Poseidon's Academy Box Set

by Sarah A Vogler

  ‘With Amathia gone, no one can stop them.’ Hailey shivered, the cold from outside seeping into her bones.

  ‘I guess we’re back to spying again. It’s the only chance we have to figure out what the nereids have done with everyone, and to rescue Amathia so she can kick their arses back into the sea.’ Demi straightened from the desk.

  ‘How are we supposed to spy on them?’

  ‘The wand,’ Demi said simply.

  A jolt of terror like a spark of lightning shot through Hailey’s chest. ‘No! That wand got us imprisoned in Tartarus—it almost brought the gods back.’ Her pulse quickened as fragments of memories burst into her mind… The sky of lava that burned so hot her skin felt as if it would melt… The room of fears where her dad had blamed her for his death… A fireball burning in Hades’s hand as the god prepared to kill Hailey and her friends.

  ‘It also helped us spy on the nereids,’ Demi countered, rescuing Hailey from her flashbacks. ‘And we don’t even have to use it for that. We can use it to take control back of the palace and make sure no one freezes to death. And we can even use it to lead us to the missing students.’

  ‘It’s too dangerous. That thing is evil.’ Hailey shuddered at the memory of how holding it had felt. Of pure power rushing into her veins, possessing her.

  Demi put her hands on Hailey’s shoulders, staring her in the eyes. ‘We’re all dead, Hailey, if we don’t do something. And only one of us will touch it. Then the rest of us will get the wand back from them before the whole possession thing happens.’

  Hailey fiddled with her heart pendant. It could work. Technically the reason the wand had been such a problem last time was because it had kept them from telling anyone about it, and it had coerced them into using it. But if only she touched it, Demi, Alec, and Aaron would be able to get it away from her. It’s a dangerous plan, but it’s about the only plan that has a chance in Tartarus of working.

  ‘Okay,’ Hailey agreed, her heart skipping a beat at the thought of touching that horrible object again. ‘But Amathia said she was going to destroy it. It’s probably gone.’

  ‘It doesn’t hurt to check. We can start with her classroom.’

  ‘Hey,’ Aaron said when Hailey and Demi walked into the common room. He and Alec were standing right by the door to the girls’ dorms, as if they’d been debating sneaking in.

  ‘Did your clothes get burned too?’ Alec asked.

  ‘Yeah.’ Demi rubbed her arms, shivering.

  ‘The nereids are back.’ Aaron said. ‘I saw them outside. They’re going to freeze us to death like they were doing in that parallel world. We need to stop them.’

  ‘That’s what we’re about to do,’ Demi told him. ‘Or try to.’

  Aaron cocked an eyebrow. ‘How?’

  Demi leaned towards him and lowered her voice. ‘We’re heading to Amathia’s classroom to see if the wand is still there.’

  Alec gasped. ‘No. We can’t. You remember what happened last time.’

  ‘It’s worth the risk this time,’ Hailey said. ‘And I’ll be the only one touching it.’

  ‘You can’t just volunteer yourself like that,’ Aaron argued. ‘I’ll—’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Hailey cut him off. ‘The wand is probably gone anyway. But we needed a plan, so this is it.’

  ‘But we’re not allowed to leave the common room,’ Alec said. ‘There are teachers all over the palace. We’ll never make it to Amathia’s classroom without someone catching us… And what if we run into the nereids? Or what if we get taken like the other missing students?’

  ‘Need to get out?’ Hailey spun around. Brennan’s cheeks turned pink when Hailey met his gaze. ‘I… um… wasn’t trying to eavesdrop or anything. I just overhead Alec not wanting to leave the common room.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Hailey smiled at him. ‘That would help a lot.’

  ‘Let’s go down the stairs a little bit so no one sees,’ Brennan suggested.

  They snuck halfway down the offshoot staircase before linking hands, and one tingling sensation later, they were outside Amathia’s classroom. The door was wide open, revealing an empty room.

  ‘You should wait here, Brennan,’ Aaron instructed. ‘Be our look out.’

  ‘Okay,’ Brennan agreed.

  Hailey followed her friends into Amathia’s classroom, coming to a stop when Demi, Alec, and Aaron moved towards the desk. No point in going over there too—it doesn’t take four people to search the desk. But gazing around, Hailey realised there was nowhere else to look. The desk was the only place to hide anything, and the chances of Amathia keeping a dangerous wand in her drawer were just ridiculous. But what if it was in there? What if Hailey’s friends found it? She wouldn’t let any of them touch it. She’d be the one to use it. The one to fight against the wand’s voice when it whispered in her ear to resurrect the gods. And once Hailey had taken control of the palace back from the nereids, she’d toss the wand away before it forced her into doing anything evil.

  ‘Nothing,’ Aaron declared, slamming a drawer shut.

  ‘She destroyed it.’ Alec shook his head in disgust. ‘It should have been in a museum. It was Hecate’s wand. A piece of history.’

  ‘Maybe it’s in a secret chamber?’ Demi mused.

  ‘Someone’s coming,’ Brennan hissed, running into the classroom. ‘Quickly, take my hand.’

  Aaron gazed towards the open door. ‘Who’s coming?’

  Brennan kept his hand out. ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Yes.’ Aaron slunk towards the door. Hailey went to his side and listened.

  The voices were still faint, but they were definitely coming this way, and they sounded a lot like the nereids. ‘It’s them,’ Hailey hissed.

  ‘The nereids?’ Alec asked, his face losing colour.

  ‘Then we should really get out of here.’ Brennan held one hand towards Hailey and Aaron, and the other towards Demi and Alec.

  ‘No, this is what we want.’ Demi pushed away from the desk. ‘This is our chance to eavesdrop on them—if they come in here.’

  ‘No, it’s too dang—’

  ‘Shh.’ Aaron cut Brennan off. ‘There’s no time to argue. They’re getting closer. Let’s hide behind the desk.’

  ‘I don’t like this,’ Alec whimpered as the five of them dropped behind the desk.

  Hailey hugged her knees and waited. She hadn’t seen the nereids since Nemertes had tried to drown her, and the possibility of being trapped in a room with her and her sisters made her want to sprint for safety. But Brennan was there, his hand held towards her, ready to whisk her away to safety if the nereids found them.

  She stiffened when she heard their voices right outside the door. And then in the classroom.

  ‘See, there’s no one here,’ Nemertes’s voice said.

  ‘I thought the adult humans might have been in here,’ one of the other nereids replied. ‘They’re gathering their strength, sister. They will come for us.’

  ‘Stetho will take care of them,’ Nemertes replied, a smile in her voice. ‘Now, let us collect the little present she left us.’

  Hailey stopped breathing. Nereids made no sound when they walked. For all she knew, Nemertes was coming straight towards them.

  ‘Let me find the right one.’ Hailey turned as stiff as someone struck by a freezing spell. Nemertes’s voice was so close—maybe only a foot away from where Hailey hid. Brennan’s hand moved closer to her, hovering just above Hailey’s knee.

  ‘Ah, this one.’

  A creaking noise that sounded like a door opening into a haunted house had Hailey frowning. It had sounded like a heavy door opening. But why would a door be in here? Oh, a secret door.

  ‘Got it,’ Nemertes announced a few seconds later, and Hailey heard the creaking noise again.

  ‘It looks lovely on you,’ a nereid remarked.

  ‘Of course it does. Why he made it for her I do not know. ‘Now, let us go before those vile humans seek us out here.’

  Hailey and h
er friends sat in silence for a minute, barely daring to breathe, before Aaron peeked his head around the desk. ‘All clear.’

  They pushed to their feet.

  ‘That was terrifying,’ Alec proclaimed, hugging his arms. ‘I thought they’d catch us for sure.’

  ‘We’ve been through worse,’ Demi reminded him.

  ‘Let’s find that secret door,’ Aaron said.

  ‘The wan—thing—’ Demi corrected with a sideways glance at Brennan, ‘we’re looking for is probably inside.’ She followed Aaron to the wall near the left side of the desk, both of them gliding their hands over the jewels and shells embedded in it.

  ‘And what exactly are you looking for?’ Brennan asked.

  ‘It’s kind of a secret.’ Hailey wanted to tell him the truth, especially since he’d helped them so much, but they’d promised Amathia they’d never tell anyone about the wand. Plus the truth was kind of hard to believe, and they didn’t have time to go through the whole “you’re lying, no I’m not” argument.

  ‘Okay. Forget I asked.’

  ‘Got it!’ Demi exclaimed, pushing in a sapphire.

  At the same time, part of the wall creaked inwards, revealing a room.

  ‘This is bizarre.’ Brennan scratched his head, frowning at the hidden room. ‘What’s inside?’ He took a step forward.

  Aaron darted in front of him, cutting off his path. ‘Do you mind keeping watch outside?’

  Brennan peered over Aaron’s shoulder, trying to peek into the room. ‘Um, sure.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Hailey told him, feeling guiltier by the second. ‘I’m sorry we can’t tell you what’s going on.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said, sounding a little hurt. ‘I’ll be outside if you need me.’

  Hailey joined her friends in the secret room. It was small, being about half the size of Hailey’s dorm. Shelves ran along the walls, holding various objects that ranged from glowing shells to bejewelled goblets.

  ‘This is incredible,’ Alec gasped, acting as if they’d just discovered Olympus. ‘Look at all these things she’s kept. These should be in a museum.’ He reached out to touch a pearl the size of his head.

  Aaron smacked his hand away. ‘Focus on the mission. We’re here to find the wand. Don’t touch anything else—there could be booby traps.’

  ‘What do you think Nemertes took?’ Hailey asked as they searched the room.

  ‘No idea,’ Aaron replied.

  ‘Sounded like jewellery,’ Demi suggested, gliding a finger over a gold coin necklace.

  ‘Maybe Poseidon made Amathia a trinket and Nemertes was jealous,’ Alec said.

  ‘That makes sense.’ Hailey shifted aside a goblet carved of sea-glass so she could peer at the back of the shelf. ‘It must have been horrible living here pretending to like Poseidon just so she could protect humans from him when he lost his temper.’

  ‘Yeah, real horrible getting spoiled with jewellery and living in a palace.’ Demi slipped a pearl bracelet on her wrist, admiring its glossy sheen before putting it back.

  ‘There’s nothing here,’ Aaron declared, finishing searching the last shelf.

  Demi sighed. ‘I guess Plan A is a bust.’

  Hailey kept back a sigh of relief. Despite feeling like it was their only option. She really hadn’t wanted to use the wand. To risk it causing more harm than good. And to bring back all those horrible memories from first year. ‘What now?’

  ‘We grab a net or something—maybe a sword from the Ares room—and go after the nereids, dah.’

  ‘No, Demi,’ Alec said. ‘We haven’t got a wand to protect us this time. Or Amathia. We should go back to the common room and let the teachers handle this.’

  ‘Come on, Alec, you—’

  ‘No, he’s right.’ Aaron cut Demi off. ‘Plan A is a failure, and we need to devise a Plan B before taking any further action. Maybe the teachers have worked out how to reprogram the Goldarin commands to respond to their voices, instead of only the nereids’. You did get Madam Grayson to start researching the palace weeks ago,’ he added to Hailey.

  That was true. ‘Okay, let’s get Brennan,’ Hailey said, praying to the Tyches that Madam Grayson had found something in one of those books; otherwise, they were out of plans, and freezing to death or vanishing without a trace wasn’t a reality she wanted to face. ‘Bren—’ Hailey began to say as she stepped into the hallway. Sheer terror and disbelief left her speechless as her legs wavered, threatening to give out.

  Brennan was gone.

  26

  Waiting

  ‘Brennan,’ Demi called out.

  ‘Shh,’ Alec hissed. ‘A teacher might hear you.’

  ‘Sorry.’ Demi lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘But he’s our ride back. If a nereid comes in here and kills us then it’ll be his fault. Why would he have wandered off?’

  ‘He wouldn’t have.’ Hailey’s throat tightened, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. ‘He’s been taken.’

  Alec gulped and stumbled back a step into the classroom. ‘We should go before it gets us too—or hide in Amathia’s secret room until a teacher rescues us.’

  ‘No,’ Demi argued. ‘He would have yelled out. He probably got bored of standing around and went to the stable. Let’s check.’

  ‘Wait,’ Alec said. ‘There’s something on the floor.’ He knelt down beside a sprinkling of white powder beside the Ancient History classroom door.

  Hailey could have cried when she saw it. It was the same stuff that had given Sir Bliss his premonition about Stetho. Amathia didn’t outwardly say the powder was connected to the missing students, but it has to be. Which means Brennan just joined the list of kidnapped students.

  ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before,’ Alec said, rubbing the powder between his fingers. ‘It feels slightly grainy, kind of like sand, but more powdery—like chalk dust.’

  ‘Whatever is taking students and teachers is leaving that behind,’ Hailey said. ‘Sir Bliss and I saw some yesterday in the hallway, and it gave him a premonition about Stetho when he touched it. Could it be a potion, Alec? Something that makes people disappear?’

  ‘Maybe. I really don’t know.’ Alec rubbed his hand on his trousers, leaving behind a smear of white.

  ‘Brennan?’ Demi called, her voice echoing down the deserted hallways. ‘Are you around here or did a monster take you?’

  ‘Shh.’ Aaron was the one to hiss at her this time. ‘The nereids might be near.’

  Hailey glanced around, half-hoping Brennan would come staggering out from somewhere, having escaped from whatever had taken him. Knots tightened in her stomach when he didn’t miraculously appear. ‘We need to go after what took Brennan. We need to rescue him.’ Guilt tightened around her chest like a cyclops’s fist at the thought of something happening to him because of her. ‘It has to be close.’

  ‘No.’ Alec jumped back up. ‘We need to tell Madam Grayson. We can’t go chasing after this thing—it could be a monster that can walk through walls and has a mouth big enough to swallow us whole.’

  ‘This is our chance to find out what’s taking people and stop it,’ Hailey countered. ‘And we can’t just abandon Brennan. He was only here because he was helping us.’ Just like Kora had been helping Hailey yesterday. She couldn’t let another student vanish because of her. She had to end this, no matter what. ‘You can go back, Alec, and tell Madam Grayson what happened.’

  ‘Or you can tell me right now.’ Hailey’s head snapped to her right. Madam Grayson was striding towards them, face furious. ‘Do you four really think you are invincible?’ their overseer demanded, stopping so close to Hailey that she could feel the heat pouring off her from her bubbling rage. ‘I’m sure Amathia thought she would be fine—and she knew what she was doing. You four have no idea.’

  ‘We were only trying to find the wand,’ Demi blurted out. Madam Grayson was one of the few people at the Academy who knew the truth about how Hailey and her friends had ended up in the Underworld. ‘We
figured it could fix everything.’

  Madam Grayson’s eyes widened like Demi had just said the four of them were about to go lava surfing. ‘Don’t you remember how dangerous that wand is? It almost brought back the gods.’

  ‘We know,’ Hailey said. ‘But it was all we could think of.’

  ‘The wand is gone. Amathia dropped it in a volcano.’

  ‘What?!’ Alec exclaimed. ‘That’s a piece of history. It—’ A look from Madam Grayson silenced him.

  ‘It was too dangerous to keep—can you imagine what would have happened if the nereids got their hands on it? They could have found someone foolish enough to use it to awaken the gods.’

  ‘We’re sorry,’ Hailey said. There wasn’t time for Madam Grayson to stand around yelling at them. ‘But we need to go. Brennan was here with us and now he’s gone. Whatever took him can’t have gotten far. We need to go after it.’

  Surprise flickered in Madam Grayson’s features for a second before her stern face returned. ‘There is no we. You know the nereids are back. If they find you, they’ll kill you. And that’s if what is taking students and teachers doesn’t get you first.’

  ‘Wait, you’re an expert on monsters and creatures,’ Hailey said. If the thing taking people is a monster, then Madam Grayson will probably recognise its calling card. ‘That has something to do with what’s making people vanish.’ Hailey pointed to the white powder beside Alec’s shoe. ‘Amathia understood what it was when Sir Bliss explained it to her. Maybe you’ll recognise it.’

  Madam Grayson knelt beside the powder, rubbing some of it between her fingers as Alec had done. ‘It’s grainy but powdery at the same time. And it has a shimmer to it, like ground gemstones. I’ve never seen anything like it.’ She straightened, wiping the dust on her white dress. ‘I’ll have a Hecate examine it.’

  ‘What’s all this?’

  Master Anderson marched towards them with three other teachers and ten fifth years, the fourteen of them coming down the same hallway Madam Grayson had.

  ‘I’ve taken care of it,’ Madam Grayson told Master Anderson, and then focused her attention on a fifth year with blue-tinged hair. ‘Lila, can you please take them back to their common room.’