Instead, I swallowed down my deepest and darkest desire, and rested my neck against the tub as he washed and stroked my hair.
“Tell me one of those stories.”
“What?”
“About Aphrodite. You said “the stories I could tell”. Tell me one.”
“Thousands of years ago, she became infatuated with a mortal named Adonis. He was the son of the Princess Myrrha, who actually despised Aphrodite and refused to worship her. Anyway, it got pretty heated between them, and Zeus had to intervene. He turned poor Myrrha into a tree and then Ares, transformed into a bull, and killed poor Adonis in a jealous rage. It was quite the scandal for decades.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yup, it certainly is. Then there was this other time…”
For the next hour, as the water ran cold, Hades regaled me with sordid tales of the Gods. It was both informative and entertaining, and by the time he’d finished, my body felt a hundred times better, even if my heart stayed unsure and confused.
Chapter Twenty
MELANY
After Hades left, it was an awkward kind of departure that had us both bewildered, but I imagined for different reasons, I got out of the bath, dried off, put on my robe and padded back into my room. The smell of pizza hit me the moment I entered. My stomach growled in anticipation.
I saw that a large pie sat on the table by the hearth. I was a bit disappointed that Hades wasn’t going to join me, but I made do. I grabbed a couple of slices put them on a plate and took them to my bed, crawling in under the covers. As I devoured the food, I wished that I had Netflix to watch or a few friends that I could text.
It that moment, I was acutely aware of how alone and lonely I was.
The feeling was so bad that I almost considered taking the pizza with me and going to find the Furies in the training room to share it with. I couldn’t imagine any of the sisters eating pizza. Their meals probably consisted of baby chicks with their downy feathers still on and freshly caught eel still alive and wriggling.
After eating, I yawned, feeling pretty relaxed and my body healed. I snuggled down into bed, pulling the blankets up to my chin. I knew I would sleep like the dead.
Except the dead came to see me in my dreams.
In the expanding twilight, I stood alone on a dirt path in a dense forest. I sensed I knew the way to go, so I started to walk deeper into the trees. After walking for some time, the air around me became denser, cloying, as if it grew fingers that brushed along my skin. I shivered, but kept walking.
I came to a fork in the path, both ways looked equally daunting. Weeds and flowers grew over both trails, neither of them too visible in the growing darkness. One path curved upward toward the mountains, and the other twisted downward into the deep gorge. I looked down at my shoes; it wasn’t good footwear for either route.
Before I could choose which track to take, the sound of breaking branches came from the surrounding brush. I whirled to my right to see Sophia coming out of the trees toward me. Her usually coifed grey-streaked hair was in disarray on her head, her face was pinched and paler than normal. Her cheeks had black streaks across them, and there was a dusting of ash all over her, and her torn dress. Her feet were bare and bleeding.
She reached for me. “Melany…” Her voice was hollow and cracked.
I backed away from her. I didn’t want her to touch me. If she did, I was sure I was going to die.
She kept walking toward me, her hand outstretched. I saw that two of her fingers were twisted unnaturally, and her nails had been torn off. “Melany…you must choose…”
“No! Stay away!”
I tried to run away, back the way I’d come, but there wasn’t a path there anymore, just trees, lots of trees and bushes, foliage so thick I couldn’t walk through it.
Then she was there right in front of me, her face mere inches from mine. Her deformed hand grabbed the front of my shirt so I couldn’t escape. “Choose! Or die!”
Then she burst into flames.
I screamed as her body disintegrated into ash. Flames licked over the grass and trees around me, until I was in the middle of a fiery tornado.
I jerked awake, and bolted up in bed. Sweat slicked my face and body. The sheets stuck to my wet skin. My heart pounded painfully in my chest, and I had trouble trying to control my breathing. I jumped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom. I vomited into the sink.
I wiped my mouth and saw black streaks on the back of my hand. I looked into the sink and saw that I had retched up ash and soot and charred chunks. At first I didn’t know what it was, and then I saw a finger. It was Sophie’s hand.
Screaming, I backpedaled away from the sink, tripped over the step stool and fell onto my ass onto the floor. I stayed there until I got my breath. When I looked at my hand again, it was pale and pink as it normally was. I scrambled to my feet and looked in the sink. It was empty. No ash, or soot, or Sophie’s hand. No vomit either.
“Gods Mel, you are losing it.”
I ran the cold water and stuck my head under the tap. I was wide awake now.
I went back into my bedroom just as the bell clanged.
I got dressed into my training clothes and went straight to the training arena. The thought of eating made me want to vomit. Allecto, Tisiphone and Megaera all looked surprised to see me so early.
“Aren’t you the eager beaver?” Tisiphone laughed then smacked me in the shoulder. I winced as I was still sore.
We were about to get ready to do some sparring, when Hades strode happily into the room.
“Change of plans. There won’t be any training today.”
“What’s going on?” His look of pure glee made me nervous.
“Training is over; it’s time for the main event. There’s a huge forest fire raging right now, and the government there has asked for help from the academy. I know Zeus is sending out the troops, and you are going with them.”
“I’m not sure why you look so happy about that. It’s just a fire.”
“Is it?” His eyes shone with excitement. “After all that you went through, do you think this is just a fire?”
I frowned. Surely, after what I found out, Aphrodite and Ares wouldn’t go through with their plans. Not unless, they were confident they would get away with it.
“Besides that, I want to see a test of your powers.”
“I’m not your weapon.”
“Of course you’re not.” He strode out of the room just as jauntily as he’d entered, calling over his shoulder. “I’ll meet you my library in twenty.”
Gone was the man who had treated me tenderly and lovingly last night. In his place was the tactician, the God with a chip on his shoulder and an agenda that I could only hope to guess.
Tisiphone smacked me in the shoulder again. “Remember to always be ready for anything. Have your wings out at all times, you never know when you’ll need them.”
I turned to go back to my room to get on my lightly armored jumpsuit.
“Have fun.” Megaera finger-waved to me.
After changing, I went into the library as Hades instructed. He was there waiting for me, dressed in his God-like best dark purple suit.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded, although nerves fluttered around in my belly. I wasn’t sure why I was apprehensive. We were just going to help the local people and help fight a fire. Somehow though it felt like an audition and I was up for the role of leading lady although I was sure a lot of people in the academy would cast me as the villain.
In an instant the shadows swallowed us up. It was a lot easier now to walk through the darkness but it still made my stomach flip over, like riding a roller coaster. After walking for maybe five minutes, I could see light and hear voices. Then we stepped out into a parking lot where everyone had gathered, demigods, cadets and firefighters, still a mile out from the actual fire.
The sign just beyond the lot read Victory National Park. I’d come here a couple of times with Sophie for
a picnic near the falls. It was an hour drive from Pecunia.
All heads turned at our arrival. Including the three or four camera crews and reporters on the scene.
“What are you doing here?” Heracles approached us, but I was sure he was addressing Hades, as he looked horrified.
“Just dropping off the kid for play time.” He had the nerve to pat me on top of the head. I glared at him, but he ignored me.
“You can’t be here Hades.” He looked around as cameras were swung our way and photos being snapped. “Gods just don’t show up and do interviews.”
“Why not?”
I looked past Heracles and saw Lucian, Jasmine, Georgina, Ren and the rest of my peers immobilizing. I did notice that Revana and her cronies were noticeably absent. Leaving the Gods to squabble, I unfurled my wings lifted into the air and flew over to my friends. Several reporters, mouths agape, filmed me as I gracefully drifted back down to the ground.
“What’s the plan?”
“Nice entrance.” Jasmine shook her head but she was smiling.
I shrugged. “It was Hades’ idea. He has a flair for theatrics.”
Lucian came over and hugged me. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” I checked out the familiar faces standing nearby and the lack of some. I’d expected the entirety of the second year class to be present. “Not everyone is here.”
“We’re basically a test run. Only a few cadets from each clan that have abilities to utilize,” Lucian said. “Zeus thought just having a select few to manage this crisis would be enough to show that the academy is doing what he said it would do.”
One of the firefighters walked over to us, he had a captain badge stitched on his heavy yellow jacket. “It wasn’t my idea to have you here, I think you’re going to get in the way, but if you want to help, then do what I tell you.”
We all nodded.
“Yes, sir,” Lucian said, taking the lead for the group. “There are a few of us who have water powers and can help with the water dumps.”
He surveyed our group, and didn’t look too impressed. “I’m sure our helicopters can handle that…”
Ren stepped out of the group, raised his hands out in front of him. Within seconds he had twin basketball sized water balls balanced in his palms. He threw them at the surrounding trees, soaking the trunks.
The captain nodded. “Impressive. But we’re going to need more water than that, I’m afraid.”
“I’m pretty sure a few of us could actually move the water from the nearby lake and dump it onto the fire,” Ren said proudly. “No buckets required.”
The captain stared at Ren. “Ah, okay.”
Ren gestured to Marek and a couple of others from Poseidon clan.
“Be safe,” I said to him.
“You too.” Then he and the others flew into the sky and disappeared behind the treetops.
The captain gestured to the rest of us. “So, what else can you do?”
“Um, I can move the earth.” Georgina’s voice came from behind me.
He frowned. “Not sure what that means. Or how that will help.”
She stepped forward, crouched and put her hand on the pavement of the parking lot. At first nothing happened, and then the ground beneath us shook a little. Then a crack erupted in the cement, splitting the parking lot, as a ton of soil spilled out of the fissure, like a dirt volcano.
The fire captain had to jump back before a wave of dirt covered his boots. He gaped at her. “Okay, so, I think you would work well with the hotshot team to make firebreaks to stop the fire from spreading.” He pointed to a group of firefighters getting ready to jump into a truck. “Go with them, they’re getting ready to head in.”
“Be safe.” I hugged Georgina.
“You too.”
She and a few others ran over to the waiting group at the trucks.
The captain glanced at me. “So, what can you do, Twilight?”
I was going to balk at what he called me, but as nicknames went it wasn’t bad.
I flicked out my hands to my sides, flames instantly erupting over them.
“We want to stop the fire not make more,” he said.
I shot out a hand, tossing a fireball onto the grass. It immediately took hold and the flames grew. Then I held out my hand toward that fire and slowly made a fist. The flames grew smaller and smaller, then I shut my hand and the fire went out in a puff of black smoke.
“Can you do that on a largescale?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. Haven’t tried to yet. But as a team,” I glanced at Lucian and Jasmine and the others, “I’m positive we can do something worthwhile.”
“All right. I have a team inside about five miles near the gorge. Do you know where that is?”
I nodded.
“I’ll radio in, tell them to expect you.” He rubbed his face and sighed. “They’re not going to believe it when I tell them a group of flying kids are coming to save the day.”
With a nod to the others, I lifted into the air, Lucian and Jasmine beside me. The last two, which included Quinn and a girl name Su, who were both in Hephaistos’s clan, also followed suit. Once we got into a formation, we flew up over the trees. It was then when we saw what we were literally flying into. It looked like the bowels of hell.
Chapter Twenty-One
MELANY
It didn’t take us long before we were flying through the thick black smoke. I could feel the heat from the fire down below rolling up over my body. Sweat instantly popped out on my forehead and upper lip. I looked over at Lucian and saw the same horror on his face that I was feeling.
Because the air was so thick with blinding smoke, it was difficult to see where the gorge was. After about ten minutes in the air searching, Jasmine pointed out a break in the fire about one hundred feet from the edge of the gorge.
“There!”
We swooped down to the ground, where there were about eight firefighters in yellow gear and helmets, digging in the already burnt ground and knocking down blackened trees to stamp out any embers. When we landed, there were some startles and some curses but since they’d been warned of our arrival, it wasn’t too bad.
One of the men approached us. “I’ve been told you can control fire.”
“We’re going to try,” I said.
“Where do you want us to hit?” Lucian asked.
The firefighter pointed to the fire line to the left of us. “If we can keep making strides this way, we can pinch the fire off. From what I’ve heard, your people with the water are doing some good damage on the main fire.”
My heart lifted when I heard that.
The five of us, me, Lucian, Jasmine, Quinn and Su moved toward the fire line on the left. The heat was oppressive this close to the flames. We were a good fifty feet away from them but it was like putting your face right into a bonfire.
“Okay, we need to try and gather the fire and snuff it out.”
Everyone nodded, then as one, we stretched our hands out toward the flames.
I concentrated on one flame at a time. It was impossible to think about it all at once. We wouldn’t be able to control it like that. I closed my eyes and focused on one of the burning trees, trying to gather the fire to me. But it was hard to distinguish one flame from another. I needed to get closer. So, I took a few steps forward.
“Mel! What are you doing? You can’t get too close.” I heard the worry in Lucian’s voice, but I knew what I was doing.
The fire wouldn’t hurt me. It was part of me. I looked over my shoulder to Quinn and Su. They were part of Hephaistos clan, they were part fire too. “Move closer! The fire won’t hurt you.”
They glanced nervously at each other.
“Trust me!”
Then Quinn took a couple steps forward; Su followed his lead. Eventually they got in line with me.
I saw that Lucian and Jasmine were going to do the same thing, but I shook my head. “You stay there! Keep trying to control it from where you are.”
Flames bent toward me, flicking fiery fingers at me. I suspected I’d have red skin and singed hair by the time the fire was done with me. It was difficult to breathe this close, so I tried not to gulp in the much needed air.
I stretched my hand out toward the flames. I pulled and plucked at the fire until I had a handful, then I crushed it in my fist, snuffing out its life. Now I had the fire’s attention. Bolstered by what they’d seen me do, Quinn and Su both drew out the flames and extinguished it.
It was a long involved, painful process, but after an hour, we had a football field sized part of the forest doused. The fire was angry though, and some of the flames tried to leap over us, aided by the sudden gusts of wind. Two small fires erupted behind me, and in front of Lucian.
I whirled around to snuff it out, but Lucian used one of his other powers to douse it. He gathered the water molecules from the air and from deep in the ground, and created a mini water spout. He sent it spinning over the small fires and they were immediately smothered.
We came back to talk to the firefighters who were extremely grateful of our help, and they told us that the fire was getting under control in other parts of the forest. Ren and Marek had completely put out a hectare to the right of us, and Georgina had singlehandedly created another gorge effectively cutting the fire off from jumping into another part of the park. Maybe they would name it after her.
All in all, we’d done one hell of a job. Zeus and the other Gods would be proud. I hoped Hades would be proud too.
The firefighters shared their water with us, and I used a wet cloth to wipe the soot from my face and hands. I suspected that I’d have a few blisters on my skin by the day’s end. It was worth it though. Together we’d done a great thing and helped the community.
Taking one of the water bottles I walked toward the gorge. It was the deepest gorge in the world at sixteen hundred feet and a marvel to see. Luckily the fire hadn’t dived down into the crevasse and burned away all the rich vegetation that grew along its rock walls. Lucian and Jasmine joined me.
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