“You lived in Pecunia?”
She nodded, her brow slowly furrowing. “Why?”
“It’s probably nothing. I don’t want to worry you.”
“Well, you already have, so you might as well tell me.”
“There’s a rumor going around that Pecunia and a couple other places had an earthquake.”
Her face paled, and I thought she was going to pass out.
Chapter Thirteen
MELANY
“Pecunia doesn’t have earthquakes.” I stared at him, hoping he had misspoke, and he was talking about some other town.
“I’m sure it was just a rumor.”
I jumped to my feet, my mind going a mile a minute. All I could think about was if Sophia was safe. Who would be there to protect her if something happened? “You need to tell me everything you heard.”
“Trevin said he overheard it from someone who had smuggled a phone in. That it was all over the news that Pecunia, New Athens, and Kios had suffered an earthquake.” His brow knitted together. “I’m pretty sure it’s not true.”
“It’s pretty random not to be true, don’t you think?” My heart raced. I didn’t know what to do, but I had to do something. There had to be a way to confirm the information.
Demeter. She owed me one.
“C’mon.” I slid on my boots, heading out the door.
“Where are we going?”
“To find out if it’s true or not.” I didn’t wait for him to respond.
He caught up to me as I pushed through the main doors to the outside and rounded the corner of the building on the cobblestone path. Demeter was exactly where I’d seen her last time, leaning up against the wall and smoking some weed.
She shook her head when she spotted Lucian and I. “Pretty soon, my secret isn’t going to be a secret.”
“I need your phone.”
She made a face. “Any particular reason?”
“I need to see the news.”
Her face changed; it was subtle, but I’d seen it in the slight downward tilt of her lips. She knew what I was after.
“Is it true?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Look, I know you’re a Goddess, and you could smite me in mere seconds, but I’m asking for you to be a human being right now and do me a favor.”
I felt Lucian tense beside me. He probably thought I was insane to talk to one of the Gods like this, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice.
“Besides, you do owe me one,” I said as a last resort.
Sighing, Demeter reached into her back pants pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She handed it to me.
When I pressed the main button, a news video was paused on the home screen. I pushed play.
“The damage here in Pecunia is devastating. In all my years of news reporting, I have never seen destruction like this…”
The news reporter walked past destroyed buildings, half a cement wall still stood in one lot, debris surrounding it. Behind him downed powerlines sparked. He neared a street sign that was bent in half. I could read the sign though—Homer Avenue. I knew that avenue; I knew that corner block he was moving past. It was just down the hill from the Demos Estate. Callie and I had been there countless times to get iced coffees and cappuccinos.
Lucian set his hand on my arm; he’d been behind me, watching the video over my shoulder. “Are you okay, Blue?”
A sudden coldness hit my core. Was I okay? I didn’t know.
I looked over at Demeter; she’d been watching me. “When did this happen?”
“Yesterday.”
“Would you have told me? Told any of us?”
She looked me dead in the eyes. “What would have been the point? You can’t do anything about it. It would have only interfered with your training.”
I slapped the phone back into her hand, uncaring that she was a powerful being and could destroy me with a blink of her eye. “How do I get out of here?”
She shook her head. “You can’t.”
“I don’t believe that. There has to be a way for us to leave.”
“If you leave the academy, you’ll be immediately expelled and have your memories erased, and you won’t ever be able to go back to your home. You’ll become one of the lost.”
I made a face. “According to the news, I don’t have a home to go to, anyway.”
“Blue… she’s right.” Lucian rubbed his hand over my shoulder. “There’s nothing—”
I pulled away from him. “I have to go. I have to make sure Sophie is okay. She doesn’t have anyone but me.” Tears welled in my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. I refused to appear weak in front of either of them.
Demeter pushed off the wall, grabbing me by the upper arms. “Listen to me, Melany. There is nothing you can do for her by going to Pecunia. The best thing you can do is to stay here and complete your training. Your training is more important than you can even imagine.”
It was obvious she was keeping something to herself. The Gods weren’t known for their forthcoming nature.
“Tell me why it’s so important, and I’ll forget about leaving.”
She stared me for a long moment, then sighed, dropped her hands, and took a step back. She looked at Lucian. “Talk some sense into your girlfriend.” She reached behind her ear, pulled out another joint, and lit it up. “I’d get back into the school before curfew.” Puffing, she walked away toward the maze.
I wanted to go after her and demand to know what was going on, but I knew she wouldn’t tell me the truth. The Gods worked in mysterious ways, my ass. They were just jerks.
“C’mon, let’s go back,” Lucian said.
When I didn’t walk with him immediately, he grabbed my hand and pulled me with him to the main doors. He opened the door for me and we went inside. He took my hand again and I let him. It felt good to be touching him. It grounded me a little.
As we walked up the stone staircase to the dorms, Lucian stopped and turned me to him. “I might know a way out.”
“How?”
“I need to know that you understand the consequences. That it is worth it to you.”
“I have to know that Sophie made it out. She sacrificed a lot for me. I need to be willing to do the same for her.”
He nodded. “I heard there is a network of deep underground tunnels under the academy leading to the mainland.”
“Where’s the entrance?”
“In the forge.”
I frowned. “You mean in Hephaistos’s lair?”
“No, like literally in the mouth of the dragon forge.”
“Through the fire.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“This just gets better and better.” I rubbed my hands over my face. “Is this reliable intel? I don’t want to be risking everything and find out I’m just going to set myself on fire.”
“Dionysus mentioned it one night.”
I grimaced. “Dionysus who makes poisonous potions and drinks them to see how they taste? That Dionysus?”
“He mentioned it one night when he was hanging out with some of the guys in our dorm. He told us it’s how he gets out to visit his lady friends.”
I shook my head.
“Hey, I wouldn’t suggest it to you if I thought it wasn’t going to work. You have to remember the Gods are trapped here, too. Of course they’re going to know secret ways out of here.”
“Okay, but I need to talk to him. I need to know exactly how to get out. Do you know where I can find him?”
Lucian shook his head. “I have no idea. He’s not—”
Music suddenly blasted from the corridor leading to the great hall.
When we stepped into the hall, we were bombarded with the loudest, most heart-thumping bass. It actually brought tears to my eyes. Dionysus rolled toward us on one of Hephaistos’s serving robots. He was perched on top of it like a crazed vulture with a black Mohawk and black eye-liner running down its face.
&n
bsp; “Lucian!” He wheeled around us, laughing manically. “Melany!” He said both our names in long, drawn out syllables.
“I need to ask you something.” I had to yell to be heard over the music.
“What?”
“Can you turn down the music, so we can have a conversation?”
“Sure.” He snapped his fingers and the music died. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Is there a way out of the academy through the forge?”
His gaze whipped over to Lucian. “I thought we were bros. I told you that in confidence.”
“It’s important. I had to tell her.” Lucian set his hand on my shoulder in solidarity.
“You know leaving the academy will get you an automatic expulsion.”
“I know.”
He eyed me for a long moment, rubbed at his nose, and then shrugged. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But when you get expelled, I want your boots.” He gestured to my feet. “They are rad.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, dark purple glass vial. He handed it to me. “You’ll need this.”
After I got the directions from Dionysus, I wanted to stop at my dorm room to get my jacket and my backpack. Jasmine and Georgina ambushed us the moment we walked into the room. It was obvious they had been waiting.
“What’s going on?” Jasmine asked. “Someone told us you were running out of the school.” She eyed Lucian, as if he’d driven me to do something crazy.
I grabbed my bag and packed it with my stuff. “I’m leaving.”
“What? Why?” Georgina grabbed my bag, so I couldn’t pack anymore.
“There’s something I need to do.”
“You’ll be expelled.”
“I’m willing to face that.” I yanked the bag back from her.
“Is it about the earthquakes?” Jasmine asked.
I didn’t know how she knew, but obviously the rumors had been flying around. I nodded.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“No you’re not. You’re not risking your—”
“My family lives in New Athens. If they’re…” She swallowed, not wanting to voice what we were all thinking since we heard the news. “I need to know.”
“Give me your address. I’ll find out for you. There’s no reason for you to risk everything, too.”
Georgina snatched the bag from me again. “If you want to truly sneak out, you can’t take your bag with you. You have to go light and quick. And you can’t go now while everyone is awake. You have to leave in the middle of the night. That way you’ll have at least six hours before you’re missed in class.”
“Georgina’s right.” Lucian nodded. “It’s too dangerous to go now.”
I looked around at everyone then my eyes landed on Jasmine. “Fine. We’ll go at midnight.”
She nodded, leaving our room to return to hers. It was almost curfew, and Pandora would be doing her rounds soon.
I turned to Lucian. “You need to go.”
“I’ll meet you at the bottom of the stairs before the entrance to Hephaistos’s foundry.”
I shook my head. “You’ve already done enough, Lucian. I can’t ask you to risk anything more.”
“You don’t need to ask. I’ll meet you down there. I’ll be your diversion if you need it.” And he left before I could respond.
Sighing, I sunk onto my bed. Georgina sat on hers, opposite me. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“No. But I have to go. I can’t stay here, not knowing what happened. Earthquakes have never occurred in or around Pecunia before. Ever.”
“You think it’s something unnatural?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but if something happened to Sophie and I could’ve done something about it, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
She nodded, chewing on her thumbnail. “Do you think you can go and come back without being discovered?”
“I have to try.”
She climbed off her bed, dropped to the floor, and pulled out a box from underneath. She opened it and took out a small wrapped bundle, handing it to me.
I unfolded the handkerchief to reveal a small, round, green mass, almost as big as a golf ball. The strong odor wafting from it made me wrinkle my nose. It smelled like moldy cheese. “What is it?”
“A pick-me-up. It’s like drinking ten energy drinks without all the sugar. It’ll give you a burst of energy and strength when you need it most.”
“Did you make this?”
She nodded. “With Demeter’s help. She says I have a real knack for handicraft.”
“You definitely have a gift, and I thank you for this.” I rolled it back into the handkerchief and stuffed it into my pants’ pocket.
Georgina jumped onto my bed and hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe. “I’m scared for you.”
“I’ll be fine, Gina.”
She pulled back and stared me in the eyes. “I had a vision during prophecy class. I realize now it was about you.”
“What was it?”
“I was outside on the grounds near the maze with Jasmine and Ren and Lucian, even. A giant snake slithered out from the maze and chased us. It opened its mouth, showing razor sharp teeth that were black and dripping with poison, and tried to swallow us whole.”
I ran my hand down her arm and chuckled. “I’m not going to be eaten up by a snake.”
“No, Melany, I’m pretty sure the snake was you.”
Chapter Fourteen
MELANY
I didn’t sleep. I lay awake on my bed in the dark, not only thinking about what I needed to do to get out of the academy, but about what Georgina had said—that I was the snake that swallowed everyone up. I wasn’t sure how to take that. It definitely wasn’t a positive connotation. I knew visions weren’t literal, but I couldn’t see the positive in it at all.
At midnight, I rolled out of bed and got ready to go. I patted my pants pocket to make sure the energy ball from Georgina was there, and then checked my jacket pocket to make sure I still had the vial Dionysus gave me. My stomach churned, and nerves zipped through me. I wasn’t sure I could do this. I might be leading Jasmine into the abyss. I might end up dooming both of us.
Georgina whispered to me in the dark, “Good luck. Don’t die out there.”
“I’ll try not to.”
I peeked out the door into the dark corridor. It was empty. Pandora normally did her rounds at ten, which was curfew, and two in the morning. So I had a two-hour leeway to get down to the foundry and find a way out through the forge. I hoped Hephaistos wasn’t in his workshop. This whole mission might be for nothing.
Sticking close to the wall and the shadows wavering there, I crept down the hallway and out onto the landing before the stone staircase to wait for Jasmine. A couple minutes later, she ran out to join me. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, and then we carefully crept down the stairs to the main foyer.
All was quiet. There was no one around, and I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary because of the ticking of the huge clock hanging over the main doors. On silent feet, we snuck around the corner and to the stairs leading down four levels to Hephaistos’s forge.
It was pitch black down the stairs. There wasn’t a trace of light. If we didn’t have some kind of light, we’d definitely trip down the stairs and break something. I hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight, since I didn’t know where I would find one. This couldn’t be what stopped us.
I looked down at my hands and considered them for a moment. Then I slapped them together, very aware of the sound it made, but it had to be done, and rubbed the palms together.
Jasmine gave me a wide-eyed look and mouthed, “What are you doing?”
But it soon became evident when a soft yellow glow blossomed between my hands. Slowly, I pulled them apart to create a small ball of fire. It was enough to guide our way.
Smiling, Jasmine gave me a thumbs up. We made our way down the stairs, each step illuminated by my homemade lantern I carried in my
hand. At the bottom, we waited for a minute. Lucian said he’d be here, but I didn’t want him to get into any trouble. He’d directed me to Dionysus; that had been enough.
I counted to three under my breath then tapped Jasmine’s arm, indicating for us to continue on. We moved two steps before I saw a very faint glow coming from the stairs. Lucian joined us at the bottom, but he wasn’t alone.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered, angry.
Ren made a face. “I’m coming with you. I have family in New Athens.”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not going to be responsible for all of you getting expelled.”
“You’re not responsible,” he said. “I’m perfectly capable of making a decision on my own. And I’m coming, whether it’s with you or on my own. I’d prefer to go with you, though, because I’m pretty sure you know what you’re doing.”
Jasmine nodded in solidarity. “I’m with Ren.”
I wanted to tell them I really had no idea what I was doing. Although Dionysus had given me directions, I didn’t know what to do if they went astray. We could all end up trapped in the tunnels forever, for all I knew.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
We snuck up to the entrance to the foundry and peered inside. The eerie orange glow of the molten metal flowing through the narrow gutters throughout the room cast the only light. My gaze swept the area, searching for any movement. As far as I could tell, we were alone.
I looked at the dragon forge. It was a straight shot across one of the stone bridges and up a few rock steps onto the highest platform. “We need to go to the dragon forge. Follow me.”
I hurried into the room, everyone following behind me. We made it across the bridge and were about to mount the steps to the platform when a clanging noise reverberated through the chamber. A voice trailed behind the metal clash; it was Hephaistos muttering to himself.
Jasmine stared at me. I stared back. She pointed to a rock jutting out of the floor where we could hide. She bolted behind it, followed by Ren, Lucian, then me. I peeked around the stone; if Hephaistos took the bridge, we would be spotted in a matter of seconds. Lucian must’ve realized the same thing because he grabbed my face, kissed me hard, then jumped out from behind the rock and ran down the bridge toward the fire God. My lips tingled from the kiss, and I ran my fingers over my mouth.
Demigods Academy - Year One Page 10