by Raine, Eliza
‘Wait,’ I heard Icarus say. I felt movement and tightened my grip on the rings I was hanging on to. The statue was rising.
‘Icarus?’ I called, quiet panic in my voice. ‘What’s happening?’
‘Jump,’ he called back.
‘What?’
‘Jump, now!’ I squeezed my eyes shut, and jumped, before the statue could get any higher and I could talk myself out of it. I braced my knees and landed better than I expected, the thud sending a dull ache through my feet and legs but nothing worse. I gaped up at the statue of Atlas, now moving past my head as it lifted higher. Underneath it, slowly being revealed, was a narrow metal spiral-staircase.
‘I told you it was stairs,’ said Icarus, smugly. I looked sideways at him, then turned back, watching as the statue moved higher and higher, eventually disappearing into the dark roof above us. I took a step towards the staircase and Icarus reached out, grabbing my arm.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m going up the stairs,’ I said, frowning.
‘No way, we need to go and get Dasko,’ he said, shaking his head.
‘Why?’
‘Because you know precisely nothing about anything, and I’m not stupid enough to go up there without someone who can use magic properly,’ he said icily. I folded my arms across my chest.
‘Fine,’ I huffed.
‘Wait here,’ he said, then ran off.
I lasted about four minutes, before throwing my arms in the air with a sigh and stepping onto the first step of the staircase. I just couldn’t wait. They might be ages, or Dasko might tell us we couldn’t go up there, or the staircase might disappear again, or it might vanish when someone who wasn’t a Titan arrived, or Chiron might find us - I reckoned I could come up with a hundred reasons why I had to go up there, now. I climbed quickly, not stopping to look up or down, just making my way steadily up the steps. It got darker as I climbed higher and I looked around in awe when I reached the stars. They were hovering in the air around me like big fairy-lights, their glow being swallowed by the inky darkness above them. Nerves began to make my skin tingle as I ascended into the dark, and for the first time I wondered if Icarus had been right. It was a little bit dangerous to come up here with no magic. But we’d been able to find the gems, and unlock the stairs, so surely we’d be equipped to deal with whatever was up here?
Suddenly my head bumped against something solid above me. I felt around, squinting in the dark and realized I’d reached the ceiling. My hand found something cold and metal. It was the handle on a hatch. I opened it, adrenaline now pumping through me, and poked my head up through it slowly. I peered around in the gloom, trying to make out details and I realized there was light was coming from a window at one end. As I looked harder I saw that it wasn’t just a window, but the academy logo, on the front of the building. I was in the attic. I pulled myself up through the hatch and immediately felt that same emotional pull that I had earlier. The floor around me was littered with stuff and I walked slowly through it all, letting the happy feeling guide me. Rays of twilight from the wreath shaped window illuminated a dusty chest a few feet from me and for a second I thought my heart might burst with happiness. That was what I was here for. I hurried over to it and tried to pull the lid up. It didn’t budge. I crouched down with a scowl and inspected the front. It was locked. But instead of a padlock with a keyhole in it, like a normal chest back home, this one had a little circular hole and an inscription that said ‘water’ around it. I looked around me. I didn’t have any water. Did I need to conjure some? Icarus had been right, we did need someone with magic. I scowled and sat down hard, dust flying up around me. I’d just have to wait for them, I thought, feeling disappointed and impatient. I fiddled with the lock as I looked around the room. I wondered what was in all the boxes and chests. Did Chiron know all this was here? With another sigh I looked back at the padlock. Maybe while I waited I would try to magic up some water, I thought. I closed my eyes and thought about what Dasko had said, about imagining the blood running through my body being water, about my whole body being one with it, about it flowing through me and giving me life. I remembered being underwater with the turtles, thought about the cool feeling of being submerged, the thrilling weightlessness. And then my hand was wet. I opened my eyes with a gasp, looking down at my hand. A tiny swirl of water was whizzing around over my palm. Excitement thrilled though me so hard I thought I might cry. I was using water magic! I picked up the padlock with my other hand and carefully angled the little swirl of water towards the hole. It tipped in neatly and there was a loud click. Anticipation made my heart hammer against my ribs as the padlock came away and I lifted the lid of the chest. It was large enough for me to fit in, yet there was only a tiny object in the bottom. I reached in and pulled it out. It was something round, wrapped in paper. I was just starting to unwrap it when a flash of silver caught my eye. I looked around, and saw it again, over by the hatch.
‘Icarus?’ I called, getting to my feet. There was no answer. Then a loud whirring began and panic shot through me. The staircase! I started to move quickly towards the hatch but there was a loud popping sound behind me. I whirled in time to see a wooden crate near the back of the room explode into flames. I ducked and ran for the hatch, stuffing the paper wrapped item into my pocket as went. There was a loud slam as I skidded to a halt and I cried out as I saw the hatch seal up. I pulled desperately at it, but it wouldn’t move. The flames behind me began to roar and I watched, horrified as they spread around the room, the dry old boxes going up like tinder. I tried the hatch again, this time noticing a shining silver feather trapped in the side of it. I pulled it out and stared dumbly at it. Astra could turn into a silver eagle. But why would she do this?
I hammered on the hatch, yelling and screaming. Icarus knew where I was, he would come, with Dasko. I could feel the heat from the flames on my skin and I kicked over and over again at the wooden hatch, but my Converse wouldn’t go through. I needed something heavier, I thought, looking frantically around me for something suitable. I saw a massive urn a couple feet from me and I ran to it. It was so heavy I could barely lift it, so I dragged it over to the hatch. With an effort, I bent my knees and lifted it off the wood, then dropped it, leaping out of the way just in time as it crashed through the wooden hatch. Relief washed over me - until I looked down the hole it had left. There were no stairs anymore. Atlas was back in the middle of the room where he always was and I was trapped in the ceiling.
‘Pandora!’ yelled somebody. I squinted down at the checkered floor. It was Dasko. He waved his hands and a wave of water shot up towards me.
‘Jump! The water will catch you!’
I took one look at the roaring flames and leapt through the hole.
For one terrifying second I fell straight through the water. But the next I felt it harden beneath me, and then it was like I was riding a crazy water slide, as I corkscrewed down the spiraling wave, sliding onto the marble floor at the bottom. I gasped for breath as Dasko rushed over to me, noticing Icarus standing and staring at the ceiling, lips pressed together.
‘What happened?’ Dasko said, putting his hand on my shoulders.
‘Somebody set fire to the attic and sealed the hatch,’ I panted.
‘What attic? What hatch?’ I pointed up at the ceiling, orange flames now just visible through the hole, though it was a long way up. ‘You’d better start at the beginning. Come on, we’ll go to my office, before Chiron wakes up,’ he said, pulling me to my feet. He waved his hand and the water sloshing around on the marble floor gathered suddenly, then rushed away under the front door.
‘Thanks for saving me,’ I said to him as he ushered me to a door marked ‘Professor Dasko’.
‘You’re welcome. Now tell me what I was saving you from.’
17
Dasko’s office was nothing like Chiron’s. It had couches in it, and posters on the walls of castles made of ice and palaces built in trees. He got me a hot drink and I told him what had ha
ppened. Icarus sat on a different couch and scowled the whole time I was talking.
‘I told you to wait for us,’ he snarled when I was done.
‘Well I thought it was better to go then,’ I replied.
‘Icarus was right, you should have waited,’ Dasko said.
‘The whole thing might have been burned down before we got there if I’d waited!’ I protested. ‘And then I wouldn’t have got this.’ I pulled the wrapped round thing from my pocket. It was a bit damp, but not too damaged. Dasko and Icarus came close, leaning over me as I carefully unfolded the paper to reveal a pearl. It was a milky white, shining in the light of the office, and looking at it made my head feel strange. Almost like I was growing in size. I looked up at Dasko.
‘Is it making you feel weird?’ I asked him. He shook his head.
‘Yes,’ said Icarus quietly. ‘Sort of big. And dizzy.’
‘Yes!’
‘It must only affect Titans,’ mused Dasko.
‘Look. There’s something on the wrapper,’ said Icarus. I straightened out the paper, relieved the words on it hadn’t been spoiled by the water. At first, they made no sense, they were in an alphabet I had never even seen before. But as I frowned at them they seemed to vibrate and wobble and the next thing I knew, words were forming that I could read.
Get this riddle and you will be
One step closer to being free
Unlucky are those who do not swim
Never to enter the sea on a whim
Diving below the fierce waves
Entering a world of water and caves
Relying on skill to seek out your wealth
Not a soul will survive without any stealth
Ever the hero who can hold their breath
Always aware it may cause their death
Though it may seem your chances are bleak
Here lies the treasure that you must seek
‘What does it mean?’ I asked, looking at Dasko again. He shrugged.
‘It’ll take me a while to translate it.’
I frowned.
‘What? Why do you need to translate it? It’s a riddle, it needs solving, not translating.’
Dasko’s eyes lit up as he looked at me.
‘You can read it? I was right about the anagram! It’s in a language only Titans could read.’ His fists clenched by his sides, a smile spreading across his face. A pride at being able to do something others couldn’t rippled through me, and I smiled back. ‘This is fantastic, Pandora, you’ve done well.’
I beamed at him.
‘Can you read it too?’ he asked Icarus quickly. Icarus nodded, and I got a proper glimpse of those incredible eyes as his hair moved. The tummy fluttering happened again and I focused on Dasko, ignoring it.
‘Yeah. It’s a riddle,’ he said.
‘Read it to me,’ said Dasko, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet. Icarus took the paper and started to read, but the words weren’t like anything I’d ever heard before. Dasko stilled, his face creasing in a frown.
‘No, I don’t understand the language,’ he said. Icarus looked at him, confused.
‘Language? What are you talking about? I’m just reading.’
Dasko slowly put his hand to his mouth, narrowing his eyes in thought.
‘Read on,’ he said, eventually. Icarus continued to read, and though the sounds he was making were strange, if I was being honest they were a little sexy. He was rolling his ‘r’s, and there was a soft, almost sensual lilt to the language.
‘Pandora, you try,’ Dasko said when he finished. I took the paper from Icarus, ignoring his scowl as I reached over, and began to read. To me, it sounded like I was just saying the words in front of me, but I could tell from Icarus’s astonished expression that the same thing was happening.
‘That’s messed up,’ he said quietly when I was done. ‘That’s what I sounded like?’
‘Yes,’ said Dasko, still thoughtful. ‘Can you tell me what the riddle is about?’ I started to tell him that it was about being underwater and in some caves but he shook his head quickly. ‘No, it’s no good. I can’t understand you. It must be powerful magic, bound only to Titans.’
I looked at Icarus.
‘You know it’s about underwater caves, right?’ I asked him.
‘Yeah,’ he said. Well at least we were reading the same riddle, I thought.
‘I’m sorry, but you two are going to have to solve this on your own,’ said Dasko, seriously. ‘Before Zeus visits the school.’
18
I woke the next morning to Zali singing. Tak had been right, she wasn’t very good. I sat upright as last night's activities came rushing back to me. I needed to find out if the Zeus twins had been involved in the fire. But why would they have been? How would they even have known we were in the front temple? I leaned over the side of my bed and pulled the paper from my hoodie pocket. I read and re-read the riddle until my head started to pound. It was obviously telling us that the box was underwater, but where? Were there caves near the academy?
‘Dora?’ Zali’s voice said gently from the other side of the curtain.
‘Mmmm?’ I replied.
‘Chiron sent a note for you.’ I tucked the riddle away, pulled back the curtain and swung my legs out of bed. ‘You look tired,’ she frowned as she passed me the note.
Miss Alma has agreed to an introductory flying class at 10am today. Please be at the pegasus stables promptly.
Chiron
‘Yes!’ I exclaimed, pumping my fist. ‘Miss Alma is going to teach me flying today,’ I told Zali.
‘Oh, that’s nice of her,’ she smiled, and picked up a shirt from a pile on her bed and began to fold it.
‘What do people do on the weekends here?’ I asked.
‘Saturday mornings we do chores in our dorms,’ she answered, gesturing at the laundry she was sorting through. ‘Saturday afternoons there’s usually some sort of tournament. Not always, but most of the time.’
‘Like what?’
‘Swords, spears, archery, lifting, generally physical stuff. Sometimes it’s swimming or elemental, but usually not. Then on Saturday nights we can do what we like. There’s a dance night once a month, you just missed one. Sundays are free days. What time are you meeting Miss Alma?’
‘Ten,’ I said. ‘What should I wear for flying?’
‘Whatever you like, but dress quick, you’ve only got five minutes.’
I was breathing hard when I reached the pegasus tower and skidded to a stop when I saw Miss Alma standing outside the entrance, hands clasped behind her back.
‘Pandora,’ she said, nodding curtly.
‘Miss Alma,’ I panted. I followed her into the hauler, remembering to look around in fake confusion. I wasn’t supposed to have ever been in one before.
‘This is a hauler,’ said Miss Alma as we began to rise.
‘Is it like an elevator?’ I asked, already knowing it was.
‘I don’t know what one of those is. It allows us to move up and down without stairs,’ she said.
‘Right,’ I answered.
The little thrills of anticipation started as we reached the top and the cool, crisp air lifted my hair from my face. I took a deep breath through my nose, smelling the ocean.
‘We will just be familiarizing you with an animal today. You will not actually be flying.’ A stab of disappointment shot through me, but I said nothing, walking fast to keep up with Miss Alma’s long strides as we made our way down the corridor towards the perimeter of the tower. ‘The stables are up here, in a ring around the tower. We shall introduce you to each pegasus until one takes an interest in you.’
One by one we met the winged horses I’d peeked at a few nights before. None of them paid me much attention as I stood in the stable doorways though. Secretly I was glad. I wanted the chestnut pegasus who’d stared so intently at me last time. My heart was skipping and my tummy was fluttering by the time we reached his stable, but Miss Alma carried on walking past it.
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‘What about this one?’
‘No point. He’s a bad tempered beast at the best of times,’ she answered without stopping.
‘Please!’ I said, too eagerly. She turned, regarded me a moment, then shrugged.
‘Fine.’ She slid across the bolt on the stable door and I stepped apprehensively into the doorway. There he was, lying down at the back of the small space, his magnificent wings folded around him.
‘Hello,’ I said quietly. He turned his head to look at me, his dark eyes unblinking. Then he stood up, slowly, and fluttered his massive wings out on either side briefly, like he was stretching. ‘I’m Pandora,’ I said, not caring if Miss Alma thought I sounded silly. ‘What’s his name?’ I asked her, without taking my eyes off his.
‘He doesn’t have one. He spends long periods of time away from the school. Nobody has got close enough to him to want to name him.’ My heart went out to the poor creature. Just because he didn’t want to be cooped up in here, they didn’t bother naming him?
‘I’ll name you,’ I whispered. He dropped his head and gave a small, low whinny. Warmth spread through me. How could I have gone from watching TV on Saturday mornings and worrying that my life would never get interesting to conversing with a creature like this? He took a step towards me, and Miss Alma moved quickly beside me. He whinnied again, and I could tell it was at her. ‘It’s OK,’ I said, to both her and the pegasus. After a pause, she moved back again, and he moved forwards. I held out my hand and he approached me slowly. The closer he got, the more massive he seemed. I’d never ridden a horse, but I knew he was bigger. And his wings made him seem even larger still. I looked at them closely, noticing the different shades of rich browns, paling as the feathers got lower down the wing.