Demi bounced forward. ‘My name’s Demi Evans. I’m a Demeter.’
Madam Norwood jotted something down on her clipboard. ‘You may move into the Demeter room to demonstrate your powers.’
Demi practically lunged through the archway Madam Norwood pointed to. It led into a rainforest, where the trees’ moss-covered branches formed a canopy, offering the birds Hailey could hear chirping a place to hide. Ferns, bushes, and flowers grew at the trees’ bases, their thickness almost concealing the dirt floor.
Demi flicked her hand at one of the ferns; its fronds shook, sprinkling spores over the ground, which morphed into full-grown ferns, densifying the forest even more.
‘Very good, Demi,’ Madam Norwood said. ‘You may take your seat.’
Demi sashayed from the room, oozing pride, and headed back to her desk.
One by one the students ahead of Hailey demonstrated their powers for Madam Norwood before sitting back down, bringing Hailey closer and closer to the front. She reached for her necklace, her fingers gripping the heart pendant as she tried to push her nerves away. If her dad had been there, he would have told her being a Zeus was something to be proud of, because out of everyone in the world, she’d been gifted with the rarest power of all.
But he wasn’t there.
He was dead.
‘Next.’
Hailey gulped and edged forward. ‘My name’s Hailey Woods.’
‘And your power?’ Madam Norwood asked, peering at Hailey over her glasses.
Unavoidable, she reminded herself. ‘I’m a Zeus.’
The first years gasped as one and whispering quickly ensued. They were the usual remarks: ‘She’s like famous and she’s in our year’… ‘I wonder if she can shoot lightning’… ‘She’s not what I imagined—doesn’t look like prophecy material to me’.
Hailey lowered her eyes and crossed her arms, wishing she had the power to dematerialise.
‘Be quiet,’ Madam Norwood chided, silencing the whispering. ‘I will not tolerate talking in this class, especially when it’s about another student.’ Madam Norwood’s face softened when she looked back at Hailey. ‘As you can’t demonstrate your powers, you may take your seat.’
Hailey stared at Madam Norwood. A teacher defending her was not something she was used to. Does she have some kind of ulterior motive? Hailey wondered—like being nice to me now so she can try and manipulate me later? ‘Thank you,’ she finally said and returned to her desk, sinking down in her chair when she noticed most of the first years were watching her.
‘Don’t worry, Hails, your time as the centre of attention is about to end,’ Jayden said.
‘What makes you think that?’
He nodded his head towards the other side of the room. ‘Because the Uniques are up next.’
Hailey glanced back to Madam Norwood, where nine nervous students, including Alec and Aaron, waited in front of her. Hailey forgot about the staring students and leaned forward, eager to see what powers the Uniques would have. Maybe she’d get lucky and one could turn her invisible.
She watched with wide eyes as the Uniques demonstrated their abilities. One student levitated into the air, touching the crystal ceiling before landing back on the ground. Another one swished his hand around the room, frost snaking along the walls and floor as the temperature dropped into the negatives. He swished his hand again, swarming the room with heat so intense Hailey thought she’d roast alive. By the time Alec slunk forward, the last in line, and showed off his powers by running through a wall, the entire class was applauding—except for a couple of glaring students.
‘That ends class for today,’ Madam Norwood announced. ‘I expect you to read chapter one in The Gods and Their Powers by our next class—there will be questions,’ she warned. Madam Norwood raised her eyes to the closed door. ‘Open.’ The giant pearl knob twisted, and the door swung in.
Hailey’s stomach hardened. Madam Norwood’s protection would expire once she left the classroom, giving the other students free range to accost her.
‘Come on, Hailey. We need to get a good seat for Monsters and Creatures of the World,’ Demi said, hopping up with the boys.
Hailey shoved her books into her bag and tensed the second she stepped into the hallway, expecting the first years to swarm her. But no one even glanced at her.
‘Can you believe that one girl morphed a chair into a TV—a TV,’ Hailey overheard someone telling their friend.
‘Yeah, and then there was that guy who created a force field. How cool was that?’
A smile spread across Hailey’s face. It appeared everyone was too busy talking about the Uniques’ powers to even remember who she was.
‘Why so happy?’ Jayden asked as they pushed their way through the crowded hallway, searching for their next classroom, which was only meant to be a few doors down from Powers.
Oh, just that no one cares I’m a Zeus. ‘No reason. That looks like our classroom.’ She pointed to the room Demi, Alec, and Aaron had disappeared into, distracting Jayden from asking any more questions.
Hailey’s gaze locked on to the walls of her newest classroom, which were covered in drawings and photos of ferocious monsters like the hydra, its nine heads snarling to reveal venom-coated fangs, and docile creatures like the pegasus, which soared through the sky on its feathered wings.
‘No!’
‘What’s wrong?’ Hailey asked Demi.
‘The first row’s full.’
Jayden wrapped an arm around her shoulders. ‘The second row will have to do,’ he said, steering her towards it.
‘It’s not the same,’ she huffed, slumping into a chair.
‘We’re still close enough to see everything,’ Alec pointed out.
Aaron took the seat beside Jayden. ‘And if it’s like Ancient History, it won’t matter where we sit.’
Demi straightened up. ‘You’re right.’
Hailey didn’t share Demi’s enthusiasm. Entering memories to see events in history was one thing—a very awesome thing—but entering memories to meet monsters was another thing. A shudder snaked down her spine at the thought of coming face to face with a Nemean lion.
She took her seat as Madam Grayson, who had her dark hair pulled into a long plait again, strolled into the room. She stopped in front of the teacher’s desk and smiled warmly. ‘Good morning, class, and welcome to Monsters and Creatures of the World. For those of you thinking this class will be like Ancient History where you learn by entering memories, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you, as you’ll mainly be learning from a textbook.’
Several students sighed, including Demi, leaning back in their chairs. Madam Grayson was unfazed by their lack of enthusiasm. ‘But occasionally you’ll learn by interacting with the creatures you read about, which is what you’ll do today. So please pack up your things and follow me to the stable, where you’ll meet Poseidon’s horses.’
Relieved she didn’t have to worry about running from a Nemean lion—or any other monster, for that matter—Hailey happily repacked her book bag and ambled into the hallway with everyone else.
‘I don’t see how horses will be interesting.’ Demi pouted.
‘Yeah, if I wanted to see a horse I could do that back on land,’ Aaron agreed.
‘They’re not ordinary horses,’ Alec told them. ‘They’re hippocampi.’
‘Hippo—what?’ Jayden frowned.
‘Hippocampi,’ Alec repeated as the class began descending the second-floor stairs. ‘That’s the plural pronunciation. Hippocampus is the singular.’
‘You’re still not making any sense.’ Demi trudged down the stairs. ‘Speak English.’
Alec rolled his eyes. ‘They’re sea-horses.’
That perked Demi, Jayden, and Aaron up. It raised Hailey’s interest too. She wouldn’t have minded seeing ordinary horses, but sea-horses sounded way more exciting. She didn’t know much about them—aside from the fact they’d pulled Poseidon through the sea in his chariot.
‘This
way,’ Madam Grayson said, ushering the first years through the left arch in the entryway and down to their Ancient History classroom, where they turned down another hallway that led to a set of double doors. ‘We can’t all go in at once,’ Madam Grayson said, pausing outside the doors. ‘You need to break into two groups.’
Hailey, Demi, Jayden, Alec, and Aaron joined with Kora, Tahlia, and Kendra, and, to Demi’s delight, Madam Grayson made them group one.
‘There are a few ground rules before you go in,’ Madam Grayson told the class. ‘Firstly, be quiet when you’re inside, or you’ll startle the horses. Secondly, you are not allowed to enter the stalls or let the horses out. But you may pat them.’ She pushed open the doors.
The sharp smell of salt greeted Hailey when she wandered into the stable, where dried seaweed covered the floor like hay. There were twelve stalls carved from mother-of-pearl: four of them were empty, but the other eight each housed a horse.
Hailey steered towards a stall, seaweed crunching beneath her shoes, and gasped when she saw the sea-horse inside. She’d been expecting it to look like a normal horse with gills, but this horse looked magical, with its whole body covered in iridescent blue scales, and having a blue mane and tail.
‘Wow,’ Hailey said, reaching out to pat the horse’s cheek, its scaly skin smooth under her hand.
‘When the hippocampi enter the sea, their front legs transform into flippers, and their back legs into a tail,’ Madam Grayson told the class. ‘Once they dive underwater, their necks grow gills and they’re able to filter oxygen through their bodies to their riders. They also have the ability to keep their riders dry.’
‘Can we take them for a ride?’ Demi asked.
‘I’m afraid not. Only the nereids are allowed to ride the hippocampi.’ Madam Grayson ignored Demi’s sigh. ‘You can have five more minute with the horses.’
‘I wish I could have one of you as a pet,’ Hailey told her horse, running a hand through its coarse blue mane. It whinnied in reply and clopped over to the polished coral trough at the back of its stall, which was filled with water. It climbed inside the trough and swished its head towards Hailey, spraying her with sea-water. ‘Uck,’ she said, wiping the salty water off her lips.
Kendra laughed from the stall beside her. ‘She said she likes you.’
‘Oh, that’s right, you’re an Artemis,’ Hailey said, remembering Kendra telling Madam Norwood that in Powers. ‘What were you two talking about?’ She nudged her head towards the horse Kendra was petting.
‘He asked me to take him for a ride.’
‘It must be cool to know what animals are thinking,’ she said, looking back at her horse, who was nibbling on some seaweed from the trough.
Kendra’s horse licked her hand with a blue tongue. ‘It’s not an easy gift to have. I also feel their emotions.’
‘Powers can probably help you block that stuff.’
Kendra shook her head. ‘I could never do that. It would be like ignoring them. I only meant it can be hard sometimes. These horses—’
‘Time’s up, group one,’ Madam Grayson announced.
Hailey’s friends had just gone to bed, leaving Hailey lounging on a sofa in the common room, her legs curled up beside her while she worked on her homework. Someone pretended to clear their throat, making her glance up and scowl.
The blonde-haired girl who’d pushed her on the beach lingered before her. Hailey hated to admit it, but she was really pretty, with violet-coloured eyes, and hair that fell in perfect curls past her shoulders, reminding Hailey of Goldilocks.
Goldilocks extended her manicured hand. ‘I’m Venus.’
Hailey was too surprised to move. Venus didn’t strike her as the type to walk around introducing herself to everyone. So why is she talking to me? She cautiously shook the other girl’s hand. ‘Hailey.’
‘These are my best friends, Nerissa and Cleo.’ Venus waved a hand at the two girls standing on either side of her. Everything about them matched, from their loose black curls to their deep blue eyes. They were twins, Hailey realised.
‘Do you want something?’
Venus flicked a curl behind her shoulder. ‘I thought we could be friends. I’m a very powerful Aphrodite.’ That explains why she’s so beautiful, Hailey thought—anyone with the goddess of love and beauty’s powers was guaranteed to look like a supermodel. ‘Nerissa and Cleo are sirens that, like me, can make any boy do what they want.’ This remark brought proud smiles to the twins’ red lips. ‘I heard you’re a Zeus, and I think those of us with the greatest powers should stick together. Wouldn’t you agree?’
Hailey’s jaw clenched. Of course Venus was only talking to her because she’d found out she was a Zeus. ‘I don’t base my friendships on powers. So, no, I don’t want to join your gang.’
Venus blinked. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I said I don’t want to be your friend,’ she repeated, raising her voice loud enough to catch the attention of the other first years in the common room.
Venus’s eyes turned venomous. ‘You’re refusing me? You’re the one who has no powers down here.’ She regarded Hailey with abhorrence, as if just looking at her made her sick. ‘You’re a pathetic excuse for a Zeus.’
Hailey flinched, tears burning her throat. Do not let this harpy see you cry. She took a deep breath, shoving her feelings down. ‘That’s your opinion,’ she replied in an even tone.
Venus shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Whatever. Your mistake.’
Hailey watched the three girls strut away, not feeling the least bit relieved when they disappeared into the girls’ dormitories. Their confrontation served as a reminder that her plan for coming to Poseidon’s Academy wasn’t infallible. Even without her powers, there were still people who wanted to exploit her for them.
Although so far Venus had been the only one. But just because no one else had confronted her, didn’t mean they weren’t planning to. Instinctively, Hailey glanced at the other first years to see if anyone else would approach her, but everyone was busy doing their homework or chatting to their friends. She was safe, for now.
7
Nemertes
Something called to Hailey, forcing her down the stairs and into the entryway. But it wasn’t a voice; it was a… pull, and it was drawing her outside, where the usual light that illuminated the grounds had been turned off to imitate night. The only light came from the coral and sea-anemones in the gardens, which glowed fluorescent pink, blue, green, and purple.
Hailey stopped a short distance from the force field. Someone stood in front of her, their eyes fixed on the sea, which was fluorescent blue. Hailey’s fingertips tingled, alerting her to danger. She ignored her body’s warning to run as the invisible force that had called her outside pushed her forward.
Hailey took a deep breath and stepped beside the motionless figure. She gazed at their face and gasped. ‘Demi?’
Demi’s eyes remained on the sea. ‘Can you hear it?’ she said in a vacant voice that blew chills down Hailey’s spine.
Hailey listened to the silence around her. ‘Hear what?’
‘It’s coming.’
Hailey studied the glowing sea, the tingling in her fingertips reaching a crescendo as tendrils of fear wrapped around her chest. She didn’t want to find out what it was. ‘Let’s go inside.’
Demi whirled around, eyes wide. ‘It’s here!’
A tentacle dotted with spikes whipped out of the sea and snaked around Hailey’s leg. She screamed as the spikes dug into her flesh and the monster yanked, knocking her to the ground.
She clawed her fingers around a piece of glowing green coral, keeping the monster from wrenching her into the sea. ‘HELP!’ she yelled, her fingers starting to slip.
A tiny sliver of relief cut through her terror when Demi appeared in front of her. ‘Grab my hand!’ Hailey cried, hoping her best friend was strong enough to pull her free.
Demi stared at her. ‘You should have heard it. It’s too late now.’
The tentacle
tightened around Hailey’s leg, its spikes digging in deeper as the monster yanked again, tearing the coral from Hailey’s grasp and dragging her into the water.
Hailey’s eyes flew open, and she shot up in bed. A scream filled her, but she strangled it when she realised she was safe in her dorm. Her heart, however, continued to pound, pumping fresh terror through her body.
A glance at Demi’s bed helped calm her. She was sound asleep under the covers, not slinking around the grounds with a monster lurking in the sea. It was just a nightmare, she told herself, absentmindedly reaching for her heart pendant and freezing.
Her neck was bare.
‘No, no, no, no, no.’ Hailey leapt out of bed, tearing off the sea-silk sheets and duvet. But her necklace wasn’t buried in them. She crouched down on her hands and knees to peer under her bed before searching the rest of the floor, and then finally throwing all the papers off her desk. ‘It’s not here.’ She bit her lip, starting to hyperventilate. She needed her necklace. It was the last thing her dad had given her. She couldn’t lose it!
Where is it? She remembered back to yesterday afternoon when some of her hair had gotten caught in the necklace’s clasp during her Ancient History class. That was the last time she remembered having it. Maybe it fell off there.
She glanced at the seashell and mother-of-pearl clock on the wall. It was 6am—the conch shell wouldn’t sound for another hour, and Hailey couldn’t wait that long. She needed her necklace back right now.
She didn’t bother changing out of her pyjamas or putting shoes on. She raced straight past Demi, who’d managed to sleep through her ransacking the dorm, and into the hallway, moving through the deserted common room and down the stairs, keeping her eyes transfixed on the floor, hoping to spot her necklace.
What would happen if she couldn’t find it? ‘I’m going to find it!’ she proclaimed aloud, continuing down the stairs. She didn’t care what it took—she’d pay a Hecate to cast a locater spell if she had to.
Hailey reached the entryway and stiffened, half expecting the pull from her dream to possess her and force her outside so a sea-monster could eat her. Stop being stupid, she told herself. She was thirteen—far too old to be scared of a little nightmare. She shoved away the image of the sea-monster and darted through the left archway.
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