by Melody Rose
“Annunciate, my dear, annunciate!” he commanded, bits of spit flying into my face as he did so.
Then we moved into group exercises where we had to do trust falls and use one another for stretches. Everyone paired up automatically, leaving me with the Fotia leader. He was open and gentle with my body, but I found myself stiff and awkward around him. I didn’t even know his name for Zeus’s sake, and I was supposed to trust him not to let me hit the ground! The whole thing was absurd.
But, lucky me, it only got stranger.
Oliver had us play these improv games where we were just supposed to make stuff up. One time we had to be a machine and repeat the same odd noise and random movement over and over until we were one cohesive machine together. Another one forced us to pass an imaginary ball around the circle, passing it in unique ways.
Predictably, I missed the mark and apparently “dropped the ball,” which resulted in a sharp scolding from Oliver.
“You have to watch and listen to the person next to you, Cheyenne,” Oliver informed me as he snapped his thick fingers in my direction. “It’s about connection.”
I bit my tongue and replied with a tight smile. Eventually, I got the hang of the ball game, just pretending to dribble a basketball before I passed it on to the next classmate. It wasn’t original or anything, but I didn’t care. I just needed to participate enough to get through this stupid class. Whatever it took to keep me on Oliver’s good side so the nymphs would have to keep helping me, no matter how many things I blew up the materials.
The first couple of classes were like this. I fought back any rebuttals as Oliver yelled at me nearly every session to “Let your creative juices flow! Open your mind to the possibilities!”
It was infuriating. I dreaded every time I had to step into that third-floor classroom, wondering what hell Oliver would put me through that day.
The other students seemed to enjoy the freedom the drama class provided. They threw themselves into each exercise with reckless abandon, not afraid to fail or look foolish. I knew that there was probably some life lesson hidden in there somewhere, but I wasn’t in the mood to learn it. I had other skills I needed to focus on.
The most intriguing person, however, was the Fotia leader. I still couldn’t figure out what his deal was. I found myself glancing at him more than once, like he was a puzzle I couldn’t quite figure out.
He caught me staring at him, however. A hot flush ran up my cheeks, and I averted my eyes quickly. But like a magnet, I found myself looking once more. Though, when he caught me this time, he didn’t look away. He simply smiled and winked at me.
The bastard actually winked! While that forward gesture surprised me, what shocked me more was that it didn’t put me off. If anything, I was all the more interested in him. I wasn’t good at letting things go. Especially things that were out of place and interested me.
I got my chance to ask him outright right after class that first day. The Fotia leader approached me when we were putting on our shoes at the end of class. I didn’t notice him at first because I was stuck in my head with the swirling, doubting thoughts all chorusing, “What the hell had I gotten myself into?”
“So what did you think?” he asked as he tucked his hands into his pockets. His voice was lower than I would have expected from such a slight man, so I startled at the sound of it.
I looked up after tying my shoe. “It’s…” I couldn’t seem to find the right word.
“Weird?” he filled in with a chuckle.
“Am I allowed to say that?” I lowered my voice conspiratorially.
“Sure,” he replied with a smile and a shrug. “It is a little weird, and everyone knows it.”
“Yeah, but not everyone likes it,” I grumbled as I straightened the tongue of my shoe so that it lined up perfected with my shin.
“No,” the Fotia leader agreed, “but it gives most students a break from the strategy and the fighting lessons. Most really enjoy it.”
“Is that why you’re here?” I asked, my curiosity coming to the surface.
“That and my mom always said I had an affinity for pretending,” the soldier replied with a second casual shrug. “They didn’t offer drama classes when I was a student here, so I thought I would give it a try.”
“An affinity for pretending? Is that code for you’re a good liar?” I asked teasingly as I straightened up and put my hands on my hips.
Before the soldier could answer, Oliver rushed up to the pair of us. “I see you’ve already met your scene partner.”
“Scene partner?” I asked as though the drama teacher was speaking a foreign language.
“Yes,” Oliver replied, clapping his hands excitedly. “You and Horace are going to be working on a scene in the upcoming weeks. I figured it would be a good fit considering you both as the oldest in the class. Don’t want to freak out the wee ones, do we?” the teacher said with a giggle. Then he stood up straight and ran his hand over the front of his robes. “Well, I’m glad to see you getting along. You’ll be working very closely with each other this semester.”
The son of Dionysus’s eyebrows bounced teasingly before he made a dramatic exit out of the classroom, holding his flowing robes out like a gown.
Horace and I stared at the open doorway where Oliver exited before we eyed one another and burst out into laughter. Instantly, I liked his laugh. It sounded like waves crashing into one another, loud and boisterous.
“He’s a handful,” I concluded.
“You can say that again,” Horace agreed.
“He’s a handful,” I joked, keeping my voice the same as before.
“Okay, smartass,” Horace said as he reached out and elbowed me playfully.
When his skin connected with mine, my stomach fluttered unexpectedly.
I quickly stepped away from him, all glee zapping out of me from the shock of my body’s reaction to him. It wasn’t as though I found him attractive, did I?
Despite his angular face, he had soft eyes that were easy to get lost in. He was the complete opposite of Ansel with his gangly arms that looked too big for his body. While they were both light-skinned, Ansel glowed in the sunlight, whereas Horace looked like he would explode the minute the light touched him. And there was their hair which Ansel always kept his cut close and short whereas Horace pulled off the long, emo look with his bangs sweeping in front of his face so often that he perfected that early 2000s hair flip.
Then he smiled. It was the first time Horace smiled with his teeth since I saw him. They were perfectly straight, and his smile was wide and boyish. Another wave of butterflies soared through my stomach at the beauty behind that smile. I put a hand to my stomach and backed up towards the door, shocked by my body’s reaction to him.
“Well, I better get going,” I said quickly, disliking the way my voice squeaked. “See you next time.”
“See you,” he said.
Then we both moved towards the door at the same time. We bumped into one another, and a lightning bolt shook my body as we collided. I shivered and tried to shake off the feeling, but there was something intriguing about it. It was a simultaneous desire to be right up next to him and on the other side of the world.
“Sorry,” Horace said with a chuckle. “You can go first.”
“No, you,” I said politely as a blush rose up to my cheeks.
“Why don’t we just walk out together?” Horace suggested as he reached out his hand and pushed the door open for me.
“Sure,” I replied, the word leaving my mouth before I could even think about what I agreed to. I wanted to smack myself in the forehead for this foolishness. Walking with a boy who made my stomach flip was the last thing I should be doing.
I had a boyfriend, for Zeus’s sake! While he was the gods knew where and I hadn’t seen him for over a week, didn’t mean he had disappeared off the face of the planet. I scolded myself as Horace and I walked out of the classroom, side by side down the hall and into the narrow stairwell.
These feelings were ridi
culous and unnecessary. I didn’t need to think any more about them. I could ignore them and move on with my life. But I worried about not being able to ignore Horace. If we were supposed to work together, then it was going to be all the more difficult to tamper down these unexpected feelings.
“So what is an Olympic Official doing in Oliver’s drama class?” Horace asked as we made our way outside.
The cold air blasted on the pair of us instantly. My hair flew back from my face, and I squinted against the sudden change in temperature. I didn’t answer Horace’s question until our bodies regulated and my teeth stopped chattering.
“I’m working with Oliver on another project, and attending his class was my end of the bargain,” I said, choosing my words carefully.
“Wow,” Horace said with a low whistle. “Whatever that project is must be really important for you to willingly take a drama class. You looked utterly terrified when we were doing the exercises.”
“I wasn’t terrified,” I said, suddenly defensive.
“Oh yeah?” Horace challenged with a smile playing at his lips. “Then how come you looked like this the whole time?” Then the soldier raised his fingers up to his eyes and stretched the tops and bottoms so that his eyes bugged out farther, while his mouth turned down into a distressed frown.
Despite my better judgment, I laughed. “I didn’t look like that.”
“Pretty damn close,” Horace answered, releasing his features so they could return to normal.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s out of my element for sure, but it’s only temporary. I just have to get through my project, and then I’ll be out of there.”
“Well, as much as I want to wish you luck on your project,” Horace said as he kicked a loose rock along the cobblestone path. “I won’t because I don’t want you to leave before we do our scene together. I’m really looking forward to working with you.”
Something compelled us both to stop walking at that moment. We stood in the middle of campus as the light from the Eternal Flame in the lamppost shone down on us. The clouds rumbled overhead, with their regular threat of snow. Horace and I looked into one another’s eyes.
He was several inches taller than me, so it was an adjustment for me to have to look up at someone. There was a good foot of distance between us, but heat radiated off his body as though he were right next to me, holding me…
I jerked myself out of his captivating gaze and stepped back until I could no longer feel the… whatever it was pulsing between the two of us. Horace’s eyes went wide at my sudden departure, but he didn’t say anything.
“I need to go,” I said suddenly. “I have to… uh, I have things to do,” I babbled, my brain unable to come up with a proper excuse.
“No problem,” Horace said, completely unphased by my word soup. “Until next time, Cheyenne.”
“Yep,” I said because there was a severe disconnect between my brain and my mouth. I couldn’t seem to come up with anything more intelligent than that.
I scampered off, walking as fast as my long legs could carry me without breaking to a full run. I focused on my breath, inhaling the sharp cold, using it to clear my racing thoughts.
What the actual fuck was going on with me? Ansel hadn’t even been gone for that long. We’d spent weeks apart before, and I’d missed him terribly. But I get a smile from a new boy, and suddenly, my mind turns to mush? I needed to get a grip on myself.
I chalked it up to the stress of all of the new things I was taking on. My normal defenses weren’t up, and I couldn’t focus properly. That had to be it.
I slowed my pace as I made my way across campus to my house. There, I could relax for a second before the Olympic Officials meeting this evening. I could push all thoughts of Horace and his smile out the window and tailor my thoughts to Ansel and what he was doing, wherever he was.
12
Ansel
If ever given the choice, I wanted to ride my father’s chariot rather than bareback on a pegasus. The spine of the beast dug into my groin and made for a rather uncomfortable trip.
Being the trained soldier I was, I swallowed my discomfort and refused to let any of the pain show on my face. I kept my back rigid and my head legs stiff against the pegasus’s belly. I focused my attention on the rushing air and chill from being up so high.
I kept my place in the v-shaped formation, staying in line with the rest of my fellow soldiers. There were eleven of us, the last of the soldiers to leave the campus from my understanding. Among them were the two other branch leaders, Kiley and Samson. I also recognized Rick, Janet’s boyfriend, who belonged to the Aeras branch. While I knew that both he and Samson were in their element, literally, Kiley’s normally pale face had a green hue to it.
I figured if Kiley, whose entire soul belonged out at sea and not up in the air, could keep her breakfast down during this journey, I could deal with my own discomfort for the time being.
Our leader at the tip of the formation was Erwin. He was a son of Aeolus, the wind god, and of Aeras branch, also familiar with air travel of this kind. He lifted his hand to signal our descent. The winged horses followed suit. I barely had to shift the reigns of my animal to keep in line with everyone else.
Curious, I looked down to see where we were setting up camp. Below was a wash of evergreen trees. I could tell that we were high up in the Rocky Mountains, where snow stayed for months on end. It sprinkled across the ferns like powdered sugar over the scene below.
Eventually, there was a clearing where I could see temporary barracks set up. The Olympus Military flag hung high over everything, at the center of the base. Assorted canvas tents formed the majority of the camp, most of them the same size, which would be our living quarters for the foreseeable future. Each of them had the branch symbol, signaling which of the four branches the barrack belonged to. A single large tent sat out of line. That had to be the mess hall. Finally, there was the smallest tent, which was the commanding officer’s residence and the control room.
We landed just outside of the base so that the pegasus didn’t crowd the few open spaces. The group of us removed the necessary items, like our personal packs and weapons, along with some of the fresh supplies we brought from the Academy. We hoisted them onto our own backs and slapped the flying horses off on their way.
I watched them fly up into the gray clouded sky. They would soon return to the Academy, back to their stables. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, a part of me wanted to go with them. It didn’t matter how uncomfortable the ride back would be. I knew that my heart wanted to be with them, to be with Cheyenne.
The thought of her brought her heart-shaped face into my mind’s eye. Her bright blue eyes, the color of the ocean, blinked up at me. That firetruck red hair that grew naturally out of her head framed her face most of the time when it wasn’t pulled up into a braid or ponytail. I thought about her body, getting stronger every day since I first recruited her. But even then, that day when she was dressed in the ridiculous pioneer dress from her mortal job, she was gorgeous.
While I had nursed an old crush for Esme for years, something about Cheyenne was different. Her presence drew me in, and I always wanted to be around her. I had been a diligent soldier before I met Cheyenne. I knew my path in life, that I was trained to serve the Olympic Military, but all of that changed when she entered my life.
And I didn’t even need the help of Eros’s arrow to see the effect she had on me. I knew from the moment she fearlessly stepped into the blasting range of my supernova powers. I remember watching her walk towards me, right through the flames. They licked up her pale skin, making her glow, never hurting her. She calmed me back down so that the power of the sun didn’t rage through me and burn the world around me. It was the first time that had ever happened.
From that moment on, I knew I had to be with her. She was special, and I wasn’t going to let her walk out of my life without a fight.
However, another unexpected obstacle stood in our way. The draft had come on s
uddenly, due to the increase in monsters. Something inside of me knew it was coming. With the rumors I had heard, the number of fellow soldiers that had been sent to the front lines. There was no way that I wasn’t on the lineup. Part of me had hoped that my position as Foria branch leader would save me, but I knew better. I was a soldier first and foremost, branch leader be damned.
“Pick up the pace, Ansel,” Erwin called down from the drop of the hill.
I realized that my thoughts were distracting me enough to slow my movements. As much as my heart wanted to be with Cheyenne, I needed to accept the reality that my body was here. I needed to fulfill my duty.
“Yes sir,” I reported to the head of our travel unit and stomped into the snow with deliberation. The powder crunched under my boots with a satisfying sound, reminding me that I was making progress. With each step, I tried to push Cheyenne from my mind, but I found that it was impossible.
Instead of fighting the thoughts, I decided to try something different and let them in. I didn’t let them consume me but rather, share the same space with the actionable, more pertinent thoughts like trekking through the snow to our home for the foreseeable future.
As if she were standing right beside me, the thoughts of my girlfriend warmed my skin. Despite the dropping temperature as we hiked higher, I found comfort in thinking about her and when I would get to see her again. The sensation reminded me of how older American soldiers used to talk about “their girl” back home. I never understood the appeal. It’d always seemed like a liability to me, but now I realized how ignorant that thought was. Having a woman back home, especially a woman as amazing as Cheyenne, was a strength.
I carried the strength with me all the way up the hill until I reached the base. Automatically, I followed the group to the flagpole at the center where we were supposed to meet our commanding officer.
He was an imposing man, one that I hadn’t worked with before. The man stood tall and muscular, like a G.I. Joe doll brought to life. He even had the same flat, cropped haircut, black with silver hairs littering it. Miraculously, he wore a t-shirt, exposing his arms to the frigid air. I could see the tattoos that lined both of his arms.
