Demigods Academy - Year One

by Elisa S. Amore

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  MELANY

  Everyone was nervous for Zeus’s trial, and I didn’t blame them. It wasn’t going to be easy for anybody. After breakfast we were told to meet in the training facility where we did our elemental classes.

  “Welcome to your trial by lightning.” Zeus beamed at us, like an indulgent father. It made me want to punch him in his bearded, square jaw.

  “This will be a difficult trial, and most of you will fail it.” He clapped his hands together, and a boom of thunder shook the foundation of the building. The floor moved beneath our feet. Light sparked between his hands, and slowly he drew them out to create a bolt of lightning. The white glow was intense, difficult to look at.

  “Each of you must grasp the bolt in both hands, and throw it at the target. The majority of you won’t even be able to hold the lightning, let alone throw it. But for those who do, you will pass this trial.” He stuck the bolt into the floor.

  I gaped at him. All they had to do was grab and throw it? What about holding it for two minutes while being electrocuted?

  “Miss Richmond, why don’t you come over here with me to observe since you already endured this task?”

  I did a quick squeeze of my friends’ hands before moving over to stand beside Zeus.

  I held my breath as the first person stepped up to grasp the lightning.

  One by one, I watched as person after person tried to pick up the bolt and hold it long enough to attempt to throw it across the room at the target. Each one failed. I grimaced every time a face contorted in pain as the electrical current zipped up their arms and burned their hands.

  I watched Jasmine, Ren, and Mia all attempt and fail. My heart ached for each of them.

  Then Georgina stepped up. I bit down on my lip as she leaned forward and wrapped her hands around the sizzling bolt. She winced, but she didn’t drop it. In fact she looked in control. With it clutched in her hands, she turned, and with one arm, she balanced it, reared back, and tossed it across the room. She missed the target but it didn’t matter. She’d done the impossible. When she turned back toward me and grinned, it was then I noticed her shoes were full of dirt.

  I laughed. She was absolutely brilliant. She took her affinity to the earth and literally grounded herself. I thought maybe Zeus had noticed because his lips twitched up.

  The last to go was Lucian. I figured he’d been biding his time and observing how everyone else did and figuring out an advantage.

  He took in a deep breath, glancing over at me. I gave him an encouraging smile. He wrapped his hands around the lightning bolt and paused there. It looked like he was trying to acclimate himself to the electrical current shooting through his body. He then lifted the bolt, turned toward the target, and reared his hand back to throw it with everything he had. The bolt struck the target right in the bullseye.

  The whole room erupted into cheers. Even Zeus clapped. But that caused the building to shake again. I ran to Lucian and hugged him. When he wrapped his arms around me, I noticed his hands weren’t even red.

  Because it was our last night before the final trial, Zeus let us gather in the dining hall for a couple of hours before curfew. He even allowed us a few special treats to snack on. The six of us sat together at our table and gorged on ice cream sundaes and banana splits. We talked and laughed, forgetting about what was in store for us tomorrow. Not once did we mention that it could be our last night together like this. As none of us knew what happened once we were divided into our clans. Maybe we’d never see each other again. At least not until there was a war the Gods needed us to fight.

  I tried to push it from my mind and just enjoy the moment with my best friends and the boy I’d fallen in love with.

  When I slept that night, my dreams were filled with darkness and shadows again. But this time, I sensed a presence in the darkness. It reached out to me, asking me for something. Asking me for permission to be with me. I didn’t fear the shadows, as they’d always been kind to me, so I told the presence… Yes.

  When I woke in the morning, I felt renewed and empowered. That feeling stayed with me as we made our way to the training field, which had been transformed into an ancient battlefield with stone walls to hide behind and trenches to jump into. The sun was bright in the sky, and it seemed to shine down on Athena as she walked out onto the field.

  She wore traditional Greek robes and a gold band over her short, dark curls. Her dark skin was radiant against the white robes, and she truly looked like the Goddess she was. Ares may have been the God of War, but Athena had taught us more about the art of warfare than any other deity in the academy.

  And now was our chance to show her what we’d learned. Her trial was going to be a battle, literally.

  “In this trial, you will be fighting against some of the best warriors this academy has produced.” She swung around and gestured to the people walking onto the field. “Heracles, Medusa, Achilles, Antiope, Helen of Troy, and Bellerophon.” The six champions bowed toward us. It still unnerved me to see Medusa’s hair swirl around on its own. “You will be having what you would call a game of capture the flag. The object is for your team to cross the field of battle to capture this team’s flag.”

  I nodded. It seemed easy enough. Well, not easy, but definitely not complicated.

  “Instead of paintball guns and paint pellets,” she said, smiling, “you will be using bows and swords and whatever weapon you have at your disposal. Don’t worry, though, those arrows are blunted, as are the swords, so you won’t die on the field of battle, but you will most definitely be injured.”

  Great. Just what I needed. More scars.

  “You will split into teams of ten and go against the champion team. If you capture their flag, you pass the trial, if they capture yours, you fail.” She turned her head to look at each of us. “Just words of the wise… only two teams in seventy years have ever won.”

  We quickly formed a team consisting of me, Jasmine, Georgina, Mia, Lucian, Ren, Marek, Jasmine’s roommate, Hella, Diego, whom Lucian had convinced to defect over to us, and a quiet girl named Rosie, who I knew was an ace with a bow. For a few of us, this trial was all or nothing. Ren, Georgina, Marek, and Diego’s fates all hung on the wire. I vowed to make sure that we won this battle.

  We all got outfitted with shield and weapons. I took a bow and a quiver of blunted arrows. I was better with it than a sword or spear. Lucian took a sword, of course. Once we were ready to go, we hunkered down in our home base to discuss strategy before the horn sounded.

  “How in hell are we going to beat them?” Mia shook her head, already defeated. “You heard Athena—no one wins this trial.”

  “We don’t have to beat them,” I said. “Just have to distract them long enough for someone to sneak over and grab their flag.”

  “At least one of them will be guarding the flag.” Lucian peered over at the champions, who weren’t in huddle, but just standing by their home base. I noticed a couple of them even looked bored.

  I wasn’t so sure of that. They were demigods. They were used to winning. For them, this was child’s play. It was more of a boring task in a long list of boring tasks they’d likely done over and over again for decades. Their arrogance would play against them. Or at least, we could make it play against them.

  “I think this is what we should do.” I picked up a stick and started to draw in the dirt.

  When the horn blew, everyone but Georgina and Marek moved out from the home base. They were going to stay behind to spring the booby trap when it was needed. The rest of us split into two groups, going opposite ways. Lucian, Ren, and Rosie came with me, and Jasmine took charge of Diego, Mia, and Hella.

  My team ran to the cover of a half-formed stone wall; some of the stones were broken, as if something chipped at them. It soon became obvious what had done the chipping. Arrows came sailing toward us. I could hear them ping off the rock. Through a tiny slit in the wall, I spotted Achilles standing on top of a slight rise, shooting at
us. He didn’t even have a shield. And he was smiling.

  “What a dick.” I shook my head. “We need to show this guy what we’re made of.”

  “I agree.” Lucian grinned at me.

  “Rosie, I hear you’re a great shot.”

  She shrugged. “I’m all right.”

  “Okay, on three, the three of us form a shield, and when we draw his fire, Rosie, take your shot. Aim for his legs.”

  She grinned.

  “One, two, three…”

  We ran out from the wall, Lucian, Ren, and I had our shields together, creating a wall. The sound of arrows pinging echoed around us. Crouching behind us, Rosie knocked two arrows and when I nodded, she came around the right side, fired, and then ducked back behind the shields. We heard an outraged shout.

  “Bloody hell!”

  I looked through the slot we’d created between shields to see Achilles with red splotches on his legs. It wasn’t blood, but paint. Like paint pellets, our arrows, swords, and spears must’ve magically produced red paint to mimic wounds. It was perfect.

  Now that we had their attention, we made a run for the next cover, while Rosie and I fired more arrows at Achilles. He dashed from his spot on the hill. One of my arrows struck him in the ass. While we regrouped, I heard a shout from the other side of the field.

  “Finally. Worthy opponents!” It was Heracles, and he sounded positively joyful.

  We were almost halfway across the field. More arrows rained down on our position. Achilles had found a better spot to fire from. I spied Antiope with her spear and shield. I found a hole in the wall and fired arrows back, but Antiope easily protected herself and Achilles. We needed a huge distraction to get farther down the field.

  “I’m going to create a diversion. When it happens, you three run to the next cover.” After affixing my shield to my back, I rubbed my hands together, an orange glow emerging. “One, two, three!”

  I leapt out from behind the wall, hands thrust out. A wall of fire erupted from my palms, and I pushed it toward Achilles and Antiope. Lucian, Ren, and Rosie ran out around the other side toward the next wall of cover. The champions were so surprised by my firewall they didn’t shoot any arrows.

  I felt the power of the fire diminishing. Soon, I’d be exposed in the middle of the field. I spotted a cluster of fallen logs I could hide under. With one final push of the fire, I dropped my hands, snuffing the flames, sprinted to my left, and dove for cover. A couple of arrows whizzed over my head.

  Being under the logs gave me a moment of reprieve, and I turned to look back toward our clubhouse. I was rewarded to see our plan had worked.

  “What the hell is this?” Heracles and Bellerophon were both stuck in quick sand near our post.

  I put my hand over my mouth to chuckle. Georgina and Marek had combined their earth and water affinities and produced a wonderfully thick, impassable pool of quick sand, like a moat around a castle. And now, two of the champions were stuck in it. It gave me some time to get to their fort and get the flag.

  Another arrow whizzed by me. Then one hit the logs I was under. They’d found my cover. I was about to pop up to find my next cover when a spear tip broke through one of the logs and nearly struck me in the arm.

  “Found you.” Antiope grinned down at me. She pulled back her spear, and I rolled to the right. She narrowly missed me, and then I was up on my feet, running as fast as I could.

  An arrow struck the ground a sliver away from my right foot. I didn’t know where I was running to, as there wasn’t any good cover on this side. But I did spy a pool of shadows undulating near an outcropping of trees. I sprinted toward it, then dove into it, hoping beyond hope I wasn’t making a huge mistake. An arrow zipped by me just as I sunk into the ground.

  Darkness swallowed me up. It was like being in a void. My body felt floaty, like I was in a sea of salt water. Picturing their home base in my mind, I ran that way, hoping I wasn’t just going deeper into the abyss with no way out. Finally, I reached my destination; the air felt lighter here, like I could easily move through it. Then I saw a pinprick of light. Eventually, that light swelled, and I stepped out of the shadow and into the field.

  Medusa, who had been lounging nearby inspecting her nails, startled when she spotted me pop out of nowhere. She raised her bow, but she was too slow. I’d already knocked my arrow and sent it sailing toward her. It hit her in the chest. Red paint splattered all over her white dress.

  “You bitch.” She lifted her head, removed her sunglasses, and I could see the her eyes start to glow.

  I threw my shield over my face and made a run for their fort. As I ran, the flowers and the grass and the small bushes around me turned to stone. I nearly tripped on a petrified clutch of pansies, but I leapt over them and reached their home base. Now, I just had to clamber up to the top of their fort. But that was going to be impossible with Medusa on the rampage.

  She cursed up a storm as she walked toward the fort. More things turned to stone as she neared. She was almost upon me. I risked a peek over my shield to see Lucian charging at her from behind, his sword raised.

  He hit her across the back, more red splotched her dress, and she stumbled forward. I dashed up the fort steps, taking them two at a time. I reached the flagpole. With my heart nearly bursting, I grabbed that flag and tore it down.

  The horn sounded.

  We’d won.

  I jumped up and down, waving the flag. “Wohoo!!” I looked over the side of the fort to see Lucian offering his hand to Medusa to help her up. Her eyes clamped closed, she swatted it away.

  “I don’t need your help, junior.” She stood and put on her sunglasses. She glanced up at me. “Well played.”

  “Thank you,” I said as sweet as cherry pie.

  Down the field, my team, my friends, celebrated. And it filled me with so much happiness, tears welled in my eyes. As I looked at each of them, I realized they had become my home, and I would do anything for them.

  While the other teams went through their trial, we were whisked away back to our dorms to prepare for the ceremony. I wanted to celebrate with my friends, especially with Lucian, but I was assured there would be plenty of time and opportunity later to celebrate, as there was a big feast after the official dividing of the clans.

  After we had all showered, a troupe of nine women came into the dorms, carrying cases and rolling in a hanger of white and gold robes. I was dumbstruck as each of the women looked exactly alike.

  “They’re the muses,” Georgina said.

  Two of the women made a beeline toward me and Georgina. They both grinned. Even the shape of their mouths and the whiteness of their teeth were identical.

  “I’m Clio, this is Thalia. We’re here to make you pretty.”

  I looked at Georgina, who shrugged. “Okay,” we said in unison.

  As we were being primped and polished, painted and styled, the word came in through the dorm that none of the other teams had passed the trial. I was happy we’d passed, but it saddened me to know that possibly some of the girls would be getting the boot from the academy. I may have prayed that one of those girls was Revana, but no such luck, as I saw her running around getting ready for the ceremony.

  By the time Clio and Thalia had finished with us, we were both wearing the traditional white and gold robes, our makeup was flawless, our skin was dewy and glittered with the bronzer they slathered on. My hair was twisted up into a complicated braid on my head, a gold band wrapped around like a tiara. Georgina’s short hair had been slicked up and pinned. Her gold band also looked like a tiara on her head. We slid our pedicured feet into sandals, and we were ready to go.

  As we filed out of the dorm to head to the stadium where I’d endured the lightning trial, we caught up with Jasmine and Mia, who both looked like Goddesses. Together, united, we walked through the academy to accept our individual fates.

  There was an electric energy humming through the arena when we arrived and filed into the rows of seats. I looked across the arena
to find Lucian. I saw him in the third row, and he grinned when our gazes met.

  All the Gods and Goddesses walked into the arena and took up positions on the edge of the circle. Like a pie, it was split into twelve pieces. Eventually, each of us would be standing in one of those slices, relegated to that for the rest of our lives. It was overwhelming when I thought about it. I wasn’t sure if I truly wanted that fate.

  Zeus stepped into the middle of the raised circular platform. “Welcome, recruits. You have all accomplished an amazing feat. You have successfully endured and passed enough trials to ascend to the next level of your training.”

  Everyone clapped and cheered.

  “Now is the moment you will be divided into your blood clan. The choices are based on the skills you’ve developed, the affinity to certain elements and training, and the trials you’ve passed. We do not make these choices lightly, and we are never wrong. The clan you are assigned to will be yours for the rest of your life.”

  Jasmine reached for my hand. I took it, and we squeezed each other.

  “After the grand celebration tonight, you will be moving to your clan’s hall. There you will have your own room and be welcomed by your other clan brothers and sisters, who have gone through the same first year training as you have. You will become a family.”

  I looked across the arena at Lucian. I wanted him to know how I felt about him. There might never be another chance to tell him.

  “When your name is called, get up and stand side by side with your God.” Zeus waved a hand toward the others. “Jasmine Walker.”

  I squeezed her hand.

  “Ares clan.”

  Jasmine stood, glancing down at me. “You’re my best friend, Mel. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” A couple of tears rolled down my cheeks. I wiped them away.

  She stepped down the rows and walked out into the arena and took her place near Ares.

  More people were called. Every now and then, one of my friends stood and took their place in the circle.