Olympus Academy: The Complete Series

by Raine, Eliza

  ‘You know what’s bothering me?’ I said as I scanned book titles. Icarus didn’t answer but I carried on anyway. ‘It wouldn’t be a riddle if it was just a little poem about some treasure in a cave. There’s no puzzle in that. The poem is more like a clue or nudge in the right direction.’

  ‘But the first line definitely uses the word riddle,’ Icarus replied.

  ‘Exactly. I think we’re missing something.’ I abandoned the bookcase and made my way to a little couch and table, pulling the riddle out my bag. I smoothed the crumpled piece of paper out and Icarus moved beside me. He smelled of the outdoors, somehow. Not the smell of the ocean, but of a forest. The fluttering in my belly began again.

  ‘Maybe it’s a word puzzle?’ he said. I focused on the paper.

  Get this riddle and you will be

  One step closer to being free

  Unlucky are those who do not swim

  Never to enter the sea on a whim

  Diving below the fierce waves

  Entering a world of water and caves

  Relying on skill to seek out your wealth

  Not a soul will survive without any stealth

  Ever the hero who can hold their breath

  Always aware it may cause their death

  Though it may seem your chances are bleak

  Here lies the treasure that you must seek

  I thought about every wordsearch, crossword and anagram I’d ever done and suddenly, I noticed it.

  ‘The first letters! Look! The first letter of each line is a capital.’ My excitement made my voice high pitched and Icarus gave me a funny look, before leaning over the paper.

  ‘They spell a word,’ he said quietly. I grabbed my pen and wrote the letters out under the riddle.

  GO UNDERNEATH

  ‘The treasure is under the school,’ I breathed.

  ‘Wait, what? Under the school?’ he repeated, uncertainly.

  ‘What else could it mean? It’s clear that it’s underwater, and there are no caves for miles! But what if there are caves under the dome? Nobody would know they were there!’

  Icarus looked at me skeptically.

  ‘You’re guessing,’ he said. I shook my head. I was sure I was right.

  ‘Only one way to find out,’ I said, gathering up my things and shoving them haphazardly back into my bag.

  ‘Wait, you’re not going out there?’

  ‘I sure am,’ I answered, picking my bag up.

  ‘Woah there, new girl. You can’t hold your breath long enough to get under the dome.’

  We both fell quiet. He might be right, I thought. I couldn’t hold my breath long enough to swim under the academy. Frustration rippled through me, building as I clenched my fists. There must be a way.

  ‘Maybe I can get deep enough to just see if there’s anything there,’ I said. ‘I can hold my breath longer than most people.’

  ‘In your world maybe,’ he said. ‘Look at Zali, she can stay underwater ages longer than you.’

  ‘Maybe we could ask her to help?’ I said hopefully.

  Icarus shook his head.

  ‘Dasko said we weren’t supposed to tell anyone. And anyway, she wouldn’t be able to understand you. It would all be in that weird Titan language.’

  ‘Well, I’m still going to try.’ I pushed my chin out, determined to argue with anything he said. But he sighed and said,

  ‘Fine. Meet you at the pool in ten minutes.’

  Icarus was already in the pool when I reached it, and I hurriedly slipped into the water. I hadn’t seen anybody on my dash back to the dorms to change.

  ‘I don’t swim as well as you,’ Icarus said. I looked at him, forcing myself to keep my eyes on his face and not his bare chest.

  ‘OK. I’ll go first and see how far I can get.’

  Something like worry flashed across his face but he said nothing. I took a massive breath of air, and crossed through the dome. I began kicking downwards, fast. Looking into the inky black water below me was unnerving. Anything could be lurking in there. But to my side was just solid white marble. The academy must be built on a giant slab of it, I realized. I kept kicking, head down and feet up, unable to see an end to the smooth white stone for what felt like forever, but then an edge came into view. Bubbles trickled from my mouth as I approached it, adrenaline surging through me. I needed enough air to get back up again but I had to see what was past the edge, under the slab. I reached out, grabbing the end of the slab and using it to pull myself further down.

  As my head passed the marble edge, there was a sudden rushing and the water began churning around me. Panic flooded through me as my hands were pulled from the slab and disorientation took over my senses as I tumbled through the water, under the dome. I was aware of the shadow of the slab above me, and a desperate urge to open my mouth, to shout, to breathe overwhelmed me. Then, suddenly, little turquoise lights swarmed towards me. Hope filled me as I recognized them as the bubbles my Mom had conjured when we had come here. They whizzed around my head, my arms, my legs and I closed my eyes, sent a prayer to anyone who was listening, and took a breath.

  Cold air filled my lungs and I sagged in relief. I realized then that I wasn’t kicking, yet I wasn’t sinking either. The bubbles were keeping me buoyant. Adrenaline still pumping through me, I looked up at what was above my head. The underneath of the marble slab was absolutely covered in sea life. It was breath-taking, like every beautiful coral reef I’d ever seen in pictures all rolled together into one sensational underwater garden. There was no light coming from above, but the coral seemed to glow with its own brilliant light. There were plants and rocks in every color imaginable, and vividly bright fish in geometric patterns flitted between them. Tiny sea slugs glowed neon and sparkling eels slithered between the coral as I craned my neck to look up at it all.

  Sudden movement to my right made me spin around, and I saw Icarus, tumbling and swirling at the edge of the slab. Fear was etched into his face and I kicked towards him. Streams of the little turquoise bubbles left me, and I watched as they wrapped themselves around his limbs, and hovered around his head. I motioned for him to breath and he shook his head violently. I took an obvious deep breath and he paused. Then, squeezing his eyes shut, he opened his mouth and his chest expanded. His eyes shot open, wide with surprise. I smiled and pointed upwards. His eyes stayed wide as he took in the reef, the glowing light reflecting in his green eyes. The water was lifting his hair from his face, and I found myself staring at him, unable to look away. He was gorgeous. He turned to me and pointed and I tried to snap myself out of it. This was no time to get distracted by pretty eyes. He was pointing at a cave, I saw, nestled amongst the coral, half hidden by swaying green reeds. With a grin, I kicked towards it.

  The reeds tickled my skin as I passed them, trying awkwardly to crane my neck so I could see where I was going. The cave mouth was large and I had almost reached it when I heard a strange hissing sound. I rolled from side to side, looking around for the source of the noise, then suddenly something wrapped around my ankle and tugged hard. I cried out noiselessly as I shot backwards, then gasped as a massive, slithering serpent darted across the entrance to the cave. It was the size of a tree trunk, had neon orange stripes around its body and had huge vicious-looking teeth jutting out of a long mouth. It curled back on itself and slithered the other way, almost like it was patrolling the cave mouth. I turned as the grip on my ankle lessened to see Icarus, wide-eyed and pointing back at the way we had come. He had pulled me out of the way of the snake, I realized.

  Slightly reluctantly, I followed him back to the edge of the marble slab. When we swam out from underneath it there was the same disorientating churning of water and then the turquoise bubbles started to dissipate. I kicked hard, overtaking Icarus on the way up, relieved when the marble gave way to the grounds of the academy and the pool. I crossed over and took a long breath as I swam to the shallow end, enjoying the feeling of solid ground under my feet when I reached it. Icarus popped through a fe
w seconds later, and did the same, breathing heavily. He pushed his wet hair back out of his eyes, and the world stilled for a moment. What was it about that intense, serious face I was so drawn to? I liked guys who made me laugh, not made an art-form of glowering.

  ‘Thanks for pulling me out the way of the snake. I didn’t see it at all,’ I said.

  ‘Whatever,’ he said, and heaved himself quickly out of the pool. With his back turned to me I could see his wings. They looked fully formed, black and shining with water. Just tiny. Before I could say another word to him, he was jogging away, towards the boys’ dorms.

  21

  Adrenaline still coursed through me when I got back to my room, and I knew there was no way I could sleep. Instead I tried to work out how we could get past the snake. We could bait it, I thought, one of us acting as a distraction. But that seemed a little dangerous. I wondered what water snakes liked to eat. Or even what kind of water snake it was. Remembering the manticore Thom turned into in shifting class, I realized snakes in Olympus might be very different to snakes back home. I figured that kind of information must be in one of the books in the library.

  When Zali woke me the next morning I had only just managed to drift off to sleep. I groaned, dragging my pillow over my head.

  ‘You sleep so much, Dora!’ she laughed. I felt guilty for not telling her about my numerous night-time excursions since coming to the academy, but Dasko had said not to tell anyone, and he knew more than I did. So I just grunted back and rolled out of bed. It was Saturday so we spent the morning tidying our room, doing the laundry and helping clean the shared bathrooms. Everybody else gave me a wide berth, as usual. I pretended I didn’t care, but it stung. Friends abandoned me when I got into trouble at home, but they didn’t leave rooms when I entered them. How could people from a world like this be so scared of a five foot blonde girl with hardly any power?

  ‘There’s no tournament this afternoon because of the dance,’ Zali told me when we sat down for lunch.

  ‘Do we have to go to that?’ I sighed. It would just be another opportunity for everyone to whisper about me and Arketa and her gang to have a go at embarrassing me.

  ‘Yes, we do. And I’ve agreed to continue with my practical joke ban, so it’s going to be dull as you like,’ grumbled Tak.

  Zali tutted.

  ‘It won’t do Dora any good to be associated with your pranks! We mustn’t risk upsetting anyone,’ she chided him. I gave him an apologetic smile.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said.

  He shrugged.

  ‘Nah, Zali’s right. It’ll probably do me good to behave myself this close to Zeus’s inspection.’ A stab of panic ran through me at his words.

  ‘I want to be able to communicate with that family of turtles by then,’ Zali said resolutely. They had been by most days, since that first encounter with them, and Zali’s excitement about them had continued to be infectious.

  ‘What happens at an inspection?’ I asked.

  ‘Dunno, this is our first semester too and there hasn’t been one yet,’ Tak shrugged.

  ‘I do,’ said Gida, hoisting himself up on the bench beside Tak.

  ‘Oh yeah, you’ve been here years,’ Tak grinned.

  ‘The inspecting god watches all the classes for a couple of days, talks to anybody the teachers have flagged as potentially being a problem, then boots out anybody they don’t like. They also choose a head of year.’

  ‘How long do people spend at the academy? Do people get kicked out often? Which gods visit?’ I directed the stream of questions at the satyr.

  ‘Slow down, Titan girl,’ he said. ‘People spend as long as they need to here, based on their powers and what they want to do. Yes, a few students get kicked out every year. All the gods visit, but Athena and Hermes are here most often, as they run the schools.’ He ticked the questions off his hairy fingers as he spoke.

  ‘So how come Zeus is coming this time?’

  ‘I’m not sure. He does every now and then. Maybe there’s someone here he’s interested in.’ My blood suddenly felt cold. It must have shown on my face because Gida laughed.

  ‘Don’t worry, it’s not likely to be you. I imagine it’s those silver-haired twins. They’re unusually strong for their age, he probably wants to make sure they’re promoted.’

  I tried to look relieved, but his words didn’t help. If Dasko was right, me and Icarus were the reason for the lord of the gods visit. And so far, we had nothing to persuade him to let us stay.

  Later that afternoon I stood in front of the mirror in our room, swishing the pastel purple toga around my legs. I liked it. It wasn’t what I would wear to a party back home, but it was quite flattering. Zali was wearing a blue one, that made her dark skin look glowy. She’d braided thin strands from the front of my hair and used them to hold back the rest of my thick locks and it looked nice.

  ‘People will still avoid me,’ I told her.

  ‘Maybe. But at least you know they’ll secretly be thinking that you look good.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I smiled at her, smoothing the toga down over my hips. Much as I wanted not to care, I was hoping at least one person thought I looked nice. One person in particular… the fluttering I had been getting in my stomach whenever I was around Icarus was nothing compared to how often he had popped into my head since our underwater adventure the night before. My brain kept replaying him pushing his wet hair out of his face, those stunning green eyes that held so much mystery locked on mine.

  The main temple was so packed with people when we entered that I needn’t have worried about people staring at me. Nobody even noticed us. The room was lit by hundreds and hundreds of little floating lights, like tiny fairy-lights without the string. There was music playing, a weird mix of what sounded like a harp but with a modern, booming bass behind it. A stunning wood nymph at least a head taller than me wafted past, carrying two glasses of something pink and fruity looking and I was sure I could smell strawberries.

  ‘Come on, we always hang out over by the punch,’ Zali said, and I followed her through the crowd towards a table at the back of the room. Tak was leaning against it, talking to a pretty girl with dark skin and candy pink hair. But as we got close she shot me a nervous look, pecked him on the cheek and darted off. Shame and frustration pricked at me. How could I make them see I wasn’t dangerous?

  ‘Was that Roz?’ asked Zali.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Tak, a broad grin on his slightly pink face. ‘Yeah, it was.’

  ‘Sorry I scared her off,’ I said glumly, reaching for an empty glass on the table.

  ‘She’ll be back,’ he said, staring after her. Zali rolled her eyes and snatched up her own glass. I followed after her as she stomped off to get a drink.

  ‘Are you OK?’ I asked her, wrenching my eyes off the elaborate punch fountain. It had four glass tiers with intricate fish carved into them, leaping around. The liquid smelled unbelievably good.

  ‘Yes, fine. I just don’t trust that Roz,’ she answered tersely.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘She’s friends with Arketa and her crowd.’

  I frowned.

  ‘Tak wouldn’t be interested in anyone like that,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t you be so sure. When we first started, Filis got her hands on him. It was only a few weeks before he realized how nasty she was, and he started standing up for me.’

  ‘Do you… do you like him?’ I asked her hesitantly.

  ‘No! Not like that,’ she said, shaking her head hard. ‘I just don’t want him to hang out with the wrong people. He’s a boy,’ she scowled. ‘He’s easily influenced.’

  I laughed.

  ‘I don’t think he’s going anywhere. After all, he’s put up with all the crap you’ve got since you took me in.’ I gave her a small smile and she laid her hand on my arm.

  ‘They’ll get over it, Dora. Don’t worry.’

  ‘Oh Gods, have you touched the punch? Now none of us can drink it! You’re so selfish, Titan girl.’ Arketa’s vo
ice rang out across the room. People turned slowly and cold coiled around my stomach.

  ‘Leave me alone,’ I hissed as she stepped up to the fountain, Kiko and Filis behind her as usual. She was wearing a blood red toga, the others in a lighter pink. She looked perfect.

  ‘Well we can’t have a drink now! What if you’ve infected it?’ Kiko said.

  ‘Infected it how? Please tell me, what have I ever done to you?’ I hissed.

  Arketa’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Your kind have done plenty,’ she spat. ‘You shouldn’t be here. You’re dangerous.’

  ‘I’m not!’ I shouted, my temper flaring. How could I make them see that I wasn’t a threat? That they didn’t need to run and hide from me? ‘I can’t do anything with fire at all!’ I regretted the words as soon as they left my lips.

  Arketa raised an eyebrow.

  ‘You can’t do anything with fire? Really?’

  ‘Really,’ I said, through gritted teeth.

  ‘Can you do anything with the other elements?’

  I saw Icarus over her shoulder, one of many now watching the exchange.

  ‘None of your damn business,’ I snapped.

  She laughed.

  ‘You can’t, can you? You’re a Titan with no power?’

  I didn’t know what to say. If I admitted I had barely any power I would show I was weak. If I said I did, the whole school would continue to fear me. I had paused too long though.

  ‘You’re just like him!’ squealed Filis, pointing at Icarus. ‘A useless, broken Titan.’

  ‘Shut your mouth!’ I said, taking a step towards her.

  ‘Ooh, you’re defending him? Do you like him, Pandora?’ Arketa cooed, her eyes sparkling as she looked between us. Icarus’s face darkened and he bared his teeth at me, before turning and pushing his way through the crowd. I could feel my face burning as I watched him go. I wanted to go after him, but the look he had just given me left no doubt how he felt about me.