by Simon Archer
“Why don’t we ask him what happened? That sounds reasonable,” Phae argued, not holding back any of her sass from the Stratego. After all, he was only a demigod and she was a goddess. Minor or no, she was more powerful than the mortal man by miles.
“Alright, Cameron,” the Stratego said through gritted teeth. “What happened?”
“I…” I found myself at a loss for words again. If it was just Phae and Hailey in the room, I would have told them everything. But I didn’t trust the Stratego as far as I could throw him, and while my upper body strength was hella impressive, it wasn’t very far.
“You’re not going to know this yet since you’ve only just taken up the mantle of being an Elemental Official, but there are rules about information that is required to be shared amongst the Officials,” the Stratego said as if he could sense my hesitation.
“I’m not listening to that,” I scoffed. “You could be making that up for all I know.”
“Glad to see you’re not hurt at all,” Hailey said with a chuckle at my sarcastic clap back.
The Stratego shot Hailey a disapproving glare and the soldier closed her mouth, her amused expression disappearing instantly. Even though Hailey loved me, she was a soldier before she ever met me, and the Stratego was still her commanding officer. As much as I wanted Hailey to stand up to the son of Zeus, I knew that old habits die hard.
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. The full weight of my decision sat on my shoulders like a gorilla. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to shake the weight. I was an Elemental Official now. I had no idea what that meant or what the responsibilities of that were.
Technically, I needed to be a fully graduated soldier in order to assume the position. But because there was an opening, and I was literally the only person on the planet that could fill the role, I didn’t think that my student status would matter. I had no idea how I was going to navigate the duties of an Official while still being an active student. And now I had to make the Fates new items, maybe, and potentially find my father, and fight a war.
I took a couple of deep breaths to stop the swirling thoughts in my mind. I could only take one thing at a time. I had to focus on the moment, which meant telling Phae, Hailey, and consequently the Stratego where I had just disappeared to. Or where I had been transported to against my will.
Despite my distrust of the Stratego, I figured it was better to tell the truth in this situation so that he didn’t think it was something worse. And now that I was an Elemental Official, I had to start working with him. Maybe this would get us off on the right foot. A nagging piece of doubt told me it wouldn’t matter, but I shoved that doubt to the side and told myself that I had to try.
“It was the Moirai,” I began as I rubbed my hands down my cheeks and slapped them down on my thighs.
Phae’s eyebrows shot up, and she gripped her staff tighter. Hailey’s mouth fell open in surprise. The Stratego’s face went deathly pale. I would have laughed at his scared expression, as I had never seen the man reveal an ounce of weakness before now. However, I could relate to his terror of the goddesses given the amount of power they wielded over the universe.
“They offered me a deal,” I continued, not letting anyone interject.
“And you took it?” Phae jumped in suddenly. “Because questioning the Moirai is one of the worst decisions you could ever make.”
I licked my lips and scrunched up my face as though she slapped me. Or she was about to after I answered her question. “Not exactly.”
“Cameron,” Phae scolded like a stern mother.
“They wanted me to make them new tools,” I said by way of explanation, my voice coming out in the form of a whine, like I was making excuses. “You know, the string, the rod, and the scissors. I don’t know how to weave or wood carve.”
“But you’re a blacksmith,” Phae reasoned. “Surely you could learn.”
“That’s like asking someone who speaks Spanish to learn Farsi,” I explained, feeling exasperated. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Don’t you have to carve wood for the handles of some of your knives?” Hailey asked.
“Yes,” I said slowly, not having thought about that before now.
“I get that you’re nervous,” Hailey said, coming to my defense. “But Cam, you’re one of the quickest learners I’ve ever met. And I can say that because I’ve trained you myself. I’m sure you could learn how to weave and wood carve.”
“Okay say I do,” I said as I threw up my hands. “Who’s going to teach me?”
My question was met with silence as my girlfriend and the goddess thought about the possibilities. I jerked my head forward, waiting for an answer. When they still didn’t respond, I turned to the Stratego, almost as a joke.
“You got any ideas?” I scoffed, not really expecting him to jump in.
“Unfortunately, no,” the Stratego said with a low voice. “We got rid of those classes because they weren’t weapon or attack based. When the war began, we needed to tailor our classes to more pertinent skills.”
“Good to know,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Why does this feel like when American schools got rid of woodshop and home economics so they could emphasize math and science?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Phae said with pinched eyebrows.
I waved my hand at her. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What did they say would happen if you didn’t take the deal?” The Stratego asked, his voice still in that low and defensive tone. It was as though the man was already planning a battle strategy in his mind.
I thought back through my conversation with the Fates. “Uh… nothing. They didn’t threaten me or anything.”
“I don’t believe that,” Phae scoffed. “The Moirai always know how to get what they want.”
“Well, I just mean that they didn’t threaten to take anything away,” I clarified. “They offered me something.”
“What?” Hailey asked, her eagerness coming through in the way she leaned against the table.
As I watched her do that, I realized that I was still sitting atop the table. My butt started to get sore, so before I answered her, I scooted off the side into a standing position. I almost went to sit in one of the adjacent chairs, but then hesitated. While I didn’t think the Moirai would transport me again, I didn’t want to risk burning up another office chair. So I stood. Just in case.
“They said they would tell me where my father was,” I replied, turning back to the three who looked at me with curious and eager expressions.
Hailey released a low whistle. “That’s quite the bargain.”
“I didn’t know you were searching for him,” the Stratego said through gritted teeth.
“I’m not,” I snapped back, a little too quickly to be believable. “But considering a god has been missing for twenty or so years is rather troubling. And, you know, he’s my dad. So I’d like to meet him at least once.”
The Stratego stared at me with suspicious eyes. I used all of my self-control to keep my face neutral, to not give anything away. While I decided that honesty was the best policy when it came to this situation, I didn’t have to be honest about everything.
Luckily, the Stratego let it slide. He exhaled deeply and put his hands on his hips. The soldier looked at the ground, tilted his head to the ceiling, and then settled his gaze on me.
“As long as you don’t put the Academy in danger, you can do whatever you want,” the Stratego concluded. Then he crossed to a cabinet on the far edge of the room, across from his original seat. He opened it to reveal folded sashes in the four colors of the branches of the Military: Eda, Enka, Vreg, and Oura.
They symbolized Earth, Fire, Water, and Air branches. Each student was drafted at the end of their second year into one of the branches. If a demigod wasn’t drafted by then, that was grounds for removal from the Academy. Luckily, me and my friends all got drafted in the middle of last year, though we were all in different branc
hes. That meant different dorms, different classes, and different schedules. We figured it out though and still spent almost all of our downtime together, when we were working our respective work-study jobs.
The orange, turquoise, green, and white sashes were in neat stacks in this cabinet but the Stratego reached into the back, by passing all of the other ones. He revealed an orange sash with the markings of a graduated soldier, with an additional one stitched into the top.
It was Hephaestus’s anvil. It matched the one etched into the table behind him. The Stratego shut the cabinet and held out the sash to me.
“Even though this marks you as a graduated student, you should still wear it because it also marks you as an Elemental Official, and that trumps your student status,” the Stratego explained.
I looked at the sash like a snake that might jump out and bite me. I didn’t take it right away. The Stratego released a heavy sigh and took my hand in his, shoving the sash into my grip. The action didn’t give me a choice. I now had the markings of an Elemental Official. There was no turning back now.
Then, the Stratego crossed to the door and put a hand on the handle. “Meet me here tomorrow morning, after breakfast. We’re going to need to go over your duties as an Official and what that means for your studies.”
“Sure,” I said, confused by his sudden departure. “Uh, just out of curiosity, what does that mean for my studies?”
“We’re going to have to accelerate them,” the Stratego hinted. “You will need to graduate at the end of the semester because we can’t have a student as an Official.”
“Wait, seriously?” I balked, stunned by this news. “I thought that everyone had to spend four years at the Academy, no exceptions.”
If the Stratego was serious, then I would graduate the Academy with only three years under my belt. Well, actually a little less than three technically because I came in mid-semester when I first entered the Academy.
“Unfortunately, Cameron, you have been an exception to the rules since you got here,” the Stratego said. I couldn’t tell from his flat tone if it was a compliment or an insult. Knowing our history, I figured it was the latter.
Then, the Stratgeo left the boardroom unceremoniously. Phae, Hailey, and I were left alone, and it dawned on me that this was the first time I was in here without an Elemental Official.
“Are we supposed to be in here?” Hailey said to the pair of us, with a hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Cameron is an Elemental Official,” Phae said with a gesture in my direction. “What he says goes.”
“That’s not terrifying at all,” I said, the exasperation clear in my voice and on my face.
“And just think,” Hailey said with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You were thinking of leaving this semester. Now it looks like you’re here for a lifetime.”
“A lifetime?” I almost choked on the words.
“An Elemental Official is a lifetime position,” Hailey said. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or dismayed by the situation. I would have to ask her later when we were finally alone. “You’re in it for the long haul.”
“Great,” I said with a huff. Unthinkingly, I collapsed into the nearest chair. Both Phae and Hailey gasped at my motion and there was a moment of tense silence as we waited for the chair to explode like the other one had. After a heartbeat, nothing happened, and we all let out a collective sigh.
“We’re good,” I announced, letting myself lean back into the comfortable chair.
“For now,” Phae answered ominously.
4
I stuffed the Official sash into the top of my tall boots so that no one would ask me about it when I eventually walked out.
Phae didn’t leave the room with us. The goddess teleported herself out of the room, claiming that she had other godly duties to attend to. She offered me a hug and a brief word of encouragement before she left.
“You are stronger than you believe,” the goddess whispered in my ear. “You can handle this.”
“You making predictions now?” I joked with her, trying to keep the situation light.
“I’m no Oracle, you know that,” Phae said with a small smile. She put her hand on my shoulder and looked down into my eyes. “But I know you, and I’ve seen what you can do. Just get out of your own way and you’ll succeed.”
I appreciated her advice, but it also felt very fortune cookie like at the moment. We hugged each other once more before she transported herself out of sight.
When Hailey and I eventually left the Elemental Official’s boardroom, we were immediately bombarded by my friends demanding to know what happened. Hailey acted as my bodyguard and helped calm my friends down. We agreed to go back to my dorm room to discuss everything. Karen, my roommate and a daughter of Hermes, wasn’t scheduled to get back from Christmas break until later that evening so we still had some time.
However, before we could leave the building, a gruff voice interrupted us.
“Hailey,” the Stratego said, suddenly appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
Even though the son of Zeus called one name, all of us froze and spun, automatically snapping to attention. Hailey stepped forward with her hands behind her back and her chin raised.
“Yes, sir?” Hailey said, putting on her official voice.
“I need to speak with you for a moment,” the Stratego said as he passed by our group and walked back into the boardroom.
As Hailey followed after the Stratego, I stepped forward, wanting to make sure my girlfriend was okay. Hailey sensed my nearness and shot me a reassuring glance.
“Go on,” Hailey said with a nod. “I’ll meet you in your dorm.”
“Okay,” I whispered, feeling uneasy.
What could the Stratego possibly want with Hailey? What was so important that it required a private meeting? I tried to temper my worries, knowing that there were probably a lot of things that the Officials and the branch leaders had to prepare for to start the semester off right.
“Come on, Cam,” Jade tucked her arm around my waist and guided me forward, out onto the quad in the direction of my dorm.
Normally, we would go somewhere more private like Hailey’s small apartment rather than one of the student dorms, but I wanted to lay in my own bed for a while. Everyone could talk around me for all I cared, but I just needed a couple of minutes to process the last hour, which had been insane and life-altering in ways I’d never previously thought.
When I woke up this morning, I only hoped for Kari to be reinstated. But now, there were a whole other slew of problems I had to deal with. I had more gods asking me to make them things, and now I was an Elemental Official.
To say that I regretted the choice to sit in that chair would be a lie. I knew it was the only way that we were going to be able to get Kari back in the Military. We needed that final vote. That much was simple. However, I didn’t think about the consequences of that decision at the time. Now I was stuck as an Elemental Official for the rest of my life according to Hailey.
I never thought much about my future outside of the Academy. I figured I would still have a whole year to figure that out. I didn’t have a desire to be out on the front lines of the war. While my fighting improved over my years at the Academy, I didn't enjoy fighting as much as some of my fellow soldiers. I much preferred making the weapons they would use, rather than using them myself. Somewhere in my head, I thought I could just be the head blacksmith for the Military. That appealed to me.
The only thing I knew for certain about my future was that it included Hailey and my girlfriends. I refused to live without them. I knew it would be difficult to stay in touch with all my girlfriends once we all graduated and were stationed throughout the world. But these weren’t the kind of relationships to dissolve over time. We’d fought monsters, flew Pegasus together, and saved the Academy more than once. Not to mention the fact that Daniella even killed Hailey and me on purpose. If that wasn’t true love and trust, I didn’t know what was.
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br /> Then there was Hailey. While the daughter of Apollo had been my recruiter when I’d first met her, the chemistry between the pair of us had been there since day one. Hailey had the ability to go supernova with her fire powers, and I was the only person who could get close enough, due to my heat resistance, to calm her down. It had been years since it happened, as she had been working to get it better under control.
But that wasn’t the only way that Hailey was hot. She was insanely attractive with her dirty blonde hair and well crafted, toned body. She was independent but showed me her more feminine side in intimate moments. She could be tough, but on the inside she was sweet and believed in me. There was no competition between the two of us. We were always there to support one another, and I couldn’t ask for a better partner in this crazy adventure.
Almost as if I had conjured her, Hailey caught up with the group sooner than I expected. I paused and waited for her, enjoying the sight of her toned body jog along the dry grass.
“Hey,” I said with a smile, loving the way her body bounced beautifully as she ran.
“Hey,” she said, returning my smile with her own, but it didn’t reach all the way up to her eyes.
I cocked my head to the side. “What was all that about?”
“I’ll tell you later,” she said with a casual wave of her hand.
Something about her tone threw me off. It was trying too hard to be nonchalant, likes she was hiding something. I tapered down my suspicions, thinking that maybe it was something she didn’t want to talk about in front of everyone. Our friends could be pretty nosy.
So I reached out to take her hand, reassure her that I understood and I would let the matter drop for now. However, she surprised me by rejecting me. Well, she didn’t reject me outright. Hailey took it for a second and then squeezed it, which was a clear signal between the two of us for “Not right now”.
I dropped my hand and let it swing to my side, trying not to feel disappointed. I could have used her comfort right then, but maybe she had to process her own feelings first. I loved her enough to give her the space to do that. Plus, I was lucky enough to have other people to lean on at the moment.