by Holly Hook
"Almost gone," she said, eyeing my mark.
"Yes," I agreed. My heart started to race again. My fate would settle in just a week and I could barely keep the terror down or focus in class. Would Ronin really stay with me no matter what happened? For all I knew, I'd have an urge to destroy him if I matured and went to the dark side. I didn't know how immortals thought. Maybe the fact that Mrs. Ershaw said they were still people was comforting in a way.
"You're going to do fine," Natalia said. "I have a feeling you're on a right track."
We squeezed through the little hole that Natalia forged for me. The barrier tried to close around me as I hugged her from behind. "We're early today."
"I know," she said. "I have some assignments to grade and I want to get out of here early. It's Friday. Even us staff members like to go off and have fun."
"Who are you going with?"
Natalia clammed up as I let go of her and upped her pace across the arena. "Don't tell anyone, but Celestus asked me out on a date."
"Celestus!" I slapped my hand to my mouth. "But he has Nyx's magic."
Duh. Of course. Celestus had been a bit withdrawn lately, but not in a bad way. Of course it was fine for him to go out with another staff member. Weren't he and Natalia both in their early twenties now?
"What better way to get over my fears? His sister is still an issue," Natalia said, facing me and holding her finger to her lips.
"I won't tell." This was one secret I didn't mind holding. At least it was a happy one.
We made it back into the school, and I happily headed up to my dorm since I wanted to change into something better for Friday night. I wasn't sure what Ronin had planned, but I wanted to have that last outing before things potentially hit the fan.
Maria waited for me when I reached the top of the steps.
"Maria?" My heart sank, not because my friend was standing there, but that she was standing there, one shoulder against the wall, with that serious frown that told me something was up.
"Someone trashed Wendy's room." She peeled herself from my door and waved me back down the hall.
"Huh?"
"And it wasn't just Serena," Maria said. "Last night, Hades imposed a new rule."
I swallowed. I had been over at Olympian Academy, having gone right after classes and before dinner. Hades would have made the announcement right after I left. He might have seen that I was missing.
And the rule must have been severe if someone had destroyed Wendy's room.
"What did he do now?" I struggled to sound like I wasn't terrified.
"He sent us all a letter. Well, he had the office aide send us a letter. Under our doors," Maria said. "Callous, like he didn't want to fess up. Zeus gave him the go ahead to go visit his wife now that she's back in the surface world. He took it. But he just left us here to sit. He won't be back until our final exams."
"Hades just left?"
"He made the rules a lot tighter in his absence," Maria said, eyes shining.
"How much tighter can they get?"
Maria pulled a yellowed note out of her robe pocket on the way down the next flight of steps. Wendy's room was still on the first floor despite the fact that she was a now a third year. Maria handed me the aging paper, which might actually be new but affected by the dark god's sinister magic.
Shining black ink read,
I am leaving campus to visit with my wife, Persephone, and will return on the day of final exams. During this time, no students or staff are to leave the Cursed Academy campus. Beds and extra clothing are provided for staff.
I swallowed, heavy guilt settling in my chest. I knew why Zeus had given him permission to see his wife and it was so Hades wouldn't have time to mark me and make me go dark. And this was Hades's way of making sure the opposite didn't happen. "Is this me?"
"Probably," Maria said, reaching the first floor landing. "He just wants to have control while he's gone. Maybe it's to spite Zeus without directly spiting Zeus. Olympian needs its staff members and now several of them are stuck over here. And Mikey. He's going to struggle. The only good thing is that this only lasts a week and will lift when finals are over."
"When the dance is supposed to happen," I said, eyeing a small poster on the wall. End of Year Dance. The venue we always used, that sporting place outside of Marchamp, was pictured, and text at the bottom of the poster still said we'd be dancing with the Olympian kids. That was a lie. The real end of year dance for the Olympian kids would be on campus this year, right in the ballroom. The posters were meant to trick Hades as much as all the other students.
"The barrier will have to lift when it's time to board the buses," Maria said.
"Unless Hades cancels the dance and makes us sit around? Wow, people must be angry."
We stopped in front of Wendy's room. "They are," Maria whispered.
When Maria had said Wendy's room was trashed, I'd expected clothes strewn everywhere and maybe some things knocked over. Yes, black clothes were strewn all over the floor, including skirts, but every article of clothing was also ripped. Paint had splattered the walls, probably stolen from one of the art rooms, and a silky substance that looked like spider webbing held Wendy's bed to the floor. Claw marks raked patterns in the walls and paint. The dresser itself had been smashed from the top, drawers split in half, and more ruined clothes had toppled out. I hadn't realized how much clothing Wendy had in her arsenal, and now it was gone. Ruined.
"Wendy," I blurted.
She stood in the center of it all, frozen, back to us like she wasn't sure what she was seeing. She wore her green third year robe, which was intact, so she must not have been in the room when this happened.
"Wendy," I repeated.
She whirled. "What?"
I jumped at her snap even though I knew she couldn't help it. I'd snap if someone did this to my room, too. It looked as if a bunch of matured fourth years had descended on the place, doing their worst. Monster fourth years. If any god descendants had wrought destruction, I couldn't tell.
"I can't believe they think this new rule is your fault."
"Well, I shouldn't have gone for a walk last night," she said. "Then I could have held them back and out of my dorm." She stepped over her smashed skull lamp, shaking as her sword gave off that dreadful thrum. "If I knew who did this...well, there's no rule against killing other students if it's an accident. At least that's one good thing about Hades being in charge. Lovesick asshole. He did this to get revenge on me."
"Zeus gave him permission to go so he wouldn't mark me before the dance," I said. "This is partly my fault. The gods don't know exactly when are marks will be gone."
"Trust me. Hades can hold some grudges because I'm like him." Wendy's gaze met mine and the golden flecks in her eyes shone with anger. "Once I get some revenge for this I'm getting out of here and I don't care what it takes." She trembled like she'd snap at any moment.
I swallowed. "None of us can leave campus. You can enter if you're with staff, but you can't leave. Even Natalia's trapped now. And crap. She probably doesn't know it yet."
"She'll find out," Maria said.
I wouldn't see Ronin for a week. At least. That meant Cursed Academy would subject me to its atmosphere twenty four seven. Why hadn't Natalia sensed something was wrong before we crossed the barrier? Before she said I'd be okay? For an oracle, she wasn't very useful. More guilt blew up in my chest at the thought and I swallowed. "We have to figure out what to do."
Wendy paced around her room, then stopped and poked at the spider web with her sword. Even under the blade, it didn't want to give way. The silk was incredibly strong. It might take days to clean this up.
"I've got to get out of here," Wendy muttered, deflating.
I got the sense she hadn't meant that for our ears. That she didn't want to let us know she was scared. "Wendy, stick with us. We're all in trouble. All we have to do is make it through another week." Even Maria was getting close to maturing. Lately, her strength had been growing in Combat Training.
/> "We can lend you some clothes," Maria said. "They might not be your style, but Giselle can store them in her dorm. Stay there overnight, too. I might do the same."
Wendy screwed up her face. She wanted to keep up her tough mask, but her eyes told her inner story, and she felt just as helpless as I did. The only way we were going to make it through the week was together. By staying beside Wendy, Maria, Mikey and I would also be at the bottom of the social ladder. And there was strength in numbers.
"A lot of fourth year parties got ruined by the ban," Wendy said. "The fourth years were planning to have a wild time off campus before they go out into the real world. Now they think I ruined that."
"Then they're stupid," Maria said. "Come on. We're among third years. It might not be that bad."
Chapter Twelve
It turned out to be that bad. Glares assaulted us not just from the fourth years' table, but from the second and third years as well. Word had of course spread through the school that Wendy was the only Hades descendant in the place. And since we hung out with her, we were the same in everyone's book.
Mikey tried to keep his head down as we ate breakfast. So did I. Whenever I spotted the attention, the cold in my limbs deepened, begging me to destroy some people. So did the low groan in my head. By now, the sensations and sounds had turned into my normal, and I could ignore them if I wanted, but the moment I let any anger surge into my chest, my magic reminded me it was there. And every time it did, I felt like I stood on a cliff looking down into the void itself. All I had to do was jump.
"Don't watch anyone," Maria said to all of us.
"Can't help it. I want to kill," Wendy said. "There are three spider shifters in the fourth years' class. Two werewolves. One lion shifter."
"Ted wouldn't claw up your room," Maria said. "We don't know who did it. Maybe it was just a few people." Worry lines formed around her eyes. She was too young for that.
Max walked in and got some food, then did a full military walk out of the dining hall. I saw the tension in his shoulders. He, too, was stuck, because he never came to the dining hall to get his lunch. From what I understood, Max lived on super healthy breakfasts and protein packs, not pancakes.
"Don't kill," I told Wendy.
She went quiet and retreated into her own thoughts as she ate. Mikey and I exchanged glances. Though the blue tint hadn't returned to his skin--maybe he'd just seen Cal last night--a look of worry bloomed in his eyes. But he flicked his gaze to Wendy.
Something didn't seem right. She'd lost her sense of humor, but the way she studied her food as she ate rather than the rest of the dining hall worried me. We needed to keep an eye on her.
* * * * *
At least I had all my classes with Wendy, though Maria and Mikey weren't with us in Advanced Magic and Career Exploration. Serena was also in those classes, and to my shock, she didn't act any different around Wendy today than she had. I'd been wondering if she'd led the charge on Wendy's room, but Serena acted as if she wasn't aware. She hung out with Tiffany, her new friend, at lunch. In a way, that unnerved me. Wendy was gaining more and more enemies the longer she stayed here. And soon, more than just a trashed room might follow, especially if monsters attacked as a group. After all, Maria and Mikey had told me that monsters learned to fight together while god descendants learned to function alone.
I invited Wendy up to my dorm that night, and Maria and Mikey joined us with sleeping bags. Maria had brought one for Wendy, and we spent the night behind my locked door, watching funny movies on Maria's laptop. I texted Ronin, because that was all I could do, and we exchanged messages for most of that night while I laid on my stomach, on the floor, before the computer.
Hey, Babe. This sucks.
Hold on. That's all we can do.
In a week, we'll have matching marks.
Ronin was doing his best. I couldn't imagine the pain he was going through right now. Or was he? I prayed he was doing better, but texts were hard to gain much meaning from. All Ronin had to do was hide his inner storm with smileys. He could only give me words to hold onto.
But there was still hope.
I told myself over and over, and even though cold fingers tried to pull me downward, I grabbed on as I drifted off to sleep and to the strange images dancing behind my eyelids. The next day passed much the same, and the next, and by the time Friday crept closer, my heart raced constantly.
Despite my contacts, I knew the moment was coming down. I popped them out every time I was in the girls' bathroom, provided I was alone, and checked my irises. The purple flecks still shone there, mysterious and threatening, and I quickly popped the contacts back in despite my itchy, irritated eyes. These were meant for parties, not to be worn all the time, and even my quickly healing body was getting sick of them. The cold and the noise begged me to give in already.
But I couldn't. Not yet. I only had to wait a few more days. I could make it and so could my friends.
But there were too many ifs.
But Hades, true to his word, returned to Cursed Academy on the day of final exams. My heart raced as he swept into the dining hall and to the front, still dressed in his black robe and without an ounce of regret. Clearing his throat, he let a wave of dread settle over the room, leaving it cold despite the June heat.
"Students," he announced. "Today are your final exams. Do not disappoint me or your instructors. Tomorrow, you will be transported by bus to the end of year dance, where you will mingle with the Olympian Academy students."
So he didn't know about Zeus's plan to cancel that last second. That was good.
And the barrier would still come down.
I resisted holding up my arm to check my mark again, which I had that morning. The last thing I needed was the dark god himself seeing us checking.
"We're almost out of here," Maria squealed as we walked to Divine History 3. That one, ironically, would be the least terrifying exam despite having the most terrifying teacher. I wasn't worried about my other exams since Max would have me sit out. Using my magic now would tip me over the final cliff. "The barrier will have to open for the buses."
For Mrs. Allenson's exam, I was the least nervous and had spent hours studying to distract myself from the fact that I now had purple flecks in my eyes and a cold sensation throughout my body. I was probably weeks from maturing at the most. Weeks. To distract myself further, I dove into the test, purposely slowing down on the answers just so I wouldn't have to think about what was happening to me and everyone else. Or the fact that I'd have probably minutes to sneak over to the Olympian end of year party.
"You aced that exam," Maria said with a grin. "We all did, I think. Now, Mikey and I are off the Strategy."
"Advanced Magic," Wendy said. This was the part of the day where we had to split.
"Well, one more day," I said, hating that Maria and Mikey looked so happy. Zeus had left a loophole in their admission conditions and no one had really talked about it. We still didn't know what he meant when he said they had to continue to prove themselves. But I also didn't want to pop their bubbles.
"Maybe," Wendy said.
At least she was realistic.
Mrs. Ershaw had us split into groups and invoke the magic of the gods for our final exam. "Since the moon is waxing and nearly full, this is an excellent time to work positive, constructive magic." Wendy and I were assigned to invoke the power of Apollo, which was one of the few times in Cursed Academy I could feel light inside. We held hands in the circle with the others, chanting words that made no sense and staring at Apollo's lyre symbol on the floor until a faint feeling of light rushed into my body. I couldn't help but wonder if she was helping me or if Max and Natalia had put in a word with her.
"Very good," she said, clapping. "Passing grades for all. Good luck with Combat Training."
Still with the sense of light, I went to lunch with Wendy, where we re-joined Maria and Mikey. Both were still on cloud nine, grinning as they ate their lunches. Mikey pointed to an end of year danc
e poster with his fork.
"See?" he asked me. "Hades still doesn't know that Zeus has changed the location of the end of year dance for the Olympian kids."
"What if the barrier stays up until the buses leave?" I asked. "And they don't leave until there's a head count?"
"Bus drivers are hired from the city. They're always normal people," Maria said. "Yeah, it's not safe, but Cursed Academy doesn't have a huge budget and they can't hire Olympian Guards to drive us. They're relying on security at the venue. Hades will have to remove the barrier to let them in. And even gods can only use so much magic at once."
"I know. Mrs. Allenson mentioned that," I said.
"So we're going to be fine," Maria said, leaning across the table at me.
"I hope so."
Wendy shifted in her seat. "Well, two more exams."
At least she was rightfully nervous. "What's bothering you? Is it what Zeus said?"
"So much rides on whether or not we do this right," Wendy said, spearing her green beans.
"No kidding." Mikey gripped the table in sudden panic as his skin turned the faintest shade of blue.
I rose from the table, cold panic spreading through my limbs. "Mikey!"
He breathed out. "I need Cal."
My mind went back to the ritual we'd done in Advanced Magic. "Mrs. Ershaw won't mind if we use her classroom," I said. "Up. Now. Maria, you need to come, too. I think I remember the chant."
Wendy shoved her tray away. "If the door's locked, we break it down. You just need to last a couple more days, Mikey." She patted him on the arm as he grimaced.
It was the warmest gesture I'd seen Wendy give to anyone. We ran to Mrs. Ershaw's classroom, which was open but empty at lunchtime. Mikey was still faintly blue, and I shoved him down in front of the rug. There was no time to explain.
"What do we do?" Mikey asked.
"Just grab hands," I said. "Say what Wendy and I say. Hurry. You too, Maria. I know you've always wanted to do magic."