Wither & Wound

by Demitria Lunetta

  His voice shifts on the last word, anger getting into his tone. Mr. Zee twists to show me his arm, open to the bone. It morphs and twists as I watch, muscles knitting themselves back together, tendons reconnecting as the skin seals over it, bright and new as a baby’s.

  “See?” Zeus asks, running a hand over the healed arm, and I take a step back, alarmed at how quickly he can rejuvenate when he turns his attention to it. That was nothing like Hermes, who would barely have one wound begun before I struck the next. Even with this sword, I don’t stand a chance of striking a killing blow, not when his wounds close so fast.

  I’m still backing away, and my heel slips in a splash of ichor. I go down on one knee, the sword heavy again in my hand as my rage weakens into doubt.

  “What’s the point, really?” Zeus asks, still advancing on me. “You shift, you try to burn me, you try to slice me, you try to kill me, and I just keep healing, over and over again. You’ll get tired, and you will get tired, Edie, so you’ll shift back into a human girl, try the sword again, but you’re worn out. You’re exhausted. You don’t have any strength left…and do you know why?”

  I’m shrinking away from his leer as he bends over me, pressed against the barrier, tears streaming down my face as the broken rib grinds against my lungs.

  “Because you are just a human girl,” Zee whispers in my ear, his mouth pressed against it. “And I am a god. Turn into a dragon, and you drop the sword. It’ll be mine, and you can’t kill me without it.”

  He pulls back, smirking. “You’re either a dragon, or you’re a girl, Edie. You can’t be both. So, all that’s left is for you to decide which form you want to die in. I’ll give you ten seconds.”

  Zeus walks to the middle of the arena, and cracks his knuckles, ready to use his lightning again. Ready to send me to the underworld with my Mavis.

  “Ten… Nine…”

  You can’t be both.

  It rings in my head, Zeus accidentally giving a voice to everything that has plagued me during my time at Mount Olympus Academy. I’ve been struggling with my dragon self, trying to separate it from Edie, the nice girl who never knew she was anything else. Anything different. Anything more. I’d pushed back against my rage, scared of what it could do. And now, here I am, paying for drawing that line.

  “Eight… Seven…Six...”

  Zeus is right. I can’t hold the sword while I’m a dragon, and I can’t strike fast enough to counteract his healing powers as a human. But there is one thing a selfish coward like Zeus would never think of, a trick up my sleeve that would never occur to someone who uses students as human shields in order to avoid any harm to himself.

  “Five… Four… Three…”

  I zip into the air, Zeus’s eyes tracking my movement as he prepares to throw a bolt. “So you want to die as a human with wings? Weird choice, but okay.”

  “Two… One.”

  I do the one thing Zeus doesn’t expect, the one thing he would never do himself. I raise the sword, and drive it through my own shoulder. The pain is sharp and immediate, the blade parting flesh and grating over bone. But I don’t have time to consider it as I shift in midair, the blade still stuck in my dragon flesh as I ascend, this time with a ball of fire growing in my belly.

  Zeus throws lightning, but it meets my fire, causing an enormous explosion that knocks him off his feet. I advance, fire flowing like lava, lighting his robes, his skin crackling black, his hair catching immediately.

  He might be able to heal himself, but he feels the pain. His screams say as much. Ichor flows where the skin cracks open, ragged streaks rapidly repairing him as he gets back to his feet, burning and healing at the same time.

  I shift back to a human, pull the sword from my own shoulder and drive it home, right through his black and rotten heart.

  27

  Immediately the smoke disperses.

  Everyone is still standing where they had been. There are gasps, and cries, and even a few cheers when everyone sees Zee lying at my feet, his hands wrapped around the blade of the sword as he tries in vain to remove it from his chest.

  The earth beneath my feet trembles and a rough wind picks up, strong enough to blow up anything not bolted to the stage.

  “It’s begun,” Themis says.

  “Edie, I knew you could do it.” The voice in my ear sounds like Mavis. A hallucination brought on by my overwhelmed senses. Except she keeps talking. “You have the sword still, press the gods for concessions. Free the monsters from them once and for all.”

  Am I truly having a vision of my dead sister bossing me around?

  A hand wraps around my uninjured arm. My head turns slowly, afraid of what I’ll see.

  Mavis. No longer broken. Not even bruised.

  Alive. And breathing.

  “Mavis…” I can’t get out more than that as the tears start to flow.

  “Shhh. Edie. Don’t fall apart on me now. Don’t let your friend’s sacrifice be for nothing.”

  I still can’t believe she’s beside me. I reach out to touch her. My fingers trail down her cheek, the skin warm against mine. Slowly, slowly, her words penetrate the fog in my brain.

  “What friend? What do you mean about a sacrifice?”

  “The little bat boy. He flew down to the Underworld. Made some sort of deal with Hecate down there. I didn’t get all the details, just that his family were UWA legacies and they owed him a favor. He cashed it in for me.”

  “Greg,” I say, a smile stretching my mouth, as I look around for him. What an idiot I was to underestimate him. “Where is he?”

  Mavis frowns. “Edie...he traded his life for mine. It had to be that way.”

  “No…” I shake my head wildly at the same moment that my eyes meet Cassie’s. She doesn’t look surprised at all. “You saw it,” I say to her. “You knew.”

  Cassie nods. “It had to be,” she says softly.

  My own words come back to me. “Go away unless you want to get yourself killed, which is pretty much the only thing you can do at this point.”

  Cassie had known I would say it. And she knew how Greg would react.

  Oh gods.

  And then Themis is in front of me. “Edie, Zee will draw his last breath if you don’t remove that sword immediately. Your sister has been restored to you Now is the time to show the same mercy that was granted to her—”

  “Mercy! It was a transaction!” I have to shout over the wind which has picked up once more. “Her life purchased with Greg’s.” The ground beneath us shakes and then the stage begins to roll as if a huge wave is surging up beneath it. I fall to my knees beside Zee.

  But my eyes aren’t on him. It’s Themis’s scales I watch as they spin wildly, like a carnival ride, moving faster and faster. The weighing plates fly out while the chains that connect them rattle ominously. With a crack, the plates fly off, whooshing right over our heads. Abruptly the scales stop spinning and what’s left of them crumbles to dust.

  Sooo...it’s possible maybe Themis wasn’t bluffing about that whole end of the world thing.

  Grasping the sword with two hands, I look up at the gods arrayed before me. “The war against the monsters is over. They will live freely and never be bothered by any of you again.”

  “They must vow,” Mavis adds in, and then leaning in to me she says in a softer voice, “For gods, vowing to something is magically binding. They’d give up their own immortality if they tried to go back on something they vowed to.”

  I nod. This is good information to have. And for the first time, instead of seeing Mavis as bossy, I realize what our relationship could be going forward. Sisters, working as a team, together.

  Sometimes I’ll hold the sword. Sometimes she will. Sometimes I’ll know the words and at other times Mavis will supply them.

  “You heard her,” I say. “Make your vow.”

  Hermes, Kratos, Themis, Hades—all the gods—they stare back at me dumbly.

  “Now!”

  Hand to heart, they each make a so
lemn promise to make peace with the monsters.

  I look down at Zee and his watery eyes meet mine. “You too.”

  He nods and his mouth moves but no words come out.

  “Try harder,” I tell him.

  “I vow,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. I make him say the whole thing, then have them vow to not hurt myself, my friends gathered here, or my family. They swear it.

  I do the whole thing again, but this time making them all swear.

  Satisfied and knowing Zee is running out of time, I grasp the hilt, ready to pull it from his heart, hoping that I am not making the wrong choice.

  With a horrible crash, the earth trembles once more and then with a deep groan, it splits open wide. The sword slips from my hands as I fall, deep into an endless darkness. Mavis’s scream is at my ear as she falls beside me. My wings pop out and I snatch Mavis with a single talon. A quick glance below shows me the ruby stone, growing smaller as it travels further—Zee presumably still with it.

  “Edie,” I hear Val yell from above. A moment later Cassie’s and then Fern’s voice echoes his.

  I let Mr. Zee and the sword go, all the way down to Hades if that’s where this darkness ends. My heart clenches as I think of Greg down there with him.

  “Give him hell, Greg,” I screech into the black, wishing and hoping that he somehow hears.

  Then, holding my sister tight, I fly up toward the light.

  I’m pretty sure it’s the end of the world up there.

  But I feel fairly certain of something else too.

  I’ve got Mavis. Val. And my friends. So long as we stick together—we’ll be fine.

  THANK YOU TO OUR READERS!

  Thank you for reading the Mount Olympus Academy trilogy! We hope you enjoyed it and would love if you could leave a review on Amazon with your thoughts.

  We’d also love to have you join our Facebook group—The Urban FantSassy Girls.

  Here you can yell at us about cliffhangers, chat with other fans about our books, get exclusive early book excerpts, and even snippets from our Slack convos!

  And if you’re looking for more academy fun, make sure to check out…

  AMAZON PRINCESS: Amazon Academy Book 1

  I am beauty. I am grace. I will punch you in the face.

  I'm Brandee Jean, just your average Midwestern teenage beauty queen trying to survive the end of the world. I'm hanging in there, thanks to the super strength I got after being struck by lightning.

  Turns out I wasn't the only one to get zapped. Some fancy god guy kicked the bucket, and his powers got shuffled and dealt out to ten different teenagers.

  Now all ten of us are gonna attend Amazon Academy, where we'll take classes and compete in different tasks. At the end of it - winner takes all. The losers give up their powers, while the winner becomes a god and an official Amazon Princess.

  Now that's a crown worth competing for.

  Amazon Princess is book 1 in the Amazon Academy duology. The events in these books take place immediately after Wither & Wound: Mount Olympus Academy Book 3. However, this duology can also be read as a standalone series.

  This young adult magic academy fantasy novel features: non-stop action, lots of cute boys, favorite characters from Mount Olympus Academy, a hero who's a total Darcy, and lots of plot twists to keep the pages turning.

  Drop Dead Gorgeous meets The Hunger Games in this fun spin-off series!

  Who will compete for the crown? One-click now to join Brandee Jean as she fights for survival.

  Keep reading for a sneak peak at Chapter 1…

  CHAPTER ONE

  I am beauty, I am grace. I will punch you in the face.

  This has become my new mantra since the end of the world. My old mantra was, Miss Teen Wisconsin or Bust, but sometimes ya gotta adjust your goals.

  I get out of my beat-to-crap pick-up truck carefully, making sure not to step on the train of my long sparkling gown. Even though there aren’t any more pageants, I still don’t wanna ruin it. All the Swarovski crystals on it cost me an arm and a leg.

  Cost me an arm and a leg. That’s kinda a joke, but also kinda not.

  Last week, I totally saw Miss Teen Dairy Queen on the side of the road. She was missing her left leg and had clearly bled out. I tried real hard to not think about how that might’ve happened. Years ago she’d had those long legs insured for something like a hundred grand a piece.

  Seems unfair the insurance won’t be paying out on them suckers. But a lotta things ain’t fair these days, and I can’t say it was always all that better in the before times either.

  I covered what was left of Desirae up with a blanket. And then, even though I’m not much for religion, I had a little chat with God after I got her all tucked in.

  “Hey God, sorry I been cursing your name so much lately. Don’t take it personal, okay? I know you get touchy ’bout how folks use your name. But this ain’t about me. I’m calling up to you about Desirae here. Dessie was crowned Miss Teen Dairy Queen three years running. Those cow folks loved her legs. Anyway, you treat her like royalty up there, cuz that’s what she is.”

  Who can say whether God was listening? From what I hear ’round town, his response rate isn’t what it used to be.

  Now, kicking my truck door shut with a combat-booted heel, and clutching my baseball bat, I head into the Piggly Wiggly.

  Six months ago, I was Brandee Jean Mason, resident Beauty Queen. Headed for big things and the bright lights…or at least, the state fair circuit.

  Then came the earthquakes.

  And the floods.

  NYC fell into the ocean. California is now an island.

  I mean, that’s the last I heard.

  There hasn’t been a news broadcast in months, and the one guy in town who’s got a shortwave radio isn’t inclined to share info unless I do some sharing of other things—and that sure ain’t happening. No way, no how.

  I think I’d rather not know, anyway.

  Now I grab a shopping cart and wipe down the handle with the wet wipes, still in the dispenser. The apocalypse is not a good time to get salmonella.

  Wisconsin weathered the storms better than most states. We’ve got our own farms and fields, and enough people got solar panels and even their own wind turbines, that some folks even still have electric. But unless you know how to hunt, raise, or grow your own food, you’re still stuck shopping.

  Which can be a real pain in my ass—my very nice, award-winning ass.

  Carl looks up from the year-old magazine he’s reading behind the check-out line. “Hi, Brandee Jean.”

  There’s a machine gun next to him on the counter. Bandits killed his dad a few months back and he’s not about to let them get him too.

  I relax a little. Carl’s a good guy, always polite. I’ve known him since middle school.

  I push the cart over to him, putting a little swing into my hips. “What we got today?”

  “Corn. And more corn.” He peeks at me over the magazine. “Nice dress.”

  “It’s my armor.” I tell him, doing a twirl, then a little curtsy.

  “The baseball bat really makes the outfit. I give it ten out of ten.”

  My bat is spangled and painted bright red. I found it at the back of my closet, leftover from a “Damn Yankees” dance routine I did years ago. Weaponry is the to-die-for accessory this season, and I do like to stay on trend.

  I smile with a wide-open mouth, showing all my teeth, just like I would on the pageant stage. I put a hand to my chest. “Why thank you. I’m just so very honored to be here today.”

  He laughs. “We did get in a fresh batch of Quik Powder…”

  “Well, why didn’t you start with that?” I ask.

  Quik Powder is a refined food source. You can make bread or pancakes, or just mix it with water and drink it. It tastes like glue, but it also sticks to your ribs in about the same way, which means that you can eat a little and stay full for a whole day.

  I load up my cart with five canisters of
powder, then with dairy products and beef (God bless the great state of Wisconsin). I push the cart to the front and Carl surveys my take.

  “That will be two hundred and fifty dollars.”

  Damned inflation. There goes my college fund. Not that I’m going to college anymore. The end of the world really put a pin in my five-year success plan.

  I sigh. “Will you take a check?”

  “You know I won’t,” he tells me with a kind smile.

  I smile back, showing the teeth, then leaning forward and pressing my elbows together just enough to make it clear that my cleavage is very serious about needing some protein.

  He looks. Of course he looks. Beautiful girls in gowns aren’t sashaying down these aisles every day. But he also blushes, which is damn decent of him.

  “Look, if you pay for the powder and beef, I’ll give you the dairy for free.”

  “Deal!”

  “So that will be…two hundred even. Cash or trade only.”

  “Thanks, Carl!” I throw the bills down on the counter. Before I wheel my cart on out, I ask him the same question I always do. “Hey, uh, any outsiders come through town lately?”

  He looks at me with something like pity in his eyes. “Ya know I woulda told you, if I did.”

  “Right, I know,” I lie. The truth is, I’m pretty sure Carl would lie. He thinks my plan to get myself kidnapped in order to save my best friend is suicidal.

  “I’ll see you next week,” I promise him with one last smile and wave.

  I keep an eye on the lot as I move out toward my truck. The group I’m looking to have steal me aren’t the only villains roaming these streets. These are desperate times. It’s best to assume somebody’s watching me, wanting to find out what I bought and how hard it would be to take it from me. And if that somebody decides I’m an easy target, they’ll attack now—while I’m moving stuff over to my vehicle, no hands free to wield my bat.