Forge of the Gods 2

by Simon Archer

  “This is something different,” Brea added. “Ashley, Alya, the Stratego, and I have all seen it first hand. It is something possessive, as though they are captivated.”

  “They all use the same language to describe their actions as well,” Alya said as she shook her head in disappointment. “Like they are robots or something. Even when we put them in separate rooms, they all talked about having a connection.”

  “That’s just something young people say,” Genesis said as she waved her hand in a blasé manner. “I believe romantic and sexual relations are healthy and natural, but young people like to convince themselves they’re in love.”

  “In this case, I think it’s something else convincing them,” Ashley said.

  “How did this come to our attention?” Emma wondered. “When did we notice the similarities in their behavior?”

  With a pointed look, the Stratego turned to me. The rest of the dozen pairs of eyes followed suit. They were expectant, though some exasperated as if to say: “Not this boy again.”

  I shrugged, trying to brush off their judgments. “I’m just observant, I guess.”

  “Why don’t you tell the rest of the officers what you told us, Cameron?” Brea offered, her voice kind and encouraging. She offered me a smile, though it didn’t reach all the way to her eyes.

  So I told the story. Again. I made sure to include every detail I could remember, from the moment I walked in on Karen and Rachel, up until I brought Bethany to the med bay. I added some sections from the med bay board room too, but by then, the officials in attendance took over the story and gave their impressions.

  “Let me get this straight,” the daughter of Hades said as she held out a hand towards me, palm out like a crossing guard. “We believe that some sort of love spell has infected our students. Are we actually considering this?”

  “It’s not impossible,” Rhys pointed out. “There have been lots of myths about humans becoming infatuated with one another.”

  “Mostly by divine intervention,” Noel added.

  “Aphrodite,” I interjected. The lightbulb went off in my head during their conversation. “The goddess of love and desire a.k.a. Venus in Roman mythology. Mother of Eros, the god of lust.”

  There was a short silence in the room before Genesis politely nodded her head at me. “Yes, we are aware, Cameron, thank you.”

  I closed my mouth and blushed, embarrassed. Obviously, I didn’t have to flex my mythology muscles here. The Elemental Officials should know as much, if not more than I did. Plus, Aphrodite was Genesis’s mother. She would know about her powers.

  “Say Aphrodite has had something to do with this,” Emma continued hypothetically, “the question is why?”

  “I don’t think that’s the most pertinent question,” Alya corrected.

  “Then what is?” Emma countered.

  “The question is how do we stop it?” Alya clarified.

  “We’re not even sure there is an ‘it’ yet,” Effie said doubtfully. “I still believe this could just be a rambunctious bunch we have this year. Bringing guards on campus has backfired in ways we didn’t foresee.”

  “And I believe that is rather small-minded of you, Effie,” Rhys snapped. “We have good and disciplined students. Not all of the accused are first years either. Some seasoned and well-trained soldiers are involved as well. You really think so many of them would throw away what they worked four long and hard years for on a whim?”

  A corner of my mouth lifted in a smirk. I liked Rhys’s way of thinking. She would have been nice to have at the beginning of all of this. Maybe it wouldn’t have taken so long to have them notice something was wrong if they thought more like her.

  Effie didn’t have a response to this. Because if she disagreed with Rhy’s reasoning, then she would have to admit that the Academy had done a poor job of training these soldiers. If she agreed, then she would have to admit she was wrong. So, in an effort to stay neutral, Effie stayed silent.

  “No,” Rhys continued, taking Effie’s silence as permission. “I believe something larger is at work here. All signs point to Aphrodite.”

  “Is she powerful enough to do this to so many students at once?” Brea wondered. “I have heard of her infecting large groups at the same time, but these symptoms, if you can call them that, seemed to pop up randomly. And it’s not as though the students are all randomly hooking up. They seem to become infatuated with one particular person.”

  My mind whirred at this information. This was typical when I was in the midst of mythology talk. I sifted through my encyclopedia of knowledge to find other instances like this one. The pieces clicked together one by one until a picture formed, and the answer revealed itself.

  “The Cestus golden girdle!” I exclaimed the same time Hailey did.

  Surprised by our united voices, the two of us looked at one another with shock on our faces. A blush crawled up my neck, and I looked away before it grew hotter on my skin.

  The Elemental Officials also looked at the pair of us, their expressions a mix of confusion, understanding, and apprehension.

  I held out my hands and started speaking rapidly, as if I couldn’t hold back the words any longer. “The golden girdle is rumored to attract people to attractive women. Other myths talk about the girdle as causing the wearer of it to become irresistible. In this case, I think most people have been affected by Aprodite’s girdle.”

  “Again, I just don’t understand why she would do that,” Emma said as she shook her head in confusion and disbelief. “It’s so unlike her.”

  “I understand your plight, Emma, but we still have the students we have to worry about,” Alya reasoned. “Do we have a way to counteract this love spell, if that’s what we are calling it?”

  “Do we have the results of the tests yet?” Jasmine asked, being uncharacteristically logical.

  “They are supposed to report them to us the minute the healers have them,” the Stratego assured Jasmine.

  “Well, that will tell us for sure if it is Aphrodite’s girdle,” Jasmine continued. She leaned back in his chair, sure of herself. “Which I’m still not convinced it is.”

  This time I didn’t hold back. I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? We’ve already agreed that this behavior is unusual. We’ve also agreed that Aphrodite’s girdle is one of the only things powerful enough to do this on this scale. So reason says, it’s Aphrodite.”

  A stunned silence was followed by outrage at me calling out Apollo’s daughter. Nerve trickled down my spine, but I held my ground. All this discussion and no action annoyed me to no end. Didn’t they know that my friend wasn’t acting like herself? That something prevented her from doing anything else than thinking about that stupid Eda soldier? It didn’t seem as urgent as a harpy attack, but in my mind, it was.

  “Thank you for your opinion, Cameron,” the Stratego said through clenched teeth. “I believe we have heard everything we need from you right now. You can await our decision with the other students.”

  My jaw dropped open without a second thought. Were they kicking me out? Even though I came into this room dragging my feet and wanting to be anywhere but there, now all I wanted to do was stay. I needed to make sure that they were going to make the right decision. I didn’t trust these officials to do what needed to be done. I could leave the room, and they might not do anything at all about this infection.

  I didn’t move my feet and blatantly ignored the Stratego’s order.

  “Cameron,” the Stratego repeated my name, sterner than he had ever said it before. “You are excused.”

  “But I--”

  “Are you defying me?” the Stratego said with a raised eyebrow and a raised voice. “Are you defying a direct order?”

  I closed my mouth and sucked my teeth. With a big inhale, I bounded on my toes as if I were still making up my mind. As if the answer wasn’t as obvious as it should have been. I didn’t want to leave. I needed them to believe me. I looked around the room with a hard expression, as if I
could glare my conviction into each of them.

  Suddenly, my eyes rounded on the empty chair. Number thirteen, saved for the child of Hephaestus. A devious thought popped into my mind.

  That chair had been offered to me once. Would they let me take it again? My mind scurried through the possibilities of taking that throne. While it would force them to let me stay and listen to me, I wasn’t sure it would mean moving forward with my responsibilities. The short-term success might not be worth the long-term repercussions.

  Just then, a voice spoke to me. It was as though the voice was right next to me, crisp and clear. Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize it, and somehow, I knew that none of the people in the room were its source.

  “The time has not yet come,” the voice told me. “Soon, but not yet.”

  It was gruff but urgent, one that bloomed in the back of my memories. Something foreign but familiar. It struck a chord in my heart that left me breathless.

  I kept my face as straight as I could when a disembodied voice spoke in my ear out of nowhere. Instead, I gave the Stratego a little bow with my head and turned on my heel.

  “In fact, I would like to speak with the officials alone,” the Stratego added to his command. “Branch leaders, you may leave as well.”

  Unlike me, the other trained soldiers marched off in a structured line and didn’t say anything to defy their leader. The four of us left the room and shut the door behind us. We stood awkwardly in the lobby without saying anything. I purposely avoided eye contact with any of the branch leaders, still consumed in my own thoughts about the voice.

  A sinking suspicion crawled into my stomach and stayed there. But more than anything, I wasn’t sure I wanted it to be true.

  A soft touch on my elbow brought me out of my reverence. My eyes glanced up and connected with Hailey’s vibrant green ones. Their intensity caught me off guard nearly as much as that unexpected voice.

  “Are you okay?” the Enka soldier asked me. From over Hailey’s shoulders were the concerned faces of the other branch leaders. Their kindness surprised me. I didn’t know how many more surprises I could take just then.

  As much as I wanted to just address Hailey, I made sure to look at all three of them when I spoke. “I’m just worried about my friend.”

  “Us too,” Olivia answered as she took a step forward. “This is nothing like our soldiers. It’s so out of character.”

  “There’s something more to this,” Mia said. She shook her head and put her hands on her hips, balled into fists. “I just hope the test results show that.”

  “They will,” Hailey assured Mia. Then she squeezed my arm, giving me extra comfort. “They’ll show you’re right.”

  As if on cue, Daniella rounded the corner. The healer had her eyes down on a clipboard, so she wasn’t watching where she was going. She stopped in her tracks when she came upon the four of us. Daniella wrapped her arms around the clipboard and held it to her chest with a panicked look on her face.

  The branch leaders and I knew exactly what was in her hand: the results. Like a pack of hungry wolves, we pranced forward and bombarded her with an onslaught of questions.

  “Are those them?”

  “What do they say?”

  “Is it Aphrodite?”

  “Is it deadly?”

  “Whoa,” Daniella said as she held up a hand and twisted away from us. “Back up.”

  Obediently, the four of us took a single, giant step backward. I dragged my feet together and locked my legs in anticipation.

  “I’m supposed to tell the officials first,” Daniella defended. “Don’t put me in this position.”

  “Daniella,” I said, unable to keep out the whine in my voice. “I know you have your orders, but just tell me if I was right.”

  Finally, Daniella lowered the clipboard but still kept it pressed against her body. She put her other hand on her hip and sighed with obvious exaggeration. “Cameron,” she complained.

  “Fine,” I said, holding up my hands in surrender. “Blink once if I’m right, twice if I was wrong, and it’s something else.”

  Daniella pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide, so I didn’t get any mixed impressions.

  “Just let her be,” Olivia said gently. “Let her do her job.”

  Mia and Olivia walked past Daniella, taking the lead. They stood on the other side of her while Hailey and I continued to block the healer from the door. Suddenly, Olivia reached out and slipped the clipboard out of Daniella’s loose grip. She tossed it up in the air, and Mia caught it. Even though Daniella was tall and lanky, Mia was built like a linebacker and held the clipboard over Daniella’s head in an elementary school type of keep-away game.

  Mia tossed the clipboard over Daniella’s head, through the gap in her raised arms. Due to the awkward shape of the papers and their holder, the clipboard flapped down in a sharp arch. I crouched with open arms and clutched it to my chest, protectively. I spun, so my back was to Daniella as I flipped through the diagnosis.

  Just as I read through some of the lines, Daniella yanked the clipboard out of my hands.

  I gaped up at her. “It is a love spell. Aphrodite’s love spell.”

  Daniella hugged the clipboard like a child gripping a stuffed animal. “Yeah, it is. You were right.”

  Hailey and the other branch leaders released cries of relief. Olivia and Mia high-fived in celebration.

  “Great!” I exclaimed as I clapped my hands together. “Now that you know what it is, can you cure it?”

  Daniella’s face fell, and I knew the answer before she even said it.

  “It’s Aphrodite’s formula for sure,” Daniella confirmed, “but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

  “Wait, what?” I stopped in my tracks.

  “We might have a diagnosis, but we don’t have a cure.”

  14

  The first thing that happened after the Elemental Officials found out the tests were positive for Aphrodite’s love formula, they demanded that every single student and guard on campus get tested. Throughout the next week, students were called out of class and shuffled down to the med bay. Daniella, along with the other healers and nurses, worked overtime, performing all of the necessary blood draws, tear collections, and lab work.

  This was done so that they didn’t have to examine everyone at once. It was supposed to pick up the process, but sometimes they had to call students back to the med bay to redo the testing.

  “We’re not prepared for so many samples,” Daniella complained to us. “It’s exhausting.”

  The other exhausting element of this whole thing was the continuous hookups. It was as though everyone was pairing up. The cafeteria felt like a regular orgy with all of these couples sitting together. Or rather, sitting on top of one another. Teachers tried to keep students off each other during classes, and extra security was added outside of the dorms. If you didn’t have the right identification to get into the dorms, then you weren’t allowed in. But there were ways around that, especially when a guard was supposed to be stationed outside the dorm, but was instead inside with one of the students.

  Eventually, it got so bad that all of the officials stopped trying to keep the couples apart. It was easier to give in to the madness than resist it. When in Rome, or something to that effect.

  One thing that I found unusual was the people that were clearly unaffected. While Beth was still canoodling Bella, Daniella, Jade, and I stayed normal. We kept checking in on each other, but none of us showed any of the classic symptoms. We were able to still spend time on our own, not talk about one person every six seconds, and actually pay attention when completing tasks.

  Right now, the campus was half and half, split into the infected and the non-infected. It wasn’t everyone, but it was certainly obvious who was and wasn’t.

  That was one thing about this particular infatuation that was interesting. It wasn’t as though everyone was sleeping with everyone. People were definitely coupled up, but there were no cheating scan
dals… Other than the obnoxious PDA, it was kind of sweet to watch the pairs.

  The hardest part, honestly, was losing Beth. She was still the kind, sweet girl we all fell in love with, but if we ever wanted to hang out with Beth, we had to hang out with Bella too. Bella sat with us at every meal, and if we tried to have a study group, Bella came along. Bella was nice enough, but she was a graduated soldier. And there was a tense atmosphere since Beth now completely ignored the moment we had shared together before she became infected. There was an obvious difference between students and soldiers, and it showed. Not that Isabella wasn’t attractive. But they were consumed with each other, and I didn’t want to be with Bella and Beth when they were infected by some love spell.

  On the rare occasion that Bella wasn’t with us, Beth wasn’t there either. We were like a square missing a corner. Our group felt lopsided and imbalanced. It was even worse when Daniella was at the med bay, like this morning at breakfast.

  I sulked at the table, lifting my oatmeal up out of my bowl and letting it drip down the spoon. I slumped my head into my hand, my palm smashed against my cheek. Jade slid into the bench across from me, with her own bowl of oatmeal, though hers smelled of blueberries, whereas mine was a cinnamon mess.

  “You’re pouting again,” Jade said.

  I looked up and noticed her own grim expression. “You don’t look too chipper yourself.”

  “I know,” Jade sighed. She matched my posture, her own chin in her hand. “I miss the girls.”

  “Right?” I slammed my arms down on the table. “And with you and I not being roommates anymore, I feel like I hardly see any of you.”

  “How’s that going, by the way?” Jade asked, though her tone told me she already knew the answer.

  “I have two roommates now.” I rubbed my eyes, a new wave of tiredness hitting me. “Rachel never leaves. Also, I need some earplugs.”

  “That’s what they should be handing out at the med bay along with the dildos,” Jade groaned.

  “They’re handing out dildos at the med bay?” I straightened up, surprised by this news.