by Holly Hook
"Giselle, how do you feel you are doing?"
The god turned all his attention to me and slowly approached. The electricity made my arm hairs stand on end, too. I sensed Ronin watching me, waiting for my answer.
"Fine," I said. "I, um, can shoot black lightning out of Ronin's sword when I touch it. It's cool."
And then Zeus stopped, just five feet away from us, and smiled. "So my son listened. You should be over here, training all day instead of just in the evenings. I'm doing the best I can to see you to your full potential, provided you stay on the right path." He emphasized that last part. "That's why I wanted to talk to you about some possible career shadowing today."
"Huh?" A shudder ran down my spine and I didn't know why. Career shadowing?
"Do you think someone with powers as unique as your own is destined for something simple?" Zeus asked with a smile. "You have a different future than the other students of Cursed Academy. In fact, you have a different future than most of those who attend Olympian Academy. I suspect you're a budding immortal. Therefore, I wanted to offer you this opportunity. It's likely you'll work beside one of the Olympians when you graduate. We'll make sure of that. But this is only if you continue your training with Ronin and stay out of a dark path." He turned his stare on his son. "Ronin, you are responsible for making sure Giselle does not become anything...detrimental to the system the Olympians have made."
"I've been making sure of that, sir." Ronin once again bowed his head.
"He has," I added. It was the truth. The fake dagger, letting me slack off when he could in Combat Training, enlisting Natalia's help...everything. Without them I would have slipped into the dark already. And Zeus had been mad at him for letting his grades slip late last year?
The thought of being Ronin's responsibility was, well, heavy.
"Then you can begin career shadowing by touring one of my facilities and getting used to the environment," Zeus said, turning his back to Ronin. "You are perhaps the only second year given this opportunity. I suggest you do not pass up this gift."
Tour one of Zeus's facilities? "So, I'm going to get to meet all the gods?"
Zeus winked. "Eventually."
Air seemed to fill my chest. The gods had taken notice of my display and now things were moving in the right direction. The more that happened, the less it looked like I was going to go dark.
But behind Zeus, Ronin let out his breath and deflated like he'd lost someone all over again.
Chapter Ten
"Ronin, it's going to be fine," I said about ten minutes after Zeus left us. "It's just a tour."
"He's trying to groom you to be like his ultra guard or something," Ronin said. "He knows you can take the powers of others and use them, if you mature into what they want. They're just going to want to use you." He paced around the arena.
"But I need this." I picked up Ronin's birthright weapon, his shining, silvery sword, which instantly sent electricity up my arm and into my chest. It tempted me to grab onto it, to make it my own, but I had no target. So I breathed out and held back.
"I know you do. But Zeus wants you to tour one of his facilities." Ronin approached, eyes dead serious. "The Lower Order targets Zeus's power plants more than anything else. Not to mention, the gods are not easy people."
"I'm going to be like them eventually. So I'll need to learn, right?" Maria and Mikey would tell me to go already, to take the tour and see how the other half lived. "And I just might learn something, too." Could I get up the guts to talk to Zeus about this Division Oath thing?
Maybe even ask him if he could remove the curse from Maria and Mikey? He had to be stronger than Prometheus, hands down. I'd never heard of Zeus removing curses, but it was clear that Divine History had a lot in it they didn't teach us in class.
"Well, yes. I just want to warn you." Ronin sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I know you can't say no to Zeus. I wouldn't. And I'm sorry. Maria's right that I'm an alpha male and I've got to be the protector. Next I just need to howl."
"I have to tell Maria and Mikey," I said. "Maybe they'll have some ideas. Though I haven't seen Mikey much."
Ronin grinned. "Him and Cal will elope any day now. You watch."
"But Mikey can't leave campus. And do you think they're together yet?" I'd seen Cal in the main building of Cursed Academy, sometimes talking to Teddy, sometimes walking in with Ronin.
"Don't know. Cal's been a bit reclusive," Ronin said. "He never does that. But last time he vanished from here, he went with me to get your fake dagger made. And speaking of dating..."
Ronin wrapped me in his arms, kissing my forehead, working down to the bridge of my nose and finally to my lips. I dropped the sword as Ronin's energy coursed through my body, filling my chest with hope and protection. I breathed in Ronin's kiss, fresh and vibrant, knowing full well what he was telling me.
Be careful out there.
"Mmm," I managed.
He gripped the back of my robe, working his fingers into my skin, drawing new lightning bolts with his touch. Parts of my body tingled in ways that told me I wanted more from Ronin. That I wanted to take things to the next level and it would be the most amazing thing ever. I was just about seventeen and Ronin was less than a year older. Soon we might--
But then he released me.
"Giselle, take that with you and don't get yourself in trouble," he said with a grin.
How could I say no? "I sure will."
* * * * *
I helped Ronin clean up the weapons I'd been using, hauling them back to the shed, and we parted as the sun set. His kiss and touch lingered, making the world snap into sharper colors, and pale snowflakes tumbled down as I took the concrete path back towards Cursed Academy. My breath spiraled in front of my face as I approached our mutual arena.
And then underbrush rustled to my right.
I whirled, managing to keep my balance.
"Wendy."
She emerged from the woods, a long black coat over her blue robe. The gold flecks in her eyes glimmered in the pale light as she exhaled a long breath. Vapor formed between us as she surveyed me. Tonight, she wore black lipstick, not red, and her hair was down over her ears.
"Serena is in bed with a migraine. I might have slipped her one of her headache triggers," Wendy said with a nasty grin. "Turns out she doesn't react well to wine."
She'd given her own friend a migraine?
My stomach turned--I'd had a few in my lifetime--but I swallowed, trying to pretend the dread emanating from her didn't bother me. "So, you've been trailing me?"
"Well, duh. I haven't had the chance to talk to you about anything yet. I heard what Zeus said." She let those words hang.
"What about it?" I tried to sound cool but my pulse raced in my throat. "He's making me career shadow."
Wendy nodded. "I overheard from my mother once that the gods keep copies of the Division Oath in their facilities. A framed paper with all the legal details. Yeah, they wrote the Oath before sealing it with water from the River Styx. My mother's seen one. And if you managed to get a picture of one, we could look over the details and look for a loophole." Wendy held up her arm, letting her sleeves tumble down. Prometheus's mark shined on her forearm just as it did mine, which burned the tiniest bit as I thought of it. "Then if we get to the River Lethe and feed the water to one of the immortals, we could exploit the loophole."
I checked the trail to make sure no one else was approaching from the arena. Check. "That sounds easy enough."
"Well, I heard they keep copies of the Oath in their offices," Wendy said. "You can't find them online. I've tried, believe me. And this tells me there must be a loophole."
So had Maria, but I didn't tell her that. Hope rose into my chest. "I'll do it. And then you need to help us get past Cerberus when we go to the Underworld. You can do that, right? He might let you through."
"Cerberus tried to stop you from getting in? Usually he just stops the dead from getting out."
"Yes. Guess he did
n't like us."
Wendy screwed up her face. "I'm not sure how I'd placate him, but if he senses who I am, he might go easy on us. I'll have to think about it."
It was better than nothing. "Zeus wants me to tour the Marchamp Power Plant on Thursday. So, break into his office. No big deal."
I had already done worse than breaking into someone's office but I was sure that the strongest Olympian of them all would have some sort of magical protection on his personal space, even if he wasn't there, and it would go off on me as soon as I tried anything. Did I really need to take a picture of the Division Oath?
Yes.
Not only could I get myself out of Cursed if Wendy and I found a loophole, I could convince Prometheus to remove Mikey and Maria's curse if all went well. This was our best shot. Plus Ronin had once again failed to find a fix, and I could tell it was eating him.
"No big deal. Oh, and you might need to take a decoy phone in with you. They confiscate everything when you go into a god's facility. I'll slide one under your door." Wendy walked ahead of me, heading back to the main Cursed Academy building as she crossed the shared arena. It was clear we were done talking. I followed far behind, trying to look as if we'd never spoken, but no one was out here in this cold. It tended to keep even the night people inside. Prometheus looked to be way back in his house, because the faint lights were shining back in the trees, but I still cut through the woods to avoid detection. So far as I knew, he still didn't know about these secret training sessions with Zeus.
I cut through the boys' dorms, since that wasn't expected of me, and the guards who stood around that entrance were usually off having smoke breaks or off chasing the rabbits in the woods. The dorms were quiet except for some loud music blasting out of a corner one and a bunch of chatter, both boys and girls. A bunch of third years in green robes occupied the dorm, squeezing in for a party since the weather didn't allow.
And Mikey's door was open farther down the hall.
I found him and Cal both sitting on his bed, facing a laptop that displayed something that looked like a bunch of sound waves. Music. And books were lying everywhere, too.
“Mikey,” I said, spreading my arms across the door. “You need to hide those.”
He jumped, blushing as he faced me. As if I didn't know what was going on. “These?” He picked up an old, green book titled Myths of Tragedy.
“Looks like uplifting reading,” I said. It was one of the books stolen from the library.
“We were looking at a myth about a guy called Orpheus,” Mikey said. “Musician. He tried to rescue his dead wife from the Underworld and didn't succeed. And yeah, this is one of the stolen books. Mrs. Allenson hasn't taught us this myth yet.”
Figured Cal and Mikey would find it interesting.
Cal slowly turned to face me. “Oh. We've been working on getting some beats down. Listen.” He hit the play button and a catchy techno beat blasted out of his computer. It sounded good. Professional grade. I tapped my foot. “Did you both come up with that?”
“Well, Mikey helped. A little,” Cal said.
Mikey slapped him on the arm. “I came up with the middle part. Here it comes.”
The electronic beats reached a peak. Yeah. Turned out both Mikey and Cal were talented. “You need to make an album for sure.”
“We've put this song out on Sound City,” Cal said. “We've already had two thousand listens in the first week. I think we have a market here. The song's called Prison of Ghosts.”
I wanted to tell them about my plan to take a picture of the Division Oath. Mikey's own Prometheus mark shone on his arm, which was bare. He'd rolled up his sleeves. Maybe I could free him, too.
But I didn't.
Because then I'd have to tell them that Wendy had given me this information.
“That's great,” I managed at last.
“I'm supposed to add my voice, but I can't get to the studio yet,” Mikey said with a frown. “This curse sucks. But maybe this summer, if we ask at the butt end of the year for it to be removed.”
I didn't have the heart to tell him that Prometheus might force me to take the curse in order to liberate my friends. I knew what would happen. Maria would keep sacrificing herself. And Mikey would go along with her.
“Maybe summer,” I agreed.
I left Cal and Mikey to Prison of Ghosts and headed back up to my dorm.
* * * * *
Serena didn't come down to breakfast the next day. Clearly she was still sick. Wendy and Percival did, though. My stomach turned at the sight of Wendy. I hated that I needed her. I hated Cerberus. And I hated that I had to stay silent.
“You know, a lot of people are going home for Christmas,” Mikey said.
“Not us.” Maria picked at her food.
“I know not us. But we'll make the best of it.”
“Why don't you two just go to Prometheus right now and tell him all three of us got cursed?” I asked. “Here's the story. I grabbed onto Maria at the same time as Mikey and we all got zapped. You two just realized that you're cursed as you tried to go off campus to go home for the holidays.” Prometheus had enough soul to want people to go home for the holidays, right?
“We can't do that,” Maria said, fixing me in her stare.
“Yes you can. Right now. I'm tired of seeing you two have to suffer.”
“I told my mom what happened, and she's going to visit me here,” Maria said. Was she telling the truth?
“And my dad knows what happened, too. He says to stay put and that he's coming to me, too. Family is allowed to visit.” Mikey made it sound like this wasn't a big deal.
But it was.
“At least your parents understand.” I knew what was coming.
Maria shifted. “If we blurt a word, the principal is going to know you might not be cursed. You know this, too. Now stop.” Maria lifted her plastic fork like she wanted to stab me, but she grinned.
I was going to go on tour today, under Wendy's threat. If I failed to get the Division Oath on my phone, then what? I'd have to wait, and waiting was the last thing I wanted to do.
Classes dragged by that day, going too slow and too fast at the same time. Nerves made the clock do weird things. Natalia led us through Magical Meditation, in which we held our birthright weapons while we sat cross-legged on our mats, me over on one side of the room. And though I held the fake Chaos Dagger, the groaning darkness still coursed through my arms, threatening to consume my being as Natalia spoke.
“Your weapon is an extension of you,” she said to the tune of the soft music. “Feel it merge with your body. Connect with your energy. Let it grow.”
I wished she would stop. The low groan filled the space between my ears. I was darkness. Yes, I held the fake, but the meditation was so good that I couldn't help but let Chaos rise to the surface.
“Now channel it into your weapon. Breathe out.”
I did without realizing it, and the low groan turned to a high whine, outside of me, as the void burst to life.
I snapped my eyes open, breathing in, trying to draw the power back like Natalia always told us to do when we got scared. It didn't work. Right above my dagger, a round, black hole spun, full of something blacker than black, and people woke from their trances and stared at the nightmare I'd made. The same void filled me, growing, and Wendy and I made eye contact. Serena glared while Percival shifted back. Sarah gasped. The other students stilled and stared.
“Giselle,” Natalia said, eyeing the growing black hole. “Breathe in. Close that if you're scared.” She was scared.
I breathed in, but the darkness within me was already going out of control. Stupid nerves. Stupid fear. The void fed on it, and the hole sucked in dust bunnies. Stay hairs. Even a couple of small papers on the floor. Purple flashes followed as garbage snapped out of existence.
I couldn't close it. I'd been holding back the power for too long. My hand turned gray. Cracked and riddled with the void itself. Death spread up my arm.
"Giselle!" Na
talia shouted. But she could do nothing.
And Wendy rose with a disgusted sigh. “You idiot!”
She pointed her sword, her birthright weapon, at me. Natalia reached for her, but it was too late.
A green light exploded at me, and I snapped out of the darkness's grasp just in time for hordes of ghostly faces to slam into me, throwing me back into the wall. Pain exploded in the back of my head as my vision snapped to yellows and greens. I blinked the spots away to find Natalia running over to me, with Wendy and the other few students of Magical Meditation standing there, stunned.
Wendy had never done anything this amazing before.
“What happened?” Natalia mouthed, leaning down.
"Um." The ceiling tilted. I seethed, begging my throbbing head to stop. Things like this happened in Magical Meditation—peoples' magic exploded at times—but this was the first time it happened to me.
Guilt riddled Natalia's features. She bit her lip, holding it back. "I didn't mean to have this happen."
I lifted my head. Behind her, Wendy lowered her sword.
She'd just stopped the void from getting worse. And called me an idiot. I felt like one. Breathe in. Super easy, and I couldn't manage that.
At least, not here.
Natalia hesitated, leaning over me, and slowly held out her hand.
“Get up.” A question burned in her words.
I took her hand. At least mine stayed normal. Without Wendy, I might have--
Wendy turned away from us and whispered something in Serena's ear. Serena grinned. I felt like a joke, too.
And more sickness exploded in my gut. We were not friends. Not even close. We just had a mutual goal. When this was all over, we might become mortal enemies again.
I'd been hoping for a change.
Stupid.
Natalia looked down at my fake dagger.
Held out her hand.
And like some meek girl, I sat up and surrendered it, even though it had nothing to do with my power exploding. I knew what had. I'd felt the low groan building inside me for a while, ever since starting the new school year, and it reached a critical point. Was it still there, waiting in the background?