Poseidon's Academy Box Set

by Sarah A Vogler

  ‘Enough of this, Nemertes. Release Demi and Pandora. And then leave the palace. Your banishment still stands.’

  ‘You are forgetting something, sister. I am the one with the power now.’ Nemertes tapped the blue glass teardrop around her neck. ‘I do not know why Hephaestus crafted this for you. I was Poseidon’s favourite. That crippled god should have gifted it to me.’ She shrugged. ‘Nevertheless, it’s mine now. And I’m not leaving this palace, not until every last human is dead. The palace must be ready for Poseidon’s return.’

  ‘He is not coming back!’ Amathia snapped. ‘He and the other gods are gone. The only thing that could have brought them back was the wand, and I destroyed it.’

  Nemertes smirked. ‘There is always another way, sister. I will not fail my god as you have.’

  ‘Sorry, Demi.’ Aaron shoved his hands forward.

  His force field ploughed into her and the nereids, blasting them into a coral wall. Demi recovered fast, leaping off the nereids and sprinting towards Hailey. ‘No, Demi. Stop!’ Hailey shouted.

  Whoosh. The floor opened beneath Demi, and the sea swallowed her. She reached her hand back up, but the floor had already sealed itself closed.

  ‘Smash it, Alec!’ Aaron ordered.

  Alec’s fist rammed against the glass floor.

  Once. Twice.

  Tiny cracks splintered out, spider-webbing their way across the ground.

  Three times.

  The cracks stretched out even further and multiplied.

  Four times.

  The centre of the floor shattered like a broken mirror, glass raining into the water.

  Hailey reached for Demi, helping her out, while Alec pulled up Pandora’s lifeless body. Her shirt was torn and bloody, and Hailey cringed at the thought of the nereids beating the sword from Pandora just so they could stab her with it.

  ‘You’ll pay for that,’ Nemertes hissed. She was back on her feet with the other nereids, the six of them stalking towards Hailey and her friends.

  Aaron’s hands shot up, blocking them from coming any closer.

  ‘Drop your force field, Aaron.’

  Aaron stared at Amathia as though she’d lost her mind. ‘No. They’ll attack us.’

  ‘Drop it,’ Amathia repeated, voice firm.

  Aaron only hesitated a second longer before finally lowering his hands.

  ‘Does this mean you want me to kill you, sister?’ Nemertes purred, staying put for the moment.

  Amathia stepped up to the hole in the floor, which was big enough for all the nereids to fit into. ‘Leave. Now.’ She pointed to the water.

  Nemertes stood with her sisters on the other side of the hole. ‘It’s your turn to leave, sister. Although you will not be able to hide from Poseidon. He will be furious when I inform him of what you did with his palace, and how you hindered us from awakening him.’

  ‘I do not care about the gods. I never loved Poseidon. Every moment I spent with him made me ill. The only reason I agreed to reside here was because I needed information. I needed to know how to kill the gods.’

  Haley’s jaw dropped. WHAT?!

  ‘And to save as many humans as I could from his rage,’ Amathia continued. ‘When I did discover the truth about the gods’ weakness, I told Nikolai how to kill them. I helped him organise the human rebellion. I am responsible for the gods’ demise. And I will ensure they never rule again.’

  Nemertes lunged over the broken floor, her hands curling around Amathia’s throat. ‘TRAITOR!’

  Amathia stumbled back a step, and at the same time her hand shot out and tore the pendant from Nemertes’s neck.

  ‘No!’ Nemertes gasped, her hands shooting to her bare neck before lunging for Amathia again.

  Amathia was quicker, throwing out her arms and shoving Nemertes back. Nemertes splashed into the sea; her head popped out of the water, a look as poisonous as a stonefish on her face.

  ‘Now I am the one with immortality again.’ Amathia tied the necklace around her neck, and touched a hand to the teardrop pendant. ‘You will leave this palace, Nemertes. You will never return. And if you do, I swear I will kill you.’

  No words could describe the disgust and hate on Nemertes’s face—Hailey expected fire to shoot from her eyes and incinerate Amathia. ‘You are a traitor to your own kind. I will awaken Poseidon and the others, and when they learn of what you did, they will make you suffer for eternity. And I will watch.’

  ‘Farewell, sister,’ was Amathia’s only reply.

  ‘Let us depart,’ Nemertes ordered the other nereids through clenched teeth, before sinking into the water.

  The nereids hissed and glared at Amathia, as though they were cobras about to strike. But they obeyed Nemertes’s order and jumped into the water, vanishing from sight.

  No one spoke. Amathia didn’t even turn around. Everyone looked completely dumbfounded. Hailey couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Amathia is the one who told Nikolai how to kill the gods. Amathia is responsible for the Great Battle. Never in a million centuries would she have thought that. No one knew how Nikolai learned about the gods’ weakness, most people assumed he’d guessed: taken a chance that had paid off. But all this time it was Amathia!

  Pandora’s coughing and spluttering broke the deafening silence.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Hailey asked as she and Demi dropped to her side.

  Pandora gasped in air as she sat up. ‘Yes-s-s,’ she said, her voice raspy. ‘I’v-v-ve never died that m-m-many times in a row b-b-before,’ Her teeth chattered as she hugged her legs, her entire body shivering. ‘I thought I’d d-d-drown for-r-rever-r-r.’

  Hailey wrapped an arm around her shoulders, the icy water soaking into her button-down shirt. ‘You’re okay. You’re safe.’

  ‘We won’t let you drown again,’ Demi promised, wrapping her arm around Pandora too.

  ‘I’m sorry that happened to you, Pandora.’ Amathia said.

  ‘You’re not s-s-stone anymo-r-re. How d-d-did you s-s-stop Stet-t-tho-o?’

  ‘With a mirror,’ Hailey answered. ‘It was Demi’s idea.’

  ‘Sure was.’ Demi beamed. ‘Oh, and now I know how you feel. Stetho killed me—skewered me on broken coral—and then Amathia used gorgon blood to bring me back. How crazy is that?’

  ‘Than-nk t-t-the Tyche-e-e-s y-y-you cam-me b-b-back.’

  Aaron cleared his throat. ‘Um, Amathia, can we please address the hydra in the room.’

  Everyone’s eyes locked on to Amathia. ‘You heard what I said to Nemertes. You already know everything. And it’s something I would ask you never to mention to anyone.’

  ‘All we ever seem to do is keep secrets,’ Demi muttered.

  ‘What’s-s-s goi-ing o-o-on?’ Pandora asked.

  ‘Amathia is the one who told Nikolai how to kill the gods,’ Alec explained. ‘Can we see the memory?’

  ‘My memories are not for your entertainment. Yes, I did learn of how to kill the gods. I gained Poseidon’s trust, and one day, after he returned to the palace from a night of inebriation with Dionysus, I swayed Poseidon into revealing the gods’ one weakness—how is not important, Alec,’ Amathia said, when Alec opened his mouth to say something; he snapped it shut with a sigh. ‘I knew of Nikolai from Poseidon. He was someone who had angered the god by spilling water in one of his temples. As punishment, Poseidon killed his wife and son. I believed he would make the perfect crusader, so I met with him and informed him of the gods’ weakness. He accepted the challenge to end the gods’ reign, of course, and the rest is history.’

  ‘Why didn’t you want anyone to know it was you?’ Alec asked.

  ‘Because Nemertes was right when she said I was a traitor to my own kind. If the other nymphs loyal to the gods knew of what I did, they would have torn my immortality necklace away and killed me, and then I would not have been alive to ensure the gods are never awakened.’

  ‘But won’t that happen now?’ Hailey pressed.

  Amathia swallowed. ‘It may. It was all I
could think of to shock Nemertes enough to gain the upper hand.’

  ‘Wow.’ Demi shook her head. ‘What a day… we find a millennia-old gorgon at the end of a secret passageway, I die and come back, and now you’re telling us you’re the reason the gods are dead.’

  ‘I think it’s time we return,’ Amathia said. ‘I need to ensure the other students are safe, and Pandora needs a warming potion.’

  ‘I’m-m-m f-f-ine.’

  ‘We also need to get rid of the giant gorgon statue in the grounds,’ Demi added. ‘Can you still cut off a gorgon’s head if they’re stone?’

  ‘Medusa,’ Alec hissed.

  ‘No, Medusa’s daughter,’ Demi corrected. ‘Perseus killed Medusa.’

  Alec rolled his eyes. ‘That’s not what I meant. I just realised why the Olympian Mysteries tried to steal Perseus’s sword… because they were in on Nemertes’s plan.’

  ‘My sisters would never ally themselves with humans.’

  ‘Maybe if they were desperate they would if those humans wanted the gods back,’ Alec countered. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence that a few months before a gorgon gets released in the palace someone tries to steal the one sword that can kill it.’

  ‘And Stetho admitted a Hephaestus and Hecate helped make her the travelling necklace,’ Aaron added. ‘Plus someone—a lot of someones—burned all our clothes, duvets, and firewood, and put neutralising bracelets on every conjurer. And Pandora said the nereids never left the island so that means they had help. They probably got the Hephaestus and Hecate to make travelling necklaces for the entire Mysteries so they could pop in and out of the palace whenever they wanted.’

  ‘Wow,’ was all Hailey could manage to say. The Olympian Mysteries are more of a force than everyone thought. They have the power to sneak into the palace whenever they want. Hailey shuddered at the thought of them creeping around… stealing the travelling necklaces and burning everyone’s clothes. Well, if the Mysteries were the ones responsible for everything, then that meant the students at the Academy were innocent—there wasn’t a traitor among them.

  ‘I suppose that does make a lot of sense,’ Amathia agreed. ‘I still find it hard to believe Nemertes asked humans for aid.’

  ‘Maybe it would be a good idea to lock her and the others in a dungeon,’ Demi suggested.

  ‘I’m starting to believe that is a wise choice myself,’ Amathia said. ‘But I will deal with that issue later. I must check on the other students. Please take Pandora to the healing wing before she freezes to death—again.’

  ‘I need to find Brax,’ Demi said when her, Hailey, Alec, and Aaron neared the third floor. Pandora had left to hide in the stable, after she’d gotten her warming potion, as Amathia thought some of the students would be suspicious with her suddenly popping up after leaving the school last year.

  ‘I’m sure he’s fine,’ Aaron said. ‘You can find him later.’

  ‘No. Amathia is probably going to send us all home. I need to see him.’ She scooted up the offshoot staircase to Brax’s common room.

  ‘Let her go,’ Hailey said. ‘Come on.’

  They made it up to their own common room, which buzzed with excited chatter and was so packed it looked like every third year was there.

  ‘Hailey!’

  Hailey barely had time to see who’d shouted her name before Kora wrapped her in a hug. ‘Thank you for saving me from being a statue my whole life.’

  ‘We helped,’ Alec muttered.

  ‘Thank you, boys.’ Kora grinned.

  Tahlia came to Kora’s side from the study half of the common room. ‘Are you okay, Hailey? Where’s Demi?’

  ‘She went to see Brax. I’m really sorry about what happened to you, Kora. It was my fault Stetho turned you into a statue. I shouldn’t have sent you off alone.’

  Kora waved a dismissive hand. ‘Don’t be silly. I wanted to help.’

  ‘So what happened?’ Alec asked. ‘Did you turn to stone suddenly? Or did you see Stetho? How did she sneak up on you? Were you aware of anything while you were stone? I wasn’t, but I’m interested to hear if people had different experiences.’

  ‘I don’t remember much,’ Kora admitted. ‘I made it down to the entryway and then… then all I remember is glowing red eyes. And that’s it. The next thing I know, I’m in some creepy dungeon place with a hundred other students and half the teachers. I can’t believe we had a gorgon in the school. That’s just crazy.’

  ‘A lot more crazy stuff has happened than that,’ Aaron muttered.

  ‘Like what?’ Tahlia prompted.

  ‘Um, hi.’

  Hailey spun around and smiled at Jayden. ‘Hi.’

  ‘Have you seen Cady? She’s missing.’ Jayden swallowed. ‘I haven’t seen her in a few hours. I thought maybe this gorgon—that’s what Madam Grayson said was taking people—got her. But she didn’t come back with the other students.’

  ‘We did see her actually,’ Hailey said. ‘She was coming from the stable. She said she was heading back up to the common room—that was hours ago though.’

  ‘Do you think the gorgon turned her into a statue and then left her somewhere? Maybe she’s trapped in a room. She’ll be terrified.’

  ‘I found her, Jayden.’

  Madam Grayson stood at the top of the stairs, holding a chest of travelling necklaces. Beside her was Cady, grinning.

  ‘Where were you?’ Jayden asked as she ran towards him, wrapping her arms around him.

  ‘Stetho turned me into a statue,’ Cady explained. ‘I got lost coming back from her chamber. I was curious because I’d never been in that part of the palace before and went down a different hallway to the others. It took me a while to find my way back,’ she said in a rush.

  Jayden kissed her on the forehead and pulled her into another hug. ‘Don’t ever do anything like that again.’

  Cady smiled. ‘Promise.’

  ‘Okay, I’ve spoken with Amathia,’ Madam Grayson called over the din of chattering students.

  ‘I’m back.’ Demi bounded to Hailey’s side.

  ‘Is Brax okay?’ Hailey whispered.

  Demi nodded, beaming. ‘Yep, he said now we’re even on the whole saving-each-other’s-life front.’

  ‘Everyone is going home,’ Madam Grayson continued. ‘Amathia has moved up your mid-semester break, so you’ll return here in one week. I hope you use the time wisely to study, as classes will be commencing as per usual when you return, and we will have to speed up the class schedule to accommodate for lost time. All right, grab a necklace.’ She placed the chest at her feet, taking a step back as the third years rushed forward like a herd of charging elimera to grab them.

  Hailey couldn’t wait to see her mum. Although it meant she’d have to tell her about what had happened, and there was a very big chance she’d never let Hailey return to Poseidon’s Academy.

  33

  Cady

  Three hours earlier.

  Cady stood outside the nereids’ room, her hands curling and uncurling at her sides. Come on, you have to go in. You have to see her. But she didn’t want to. The nereids—especially Nemertes—terrified her, and Cady was starting to regret the deal she’d made. But she had made it. And if she didn’t keep her end, she was sure Nemertes would send the gorgon after her. Cady’s hands trembled. Okay. Go.

  She inhaled a deep breath, imagining the air filling her lungs flooding her body with confidence, and shuffled forward. The door didn’t make a sound when she opened it. But the nereids’ eyes snapped straight to her. The nymphs were lounging on the chaises around Poseidon’s statue. Their gazes burned with such hate when they landed on Cady that she took a step back.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Nemertes told her sisters, rising. She glided towards Cady, a smile on her face. Cady figured Nemertes had meant it to be reassuring, but it looked devious, like a smile an arachne would give her unsuspecting prey before she devoured it. ‘Are you ready?’

  Stand up for yourself. Tell her you don’t want to go. Tha
t this was all a huge mistake. ‘Ah, I… I don’t… want to go. I think it would be a mistake.’ Her head dropped as she said the last part, not wanting to see Nemertes’s reaction.

  ‘Look at me!’ The fury in those words dragged Cady’s eyes back to the nereid. ‘Do you remember the deal we struck?’

  Cady nodded.

  ‘I agreed to give you a potion that would make that human boy fall in love with you, and in return you would find a way to go to Olympus. Does the human love you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Cady said so quietly it was barely a whisper.

  ‘Then I have kept my side. And remember, love is not the only reason you agreed to awaken the gods. When I found you in the grounds that day, you were crying because another human had attacked you for being different. I told you that if you awakened the gods they would reclaim the powers humans stole from them. Your race would all be equals after that. Do you no longer desire that?’

  Of course she wanted all humans to be equal. It was the reason Cady had spent the last month pouring through library books, trying to find any mention of how she could get to Olympus and awaken the Olympians, who, according to Nemertes, were up there somewhere. She’d been bullied her whole life. Treated like a bag of cyclops poo because she didn’t have a god power. She wanted that to end. She wanted Venus’s powers taken from her so that she would be no better than Cady. She wanted everyone who had ever tortured her to become an ordinary human. But that would only happen if she brought back the gods.

  ‘I’m worried about the gods wanting revenge,’ Cady admitted.

  ‘As I informed you the first time, the gods will only punish those who defy them. If you awaken them, you will be greatly rewarded. You will be above all those who have wronged you.’

  Cady had a feeling that if she refused, Nemertes would find another human to do what she asked, and then when the gods did return, they would punish her—and probably Jayden too. ‘Okay. I’ll do it.’

  That horrible smile returned to Nemertes’s face. ‘Good. Go now. Stetho has taken most of the human guardians. The rest are distracted with trying to find them. No one will notice if you disappear. And if they do, they will assume Stetho found you.’