by Holly Hook
I tried not to show shock. "Ronin is a lot like Hercules and less like Zeus than you think. Let it go."
And so Ronin become Combat Training instructor. Not just a part time assistant, but a full-time teacher who got paid. The next day, he didn't sit with me at breakfast, but he was in the shared arena (still split in half by my magic barrier) and wearing a black robe like the other staff members here at Cursed Academy. He looked great and somewhat matched us fourth years, who muttered amongst themselves at the sight.
"Your principal is glad to be taking a break from teaching classes from now on," Ronin said, gesturing at the main building as he paced in front of us. "I will be your Combat Training teacher from now on. It's not as if I don't have experience."
A few people laughed.
Ronin carried us through classes as a couple of weeks passed. The days got colder and shorter. Mikey, Maria, and Wendy went through class as normal, though Mikey met Cal every evening at dinnertime. Cal now slept on campus, and though I didn't ask, I sensed he and Mikey were sharing his dorm.
And Maria continued to text Ted every night.
"How is he doing?" I asked one dinner.
"He's adjusting. Working in one of Poseidon's fisheries, hauling boxes," Maria said with a frown. "No one else wanted to hire a lion shifter. Haven't seen him in forever. It's putting a strain on our relationship. He says he misses me."
"I haven't even talked to my parents," Wendy said. "We're all kind of isolated now. Though I made my choice."
"You did?" I asked.
Wendy speared her green beans and grinned. "Can't you tell? I don't want to kill people quite as much. I should have done it sooner."
"We've got to end this, soon," Maria said. "If we don't, well, I suppose I'll be beside Ted moving boxes. He doesn't think he'll ever get out. You know, he wanted to go into accounting, but colleges don't take monsters."
I thought of Dominique, holding my friends' fates over my head, and of Elliot. Most of all, I thought of the plan the Order would use to reach Olympus, and could only pray that whatever it was, Ronin and I would survive it.
* * * * *
"Today, Giselle and I will lead a mock assault on a temple. I've staged several third years down in Building C, which is said to follow the design of Mount Olympus, only much smaller. They will attempt to ambush us as we progress to the meeting room."
I swallowed and exhaled, letting my breath spiral into the sky. Ronin's shoulders were hiked as he paced along the dusty arena ground. His muscles stayed tense. I hadn't had the chance to talk to him that morning, but I sensed something was troubling him.
We hadn't done a mock attack on a temple before. As the thought hit, Maria looked at me and rubbed her forehead. Mikey bit his lip.
Did that mean--
Ronin looked at me and swallowed. Prometheus stood at the doorway of the temple today. This was a test and he was nervous. Ronin was to show zero loyalty to the gods or Prometheus would find a way to take him out of his new position.
Ronin didn't seem to mind. He was used to it. Everyone drew their birthright weapons and Ronin raised his sword. The god descendants, Wendy and Serena, took up positions behind us, and everyone else hung in the back, ready to do the main assault when the magic users surprised and stunned our enemy.
By then, Prometheus had vanished. And then Ronin and I led the students out of the arena and across the grounds to Building C, the Career Center.
I sensed the third years before we got in because none of them could stay still in their hiding places. We made quick work knocking the weapons out of the green-robed students' hands. I didn't dare open a void here. Ronin had instructed us to use non-deadly force only and there was no way I'd hurt another student. Third years seethed from minor injuries and backed off behind us all as we stormed the meeting room. I yanked the double doors open.
But to my shock, Prometheus stood on the other side of the table, along with Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, and Hermes.
I froze, not having expected five immortals.
A few people behind me screamed. I could only imagine what they were feeling from the magical overload.
"Fight!" Ronin shouted, raising his sword.
Prometheus lifted his palms at me. Fire formed around them. Apollo glowered and lifted a hot ball of sunlight, and Hephaestus lifted a hammer that looked as if it could crush anything in its path. The scars on the god's face twisted with fury. Hermes circled the table so fast he became a blur, and Artemis lifted a bow and let an arrow fly.
"Fight!" Ronin repeated, ducking to the side. The arrow lodged into the wall, glowing with moonlight.
Something crashed into me--Hermes--and tossed me into the wall as the god of metalworking brought his hammer down on the table, which shattered. The sound rang in my ears as the world tilted.
I lifted my dagger just out of instinct and waved it, opening a void beside me. The world erupted in crashing and colorful magic as the shocked fourth years fought the immortals. Ronin shot a lightning bolt at Artemis, striking her, but she refused to lose a grip on her bow. This was up to me.
Hermes had a young, athletic face and windswept dark hair. His brown, golden-flecked eyes stared into my own as he held me there by my shoulders. The void beside him grew, whining as it sucked in loose shards of glass. More people screamed. The meeting room was enclosed. We could all get hurt--
The other immortals backed off as Hermes raised a fist. The messenger god glowered as fighting continued behind me. Mikey swung his dagger at the scarred god. Maria barged in with her club.
The void grew, and Hermes released me, pulling against the void. No use. He flailed. Before I could close it, his hand vanished into the maw, first turning to purple sparks before breaking into vapor and spiraling into the darkness.
Shit. Shit. I didn't want to kill Hermes.
The god screamed.
The room froze.
And I waved my dagger again, breathing in, pulling the darkness back into the blade. It obeyed, closing and surging back into my arm. I took another sharp breath as Hermes grasped his arm--now dripping golden blood and missing his entire hand--and seethed.
"Hermes," Hephaestus said, low voice filling the room. The god limped around the remains of the table.
I took a breath, aware of all eyes on me. I backed into the wall, guilty. Injuring a god like this hadn't been the plan. Maria and Mikey stood at the doorway, and Mikey was the faintest shade of blue.
"The fight is over," Hermes said, turning away from me.
"I..." I managed.
Ronin stepped over the broken table and took my hand. "We knew this might happen."
"Yes," Hermes said.
"You knew the gods would be here?"
"I did."
Ronin had expected me to do something like this. I read that in his words. The athletic god stepped away from me, but not with anger. His gait carried...resignation?
"This," Prometheus said, ignoring the golden blood dripping onto the floor, "is what you may all be facing in the near future. A fight with immortals."
People gasped. Wendy bit her lip and lowered her glowing sword, backing out of the doorway. Ronin had known about this ahead of time, hence the nerves.
I knew what the appearance of the gods meant. The final battle was closing in.
"And we've just seen what Giselle can do," Hermes said, still cradling his arm. At least the wound had stopped bleeding. "You have a chance."
These gods were with us.
People stared at me, mostly from the doorway. I could barely wrap my mind around this. Some of the Olympians were preparing us for the final fight. Not all of them stood behind Zeus. I waited for the ground to crack under them, but it didn't. None of them had broken the Oath, then. Or thought they had. But I couldn't ask how they'd come here or how they'd fulfilled Dominique's request for them to get involved without going dormant. Something strange was going on here.
"We're going to fight gods?" Serena asked. "No way. I did not sign up for t
his."
Prometheus offered her a sad nod. "I cannot help you. Only Giselle can help all of you now."
"What the hell is happening?" Serena asked. "I thought you were all with Zeus?"
Hephaestus balked. "I am an ugly face to my parents. My parents...she...never mind." He turned away, hiding his misshapen face.
Tossed me off a cliff and maimed me, I wanted to finish for him. I knew the god of metalworking couldn't speak about the real past in front of non-immortals, thanks to another vow they'd made after the Awakening. Celestus had filled us in on the truth.
"And I've seen far too much cruelty by now," Hermes said. He had a voice like honey. "Olympus is corrupt."
My mouth dropped open. Even some of the gods hated Olympus. They wanted it to end, too.
But how had the Lower Order gotten them to come here without making them break the Division Oath? They shouldn't have even been able to walk through the hole in my barrier without breaking it.
Students backed out of the room in shock. No one spoke much. I followed, wanting to get away from Hermes and his now-absent hand. I'd come close to ending him. He'd even been willing to let me destroy him just to prove a point.
Were some of the gods tired of living?
"We cannot discuss this matter any more," Apollo said, shaking his head at me. "It is too risky. Go. All of you."
Gulping, I walked beside Ronin and out into the corridor of Building C. Third and fourth years filed to the door, confused. Maria dragged her club along the floor. Wendy sheathed her sword on her belt.
And Mikey trembled. "I need Cal. Good thing it's close to dinner time."
"Go," I said, heart racing. He was still bluish. The fight hadn't been good for him. Like me, Mikey's powers came out when he fought.
He ran to the main building. I swallowed, hoping he made it in time. Despite Cal being here, I knew it would take only one mishap, one late meeting, to doom Mikey.
"How did those gods come here without breaking the Oath?" Maria asked. "It's impossible. They can't fight the other gods or help in any way. And they can't cooperate with the Lower Order."
She was right.
"Great point," Wendy said, pulling open the back door.
"They must have worked around it somehow. I only found out the gods came here this morning," Ronin said. "I was forbidden to give any of you a warning. My apologies to anyone who soiled themselves when the meeting room door opened."
We stopped in the corridor. Two people stood in front of us, blocking the way forward. One wore a flowing black robe and lifted her angry, narrow eyes at me. Twin wheel tattoos turned up in a grin. Dominique had her arm around someone else's. Orange magic surrounded her palm, threatening her captive.
Elliot. He turned his single eye downward as Maria walked in behind me.
Panic surged into my chest. He'd come back. And now I knew that Dominique was about to unleash pain, even if Ronin and I had already completely switched sides. She still had to exert her power over me.
I'd never been able to tell Dominique that Ronin and I no longer hated her.
And she was still operating as if we did.
"Giselle," she said quickly. "Elliot has done a wonderful job gathering the gods to this place. He is neither bound by the Oath nor the Lower Order, so the gods were able to fulfill his request. We have an intelligent man here. Like father, like daughter, I suppose."
Heavy silence fell over the corridor. No one else came in behind us. Maria just stayed silent. I heard her jaw drop. Elliot wouldn't look up. He was shaking. Dominique had forced him to stand here. It was clear he'd walked into a trap and hadn't meant for this to happen. Not now, and not ever.
"What?" Ronin asked. He stood up beside me, probably trying to block Maria and Elliot from seeing each other.
"Dominique," I said, letting my voice fill the corridor.
She didn't flinch. You did not uphold your end of the deal, her eyes said.
"You bitch!" I continued. "We're all working for the same thing and you have to go and cause issues." There was one stab I could deliver, one stab she deserved. "Ronin's on your side now. He knows Hera killed his mom. He's even a full staff member. And you had to go and stoop to this petty bullshit. Don't you feel good?"
Now Dominique flinched, eyes widening.
"He saw the truth?"
I continued. "Talk about shooting first and asking questions later. Get out of my sight, Dominique. Or I'm going to do something we're all going to regret."
Our gazes met. Regret and guilt filled Dominique's eyes and she let go of Elliot's arm, letting her vengeful magic die. "I did not realize."
"Get out of our faces!"
Elliot acted as if I were shouting at him. He bolted out of the corridor and around the corner, dodging Maria's sight. But it was too late. The sharp breath my friend took told me she'd seen enough and put the pieces together. And it wasn't a breath of horror. It was a breath of hurt.
And then Dominique followed, sweeping away like a crow.
"Giselle. You dominated Dominique," Ronin said. "Good job." But tension lived under his words. He was one of the few who knew the truth about Elliot.
I cut Ronin off by looking at everyone else. Wendy opened her arms for Maria, but Maria, with her superior strength, pushed her away. "He's been hanging around this school for months mopping the floors," Maria said, "and he never once tried to talk to me. He's a deadbeat!"
Oh.
It wasn't Elliot's state that got to Maria, though I knew that was a part of it.
"Maria," I said. "He was scared. He's working to make things better for you. I swear. Take a deep breath and--"
Her eyes narrowed into rage. "You knew my father was here and didn't tell me? Just leave me alone, Giselle."
Though I could have blocked her, I stood aside to let Maria go. Wendy shook her head at me. Maria needed a bit of alone time and no dark being could comfort her. I swallowed. "Maria. I wanted to tell you. But Elliot made me promise not to--"
Maria ran, turning the opposite corner as Elliot.
"She's gone," Ronin said, taking my wrist. "All we can do now is try to clean up the damage."
Chapter Fourteen
I knew Maria must have gone to her dorm, as she did when she got upset, and to distract myself from the fact that some of her anger was (rightly) directed at me, I walked around the inside of Cursed Academy for what felt like hours with Ronin. Wendy had gone to talk to Maria after letting her cool down.
"That was a heavy thing to keep to yourself," Ronin told me.
"Maria deserved the truth," I said. "And I couldn't give it to her. It wasn't as if she didn't know what her father was. She knows her nature already." I'd been so worried about Maria seeing the truth that I'd forgotten that her friend keeping the reality from her was just as bad, if not worse. "I need to check on her."
Ronin steered me to the dining hall for dinner, and I let him. "Give her some space for a bit. Sometimes we all need it."
I had the sense he was referring to himself and his absence over the summer. We walked into the dining hall, but no one in our group but us had showed up. Ronin and I ate in silence, and the longer I sat there, the more uneasy I got. Fitting, as everyone else in the dining hall shifted in their seats. I wondered if the first and second year students knew some of the gods had showed up by now--the other fourth years would have spread rumors, especially Serena--but I didn't dare ask anyone what explanations were flying around. I was in the know more than anyone.
The time was close. That was what I knew for certain.
I could barely eat my dinner. My stomach heaved. "Something's wrong," I blurted.
Ronin reached for his sword, which he now wore over his new black robe. "What?"
"I just feel uneasy. Since maturing, I'm more sensitive to things. I can read people better, even Celestus. Yeah, that's an accomplishment. And situations. Why is no one sitting at dinner with us today?" It was a first for the entire school year.
"Because of what just happ
ened," Ronin said. "Say, I've been thinking about us, and maybe we should, you know, try to have some intimacy before this fight."
My heart rose and my heart raced at the thought. "You're changing your mind?"
"Yes." He offered me a tense smile. "We don't know how it will go until we try. I'm willing and looking forward to it."
"We don't have to have sex if you're not comfortable with it." It was the right thing to say. This was Ronin's way of trying to make me feel better, like less of a monster, and while I was glad for it, I could tell he was still tense and worried. Maybe he really was dreading how my magic would react and didn't want to admit it.
"Well, I'm a teacher now and you're still a student, so there's that forbidden factor," Ronin joked. "That might make it more exciting."
"We're about the same age."
"There's still that forbidden factor."
If anyone was expected to hold the power in our relationship, it was me, effectively negating the whole student-teacher thing. Longing filled Ronin's eyes. He wanted this, wanted to know for sure what he'd lose before we went into battle. Maybe the time winding down had made him change his mind. For all we knew, the gods would want to open the path to Olympus tomorrow.
I pushed my tray away. "Let's go up to my dorm."
The two of us scrambled out of the dining hall, hand in hand, drawing stares (and probably sighs of relief as I left the room.)
But as we climbed the steps to the second floor, I got my answer as to why I'd been so tense. Ronin's phone went off in his robe pocket and he stopped to look at it. "Cal," he said. Then he stared at the message for a long time before he uttered a bunch of silent swear words.
"It's about Maria," I said as all my excitement dissipated. Dread rushed in and took its place.
"No. It's not Maria," Ronin said, dead serious. "We have to go do some damage control. Or should I say, you girls have to go do some damage control." He left it at that.
Ronin wouldn't say anything as we diverted back down to Maria's first floor dorm. Ronin knocked, and Wendy answered. Behind her, Maria sat on her bed, a mug of hot cocoa in her hands. I was glad to see she was being taken care of in her time of need.
