by Holly Hook
Carmen was on her porch, reading off her tablet she'd gotten for her birthday, when we pulled up. I watched my friend stare at the strange SUV in her driveway and set the tablet on steps. She wore her knee-length orange and purple striped socks today. With shorts. And then she reached into the nearby bush and pulled out a metal baseball bat.
“Giselle isn't here!” she shouted. “Don't bother!”
“She needs a lesson in being subtle,” Ronin said.
“Subtle isn't Carmen.” I jumped out of the SUV and held up a hand. “Hey!”
My friend's eyes widened and she dropped the bat. “Why didn't you say you were coming? I thought you were staff from Cursed looking for you. Not you. Giselle, where have you been all summer?”
Chapter Three
Ronin didn't like staying at Carmen's because he didn't feel like it was safe enough. Plus, we were out of the free Coke we'd been raiding from Gramp's Convenience Store. Most of that vanished last summer. Plus, we had no choice but to sleep on the floor of the living room each night, which was not private at all.
“The Fortress wasn't safe,” I said to Ronin on the last Thursday before school was set to begin. He'd brought up the point at breakfast.
“I know. Dumb mistake. A place way out in the mountains and wilderness is very unsafe,” Ronin said, shoveling in some pancakes Carmen had made. “But at least Prometheus never showed up out here. He's going to get after you for giving him another wrong address. By the way, I think it's too risky for me to go up to the school and get your schedule. Or your exam grades from last year. I don't even want to get my own in case Zeus is there.”
“You probably did fine,” Carmen said from across the kitchen table. “Both of you. You did fine.” She eyed the closed curtains. Ronin had parked the SUV in the back, mainly because it stuck out in Colton Corners. Anything without rust clearly didn't belong, even with Achlys long gone.
Ronin swallowed. “I skipped my last exam. Paid Cal to change my grade in the computer, but I don't know if he's been able to do that. It was just Campaign Management. Political crap. Lots of god descendants have to learn how to lobby the government for their godly ancestors. And how to promote the gods' industries by changing laws. That sort of thing.”
“The gods can do that themselves,” I said.
“They're busy. Look at Zeus. He couldn't even take you on tour that day and he never arranged for you to go on any more field trips with the Olympians. They're gods, but they're still people.” Ronin pointed at me with his fork, which dripped syrup onto Carmen's table. He wiped it up.
“Lobbying? Geez, you can all form your own opinions,” Carmen said, rolling her eyes. “Just because you're related to someone doesn't mean you have to agree with them. You should see the political arguments in my family.”
“Well, it would be hard for us to find great jobs if we went against the gods,” Ronin said, not sounding very happy about it. “We need them. If it weren't for Zeus we wouldn't have had the good time we did. Or gotten you out of Cursed for the summer.” Punctuating with a wink, Ronin sent electrified heat through my whole body, heating my face.
Carmen snorted. “I knew that was why you didn't stop by this summer.”
“So, how do I know what to do? Can I skip going to school this year?” Had I stayed here in Colton Corners, this would be my senior year. I almost missed the thought of going from graduation to the counter of that crappy store.
“If you try,” Ronin said, “the Olympian Guard comes for you. A Hermes descendant tracks you down and brings firepower. We're lucky there aren't any in the Lower Order or they would have found you ten times over. And Maria still has that magic water. We've still got the plan.”
“You make that sound so illegal,” Carmen said.
The plan. Yes. Make Prometheus forget about the Oath. Trick him into removing his mark from my forearm. Transfer. And allow myself to mature into something that wasn't dark, that Dominique wouldn't want. I'd rather become an immortal capable of taking others' powers than one whose only purpose was to destroy.
I'd need my friends for that. Old, and new.
It was risky, but my best shot.
* * * * *
My heart thudded when I woke on the floor of Carmen's house the morning I was due to start my third year at Cursed Academy. I was sure Prometheus had sent my envelope with his raised seal to the wrong address I'd given him, and it was probably cursed like that letter had been on my first day last year.
“Mornin', baby,” Ronin said on the floor beside me. We shared a pair of old sleeping bags she pulled out of her closet. And that was hilarious since Ronin got stuck with one decorated in unicorns.
Well, I got one with teddy bears, so I didn't have room to talk.
“Morning. Ready to start your fourth year?” I asked. I'd been wondering how Ronin would stick around once he graduated. Prometheus wouldn't want to keep him on as a teacher. He hated Ronin on principle. God descendants didn't go through any huge changes as they matured—they just got better at their powers—but they did start some good careers right away that didn't involve hanging around Cursed Academy kids. Ronin was already eighteen. If he wanted, he could land a great after-school job right now.
Unless the supreme god was still bent on training me.
“More than ever. Let's see how dead I am once I get to Olympian,” Ronin said, rising. “Come on. If we get there early enough, we can sneak you in and get you in your dorm before your princi-pal finds you.”
“Sounds good.” Yeah, right. Prometheus would be waiting at the front entrance for me. And after the failure of his golem during exams last year, he'd have some new trick up his sleeve designed to make me mature. Already a pressure settled on my chest that had nothing to do with the Lower Order. We had so many problems already that I couldn't count them anymore.
But at least I'd see Mikey, Maria, and Cal again. No bad news had come from them so far.
Ronin and I got up, and Carmen's alarm blasted from the other room. Already full of energy, she made us both a pot of coffee and served enough to guarantee we'd have to stop for a bathroom break on the way to school.
“Carmen, how do you tolerate mornings?” I asked, peeking at the dawn.
“Well, I don't start school for another week,” she bragged.
“Lucky.” Ronin, being the tough guy, gulped down his black coffee in one go, then grimaced. “That hit the spot. Thank you. Maybe you can be my personal coffee brewer when you graduate.”
Carmen glared. “Excuse me? Do I need to get that baseball bat? I'm aiming for a scholarship this summer, and I think I've got a good shot. I am not going to be anyone's coffee brewer.”
The breath left my lungs. Nobody in Colton Corners ever got out of town, but things might be different now. Achlys was gone. “Scholarship?”
“Yeah. My grades. Randy's going to try for one, too. I think he's getting over his sour grapes now that Achlys is gone.” Carmen turned off the coffee machine and took out the filter. “If anything, you should develop that void power more than you have.”
“Have you seen what it can do?” I got up from the table. Ronin did the same. We glared at her together.
Carmen squared off. “Yes. I have. Remember?”
“That power completely. Destroys. People,” I say. “I've gone close to crazy with it before. I've almost lost control.”
“But that's because you're not used to using the darkness yet,” Carmen said, turning on the sink. She faced us, swishing water in the pot. “You don't understand what you did. Colton Corners used to be a sludge pit of misery. Now I feel like I can climb out. We all do. Even my dad got a better job and fixed the car. You did everyone in this place a favor.”
A tingle swept over me. I wasn't sure how to feel.
Ronin stood in front of me like he was trying to shield me from Carmen's words. “Giselle doesn't need to go dark. Yeah, getting rid of Achlys was great, but other people want her to do things that are not nice. Like destroy the Olympians. Could you
imagine what would happen?”
The tingle died. Ronin could lose his only remaining parent. Zeus provided. He'd make sure Ronin had a future. And Zeus shared our common goal of making sure I didn't go dark.
“Ronin, while I listen to Carmen most of the time, this isn't one of those times,” I assured him, taking his shoulder. “Come on. Maybe darkness had its place once but not now. We've got to get to class.”
Carmen dropped a spoon in the sink. It landed with a clunk. “You just agree with them. Really? You've seen how they treat the Cursed kids. Your other friends.”
I swallowed. Some of the coffee taste came back up regardless, only now it was sour. The gods weren't great, but they were better than Dominique. And Carmen hadn't seen what I'd look like if I matured into darkness.
“I don't like the way they treat my friends. But I'm going to help change that," I said. We had bought Mikey and Maria time, but how much? The asphodel, I sensed, could only hold back my own powers for so long, and that wouldn't be forever.
Carmen lifted an eyebrow. “I've heard. I hope that goes well.”
We finished coffee, and after letting it settle for a bit and dealing with the aftermath, Ronin and I boarded the SUV. The air seemed to darken as I got in, but maybe that was the tinted windows.
And we were off, with one last hug from Carmen. But it was tense. Like she'd been thinking about things she didn't like and those thoughts had been eating her for a long time.
Her tight hug lingered all the way to Marchamp. As soon as we got to town, my stomach turned. “I don't want to go back there. I know nobody was able to transfer me unless Maria managed to slip Prometheus that Lethe water over the summer.”
“She went home,” Ronin reminded me.
I was nervous about seeing her, too, and about, well, everything. My worry list was officially nine pages long. And Ronin seemed to feel the same. After he pulled into the dirt drive that led to Cursed Academy, he pulled off in the trees and parked well off the road, just a minute before another vehicle passed our location and didn't slow.
Others were coming and getting settled today, too. Classes wouldn't actually start until tomorrow, unless the rules had changed, but we were supposed to have breakfast and orientation at the start. That was in an hour.
“What are we doing?” I asked.
Ronin opened the door with a nod. His blue eyes had intensified to storm gray, much like his father's. “Taking you around back. And me. I don't know if I'll be staying on as part time Combat Training instructor, for multiple reasons.”
I gulped. Max seemed to defend Ronin, but that could be because the two both went to Olympian and felt out of place among us Cursed kids. At least Ronin had him and Natalia as staff member allies.
We grabbed as much of my luggage as we could—Ronin and I had bought new outfits for the school year after leaving the Fortress—and circled the long way around the Cursed campus, cutting through the woods to reach the back door of the girls' dorms. As we dodged poison ivy and plants with spines, a low, hulking figure chased a rabbit well ahead of us.
“I see Prometheus still hires werewolf rent a guards,” Ronin said.
“They must not have upped his budget much over the summer,” I said. Then I gulped when I remembered that Building C, which they'd added last year, was a career center. Third and fourth years used that building. And I was probably the cause of that budget increase.
We circled around to the back. A female guard stood by the door in a black security uniform. She lifted one thick eyebrow and stepped aside for us. The guards were used to seeing stranger things around here.
The dorm building held muted activity, tired girls, and sliding luggage. Doors opened and closed, echoing off the tile floors. Nerves filled the air. Just being here brought that low groan back to the surface, and though it wasn't as strong as it was before I started taking the herb, the reminder that Cursed Academy brought it out was enough to make me drop the bag of underwear I was carrying.
Right on the flight of stairs, too.
Ronin, who was climbing ahead of me, whirled and managed to keep both my trunks on his shoulders. “Giselle.” He grinned, gaze shifting to the steps.
I forgot all about the awakening Chaos power and whirled. Heat flooded my cheeks.
Yeah, Ronin had seen my underwear before, but they were on me, not toppling down the stairs in a scattered river of lacy pinks and purples and yellows. A purple pair reached the bottom of the steps, stopping near a pair of feet that belonged none other than to my friend Mikey.
And Maria stood beside him.
My face turned into the surface of the sun. My blush raged under every inch of my body, chasing even the dark power away.
Maria eyed a thin, almost see-through purple bra and slowly lifted her own gaze to me. I read the laughter in her eyes. You are so telling me about your summer.
“Guys,” I said, scrambling to retrieve the evidence. “This isn't what it looks like. Okay, it is what it looks like, but that's not your business.” I shoveled everything into the bag. It wasn't as if Mikey would help. In fact, he backpedaled away from the colorful humiliation with a grimace.
Ronin dropped my suitcases and helped. “Back off. This is not your business.”
“Well, Giselle is my best friend,” Maria said, crossing her arms. “We talk, and if you don't like that, tough.”
I studied her. Still two eyes. No sign of any changes. The herb had done its job over the summer, then, despite the curse. Or maybe the curse had worn off. Whatever. Mikey looked okay, too, without any trace of scary blue skin or sharp teeth.
And then Maria hugged me.
“Why didn't you text much over the summer?”
“We were hiding our location,” Ronin told her, bent over.
Maria was still strong, though not steely like she'd been last year. It seemed the herb had the same effect on her as it did me.
I didn't dare struggle from her grasp. “Are you two like, having a possession war or something?”
“Come on. See it from my perspective. Mikey and I barely heard from you all summer. And I bet it's Ronin's fault. I thought the Lower Order had found you.”
“Well, they did.”
She released me, frowning. “Tell.”
“And,” Ronin said, “we had very bad reception and no Internet. The Fortress is called that for a reason.” He half-glowered at Maria.
Yeah. They were having a war, all right.
“Okay, guys,” I said. “Knock it off. We just had some misunderstandings.”
Maria looked at me like, he's not controlling you, is he? So much for her getting softer on Ronin.
“Maybe we should get Giselle unpacked?” Mikey asked. Smart.
Thank goodness for him. “Yeah. Who has my keycard this year?”
Maria twirled it. I didn't know how she'd gotten it, but I wasn't going to complain. After leaving in a hurry last year, I must have forgotten it.
My purple room was untouched as usual and it needed to be dusted and swept. The dark walls and my canopy bed looked welcoming until I remembered the curse letter that came under the door early last year. Maria pushed me down on my own bed while my friends loaded my closet with the new clothes Ronin had bought me last week. They worked like a pit crew, and then I realized that neither Maria nor Mikey were wearing green third year robes.
“Don't we have orientation?” I asked.
Mikey faced me with a frown. “They changed it this year. Each third year meets with a panel of staff members who determine where they go this year. Maria and I don't even have our schedules yet.”
“Nobody got their schedules?” My heart rose into my throat. "We all go in alone?"
As I spoke, Ronin sat on the bed and wrapped his arm around me. Safety came in numbers. One on one was terrifying.
Mikey pulled at his collar. “Just the third and fourth years didn't. Prometheus says they're working on more individualized programs this year. We'll still have classes, but we all know what this me
ans.”
It would be another way to trap me. To keep me away from Ronin and make me mature already. My heart raced. Ronin kissed the side of my head, right above the temple, and right now his electricity added to my nerves. We both must feel the same.
I got up, drawing a hurt look from Ronin.
“This is great,” I blurted. “Well, guess he's not going to try a cursed note again. Maria, you still have that Lethe water, don't you? Do you know where we're meeting with staff?”
“It's going to be a panel,” she said, closing my closet door. “You'd never have the chance to take that jug in there and make them forget. And if you tried, someone would stop you before you got the chance. And I doubt Prometheus will be drinking his nectar while you're meeting. I rarely see him with it in his office.”
My heart sank. If there would have been any good time to transfer to Olympian, it was the start of the year. But Maria thought things through. Prometheus knew I didn't want to be here.
“Maybe Natalia will be there,” he said. "She'd help. So, do we go right there, or what?"
“We have to still meet in the dining hall,” Mikey said. “Ronin, it might be best if you're not there. To be fair, I won't have Cal with me.”
He had a point. If Ronin went with me, Prometheus would just get a reminder to separate us. If he hadn't done that already.
Ronin swallowed and worked his jaw. “I'll talk to Max later. I've got a bad feeling about this.” He stood beside me and eyed the door. “In fact, I'll go catch him now. He might be on this panel. You three go down and get breakfast.”
He took off, leaving me with Maria and Mikey. I didn't have to ask how the herb had worked over the summer. "Thank you Wendy."
"No shit," Mikey said. "I still feel somewhat human. Well, Cal helped. We worked on a lot of music over the summer, too."
