Mexican, Indian, American, and of course, Greek, to name a few. I saw the pizza place Charlise had ordered from the night before—Nico’s—and made a mental note to pay a visit. That pizza had been to die for.
The eating establishments were more for enjoyment than necessity. Immortals didn’t necessarily need to eat for sustenance, but who didn’t love a good cheeseburger or souvlaki now and then?
My mouth practically watered at the thought of the grilled meat on a stick that Analise loved to cook for us when I was growing up.
“As you can see, there are quite a few businesses along here. We’ve got restaurants, retail stores, and a uniform shop for when you finally don’t have to wear those getups anymore,” Charlise explained, indicating our fitted black pants and matching long-sleeved shirt. They were made of this weird, soft, stretchy fabric that reminded me a little of spandex but sturdier. Our shoes were black slip-on sneakers with a grippy rubber sole.
“Where does everything come from?” I asked.
“Everything is made from produce, grain, and livestock from the farming valleys that surround the mountain. That’s also where the stables are located, and there are a few weavers who make fabrics for all of our textiles.”
“Well, that’s convenient.” Mary turned toward me. “Where’re we going for dinner? We don’t need money, right?”
Charlise smiled. “Nope. One of the perks of a self-sufficient society.”
“I want a cheeseburger,” Eric deadpanned. “No arguments.”
I snorted. “Of course you do.” It was a known fact that Eric would eat cheeseburgers on a daily basis if given the opportunity.
I felt a quick poke on the back of my head.
“So what is for dinner?”
I turned in my seat and saw Yana sitting right behind me.
“Yes! Great minds think alike!” Mary exclaimed, turning and giving Yana a high five. I was glad to see that their argument from the night before seemed to have been squashed. “Eric wants cheeseburgers. You in?”
Yana clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “I hope they have bacon. Bacon on a cheeseburger is delicious.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Eric responded.
“Hey, so who runs the businesses?” I asked.
“Ischyra who petition to take charge of Olympia’s upkeep,” our mentor responded. “We need people to keep the village running, otherwise it would be overgrown and crumbling by now. After two centuries of service, an Ischyra can request to be put on village duty—open a business, maintain gardens, work at the farms in the lower valley, that kind of thing. The older ones are allowed to request permanent Olympic duty as guards or servants for the gods.”
“Really?” Eric sounded incredulous. “Why would anyone ask to do those things? I mean, working for the gods sounds awesome, but the rest?”
Mary threw an elbow into his side and shushed him. “What our incredibly rude friend is trying to say is, it’s surprising that they would ask to do something so mundane when they’ve been gifted such amazing powers,” she said.
Charlise shook her head. “You say that now, but after a few hundred years, you may feel differently. And besides, they’re allowed to trade off if they decide they want to go back into the field. It usually isn’t too difficult to find someone who wants to take over a business for a century or two.” She smiled at us. “Here, have some breakfast.”
She handed a box to Igor who’d claimed a seat in the front row. “You may not need food to keep you in good physical health, but it helps keep you sharp mentally.”
When the box made its way to my seat in the third row, I saw that she’d brought us breakfast in the form of granola bars and fig juice. I took one of each and passed the box on to Mary before pulling off the thin parchment paper the bar was wrapped in.
“So wait,” Eric spoke around a mouthful of granola. “What if no one wants to volunteer to work in the village?”
“There’s a lottery system, just in case. It helps to balance things out a bit, so that those of us who benefit from the labor of others eventually give back. It’s pretty rare that we actually need to use it.”
Eric nodded, his mouth too full to respond.
“Okay, so most of these side streets contain homes and apartments for permanent residents, but just down this street—” Charlise pointed toward one of the many side streets that stretched off of Main “—is where you’ll find the library. It was the first building built in Olympia after the earlier generations started expanding, about eighteen hundred years ago. It’s a bit small, but it has a decent collection of human and Olympic works.”
I craned my neck to see down the street and was able to make out a large, gray square building with a domed roof sticking out among a stretch of row houses.
She turned and pointed down the street directly opposite.
“And down there is a larger gymnasium than what you all have in your dorms. It’s typically used by Ischyra who aren’t in daily training anymore, but there are instructors there who offer classes in other forms of combat fighting. Professor Luiz teaches a great Jiu jitsu course, if you’re ever interested.” She gave us a wide grin and held up her hands. “So that’s the town. Any questions?”
As a few recruits raised their hands, I turned to Mary. “So what’s your group like, anyway?”
“They’re kind of great, actually. There are only six water users. You?”
I shrugged. “There are so many of
us right now. Twenty all together I think, so it was kind of hard to get a feel for everyone. Did you guys get to try out your powers yesterday?”
“No. Jacob—our Mentor—said it can take a while to work out water affinities, so we’re going to be working on that today.” She rolled her eyes. “I really hope this doesn’t turn out to be a boring affinity. I tried to draw water from the air this morning and got nothing.”
“Oh, stop. I’m sure you’ll do amazing things. I always thought wind was a weak affinity until I met Chris the other night. Dude creates freaking tornadoes. Tornadoes, Mary. So you never know. You could be making monsoons by the end of your training year.”
She looked slightly mollified at this. “I guess that would be pretty kickass, huh?”
“Totally kickass.” I gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Seriously, don’t stress. You never know what you’ll be able to do until you do it, right?”
She gave me a wry smile. “You sound like John, you realize that, right?”
I laughed. My guardian had definitely been known for his inspirational one-liners.
“Yeah, I guess he taught me well.”
We rode the rest of the way in silence, watching as Main Street gave way to the dense forest that stood between Olympia and the upper mountain, turning from cobblestone to hardpacked dirt. Our carriages wound through the forest for another mile or so before we came into the massive clearing that housed the arena.
It was one of the biggest structures I’d ever seen. Like the Agora, it was rectangular and made of gleaming white stone, but its size rivaled that of the Colosseum in Rome. Even that historic structure paled in comparison to the beautiful white monstrosity that stood before us.
As we walked through the massive archway that acted as an entrance, I was able to take in its true enormity. There were four levels of covered walkways that encircled the arena, the lowest of which opened onto a few dozen rows of seating descending down to an arena floor that stretched the length of two football fields. The main area was made of sand, with squat wooden benches running along the left and right sides.
