by Holly Hook
"Well, she's not trying," I said.
Maria winked. "The party might be your chance."
* * * * *
"Do I have to wear this stupid costume?"
"Yes. One. You have to hide your identity from Serena. And two. It's a Halloween party. I know you missed the one last year since you weren't here yet, but Mikey and I didn't."
I turned around in my dorm. Ronin was never going to let me hear the end of this. Maria had ordered me, online, one of those blow-up bikini girl costumes meant for guys. I barely fit and every time I turned, the costume made a sound like I'd passed gas. "Why don't you wear this? I thought this party was all about not drawing attention to ourselves."
"Because everyone is going to be wearing ridiculous costumes," Maria said. She slapped the back of the costume, making it squeak as air escaped. "Mikey and I will be equally ridiculous."
"I'm a sumo wrestler," Mikey said, eyeing his deflated costume that was lying on my bed. "And it's all for Cal." He glared at Maria.
"The awkward people are going to wear ridiculous costumes," I said. "Watch. Wendy and company will get away with wearing animal ears and skimpy tops. And Percival will be wearing some glittery pimp hat."
Maria screwed up her face and I knew I was right. She'd seen it last year. "We're still going to be low profile."
"With these?" I motioned down to the chest. Being a joke costume, of course that was the focal point.
"Well, maybe not." Maria frowned. "We can trade. Or you can wear my phantom costume I wore last year. Teddy might appreciate the joke if I put on the bikini one."
Mikey snorted. Maria had barely anything there.
We traded and Maria went down to her dorm and brought me back up the costume she'd mentioned. That was the low profile I'd been looking for and it came complete with a hood and white mask. And yes, it belonged in the Awkward Club. Ronin wouldn't recognize me until I made myself known to him. He'd have to rule everyone else out.
I hoped I could talk to Wendy again before the party got too old. I wanted to have time with Ronin, too, and see how my friends were going to fare.
Once we'd changed and I was some dark blob (kind of appropriate, actually) the three of us headed down to the dining hall. By now it was full of groups of people, and I'd been right that even in Cursed, among dark god descendants and budding monsters, the hierarchy I'd expected still existed. Wendy, Serena, and Percival stood off to one side, away from everyone else, and Wendy was of course wearing a pair of rabbit ears and a low-cut, black dress with a narrow skirt. Serena had cat ears on and was carrying a fake whip that resembled her birthright weapon.
Next to me, Mikey snorted again. "Giselle's a party expert. Listen to her."
"But Percival's the Grim Reaper," she said.
"Well, he's descended from the god of death," Mikey said. "Guess it's a joke."
My heart sank. It wasn't looking like I'd get close to Wendy for a while. Music blasted through the gym, and Mikey nodded to me as he fake-lumbered over to where Ronin and Cal were standing. Cal grinned at Mikey and I didn't miss the warmth in it. Ronin just stood behind his friend, letting a knowing grin spread across his face.
Yeah. It was looking increasingly like they were going to get together. Maybe even make an album.
I waved to Ronin. Tonight he wore fake armor and carried a plastic sword, looking every inch cheap ancient hero. But he carried the look well. He lifted an eyebrow at me and approached. Maria stood off to the side, waving to who must be Ted, and as the two of them went to their own corner of the party, Ronin reached me.
"Why are you a dark blob?"
"I was almost a heavily-endowed bikini girl."
Ronin gave me a fake pouty frown. "Hey. I ditched the Olympian party to be with you, so you could have given me that."
"I'm hoping to talk to Wendy," I admitted. "Gotta get close without being seen, right?" I adjusted the mask so I could see better through the eye holes.
I saw the protector going up right away. Ronin lifted the cheap sword. "Not after what happened. And yes, I'm owning this hero complex tonight."
"Her mother's not here. And I piqued her interest about getting over to Olympian."
"I was hoping to just have a good time tonight."
Wow, I felt like I was ruining something Ronin had obviously looked forward to. "So am I. Trust me. But Maria and Mikey--"
"I've been asking the healers about removing curses." Ronin took my arm, sending his intoxicating electricity under my skin. I gasped. There would never come a time where I was used to his touch. "One of them is looking into it for me. She's been trying to get into the Olympian library, but since our stunt last year, Mrs. Allenson has upped the security and she's hired staff to be in it all the time now. I still have like seven of the books. Oh, and I've let Cal borrow some. He's amazed Apollo was so...promiscuous. I've been teasing him about that ever since."
"That's our fault." I eyed Wendy again. I couldn't blame Ronin for wanting me to stay out of this even if I had handled the last issue. Especially tonight. If my powers manifested, they would be my dark side. I had been feeling traces of the void since coming back to Cursed. Tonight, on Halloween, it lingered in the background, waiting to spring into action.
"Why don't we dance?" Ronin asked. "I can try to talk to Wendy for you, as painful as that would be. Ever since she gave me old man hands, she hasn't even looked at me. Think she knows she blew it?"
"Wendy never had a chance." I let Ronin pull me out to the dance floor and under the spinning lights. A few people had already started moving to the music. Wendy hadn't moved from her corner on the side of the room. Apparently, she had no date. Her last one had gone with the Lower Order and almost gotten her and the others killed. Until she separated from Serena and Percival, I might as well enjoy my time with Ronin.
Like at the end of year dance, Ronin was amazing on his feet. He guided us as we moved in a perfect circle, stepping in tune to the music, and so much electricity filled me that I felt like he was lifting me to another level of alive. Song after song passed, and I noticed that Cal and Mikey had vanished as the clock got closer to midnight. Maria and Teddy had gone, too. The dance floor slowly cleared out as people took their dates to more private environments, even though the party was supposed to go until two in the morning. The clock above the door read eleven.
And Wendy was looking at her phone with a frown.
The song ended and I pulled away from Ronin. He frowned for a second. "Don't tell me she's leaving."
Wendy said something to Serena and half-walked, half-ran from the dining hall, pushing open the doors. Clearly she had to go talk to someone. Serena and Percival stayed put, talking amongst themselves.
"I need to just follow her. If she goes into the girls' bathroom--"
Ronin took my shoulder. "We don't know that. And yes, I'm still owning my hero complex."
I turned away from him, slid the mask back over my face, and followed Wendy out the double doors. I spotted Prometheus in his office, hunched over his computer, and he glanced at me as I passed but at least I had my mask down. The hallway was mostly empty except for a few costumed fourth years, one of whom had hairy brows, the sure sign of a matured werewolf--sitting on a bench and chatting in low voices among themselves. And sure enough, Wendy was pushing open the door to the girls' bathroom.
Ronin couldn't follow.
"Giselle. No," he said.
"Stand back. I've got this."
He sighed and did, and I walked down the corridor, past the spitting green torches that added to the eerie atmosphere no matter what time of year. The bathroom door remained closed, and I stopped there, listening. Ronin stayed by the dining hall doors, arms crossed, waiting to jump into action. But he shifted leg to leg, annoyed.
Heroes did not like being told to stand aside, even by budding immortals.
"...I'm at the Halloween party. No, I'm not slacking off in my classes. Mrs. Allenson says I'm getting a four point five in Divine History."
/> Wendy's words floated out of the bathroom, rising and falling in pitch. Distress stretched out every syllable and painted her words yellow and red. Something in my chest shriveled.
"Yes, I'm still top of the class. No, I'm not letting that girl cut in front of me. Mom, when are you going to stop this?" A pause. "I can't change schools now. You know that. You got sorted into Cursed, too. That's nothing we can help."
Then a very heavy pause fell over the bathroom.
If I listened close enough, I could hear enraged screaming coming through the phone. Wendy's mother blamed her for getting sorted into Cursed Academy?
I balled my fists as the barely-audible tirade continued. I was angry for Wendy. It was no wonder she worked so hard to stay on top.
And why her mother had tried to drive us into a bunch of trees.
"Just leave me alone!" A beep sounded as Wendy ended the call.
Inside the bathroom, again and again, the phone rang until Wendy turned it off.
I couldn't move. All I could do was let out the breath I'd been holding.
Ronin shrugged far down the corridor like he was asking what was going on. Silence dragged out from the bathroom until Wendy sighed and turned on a faucet. The prospect of going inside terrified me. If I caught her crying, she'd never let me leave the bathroom alive.
But I had to try. And hope she wasn't actually crying.
Heart racing, I pushed open the door, pretending I just really had to pee.
Wendy leaned over a sink, staring into its depths as if it could swallow her. No tears spilled, but she tensed like it was taking every ounce of her strength to hold them back. That was a relief. But as I walked in, she released the porcelain edges and faced me, jaw falling, lifting one eyebrow. "Giselle?"
Rats. "How did you know it was me?" I motioned to push open a stall door even though I didn't have to go. At least, not yet.
"You were dancing with Ronin," she said. Her words were flat. Neutral. Like a blank easel. "You know, you could have worn something sexier. Lucky."
Wendy isn't trying to kill me. Sure, I sensed she was just trying to cover her moment of weakness, but I was still alive. But she'd still added a knife to lucky.
"Well, this is what my friends got me," I said. We were having an actual conversation. "I...I just heard you yelling a second ago. Everything okay? Family can be a real pain. You know, I had a fake grandma once and she was horrible."
I waited for Wendy to lift her hand, manifest that green energy, and throw it at me, but she gripped the sink again. "What did you hear?" Her pupils widened.
"You yelling about your grades, and saying whoever you were yelling at had gone to Cursed, too. Geez. Is your family mad you didn't get sorted into Olympian?" I was stepping way out of my bounds. "That's stupid."
Her expression softened just a little, but hardened again as she wagged her finger. "That's my business. And if you tell anyone, then the truce is off. Do you hear?"
"I hear." I swallowed. This was dangerous territory. "I've been looking for ways to get into Olympian, but we've come up blank so far. If I stay here, I'm going to turn into something really dark. But if I get into Olympian, I have a chance. If you, um, happen to know anything about vows made on the River Styx and how to break them, that would be great, and we might even help you change schools, too. Oh, and if you could get us some of that asphodel so me and my friends can slow down our changes, that would be great, too." I sounded like a terrified child asking for a swimming pool, a new home entertainment system, and a new car to boot. Then I shrunk back, drawing a confused look from Wendy.
I was a dark immortal in the making, shrinking away from some puny Hades descendant.
She furrowed her brows. "You think you could reach the River Lethe?"
"Huh?"
"Well, anything that can make someone just forget about a certain oath could get our marks removed, couldn't it?" An evil grin spread across Wendy's face.
I took a second to realize what Wendy was saying. "You're saying we could make Prometheus drink the water from the river, nuke his memory, and then convince him to remove our marks?"
"Ding, ding," Wendy said. "We have a winner. Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. It wouldn't be easy to trick him and his punishment for breaking the oath wouldn't be nice at all, but I'm willing to help out. Sure, I come from Hades, but even I couldn't get that far into the Underworld by myself. But with your weird Chaos powers that Prometheus told me about, that might be possible. And if you can keep this a secret, just you and me, then you've got yourself a deal."
Chapter Nine
How could I keep this information away from my friends?
The short conversation with Wendy festered inside of me for the next several weeks. I'd had to tell Ronin and the others that Wendy had gone postal on me in the bathroom when I overheard her and her mom arguing, and nothing else. Maria, despite the fact that she and Teddy were now openly dating, now walked around with a dullness in her eyes I'd never seen before. Her hope that she could hold off her monstrous changes for several more years was evaporating like a puddle in a scorching desert. Teddy, though he was funny and cute, could do nothing for Maria in that department.
"She told me what happened," Teddy said to me one day, frowning at me in the lunch line.
"Yeah. It's not good," I said, eyeing my food.
And worst of all, Ronin hadn't found a way to remove curses. The healers had no luck getting into the library since you needed a note from a god and a long-winded explanation.
But if I broke my promise to Wendy, she'd go back to being my enemy. Descendants of Hades held grudges and a broken promise was something she'd never forgive.
Wendy now would sometimes half-glare, half-grin at me during lunch when no one else was looking. She'd do it during Combat Training, too, when I was paired off with Mikey, one of the few students who didn't make me use my dark powers. It was a reminder. She was working on a time she could help out...so long as I kept my mouth shut.
I couldn't even tell Ronin, either.
He seemed to know something was up. Whenever I met him for after-school training over at Olympian, he lifted his eyebrow in a way that told me he knew I had something on my mind. Damn Ronin. He read me so well that I could hide nothing.
And he was really doing it one day in December.
"Something's going on," Ronin said, throwing a large metal disc at me. "Quick!"
My breath spiraled in front of my face as I ducked to the side, dropping Ronin's sword. Yes, I was using other peoples' birthright weapons while I trained over here, because I could, and because I was the only person alive who could feel and command the powers of others. A bit of black lightning spat from the blade as I landed in the thin layer of snow. Cold soaked through my blue robe.
"What was that?" Ronin asked as the disc landed with a loud thud. "Wow, we need to train in a bigger arena."
Yeah, since I'd developed a new side to my powers, thanks to the presence of multiple Olympian gods that day during inspections, we'd started actually training again, mostly so I could keep Zeus off Ronin's back. I sensed his father hadn't been great to him since we'd slacked off during the second half of last year. And Olympian had five small arenas scattered around campus. The one we'd chosen today wasn't big but it kept out the cold wind.
"I'm still worried about Maria and Mikey," I said, pushing myself up.
Ronin frowned. "I'm trying, Giselle, to find other ways to remove their curses." As he approached, he eyed the ground for a couple of seconds. He wasn't feeling good about this, either.
As the year dragged on, he suffered, too.
"Ronin, worst case is that they come clean to Prometheus at the end of the year," I said. "He should remove their curse then so they can at least go home."
He worked his jaw. "But what if he doesn't, and makes you agree to be cursed before he takes theirs off? So far as your princi-pal is concerned, they're going to just become monsters anyway."
That sounded like it would be goi
ng too far for Prometheus. He was desperate but not malicious. Or was he? "Then I leave campus before they talk to him and hope for the best?" I might throw up, but at least we'd changed the subject. Even if it was to something terrifying.
"Ronin. Giselle."
The air electrified, but it had nothing to do with the fact that Ronin stood just two feet away. He flinched and turned.
And faced Zeus, who stood at the edge of the small combat arena, right between two marble pillars.
"Zeus," Ronin said, ducking his head.
He bows to his father?
Zeus seemed to take up everything, when in reality he only occupied the narrow entryway between pillars. A few pale snowflakes fell around him, and despite the cold, a crack of thunder rang through the sky, low and menacing. It meant listen. I'm the strongest god. And when that happened, you listened.
At least he'd caught us doing his approved training.
Ronin glanced at me and shot me a nod.
I ducked my head, too. "Zeus." Though I'd seen him just a few times, I still wasn't sure how to greet an Olympian. My heart leapt into my throat.
The sky god stepped boldly into the arena, bringing the sense we were both about to get shocked with him. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I dared to face him, sweeping my gaze over his perfect gray suit, his black tie, and his dark, neatly trimmed beard. Zeus looked like a businessman in the modern day. At least, that was the guise he put up. Gods could change their appearances on a dime.
"I see the two of you are training again. How is that going?" he asked Ronin. Did he actually sound pleasant today?
"We sure have," Ronin said. "Giselle's coming along." He punctuated his sentence with silence, shifting leg to leg. He'd never give details, or tell Zeus how I could shoot lightning out of his birthright weapon, or that I could summon black sunlight by holding Cal's sword. Nor would he tell the god that I could make him dizzy by using the magic in a Dionysus sword, or that I'd made a row of black flowers grow when I held a dagger meant for a descendant of Demeter. Ronin still wanted me out of the spotlight. He feared this. Zeus was here to ask me something. My heart pounded.