“Emmie?” Greg asks, peering closer at the bundle of fur in my arms. “That’s—”
“My prisoner,” Nico interrupts. Having shifted back into human form, he tears Mavis from my grasp. Her claws latch onto my shirt, as her wide panicked eyes meet mine.
Greg shifts into bat form and flies at Nico, who easily swats him away with a backhanded blow. He doesn’t even look in his direction. Jordan, with his quick cat reflexes, grabs Greg out of the air.
“It’s okay, little buddy,” he says.
Doubly outraged, the rest of the group looks ready to charge too, now.
“Wait, guys,” Cassie says, her voice low and urgent. “Let’s follow Edie’s lead.”
Her eyes meet mine as she waits for me to tell her what we should do. If only I knew.
What I did know was arriving with Mavis was going to be bad, but the reality of it is so much worse than I thought. I feel like I’m betraying Mavis as Nico tears her away from me. Mavis lets loose a ferocious yowl and Nico gives her a hard shake in response. Then he walks away with her, holding Mavis in the air, even as she spits and hisses at the students who surround them.
“Make way,” Nico yells. “Make way for the traitor!”
Nico leads a parade of curious students in his wake to the faculty building.
I grab his free arm. “Nico, wait.”
He softens a little as his gaze focuses in on me. “Edie, you’re a true patriot, sacrificing your own sister for what’s right. We serve the gods, they come first in all. My mother would’ve sacrificed me to win this war. No hesitation.” He swallows and I wonder if saying that aloud makes him realize how horrible it sounds. But whatever’s going on in Nico’s mind, he quickly shakes it off. “You’ve done enough. You don’t have to see this.”
“What if they…what if there’s no trial?” I ask. “I need to be there when she’s punished.”
“This will only be locking her up. Maybe some questioning. I’ll make sure the trial is public,” he promises and takes a deep breath. “As public as this announcement.”
“EVERYONE!” he bellows, and Mavis lays her ears back, like his volume just knocked them down. “The entire campus needs to know about the hero in our midst!”
The circle of students pulls tighter, curious.
“This traitor—” he gives Mavis a shake again, and she growls, deep in her chest. It takes everything I’ve got not to cinder his ass right that second.
“We all know who she is,” he says, turning in a circle so that everyone gets a good look at Mavis, in her cat form. “Emmie, my former partner—and friend.”
There are some smirks in the crowd. Looks like everyone knew Nico would have liked to have been even friendlier with Emmie.
“To be betrayed by her cut out my heart,” he says, turning to me. “But it’s been regrown in my chest. Regrown, because of Edie’s actions. Edie, who is so loyal to Mount Olympus Academy and the gods that she would turn in her own sister.”
There are gasps from the crowd and beneath that the simmering anger from this past summer starts to flare up once more. Nico has clearly inherited his mother’s oratory skills. She had a real talent for getting people all riled up. In her mind she was turning us into winners, but in reality she divided this campus, turning students against one another. Even dead, she left a lot of resentment in her wake. Nico also has his mother’s tendency to ignore anyone who doesn’t think the same way as he does. So when he hears some boos, he instantly assumes they’re against me.
“Hey, c’mon. Don’t hold it against her that disobedience lurked in her bloodline,” Nico says, warning the crowd. “Edie has purified herself by denouncing Emmie. No one can question where her heart—and her loyalties—lie.”
Some cheers follow that, eyes landing on me, indecisive mouths turning into smiles. But other gazes narrow further. No doubt those people are wondering what kind of asshole turns their own sister in. Before I can decide how to deal with that, I’m surrounded by people squeezing my shoulder and clapping my back. They’re the type of fanatics whose eyes gleam as they say, “Good soldier” and “For the greater good.”
I’m pulled away from Nico and Mavis as I try to evade my new admirers. But the time I extract myself, Nico and Mavis are gone. I twist around in time to see Nico carrying her up the stairs of the faculty building. Mavis’s gaze latches onto mine as the doors close behind them.
“Be strong,” I mouth, and just like that, she’s gone.
Jordan’s hand clamps onto my wrist, pulling me into my small circle of friends. “Has Nico officially lost his mind?”
“Greg, are you okay?” I ask. “Nico hit you pretty hard.”
The whole left side of his face is swollen, but Greg just scowls at my question. “Yeah, he used me for batting practice. But it’s fine. Okay. I can take it.”
This school is full of guys with chips on their shoulders, but Greg isn’t usually one of them. I glance at Cassie, wondering what’s going on with him, and she just shrugs.
“Hey, let’s focus on Edie here,” Fern says softly. “And Emmie.”Fern, in tears, rests her head on her girlfriend, Marguerite’s, shoulder. This is dangerous; Marguerite is a vampire and there isn’t supposed to be interspecies mingling. But Fern is so upset that Marguerite seems willing to take the chance.
“Oh, poor Emmie,” Cassie says softly. She and Mavis were roommates before I came to the Academy, and they became close.
“Somebody has to feed that cat,” Jordan goes on, ticking things off on his fingers. “And litter. She’s going to need litter. Probably some toys, too. Our kind can’t stand to be without stimulation for long.”
“You seriously still don’t know what’s going on?” Greg asks, rolling his eyes. “That’s bad, even for you, roomie.”
“Oh, and catnip!” Jordan says. “I know where there’s some growing wild—”
“Jordan,” I say. “That’s my sister.”
He stops, eyeing me curiously as pieces fall into place…slowly.
“She’s a shifter,” Greg adds, helping his roommate with the puzzle.
“You have a shifter sister?” Jordan asks, then laughs. “That’s hard to say. Shifter sister. Try it, Edie.”
“Jordan,” Marguerite asks. “Did you have some catnip today?”
“Yes, I may have had a quick nip. But that stuff doesn’t really affect me at all.” Jordan crosses his arms and tries to look offended, but it doesn’t work. Instead he starts laughing again as he tries to say “shifter sister” three times fast.
Greg turns his back to Jordan and faces me. “You should have told me,” he says, and for the first time in our friendship, I think Greg might actually be mad at me. “You should have told me that Emmie was your sister.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it.
“I know I’m not smooth like Val, or strong like Nico,” he goes on. “But I’m your friend, and you could have trusted me. I might have been able to help.”
“I…I…I just found out.” I stammer, eyes going to Fern still weeping on Marguerite, who has one arm protectively around her.
“Let’s not fight,” Fern says, wiping her eyes. “We’ve got enough problems. Emmie—sorry—Mavis will be tried as a traitor, and with the prophecy being discovered, the gods aren’t going to go easy on her. She’ll be put to death, for sure.” Her face twists into grief again, fresh tears falling onto Marguerite’s shoulder.
“It will be okay, baby,” Marguerite whispers to her. “Don’t cry.”
Cassie’s face tightens in determination. “We have to do something. We need to take a good look at that prophecy.”
“What prophecy?” I ask.
Greg answers. “While you were off playing with Nico, Merilee found something in the Archives,” he says. “A prophecy declaring that Mr. Zee will die—”
“Mr. Zee can’t die!” I interrupt. “He’s a god.”
Cassie shakes her head. “The prophecy says that Mr. Zee will die by the hand of one of his own childr
en, a Moggy.”
“A Moggy,” I repeat. A mixed blood. A creature born of two different types of supernatural creatures. Zee has always disliked Moggies, and believed that interspecies relations only weakened bloodlines. Now, he’ll have even more reason to hate them.
“He’s wants us vampires to bite test everyone, which no offense, but…” Marguerite sends Fern an apologetic look. “My parents would have a fit if they knew. That’s healer stuff and it’s an insult to expect vampires to do it.”
“An insult?” Fern demands.
“My parents’ words. Not mine.” She leans in close to Fern. “Baby, you know that.”
“Themis wouldn’t allow them to be executed,” Cassie adds as Marguerite whispers something into Fern’s ear that makes her smile in this dreamy sort of way. Despite everything, seeing them so happy together makes it all seem a little less hopeless. “But she is keeping a close eye on all suspected and known Moggies.”
“I don’t know if Mr. Zee can die or not,” Greg continues. “Hepa says he’s incredibly sick. They’re working day and night to figure out what’s wrong with him, but—”
“But it looks like someone knows how to kill a god,” Cassie finishes for him. “And it’s probably one of us.” The silence is almost frightening, pregnant with possibility.
But then Jordan shouts “Not it!” and looks at everyone else in the group. Cassie smacks him in the stomach, but has to shake her hand afterwards. Jordan isn’t that bright, but he does have washboard abs.
“I don’t mean one of us specifically,” Cassie clarifies. “But it’s got to be a student. Who else would have that kind of access to Mr. Zee?”
It’s a good question.
And I don’t have the answers.
3
Two weeks later, Mavis is still alive.
Fern has told me that Mavis refuses to say a word. Literally. The only sounds that come out of her are screams of pain. But she holds her silence, refusing to confess or incriminate anyone else.
I’m refusing to give my witness testimony as well. At least not until Mavis is officially granted a trial. It’s the only leverage I’ve got.
Well, that and Themis. Mr. Zee has been on the verge of setting Mavis afire multiple times. Only Themis has been able to step in front of him and convince him that the Academy is in a fragile place right now, and such a move might scare away already spooked parents.
Honestly, I don’t know if practicing good PR is really what sways Mr. Zee. He’s not his usual robust self these days, so Themis is also able to physically steer him away from Mavis. His mind seems even worse off than his body, so once Mavis is out of sight, he usually forgets all about her for a while.
But he still hasn’t officially committed to a trial and until he does, I live in fear that a day will come when Mavis won’t have Themis to stand between her and Mr. Zee.
Which is why today, like every day, I come and knock at Themis’s door, hoping she’ll tell me Mr. Zee has finally relented and will grant Mavis a trial.
Actually, today I don’t have to knock. As I approach, the door opens and Hepa comes flying out. She’s in such a hurry that she slams into me. I grab hold of her to steady us both. But she quickly jerks away.
“I’m not in the mood to dance right now,” she snaps and then hustles away down the hall. Hepa can be a little bitchy at the best of times, so I shrug it off.
“Edie, I was expecting you,” Themis says dryly from where she’s waiting by the door.
“With good news, I hope?”
“Perhaps.” She hesitates, then gestures for me to enter. “Please do come in first so we can talk freely.”
Once she’s settled behind her desk and I’m seated in what I’ve come to think of as the ‘student supplicant’ chair, Themis says, “I believe we may be able to tip Zee over the edge today. Three vampire students were pulled from the school late last night. It’s very unusual for such a thing to happen on the eve of a new term. But after Larissa’s death…” Themis sighs.
“Hades clearly saw an opportunity and has been wooing the vampire parents, assuring them their undead offspring will be better appreciated at his Underworld Academy.” A look of annoyance crosses her face. “As if education is about appreciation. Do you know what they learn at UWA? Nothing. It’s a dark smelly frat house that will over time actually leach whatever brains they might have right out of their heads. I mean, Hades won’t even lend us a handful of zombies for the war…”
At the mention of the war against the monsters, Themis sighs, falling back into her chair. “Of course, that hardly matters now that Mr. Zee has called a halt to all missions. He wants to keep all of the students on campus, ready to rally to his side in case he’s attacked. Luckily, Maddox’s last raid really took the fight out of the monsters. They never thought we’d stoop to killing civilians. Well…I might not have, but Maddox Tralano certainly didn’t hesitate. Of course, I don’t condone such an action, but it can’t be argued that the monsters seem less interested in taking the offensive these days. They actually seem content to be left alone. But you can never trust—”
I clear my throat, because Themis seems to be getting started on a rant and I can see it might go on for a while.
She blinks and focuses in on me once more. “Edie, yes.” Themis clears her throat. “As I was saying—” Before she can finish that sentence her door smashes open and Mr. Zee himself staggers in.
“Whaddya want?” he demands, scanning the room several times before his eyes finally lock onto Themis. “There ya are, old Missy. A regular gnat in my ear these days, aren’t cha?” He squinches his eyes shut as if in pain. One of his giant fists comes up to pound his chest…and I can’t help but notice the skin visible around his toga doesn’t look its normal healthy color. He’s almost a bit grey. Mr. Zee’s eyes open wide once more as he releases an enormous burp. The smell of it makes me gag, though I try to cover it with a cough.
“Zee, yes,” Themis says, smiling cheerfully, not at all disturbed by his messy state. “So glad you could make this meeting with Edie.” Themis sends me a significant look, which I can’t quite interpret.
“Right, right. You’re honored. She’s honored.” He lurches toward the sideboard and grabs the decanter sitting there, which I assume is filled with ambrosia. Ignoring the glasses laid out alongside it, he simply brings the carafe to his mouth and chugs.
If Underworld Academy really is like a frat house, I’m tempted to suggest that Mr. Zee might like it better there.
“Now, Zee,” Themis says, as he finishes and wipes his mouth with the hem of his toga—I quickly look away, focusing on Themis as soon as it becomes clear he’s about to flash the room. “I know we both agree that it is of the utmost important that we keep Edie here at Mount Olympus Academy.”
As Themis’s eyes lock with mine, I finally understand where this is going.
“I appreciate that,” I say. “But having been raised among humans and as an American, I have a strong belief in maintaining a fair system of justice. I can’t see myself staying at an institution that doesn’t have those same values.”
Themis gives me an approving nod. Mr. Zee meanwhile replies with…raspberries.
“Thhhhbbbttt.”
Themis wordlessly hands me a handkerchief to wipe the stray spittle from my face.
“Yer not going anywheres,” Mr. Zee slurs. “Cush you don wanna die. And to attend the Underworld Academy, you’s gotta be dead.”
Oh. I honestly hadn’t been aware of this. I guess that explains why Hades was focusing on recruiting the vampires.
Themis, though, seemed ready for this line of attack. “Actually, Zee, I believe it’s Athena who’s attempting to recruit Edie here. For Amazon Academy.”
This gets Mr. Zee’s attention. He stands tall and looks as if he was struck by his own lightning. “Born right outta my head and gettin’ craftier every day. Damn Athena.”
“Yes, that’s what Hades said,” Themis says dryly.
Mr. Zee’s e
yes go wide and he wheels toward me. “It’s a trial you want? Even though we all know she’s guilty?”
I nod. “Yes sir.”
“Fine then. Fine! We’ll have it. But it’ll be a trial combined with a luau. Did you know they have luaus all the time at Underworld Academy? Apparently, it’s a big selling point. Well, our Academy can have luaus too. There will be a big roasted pig and hula dancing and everyone will get lei’d.” He snickers at this and is smiling as he adds, “And then we’ll declare your sister guilty and kill her. It’ll be a great time—the Mount Olympus Academy way!”
And with that he disappears, teleporting away.
“Well there we go,” Themis says, folding her hands and trying to look pleased. “You’ll have your trial.”
I hurry back across campus to catch up with my friends about this latest development. There should be a sense of relief—I’ve convinced the highest authority in the land that my sister deserves a trial over torture. But somehow I don’t feel like this is a story with a happy ending. I’m hoping someone—probably Cassie—will be able to put a good spin on it.
But just as I near the dorms, Val steps out of the shadow between two buildings.
“Edie, I heard about your sister. Are you okay?” There’s an expression of concern on his face, which isn’t really like him. Usually Val appears slightly mocking or else totally unreadable.
He’s been off campus during the break between terms, visiting Larissa’s family in Russia. When Themis mentioned vampires getting pulled from the Academy, I did wonder if it was Val and his twin sister, Tina. Relief flares inside me as I realize he’s still here. I want to throw my arms around him and sob onto his shoulder like Fern did to Marguerite.
But Val led a bunch of other vampires to kill Nico’s mom, Maddox. He didn’t say so outright, but he didn’t exactly deny it either. And Maddox was powerless at the time. Her ability to shift had been stripped as punishment for her murder of Larissa.
A long time ago Cassie warned me that vampires lived by their own code. She didn’t mention, however, that revenge was such a cornerstone of that code.
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