In my haste, I nearly knocked it over, as I grabbed four sandwiches and shoved them into my mouth. I looked down at the wooden server. Its beady-eyed gaze was on me; I swore there was judgment in that look, which was impossible as it wasn’t even alive. I made a grab for one more sandwich before it rolled away from me.
I walked through the party, taking in the people bouncing to the music. It wasn’t what I normally liked; I usually went for something a bit more thrashy, a whole lot more metal, but it was decent. My social skills were non-existent, so I kept to the outskirts of the festivity, preferring to watch then do. But my gaze honed in on a pretty black girl being ruthlessly and relentlessly hit on in one of the corners of the room.
Her body language screamed, “Go away!” but the guy wasn’t listening. And he was big, too. Muscular, tall, he loomed over her, leering like a creep, trying to touch her long, dark curls. I didn’t like the situation one bit. I moved closer to gauge what was going on.
“Please, leave me alone. I told you I don’t want to dance.” She tried to step around him, but he got in her way.
“We could go out into the courtyard and make out then, if you don’t want to dance.”
She tried to push past him again, but this time he grabbed her arm. Hell no. Not on my watch.
“She told you to leave her alone.” I moved in to stand beside the girl. “You either don’t understand English or you’re stupid.”
“Mind your own business.” As he scowled down at me, I realized just how big he was.
“Okay, so you speak English fine, so I guess you’re just stupid then.”
I saw his attack in my mind before he even moved.
He lunged forward, swinging his right arm at me. I leaned back out of his reach, grabbed his wrist with both hands, tugged him forward, and then swept his back leg with my right one. He was down on the floor in seconds. There were a few people around us, and they started to laugh, as the guy sputtered in surprise on the ground.
I took the girl’s hand and pulled her away. We joined a bunch of people on the dance floor.
Smiling, she bent towards my ear. “Oh my Gods, thank you for coming to my rescue.”
“Any time. I can’t stand bullies.”
“I’m Jasmine.”
“Melany.”
“Isn’t this all nuts?” She gestured to the chaos happening all around us, and I imagined she was talking about the whole situation we’d stepped into.
The DJ, who had spiked up black hair and wore black eyeliner, jumped up onto one of the serving robots and rode it around in front of his set up, flailing his arms around. “Who’s ready to get crazy?”
Everyone on the dance floor screamed in response. Then he did a backflip off the robot, ran back to his turntable, and dropped another thumping song sending everyone into a frenzy. I couldn’t help but be swept up as well. The music was infectious, getting right into my muscles and bones.
I danced with Jasmine, moving my body to each oscillating pulse of music. I jumped up and down, turned, and nearly collided with my savior from earlier. He grinned at me, which made my belly flip flop.
“Having a good time, Blue?”
“Yes. Are you?”
“I’ll let you know in a minute.” He reached for my hand and was about to pull me close, when the dark-haired girl interrupted, getting right in between us. He dropped my hand.
“You’re not slumming it, are you, Lucian?” She gave me a side-eye, clearly disgusted with everything about me. In lots of ways, she reminded me of Callie.
Anger swelled inside me, and I needed to get away before I did something I’d regret. I didn’t need to get expelled from the academy before classes even started. I walked off the dance floor and searched for a place to sit away from the celebration. But everyone was in full party mode. The music, the smell of the food and drink, and the heat of so many people crushed together pushed down on me. I needed some air.
I left the great hall with the intention of finding a way outside, but the sound of footsteps approaching had me pressing up against a shadowed wall. I didn’t want to get into trouble for leaving the celebration. I had a sense this place was big on rules with harsh punishments.
I peeked around the corner to see literally a blonde Goddess walking down the empty corridor. She was tall, six feet at least, yards of golden waves trailing down her back to her tiny waist. The hem of her sheer white dress dragged behind her like the train of a wedding gown or a royal gown. She definitely was regal.
After she moved down the hallway a little farther away, she stopped and turned. Even from where I hid, I could see how stunning she was. Her face looked like it was sculpted from the whitest, hardest marble to ever exist, and her eyes were as blue as the hottest part of a flame. This had to be Aphrodite. The stories about her beauty didn’t even come close to the reality of her.
I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I didn’t have to wait long until another form stepped out from a different darkened corridor. It was a man, a mountainous muscular man with a shaved head. He looked like an army drill sergeant on steroids. They embraced, kissing. Obviously, there was something going on there. But the way she kept looking around, it was definitely a secret something.
“Were you followed?” Aphrodite asked her lover.
He shook his head. “Does Hephaistos suspect anything?”
“He wouldn’t notice if I came home dipped in blood. All he cares about is his toys and contraptions.”
“Then he’d never noticed the key was gone?”
I leaned around the corner, eager to get closer.
“Not for the time we’d need to open…” Pausing, she whipped her head around to where I hid.
I jerked backward, the heel of my boot squeaking against the polished tile floor. Shit.
I didn’t wait to see if they heard me. I hightailed it out of there. The very last thing I needed was a couple of Gods thinking I’d overheard their clandestine meeting to discuss evil doings.
Chapter Five
MELANY
The loudest, most resonant gong ever to exist literally knocked me out of bed in the morning.
From the spot I landed on the cold, hard floor, I could see through the dorm room window that it was still dark out. I swore I hadn’t even been asleep for more than four hours.
“Time to rise and shine.” Georgina’s face loomed over me. In the predawn, I noticed she was already dressed in the official academy uniform, dark red polo and charcoal gray military style pants with side pockets. She looked sufficiently groomed and ready to attack the day.
I, on the other hand, still had sleep gluing my eyelashes together.
She offered her hand to me to help me up and I took it. “Do you always look this bright-eyed in the morning?”
“Yes, pretty much. I love early mornings. I like to be productive.”
I sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed at the crusty flakes in my eyes. “Back home, I wouldn’t even be out of bed until noon.”
“If I were you, I’d get your butt in gear and run to the showers before they fill up. Or you won’t be able to have one before we need to be in our first class.” She handed me a thick leather folder. “Here’s your class schedule. I hope you don’t mind that I organized it for you. I had an hour to kill this morning before the gong.”
I opened it to see a calendar and detailed timetable noting my classes and which professors taught them. As I perused my schedule for the day, I shook my head. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe I was here, at the academy, training to be in the Gods’ Army.
8 a.m.
– History of the Gods – Hera
10 a.m. – Spear and Shield – Ares
12 p.m. – lunch
1 p.m. – Archery - Artemis
3 p.m. – Hand to Hand Combat – Heracles
5 p.m. – dinner
7 p.m. – Prophecy – Apollo
9 p.m. – free time
11 p.m. – lights out
I
kept reading, marveling at the other classes during the week.
“Transformation class?” I looked up at Georgina, dumbfounded. “What the hell do we do in that class?”
“I guess we make one thing into another.”
I looked back at the schedule. “Flying?’ I shook my head. “Tomorrow, we have an elemental class with Zeus and Poseidon.”
“I know, right? I’m so excited for that one. Demeter teaches in that class, too. I’ve wanted to meet her my entire life. My family has made offerings to her since I was a baby.”
I wanted to tell her that most likely the Goddess never got them, but what did I know? For most of my life, I didn’t even think the Gods were real. I’d been told they were real. I read about them in picture books for children, been instructed on how to worship them, and what to take to what temple to pray. But I never truly, honestly believed there were higher beings sitting around listening to the whining and bitching of mortals. And here I was in their school, training to fight for them in some war that didn’t exist. At least none that I knew about.
A half hour later, I, along with Georgina and twenty other girls, streamed down the main stone staircase and into the foyer where we first had entered the academy. The boys came from the opposite way, where their dorms were, and joined us on the stairs. I saw Jasmine near the front of the group. Hopefully, I’d be able to catch up with her.
At the bottom of the steps, we were met by an assuming woman with curly brown hair up in a messy bun, a very plain dress, and sensible shoes. She looked like a librarian. She even had reading glasses hanging on a chain around her neck.
She smiled warmly at us. “Good morning. My name is Pandora, and I’ll be your guide for the day. I will show you to your various classes and answer any questions you may have about the academy. I’m your TA for the year. If you need anything, you can come to me.”
She led us down a very large, wide corridor—the whole academy seemed to consist of enormous corridors—to a set of gray stone doors with stars engraved into them.
“This is where your history of the Gods class will be. It’s a very important class, as you will need to know everything you can about each of the primary Gods and Goddesses to prepare for your trial at the end of the year.”
A tall girl with blond hair raised her hand.
Pandora smiled at her. “Yes?”
“Are the trials as bad as they say? I heard that a boy died during the trial of Zeus.”
Others in the group looked around nervously.
Pandora gave us a tight-lipped smile. “Rumors don’t do anyone any good.” She gestured to the doors. “Have a good class, and I’ll see you afterwards.”
The doors swung open, and we all entered the dark room. I wondered if anyone else noticed Pandora didn’t exactly answer the question. Probably not, as everyone was busy gawking at the domed ceiling above us. It was lit up with a thousand twinkling stars.
In the center of the room stood a rising platform, and around it were fifty desks and chairs. There was a scramble for the desks in the middle, but I opted for one farthest from the lectern. Georgina followed me to the back. As I slid behind my desk, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jasmine taking a desk in front of me. We smiled at each other.
Another door at the far end of the room opened and a woman entered. I assumed it was Hera, our professor. She walked to the center of the room and stepped up onto the dais. She wore a long, flowing dark blue dress, and her hair was wrapped up on top of her head with a string of flowers acting like a turban. Jewels sparkled around her throat, her ears, and her fingers, as she lifted her hands in front of her.
“Everything in the cosmos was created by Uranus and Gaia, Heaven and Earth.” Between her hands, light formed. She twisted her hands around until a solid ball of blue erupted then she threw it up at the ceiling. The orb bounced from one star to the next and the next, sending them all spinning, until they were a spiraling mass of stars and light above us.
There were gasps around the room as the stars separated and rotated into position in the universe. Then one star grew ten times its initial size into a large globe. Land and sea formed on as it turned on its axis. It was the Earth.
“Heaven and Earth gave birth to twelve great, ferocious and ruthless Titans. Oceanus…”
The thundering sounds of crashing waves filled the room. Then a swirling blue maelstrom spouted from the floor. Some of the students nearest to it jumped out of their seats and screamed. It looked so real; I expected to be sprayed by water as it spun through the room, turning into a gigantic monster made of water, with eight whirlpool arms spinning around.
“…dominated all the seas and oceans and lakes and rivers, demolishing ships and drowning everyone he came in contact with.
“Hyperion, made of the sun itself…”
Out from the ceiling dropped a male form made of fire, with huge fiery wings. A wave of heat surged through the room with every flap of his wings. He lifted his arms, which were columns of fire, and shot out fireballs every direction. One fireball zoomed straight for my head and I ducked. I could actually feel the heat as it flew by, vanishing when it hit the stone wall.
“…scorched everything in his path…”
For the next hour, Hera introduced all twelve Titans and talked about how monstrous and destructive they were. Then she talked about Tartarus, the stinking, dark, frozen wasteland they were imprisoned in, a place far below the underworld, and how important it was for the Gods to make sure they stayed there.
“This is why you are being trained,” she said, her voice rising to a crescendo. “You will be the Gods’ Army, to fight by our side in the event our enemies are unleashed on the Earth.”
A chill ran through me, as I thought about the repercussions of any of the Titans being released from their prison, and why someone would ever want that to happen. It made me think about what I had overheard in the academy halls last night.
After history class, Jasmine and I met up.
“That class was crazy, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah, seems so unreal.”
Georgina came along my other side. “It’s as real as you and me.”
I introduced her to Jasmine, and the three of us followed Pandora and the rest of the group to our next class—Spear and Shield—which was outside behind the main academy building in an open grass field. As we lined up in a semi-circle, three men ran out onto the field, shouting and making shiver-inducing battle cries. All three carried a long spear with an arrowhead-like tip and a round shield. I assumed one of them had to be our professor, Ares.
Two of the men, dressed in black military fatigues, attacked the third man, who was older, and wearing red nylon shorts and a white tank top. His hair was cut short, much like an army general. I remembered him from the hallway last night. This had to be Ares.
As I watched him dance around the field, deflecting blows from the other men, he reminded me of my old gym teacher from high school who loved to play dodgeball. I swore it was his most favorite activity. He’d probably even slept with the dodgeball clutched tight in his hands, like a child with his little stuffed toy.
The image made me snicker. I put a hand up to my mouth to stifle it, but it was too late. It had already escaped, and a couple of the people around me noticed, and basically took a step away from me, singling me out.
After Ares made a sharp cutting motion with his hand, the other two men immediately stopped what they were doing and stood at attention with their shield held at chest height, and their spear held upright in their hand, eyes forward, chins lifted. Ares spun around and glared at me.
Obviously, he had also noticed my snicker.
He pointed right at me. “Step forward.”
I gestured to myself. “Me?”
“Yes. Get out here. Now!”
I stepped out of the group and onto the field. Both Georgina and Jasmine looked horrified, while the dark-haired girl, whose name I discovered during history class was Revana, openly smirked.
/> Ares tossed his shield at me. I put my arm up just in time to catch it before it smashed me in the head. It was heavy, and I had a hard time keeping it balanced. Then he thrust his spear at me.
“Protect yourself!”
I raised the shield just in time, so the spear tip didn’t pierce my face. It bounced off the metal. “What the hell?”
He thrust it toward me again, this time at my legs. I managed to move the big metal plate down in time, and the clang of metal hitting metal reverberated over my entire body. My arm shook, and I nearly dropped the shield.
“Do you find this funny?” he shouted at me.
“No!”
He lowered his spear and took a step back to address the entire group. “War is not funny.” He tapped the spear onto the ground. “There will be no laughing in my class. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” some of the group said.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes sir!”
He came back to me and tore the shield from my hand. “Get back in line.”
Head down, I quickly walked back to the group, standing next to Georgina and Jasmine. Jasmine leaned in. “Are you okay?”
I rotated my right shoulder; it was starting to ache from holding the shield up. I nodded. “I’ll live.”
“Form two lines.” Ares gestured with his hand where we should line up. “You are going to learn how to use a shield properly to defend yourself, so you don’t get stuck in the gut with a spear and bleed out.”
We all jumped into motion. I wanted to get in line with Georgina and Jasmine, but ended up getting jostled around, until I could squeeze into a line, which just happened to be beside Lucian. Perfect. This day was just getting worse and worse by the minute. I could just imagine the joke he was going to make at my expense.
He bent toward me. “Not bad, Blue.”
I didn’t look at him, keeping my eyes ahead. “Oh yeah, I was a real hero there. I’ll be defending the masses in no time.”
Demigods Academy - Year One Page 4