by Holly Hook
A few people, mostly first and second years, gasped. All eyes landed on me. I hated standing up here, with all the attention on me, but these students needed to know what was happening outside the school.
"There is no reason to fear either myself or Giselle, who will be protecting our school from hostile outside forces for the school year and keeping all of you safe." As he spoke, he waved me closer to him until I stood just a couple of feet away, just behind the podium. "What most of you do not know is that...is that..." he eyed me, silently asking for help. Prometheus stood away from the podium, shoving his glasses up his nose.
I had to finish. If he did, he would break the Division Oath, and whatever one he'd taken with the gods to make him stay quiet to mortals about their past misdeeds.
"Um, hi," I said, letting my voice project across the room. A few people flinched. "Zeus and some of the Olympian gods attempted to destroy Cursed Academy at the end of last year because I did not go to their side. They tried to kill the students to get revenge on me. First years, you don't know this, but the tornado you might have heard about was no accident or freak of nature. Zeus became angry at me, so it's my responsibility to protect the school. If you need to leave, ask me and I'll open the barrier for you. And be careful." I would not trap people here as Prometheus and Hades had done, even if it turned out to be from good intentions. But the pressure weighed down on my shoulders. I was responsible for all these lives.
The first years all muttered amongst themselves. People leaned over tables. Sleeves rolled back, and I eyed fresh new green markings--that of a palm holding fire--on forearms. Prometheus's mark. The Sorting Temple was back in business now that the roof had been repaired. I wondered if Prometheus had to stand with an Olympian to mark the new kids. Awkward.
"You are the only thing protecting these kids," Prometheus said. "You, and whoever you can find to help out. Soon, you will need to make the most important vow you will ever make."
He didn't elaborate on that last part.
I wasn't sure I wanted him to. Vows were bad news for everyone, as I had seen.
But I did know what the rest meant.
And I didn't protest.
To save everyone, I would have to go to my former enemies, and forsake every hope of ever getting Ronin back.
Chapter Six
As the dining hall dispersed and people walked off to finish unpacking, muttering and sticking in tight groups, Prometheus picked up the wooden podium and turned in the direction of his office.
"What vow do you mean?" I asked.
He paused and waited for Maria, Mikey, and Wendy to file out of the dining hall before speaking. They did, and I got that this was something not meant for the ears of normal people. Well, for the ears of people more normal than me.
"Follow me," he said. "You will need to open a hole for me in the barrier."
"I will," I said, heart racing.
I'd been around the titan all summer, just staying curt with him, running folders of real Divine History from him to Celestus and not getting into any deep conversations. He walked out of the dining hall and sighed. "Natalia has been working on a few things while you were not around."
"I'm shocked she stayed all summer."
"She is in danger if she leaves Cursed Academy without you now. She quit her job at Olympian. Had no choice after attacking Zeus."
I shuddered. You did not stab the master of Olympus and get away with it. I was the only reason she was still alive, too. Now I got why we'd stuck together during our one outing.
I watched Prometheus place the podium against the wall in the office. He offered me a small vial of the golden nectar, but I held my hand up, refusing. I hadn't taken any since the night I matured, and I didn't want to, because it just reminded me that I wasn't like everyone else in the school anymore. Even god descendants didn't drink that stuff, on penalty of death.
"In case you need it," he said, tucking the vial in his pocket.
"Is Natalia teaching in her usual room this year?"
"Yes. But she and Celestus are at the Sorting Temple right now. He's using his magic to keep them both undetected from the Olympians."
"Oh."
We walked off campus and into the woods. "So," the titan said. "Natalia has been trying a different route with her powers. Instead of calling on the usual gods for guidance, she has turned to...unconventional means."
"Unconventional means?" I asked. I wondered for a second if she could call on the two of us for help, but I wouldn't know what to do to lend someone visions. She'd said that she borrowed a bit of the gods' magic without them knowing...most of the time.
"She usually calls on Hermes, the messenger god," Prometheus said. "Zeus will be watching him and stopping him from helping us. He is not a bad god, but not as strong as Zeus. So Natalia has begun to call on Nyx, the goddess of night, to reveal everything behind the veil of darkness. It hasn't been easy, but she has made contact with the help of Celestus."
"So we're visiting her for a vision," I said.
"Yes. She says she can help you with something. We have all decided that we owe you for what you did on the roughest night of your life." To my shock, the titan offered a tense, reluctant smile, like he wasn't liking this plan.
My heart rose into my throat, beating with hope. "Does this have to do with Ronin?"
A nearby pine branch smoked with heat as Prometheus worked his jaw. "Yes."
"You still don't like him."
"Not one bit." He shoved his spectacles farther up his narrow nose. His black suit whispered as he picked up his pace through the woods. "But we must get him back."
"For what?"
"He can help us reach places we need to go. Unfortunately, we need that spoiled young man."
I thought of Dominique's vow to destroy Olympus and I knew that was what the titan meant. Ronin could help us get there? That was why Prometheus was doing this. We passed through the barrier after I cut another hole.
I didn't want a favor if it was given grudgingly. "It's not Ronin's fault his father is an asshole. He's even an asshole to Ronin. I bet Zeus gave him that car just so he could swing him over to his side and win his admiration. And it worked." I balled my fists, and every time I blinked, I saw the darkness of the void, begging me to use it. But I had control. I breathed out, dismissing the magic. At least I didn't get the low groan and the chill anymore.
The titan said nothing as we reached a wildlife trail. Fallen branches with brown leaves dotted the forest ahead. We were close to the Sorting Temple, where some storm damage remained.
"He is still spoiled."
"It's not his fault and if we get him back, you need to stop taking out your grudge on him," I said. "What Zeus did was disgusting. He treated Ronin like shit, too, up until he needed Ronin to turn on me. Blamed him for his mother's death. And Ronin also gets to deal with everyone crapping on him because of who his father is."
Prometheus whirled. "Yes." He spoke through grit teeth and a shrub nearby caught fire. Smoke rose.
"You don't plan to hurt him when we get him back, do you? Tell me the truth."
"No. He will not very gravely injured or killed."
"Not good enough for me."
"We will hurt him very, very little. I cannot speak about this anymore!" The titan trembled. "I can't continue to the temple with you or I will be helping the Lower Order. I must go back. Good luck."
Oh. That. He turned back, carrying his aura of heat with him.
Alone, I walked the rest of the way to the Sorting Temple. Far behind me, students would be finding their classes and unpacking once they got the layout of the school. Some would be talking about me. Maria and Mikey and Wendy would be, too, maybe wondering if I'd gone evil over the summer.
I was glad to find Natalia and Celestus inside the repaired Temple, which had only needed a new roof. The place smelled new, and the roof itself shone with new marble. And instead of her lavender robe, Natalia had switched to a plain black robe, one that almost matche
d the one Celestus wore. I'd never seen her in black before, and it made her flesh appear paler than I remembered.
She had turned to the night instead of the Olympians.
I gulped. Natalia was doing a better job than me adjusting to this new, dark world.
"Giselle." He extended her arms for a hug.
I let her embrace me. Natalia seemed to be one of the few people who didn't fear me now. "Hey. Does Prometheus seriously want us to find out where Ronin is?"
"Yes, but he refused to tell me why. The Oath is getting in the way."
"I got that idea."
She let go of me, but maintained a gentle grip on my upper arm. Celestus rocked on his heels behind her.
"Sorry for the bad memories in here," she said.
"It's okay. We both had fun that night, didn't we?"
Natalia frowned. "I've decided to focus away from the Olympians and onto the gods they consider below them. Nyx. Hecate. Many others who inhabit the darker corners of the universe. They haven't shown themselves on the surface world much since the Awakening. I would ask for some of your magic, Giselle, but I sense yours isn't conducive to producing visions or lifting the dark veil from secrets."
"I can only destroy," I said, swallowing hard.
"And you are going to make sure that's a good thing," Natalia said.
I gulped again. "Yes." You win, Carmen.
"Darkness does not equal evil," Celestus said, stepping forward. "And without destruction, there can be no new beginnings."
"Since when did you get all philosophical?" I asked.
"Since now," Celestus said, dropping his stoic mask for once and smiling. "Step forward. There's little blood, I promise. We are having Nyx lift the veil on Ronin's whereabouts."
I knew Natalia and Celestus had a lot to do with this and felt a weight lift off my shoulders. My mouth went dry. I could still feel nerves and fear, two very human emotions. Despite all my power, I was still a person.
"Whose blood?" I asked.
"Mine," Celestus said, rolling his black sleeve down. He had several knife marks on his palm.
Natalia gingerly took his hand, holding it over the fountain, and made a gentle, yet long, cut over his palm. Celestus took it like a man. Could they really enlist Nyx's help to clear the darkness over Ronin? Did I want to see this? He'd be chilling in some mansion somewhere, safe from me. What if he was in bed with a new girlfriend, unable to stand being alone? My legs twitched in terror, wanting to carry me out of the Temple, but I forced myself to step closer to the water as Celestus's blood dripped into it, slowly turning the water pink and them crimson. At last, he closed his hand as Natalia poured some herbs and oil into the pool.
Darkness filled with stars replaced the blood and oil. The night sky spread out, with darkness almost as deep as my own, before vanishing.
"Show us Ronin," I said, voice echoing through the portal. I had never done something like that before or meant to. "Show us where Ronin is. Now!"
And to my shock, the stars winked out of existence, one by one, vanishing faster and faster into nothingness, and I backed away, thinking I must have messed up the vision. But Natalia lifted her hand, and though she was very weak compared to me, I let her seize my arm and hold me there.
And a vision took the place of the darkness.
Ronin was lying on a bed.
I gasped, having forgotten how amazing he looked. Ronin's T-shirt rested over his strong pecs and his tight jeans highlighted his muscular thighs. But he was lying on his back, on a rumpled, crappy motel room bed with brown sheets. He kept his eyes trained on the ceiling. The way the pale sunlight flickered told me that he was likely looking at a fan. Ronin's dark hair blew around a bit. His pupils were still. Lost. Fast food bags and even a couple small liqueur containers rested on a night stand beside him. He had been eating junk food and drinking.
Ronin was not in a good place.
I swallowed down my jealousy and guilt. He was as far from getting a new girlfriend as anyone could be.
The vision began to fade.
"Wait!" I shouted at the fountain. "Which motel is this?"
Ronin continued to darken as the veil of night and nothingness continued to thicken.
And then everything vanished.
I straightened and whirled, just realizing that I was leaning over the fountain so much I had almost dripped my hair in the blood. Backpedaling, I let out a breath. "Ronin needs me. He needs me to clear the air and tell the truth." Why hadn't he picked up his phone?
"Which motel is that?"
"There's one in Marchamp," Celestus said quickly as he stared at the wall. "Brown sheets on all the beds and green walls. The Old Row. Ronin looks like he has a room there."
"How do you know that?" I asked him.
Natalia stayed quiet and blushed. Celestus coughed.
"Oh." But that was a good enough answer for me.
My heart rose. Ronin had left, but he hadn't gone far. He was in Marchamp, rather than across the country or the world, serving Zeus. He was close. Just miles away this whole time, maybe waiting to see what I'd do next.
I had to go to him and bring him back. If Prometheus thought we needed him to end all of this, I'd trust his word. But I'd also have to trust the Lower Order's promises that they wouldn't harm Ronin. Going to him might even risk his life.
Chapter Seven
Of course, I wasn't going to venture in Marchamp alone. Going to the mall with Natalia and Celestus was one thing, because the closest mall was forty miles away in a town where none of the gods did business, but Marchamp was built around one of Zeus's power plants. The Olympian Guard swarmed around that place. I'd seen them. Of course, I could hold off the Guard, but I didn't want to make anyone but the most deserving snap out of existence. And according to Celestus, the Old Row was just a couple of streets over from the plant.
If Zeus or any gods sympathetic to him showed up, I'd be in for a fight.
Why was Ronin there, in what Natalia said was a hole in the wall? He was rich. Loaded. Had he had a fight with Zeus?
I wouldn't know until I reached Ronin and got back to school.
And I wanted backup.
I had to meet with Maria anyway, because she sent me a text telling me to get to the barrier between Cursed and Olympian yesterday.
Maria, Mikey, and Wendy had vanished, and I found them in the woods, near the border of my barrier, which now divided Cursed and Olympian academies. Wendy stood, eyeing where the barrier stretched across the way ahead. Over here, no birds chirped and no insects buzzed. Mortal creatures couldn't usually see the barrier, but I'd gotten the idea that every creature sensed it was there and knew to avoid it.
"Hey," I said, walking up behind them and focusing on the space immediate to me, trying to hold my atmosphere close.
"I need Cal," Mikey said, whirling to face me.
He had a bluish tint.
"Where is he?" I asked. I didn't see him on the other side of the barrier.
"He'll meet me in our usual clearing. I think I've got time, so long as I hustle." Mikey shifted leg to leg. His eyes were still human, unlike Lily's, which had gone black.
Maria turned her shimmering eyes to me. Things were getting dire. I took my dagger and cut a hole in the barrier, enough to let Mikey run through. And he bolted through the trees, vanishing in no time.
"They need alone time," Maria told me. "Cal now hangs around in his car all day, since he couldn't get a job here. And they see each other after dinner."
"I wasn't going to follow," I said, facing her.
"Thanks for cutting a hole," Wendy said. "At least you have control of this now. We couldn't find the one I've heard that others are using."
I breathed out, glad my friends were getting over these changes. "I hope he makes it."
"Mikey had several close calls over the summer. If it wasn't for Cal, he would have matured by now," Maria said, voice shaking. "It's exhausting for both of them. Cal had to heal him twice in one day a couple of weeks
ago. Drained himself to do it, too."
And I couldn't help anymore. Mikey's time was running out, but none of us wanted to say that.
"I know where Ronin is," I said after a long silence.
"You do?" Maria leaned forward, which was progress.
"He's in Marchamp. In a motel. Natalia summoned a vision. Why he's there, I don't know."
Maria's eyes widened as she rubbed her forehead, likely from a headache. A headache. In the wrong place. She was dangerously close to maturing, too.
"The herb," Wendy whispered.
"I know," Maria said, digging into her backpack.
An urge to tell her to stop swept over me.
I turned my thoughts to Elliot and gulped. What room did I have, telling her not to take the one thing holding back her maturity at the moment, even if it wasn't really working anymore? I'd taken my birthright weapon and gone dark, and then attacked Ronin's father in front of him. I gulped. Asking my friends to go on a dangerous mission with me might not go well. "Guys, when Mikey comes back, and so long as he's okay, we need to bring Ronin back."
Wendy looked up at me. I saw the skepticism in her eyes. "But Ronin left...us."
I swallowed. Leave it to her to point that out, but he had. "He's not happy. I saw him." Was there any light left in the world? Maybe I just couldn't see or feel it anymore.
But I had to see Ronin.
Even if he hated me now, Prometheus said he was needed to help finish all this.
"I'd like the three of you to go with me. And Cal, if Mikey brings him back."
Maria uncorked the vial with the crushed white flowers inside. She sprinkled a few tiny pieces onto her palm as I watched, tensing. I'd taken too much once, in a desperate attempt to stop myself from maturing, and the next morning, Ronin had to carry me to the bathroom. Maria wasn't a budding immortal. The Cyclopes of today were mixed with human blood, with a normal lifespan, and Maria wasn't even mature yet.
"Maria--"
She glared at me and slapped her hand to her mouth, grimacing as she swallowed. "It's fine." Swaying, she grabbed the trunk of a tree.
