Tala Phoenix and the School of Secrets

by Gabby Fawkes

  “You coming?” Apollo’s impatient call cut over to us.

  “Like brother, like brother,” I grumbled, although I followed nonetheless.

  Although that exchange made me wonder – was even Cog’s barking part of the mystery of the School for the Different?

  There was no time to dwell on it, though. We’d reached a small gurgling stream, probably an offshoot of the one we’d heard earlier, which led up to a cave.

  “This it?” Axel asked.

  Apollo nodded. “Here we are able to do as we see fit. Outside of Hera’s watchful eye.”

  “And Zeus?” Axel said, his expression grim.

  “You don’t know where he is either?”

  “No.”

  A tense silence, which Dion broke. “But of course. That is just like Father! To disappear without a word to anyone. Probably on one of his little trysts.” He winked at us, then turned to the others. “Remember poor Eo and what happened to her?”

  They said nothing, although Demi whispered in my ear, “Pretty sure Hera turned her into a cow.”

  I shivered. “Remind me to stay on Hera’s good side.”

  “There is no good side with my mother,” Apollo said shortly. “Unless you are Hephaestus. Whenever Zeus is gone she becomes her worst self – paranoid, ill-tempered, spiteful. Best thing is to just stay clear of her.”

  “And why would you laugh about your dad cheating on her?” Kian demanded to Dion.

  Dionysus stared at her, open mouthed, perhaps to see if she was joking. “Why not? It is Father’s way.”

  “And it doesn’t occur to you that maybe it’s not a good way if it keeps upsetting his wife?”

  Dionysus had nothing to say to that.

  “I’d be happy to debate ethics all day,” Apollo said. “But I’d rather get this over with before Aphie shows.” He looked pointedly to Axel, who nodded in an oddly strained way.

  Inside the cave, we all fell silent. Probably because the ground had stalactites and ‘mites – basically giant floor and ceiling spikes that we had to navigate around, many slick and dribbling.

  “Keeps intruders out,” Apollo said in a satisfied voice.

  “Clearly,” Axel said, rubbing at a spot on his head he’d just bonked.

  “How long do these go on for?” I asked, dreading the answer.

  “Only for another ten yards or so,” Apollo’s short answer came back.

  My friends and I all stopped at the same time. “What?!”

  Apollo’s laughter echoed oddly around us.

  “Guess jerk runs in the family,” Kian muttered.

  Just then, we walked right into him. Apollo’s face was tensed almost beyond recognition.

  “Never,” he said in a quiet voice, “compare me to Ares.”

  And then he stormed ahead.

  The tension he left was so thick we could’ve made a three-layer cake with it.

  “He really likes you, huh?” I said to Axel, trying to lighten the mood.

  “You wouldn’t either, if you knew what I’d done,” Axel said simply.

  “Try me.”

  “Not now,” he said, venturing on. “We’re almost there.”

  Sure enough, finally the stalactites and ‘mites were thinning, until – praise be – we could walk normally without worrying about a concussion and/or hip bang.

  Demi inhaled deeply. “Mmm, moss.”

  “Are there any plants you can’t smell?” I wondered, genuinely curious. All I could smell was dank cave.

  “Yes,” Demi said.

  “Such as?”

  “A particular dandelion in a field of dandelions,” she returned.

  We giggled.

  “Are you coming?” Axel called from ahead.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said. “Cool your jets.”

  The next second, entering the clearing, I fell silent.

  “Most of this stuff is rubbish,” Apollo said. “Trash Artemis collects. Her hobby is useless reggie items. Especially the made-for-TV shit. Damn if I didn’t make a mistake letting her get cable.”

  Whatever the stuff was, it certainly looked interesting.

  Amidst the mass, I could make out a bib labeled SlobStopper, a small razor-like thing called the NoNo, a pair of underwear with padding on the butt (BootyPop), a blanket with arms, and a Phantom of the Opera style mask attached inexplicably to a remote control. Demi was eyeing a blank dog with a shrivelled looking plant sagging down its body, but Apollo was already moving on.

  “This way,” he said, venturing down another passage. This one led to a small cavern which seemed a world of its own. It was jam-packed with pictures – newspaper cut-outs, as well as a big screen somehow fastened to the wall.

  “You guys have electronics?” Demi said, clearly impressed.

  “’Course we do,” Apollo said. “I only hold to tradition when necessary. Hera hates most of you mortals’ newer technology, but for work such as this, we need every possible advantage. We phased out wax tablets decades ago.”

  “And Angry Birds, have you played that?” Dion was already at the screen, though his eager gaze was on Kian. “I must say, I’m a bit of an addict.”

  “Dionysus,” Apollo said sharply, and he sighed, stepping away.

  “Fine, fine.”

  To Kian, he whispered, “I’m Level 30.”

  “As I was saying,” Apollo said, gesturing his arm around at the screen and paper-covered, smooth stone walls. “This is all the information we’ve been able to glean from the attacks.”

  “How many have there been?” I asked.

  “So far, two,” Apollo said. “First, the dead dragons, then, a few days ago, the vine incident.”

  “Vine incident?” I said.

  “How do you know they’re connected?” Kian asked.

  “Because they’re unprecedented,” Axel said quietly. “Twenty dead dragon shifters – when even one found dead would be unusual. They bury their own, don’t just leave them out for the elements to claim them.” His jaw shifted. “What that means is that a whole clan of them was wiped out. Slaughtered. As for the vine attack, it involved some sort of creature that magical witnesses said they’d never seen before.”

  “Are there any other… er, dragon shifters you could ask about the killing?” I asked casually, tucking some sandy hair behind my ear. It felt weird that I was potentially talking about creatures that could be related to me. Family.

  “So far attempts to contact them to find out anything have been… unsuccessful,” Apollo said, grimacing.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” Dion said loftily.

  “Meaning?” I said.

  “Meaning dragon shifters don’t like to be disturbed,” Axel said. “They like it even less when any of their own have been killed – even if it’s members of another tribe.” He was doing a good job of not meeting my eye. “From what I’ve heard, they’ve killed and maimed any who’ve been foolish enough to try and discover what they know about this massacre. At least that’s what the DSA say.”

  “Ah yes, the crux of the matter.” Apollo went over to a wall, which was affixed with different scraps and sheets of paper. These looked like memos and press releases. “The DSA.”

  “Obviously, they can’t be trusted,” Axel said. “Apparently, they’ve been visiting these girls’ school over the years too.”

  Apollo’s gaze slanted our way. “Your school?”

  “School for the Different,” I said, lifting up my blank armband. We really needed to get around to ditching these things. “Which I’m guessing you’ve never heard of?”

  “No, I haven’t.” Apollo rubbed at his chin as he peered at the armband. “But it was a reggie school?”

  “Yeah,” Kian replied, tugging at hers to no avail. “Or was supposed to be – a school for crazy orphans. At least that’s what they told us.”

  Apollo started pacing. “Another mystery. And your school is in the United States?”

  “Think so,” Demi said. “They told us we were on an
island in Vermont. But as soon as we escaped, we found ourselves in the middle of Area 51, and our school had disappeared.”

  “Strange.” Apollo’s gaze was off in the distance. He went over to the screen and tapped it, and, with another flicker of his fingers, a map of Area 51 appeared. “That is a place, at least. One we can go to ourselves if need be, but first – the attacks.”

  “What exactly was the vine incident?” I asked.

  Another tap and he showcased a news broadcast, which was flickering poor quality vantage points – probably picked up by different phone cameras. “Three skyscrapers were wrapped in vines and…. sliced through.” The scene showed as much, as the massive towers were wrapped in thick, leafy green things, which, like a knife sliced through them.

  “You mean…” I said, over the horrified shrieks from the broadcast.

  “They were toppled, yes,” Axel said. “In the broad daylight, with people inside and everything. DSA apparently had a job wiping that from all the reggie witness’ memories and keeping the story ‘terrorist attack blasts three buildings’ in their news.”

  “How do the DSA…” I began, tearing my gaze off the broadcast. It was bobbing now, presumably with the running recorder, but it was just too painful to watch anymore.

  “No one knows exactly,” Axel said. “Although gods – and even some very powerful witches have the ability to fiddle with memories, change them – among other things. They doubtless have quite a few witches at their disposal. Although no gods that we know of.”

  Apollo’s face went grimmer. “I can’t wrap my head around why Athena insists on keeping herself aloof from us.”

  Dion shrugged. “She’s always been an odd egg, you know that. Don’t think she’s ever gotten over that whole apple incident either.”

  “God, Helen’s been dead for centuries. You’d think…”

  Apollo gave him a stern look. “People do not forget so easily.” Curiosity crept into the sternness. “Is our sister up to her old tricks?”

  Axel grinned. “You bet. Smoking like a chimney, and had five boards going.”

  “Five?” Apollo exclaimed. “She’s lucky Zeus is missing. If he found out…”

  “Those chess games you saw,” Axel explained to us, “was my sister meddling with the reggie wars.”

  “And that’s allowed?” I said, thunderstruck.

  “Not technically, no. To be fair, Athena does most of her meddling – an air strike here, a miracle save there, only when there’s few casualties. She does it more as an experiment, to learn about war.”

  “And what about the vine attack?” I said. “Do the non-magical people know what happened?”

  “Not a clue,” Apollo said. “Just that a DSA inquiry is underway. Of course, it’s been months and there’s been no more word on the case. It was reported as a terrorist attack, as are most magical interferences – whether just a freak accident or otherwise.” He gestured to a newspaper clipping that read, in block, dripping letters: ISIS TRI-BUILDING BLOODBATH. On it, it showed a picture that looked like it was from a movie: three hulking skyscrapers dissolving into rubble, all at the same level, as if pulled by an invisible thread.

  “The magical people are being told a less certain story,” Axel said. “Some kind of freak accident that the DSA are looking into. Although they aren’t getting answers either.”

  “But what do you guys think?” I said.

  Apollo spread his hands. “Frankly, I don’t know. And I think that, short of being at the scene of the next attack, or on the DSA ourselves, we’re going to have a real hard job finding out.”

  “And these two you are convinced are just the beginning?” Demi asked quietly.

  She had a point, now that I thought about it. While getting to the bottom of the mysteries and what was going on was important, the tension in the room and the amount of effort involved in looking into the cases suggested something more.

  Apollo shifted uneasily. “Things have been… happening in the past year. Many major-league DSA members were either dismissed or simply… disappeared. The official DSA story is they’ve been going through personnel changes to combat corruption. But those dismissed or disappeared were the few known trustworthy members left. Then there’s other things, things that could be mere coincidence, yet-”

  “You know Father,” Dion protested, flinging out both hands. “He disappears every couple hundred of years, then turns up with a new wife or two, happy as ever.”

  “He wouldn’t disappear at a time like this,” Apollo said, his voice cut with certainty. “Not when even he said he was going to look into that vine incident.”

  “You know how Father is!”

  “Yes,” Apollo said. “I do. And what about Pandora’s box, Dion?”

  “Mere rumors!” he exclaimed. “Just ask Hades, he cracks up every time I’ve tried mentioning it to him. The box is guarded, gutted, buried deep in the Underworld.”

  “Rumors or not, our seers have foretold it opening – and soon.”

  “You can’t mean Cassandra.” Dion laughed.

  “I don’t know what to believe,” Apollo snapped, getting up in his face. “Only that those who believe in coincidence are fools.”

  That shut Dion up.

  “I take it by these devices…” Axel said, with a nod to a corner, where a whole brigade of radios, phones and pagers buzzed. “That you hope to be informed as soon as the next attack occurs?”

  “Yes,” Apollo said. “All our investigations have led to dead ends. The vine attack zone is still DSA territory and off-limits. And you of all people know how well asking Hades for a trip to the Underworld goes. As for where the dragon attack occurred, it was off-limits when we stopped by, but…”

  “There’s nothing left,” Axel said. “Not when we went. Just a bunch of burned-up trees.”

  Apollo nodded. “I expected as much.”

  As Kian stifled a yawn, Dion jumped into action. “Axel, you cur, when was the last time the women had some rest?”

  “Uh…” I said.

  I’d been too hepped up on all that was happening to notice. But now that he mentioned it, sleep sounded pretty good. Even my psycho voice had gotten some after all.

  Can we think of a different name for me? Pretty please?

  -You’ve been listening this whole time. I thought you were been sleeping, I replied in my head.

  Little hard to sleep when you’re all gabbing away a hundred miles an hour. Anyway – a new name?

  Ok, psycho voice was a no-go, then that meant…

  -What about… PV?

  There was a second’s pause.

  PV, like short for powerful visionary?

  I resisted the urge to laugh.

  -Sure. Powerful visionary.

  PV!

  “You’re right that they should be getting some rest,” Axel was saying now. He looked to Apollo. “But we can return later?”

  “Of course. Whenever you like,” Apollo replied in an offhand way

  And yet, I couldn’t help but feel that it signified something deeper – a truce between the two brothers.

  “And my friends and I can help?” I asked.

  Axel shook his head. “You haven’t been trained. Can’t control your powers yet.”

  “So we just have to sit around while you guys zip off next time there’s an attack?”

  “Don’t forget that you have a big DSA target on your backs too,” Axel warned. Even he suddenly looked very weary. “As for joining in, let’s see how the next few days of training go. We can decide then.”

  “Fine,” I said.

  “Magnificente,” Kian said.

  Demi said nothing. She was probably waiting for the right time to ask Axel when and how a family reunion with her supposed daughter and fields could go down.

  We all made our way back to our mini-temples with Axel, who pointed out which was whose. He did a good job shooing away Dion too, who had accompanied us all the way back, and seemed intent on venturing no further than five
feet away from Kian at any given time.

  As I lay down to sleep on my bed ledge and its collection of pillows, my PV murmured, You know, you did not do utterly horrendously today.

  I smiled. That was as closest to a compliment from my PV that I was going to get.

  -You too, I told it back.

  20

  The next week or so, our days were training, training and…. more training. Apollo was nowhere to be seen, and the Aphie they’d mentioned didn’t turn up either.

  Axel, meanwhile, was drilling us as hard as Kakernacker would’ve – harder, even.

  “C’mon, Kian!” he yelled, after her attempt to levitate a log had only produced a feeble wiggle. “That the best you can do?”

  “No.” With a scowled flick of her wrist, the log burst up and barreled straight at him.

  “Whoa.” He ducked it, though he wore a grudging smile. “Nice one.”

  It was a bit unnerving seeing Kian do magic without a wand. But according to Axel, different witches had different abilities and tools: while many used a wand for added power, some didn’t need to. At any rate, Kian didn’t have access to a wand here, since, apparently, all those came from Mathusalem.

  Demi was making impressive progress too.

  “You should see how fast Demi can grow things!” Artemis enthused, on her way to the temple for a break. “She nearly knocked me over with a corn stalk to the ribcage.”

  “And her agility?” Axel said.

  “Still needs some work,” Artemis admitted, already turning back. “But man, can she grow!”

  I tried to return Kian’s smile at this revelation. After only a week of daily training, both my friends had progressed by damn impressive leaps and bounds. Demi could grow just about anything – from carrots to forsythias, while Kian had gotten a decent handle on several spells – moving simple objects as well as minor mind changes (more I’ll have a donut instead of a muffin, as opposed to I will stab this person I like a lot); apparently, her getting those Area 51 army guys to change their minds had been a stress-induced fluke.

  As for me, I was still at square one. As in, Axel asked me to shift, I grudgingly agreed, and…. Nothing happened. Which was probably because I didn’t want anything to.