by Holly Hook
I looked away to see the Marchamp Power Plant towering above the rest of town with its towers and vapor climbing into the sky. My stomach turned. Ronin was two streets over from that. Two.
But he was in a motel.
Near my school.
I wanted to grab onto that thought, but that could only make things more agonizing if Ronin rejected me.
Finally, we pulled down a side street and parked beside a long, ugly motel that was tucked back here for a reason. Closed doors greeted us and a lamp shone inside a window. A few beat-up cars sat in the lot. People lived here. And now Ronin did, too.
But he had ditched the Lamborghini. Sure, it had a busted windshield thanks to Hades, but he hadn't kept the car--and the fatherly approval--he'd worked for all his life. I wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"We need to knock," I said.
"If Ronin's here," Maria told me, "he will sense you. He's still a descendant of Hermes and a messenger."
I gulped. We got out of the car. Cal walked out from behind the building, waving to Mikey. "So far, all clear."
"Great," Mikey said, taking Cal's hand. "Thanks for being our scout."
None of the motel doors opened. I was letting my guard down to boot. However, the room with the lamp snapped into darkness as if someone were trying to hide. People were sensing some kind of horrible darkness nearby and now they were laying low.
"We have to knock," I choked out. I balled my fists. Now I knew why Hades had such a temper. He hadn't chosen to rule the Underworld or to have everyone fear him. And I hadn't chosen this.
I knocked on the first door, the one where the lamp had blinked off. I heard someone shifting inside, and then a bathroom door opening and slamming.
"Shit," I muttered.
"I don't think that's Ronin. He wouldn't hide," Maria said to me.
She was right. Ronin charged first and asked questions later. "Next door."
No one was home in the next two rooms we checked, but someone shifted in the fourth. And before I even raised my hand to knock, the door came open.
Ronin filled the doorway, and I smelled the alcohol before he had time to say anything. We stared at each other. Ronin had bags under his eyes, which slowly widened as he studied me. Even in the semi-dark of his motel room and the glow of the TV, I could make out the redness in his eyes. Despite his awesome build, his body had suffered too. He wore a loose white T-shirt, stained with ketchup at the bottom, and it didn't hide the fact that he'd put on a bit of a belly from eating too much fast food.
I flinched at his state.
He was utterly miserable.
Or maybe I was focusing on far too many details. Despite the deterioration, he was still Ronin. Strong. Able.
"Giselle?" he slurred. Then his eyes widened all the way. He was quite drunk. That meant we could get him back to Cursed Academy easily. I cursed myself for the thought.
"Can we come in?" I eyed the factory just a few hundred yards behind me sent him my best puppy dog look.
"Which Giselle are you?"
I swallowed as a lump formed in my throat. "I'm just me, Ronin." I could barely force the words out. "Please. You have to let us explain."
He swayed on his feet and stood aside to let me in. "Everything's so confusing now. Everything." Was I just a desperate vision to him? Ronin was so drunk that I might be just a strange dream. But my legs carried me into the motel room. Clothes were strewn everywhere, in various states of dirty. I sniffed. Ronin had worn the same clothes for days in some cases. The sheets on the bed were rumpled, the creases sharp from nightmares. Whiskey bottles created a small city on the bedside table. The carpet harbored fallen crumbs and bits of cheese, fries, and potato chips. Ronin hadn't had a healthy meal since leaving the Sorting Temple.
He had collapsed because of me.
And I couldn't blame him.
"I broke my promise," Ronin said as he leaned against the wall. I faced him, with Maria and Wendy hovering in the doorway. Celestus stood behind them, arms wide, and as I watched, the space in the doorway darkened with his night magic. He was doing his best to cloak us. "Been hiding like a pussy. From you. And from Zeus. Wow, they're right when they say drunks are honest."
"Ronin," I said. "I didn't want this to happen. I'm still Giselle. And what you saw...I had to defend myself." I dared to approach. Ronin could probably read the lie on my face. I had changed. A lot. "I didn't want to attack Zeus. But he backed me into a corner. He...he's abusive to women, Ronin. He tried to touch me."
Ronin grabbed the TV stand. "He can't keep his hands to himself, can he?"
"You know about that?" I asked.
"Been talking. Old friends. From school. Wow, everyone is an asshole. Everyone." He reached for a small bottle full of an acrid, tan liquid.
And I snatched it away from him. If he drank any more, he'd get sick.
"No," I said. "You suspected what happened?"
"Oh, not at first," he said with a dismissive wave. "But Zeus zapped my phone. It doesn't work now. So I couldn't ask you."
I gulped. Ronin could have gotten a new phone. "You didn't ask me because you were scared of me."
He swayed. "Oh, yes."
There. My heart raced. Ronin did fear me and now he knew that his father was a serial adulterer at best and a serial rapist at worst. His whole world really had come down and this was the only way he could cope. We had to get him out so he could fix himself.
"Yes," Maria said, stepping into the room. "Zeus thought having his way with Giselle would make her mature the way he wanted. Ronin, your father's not a nice person. He's trying to dominate the world." As she spoke, she cringed.
Ronin whirled on her. "I know he's not a nice person!"
My heart swelled and then shriveled. The last thing Ronin needed was for everything to shatter into even smaller pieces. But now I knew why he hadn't kept the car. "Ronin, we have to go. We have to get back to my school. All this is almost over." I dared to reach out and touch his arm. He let me, slowly turning his gaze to me. This wasn't the first time he'd felt my dark magic. I wrapped my fingers around his bicep. Tingles ran up my hand and under my skin, only stopping when they reached my neck. Ronin still had his electricity. His spark. It was under all the alcohol and the pain he was trying to mask.
"You're dark now. He ruined you."
Now it was my turn to let my jaw drop. "I'm still the same person, Ronin. Please. I feel the same inside. And I can tell you're still the same person, too. We need to stay together."
"Hey, Zeus ruined me, too," Ronin said, looking at the mirror. As he spoke, his electricity wavered. Anger. Resentment. Betrayal. Pain flashed across his features, narrowing his eyes and working the muscle in his jaw. Zeus had hurt him far more than he'd hurt me. "He tried to order me across the country. Wanted me away from everyone. After he ruined my phone, I knew. He wasn't trying to be nice to me."
I followed his gaze, eyeing the two of us standing beside each other in the mirror. The outlines of my brown contacts stared back at me, along with my wide pupils. I hated the darkness within.
"We can't linger," Celestus said. "I can only mask us for so long. An Olympian Guard van just patrolled past us. And they slowed down." My teacher struggled to keep his voice calm. Celestus, the master of masking his feelings, was nervous.
I tapped Ronin's shoulder. This was not the time to rekindle love, and especially not when Ronin was drunk. "We need to get back to Cursed Academy. Prometheus won't hurt you. I can stop him now, and the others." I blurted out that last part.
"The others?" Ronin's eyes widened.
Wendy shook her head at me. Good job. If I told him the Lower Order was hanging out around Cursed Academy, and that I hadn't destroyed them on sight, all this was off. I was working with the people who had killed Ronin's mother. He would never forgive that, nor should he.
"The other students. The schools are divided now," I said, tugging on his sleeve. "We have to go."
Ronin's expression relaxed. He'd seen the Low
er Order watching me almost destroy Zeus. He must have assumed I'd banished them right after that. Once we got him to Cursed Academy, we were going to face each other's truths.
Pulling Ronin to the door was easy. Celestus backed off, Maria and Wendy following him, and eyed the car. Celestus trembled and faced Cal, who stood in the middle of the parking lot and shrugged. My teacher was using way too much magic. He had to cool it or he was going to collapse. Ronin's sword swung on his belt, slapping his jeans and zinging with electricity. Despite his state, he'd kept his birthright weapon.
And then a motor roared and a green van pulled into the parking lot, stopping in the center.
"We have a problem," Wendy said.
"No kidding," Mikey said.
Doors slid open. An Olympian Guard van. My heart leapt into my chest and I let go of Ronin, reaching for my dagger. I might have to destroy. In front of Ronin and in front of myself. As I lifted my dagger and left Ronin, who stumbled onto the pavement, the darkness rose on the horizon of my awareness, ready to obey.
A second van pulled in. What gave? Celestus had been masking us. Green-uniformed men and women poured out of the sliding doors, boots clacking against the pavement. Ronin cursed and sloppily drew his weapon. Why? They weren't out to destroy a son of Zeus.
"Freeze!" a man shouted, raising his shock stick towards us. Guards fanned out, raising their shields. Visors dropped over a dozen sets of eyes. They were a riot force ready to be reckoned with.
Curtains parted in the motel room where the lamp had been shining a few minutes before. And I understood. The scary feeling I gave off had been reported to the Guard. Once that happened, no amount of magic Celestus used could hide us. It had been useless.
I raised my dagger. "Don't make me use this. Please." My voice swept over the pavement, making Guards flinch.
Ronin looked at me as if he couldn't believe I was showing fear. I could destroy the entire Guard with one move. Open a void that would swallow them. But I also might kill my friends. The void didn't pick and choose who or what it pulled in.
"Hold your ground!" the leader shouted to the others. A few Guards staggered back, holding their clear shields close. I was scaring them. They knew I could destroy. It was clear they'd been expecting some run of the mill Lower Order monsters.
"I don't want to hurt you!" I shouted. "Let us leave. We're not--"
An explosion from behind the Guards shook the ground and filled the air with a deafening roar. Guards shouted and as the ground wavered, I stumbled, lashing the air with my dagger out of pure defensive instinct. A small void opened where a few guards had been standing, and a whining sound filled the air. I hadn't meant to open a void. But I had.
"Giselle! No!" Ronin shouted, suddenly alert, as I crashed into him. A manhole cover sailed over the Olympian Guard vans and clanged to the pavement. Orange magic, complete with black smoke, burst from the sewer and spread overhead, spitting lightning bolts the shade of fire. Dominique's magic. The power of Hecate. I'd mentioned this place to her. And she had planted a spell meant to attack the Guard.
Shouting, guards turned away to survey the distraction.
This was not good.
And made me look a lot worse.
"Giselle?" Ronin asked.
"We've got to go!" Wendy shouted, sword drawn, as the void I opened whined, sucking in air. Wendy's black hair whipped to the side and the Guards all shouted in confusion, turning with their shock sticks ready. Ronin pointed his sword at the magic billowing out of the manhole cover behind the vans. Then he looked to me. Magical bolts struck downward, barely missing the Olympian Guards who scrambled out of the way. The air turned electric. Ronin was about to act. He might hurt someone by trying to help.
"Run!" I shouted, grabbing his free arm.
Ronin glared at me, features tight with betrayal. Eyes watery and red, he opened his mouth as redness flushed his cheeks. The last of his hope had died.
"Giselle!" Maria shouted, wrapping her arms around me from behind. She tugged on my torso, but I was stronger than her, stronger than anyone. Ronin and I were holding everyone up.
"Freeze!" a female Guard shouted, charging me from the side. She raised her shock stick, which spat sparks, and I turned, dagger ready, as Ronin shouted at me to stop. But he sounded underwater. I swished my dagger to the side, opening a second void away from her, just something to scare her, and purple sparks shot from both openings, joining in the middle. The Guard turned her head as she struck me on the side, and a painful shock echoed through my body. I staggered back, gasping for breath, but the pain vanished a second later.
It didn't matter.
I'd never opened two voids before.
And where the tendrils of dark magic met, a third opening into Chaos was opening, small at first, but then it grew, revealing the swirling darkness within that was even blacker than black. The Guards all turned away from the Lower Order distraction and backpedaled from the scene. Papers and empty water bottles flew into the growing void in the middle. Wendy dug her heels into the ground as the wind tried to rip her forward. As the void grew from basketball size to beach ball size, a tiny voice in my head burst to life as terror bloomed in my chest. I sensed I could fall into this and snap out of existence just like everything else. This opening was different and part of a chain reaction.
Stop this.
Cold terror rushed into my chest. I waved the dagger again, silently ordering the new void to close, but nothing happened. The beach ball remained, feeding off the other two voids, growing, sucking in everything around it--
Wendy screamed as she slid closer to the growing maw.
"Giselle!" Wendy shouted, reaching out for me.
I grabbed Wendy with one hand, stopping her from sliding closer. I waved my dagger, and while I could close the two holes I'd opened, the third remained, easily the size of a car, and one of the empty, old beaters slid closer and closer to it despite stopping its growth. The Guards had fled. So had my friends. Where was Ronin?
"Don't let go!" I shouted at Wendy.
"No shit!" she shouted. "Pull me back!"
I did, struggling and straining. The void pulled at Wendy so hard that I struggled to pull. If she came off her feet, I'd fly into the void with her. And I somehow knew that would end even me.
The old car slid into the void, emitting a horrific screech as it crumbled in on itself and exploded briefly into purple sparks before snapping out of existence.
"Pull!" Wendy shouted, grasping my arm with both of her hands. Her nails dug into my flesh so hard that a golden fluid leaked out around them. My blood. My freakish blood. I flinched, about to let go--
Celestus's car screeched to a stop between Wendy and the new void. The wind calmed. Wendy banged into the front passenger door. She yanked it open, climbing inside and over Cal to sit on the gearshift. Maria and Mikey were already in the back with Ronin. The Olympian Guards shouted from somewhere behind the vans as orange lightning lashed at the parking lot. Despite the weight, the whole car slowly slid closer to the new, massive void. Maria and Wendy screamed.
"Get in!" Ronin shouted.
Behind the car, the black and orange smoke plummeted into the maw.
I got into the back of the car, throwing myself over the others as the car began to rock from the wind. The void could pull all of us inside, even me. My heart raced as I eyed it, just feet away from the back window. I had no control over it. That was clear when I waved my dagger again, urging it to close.
"Go!" I shouted to Celestus. We were crammed inside, reeking of terrified sweat and metallic adrenaline.
Celestus floored it, making the tires squeal as we barreled out of the parking lot and past running, terrified Olympian Guards. And Ronin said nothing as we left the mess behind us and sped back to Cursed Academy.
Chapter Ten
Ronin stayed quiet as I continued to lay over everyone's laps. Wendy shifted on the gearshift while Celestus kept the vehicle in drive. They remained tense and uncomfortable. Ronin had
his own seat, and I had my top half over him, but every time I tried to move, he tensed.
I was involved with the Lower Order and he knew. What did I say to that? Nothing would dispel the angry silence. Well, the anger.
"I didn't want Dominique to show up," I forced. From my position, I was unable to look at Ronin--only the small city and then the trees speeding past. How long would the new void linger over the Old Row parking lot? How much would it eat?
"But she did," he snapped. "I might have been fine with you going dark so long as you were responsible about it, but the Lower Order is a hard no from me."
"I know it is."
"Then why are you working with them?" Ronin roared. I could hear his teeth grinding.
Tears gathered in my eyes. First, I had just learned my power could cause a chain reaction if I summoned more than one void at a time, and now Ronin had learned I'd done something unforgivable.
"Please," Mikey begged. "You two. Don't bring us along for this ride."
"Why are you hanging around with her?" Ronin asked. "Everyone. I swear. Everyone is a piece of shit."
"Ronin!" I shouted.
"Please be quiet," Celestus said. "I need to make sure no one's following us." He turned down the road leading to both schools and gunned it again.
"She's working with them because the Lower Order can stop the monsters from maturing!" Maria yelled in Ronin's face. "Give Giselle a break. The Order isn't as bad as you think."
"They didn't kill your mother!"
No one could argue with that. I'd almost reconciled with Ronin. Almost. And then Dominique had to--
"You're right," I admitted, voice filling the car and overtaking the sound of the whining engine. Ronin would never come back from this. I couldn't ask him to spit on his mother's memory, even if he could somehow help us with taking down Olympus and returning the world to what it was.