by Melody Rose
Created by Chaos
Academy of Olympus book 4
Melody Rose
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
12. Ansel
Chapter 13
14. Ansel
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
20. Ansel
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
23. Ansel
Chapter 24
25. Ansel
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
29. Ansel
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
A Note from the Author
1
I thought the nerves would have gone away by now, but as I stood in front of the twelve Olympic Officials, some of the most powerful demigods in existence, all of their eyes on me, I froze. My mouth went dry, and my heart rate sped up. I rubbed my fingers against my palms in an effort to dry them, but they only seemed to get sweatier.
Egan, son of Hestia, coughed into a handkerchief and adjusted his monocle. Athena’s son, Min, wiggled his nose as if he had to sneeze. Officer Buck, a large man who was the son of Ares, tapped his fingers against the table, making the whole thing vibrate. Clarissa, Hera’s daughter, reached over and put her hand on Buck’s to make him stop. The head of physical education glared at his colleague and curled his hand into a fist. The only Officials that offered any comfort were the daughters of Hermes and Aphrodite, Fiona and Tené.
The two women worked with me last year when a love spell infected the Academy of Olympus that made the students all horny. Well, hornier than twenty-somethings usually are. They knew what I could do and believed in me enough to even offer a closed-mouth smile and a small nod.
I inhaled some courage and flicked my eyes to the end of the room. I thought looking at the most intimidating person in the room might be terrifying, but it only strengthened my resolve.
The General loomed at the end of the oval-shaped table, his father’s lightning bolt symbol etched in front of him into the wood. He folded his hands in front of him, thick sausage fingers intertwined with each other. He sat as still as a statue, his shadowy demeanor only adding to the ominous vibe he gave off. His salt and pepper beard seemed to crackle with electricity, and honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if it did.
There was something in those stormy gray eyes that pushed the fear to the back of my mind. Anger quickly replaced it, blazing at the front of my thoughts. I knew that the General was the ultimate obstacle to getting what I wanted. I only needed to convince six of the Officials, and then I could shove it in the General’s face.
That thought was enough to make me open my mouth.
“Two years ago, if you had asked me if we should let Esme back into the Olympic Military, I would have been the first person to say absolutely not,” I began, the prepared words floating up to my mind like clouds. “She attacked me, framed me, and put more lives in danger, all for the sake of jealousy. Or so it seemed.”
There was a small wince off to my right. I chanced a glance at the soldier in question. Esme hunched her shoulders forward, head bowed low. The weak posture made her tall frame shrink several inches. Her hair was pulled back, tight and sleek, so we could see the fullness of her face and read every expression. She wore all black, minus her soldier’s sash. We chose her entire look purposefully, making it seem as though she belonged in the Military with the standard black uniform. But she wasn’t standing as we had told her to, looking strong and unaffected by the comments. It seemed though that my recount of her past actions weighed down on her physically.
I puffed up my chest and pushed my own shoulders back, hoping to signal to both her and myself that we were confident, strong women. We had freed her from a goddess’s control, brought her back from the dead, and fought terrifying monsters. We could take on a dozen demigods, no problem.
We had to convince them that Esme wasn’t responsible for the treasonable actions of which the Military accused her. Instead, we had to tell them that the goddess of chaos, Eris, possessed her. Over the past several years at the Military Academy of Olympus, chaos reigned in the form of love spells, clay monsters, ghosts, and murder. Infamous mythical objects, like Eros’s bow and arrow or Hades’s Helm of Invisibility, went missing, which made the gods furious at us demigods.
All signs pointed to Esme causing all of this unrest. She abandoned the Military and went on these dangerous adventures. We even had eyewitnesses, including myself, saying she was the culprit. However, we found out that Eris had possessed Esme, and she had no memory of her actions over the past two years.
While we believed in her innocence, we had to convince the powers that be of it, and that might have been harder than slaying a chimera.
It helped that we weren’t alone. Just behind me were my three best friends, Darren, Violet, and Benji, who were also giving their testimonies. My boyfriend, Ansel, who graduated with Esme, stood alongside them. His testimony had been filled with memories from their time at the Academy which helped with Esme’s original character.
The other heavy hitter in the group was Phae. Phaethusa, the goddess of radiance, stood with a glowing aura of gold. Her long waves of dirty blonde hair hung down to her navel, making her look like a queen. She came in clutch for our case because she was actually the one to fight Eris and push the goddess out of Esme’s body.
That all happened last semester in Italy. It was such a harrowing and long adventure that I could have written a whole book about it. The long story short is this: I studied abroad in Italy with a cyclops to remake the Helm of Invisibility for Hades. Eris-as-Esme attacked the villa, fought Phae, and the demigod got memories back. Then she died, and we rescued her from the Underworld. Now we were here, arguing her way back into the Military she supposedly betrayed.
There was a lot more that happened, but trust me, that’s another story.
Now, one would think that the testimony of a goddess would be enough to convince the Officers to let Esme back into the Military. However, Phae was a minor goddess, a very minor goddess, which made her word less valuable in the eyes of the Officials.
Unfortunately, at the Military Academy, there was a known bias among the Olympic gods and the others. The twelve gods who resided on the heavenly mountain, plus Hades, were the most powerful. As a result, their children were blessed with the best and most valued abilities. For instance, it didn’t matter that my friend Darren was the best healer on campus. Because his father was Asclepius, they didn’t trust him as much as they would, say, a child of Hermes.
It was unfair and definitely played against us in this instance, especially since there were only twelve demigods seated at the table in front of us, not the usual thirteen.
There was one chair that sat fresh and empty for decades. The symbol in front of that seat was an anvil, representing the god of blacksmiths, Hephaestus. My dad.
I was the only known child of Hephaestus in nearly one hundred years. I got to meet my half-brother, though only in his ghostly form. Since then, I was the only one. So that seat remained empty, which meant a missing vote that might have helped us.
The last argument we had before they voted was my eyewitness account. Mainly because I was the daughter of Hephaestus, though I did have some leverage with the Olympic Officials since I was the
missing piece to a prophecy that was supposed to help them win a war against the mythical monsters.
Again, another story.
Despite my nerves, I pressed on with my prepared speech. “However, I’m one of the few people who has seen the change in Esme, the before and after, so to speak. I was there when she woke up from a deep sleep inside of herself, to find that two years had gone by, and she’d committed heinous acts, all without her knowledge or consent.”
Memories of Esme’s bank face when I caught her up on the past two years flashed across my inner eye. I clenched my fists and gathered my resolve, knowing that while this was frightening and difficult, I was fighting for her second chance. It was something that everyone deserved.
“I believe there is something bigger going on here than the betrayal of a demigod soldier,” I announced. I looked at each of the Officials as I spoke, taking a moment with every one of them, even the General. “The gods don’t have a right to manipulate our lives like that. We’re here to maintain the balance and protect the mortal world from mythical beings that they can’t protect themselves from. But what about one of our own being protected from the gods? We’re a team, a unit, and we shouldn’t ever leave one of our own behind.”
I let that note hang in the air for a bit. They all knew I was referencing the policy of wiping demigod’s memories when they couldn’t serve anymore. It was another rule that I didn’t agree with, but I had to fight one battle at a time.
“I ask of you,” I said as I held out my hands. “What precedent do you want to set for future demigods? This will be a message of forgiveness. We need to band together during this time rather than cast out one of our own. The involvement of Eris means that this war that we have been fighting for years is bigger than any of us thought. We need all the help we can get.”
I straightened my arm and pointed at Esme. She lifted her head and stared at me with wide eyes at my abrupt gesture.
“Esme is a brilliant warrior,” I continued, my voice becoming emboldened. “We can use her skills with the Clay of Life to fight back. It would be a waste to cast her out in the mortal world without any memory of what she accomplished here.”
“Or any memory of the crimes she committed,” the General interrupted.
I blinked, my mouth hanging open. His words threw me off. None of the Officials said anything during our presentation. It was our right to give this argument and then they would vote. But now it sounded as though the General was about to present a counterargument. This was something we hadn’t prepared for.
“What do you mean?” Egan asked, squinting through his monocle.
“Their claim is that Esme was possessed and can’t remember what she did during that time,” the General said. He unlaced his fingers and spread out his own hands. He looked only at his fellow Officials, never once glancing in my direction. “However, she’s been told of what she’s done. And I’m sure that some residual memories are surfacing.”
Esme’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t say anything in response to the General. He proceeded to talk, and with every word, I felt our case slipping out of our hands like sand.
“I’m not contesting whether or not a goddess possessed Esme, even though that has never happened in the history of Greek mythology,” the General said as he got to his feet and paced on the other side of the room, like a professor giving a lecture.
I opened my mouth to refute him. I expected to use my expansive knowledge of the Greek myths to counteract him with some obscure story. My mother, and consequently me, were descended from the Oracle of Delphi, so we had uncanny abilities to tap into the past, present, or future. My powers were limited to an in-depth knowledge of Greek mythology, which came in handy more than once.
However, nothing came to mind. There wasn’t a single story of human possession in the myths. There were stories of the gods transforming themselves into humans, like when Zeus and Hermes disguised themselves and then tried to get hospitality from a town. They only received help from Baucis and Philemon, and consequently, they flooded the rest of the town.
More famously were stories of the gods transforming into animals, like swans and bulls. That was mainly Zeus, but others did it as well, like when Apollo turned into a dolphin. But none of them ever directly possessed a human, like Eris did to Esme.
A strike of panic stalled my blood. I looked over my shoulder at my supportive friends. Ansel pursed his lips and nodded for me to continue.
Even though I wanted to counter the General with a story and couldn’t think of one, I still chose to speak. “The gods are all-powerful beings. Just because they haven’t possessed anyone in the past doesn’t mean that they haven’t. We might just not know about it.”
“Very true, Cheyenne,” the General acknowledged, but it was a small bone he threw me. I could tell from his condescending tone that I played right into his plan. “And again, I’m not contesting that. I think we should consider the repercussions of what happened to Esme.”
“Repercussions?” I repeated, not sure where he was going with this.
“Yes, particularly the mental and emotional ones,” the General said, still refusing to look at me directly. “Wouldn’t it be a mercy to release Esme from the pain of her past actions? That way, she doesn’t have to live with them, whether she committed them or not.”
“That’s bullshit,” I exclaimed, unable to stop myself.
Eyebrows raised at my language, but Hades’s son, Maurice, actually sat back in his chair and chuckled. The General shot his colleague a glare, but Maurice only offered an innocent shrug in response.
“She wants to fight,” I argued, heat rising in my cheeks. “She wants to get her life back and be a part of the Military again. None of us would be here if she didn’t.”
“Does she really?” the General questioned, raising one bushy eyebrow. “Then why haven’t we heard that from her?”
I closed my mouth and bit my tongue. It had been a difficult decision whether or not Esme should speak on her behalf. It was a little bit like a criminal taking the stand. We weren’t sure if she could handle the scrutiny of the Officials and still tell the truth.
“If she really believes all of this, then shouldn’t she be the one to tell us?” the General challenged. He held out his hand to Esme, inviting her to speak. “What do you have to say for yourself, Esme?”
All the attention turned to the soldier. Her eyes were closed, scrunched against her face. She looked as though someone was whipping her. Quickly, though, she recovered and visibly swallowed. She opened her eyes and spoke.
“I’m still fighting to get back the years of my life that Eris took from me,” Esme said, clearly speaking from the heart as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “I think having some sense of normalcy, being back in a world that is familiar to me, would help tremendously. I want to come back to the Military and serve. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”
It was an empowering speech with passion behind her words. However, there was one error to it. Esme let a single tear drop. She managed to swipe away at it quickly, but it was a sign of weakness. Or that’s at least how the General interpreted it.
The General’s head slowly shook back and forth. “My dear Esme,” he said tenderly, his whole demeanor shifting to that of a caring grandfather.
I almost threw up in my mouth at the sight. There was no way that was genuine. I didn’t believe the gentile act for a second.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to give yourself a break?” the General said with a lowered voice. “You wouldn’t have to live with any of this regret or pain.”
I sounded as though he was trying to convince her to give up. I didn’t like the tone of his voice or the words coming out of his mouth. This had to stop.
“I’m sorry General, but isn’t this meeting about presenting our argument?” I interjected, not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice. “We’re allowed to give our case and then the Officials vote. There is no counter-argument needed here.”
“She’s right, General,” Clarissa said to her colleague gently.
The General nodded his agreement and returned to his seat. “Forgive me. I just wanted to make sure that Esme knew all of the options available to her.”
Oh yeah, she knew it, I growled in my head. Her and the rest of the Officials you were trying to manipulate with that little speech.
But I held my tongue and kept my face stony. I didn’t need to give the General or the Officials any additional information that might turn them against us.
“Do you have anything else you would like to present before we vote?” Clarissa asked the group of us. “Please speak now or forever hold your peace.”
I looked at my allies and gathered confidence from their presence and their determined expressions. Then I looked at Esme, shaken but still standing. Our eyes met, and I knew that we had nothing more to say. I turned back to the Officials and answered, “We’re good. Please proceed with the vote.”
“Well then,” the General stepped in. He spread his fingers out on the table and took in a big breath. “We will go around the room, and each Official will cast their vote. Maurice, you’re first.”
The son of Hades stayed in his laid back position. He lifted his hand to his chin and considered the lot of us. For a brief moment, I saw the resemblance between him and his father. While Maurice was much shaggier than his well-groomed godly parent, they had the same nose, and their widow’s peak was in the same place.
“I vote to reinstate Esme back to the Military,” Maurice said calmly, as though he were ordering a sandwich rather than casting a vote for Esme’s fate.
