Poseidon's Academy Box Set

by Sarah A Vogler

  ‘Have you already been to the main hall?’ Hailey asked, hoping they’d say no so she could sneak down with them for a midnight snack.

  ‘Yeah, we were just there,’ Elora said.

  ‘Oh.’ Hailey’s shoulders dropped.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Kallie asked.

  Hailey nodded. ‘Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind. Need a distraction.’

  Kallie’s face lit up. ‘I have an idea. Let’s go to a parallel world. That always makes me forget about stuff in this world.’

  ‘That would be amazing.’ Hailey hadn’t been to a parallel world with Kallie since first year—except for that very brief trip last year, which had only been for two seconds, so it didn’t really count.

  ‘I might sit this one out.’ Elora yawned. ‘I’m kind of tired.’

  Disappointment tugged at Hailey. ‘It’s okay, we don’t have to go. You can go to bed if you want, Kallie.’

  ‘I’m happy to take you,’ Kallie said. ‘I’m not tired.’

  ‘Well, in that case, do you mind if Demi comes too? She’d kill me if I left her behind.’

  Kallie nodded. ‘Sure. I’ll get changed out of my pyjamas and meet you in your dorm.’

  ‘Hailey snuck back into the girls’ dorms and down to her room. ‘Demi.’ She shook her sleeping friend. ‘Demi, wake up.’

  Demi didn’t even stir. ‘Sorry about this,’ Hailey said. ‘Vkalike.’ The orb floating beneath their ceiling flared to life, flooding the room with light.

  Demi squirmed, scrunching up her face. ‘Uck, too bright.’ She shielded her eyes. ‘Turn it off.’

  Hailey dashed over to her chest of drawers and started pulling clothes on. She didn’t want to be walking around a parallel world in her pyjamas. ‘If I do that you’ll go back to sleep.’

  ‘Dah. It’s night time. We’re supposed to be sleeping,’ she grumbled, chucking a pillow at Hailey.

  Hailey ducked out of the way, letting the pillow land on top of her drawers. ‘You can go back to sleep if you want, but then you’d miss a trip to a parallel world.’

  Demi’s eyes widened, and she shot out of bed as quickly as someone who’d spotted a monster about to pounce. ‘Please tell me this isn’t a cruel joke.’

  Hailey smirked. ‘Nope. Kallie is going to take us.’

  Demi beamed. ‘Then why are we waiting here?’ She lunged for the door.

  ‘Clothes,’ Hailey called before Demi could sprint into the hallway.

  ‘Right.’ Demi turned back and scooped a green shirt and tanned shorts from a pile of clothes beside her bed, throwing them on as fast as a Hermes gifted with super speed.

  ‘Ready?’ Kallie asked, slipping into their dorm.

  ‘Yes!’ Demi exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her toes. ‘Where are we going? Can we go somewhere where Venus isn’t a complete harpy?’

  ‘I know the perfect place.’ Kallie clapped her hands together, exhaling a long breath as she drew them apart. A white sphere of light expanded between her palms, growing to the size of a basketball before Kallie threw it forward. The sphere exploded into a vortex of swirling lights the colour of a rainbow.

  ‘Here I come, parallel world,’ Demi cheered, bounding through the vortex.

  ‘I’ll make sure she stays put,’ Hailey said when Kallie’s eyes widened. It would be just like Demi to venture off before the rest of them came through; she’d probably tell every person she could find that she was from a parallel world. Wisps of red, yellow, green, and blue spun around Hailey before she stepped back into the girls’ dormitories hallway.

  A wave of cold slammed into her like a blast of ice sent from an attacking Chione. She shivered against it and then skittered forward a few steps before Kallie could ram into the back of her. Demi, to her surprise, was standing calmly in the hallway, rubbing her arms.

  ‘I thought you would have run off,’ Hailey said as Kallie came through the vortex, its light dimming back to white before it disappeared altogether.

  ‘My legs feel frozen.’ Demi bounced up and down, trying to warm up. ‘Where are we? Antarctica?’

  Kallie frowned and hugged her arms. ‘It’s not usually this cold. Maybe the force field isn’t working and is letting the cold air in,’ she said with a shrug. ‘Before we go into the common room, you should know this world is the opposite to ours. Here, people with god powers are considered outcasts, and Others are superior.’

  Demi’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Really? So does that mean someone is bullying my doppelgänger? Because I won’t stand for that.’

  ‘You can’t interfere,’ Kallie warned her. ‘If you do, I’ll take you straight back.’

  Demi rolled her eyes. ‘Fine. I won’t interfere.’

  Hailey followed Kallie towards the common room door, shivering as she walked, and seriously regretting her decision to wear shorts instead of fleece tights. A niggle of disappointment crept up on her when she stepped into the common room. This world was supposed to be their world’s opposite, so she’d thought maybe the common room would look different—or at least the furniture would be hanging from the ceiling. But it was a mirror image of their own common room, having one half dedicated to desks, chairs, and books, and the other half to sofas, armchairs, and cushions. This common room also had a fireplace, but it wasn’t lit, which was weird considering all the shivering students milling about. The only opposite Hailey noticed was that it was daytime here instead of night, with light streaming through the common room’s windows.

  ‘Look who it is.’

  Hailey followed Demi’s gaze. Venus was sitting on a sofa near the stairs to the lower levels with Nerissa and Cleo. They were just as beautiful in this world as her own. Why couldn’t they have warts—or at least pimples?

  ‘Here comes Cady,’ Kallie said. ‘She’s the biggest bully here.’

  Hailey suppressed a laugh. Cady? A bully? She must have heard Kallie wrong because there was no way super shy Cady could say a bad word to anyone, let alone bully someone. But there she was, with her flyaway hair, marching towards Venus and the twins.

  ‘How many times have I told the three of you to leave this school?’ Cady leered down at the evil trio.

  ‘I’m not leaving.’ Venus’s voice was meek.

  ‘You’ll change your mind.’ Cady smiled slyly and touched one of Venus’s curls; it turned snot green, along with the rest of her blonde hair.

  Hailey waited for Venus to scream and vow revenge, but she only sniffed, tears welling in her eyes.

  ‘Change her hair back,’ Nerissa ordered Cady, but her voice shook a little.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll give you a makeover too.’ Cady touched Nerissa and Cleo’s black hair. Orange spread over it like spilt dye, leaving the twins with hair as bright as the sun. ‘Perfect.’ Cady cackled.

  Nerissa and Cleo pressed their hands to their mouths, as if holding back screams. Hailey saw the glimmer of tears in their eyes right before they, and Venus, darted into the girls’ dormitories.

  ‘That – was – so – good!’ Demi said through fits of laughter.

  Hailey couldn’t form words. Venus had actually run off in tears. Maybe Hailey could bring Cady through here one day and introduce her to her other half. Maybe then she’d gain enough confidence to stand up to their Venus.

  Hailey shivered, remembering how cold she was. ‘It feels like a freezer in here. Why don’t they light the fire?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ Kallie said, her teeth chattering a little.

  ‘Look, there’s Alec and Aaron.’ Demi pointed to the sofa in front of the fireplace, where Alec and Aaron sat rubbing their hands together as if they could feel the heat from the non-existent fire. ‘We can ask them why it’s as cold as a blizzard.’

  Hailey steered towards them and hoped they’d be like the Alec and Aaron in her world, and not a pair of bullies like Cady.

  ‘Hey, guys,’ Demi said, grinning.

  Alec and Aaron’s jaws dropped.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Hailey asked. Please don’t tell
me I’m a massive jerk in this world.

  Alec gulped. ‘You’re supposed to be dead.’

  13

  Another Life

  Hailey’s heart skipped a beat. Dead?

  ‘What do you mean we’re supposed to be dead?’ Demi pressed, her voice edging on offense.

  Alec chewed his lip, looking so uncomfortable Hailey would have bet her powers he was wishing he had the ability to dissolve into the sofa. ‘Well, you died last year.’

  ‘How?’ Hailey choked the word out, her throat suddenly as dry as a dust storm. How could she be dead in this world?

  Aaron narrowed his eyes, glancing between Hailey and Demi. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I brought them here.’

  Hailey had forgotten Kallie was standing behind them. Why hadn’t she told them their doppelgängers were dead? Why would she even bring them here? This was supposed to be distracting Hailey from all the stress in her life, not adding to it.

  Alec sighed in relief, his shoulders dropping. ‘Oh, that makes sense. I thought I’d suddenly gained the power of Hermes and would have to help you cross over.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Demi said. ‘We’re dead here?’

  ‘Um, yeah,’ Aaron said. ‘It, uh, happened near the end of first year. Both of you, along with Jayden, disappeared from the school for a few days. Amathia apparently worked out where you were and took some of the other teachers to go and find you. When they came back, they told us you were dead. They never said how you died, but everyone assumes you drowned, or got eaten by a monster.’

  The room swirled around Hailey. She stumbled back and collapsed onto an armchair. She knew what had happened. Her doppelgänger had made the same mistake Hailey had in her own world and found Hecate’s wand, stupidly reading the awakening spell attached to it. She would have gone to the Underworld with Demi and Jayden to fix their mistake, but they obviously weren’t friends with Alec and Aaron here, which meant Aaron never would have been there to deflect the fireball Hades had pitched at them. Although she guessed they probably wouldn’t have been able to escape in the first place, since Alec wouldn’t have been there to bend the dungeon’s bars. She shuddered to think what had happened to herself in this world.

  ‘Are you okay, Hailey?’

  Kallie’s hand squeezed her shoulder, but Hailey couldn’t respond. Her parallel-self had been trapped in Tartarus. She’d died there. And her poor mum—she would have been destroyed. She would be all alone now.

  ‘Well, it’s nice to know you’re alive somewhere,’ Alec said, still looking as if he wanted to dissolve into the sofa.

  ‘I can’t believe I’m dead.’ Demi gulped, as if swallowing down tears. ‘Hang on, if we died, then who would have—’

  ‘I’m sure Amathia set everything right,’ Hailey cut Demi off. They’d promised Amathia never to tell anyone about Hades and the Erinyes being alive in the Underworld—and she was pretty sure that promise applied in any world. Amathia must’ve found a way to put them back to sleep. Otherwise, the gods would have reclaimed the world by now—and Poseidon definitely would have kicked everyone out of his palace.

  ‘I’m really sorry,’ Kallie said. ‘I didn’t know you were dead here. I wouldn’t have brought you if I did. Come on, let’s go back.’

  Hailey forced her legs to stand up; the cold crept back into her bones. ‘Wait.’ She met Alec’s gaze. ‘Why is it so cold here?’

  ‘The nereids stopped the palace in the Arctic Sea and lowered the force field,’ Alec explained. ‘They’re freezing us to death.’

  So the nereids were just as evil here. ‘Why hasn’t Amathia done something?’

  ‘The nereids changed the Goldarin commands the palace responds to, and Amathia has no idea what the new commands are,’ Aaron explained, balling his hands into fists. ‘They stole all of our winter clothes, too, as well as our blankets—and even the wood for the fireplace. They also managed to get neutralising bracelets onto all the conjurers, so they can’t materialise any new stuff for us.’

  Thank the Tyches Nemertes didn’t work out a plan like this before Amathia banished her. But what if it’s their next plan?

  ‘Come on, let’s go,’ Kallie said.

  ‘We can’t let them freeze to death,’ Demi protested. ‘We should bring blankets back or something.’

  ‘I can help a little,’ Hailey offered. She pushed open one of the windows, sucking in a breath as the frosty air hit her. Chunks of ice bobbed in the half-frozen sea surrounding the palace, and icebergs—actual icebergs—stood in the distance like islands of ice.

  Hailey reached her arm towards the cloudy sky, where snowflakes languidly drifted down, coating the branches of jewel trees and sprinkling over the diamond floor, turning the grounds into a winter wonderland. Hailey ignored the bite of needles against her skin as the cold burrowed deep into her flesh, and flicked away the clouds, sending the snow away with them.

  ‘It’s nice to have a Zeus around again,’ Aaron remarked, appearing beside Hailey with Alec.

  ‘Hopefully that’ll help warm things up a little until Amathia can fix everything.’ Hailey closed the window, water streaking down the crystal doors as the frost coating it melted.

  ‘And we’ll still bring you back blankets,’ Demi told them. ‘And wood.’

  Alec rubbed his hands, his fingernails blue. ‘Thank you. It’d be nice to have gloves too.’

  ‘We’ll see what we can do,’ Kallie said. ‘Come on, home time.’

  Hailey followed Kallie back into the girls’ dorms. She was dead here. Dead! Her doppelgänger probably died in that horrible room where her worst nightmares had come to life. She jumped when a hand brushed her shoulder.

  ‘Come on, Hailey.’ Demi nudged her head to the portal of swirling lights a few feet in front of them.

  ‘Oh, sorry.’ Hailey hadn’t even noticed Kallie open it. She stepped through it, rainbow lights swirling around her before she stumbled into her dorm. The orb floating beneath the ceiling glowed, banishing away the darkness of night.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Demi asked, coming through behind her.

  Hailey nodded, stumbling back to sit on her bed. ‘Uh huh.’

  ‘I’m really sorry about that,’ Kallie said when she came through.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Demi said. ‘At least now we can help them. I’ll find a conjurer to conjure some blankets and winter clothes.’

  ‘That’s okay. I’ll do it,’ Kallie offered. ‘You don’t have to go back there.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Demi asked.

  Kallie nodded. ‘Yep, I’ll get Elora to help me. I’ll see you in class.’ She slipped into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

  ‘Well, that wasn’t how I expected my first real trip to a parallel world to go,’ Demi remarked, dropping onto her own bed. ‘I can’t believe we died in that world.’

  ‘I know.’ The heaviness in Hailey’s chest squeezed a little tighter.

  ‘But it wasn’t us, Hailey,’ Demi went on to say. ‘We’re still alive. You can’t get all depressed over what happened in another world. I mean, there’s probably worlds that the gods have destroyed.’

  ‘It just surprised me—that could have been our fate if we weren’t friends with Alec and Aaron.’

  ‘Well, thank the Tyches we are.’ Demi kicked off her shoes and flopped back on her bed. ‘Too bad that world didn’t take care of their little nereid problem. At least we don’t have to worry about freezing to death.’

  ‘What if we do?’ Hailey fiddled with her necklace. ‘What if that happens here? The nereids could come back and mess with the force field.’ Hailey jumped to her feet. ‘We need to warn Amathia.’

  Demi sat up, raising an eyebrow. ‘That world is totally different to ours, Hails. We don’t have to worry.’

  Hailey shook her head. ‘I’m not taking that chance. You stay here. I’ll be back.’

  ‘Hail—’

  Hailey closed the door before Demi could stop her. She couldn’t just go to sleep after what
she’d seen. She needed to do something. And if that meant admitting to Amathia that she’d been out after curfew, then she’d do it. There was absolutely no way she’d risk Nemertes freezing them all to death.

  Hailey stopped in front of the Ancient History classroom, where light crept out from under the closed door. Last chance to turn back and wait until the morning. She rubbed her heart pendant, her engraved name scratching against her fingers. Every second counts when it comes to the nereids and their diabolical plans, Hailey decided and knocked on the door.

  The door opened a heartbeat later, and a confused Amathia stared down at her. ‘Hailey? You should be in your dormitory. There’s a curfew.’

  ‘I know. But I need to tell you something—it’s about your sisters.’

  ‘All right, come in,’ Amathia stepped back from the door. ‘You are not still afraid of them sending more monsters to attack, are you?’ she asked, settling into the chair behind her polished-coral desk. ‘Because you do no—’

  ‘It’s not about that.’ Hailey cut her off as she stopped in front of Amathia’s desk. ‘You see, I went to a parallel world, and in this world…’

  Amathia raised a hand to stop her. ‘A parallel world? So you not only broke curfew, but also travelled to another world?’

  ‘Um… yes.’

  ‘I asked Kallie not to use her abilities outside of Powers. It is very dangerous travelling to other worlds. Anything could happen there. I would not be able to protect you.’

  Uh oh. Hailey hadn’t thought about the fact she’d be getting Kallie into trouble. ‘I asked her to take me. Practically made her. Please don’t make her wear a neutralising bracelet.’

  Amathia tapped her fingers on the polished-coral. ‘I will not force a neutralising bracelet on her. But I will have to remind her of the dangers of travelling to parallel worlds.’

  Great, now Kallie would hate her and think she was a snitch. ‘Well, it’s a good thing Kallie did take us because—’

  ‘Us?’

  Hailey bit her tongue. Stop getting your friends in trouble. ‘Demi came too.’