Olympus Academy: The Complete Series

by Raine, Eliza

  If I hadn’t been holding onto the leather strap I’d definitely have been thrown from the open back of the chariot. For a heart-stopping second, both my feet lifted from the planks as we shot forward and my cry was lost as I threw my other hand out to grab for the side of the chariot. We were moving fast, but not as fast as Evenus, I saw as I got my feet back on the wood and straightened up, gasping for breath. The chains were spinning at the sides of our chariot, and I wondered for a moment why Evenus didn’t appear to have any weapons on his chariot. Then something flew past my head, so fast and close I heard the whizz, and Icarus shouted.

  ‘Get down!’ I ducked below the side of the chariot, at the same time as Arketa, the chariot swerving as she did.

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Crossbow!’ I poked my head up carefully above the side of the chariot and saw the minotaur, an ugly smile on its snout, and a gleaming crossbow in his hands. I held my hand up, feeling for the fire that was dancing through my veins. Then Arketa let out a yell and the stadium began to shudder around us.

  ‘Now what?!’ The chariot banked hard suddenly, and I slammed into the wood as my crouched body went with it. I winced in pain and stared as a column shot up past the side of our chariot, missing us by inches. We swerved again, this time to the other side, as another white stone column grew at lightning speed up out of the dusty track. Well, this would go some way to explaining all the broken, splintered chariots on the ground, I thought, scrabbling back to my feet. I looked furtively ahead, seeing Evenus’s chariot a good ten feet ahead of us, swerving around the sprouting columns like he knew exactly where they were already. He probably did, I thought angrily, letting the fire crackle up inside me.

  ‘Are you ready, Icarus?’ I called.

  ‘Whenever you are,’ he shouted back. His voice was strained and as I looked at him I saw that he was gripping the leather strap with white knuckles. He needed his hand to use air magic.

  ‘Fly,’ I told him, and he gave me a grateful look, and snapped his big wings out wide behind him. The air caught them immediately, and for a breathtaking moment he was motionless behind us. Then he tucked them in and zoomed back to us like a dart. Raising his good hand, he blasted a shot of air at Evenus. The chariot rocked as it hit, the griffin snarling, then extending her own wings and leaping off the back of the chariot. Worry for Icarus swelled inside me and I threw fireballs at the griffin as it swooped towards us. It dodged them, and Arketa shouted over the rushing air.

  ‘Hairpin bend coming up, hold on!’ I looked ahead, and saw that the columns were now funneling us through an insanely tight path. I grabbed the strap with both hands, and we turned.

  16

  My respect for Arketa couldn’t have been higher, as she maneuvered us around the changing bends and turns, Icarus shouting help from above us when she had to duck the minotaur’s bolts or the griffin’s distracting swoops. Every time the horrible beaked creature got close I launched fireballs at her, but they never connected. We weaved through another slalom of columns, then the course opened out into the wide track again and I saw the white line painted on the ground. We were about to finish our first lap. And Evenus was quite clearly winning.

  ‘Can we go any faster?’ I called to Arketa. She didn’t answer me, but I felt myself being pushed backwards as the chariot surged forwards. ‘Yes!’ I shouted, as we finally began to gain on Evenus.

  ‘Dora!’ I looked up as Icarus blasted air in my direction, and I ducked as the griffin went spinning off over my head. I’d not seen her coming at all! I needed to pay more attention.

  ‘Arketa, reckon you can summon some vines while it’s clear ahead?’ Green vines snaked ahead of us instantly, and I concentrated on my water bracelet, letting the fire build. ‘Grab Evenus’s chariot!’ The vines curled out towards him, and the minotaur began firing bolts uselessly at the snaky vines, frustration building on its face. Evenus turned his head, and for a moment we locked eyes. He slowed sharply as the vines curled fully around his chariot, and with a roar I let the fire burst from my palms. Evenus threw his own hand up at the last minute, and I saw a flash of the most intense aqua blue color I could possibly imagine, and a wall of water flew up in front of my stream of fire, killing it in an instant, and severing Arketa’s vines. We moved forward fast, now that we weren’t trying to drag his chariot backwards, but he was faster, and I heard his bark of laughter as he soared over the finish line a second before we did. Two more laps. We still had two more laps to get him, I thought.

  But the next lap we actually lost ground. Between the minotaur guarding the back of his chariot and the griffin keeping Icarus occupied, as long as he was ahead of us it was hopeless.

  ‘We need to get alongside him,’ I shouted at Arketa the next time we emerged from the maze of columns and into the wider finish line section.

  ‘You don’t say,’ she shouted back sarcastically, her voice strained. ‘Why can’t you use your water power?’

  ‘There isn’t any water here!’

  ‘That’s not stopping him!’ I screwed my face up. She was right, where was he getting the water from?

  ‘Icarus, cover me a moment!’ I closed my eyes, and sent my senses out, deep this time, leaving my body. I could feel the drops we were passing from the wall of water he’d sent up last time we’d crossed the line, but the water was... wrong somehow. A pulse of blue life called to me, and I concentrated harder. There! Deep under the ground, there was water, a huge pool in a network of pitch black caverns. But it was really deep underground. I couldn’t move that much earth, I thought, coming back to my body in a rush.

  ‘It’s too far underground,’ I called, as we rounded the first column, and the minotaur let off another bolt. It thudded into the side of the chariot inches from my hand. I heard Icarus shout and my hair whipped around my face as a whirlwind sprang up beside us.

  ‘I’ve had enough of this!’ he called, and thrills rippled through me as the whirlwind grew in height, but tightened in width, spinning faster and faster. He was creating a tornado. With another roar, the tornado steamed ahead, moving through the columns like a pinball, bouncing off each tower of stone and charging ahead. I had the sheer delight of seeing the minotaur’s face fall before he turned and began shouting at Evenus, then the tornado smashed into the back of the chariot. The griffin swooped back to its master as the chariot swerved hard out of the way, and the minotaur let out a howl as he tumbled from the planks. I didn’t lean over to see him hit the ground - as nasty as he was I didn’t want to watch that.

  Evenus had righted the chariot, and Icarus’s tornado was now bouncing uselessly against another protective wall of water that had wrapped itself around the chariot. The griffin swooped over it suddenly, heading straight for Icarus. Fear for him made my throat constrict, but he looked down it me, his face calm.

  ‘I’ll draw her off. You can do this,’ he called, then soared away, the griffin flapping after him. Nerves and fear pulsed through me at him leaving us, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Evenus was on his own now. I stumbled as we sped past a column too close, and one of the spinning chain balls caught the stone. The chariot shuddered and rocked, until Arketa righted it again.

  ‘I’m not going to follow him, I’m going to try and go around,’ she shouted, and we veered sharply away from the path the columns were trying to lead us down, banking hard as we squeezed through a narrow gap.

  ‘Are you sure about this?’ I yelled, wincing and squishing my eyes closed as the chains thwacked into the columns, bits of stone flying everywhere.

  ‘Yes! Now find that water! He’ll just keep putting your fireballs out!’

  The fire magic in me leapt indignantly at her words, crackling and dancing through my body. She had no idea how powerful my fire magic was! Nobody except Neos did. It was stronger than Evenus’s weird phony water. I would show them all just how strong I was, just how lethal fire could be. I felt a tiny drop of wetness on my wrist and looked down at the water bracelet my mom had made me. It wa
s dimming and spinning slower, tiny beads dripping from it. I was losing control, I realized. I forced the dangerous, spiraling thoughts about fire back into the far corners of my mind, drawing as much as I could on the bracelet instead. It began to spin faster, and I became so focused on it I could no longer feel the chariot rocking and swiveling beneath my feet. Find the water. I pushed my senses down into the ground, finding the pool far below us and pulling. The body of water lifted, thudding against the earthen roof of the cavern. Drops began to seep through the earth, but it would take forever to reach the surface. I pulled harder, my eyes squeezed tightly shut, thinking about what Dasko had taught me. Power was all about motivation. Tak. I was doing this to save Tak’s life. There couldn’t be any stronger motivation that that. The water crashed into the cavern roof again, but this time it surged up and through, the drops of water whizzing through the soil and rock, finding their way through the gaps and fissures. As the liquid got closer to the surface I opened my eyes, the water bracelet now spinning even faster. I looked around me, blinking as I took in my surroundings. Arketa had made the right decision to go a different route. The columns were thinning out, and without Evenus in front of us, blocking the narrow path, we had drawn level.

  ‘Are you ready?’ Arketa shouted.

  ‘Yes!’ And I was. As we passed the last column, Arketa must have turned on the gas, as I nearly lost my footing as we zoomed towards the finish line. I heard a roar and snapped my head to Evenus. About twenty metal spikes appeared in side of his chariot, jutting out as he began to move sideways, towards us.

  ‘You can’t beat me!’ he screamed, his eyes wild and frantic and his voice hoarse. His spikes reached our spinning chains and instantly sliced straight through them and I ducked as the lethal ball flew over our chariot. If those spikes reached us... Fear rocketed through me, threatening to derail my control, and halt the progress of the water pushing its way up through the earth below us, but I focused on the bracelet. We could beat him. I willed the chariot on faster as Arketa moved us higher, trying to avoid Evenus but keep up our speed. It was no good though, he was faster than us, and better at maneuvering. There was a sickening crunch of wood as a spike tore into the side of our chariot, right where Icarus had been standing.

  ‘Pandora!’ Arketa screamed as she steered us hard in the opposite direction. Evenus followed, now cackling wildly. Then I felt it. Water. Glorious, powerful, life-saving water. The first jet that erupted form the earth hit Evenus’s chariot with so much force that he began to spin, panic on his face as he desperately tried to right the chariot, momentum still propelling him fast towards the finish line. I raised my hand, and let a smile spread across my face as I felt the rest of the water reach the ground. Like furious geysers, the water began to burst from the earth in a ring around him.

  ‘Go, while he’s trapped!’ I yelled, willing our battered little chariot to move as fast as it could. There was a small thud behind me and I felt a surge of speed. Turning I saw Icarus, pushing the chariot with his good arm, his wings beating furiously. Evenus screamed as he burst through the churning cage of water, his face contorted with hatred as he sped after us, gaining ground with unnatural speed.

  ‘Faster!’ I shouted, my heart pounding so hard it hurt. He was so close! But so were we, and I honestly thought my heart might stop altogether as we soared across the finish line, just seconds before Evenus.

  17

  ‘We did it,’ I panted, as the chariot slowed. ‘We actually did it.’ Arketa turned to me, her usually pristine hair a mess around her flushed face. ‘Arketa, you were amazing,’ I said. Her mouth quirked before she shrugged.

  ‘I told you I would be,’ she said, but I could see the smile under the coolness.

  ‘And Icarus!’ I turned as he landed beside me in the chariot, throwing my arms around him. ‘You made all the difference, you were our secret weapon!’

  He laughed and shook his wings.

  ‘Secret is not a word I’d use to describe these,’ he said, and kissed me.

  ‘Guys,’ said Arketa, a warning tone to her voice. I turned as Evenus’s chariot pulled up alongside ours. His wet hair was plastered to his head and his face was so red it was almost purple. I realized for the first time that the crowd were completely silent and I glanced around at the benches. Everyone was leaning forward, faces pinched and tense.

  ‘Make your way to the podium,’ Evenus hissed. My skin crawled as I nodded, and our chariot began to rise slowly. Icarus stepped closer to me, gripping the side that hadn’t been smashed off.

  ‘We won fair and square, he can’t still kill us right?’ I whispered.

  ‘I think this crowd are pretty blood-thirsty,’ he answered quietly. I gulped.

  We reached the raised stage in the middle of the track as the extra columns that had sprung up during the race began slowly sinking back into the ground. The commentator’s voice boomed around us, tinged with uncertainty.

  ‘Your winners!’ There was a solitary hoot and a smattering of applause and I looked across at Zali and Thom cheering in the front row. My mom was clapping slowly beside them. Seeing them gave me strength and I tried to stand taller as Evenus stepped from his chariot onto the platform.

  ‘You have earned your audience with me,’ he said, his eyes boring into mine. ‘I actually have a few questions for you myself.’ I held his glare. ‘But if you mention my daughter even once, I will remove your head from your body instantly.’

  ‘Fine,’ I said.

  ‘Fine. We shall eat in my feasting hall in half an hour.’

  Evenus’s feasting hall was both magnificent and terrifying. The man was clearly obsessed with killing. Every wall of the huge hall was covered in hunting trophies. It was like a nightmare version of the stables on Taurus, all the incredible creatures of Olympus on display, but their heads mounted on boards and blank eyes staring out over a long table piled high with food. Zali paled as soon as we entered the room, and by the time we had taken our seats at the massive mahogany table she was trembling.

  ‘It’s OK,’ I whispered, squeezing her hand under the table.

  ‘No, it’s not,’ she whispered back. ‘The man is a monster, and this room is unbearable.’

  ‘We’ll be as quick as we can, I promise.’ I looked around the room impatiently, trying to avoid looking at the trophies. Evenus hadn’t shown up yet. Once reunited with the others, we had been escorted to the hall by the two serving women from before. Vronti hadn’t said a word since we’d seen him. There was a creaking sound, and a formal looking man in a toga hurried into the room.

  ‘Announcing Lord Evenus,’ he said, bowing his head low. Evenus strode through the grand doors, not looking at any of us. He sat in the chair at the head of the table, where I’d guessed he would. I’d made sure I had the seat to his left. Icarus was on his right, opposite me.

  ‘We’re grateful for the feast,’ I said. I’d decided tact and formality might be a better way to approach this man. He clearly wasn’t a reasonable person, so perhaps flattery would ensure we would all leave with our heads still attached. ‘And you have a fine palace,’ I added. His eyes flicked sideways to mine, then settled on my mom.

  ‘She is yours?’ he asked her. I bristled at being spoken about while I was right there, but his words made me look at her too. Was I ‘hers’? My mom nodded. Evenus looked at her for a long moment, then said, ‘Everybody may eat.’ Slowly, Thom and Vronti began to help themselves to food.

  ‘We don’t want to waste any more of your valuable time, so I’ll get straight to the point,’ I said. ‘We have been sent here by Oceanus himself.’ Evenus stiffened.

  ‘I feared that may be the case,’ he said eventually.

  ‘So you were expecting us?’

  ‘I have been expecting you for a very long time. I had begun to hope you would never arrive.’

  He glared at me, and I noticed that although his eyes were bright blue, I couldn’t see the ocean in them, like I could in my mom’s.

  ‘So, you have
a clue or something for us? From Oceanus?’ Evenus said nothing and looked away from me again.

  ‘Tell me how your power became so great,’ he said, looking at Icarus instead.

  ‘Just a perk of being Titans, I guess,’ Icarus lied with a shrug. A cold smile spread over Evenus’s face.

  ‘And who are you descended from?’

  ‘Prometheus.’

  ‘I see. You found something, didn’t you? Something that unlocked your powers.’

  Nobody said a word.

  ‘I want it. If you give it to me, I’ll give you the stone.’

  ‘What stone?’

  ‘The one you’re here for. The one Oceanus left here in my city. But I can’t give it up without you unlocking my power!’ He had a frantic edge to his voice now, and he looked back at me. ‘You can’t leave me with nothing!’ he half-pleaded. I stared at him, my mind trying to piece things together. His haughty, dangerous mask had dropped so suddenly, and now he seemed genuinely scared. Of what? Losing a stone?

  ‘You don’t have any power over water at all, do you? That’s why you didn’t use the water I dredged up against us at the end of the race,’ I said, the truth dawning on me.

  Evenus’s face hardened for a moment, then fell. He suddenly looked much older.

  ‘No. Oceanus’s stone allows me power over the water that it can create, but it’s limited. Please, unlock my powers too.’

  ‘We... we can’t. But when we free Oceanus, he may be able to help you,’ I said, secretly praying that the ocean god did no such thing. Evenus was dangerous enough with limited power, I couldn’t imagine how much worse he would be if he were stronger.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure he’d be grateful for the part you’d play in his release,’ added Icarus.