There was silence for a second as everyone took in the hip, very attractive woman standing in front of them.
“Whoa. Trade up,” one of the guys muttered.
Bethany narrowed her eyes at her competition. Which to Bethany was any good looking female in the same room as her.
In my opinion, Keeper totally won that battle.
“I want to start today with an exercise.”
“Kegels,” guffawed Anil, kicking one of his buddies across the way. I ignored him.
“Now, this is a communications exercise about self-image. I want each person to write down three truths about the others in their group. They should reflect how you see each person. Don't immediately just bash them. Be thoughtful in your comments. They won't be read aloud. Then distribute the comments accordingly.”
People were already starting to complain so she held up her hand for silence, keeping it in mid-air until we'd all complied.
“When you get yours,” she continued, “I want you to consider those truths and see if they match your perception of yourself. And if not, why not? You will have to hand in a written summary of the differences or perhaps, things that were in agreement.” She put us into small groups of three.
I considered my group. Cassie, me, and Bethany. Delightful. Gee, could this have anything to do with Keeper wanting me to speak up about Bethany? Was she thinking she’d arranged a safe venue for that?
While it felt good to have someone trying so hard to be in my corner, I would never have ratted Bethany out. The Bethanys of this world always landed on their feet. And my life would have gotten worse, not better. It was all irrelevant now, anyway.
What to write then for this flake fest assignment?
Felicia had once dated some guru and I'd spent a summer putting up with “positive language” and “I statements” which was all fine and good but didn't do much to hide the fact that he was a hypocrite who was cheating on his wife with two other women and had a not-so-secret drug problem. Wheat germ didn't disguise the smell of pot. Oh well. I could play this game.
Bethany leaned over and hissed, “Fake contacts and a dye job aren’t going to help. Kai is out of your league, junior.”
Even if I couldn’t actually kill her, I could think about it. In great detail.
I sighed. No time for fun right now. I leaned over to Cassie. “Can we talk later?” As in, you’re going to share why you knew who I was.
Cassie, skittish, opened her mouth to speak but—
“No talking, girls.”
Cassie turned her attention back to her paper, looking like she’d just dodged a bullet. I’d corner her after class.
I considered the assignment.
Might as well get the hard one over first. I regarded Bethany from under my lashes, then wrote, “you project confidence.” Because bullies projected confidence. Confidence that they were going to beat you down. Next I went for “you lack interpersonal skills.” See the previously mentioned bullying.
I watched Bethany twirl a lock of hair around her finger as she thought. She caught me looking and in one fluid motion disentangled her digit and flipped me the bird. Ah-ha! “Your motor skills are admirable.” There. Nothing that could get me in trouble and even all true.
Cassie was tougher but I managed to find three “truths” for her as well. Then Ms. Keeper called time and had us exchange our papers.
Bethany’s observations about me were concise. “Short. Stupid. Suck.” I looked up from the note to see her smirking at me. “Got three for you,” I said softly. “Giant, gelatinous, glutes.” I left her working it out.
A second later a wadded up paper ball hit my head. Guess she’d gotten it.
I unfolded the “truths” Cassie had written about me. “A girl of exceptional power.” O-kay. Next one. “Confused about her true self.” This was getting creepy. Her desk was empty so I scanned the room to see where she’d gone. She was having a quiet but intense conversation with Ms. Keeper.
Ms. Keeper seemed to be patiently trying to calm Cassie down while Cassie kept shaking her head “no.” Keeper saw me watching and gave a small smile, trying, I guess, to let me know Cassie would be all right.
I returned to the last truth that Cassie had written. “The instrument of our destruction.” I dropped the note like I’d been scalded.
Excuse me? Destruction? I was supposed to save humans, not destroy them. Unless … is that how I was planning on stopping the war? Just destroy earth? Theo never actually said I had a way to save everyone. Just stop the war. I swallowed hard to keep the nausea from rising in my throat. I was really going to have to start carrying around some Tums.
Also? What the hell? How could she have known any of this? I hadn’t even been clued in until yesterday. So was Cassie in on it too? But then why didn’t Theo mention her?
My hands were trembling. Terrified that I was going to do something inadvertent, like freak and take out the second floor, I shoved them under my butt.
I had to talk to Cassie. But when I checked back at Ms. Keeper’s desk, she was gone. I figured she must have gone to the washroom, but she never returned.
I had no idea what else was discussed in class that day. I was a giant ball of nerves, staring at the clock and dying for the bell to ring so I could talk to Theo. Or find Cassie. Or do something resembling anything to figure out what was going on.
The shrill bell indicating end of class had never been so welcome. I grabbed the piece of paper with Cassie’s “truths” on it, shot out of the classroom, and barreled my way down the hallway to my English class, which I had with Theo and Hannah.
I slid onto the low couch next to Theo and shoved Cassie’s “truths” at him. “Explain this,” I hissed. Hannah dropped her books on the sofa arm next to him and peered over his shoulder to read it.
He blankly returned it to me. “No clue.”
“Did you see the part that said ‘destroyer?’”
“Yes.”
“Am I gonna blow up the earth?”
“It wasn’t part of my plan but since everything is screwed, anything is a go.”
“Was it part of my plan? I told you I could stop the war. Not save humanity. Was this how I meant to do it? Was I some kind of human racist?”
Theo thought about it. “No. I don’t know. Maybe? You do get extreme about your likes and dislikes.”
Hannah snorted. I ignored her.
“For the one person who is supposed to know what the deal is, your intel sucks.”
He stared at me in distaste.“Don’t like what I got? Find a new source. Sixteen years of planning just went out the window. I’m not sure it’s worth the bother.”
“Hey!” Hannah protested. “Human being. Sitting right here.”
I patted her hand reassuringly. “What’s the skinny on Cassie anyway? She’s not part of our wacky gang? Venus, maybe? Or Diana?”
“Obviously not either, since they’re the fake names those pretender Romans gave us. Get your gods right,” he snarked.
“Listen Rockman, I’m a pissed off teen with unstable powers. You really want to discuss semantics with me?”
The bell rang. “Thank God,” Hannah muttered.
Our teacher, Mr. Locke, launched into some diatribe on Romeo and Juliet. Luckily, I was an expert at tuning him out while appearing to pay rapt attention so I could focus on the important matter at hand. Namely, me.
I tapped my pen anxiously against my leg. Hannah plucked it from my grasp to write in Theo’s binder. Could Cassie be from Olympus and you don’t know?
Theo shook his head and wrote I’d know if anyone from Olympus was on school grounds. Talk. To. Cassie.
I tilted his binder so I could reply. If I can find her. Took off during class. Didn’t return. Left all her stuff.
&nb
sp; Hannah read it and turned a worried look on me. I nodded, which Mr. Locke fortunately took as agreement with whatever long-winded point he’d been making. He smiled at my enthusiasm. I felt a twinge of guilt. I seriously hoped I wasn’t planning on obliterating him.
Lunch period found me too keyed up to eat. I raced around the school searching for Cassie and eventually found her in the sick bay. Okay, Nurse Hamata’s office. I just called it a sick bay because in the sci-fi version of my life—Crap. This was the sci-fi version of my life.
Cassie was lying on one of the two beds in there, with the lights off. I checked to make sure there was no one else around, then crept softly over to her bedside.
“Cassie?” I said quietly. “We need to talk.”
“Go away,” she moaned.
“What’s wrong? Can I get you something?” She was holding her head and rocking so I flung open the cabinets looking for a Tylenol.
“The blood,” she cried.
I froze. “Cassie. Are you talking about me?”
Nothing. I put my hand on her shoulder and she began speaking super rapidly. Some stream-of-consciousness stuff.
“OneaboveonebelowakeyawakeitisnomoreITISNOMORE …”
“What? Slow down?”
She thrashed, bucking off the bed. I stumbled back.
“What’s going on here?” I whirled around. It was Ms. Keeper, looking every inch the staff member who’d just caught a student where they shouldn’t be.
“There’s something wrong with her.”
She ran her hands through her hair, making tiny purple spikes. “Cassie is ill, Sophie. I’m getting her help. But I’m sure she wouldn’t want you to see her like this.” She had taken hold of my shoulders and was steering me toward the door.
“I guess not,” I agreed, trying to get one more look at her. But Ms. Keeper had ushered me into the hallway. She paused at the doorway. “Do you think Bethany has been bullying Cassie as well?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I just worry because Cassie is the kind of girl that Bethany could easily boss around. Don’t you think?”
Quiet, not many friends, a little weird. “Yeah. I guess she is.”
She nodded and shut the door.
I slid down the wall and tried to memorize the gibberish that Cassie had spouted, so I could share it with Hannah and Theo and see if they understood it. I sure didn’t. But that didn’t keep it from sounding bad. Really bad.
I didn’t see Hannah and Theo again until after classes were done for the day. I’d skipped out and spent the afternoon in the library doing more research, typing what she’d said into every search engine I could think of. No results. I didn’t actually think it was going to be that easy, but jeez, something could have come up.
I pulled the two of them into an empty classroom and recited what Cassie had said.
“None of it means anything to you?” Hannah asked.
“Nothing. ‘One above and one below’ could be me and Kai or Zeus and Hades. Though I couldn’t find any reference to Persephone, I mean me, and a key.”
“Kai? He’s part of the plan?” Theo was radiating thundercloud.
“Maybe?” I idly spun a globe which sat on top of a low bookcase. “Cassie knew I was Persephone. She could be right about this.”
If anything, his expression grew darker. “Cassie. She’s Cassandra. As in the oracle Cassandra who could predict the future—”
“But who no one believed,” Hannah finished. “How did she end up here? This sudden epidemic of Greek figures in teen bodies is a little too Invasion of the Body Snatchers for me.” She tilted her head and regarded the chemical equation on the board.
Theo muttered a few more choice words about Kai before answering. “I don’t think that’s it. Cassandra had a couple kids who everyone figured were murdered. But it’s not like there was DNA evidence to prove anything, was there? I think this Cassie is a descendent with the same abilities.”
“Could be,” I said. “She’s always seemed kind of, well, off. I probably do too, now. The stench of crazy.”
“What I’m more concerned about is when did she realize all this about you? Could it have been before the kiss?” asked Theo, leaning against a table.
“I doubt it. I never got that sense,” I replied. “I’m pretty sure it was that same night. The next morning she made this Persephone reference which I didn’t get until you told me your real name. She seemed really wigged out. Mentioned she’d had a bad night.”
“I’ll bet.” Hannah said. “Especially if it was the first time she actually got these predictions or whatever they are for her.” She moved up to the board, picked up a piece of chalk and made an adjustment to the equation.
“I tried to ask her about it but we got interrupted. Not that she looked willing to talk.”
“Could be when you broke through to your true identity, it triggered her full-on abilities. Which means that she’s right and Kai could be integral to all this. You’re sure you don’t remember anything about the plan?” Theo looked at me hopefully.
“Not yet. Sorry.”
“Let’s see if she’s up for a bit of a chat,” Hannah said, brushing chalk dust off of her hands. We walked in silence to the nurse’s office. The door was open and the lights were on. Cassie was still there, sitting up on the bed with her back to us.
Theo, Hannah and I exchanged glances. This seemed more promising than before.
Hannah stepped forward. “Cassie?” she said. No response.
I was chilled. This is what had happened last time before the crazy kicked in. I wasn’t up to hearing any more doom.
“Cassie?” Theo spoke a little louder. We came around the bed so we could see her. Cassie was staring blankly at a wall.
“She’s stoned out of her tree,” I said. I shook her but she didn’t even react, she was so looped out.
“It’s like she’s frozen,” Hannah commented, waving a hand in front of her face.
Theo picked up a small pill bottle on the table beside her and peered at the label. “Chlorpromazine.”
Hannah frowned. “That’s an antipsychotic.” She took the bottle from Theo. “And a really high dosage of it.”
“No wonder she’s all zombie,” I said.
“This much can’t be good for her,” Hannah observed. “But I can’t tell who prescribed it.”
“Someone who doesn’t want her speaking, obviously,” said Theo. “She might spill something that someone wants kept from Sophie.”
“Worse than I’m going to destroy the world?”
“It might not be about the earth,” Hannah added. “It might be personal to you.” She glanced at Theo. “Like Kai?”
“Prime suspect number one.”
“Because you don’t like him,” I sputtered. “Doesn’t mean he’d OD Cassie. That’s just evil.”
“Or self-serving,” Theo pointed out.
“What do we do about her?” Hannah asked, concerned, trying to catch Cassie as she fell slowly backward onto the bed. She lay Cassie down and put a blanket over her.
“We take the bottle and leave her. For now.” Theo ordered. “Tonight we come back and see if she’s more coherent.”
Hannah pocketed the pill bottle. “Fine.”
We cleared out of the room in time to find Kai heading straight for us. “Don’t you dare abandon me,” I muttered to Hannah and Theo.
“Don’t panic. All is well,” Theo soothed, grasping my elbow and steering me down another corridor before our two parties could actually meet. He pushed us all into a classroom, then peered out of the window to see if Kai had followed.
“That’s odd,” he said. “He’s not coming.”
Hannah’s hand flew to her mouth in exclamation. “What if he was coming fo
r Cassie, not looking for Sophie? And we just left her alone?”
She flung the door open and we raced back to the nurse’s office. The door was locked. I tugged desperately on it to no avail. “Find Stan,” I cried. “He has a key.”
Hannah and Theo raced off in different directions to track him down while I uselessly pounded on the door. “Cassie? Kai? Open up in there.”
It felt like forever but was only moments before Hannah dragged Stan over and he unlocked the door for us.
We bolted inside. But it was too late.
Cassie was gone.
6
If you play with fire, you’re gonna get spurned
ς’
“How could he possibly leave with her?” I demanded. “I was outside the door the entire time.”
Theo had arrived in time to hear this. “There’s always the window.”
Hannah looked at him in scorn. “He dragged her limp body out a window?”
Theo cast a cautious look at Stan, waiting patiently for us by the door, before whispering “Not your ordinary guy.”
Hannah rushed to the window to look out. “No sign.”
“You kids finished?” Stan asked.
We nodded and shuffled out so Stan could lock up.
“I’m going to check her room,” Hannah said. “Maybe she came to and decided to head up while we were in the classroom.”
“You don’t genuinely think that, do you?” asked Theo.
“No,” she sighed. “But it’s better than the alternative.”
“Right. Off we go.” He turned to me. “Coming?”
“No. I know it’s probably pointless but I’m going to search the school.”
Theo clapped my shoulder in encouragement and departed with Hannah.
I spent a good hour roaming around, checking out classrooms and asking students if they’d seen her. No luck.
My Ex From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy) Page 8
