The moment her horse touched dry land, its flippers and tail changed back into legs, and it trotted onto the beach. Hailey slid from its back, landing on the coarse sand, which felt like crushed shells beneath her shoes. This island was nothing like the tropical one she’d travelled to on her first day. It stretched half a mile on either side, leading to rocky cliffs that obscured the sea.
The forest encroached on most of the island, forming a line of trees a hundred feet up from the beach. Hailey was too far away to see into it, but she could tell by its length that the forest was extremely vast. How are we meant to find Kendra in that?
‘That was awesome!’ Demi exclaimed, jumping from her horse’s back.
‘That was terrifying,’ Alec contradicted, sliding to the ground on shaking legs. ‘I was waiting to sink.’
‘Well, if you paid attention in Monsters and Creatures, Alec, you’d have known sea-horses are excellent swimmers—hence their name,’ Demi teased him.
Alec opened his mouth to say something back, but Jayden cut him off. ‘So, what now?’
‘We find Kendra.’ Hailey’s eyes combed the beach, and her hope of avoiding the forest was raised when she spotted Kendra’s sea-horse resting a short distance away. Her heart sank when she didn’t spot Kendra beside it. She sighed. ‘She must be in the forest.’
‘Stupid,’ Kora muttered.
‘Let’s hurry up,’ Aaron prompted. ‘Kendra might need our help.’
The seven of them commanded their horses to stay before jogging over to Kendra’s horse, where they found shoeprints leading up to the forest.
‘Are we sure we want to do this?’ Alec asked. ‘When you think about it, it’s a really stupid idea. So many people have gone into forests and never come out again—and they weren’t teenagers still learning to use their powers.’
Yes, it was a stupid idea, Hailey had to agree. And maybe if Alec had made that argument back at the Academy, she would have let him convince her to go to Amathia. But they weren’t at the Academy anymore. They were standing in Kendra’s footsteps. ‘If we go back now, Kendra could get herself killed in the time it would take a rescue party to get here,’ Hailey said. ‘It’s not too late for you to back out, Alec. That goes for everyone. If anyone doesn’t want to come, they can stay with the horses.’
Demi, Jayden, Aaron, Kora, and Tahlia all agreed they weren’t staying behind. Everyone looked at Alec. ‘Like I said, I’m not leaving you to get lost.’
Hailey was relieved she wouldn’t be going after Kendra by herself—a forest seemed less terrifying when you had backup to help you battle any monsters. Together, they trailed Kendra’s footsteps into the forest, which was the opposite of the rainforest in their Powers classroom. Instead of being vibrant and green with dozens of different plant species, it was quiet and brown with nothing but towering trees and bushes. It felt woodsy to Hailey, and the dirt’s rich scent reminded her of her mum’s sunflower garden. But there was something about it that trickled ice down her spine.
It’s the silence, Hailey realised with a shudder. There were no birds chirping in the trees or insects buzzing—nothing to indicate life.
Hailey jumped when someone sneezed.
‘Sorry. Allergies.’ Alec sniffed before kneeling down to examine the ground. He studied the twigs and browning leaves, running a hand over the ground. After a few seconds, he straightened and pointed to the right. ‘She went that way.’
‘Wait,’ Kora said before anyone could move. She pulled a bottle of red nail polish from her jacket. ‘I thought it’d be a good idea to mark some trees so we can find our way back.’
‘You really didn’t have to do that. My tracki—’ Alec began, but Jayden cut him off.
‘Good idea, Kora.’
She grinned. ‘Just call me Gretel… or Hansel—whichever one leaves the trail of breadcrumbs.
Two hours later, they were still pursuing Kendra’s tracks. Hailey couldn’t believe how long it was taking to find her. She’d thought they’d traipse through the forest for a few minutes and come across Kendra chatting with some random animal. But the trail kept going, and going, and going. Why in Tartarus did she come out this far?
Every minute that ticked by was torture. Hailey kept imagining Kendra being in trouble. In her head, she saw her falling into an enormous hole and getting knocked unconscious. Or bleeding to death after being attacked by a sphinx.
‘Hang on,’ Alec said.
Everyone halted while Alec knelt down, rubbing dead leaves between his fingers and tracing his hands over broken twigs. No one spoke. They didn’t dare make unnecessary noise in case a monster lurked nearby. Hailey glimpsed into the surrounding foliage to make sure nothing was watching them.
‘Uh oh.’
‘What do you mean uh oh?’ Aaron kept his voice low.
Alec ran a hand over the ground. ‘I’ve lost the trail.’
‘As in it ends?’ Kora asked.
‘Maybe she climbed a tree,’ Demi suggested and glanced up.
‘No. I mean too many animals have come through this way. I can’t discern her tracks.’
‘So now what?’ Hailey asked. ‘We can’t just give up.’ They’d come all this way. For all they knew, Kendra could be a few yards in front of them.
‘Kendra,’ Aaron called out.
‘What are you doing?’ Alec hissed, leaping back up. ‘The monsters will hear.’
‘We don’t have a choice,’ Aaron said.
Jayden’s eyes darted around the trees. ‘I’d rather not get eaten if it can be avoided.’
‘Same here,’ Tahlia agreed. ‘It doesn’t seem smart, Aaron.’
‘We haven’t seen any monsters so far,’ Aaron pointed out. ‘And if any do appear, I’ll protect us with my force field.’
‘But—’ Alec began.
‘Don’t worry, I’ve trained for this kind of thing.’
Hailey frowned. ‘What do you mean you’ve trained for this?’ Sure, Monsters and Creatures educated them on certain monsters’ weaknesses, but she hardly called that training to go up against one.
‘Nothing. It’s a figure of speech.’
Alec scratched his head. ‘I don’t think it is.’
‘Whatever,’ Aaron snapped. ‘We don’t have time for this. Kendra,’ he called out again. ‘Kendra.’
Hailey tensed, prepared for a monster to leap out at them. But nothing came. Okay, maybe it’s safe to make a little noise. ‘Kendra,’ she called out, following Aaron further into the forest with her friends, the vegetation becoming greener and thicker the deeper they went, offering plenty of places for monsters to lurk.
Hailey must’ve called out Kendra’s name a hundred times more before Alec tripped over a root and tumbled to the ground. He clutched his ankle and grimaced. ‘I think I twisted it.’
‘I’ll heal it for you,’ Kora volunteered. She pocketed the nail polish she’d been using on the trees and placed a hand on his injured ankle.
‘This is useless,’ Tahlia declared. ‘Does anyone else think we’re walking in circles?’
A scream ripped through the forest.
13
Rain
Hailey didn’t think. She just ran. And she didn’t stop until the trees thinned to reveal the mouth of a cave.
Waves crashing against rocks was the only sound she could hear coming from inside the darkness, but she knew this was where the scream had come from.
Behind her, she could hear the snap of branches and heavy footfalls as her friends made their way through the forest. She didn’t wait for them. She entered the cave, the stench of rotting flesh making every hair on her body stand on end as her fingertips tingled in warning.
She tiptoed deeper into the cave, the hairs on her body standing higher and higher with every step. Hailey froze in the shadows as the cave expanded into a large chamber. On the other side, an opening gazed out at the sea and allowed a stream of sunlight to break through the cave’s gloom.
What the light revealed stopped her heart.
Kendra was lying among a pile of decomposing bones, with a woman hovering over her. Hailey would have thought the woman beautiful if it wasn’t for the two pasty-skinned heads protruding from her shoulders on long necks.
‘Scylla.’ Hailey choked on a breath and then stiffened, expecting the monster to whip around. But the crashing waves had drowned out her gasp. Thank the Tyches.
Hailey knew from Monsters and Creatures that Scylla had once been a nymph, until a witch named Circe had transformed her into a monster. Since then, Scylla had taken her fury out on anyone who came too close to her cave by tearing them limb from limb.
One of the monster’s outer heads lunged for Kendra, its neck stretching out like elastic.
‘STOP!’ Hailey yelled.
The monster’s three heads snapped towards her. Uh oh.
A wave slammed into the cave, dousing Scylla. She screeched, flicking her soaked red hair from her eyes and sending one of her heads zooming towards Hailey, its mouth opening to reveal pointed teeth. Hailey braced for pain, but the head sped past her and sank its teeth into Jayden’s arm, tearing him backwards.
‘JAYDEN!’ Hailey screamed, watching in horror as he smashed down beside Kendra, where he cried out as the head bit him again and again.
Scylla’s other head launched at Hailey before she could run to help him. Adrenaline coursed through her body and she dove sideways, narrowly missing the head’s snapping bite as she hit the ground.
‘You messed with the wrong teenagers.’
Hailey glanced over her shoulder to Demi, who was raising her palms above the dirt. The weeds growing in the cave shot up like vines and twisted around the head that had tried to bite Hailey, wrapping around its neck until the head spluttered and sagged to the ground, unconscious.
Scylla’s other head abandoned Jayden, who was now silent and unmoving, and shot towards Demi. Hailey flew to her feet, squeezing her hand into a fist, preparing to punch it. But the head bounced backwards and collapsed to the dirt before she could make contact.
‘Two down, one to go.’ Aaron was beside Demi, his palms raised.
‘I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!’ Scylla roared, charging forward and smacking a fist against Aaron’s force field, which became visible, rippling like a lake someone had thrown a stone into.
‘We need to get to Jayden and Kendra,’ Hailey told Aaron, her stomach wrenching when she spotted the pool of blood spilling around their inert figures. Can a person lose that much blood?
Aaron shoved his force field forward, sending Scylla soaring backwards and landing in front of the opening that looked out at the sea.
Aaron dropped his hands and several things happened at once. Tahlia bolted towards Jayden and Kendra, and Scylla jerked to her feet. At the same time, the head that had bashed into Aaron’s force field sprang up and flew at Tahlia.
‘Watch out!’ Aaron yelled, hurtling forward to stop the head.
Tahlia beat him to it, blowing a puff of gold dust from her mouth, sending the head drooping to the ground, fast asleep.
Scylla roared and lunged forward to attack her.
‘STOP!’ Hailey boomed.
The tingling in her fingertips dissipated as warmth flowed down her arms. She reached towards the cave’s opening, where the sky blackened, and the waves crashing against the rocks tripled in size and ferocity, before flinging her arms at Scylla.
A gust of wind surged into the cave and slammed the monster against the rock wall with a bang. This time she didn’t get back up.
‘Is that Scylla?’ Alec gaped, joining the rest of them in the cave with Kora at his side.
‘Yes,’ Hailey replied. ‘Come on, we need to get Jayden and Kendra out of here before she—or one of her heads—wakes up.’
Hailey tried to be brave as she walked up to her friends. Blood matted Kendra’s hair from a long gash on her face, and teeth marks peppered her shoulder. But she looked good compared to Jayden, whose clothes were torn and soaked in blood from various wounds.
To Hailey’s relief, they were both breathing, but for how much longer she didn’t know.
Hailey helped her friends carry Jayden and Kendra outside, where Kora got to work on healing them. Please don’t let her be too late, Hailey begged the Tyches, biting her nails as she watched Kora place her hand on Jayden’s gushing neck wound.
Demi looked deathly pale. ‘Is he going to be okay?’
Blood trickled down Kora’s neck, spilling into the dirt. ‘He’ll be fine.’
Hailey sagged to the ground, beyond grateful for the thin walls in her dorm. Thank you, Tyches, for Kora.
Fifteen long minutes ticked by before Kora finished healing Jayden and Kendra. She was now covered in half-healed gashes and dried blood, and looked as though she was about to pass out from exhaustion. Hailey, Demi, Jayden, Alec, and Tahlia sat on the dirt near her, waiting for her wounds to heal, while Aaron guarded Scylla’s cave, ready to yell RUN if he heard any movement inside.
Kendra sat a few feet away, wearing a grave look of guilt. ‘I’m so sorry, Kora. I’m sorry to all of you. This whole thing is my fault.’ She shook her head. ‘I was an idiot for thinking being an Artemis would protect me from monsters.’
Jayden scooted from Kora’s side to Kendra’s, placing a hand on her shoulder. ‘Everyone makes mistakes.’
‘Well mine almost got you all killed. You should have told Amathia what I did. You shouldn’t have risked your lives to keep me from getting expelled.’
‘And have missed out on an adventure?’ Demi scoffed, stretching her legs out. ‘I think not. Today’s been amazing. We got to ride Poseidon’s sea-horses and take on Scylla. It was a total adrenaline rush.’
Of course Demi would think almost being killed was fun, Hailey thought with a shake of her head. ‘You’re insane.’
Demi poked her tongue at Hailey before turning back to Kendra. ‘So why exactly did you go into the dark scary cave?’
‘Well, it all started when I heard an animal calling out for its mum. I could feel its alarm about being left alone, so I followed its calls. I lost track of time as I chased after it and eventually came across the cave.’ Kendra took a deep shaky breath. ‘The animal hadn’t called out for a while, and I thought maybe it was hiding in the cave, so I walked in. I tried to run when I saw Scylla, but one of her heads grabbed me before I even turned around.’ Kendra stared up at everyone. ‘I’d be dead if you hadn’t come after me. Thank you.’
‘I can’t believe we found Scylla.’ Alec ran a hand through his blond hair. ‘Hunters and researchers have been searching for her for years, and we came across her without even trying to find her.’
‘Speaking of Scylla, what’s the deal with her only having two extra heads?’ Demi asked. ‘I thought she was meant to have six dogs growing out of her waist.’
‘You really don’t listen in class, do you?’ Alec said. ‘Scylla having six dog heads is nothing more than an exaggerated myth. Although her two extra heads seemed to be as savage as a pack of dogs.’
‘Okay, enough monster talk,’ Aaron interrupted, standing directly in front of the cave’s entrance. ‘We need to head back to the palace.’
‘We can’t,’ Kendra told him, climbing to her feet with Hailey, Demi, Jayden, and Alec. ‘I have to find the animal I was looking for. It’s only a baby and it’s all alone.’
Hailey wiped dirt and dead leaves from the back of her legs. ‘How will you find it? I thought you said you couldn’t hear it anymore.’
‘I can call out to it. If it’s close enough, it’ll hear me and call back.’
Tahlia was still sitting beside Kora. ‘Why didn’t you do that before instead of assuming it was in the cave?’
‘Because I was afraid I’d scare it away.’
‘Okay, go ahead,’ Hailey said. She wasn’t fussed on the idea of sticking around in the forest, but if there was an abandoned baby wandering around and Kendra could help it, she was willing to stay a little longer.
‘I’m here to help you f
ind your mum, but you have to tell me where you are,’ Kendra called out. Everyone waited quietly. Kendra sighed. ‘It must be too far away to hear me. I know it was heading in that direction.’ She pointed straight ahead, to a cluster of mulberry trees. ‘If I walk for a bit and keep calling out, it might hear me.’
Hailey looked at her friends. She wanted to help find the animal, but she didn’t want to keep her friends in the forest if they didn’t want to be there. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement at staying a little longer, except for Alec, who had gotten over his exhilaration at having discovered Scylla and was now looking increasingly nervous, with his gaze darting around the forest as he rubbed his shaking hands.
‘Okay,’ Hailey told Kendra. ‘But we can’t all go. Kora’s hurt.’
Kora was slumped on the blood-soaked dirt, looking as though she’d been trampled by a pegasus. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she argued. ‘You’re the one who said we have to stick together.’
‘I know I said that, but things change when someone gets hurt.’ She saw that Kora was about to protest and cut her off. ‘I know you’re healing, but my guess is your body won’t fully recover for a while yet.’ Hailey glanced at Tahlia and Alec. ‘You two can go as well.’
Alec’s shoulders sagged in relief.
‘I’m going too,’ Aaron volunteered, helping Kora up. ‘My force field will come in handy if we get into trouble.’
‘And what about if we get into trouble?’ Demi asked.
‘You’re a Demeter in a forest. I have no doubt you’ll be able to take care of yourself and everyone else.’
Demi puffed up. ‘You’re so right.’
Jayden rolled his eyes. ‘Great, now you’ve boosted her ego.’
‘You’re just jealous there’s no water around,’ Demi retorted. ‘But don’t worry, I’ll protect you.’
‘Follow the marked trees back to the beach,’ Hailey told Aaron, ‘and head straight for the palace—don’t wait for us.’
Poseidon's Academy Box Set Page 12