I crossed my legs away from Blake and looked at the Book. “So, what’s in the Book?” I asked, resisting the urge to reach forward and open it myself.
“Before we get to that, we need to talk about what the harpy said to you.” Darius looked at Danielle and nodded once. “What were her exact words again?”
“I don’t remember her exact words,” Danielle said. “But she said that Typhon was rising, and that he needed to ‘return to his true form.’ And …” She narrowed her eyes at me. “She called Nicole a demigod.”
“Aren’t we all demigods?” I asked. “We’re descended from the Greek gods.”
“We’re witches,” Danielle clarified. “The diluted god blood in our veins enables us to access energy to perform magic. But each generation gets weaker if the god blood is mixed with human blood, until the ability to do magic disappears completely. If we keep our blood pure, the magic we pass down will stay strong. That’s why we’re encouraged to marry other witches and not spend much time with humans. But a demigod is the direct offspring of a god and a mortal. Half god, half human. It’s different.”
“So if I’m a demigod, then one of my parents would have to be …” I trailed off, unable to say it out loud.
“One of your parents would have to be a god,” Blake finished my thought. “And you’ve never met your bio-dad, so it’s possible.”
“So you’re saying my bio-dad’s a god?” I looked at Darius for confirmation. He stared back at me, his eyes serious. “That’s ridiculous.” I laughed. “I didn’t develop my powers, or even know about them, until I got here. If I were a demigod—” I paused, shaking my head at the word. “I would have realized it earlier. Right?”
“The Head Elders block the powers of a demigod until they’re ready to use them, or until their powers strengthen enough to overcome the spell,” Darius said, his gaze unwavering. “To keep the young demigods safe, the Head Elders don’t tell anyone outside of their inner circle about who they are. The birth of a demigod is uncommon nowadays, since the gods don’t come to Earth as often, but it happens. Blocking their powers lowers the risk of a young demigod losing control and seriously injuring people without meaning to. Let’s go back to how you accidentally blew up that glass the other day.” He paused, and I pictured the moment. “Now imagine a two-year-old demigod having a temper tantrum. It’s safer for you to not know about your powers until you’re mature enough to control them.”
“So let’s say the harpy was right and I am a demigod,” I said. “That would mean you must have some idea who my father is. Right?”
Darius nodded, a smile creeping up on his lips. “I’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “You’re a fantastic tennis player, which means you have good aim. Your friends tell me that you get intuitions about things, and that those intuitions are usually right. Your special ability is healing. I looked up your mother on the Internet because I was curious to see which god might have been attracted to her, and found that she’s a singer and an artist. Which would likely bring her attention from …” He looked around and waited for one of the others to complete the sentence, like we were in class instead of talking in his living room.
“Apollo,” Kate finished, her mouth wide open. “You’re the daughter of Apollo.”
I thought about the little bit of Greek mythology I’d learned during the past few days. “The god of the sun?” I asked.
“Among many other things.” Kate leaned forward and explained, “Apollo’s mainly the god of healing, archery, music, the arts, and prophecy.”
“Healing makes sense,” I said, sitting back in the couch. “Archery could explain why I have good aim.” I flashed back to the fight with the hound and how easy it had been for me to shoot the monkey bar through its heart. “I’ve always liked music. I’ve taught myself a bit of guitar, but I’ve never taken a lesson.”
“You should try,” Chris said. “Maybe you’ll be the next Hendrix.” He played a few notes on air-guitar, breaking some of the tension in the room and making everyone laugh.
“Okay,” I agreed. “But is there any way to prove this? I’m going to have a tough time believing it without any proof.”
Darius shook his head. “It’s only a theory. We may or may not get proof in the future, but as of now, everything is pointing in the direction of you being a demigod.”
“So I’m a demigod.” It sounded ridiculous when said aloud. “Let’s say that you’re right. Is there some kind of rule that gods can’t visit their kids? Because I’ve never met my bio-dad. It would’ve been nice to have him in my life growing up, and he’s immortal, so he must have had time. Does he even care that he has a kid?”
“The gods are busy,” Darius said with a sigh. “It’s not that they don’t care—”
“It’s common for the gods to ignore their children,” Danielle interrupted. “The only way for a demigod to get a god’s attention is to do something spectacular, like Perseus who slayed Medusa or Hercules who killed some of the most dangerous monsters out there. I doubt that grabbing a book and killing a random harpy is going to cut it.”
I waited for Darius to say she was wrong, but he remained silent.
“Is that true?” I finally asked. “The gods ignore their kids?”
“He’s not ignoring you,” Darius said gently. “I’m sure he’s just very busy. And now there’s a war going on. Perhaps he’ll speak with you sometime in the future.”
The smug smile remained on Danielle’s face. “Doubtful,” she said. “Anyway, what’s going on with the Book of Shadows? Any change since last night?”
Darius gave me a half-hearted smile and looked back at the Book. “Not that I know of,” he said. “But I haven’t looked at it again since you first brought it over. Perhaps it will change if Nicole gives it a try. Since she was the only one who could lift it off the podium, maybe she’s the only one who can access what’s inside.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
Darius motioned towards the Book. “Look for yourself.”
I lowered myself in front of the coffee table, balancing my knees on the floor and leaning over the Book. While the plain leather cover resembled something from hundreds of years ago, there wasn’t a scratch on it. It was like it had been transported through time, never touched by human hands.
I reached for it and was surprised by how warm it was—like it was alive. The cover opened easily, and I held my breath in anticipation of what I was about to see.
A blank page stared back at me. I flipped through a few more pages, and they were all the same.
“There’s nothing in here.” I looked up at Darius, waiting for an explanation.
He sat back in his chair and focused on the Book. “Which means nothing’s changed.”
“So this Book of Shadows is supposed to help us save the world, and it’s empty,” Chris said. “How’s that helpful?”
“The gods must have a plan,” Kate said. “Otherwise, why would the prophecy lead us to the Book?”
Darius placed his hands in his lap, looking around at all of us. “All will be revealed in time,” he said. “Leave the Book of Shadows with me. If there are any changes, you five will be the first to know.”
“So we just go home?” Danielle asked.
“Yes.” Darius nodded. “I want Blake to study the book he received in his clue and start making those weapons. Judging from the trials you five just faced, they will be necessary. The rest of you should do whatever you can to help him. I’m going to devise a special training program so you all can learn to use your new powers to the best of your abilities. I need a few days to talk with the Head Elders and figure out exactly what’s going on here, and in the meantime, I put protection spells around the school and your houses to stop monsters from getting inside.”
“That creature got to Becca so easily,” I said. “Even with the protection spell up, it could have just waited for her to leave the house and gotten her then. How are we supposed to stop them?”
“By getting to
them first,” Darius said, completely serious.
My head spun with a million thoughts a second. The Book that was supposed to help us save the world was empty. The portal to Kerberos had weakened enough that monsters were escaping. And then there was the other thing the harpy had said…
“What’s a typhon?” I asked, hoping I got the name correct. “The harpy said something about a typhon. What does that mean?”
“You mean who,” Kate said, her expression grim. “Typhon is one of the most dangerous monsters out there. If he gets loose …” She paused to take a breath. “I don’t see how we can beat him. But the harpy told us that Typhon had to ‘return to his true form.’ And his true form is—”
“As tall as a mountain,” Blake interrupted, holding his hands high in the air. “With a hundred heads, vipers for legs, fire in his eyes … well, that’s an exaggeration to scare people, but basically, we don’t want to have to fight him. We won’t stand a chance.”
“Maybe we won’t have to fight him,” Chris said. “We just have to kill him before he reaches his true form.”
“And where’s his true form?” I asked.
“Zeus struck him down with lightning a long time ago and trapped him under Mount Etna, which is in Sicily, Italy,” Kate replied, her eyes lighting up at the chance to share her knowledge. “The Titans wanted to free Typhon in the Second Rebellion, since he’s the deadliest monster out there, but Zeus forced them into Kerberos before they could reach him. Then Zeus split Typhon’s soul from his body and put his soul in Kerberos, while keeping his body under the mountain. It makes it twice as hard for him to escape.” She looked down at her fingernails and shrugged. “I wish you all had more time to talk with the harpy before killing her. Maybe she could have given us more information…”
“Or she would have killed us first,” Blake interrupted. “We did the right thing by stopping her when we did.”
“Yes.” Darius nodded. “What you did was very brave. But do me a favor and don’t tell anyone yet. There’s no need to cause a panic before we know exactly what’s going on. I’ll tell the others in homeroom on a need to know basis once we have more information. Until then, stay quiet about it.”
“But the others can help us fight.” Chris leaned forward and smacked his fist into his palm. “Shouldn’t we start training as soon as possible?”
“We can only start official training when we know what we’re up against,” Darius said. “Hopefully it won’t take too long to figure it out and develop a strategy. But for now, stay focused on making those weapons and practicing your powers.”
“It makes sense to me,” Kate agreed. “What else can we do to help?”
“Go home and act like nothing’s changed,” he instructed. “Work on improving your skills.” He faced me, his expression serious. “And Nicole—I’m sure Kate has already told you that I’ve wiped your sister’s memory of everything that happened. We couldn’t risk her telling others what she saw—especially humans.”
I remembered what Becca had looked like with her wrists and ankles tied to the chair, helpless to protect herself. I was just glad that she was okay. “It’s for the best,” I told Darius. “Becca isn’t good at keeping secrets.”
“Now, I have to leave to meet with the Head Elders in DC so we can discuss the details of what’s going on.” Darius leaned forward and closed the Book. “And it’s time for you to all go home and get some rest so you’re ready for school in the morning. Until I get back, don’t go anywhere except for school and your houses—the places where the protection spells are up. As I will be out of town, there will be a substitute in for me. I’m sure you know to pretend that our homeroom is completely normal.”
Normal. I rolled my eyes. My life was anything but normal nowadays.
We said goodnight, and everyone was silent as they stood up—probably taking in everything we’d discussed. The new information was still spinning in my mind, too.
“Why don’t you let me take you home?” Blake asked me as I put on my coat. He watched me closely, and I flashed back to when he kissed me in the cave, my heart beating faster at the memory. “I’m meeting my family for a late lunch, and the restaurant is only a block from your house.”
I looked at Kate to see what she thought, since she was the one who had driven me here. She lowered her eyes, as if telling me to do whatever I wanted, and I turned back to Blake. “Okay.” I tried to keep my voice from wavering. “I guess that makes sense.”
Danielle walked over to us, swinging her keys. “I’ll see you tonight,” she said to Blake. Her voice was firm and controlled, like she was trying to hold back anger but not doing a good job. She leaned forward and kissed him, and even though he was about as responsive as a wooden board, my blood boiled just the same. “Call me when you get home.”
“Will do,” he said, and then he looked back at me with guilt in his eyes. “You ready?”
A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed to make it go away. “Yeah,” I said. “Thanks for offering to drive.”
I acted as normal as possible while saying bye to Kate and thanking her for taking care of me while I recovered. The determination in her eyes let me know that there was no way I was escaping her giving me the third degree later about what was going on between Blake and me. And I was terrible at lying, so I would have to tell her. At least I trusted that she would keep it secret.
For now, Blake and I walked towards his Range Rover in silence. He opened the door for me, and I smiled in thanks, wondering as he walked around to the driver’s side if he was going to bring up our kiss in the cave. He most likely would.
Then I would have to tell him that as long as he stayed with Danielle, nothing like that could ever happen between us again.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Blake barely looked at me as he pulled out of the driveway, and I fidgeted in my seat, glancing out the window. It seemed like it was going to be up to me to start this conversation.
“What was ‘all you could think about?’” I finally asked.
He looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed.
“You started to say that in the cave, but Danielle interrupted you before you could tell me,” I explained.
“All I could think about…” He focused on the road as he repeated the words. “When the harpy pushed you off the cliff, all I could think about was how much it would kill me if you didn’t survive the fall.” He tightened his grip around the steering wheel, and continued, “I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ve felt connected to you since I saw you walk into homeroom on your first day. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt for Danielle. Do you have the same thing? Or am I going crazy?” He glanced at me for the first time since getting in the car, the intensity in his eyes sending a wave of heat through my body.
“I do feel the same way,” I said. “But what happened in the cave … it can’t happen again.” I paused, my voice catching in my throat. “Because even if you break up with Danielle, she’s still part of our group. The five of us are bound together whether we want to be or not. If you and me are together, what if Danielle gets so angry when she finds out that she refuses to work with us? Without her, we might not be able to fight like we need to. It would put not just us, but our families, in danger. And after what that harpy did to Becca, I can’t risk that happening.”
Saying it made me feel empty inside. But I was doing the right thing.
So why didn’t it feel like it?
“We can figure it out,” he said, his knuckles white as he gripped the wheel. “We could be together in secret.”
“And have to lie to everyone?” I asked. “And constantly feel like we’re doing something wrong? I can’t do that.”
“It wouldn’t be like that forever,” he said. “Don’t say no yet. Take some time to think about it.”
“I can’t,” I said. “Especially not while you’re still with Danielle.”
“My decision hasn’t changed,” he said. “I haven’t had time to talk to Danielle
yet to let her know that it’s over between us, but I plan on doing it soon. I promise.”
We were both silent for a few seconds, and just when I was about to make some filler comment about the weather, he added, “I should have known you were a demigod from the start. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner.”
“Even Darius didn’t know,” I said. “Why would you have been able to realize it if he couldn’t?”
“Never mind.” He shook his head. “Forget I said anything.”
“You can’t do that.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Can’t do what?”
“Start saying something and stop. If you don’t want to say anything, then don’t start. It’s like the ‘not telling someone you have a secret if you don’t plan on sharing it’ rule.”
He laughed, his eyes brightening. “There’s a rule for that?”
“Yes.” I smiled and crossed my arms over my chest. “You started to say that you should have realized I was a demigod—despite the fact that even Darius doesn’t have the power to know that. Now you have to tell me what you were going to say. If you don’t, it’ll drive me crazy.”
“Maybe I want to drive you crazy.” He smirked.
Heat rose to my cheeks, and for a few seconds, I was speechless. “Come on,” I finally said. “Spill.”
“I was referring to how your powers are so strong,” he said. “I was the only one who saw when you defeated the hound at the playground. I should have thought about it and fit the pieces together. If Kate had been with you, I guarantee it would have crossed her mind.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Or maybe not. But don’t act like it was all me—the two of us defeated the hound together. And you did an amazing job with the harpy. We couldn’t have killed her without you.”
“I guess you’re right,” he said. “We do make a great team.”
“But even with our new powers, I don’t know how we’re going to do this,” I said. “We’re up against every evil creature in existence that sided with Typhon and the Titans in the Second Rebellion.”
Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows Page 19