by Gabby Fawkes
Yeah, we were through the looking glass now, that was for sure.
We stepped onto a shell-set walkway cut into the lilies. I didn’t even ask.
My nerves had traded their terrified pompoms for painful pikes that were giving me gut pain to rival my worst period cramps.
The way the palace screamed grandeur and opulence made me feel like a fruit fly. Basically, how Hera the Goddess had been when we first met, all those weeks ago. Overbearing, demanding, merciless- and this was the god whose mercy we were trying to seek? Woo-hoo.
"Any tips?" I finally thought to ask Axel. “You know, do say, don’t say, don’t even think of saying…”
"No," Apollo said.
"You’re basically screwed," Artemis – who I hadn’t even noticed was following us – commented. "But you never know. You might catch Hera in a good mood-"
"You are late," a loud female voice cut her off from inside the palace.
Crap, so much for a good mood. That was definitely Hera and she was definitely pissed.
"We came as soon as we received Hermes’ summons," Axel said shortly.
"Yes, I heard,” the voice returned. “One of the monsters is ravaging Olympus."
"She's not a monster,” I snapped. “And she wasn't ravaging anywhere, she just found out that her parents were-"
"Silence!" boomed Hera as she swept out of the door several feet ahead of us.
I had to stare at her to be sure it was the same person I’d seen in the opulent carriage last time. Now, she was wearing a pinstripe jumpsuit with a high collar which looked straight off a Milan catwalk, while her gold-tinged mahogany curls were gathered on top of her head in an intricate-looking chignon bun. That superior tilt of her chin was unmistakable, though.
"And whose idea was it,” she continued, as if she hadn’t heard me, “to fill Olympus with the kind of monsters who are unwelcome in all the lands?"
Her gaze sliced through us one to the next, a blade at our throats.
I swallowed, stepping forward.
"Mine," I said, as Axel yanked me back, too late. "We were desperate. Had nowhere else to go-"
Her tinkling laughter was followed by an ironic, half-lidded look. "Oh, you think I care?" A sneer climbed up her aquiline nose. "You and your monster friends, you don't belong here. You must leave."
For a few seconds, all I could do was stand there in shock. This stuck-up bitch queen wasn't even going to hear us out? Nothing?
Perhaps fire would be more her language, my PV said.
-Something tells me that turning myself into the murderous, destruction-hungry dragon she thinks I am isn't going to get Hera on our side, I replied.
Suit yourself.
"Isn't that Zeus's decision to make, whether to banish us?" Axel said.
Hera didn’t even glance his way. “As it is known, my husband has not been seen for months. I am the ruler in his stead. Besides, Zeus… Zeus would agree."
Her voice wavered, almost imperceptibly, at Zeus’s name. I glanced to Kian and she nodded. Maybe his disappearance was partially causing Hera’s pissy mood? Hell, if my guy was perpetually cheating on me and then just up and disappeared, I’d probably turn into an ultra bitch too.
"Well?" Hera demanded, regarding us coldly. "Why are all you still here? Did I not just command you to leave immediately?" Her hand went to her hip as her gaze swept off lazily. "Of course, I can always have this command enforced."
"The Spartans are not yours to command," Apollo said, stepping forward. "Their use has to be voted on by the Assembly."
Hera seemed to have considered this already. "Oh, I think that Olympus being ravaged by storms, fire, and… Hermes, where’s the list – would qualify without any need for the Assembly's acceptance.”
A second later, with a whizzing of his winged shoes and a fluttering of his blah-colored bowl cut, Hermes was by her side, lifting a long, flowing parchment of golden script under her nose.
"Ah yes," she said, consulting it with a rounded shiny peach fingernail, "Let's see. The Garden of Eden has been totally ravaged of its apples. One of Aphrodite’s statues was bitten in half." My friends and I exchanged a look. Okay, so Jeremy’s recovery had had a rocky start (and wasn’t at all helped by Aphie’s periodic comments about a certain beary musk), but he was doing way better now.
"Then there was the flying child incident." Hera continued. I gulped. So, maybe Tamarin had, literally minutes after his wings had first appeared, flown over the village and scared a crap-ton of people. It had been an accident and he’d pinky promised not to do it again.
“Then there's the way Dion's maenads have been cast forth with no purpose."
Kian’s pressed-together lips didn’t budge. That had been her precondition before she’d even consider dating Dion: that his slavish followers wouldn’t be stalking them, shooting Kian dirty looks and muttering mutinously to each other in Greek every chance they got. Apparently, they’d backed off at Dion’s request (some excuse of his about horrific danger, and not wanting his dearest and closest friends harmed), until they had caught him holding Kian’s hand.
Hera carried on. “Maenads who are now stealing, retching everywhere, and attacking innocents." Hera regarded us over the scroll. "How lovely..."
A dour smile flickered over her face. "And that’s only the first of the transgressions. There are scores more."
"It's taking a bit of time for everyone to fit in," Artemis conceded. "But they’re making good progress. Things are calming down."
Hera quirked a brow. "A hail thunderstorm is calming down?"
"That was my fault," Artemis admitted. "I've been looking into the children's families. Here's the thing... There was definitely something going on at that school. These kids, their powers, I've been looking into it and hundreds of missing or kidnapped children from witches and shifters have been reported over the years."
Hera’s expression was unreadable. Her words, though, were unmistakable. "Is that all?"
"Yeah, that is all," I said, drawing nearer. “And you know what? You should care. Because it could have something to do with Zeus's disappearance, how Pandora's box is going to open."
"Pandora's box is not going to open," Hera said.
"I can take the children," an unfortunately familiar voice said, cutting into the conversation.
I groaned. Axel’s grip tightened on my arm.
"We're good, thanks," I told Hades.
Under his bright blue hair, a look of surprised delight crept onto his sallow features. "Tala. Long time no see! Burned any innocents to a crisp lately?"
"No," I said, glaring at him. "Although I could make an exception."
Hades flung a veiny hand to his chest. "Who, me?" He laughed. "If only you knew the things I've done. You wouldn't be making such a delicious mistake."
"Go away, Hades," Hera said boredly. "Unless you would care to aid me in driving these unworthy children from the fields of Olympus."
She gave her wrist a flick. "Let them stay with you down there, even. As long as they are out of here, what do I care?"
As she turned to go, I stepped forward.
"No," I said. Growled, really. I was a little surprised that a puff of smoke didn’t escape my nostrils.
Hera paused, then produced a little bell from a pocket and rang it delicately.
Seconds later, we were surrounded on all sides by soldiers on horseback. They were decked out in bronze breast plates, ankle guards and massive shields and helmets topped with red, while each of them carried a long sharp-pointed spear and a viciously-curved golden sword.
I tensed up instinctively – were these the Spartans that they had been talking about?
"I said go," she said to us in a cutting voice. "I shall allow you a day to get you and the other monsters out of here. Any longer, and I cannot be responsible for what my soldiers do to you all."
"No!" I roared in a voice that wasn't my own.
Now Hera returned to look at me without any feeling in her eyes. "Yes, I have heard of you. The wo
rst of them. So the rumors are true. The Phoenix clan is not completely lost."
I stared at her blankly, my anger forgotten for a second. "You know my last name?"
Hera smoothed her collar. "Do you really not know? No matter. I know what you are, girl. And I know that you, most of all, do not belong here." Another wrist flick to the left. "If you're so desperate for a place to stay, why not return to your homeland?"
I rounded on Axel. "What is she talking about?”
As far as I knew – and Axel and the others had done nothing to contradict me – Phoenix was just the last name admin gave me at the school.
"Phoenix is a dragon clan," Axel said in a low voice, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "And because I wasn't sure, I didn't want to speculate."
"I had an idea," Artemis admitted quietly.
I spun to glare at her. "You what?"
"Your name, the massive black form you take, what else could you be?" Artemis said. "But you told me to focus on the others. And I figured if I told you that you were—"
"The most vicious and bloodthirsty dragon species of all, renowned for virtually nonexistent self-control," Hera finished sanguinely. “As I said before, seeing as your precious clan has a stronghold, why not go there?”
We'll see who's calling who bloodthirsty… I’ll show her some bloodthirsty... more like burnthirsty, she is…. PV said, flexing its muscles.
Sure enough, I could feel my self-control slipping, the familiar burning sensation that came before me shifting, creeping up my arms, to my torso...
Kian gripped my hand. "Hey," she said to me in an undertone. "Screw that bitch. You already know you can control yourself."
"Kian's right," Demi said, gripping my other hand. "Think how many times you've saved us, how many times you been able to shift and come back."
Truthfully, it was a grand total of like four, and it’d been the hardest thing I'd ever done. But maybe my friends had a point. Hopefully.
"Goodbye now," Hera said.
Something whizzed past us.
Bang!
Something smacked into the front of Hera’s palace and collapsed onto some lilies. Someone, rather.
It was Tamarin, his pointed little green wings still fluttering maniacally.
“Just wanted… help… maybe…” he said woozily.
As we rushed over, so did Hera. "Who dares…"
At the sight of Tamarin's small form lying face down, ass up in the lilies, she paused.
"It’s not just us you’re sending away and dooming," Demi said, as we reached Tamarin and extended helping hands to him. "It’s kids too. Some of them four, five, six years old."
Hera’s gaze rested on Tamarin for a few more seconds. Then, without another word, she swept away.
“Looks like that’s that,” Artemis said direly.
“Sic semper tyrannis,” Kian quietly agreed.
Although I couldn’t even smile at our favorite Latin rallying cry against power. That tyrant might just have handed us over to the DSA. How the hell were we supposed to find a place to go in a day?
All there was to do was force my feet to move. I’d taken a few steps when, from inside the palace, came Hera’s voice. "Two weeks. That's it."
3
Back at the timples, where everyone had moved after the storm, things didn’t go much better. Immediately upon returning, we were basically mobbed.
“What happened?” asked Jeremy.
“Just for your information, Sammy’s storm destroyed my timple,” Stevie cut in, her kohl-lined glare under her mod bangs insistent, as well as the point of her black chipped polish thumbnail. “And a bunch of my vintage skinny jeans.”
“She’s kicking us out, isn’t she?” Jenna said loudly. “Thanks to all you psychos’ antics!”
Tamarin was wailing, a bunch of the younger kids were shrieking “What’s going on?!” Marley was nursing a squealing pig, and, as a high-pitched headache erupted in my head, I yelled, “She wants us out! ASAP!”
Silence.
Oh shit.
Persephone’s ‘seriously’ eyebrow raise said it all.
Yeah, that would have to top my Dumbest Moves Ever list, but my brain was fried. But how was I supposed to lie and put on a good face when I didn’t have the slightest clue what we should do next?
The next few minutes, as I pointlessly tried to retract what I’d said and reassure everyone, were pure panic and general insanity. Jenna raced to her timple and emerged carrying all her stuff and forcing Tania to carry the rest. An ominous cloud crackled over Sammy’s head. Marley dropped her pig. Even Owen started pacing in a tight circle, raking his fingers through his beard over and over again.
It took ten whole minutes for Apollo and the other Olympians to get everyone quiet enough for us to go off a few paces and hear what each other was saying.
"So if Hera wants us out," Jeremy said, scratching his dark, crazy-haired head, his green eyes darting around nervously. "What are we doing?"
"Mathusalem," Kian suggested for what had to be the fifteenth time.
On our walk home, she’d brought it up every few minutes.
"No," Demi, Axel and I chorused simultaneously.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Axel said. "Witches, especially Mathusalem ones, are prejudiced and egoistic. They’re as likely to turn you over to the DSA as they are to help you."
"Says the prejudiced, egoistic god," Kian muttered.
As she flounced off, Jenna edged into her spot, her ski-slope nose already stuck up high in the air.
"I'm telling you," she said in a strident voice, "we should go public with this. Tell the magical community the truth about our school. They’re sure to listen, help us."
"And if they don’t?" Persephone said. "No one knows about your weirdo school and, from what I’ve heard, it’s not like there’s anything left of it to prove you’re telling the truth. All they know about is the attacks. When they hear that some of you were involved, they’ll dismiss you all as a bunch of lying freaks who should be put down or locked up at the very least."
"We're not going to the public,” I agreed. “It's too risky."
"Indeed," Apollo said. "If the DSA apprehend you, that will be it. It will be impossible for us to rescue everyone again. Their new base is apparently even better-protected and hidden than the old. No one knows where it is."
Jenna sniffed. "Who said anything about rescuing everyone if we get captured?"
"You're right," Kian growled cattily. "You're one of the ones we can bypass rescuing.”
I turned away, hiding a smirk.
“What about what Hera mentioned?" Demi said, her thoughtful blue-green gaze already elsewhere. "About the Dragon Badlands?"
"Oh, hell no," Artemis said, shaking one finger in the air. "Let me tell you something, Ms. Plant Goddess. That place is bad, bad news. As in a one-way ticket to an early death bad news."
"Worse news than Mathusalem?" Kian asked sweetly, rejoining us.
"No," Axel said.
“Probably,” Apollo said. “But that's not saying much. Have you heard of Syria?"
“We did still go to school,” Kian said. “Even it was a crappy school, we aren’t complete idiotas.”
But I was more focused on what Apollo was getting at. "You're not saying…"
"There's a reason you hear about the constant fighting over there,” Apollo continued. “Admittedly, the locals fight enough as it is. Yet we added certain… enchantments there to reinforce the message, so no reggies would wander in accidentally. Heaven knows our kind wouldn’t under any circumstances.”
Reggies were non-magical regular people, but the fact that not even magical people went to the Dragon Badlands… didn’t bode well.
Still, I plunged ahead. “So, dragon shifters aren’t… super friendly?”
Axel snorted. “Oh yeah, they’re friendly – they love meals walking to them.”
I gaped at him, horrified. “Dragons don’t actually—”
“They don
’t,” Artemis said. “At least not usually. I mean, you hear some pretty horrible rumors, but I’m pretty sure that’s just talk.”
The lies jealous fools will utter… my PV said haughtily. Although I noticed that it didn’t exactly deny what she’d said, either.
“Dragons can be extremely territorial,” Apollo said, his navy eyes hard. “They won’t hesitate to slaughter other dragon shifters who wander into their land, let alone other magical beings.”
The silence that followed was of the oh shit kind.
"Which leaves us with…." I finally said.
"Earth?" Demi said hopefully. "What about some nice secluded forest where—"
"No such thing," Axel interrupted. "The DSA will find us. Word is they even have their own infared satellite. If we go to Earth, we’ll have to be on the run constantly."
"What other choice do we have?" I asked.
"Hate to sound like a broken record," Kian said. “But if we dipped our toe in the Mathusalem waters, and just saw how they took it…”
Axel threw up his hands. "I say we stay here. Let me talk to the Spartans. I might be able to make them see sense, that Hera is acting beyond her bounds.”
"They're not loyal to you anymore," Apollo said quietly.
I turned to face him. "What are you talking about?"
For some reason, scrunching the seam of my pant leg felt really good right now. I knew the amount of Things Axel Hasn’t Told Me About His Dark and Mysterious Past was as high as the Empire State Building, but just the thought of it freaked me out. After all, it sounded like the guy I was into had a sociopath, serial killer past.
"There was a time," Axel said. "When I led Zeus's armies. Those men were my men. They listened to my command, respected me. And when Zeus sent me off-"
"Yeah, yeah, they revolted," Artemis said. "We know. We remember. We were the ones who had to fight the brutal bastards."
"But it's not the same now," Apollo said. "Most of your greatest supporters were killed in the revolt, others exiled to the Underworld. The ones left hardly remember you, or care. All anyone knows is that Zeus is missing, and Hera is in charge now."
"Are you saying we’ve got no other choice than Mathusalem?" Dion said, arching a brow as he ruffled his auburn curls.
