by Holly Hook
"You took more than one tiny piece. And one piece is hard enough on your body."
She rolled her eyes at me even as he body shook.
Wendy bit her lip and looked to me, helpless. I was stronger than Maria now. I had no doubt. I could stop her with force. And then what?
I turned away. "Well, if you're doing okay, just keep doing what you're doing."
"We're going with you," Wendy said. "Ronin needs to know what his father did even if he wants nothing to do with us again."
Translation: if Ronin got another girlfriend, he needed to protect her. "You're cynical."
"It comes with the territory," Wendy said. "As soon as Mikey's here, we need to go up to your dorm like old times and make a plan. Just waltzing into Marchamp will be a bad idea."
* * * * *
My friends were starting to loosen up around me, which made me almost pretend we'd gone back to old times. We went back up to my dorm to hang out, at Wendy's suggestion. Cal hovered at my door, though, until I waved him inside.
"It's weird being here when I'm not a student anymore," he said. "I'm thinking I'll need to stay here in secret from now on."
Maria and Mikey once again baked cookies, but I was impatient, not wanting to sit around and watch movies and eat snacks. I could see the same impatience in Maria and Mikey's eyes, too, when I explained to them that Prometheus said Ronin was the key to reaching Olympus, and that sending the gods back into dormancy was the only way to stop them from maturing now. In fact, it would reverse the monsters' transformations altogether and make the god descendants normal again.
"Some people aren't going to like that," Mikey said. "Cal would lose his amazing powers."
"Nooo," Cal said, raising his hands.
"But you still might have talent in music," I said. "You two have practiced right and left."
"I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain," Maria said. She still had bags under her eyes from taking the asphodel earlier, and I hadn't seen the effects last so long on her before. She devoured a cookie as if it could erase all the fatigue the dangerous Underworld herb had delivered.
"It's kind of exciting, talking about our futures," Mikey said, leaning into Cal.
"Yes," Wendy agreed, picking at her fingernails.
"I think your family is set," I said. "You guys have the funeral home business and people won't stop dying."
"What if I don't want to run a bunch of funeral homes?" Wendy asked. "I might be descended from Hades, but that doesn't mean I necessarily like darkness all the time. Do you?"
"Then don't," I said, jealous that she had a choice. Wendy only had to deal with parents. I had to deal with my nature. Dominique and Zeus had made my choice for me, just as Hades had been handed the Underworld.
"What else is bothering you?" Maria asked her.
"It's that obvious."
"Yes," Maria said from her position on my bed. She stuffed another cookie into her mouth.
"It's the news," Wendy said. "I've been pulling a Maria and tracking it. The Olympian Guard is capturing a lot more monsters than they used to. Taking them in for questioning. And in some cases, hauling them off to prison bases."
"What?" I sat straight up off the floor.
Wendy scrolled through her phone. "Not many people in the media are reporting on it, but a few smaller websites are. Hermes owns the bigger media outlets, and Zeus keeps Hermes under his thumb as we all know. But it seems he's letting a few stories get through here and there without Zeus noticing."
"Hermes isn't such a bad guy," Cal said. "Ronin's descended from him through his mother. That's how he senses magic in others."
"Hey. It's my job to do the research," Maria said, stifling a yawn. She stretched and a joint popped as if she had aged forty years. The asphodel was having a worse effect than I thought.
"This is great," Mikey said. "They're probably targeting all the monsters and descendants of dark gods at this point."
"My parents hire a few shifters to guard their businesses, and they've been stopped by the Guard three times over the summer for questioning," Wendy said. "That's what got me to take up research."
"Maria. Have you been able to function over the summer?" I blurted, serious. My voice filled my dorm, making everyone flinch. There were still times I let that get out of hand, too. And I hated it when it happened.
"Yes," she said quickly, and without looking at me.
She hadn't. But what could I say?
We spent that night watching movies, and I was getting better at holding back whatever dreadful atmosphere I gave off.
But my friends went back to their own dorms when it got late, leaving me alone.
I flopped down on my bed, pretending that didn't bother me, but who wanted to sleep in the same room with someone who embodied oblivion? I couldn't imagine the nightmares. Maria and Mikey were expending effort just to be around me.
"Shit," I muttered, reaching for Ronin, but he wasn't there.
Chapter Eight
Classes did not feel normal the next day. I hadn't even looked at my schedule yet because it felt weird to still be going to school in this state. People parted for me in the halls, despite me trying to look small in my black fourth year robe. Most of my fellow fourth years tried to act cool around me, and Wendy walked by my side down to breakfast, but the other years made no attempt to hide that my presence was unnerving. A few third year girls gathered at a corner stared at me, and one took a tiny step forward as if she wanted to ask me something, probably if I could open the barrier for them this weekend, but she shrunk back as I walked past.
I couldn't deal with this all day. "You know, I don't bite." Keeping my voice low, I forced a smile at the third years.
I felt like screaming. During the summer, no one feared me. Now I was the centerpiece of Cursed Academy, trumping even Prometheus. If Ronin ever wanted to make love to me again, what would he experience?
Why would he ever want to do that again? Dominique might want to help the monsters, but she had still taken Ronin's mother.
We planned to go into Marchamp after class that day, when the town would be busiest with people getting out of work. Maria made the good point that the Guard--and Zeus, if he was around--would expect us to go to Ronin during the non-busy times of day. We could hide among other people so long as I focused on decreasing my presence.
I didn't want to admit to Wendy that I had texted Dominique, letting her know Ronin would be here soon, even if I had made her swear not to hurt him in any way. Dominique texted back asking where I thought he was. And I told her.
The witch had responded with a smiley face. I knew that out in the woods, she and the Lower Order were camped out, hiding very close to both schools. I asked what Dominique meant by that, but she didn't respond.
No longer did Mrs. Allenson teach Divine History. Prometheus had said she was too sympathetic to the gods. Our books remained, all new from Athena's printing press, but Celestus had taken her place.
"Students," he announced, sweeping his gaze over the room. "For the past three years, you have been taught by Mrs. Allenson, who gave you the Olympian-approved version of Divine History. However, now that she is no longer teaching here and now spending all her time at the school next door, I will be taking her spot when not teaching Career Exploration. Giselle and Prometheus discussed true Divine History over the summer, and Giselle has passed me several outlines for lectures on what really happened between the gods and mortals in ancient times. The gods do not want you to hear this version of events."
People shifted with nerves and excitement. I swallowed as every gaze turned to me. Serena, however, didn't dare send me a dirty look. I read some tension in Celestus's stance, but I couldn't tell if that was from his sister's jealousy or the fact that his world, too, had been shattered over the summer. It was the price of regaining the titan's friendship.
"Today, we discuss Medusa. The real story of Medusa. Mrs. Allenson told you she was turned into a Gorgon by Athena, and that is true. Yo
u heard that she was punished for her pride and vanity. Do you want the truth?"
People leaned forward. Yes. I hadn't read all the notes Prometheus had passed to me. I had left the giant folder on Celestus's desk in August.
"Medusa was once a beautiful priestess. She was raped by Zeus in one of Athena's temples, and Athena punished her for Zeus's crime."
People gasped. Maria dropped the pencil she'd been using to take notes. I shrunk into my chair, feeling gross. Even maturing hadn't erased my sense of disgust. Zeus hadn't succeeded with me, of course, but just the thought of how he viewed me only added to my self-consciousness.
"Athena blamed the victim?" Lily asked in that seductive, musical voice. She leaned over her desk, eyeing Celestus, eyes hungry. People through the room tensed and waited for her to attack. Lily trembled, fighting her urges, and her mouth fell open, revealing sharp teeth.
Mikey looked away.
But Celestus was ready, having trained to defend himself. He pulled an iPod from his robe pocket and stuck his ear buds in, ready to block out any singing Lily would attempt on him. "Yes," he said, turning away from Lily. "She blamed the victim. No one would go against Zeus, so some goddesses lashed out against the women he went after instead. Hera was especially fond of this tactic."
Lily sat back down.
And Mikey shrunk down in his seat, which he'd taken farthest from Lily. His skin remained normal. But for how long?
Celestus spent the rest of the hour discussing how Medusa was cursed to turn everyone into stone who laid eyes on her. Finally a god descendant named Perseus cut off her head. I swallowed down my nerves. Raped, then punished, then killed. And the folder Prometheus had given me had been thick with these kinds of stories.
By the end of class, everyone was silent and the air was heavy. I didn't have to add to it. I was the first out of the classroom.
"I know that was hard for you," Wendy said in the hallway of Building B.
"I'm just angry I didn't see what Zeus was sooner."
"Well, the staff are getting the word out now," she said.
The rest of the school day was quite normal, with Mrs. Ershaw teaching Advanced Magic Two. But instead of having Max for Combat Training, we had Prometheus standing in. And across the shared arena, the dark barrier of oblivion stretched, dividing us from Olympian Academy.
Max stood on the other side, training students in white togas on how to throw discs. Our gazes met. I could read his all too well even from a distance. Despair, but no shock. Max was friends with Ronin and must have heard the news.
And his expression made me feel worst of all. Max had worked hard to keep me from going dark and I'd thrown it all away. I could have fought Zeus if I'd embraced my other powers, couldn't I? I wanted to cut a hole in the barrier with my dagger, walk over there, and talk to him, but I sensed that just beyond my barrier, Zeus had put up a new one to keep the Olympian kids away from us. If I squinted, I could see lightning bolts snap into existence beside my own wall. I could get through that fine, I knew, but Zeus would probably sense the hole I cut and show up.
"Giselle. Perhaps you can show these students some magic?" Prometheus asked. "You can control it now and prevent any accidents." I read the meaning in his stance. I needed to show the Cursed kids that I could hold my own and defend them.
That I could lead them when the time came. I was getting that this whole school year was about preparing for war. Why else tell the students about the evils of the gods, then shove me to the front lines?
Weight settled on my shoulders as I stepped forward, drawing my dagger at the statues set up on the other side of the arena.
"But be careful," Prometheus said. "You may open holes to the void, but you do not control the void itself. Chaos is the great equalizer. It can consume us all."
I stared at the titan. "All of us?"
"Yes. You are not Chaos, but its gatekeeper."
His words sent a shudder down my spine. Could I perish if I jumped into one of the holes I opened, or accidentally fell into one?
Licking my lips, I held my dagger up to the huge golem closest to me, a stone model of Zeus himself, and called forth the darkness. A purplish-black whip of magic snapped out, lashing the statue in half and causing the top half of the sky god to crash to the dusty arena floor.
People gasped.
It had been so easy.
And the kids over at Olympian stopped and started cussing, running to the border to stare at the way I'd defiled the leader of the gods. Max's jaw dropped as he looked to me and the destroyed statue.
Prometheus smiled. "Excellent." His message to Olympian was clear. I backed off as I realized what he'd had me do, and the titan grasped my shoulder as heat spread under my skin. "Great job. We'll show them."
With a shudder, I stepped away and back into the line of students. But I couldn't hide.
If Ronin were here now...
I would not think of it.
At least Prometheus didn't ask me for any more demonstrations. And Advanced Career Training, our final class of the day, had changed. Building C still stood with its cool architecture and two rows of classrooms, but instead of the sandwich boards in front of each door showing monsters serving gods their meals on trays and other monsters standing guard in front of factories, simple signs hung above the doors. College Prep. Health Care Studies. Creative Studies. Research and Independent Study. Us fourth years stood there, jaws dropping in amazement. The curriculum had changed. Prometheus was no longer taking orders from the Olympian crew.
This was what we needed to fight for. And this was something I could show to Ronin.
Celestus stood in the middle of the corridor, grinning at us. "Like the changes? Pick a classroom. And take your time."
* * * * *
Even the improvements at Cursed Academy didn't lift my mood as we settled into dinner. It was almost time to go. What if Ronin wasn't at the hotel and what if Zeus had it guarded? I could take care of guards, but I didn't want to, and any guards there would summon the god himself. And he wouldn't be easy to kill.
Even less so in front of Ronin.
Celestus met us at the front doors of Cursed Academy afterwards. Prometheus had holed himself up in his office, determined to continue looking the other way. Going with us to get Ronin back must be considered an attack on Zeus, and besides, it would help with whatever plan the Lower Order had for opening the way to Mount Olympus. So he had to stay put.
"Well," Celestus said. "I can do my best to get us into the motel and out again undetected, but I make no guarantees." He held his hand out to Maria and Mikey, who were quiet. "I'll cast you in shadow. You won't literally take a shadowy form, but you will be far less noticeable."
What could he do for me? Probably nothing. I was the most powerful person standing here on the steps, dwarfing even Wendy. Even lashing apart the giant statue earlier had barely drained my magic. I checked my pocket for a vial of nectar the principal had lent me, but all it could do was replenish my magic. It couldn't help my friends. In fact, he warned me, it could even kill them.
Speaking of that, Maria looked as if she'd barely recovered from earlier.
"Do your best," Maria told Celestus as he gripped her shoulder.
"Natalia's staying here," he said. "I made her. She's not happy, but she has no place going on something like this."
I agreed. I was glad she wasn't going. Maybe I should suggest Maria stay behind, too, due to the weakness she was inflicting on herself, but I kept my mouth shut. She'd refuse and I didn't have the willpower to stop her.
And I was the strongest one here.
That didn't make me feel better or more confident. The nectar would help with that, too, but I was determined to save it for emergencies. And what were the chances of that?
Chapter Nine
We packed into Celestus's car, which I remembered from the night we followed Prometheus to the Underground bar. But that place no longer existed, according to Celestus, since I'd played a big role in bur
ning it down.
"I can't believe I still have to use regular transportation," I grumbled. Immortal powers, and I still had to sit in the back of a car, crammed between Mikey and Maria. Wendy had taken the front passenger seat while Maria and Mikey got to cringe the entire time they were in the back with me. I had an idea how I felt to be around after meeting Hades. I could rope in my atmosphere, but not enough to offer relief to someone sitting beside me.
"Not sure how else you'd get around," Mikey said, wrapping his arms around himself. But at least his skin didn't carry that blue tinge. And Cal was going to meet us in town. Unlike us, Cal could wander around Marchamp without tipping off the Olympian Guard. They were looking for monsters. Not those descended from the sun god. He'd stake out the place before we got there and alert Mikey if something was off.
"Sorry," I said, keeping my voice low. I still managed to have that one word fill the car. Awkward.
"It's not your fault," Maria said. "We haven't been fair to you."
"I know I'm not fun to be around anymore." My mind wandered to Ronin. This was a tiny preview of how he could react to me.
"You're fine. You're still the same old Giselle. I can tell," Maria said with a faint smile. "It's just your body and powers that have changed. Ronin will have to realize that. If you want, I'll explain the truth to him. It's got to be hard to tell him yourself. And I have a feeling that he's going to believe you. Eventually."
Eventually. That could be years or longer from now. And I hated that word. How long would I live? That could be for a long, long time, and then I'd get to watch everyone around me wither and die. Cal's magic could only heal for so long. Even if they became monsters, Maria and Mikey would have normal life spans. Modern monsters didn't live forever like those pure monsters from ancient times.
I said nothing the rest of the way into Marchamp. The drive into town was uneventful, and the night was lit up unlike the last time I'd been here. That seemed like a lifetime ago. Marchamp had people hanging out on the sidewalks, high school and college kids around our age. I breathed in, trying to hold my intimidating atmosphere back, but people flinched and looked around as our car passed. I was so nervous about facing Ronin that I was failing on that front. One girl shifted leg to leg and tugged on the shirt sleeve of another girl as we waited at a stoplight. Something's wrong, she'd say. We have to get out of here.
