by Kieran Scott
“Have you seen this girl? Do you know her?”
The skin on my back began to crawl. That was Apollo’s voice. They had found me.
A door banged shut, and someone cried out in pain. I had to protect Orion. A quick glance around the classroom gave us few options. We were on the second floor, so going out the window would be dangerous, and the entire space was open, with nothing but flimsy easels to hide behind. I saw the handle on the supply closet in the corner and made a snap decision.
“I’m really sorry about this,” I told Orion. Then I opened the door, flung him inside, and started across the room.
“Hey! What’re you doing?!”
The closet’s handle started to turn. There was a lock on it, of course, but I was halfway across the room. Clenching my jaw, I lifted my palm toward the handle and willed it to lock.
Nothing happened.
I tried again. The door began to open. My brain went weightless. My powers. What had happened to my powers?
Using my entire body, I slammed the door closed as hard as I could and turned the key, which Mrs. Fabrizi had carelessly left in the lock.
“True? What the hell? This isn’t funny!”
Ignoring him, I pocketed the key, darted to the classroom door, and peeked ever so carefully into the crowded, end-of-the-day hallway. My heart stopped beating. Artemis and Apollo were dressed in their battle gear. He in short pants, laced boots, and a gold breastplate, she in a short skirt, long sleeves, and a leather vest, and they also looked pissed, which was never a good thing. At least the kids in the hallway were smart enough to be cowering near the walls, staying out of their way. They were showing around a picture of me, which they’d gotten from Zeus knew where, and shoving aside anyone who refused to help them.
Every fiber of my being told me to bolt, but Orion was just twenty feet away, rattling the door and getting louder by the minute. How the hell was I supposed to protect the both of us?
“True.” Hephaestus’s voice rose up behind me. “You’re going to want to run.”
He sat in his wheelchair near my side, his fists clenched atop his knees, the tendons in his neck protruding. At that moment, Artemis turned, and her dark eyes zeroed in on me. We held each other’s gaze for a fury-filled moment as all movement around me seemed to slow. My mortal enemy. She who would as soon rip out my throat as take a breath. The goddess who coveted my love.
“True,” Hephaestus said through his teeth. “Run!”
I whirled around, adrenaline, anger, and liquid terror coursing through my veins. I had to protect Orion. I had to stay alive long enough to restore his memory and regain our love. They were, at that moment, the only objectives that mattered.
I raced back into the art room, closed the door, and shoved a heavy but low supply cabinet up against it as best I could. Orion had grown frantic in my absence. If—no, when—Artemis and Apollo got through the outer door, they would surely hear him and discover him, their prize, sitting like a caged animal.
I pressed my face against the closet door.
“Orion, listen to me,” I said desperately.
“True, what the—”
“Listen! Please!” I screeched. “There are some very dangerous people in the hallway and they’re looking for me, but they won’t hesitate to hurt you if they find you.”
“What?!?! What the hell are you talking about?”
“Please!” I cried. “Please just stay quiet until they’re gone. Please, Orion.”
“True, I don’t understand. Why are they after you?”
“Just trust me. Stay here and I’ll explain everything to you later. Okay?”
Not that I had any idea how I would do that, but I had to say something. There was a pause. “Will you be all right?”
A tear rolled down my cheek at his concern. “I’ll be fine.”
“Hephaestus?” Apollo’s voice shouted. “What in the name of Hades are you doing here?”
They were right outside the door. It was time for me to go. And the only way out was through the window. I ran to the pane farthest from the door, cranked it open, and kicked out the screen. The door opened and slammed into the metal cabinet with an earsplitting clang. I whipped around and saw Artemis’s livid face pressed into the small opening.
“You’re dead!” she shrieked.
I hardly needed more motivation than that. I hooked one leg out the window, then the other, sitting on my butt on the sill. The ground looked so very far away. I had never been afraid of heights before becoming human, but now I realized with every fiber of my being how much it would hurt if my mortal body fell that distance. Artemis slammed against the door again, and then the cabinet went over, shattering glass bottles from the shelves across the linoleum floor. There was no more time to contemplate. I turned around and slid down, hanging by my fingertips out the window, the cold steel rim along the sill cutting into my fingers. There was nothing left to do but drop.
Someone nearby screamed as my body plummeted heavily to the ground. I landed on my feet, but the pain that bolted up my legs sent me immediately sprawling onto my side. I scrambled to my knees, doing a mental check for breaks, and realized with a sigh of relief that my bones were intact. I bounced up to my feet, and ran, flying by a few curious and disturbed bystanders in the courtyard.
“Are you okay?” one pudgy girl with braces asked.
I didn’t answer. I just kept running. Only when I was about to turn the corner at the end of the building did I look back, and I saw both Artemis and Apollo leaning out the window, cursing after me. I gave them a triumphant smile and sprinted into the trees alongside the school. As I leaped over fallen branches and sloshed through muddy, leaf-filled puddles, my breathing grew ragged and I imagined Orion standing terrified inside the closet, trying not to move.
My heart suddenly seized up and I stopped running, bracing my hands over my knees. Was he okay? Had they found him? Through the trees up ahead I could see the backs of a few massive houses, the backyards and patios dotted with lawn furniture and play sets. There was no one outside, and I leaned against a towering maple tree and pulled my phone from my pocket.
It was finally becoming clear to me how these things could come in handy. I hit Hephaestus’s photo, and the phone began to ring.
“True? Thank the Gods,” he whispered harshly. There was no noise behind his voice, as if he’d slipped into a vacuum. “Are you all right?”
“For now,” I said. “Are you?”
“I managed to give Apollo a bloody lip before he got away from me,” he said giddily. “Now I’m in the back of one of the janitor’s closets. I’m gonna stay here until the coast is clear.”
“Good.” I dug my nails into the rough, wet bark of the nearest tree. “Hephaestus, I have a problem.”
“Another one?” he joked.
“My powers. They didn’t work,” I told him.
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. Someone must have bound them. Zeus . . . Hera . . .”
“Hera,” he said, then sighed. “It makes perfect sense. If your father is right and she wants to see you and Artemis do battle, she couldn’t let one of you have an unfair advantage. She might not have been able to do it if you were back home, or if you’d known it was coming, but—”
“She caught me with my guard down.” I swallowed hard. “So we’re to fight as mere mortals, then?”
“Looks that way.”
But there were two of them and one of me. Hardly a fair contest. We were silent for a moment. I didn’t want to fight Artemis and Apollo. I didn’t want to fight anyone. All I wanted was to be with my love again, to be at peace. If only my father had never found us. If only Zeus and Hera had stayed out of it. But of course they couldn’t. They were upper gods. They had to control everything.
But they couldn’t control me. I wouldn’t let them.
“I have one more favor to ask of you,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“Before you head home, could you go back into the art room and get Orion out of the supply closet?” I asked. “He’s locked inside. You might need a crowbar.”
“What?” Hephaestus blurted. “How’d you manage that?”
“I have my ways,” I murmured regretfully.
“Okay,” he said, his voice turning serious. “I’ll take care of it.”
I felt sad, suddenly, thinking of Orion. I’d missed my opportunity to spill everything, and now that I had some distance from it, I knew it would have been a mistake. I could never tell him the truth about who he was, about who we were. There was no way he’d ever understand. I was just going to have to be patient and do my job. Plus keep the both of us alive long enough for me to succeed.
I saw a flash of something from the corner of my eye and my heart hit my throat, but it was just a robin, taking flight into the trees. Even so, it was a reminder that any false security I’d felt before today had been obliterated.
“I’d better get going,” I said, gazing back in the direction of the school. “And Hephaestus?”
“Yeah?”
“When you do leave for home, make sure you’re not followed. They know where we are now,” I told him. “It’s a whole new world.”
I clicked off and darted out of the trees, putting as many mansions and play yards as I could between myself and my enemies.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Orion
WORKING ON POSTERS. R U COMING?
I stopped outside Goddess and stared at my phone. It was almost crazy how psyched Darla was about homecoming. I just didn’t get it. What was the big deal if you got to wear a plastic crown? I knew it meant you were mega popular or whatever if you won the vote, but we both knew it was a long shot. And besides, the dance was almost two weeks away. We had plenty of time.
But I still felt the tiniest bit guilty when I texted back. Not for saying no as much as for saying no and being where I was.
CAN’T TONIGHT. SRY. CALL U LATER.
I shut off my ringer and pocketed my phone. Through the windows I saw True behind the counter, handing change over to a little girl. Even though Heath had told me that she was okay, I still let out a breath. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and she wore a pink T-shirt under her brown Goddess Cupcakes apron. The silver chain hung around her neck, but I couldn’t tell whether that arrow—the one that looked exactly like the one I kept painting—still hung from it. The end was tucked under her collar.
Every time I thought about her showing me that necklace that afternoon, I got this weird tingling sensation at the back of my skull. The first time I’d painted the arrow, the assignment was to pick a symbol—any symbol—and an arrow was the first thing that had popped into my mind. I didn’t know why but I thought hey, arrows are cool, and I went with it. But why did my arrow look exactly like True’s arrow?
I must have noticed it on her at some point. I must have seen it that day she kissed me or when we had talked about Boosters. It made perfect sense.
But that didn’t explain why I’d felt so . . . excited when she’d shown it to me that afternoon. I’d felt as if something was about to happen, but I had no idea what.
I shoved my hands through my hair and opened the door. True was handing two red velvet cupcakes to a couple I vaguely recognized from school. Heath sat at a corner table, reading a paperback novel. Dude sure hung around this place a lot. True’s face lit up when she saw me.
“Orion! Hey!”
“Hi.” I leaned into the counter, as close to her as I could get. My heart was pounding. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m so sorry about locking you in that closet,” she replied. “It was the only thing I could think to do.”
“It’s fine. I mean . . . it sounded like those people were out for blood, so . . . thanks. I guess.” I glanced up and down the counter. There was no one nearby, other than one of True’s coworkers, who was sitting at a small table, tapping on a laptop with the end of her braid in her mouth. Monday nights weren’t the most happening nights at Goddess. “What the hell happened? Who were those guys?”
True cleared her throat and looked down at her hands. Her fingernails were gnawed away, and there was a tiny cut on the back of one knuckle. She brushed a few crumbs off the pink countertop.
“They went to my old school, and we kind of had a . . . falling-out,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “I didn’t really hang out with the greatest people . . . before.”
“So . . . what? You were in a gang or something?” I asked with an inadvertent laugh.
“A gang? Yes!” she exclaimed, weirdly excited to share this information. “That’s perfect!”
“What?” I said, confused.
She shook her head and smiled. “No, I mean, that’s exactly right. I was in a gang.” Her expression shifted to a serious frown in a snap. “And I didn’t want to be in the gang anymore . . . but they didn’t want me to leave so . . . anyway, we moved away, but clearly . . . they found me.”
“But why?” I asked, standing up straight. “Why come after you? Did you do something to them?”
True scratched her forehead and turned away. Crap. I was prying or something. But what did she expect? It wasn’t every day a girl you liked—I mean, liked as a friend—told you she was on the run from some street gang.
“I . . . um . . .” She picked up the glass coffeepot and poured some into a cup, then chugged it down. Her slim hand was shaking. “I kind of told the police that they were . . . selling drugs. You know, at school.” She turned her profile to me. “I was their star witness.”
“Wow. So I guess they got off,” I said, gripping the edge of the counter.
Her brow knit as she turned around again. “Got off what?”
I laughed. “Well, they’re not in jail, so . . .”
“Oh, right! Yes. Of course.” She laughed. “So that’s why they hate me. Because I . . . turned on them.”
I stared at her. Didn’t she realize how serious this was? If drug dealers had busted up a school looking for her, then she was in major danger.
“What?” she asked, fiddling with her ponytail.
Or maybe I was wrong. She was clearly nervous. Maybe she did get it. And I didn’t want to say anything to make her feel worse.
“You just . . . you don’t really seem like the gangbanger type.”
Which was true. She was way too beautiful. Too elegant. Too graceful and kind and intelligent to get sucked in by people like that.
True arched one eyebrow. “I’m tougher than I look.”
I smirked. “That I can believe.”
I stared into her eyes. There was something about them. Something familiar. An image hovered just at the edge of my mind—her eyes with strands of her hair tossed across them, a smile on her face—but then it faded, and the harder I tried to call it back, the murkier it got. It must have been a dream or something. Whatever it was, it was gone.
“Okay, I really don’t want to talk about this anymore,” True said. “Can I get you anything?”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll have a french toast cupcake and coffee.”
“Black,” we both said at the same time.
I tilted my head. “How did you know?”
True smiled. “Just a hunch.”
She poured the coffee and placed the mug on the counter, then opened the display case, smiling up at me through the glass. There was that tingling warmth again. Like I was on the verge of something, but I didn’t know what. When she turned to get a plate, I ran my hand over the back of my neck. Was it possible to betray my girlfriend just by smiling at another girl? Because that was what it felt like I was doing.
“Speaking of breakfast food, we should talk about the pancake breakfast,
” True said, sliding the plate toward me.
A customer came up behind me, but then the back door to the kitchen opened and a tall guy in a black T-shirt with an eyebrow piercing walked out. He gave True a nod and went to hang by the register.
“I can help you over here!” he called, rescuing True from having to work.
“What about the pancake breakfast?” I took a sip of my coffee and reached for the cupcake.
“It’s something the boosters and football team do together, and tomorrow I’m gonna have to volunteer us for a job.” True tugged a folded piece of paper out of the back pocket of her jeans. “I happen to be friends with the guy who’s organizing everything, so I have the list.”
She flattened the paper on the counter, and we both leaned over it. Our shoulders brushed, and my skin basically exploded. I shifted position to try to separate from her, but somehow ended up getting closer.
“Balloons, streamers, signage, cups and plates . . .” I read down the list, trying to pretend like that’s what I was thinking about. What I was really thinking about was the lock of True’s hair that was brushing the back of my hand. But then I heard a laugh across the café, a laugh that sounded a little like Darla’s. I had to get a grip. I stood up straight again and took a huge bite of cupcake.
“Design the place mats?” I asked, my mouth full of frosting.
There. Me being gross should break the mood.
“Oh yeah, apparently that’s a big thing,” True said. “Every year there’s a different school-spirit-themed design.”
“That sounds cool.” I shoved the second half of the cupcake into my mouth. “I’m in.”
“Yeah?” She fiddled with the paper. “Because it’s going to take some work. We might have to get together a couple of times to figure it out.”
My face was weirdly hot. I chewed. And chewed. And chewed some more. Then I swallowed and chugged some coffee, scalding my throat.
“Get together a couple of times?” I repeated. “Like, alone together?”
She lifted one shoulder, a little twist of a smile on her face. “Maybe.”