Forge of the Gods 2

by Simon Archer

  Her slim fingers reached up and brushed over the Enka symbol at the top near my shoulder. She released a jealous sigh.

  “I mean, we all knew it was going to happen, but it’s amazing that it happened so early,” Jade said, her face stretched into a smile.

  Knowing my friend and lover as well as I did, I could tell that while she was happy for me, she was also conflicted. Her own feelings and nerves about getting drafted were showing. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and give her some encouragement and comfort like Beth and Daniella had shown me earlier. But the ceremony continued on, cutting off individual conversations as it forced us to turn our attention back to the Stratego.

  “Joining the Oura branch, Kacie, daughter of Aphrodite,” the Stratego continued the announcements.

  There was another smattering of applause for the redhead who had been in my Mythology 101 class during the first semester last year. I didn’t watch, however, when she went up to accept her sash. I kept fingering my own, not quite believing it was real.

  I had officially been drafted into one of the four branches. Which meant I got to stay. Which meant they thought highly enough of me to keep me. It was a surreal feeling, one that I was sure would take full effect when I was trying to sleep that night.

  Another thought struck me so violently, I gasped. I reached out for Jade’s hand and grabbed it, like a snake striking out for its prey.

  Startled, Jade looked at me with worried eyes. “What’s up?”

  “We’re not going to be dorm mates anymore,” I said.

  Jade frowned sympathetically and put her hand over mine. “I know. That was the first thing I thought of when they called your name.”

  My heart hurt at the thought of not having Jade as a dorm mate anymore. While being drafted was the ultimate goal of a second year, the sacrifices, like living in the recruiter dorms or taking specialized classes away from my friends, were things the officials never talked about.

  “But we’re still going to hang out,” Jade reassured me, though her voice told me she was talking to herself as much as she was speaking to me. “I’m not letting you get rid of me that easily.” She smirked, “You still have to finish your general courses, and maybe we’ll get lucky, and we’ll be in some together. Oh, who knows? I could get drafted to Enka.”

  I squeezed Jade’s hand and opened my mouth to respond when the Stratego interjected with another name. “The Eda branch will now welcome Bethany, daughter of Demeter.”

  Mine and Jade’s heads snapped to Beth, who sat in a state of shock. There was another round of polite applause since we three friends were too surprised to hoot and holler right away.

  When Beth didn’t move, Daniella reached out across the table and shoved her arm. “Get up there, girl!”

  Daniella’s command seemed to shake Beth out of her reverie. When she rose to her feet, the applause picked up again and continued as she walked to the platform. Finally, the three of us returned to our senses and cried out for our friend.

  Bella clapped enthusiastically and stopped Beth up on her way to Rhys, who held her sash. Bella shook Beth’s hand and congratulated her, the first leader of the branches to do that to any recruit. There was a pang in my stomach as I thought about the fact that Hailey didn’t say anything to me when I was selected.

  Professional, I reminded myself, We’re keeping it professional in front of others.

  Bethany took a second too long, shaking Bella’s hand until Rhys coughed, reminding Beth of what she was supposed to do. My friend jumped a little at the noise and turned to face her half sister. Rhys’s face beamed with pride as she placed the sash over Beth’s head.

  A final round of applause sounded up when Beth left the stage. She approached us with wide eyes and tight lips. We offered her the same words of encouragement that they all offered to me only minutes ago.

  “Well done, Beth!” I cheered, my voice louder than I intended but not caring. I was just so excited for my friend.

  “This is so great,” Daniella added.

  “Yeah,” Beth said as she shook her head like she was trying to clear her vision. “I can’t quite believe it.”

  Her voice was soft. The three of us picked up on her disappointment, from the way she wouldn’t quite meet our eyes and how her lips hardly moved when she spoke. Suddenly, Beth’s expression changed from one of sadness to one of anger.

  “Did you notice that all of the students drafted so far have been children of Olympians?” Bethany pointed out.

  Daniella and Jade looked at one another. I took a back seat on this question, not really wanting to respond, because, honestly, I hadn’t noticed. Then I felt foolish for not having done so in the first place. But Beth had a point. Two children of Aphrodite, a son of Hephaestus, and now a daughter of Demeter. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

  “They’re not going to count out the non-Olympian demigods,” Jade reasoned, though her voice was still nervous. She put a lock of her black hair behind her ear with a shrug. “There’s just as many of us as there are of you. They won’t just slice the year in half like that.”

  But as Jade said this, the Stratego called up a daughter of Hades and recruited her to the Eda branch as well. We clapped our hands, but only because we would have stood out if we didn’t, and Wiona didn’t deserve that kind of slight from us. She was a good girl, quiet but kind.

  So far, there had been five new drafts already, which was a lot considering it was a quarter or so of our class. I didn’t think the officials would draft everyone right now, so I reasoned that the officials had to be done.

  However, they had one last surprise for us.

  “Finally, the last draft of the evening will be Daniella, daughter of Asclepius, to the Oura branch,” the Stratego announced.

  Once again, the group of us was stunned. However, none so much as Daniella. She looked like a ghost as she walked up to the platform, her shocked expression never faltering. The only motion she made was pushing her glasses up her nose before bowing forward to accept her sash.

  This time, when Daniella came back to our section of the table, none of us said anything. We were still stuck in our surprise.

  The Stratego excused the rest of the Academy. Before we knew what was happening, Beth, Daniella, and I were the center of a swarm of people. Students from all four years were congratulating us. Even some soldiers from Enka came up to me to shake my hand. I tried to greet each of them with a smile and a short phrase of gratitude.

  The four of us were quickly separated, the three drafted ones each in our own little pod of admirers. The same thing was happening to Wiona, Karen, and KC across the way. Some of the first people to congratulate me were the team of students I worked with in the past to defeat a chimera. Ama, Jenna, Irema, and Teddy were all members of the Enka branch. They were in their fourth and final year at the Academy. They approached me at once, like a flock of birds.

  “Welcome to Enka!” Ama said, taking her hand in mine without asking.

  “We knew they would have to draft you,” Irema said kindly, “with how you took down that chimera last year.”

  “And saved our lives, don’t forget,” Jenna added.

  Teddy coughed, arrogant as ever, “Don’t give him a bigger head than he’s already got, girls.”

  Irema rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to her. You should be proud.”

  “Thanks,” I said sheepishly.

  “We’ll see you in class or in training!” Ama called out as the four of them walked off, clearing the way for other people to offer their congratulations.

  After the initial onslaught of Enka members, one of the people from another branch that came to my circle was Isabella, which surprised me.

  “Hi, Cameron,” Bella said as she grabbed my hand in hers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Congratulations on getting drafted. That’s got to feel great.”

  Her easy-going demeanor rubbed off on me instantly. I smiled back and gripped her hand a little tighter. “Thanks. It does.”r />
  “I know you’re not in my branch, but I’m still looking forward to getting to know you more,” Bella said, her smile never leaving her face. When she dropped my hand, there was an unexpected pang of regret in my belly. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

  I scoffed. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

  “Oh, it’s good,” Bella said with raised eyebrows. “Definitely a good thing.”

  “That’s surprising, because the rumors about me are definitely a mixed bag,” I admitted. I didn’t quite know why I was telling her this, but Bella seemed like a nice girl to talk to. I wanted her to like me, as a new officer who could get a fresh impression of me.

  “Any press is good press.” Bella smirked. “Isn’t that how the saying goes?”

  “So I’m told,” I said, sensing something else in her words. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but this conversation held a different vibe than the other ones I’d been having with students about my drafting.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to discover what that feeling was because Bella quickly excused herself.

  “Well, congratulations again, but I want to go meet my fellow Eda members.” Bella shook my hand once more before slicing right through Bethany’s group. She interrupted any previous conversation and instantly honed all the attention of that circle of people, including Beth’s.

  “I told you you’d get drafted,” Hailey’s voice said from beside me.

  I turned to look at her and caught her green eyes gazing at me with a hint of amusement in them. I cocked my head at her wording, which was much more of the personable Hailey than the soldier Hailey I’d expected.

  “You are right,” I replied. “I still think you knew something.”

  “I swear I didn’t,” Hailey insisted. “Nothing more than a gut feeling.”

  “If you say so,” I chuckled, not quite believing her.

  “I wanted to give you something,” Hailey said, a soft flush coming to her cheeks.

  My eyebrows rose involuntarily. “Oh yeah?”

  “It’s a gift to congratulate you on getting drafted,” Hailey explained as she held out her hand. In her palm was a short and thin package. Right away, when the item got in my line of sight, the familiar tingles ran up and down my spine. I instantly knew what the gift was.

  “It’s a knife,” I said unthinkingly.

  Hailey chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I should have known you would guess it. But yes, it’s a knife.”

  She unwrapped the cloth around the weapon and held it out for me. It was thinner than usual knives of that size, but when I held it, I could tell that the blade was strong and firm. The handle was crafted from a light wood that I didn’t recognize right away, but I liked the feel of it in my hands. Despite its size, I could tell that this was a steady blade, crafted well and with care.

  “This is beautiful,” I breathed. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Hailey said, not bothering to hide her smile. “The handle is made from lotus tree wood, and it’s Damascus steel.”

  “I see,” I said as I held the blade up to eye level to examine the spine. “It’s well done.”

  “I made it,” Hailey said proudly.

  “You made this?” I balked, completely caught off guard.

  “I did,” Hailey confirmed. “I make one for every new Enka recruit.”

  “I always suggest that the new recruits put them in their boot, or someone secret and secure,” Hailey advised, pointed at my shoes. “It’s always best to have something on hand than nothing at all.”

  “The Stratego tell you that one?” I asked, not knowing why my voice got so sharp.

  “Yes,” Hailey said, the word coming out as a hiss. “But it’s a good piece of advice all the same.”

  I didn’t want to escalate the situation further. In fact, I didn’t want to be harsh at all. It was still a lovely and thoughtful gift, so I put a smile on and looked up to meet her eye.

  “Thank you, Hailey,” I said as sincerely as I could. “It’s great.”

  “You’re welcome,” Hailey said, her voice shifting to one of business. “I also have your schedule and your new dorm key.”

  Sure enough, in her hand was a folder with my name scrawled across the front with the Enka flame symbol right above it. I took the folder and slapped it against my palm.

  “Thanks,” I said, not knowing what else I was supposed to say.

  “Congratulations again, Cameron,” Hailey said. She put her hands behind her back and began to walk in the opposite direction. “You definitely deserve it.”

  I watched her walk away and admired her from every angle, unable to help my eyes roaming from her light hair, swinging as she walked, to the muscles moving in her back, to her well-shaped ass. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to clear my thoughts.

  When I reopened them, my fan club had pretty much dispersed, for which I was grateful. However, my brain quickly alerted me to the fact that I hadn’t seen Jade since the opening ceremony ended. I swiveled around, looking for her, but she was nowhere in the cafeteria.

  I saw that Daniella had only a few people left too, so I interrupted her circle and leaned in to talk to her. “Have you seen Jade?”

  At my question, Daniella seemed to come to the same realization that I had. She wasn’t there. Daniella looked around, too, reaching the same conclusion.

  “No, I haven’t,” Daniella answered, clearly worried. “We should find her.”

  “Agreed,” I replied definitively.

  Together, we looked over at Beth, who was still talking to Bella despite the crowd of students still waiting to congratulate her. Not caring about decorum anymore, both Daniella and I approached Beth, appearing on either side of her. We looped our arms through her and locked her between the two of us.

  “Sorry, Bella,” I said as sweetly as I could. “We’ve got to get going.”

  “Absolutely, I understand that you’ll want to celebrate before classes start tomorrow,” Bella said with an encouraging grin. “I’m sure I’m supposed to say something about not celebrating too much, but go have fun and enjoy this moment. We’ll see you tomorrow, Beth.”

  “See you tomorrow,” Bethany replied, but we didn’t let her get the full sentence out before we led her away.

  “What the hell?” Beth asked as we guided her through the cafeteria doors and out onto the quad. She disentangled herself from us and shook out her arms as if she needed to rid herself of the feel of us.

  “Have you seen Jade?” I asked.

  “No,” Beth answered, clearly confused.

  “She didn’t come up to you afterward?” Daniella checked.

  “No, she didn’t,” Beth replied. “What’s this all about? Is she okay?”

  “Would you be okay if your three best friends got drafted on the first night, and you didn’t?” I reasoned, laying it all out loud and clear for Beth. Luckily I did because the daughter of Demeter finally seemed to understand what was going on.

  “Oh,” she said slowly, the bomb going off in her mind.

  “Yeah,” I said with pursed lips.

  “Where do you think she is?” Beth wondered aloud.

  “My first instinct is the kitchen,” Daniella ventured, “but usually when she has prep duty, she isn’t also tasked with clean up duty.”

  “We should still check,” I suggested, “just in case, because right now, I can’t think of another place she’d be.”

  The three of us walked around the cafeteria building to the side entrance. Towards the back were the dumpsters, the loading dock, and the kitchen door. When we approached, we quickly discovered it was locked. Without warning, I slammed my hand against the metal and shouted.

  “Jade! If you’re in there, open the door!”

  I banged a couple more times and then waited for her response. There was a clatter of something on the other side, and then the sound of footsteps shuffling to the door. The heavy metal door opened a cr
ack, and Jade’s round face appeared in the space between the frame and the door.

  “Oh, hi guys,” Jade said, sniffling.

  There were clear signs that she’d been crying. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were puffy. There was a streak of mascara under one eye from where she had swiped at her face.

  With one fluid movement, I took the door handle and whipped it open. The force yanked the handle on the other side from Jade’s grip, making the crack wide enough to let all three of us through. Following my lead, Beth, Daniella, and I stomped past Jade and into the kitchen. Daniella wrapped her arms around Jade while Beth guarded the door. I stood in the center of the spacious kitchen, metal and gleaming from a recent scrub down, with my hands on my hips expectantly.

  “Oh, Jade,” Daniella said sympathetically.

  That’s all it took before the tears began again. Our small friend shook in Daniella’s arms as she cried into her shoulder. Daniella simply held her while we watched and waited for her to find her voice. I relaxed my arms and let them fall to my side as I watched the sadness ooze from my friend.

  “I’m sorry,” she sputtered. Jade pushed herself up off Daniella and swiped at her eyes. “I know I should be happy for you all, and I am really, but… I guess I just didn’t expect you all to get drafted at once. I thought we would still have some time before… before…”

  “Before it all changed?” I finished for her.

  “Yes!” Jade held out a hand to me, indicating that I had filled in the words perfectly.

  “I know how you feel,” I said, taking a step towards her. “I’m not thrilled about it, either.”

  “Same here,” Beth confessed. “I mean, I knew Eda was the obvious choice, but I thought… I don’t know. I still hoped that they might give me a chance in another branch.”

  “And I’m shocked to be drafted at all,” Daniella admitted, as she rubbed Jade’s back up and down.

  “How can you say that?” Jade scolded her. “You’re the best damn healer we have. They would be crazy to get rid of you.”

  “I just...” Daniella blinked and shook her head. “The doubt has always been there.”