by Simon Archer
I was grateful that she did too because she sidestepped off the path onto the grass so she could walk alongside Kari. The two of them spoke in quiet tones. I looked at the two of them, unsure of how to feel. Before the whole Eris ordeal, Hailey and Kari had feelings for each other, but just missed the mark. While I trusted Hailey, I knew that history was a powerful thing that she and I were still building together. They had their summers spent at the demigod summer camps, their own four years at the Academy, and their time as soldiers together. I turned my attention away from them, deciding to let it be. I focused, instead, on the three other women behind me.
Daniella, Jade, and Bethany chattered like little birds behind the pair of us. Hailey told them that I needed my space for the moment, and they did their best to respect that, but knowing the three of them, they were still plotting, planning, and gossiping back there. It wasn’t mean spirited, they really were trying to help.
I sighed and spun on my heel so that I now walked backward across the courtyard to the dorms. “Go on, ladies.”
Immediately, my friends closed their mouths and looked at me with falsely innocent faces.
“What are you talking about?” Bethany asked with a shrug. She fiddled with her ponytail, tightening it with a sharp pull. The daughter of Demeter was a small teddy bear who was a big gossip and flirt.
I frowned at her. “Don’t bullshit me, Bethany. You want to talk about the Fates and the whole Official thing.”
“We can wait,” Daniella said casually waving her hand.
I narrowed my eyes. “Jade looks like she’s about to pop like a balloon.”
It was true. My petite friend held her hands in fists and her pale cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk. She had her own level of dramatic flare, and I knew she was trying to physically hold back her words. I gave her another thirty seconds before she burst.
Bethany elbowed Jade as a warning. But that only caused her to burst early. Her words flew out in a rush, like a rushing waterfall.
“Holy Hermes, Cameron!” she exploded, her voice raising two octaves as she spoke. “That was amazing. But also terrifying. What are you going to do now? What does this mean? Do you have to be an Elemental Official now? What does that entail? You must be the youngest one ever. I don’t think they’ve had a student be an Official at the same time. Is that even possible? How are you going to make that work?”
She took a deep breath before continuing. I thought about stopping her, but I figured it was better to let her get it all out now.
“What are the other students going to think? How are you going to be in classes with them but also be an Official? They’re definitely going to act differently around you. Do you have to sit at the Officials’ table in the cafeteria or can you still eat with us? Do you get to still work with Arges in the forge? This is going to change everything.”
“Tell me about it,” I grunted, finding a second to get a word in.
Jade surprised me by stopping my walking and gathering me in a big hug. Or as big of a hug as her small body could offer. I hugged her back and accepted the sympathy.
“Whatever it is, we’re going to figure it out,” she said into my shirt.
“Thanks, babe,” I said, grateful for her positivity.
Kari ventured over to us and coughed to get my attention. I looked over at the soldier and Jade released me. She bounced over to Hailey, her black pigtails waving as she walked. I smiled internally at the thought of her giving her the same verbal onslaught that she just gave me. I wondered how long her patience would hold out for Hebe’s daughter.
The daughter of Prometheus walked alongside me, shoulder to shoulder so she could speak quietly. “You’re an idiot, you know,” Kari said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m starting to realize that,” I agreed, not even finding a good argument against her accusation.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Kari said as she shook her head. “I’m not worth it.”
“Shut up, okay?” I said, trying to keep my voice playful but hoping she knew there was some seriousness behind my words. “What’s done is done. You’re back in the Military and I’m…” I stalled, unable to finish my sentence.
“An Elemental Official,” Kari did it for me. “See? You are an idiot.”
“Yeah, well, maybe something good will come of this,” I said with a shrug. “Who knows? Tyche might bless me with some luck and not much will change.”
“You’re wrong, Cam,” Kari said, and then she clicked her tongue. “Everything’s about to change.”
Little did I know how much she was right. I felt the effects of the sudden change immediately. Because when we reached my dorm and I opened the door, there was nothing inside.
“What the hell?” I balked as I walked into the empty living space.
All of my stuff was gone. My bed, dresser, clothes, weapons, tools, everything. There were still some communal things like the couch and coffee table. All of Karen’s furniture was there, but everything from my toothbrush to my spare pair of boots were absent.
The group wandered into the dorm and looked around blankly. They eventually stared at me as if I had the answer.
“After everything today, I have to go and get robbed too?” I threw my hands up in the air, completely exasperated. “I have to report this to the Officials.”
“You haven’t been robbed,” came a female voice from the doorway.
As one, our heads turned to see Jasmine leaning against the doorframe. Jasmine had the build of an Amazon woman, though she was the daughter of Apollo, not his twin Artemis. She looked like her half sister, Hailey, with the same colored hair and green eyes. Though instead of Hailey’s even tan, the sun kissed her with freckles all across her face. She was the youngest of all of the Elemental Officials in her mid-thirties. Except for me now, I supposed.
“You’re moving,” Jasmine answered as she waved me back out into the hallway. “Elemental Officials don’t live in the dorms.”
My mouth popped open like a broken latch. “I get an apartment? Like the soldiers?”
“Nope,” Jasmine said with a small shake of her head. “You get a house. Like the Officials.”
Bethany clapped a hand over her mouth to suppress her squeal, but we still heard the high-pitched exclamation. Daniella pumped her fist in the air while Jade rushed up to my side and wrapped her arms around me.
“Can we come with you to see it?” Jade begged. When I didn’t answer right away, she looked over at Jasmine. “We can come with him, right?”
“It’s his house,” Jasmine said with a shrug. “He can invite whoever he wants.”
“Holy shit,” Bethany muttered from behind her hand.
“I guess we’re going to see my house?” I said, my voice turning the statement into a question.
“Hell yeah, we are!” Bethany exclaimed, finally releasing her full excitement.
Jasmine led the way back out of the dorms and across the quad. Students were just filling in from Christmas break, getting ready for the new semester starting tomorrow. We made an odd group: an Elemental Official, four students, one soldier, and the rumored traitor. While we might have gotten Kari reinstated, the word of her return hadn’t been met with the most welcoming responses. We stood by her side the whole time, making us outcasts in our own right. If there wasn’t already enough gossip surrounding all of us, there were bound to be more once the school found out about my new status.
I winced internally and looked back for Hailey, thinking I could really use a word of encouragement from her. But she stayed at the back of the pack with Kari. They continued to whisper to each other, and I watched Hailey put her arm around her old friend, giving her the comforting hug that I so badly wanted.
I swallowed hard and focused on the fact that she would probably spend the night with me. We would talk then. There would always be time for the two of us.
Jasmine led us to the row of condos where the Academy teachers lived. At the end of the walk were th
e thirteen houses reserved for the Elemental Officials. I never ventured down this far, never needing to. They weren’t mansions, more like quaint cottages with personalities that reflected the gods that blessed them. I could pick out Rhys’s, daughter of Demeter, house with the luscious garden. Brea’s was also obvious with a wooden owl, a symbol of Athena, perched over the front door.
We came to the most modern of all of the homes. Whereas the others had more triangular frames, this one was boxy with high windows in the front with the curtains drawn. It was a two-story white marble with a black metal finish. The trim around the windows and door frame matched the color of the roof. Next to the door, where the house numbers normally would have been, was Hephaestus’s anvil.
I ran my hand over the symbol, feeling the grooves in the marble with my fingertips. Disbelief fell over me again, but it brought comfort to know that this was my father’s house and generations of his children had lived here. I would be joining the ranks of them, and for the first time since I took a seat in that chair, took up the mantle, I felt pride.
Then there was another thing that brought me comfort. I noticed that the metal lantern above the doorway flashed blue.
Instead of a lightbulb or an ordinary flame, the light within the lantern was a piece of the Eternal Flame. It was awesome to know that I had my own piece hanging right outside of my door, whenever I might need it.
I smiled at the sight of the Flame which danced in response to my presence.
As if all that wasn’t enough to convince me that this was my new home now, my two dogs, Khryseos and Argyreos stood on the front porch, waiting like the good dogs they were. They were large dobermans, built by my father originally out of gold and silver. But they were my guard dogs who had been gifted to me on my first day at the Academy. They were magical beings with their own tricks that I still hadn’t figured out completely. But at their core, they were still loving and happy pups.
I bent down to wrap the pair of them into a hug. They each licked the sides of my face in welcome. But they wouldn’t let me contain them for long. They stood up on all fours and barked, one at a time, indicating that I should open the door.
“Well,” Jasmine said as she placed the key in the palm of my hand. “Go on in and check out your house.”
I rubbed the key between my fingers, letting the metal sing to me. I felt the history of this home and how many demigods touched this key. Before the key could tell me its whole story, Bethany patted me on the shoulder excitedly.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go in!” she said with a squeeze.
I let them in, and we flooded the house. Everyone explored every corner. Kari, Daniella, and Bethany wandered around with wide eyes and mouths. Predictably, Jade ventured for the kitchen, being the excellent chef she was, and splayed herself out on the granite countertop.
“I’m never leaving,” she declared. She skipped around the kitchen, and explored all of the cabinets, crying out the name of specific pots and pans, most of them being cast iron, which didn’t surprise me.
I hung out in the doorway, admiring the spacious open living area, complete with a kitchen, living room, and dining room. There was a staircase leading to the second floor just off to the right. Everything was hardwood and fully furnished. It was cozy with dark wall colors and metal furniture, excluding the sofa and armchairs. It even had a brick fireplace, looking more like a pizza oven than anything else.
Khryseos and Argyreos pranced right in as if they owned the place. Immediately, they took to sniffing everything. They split off to inspect the whole house before finding the dog door and dashing out into the backyard.
Hailey stayed by my side, seeming to be in as much shock as me. “Damn, Cameron, you’re moving up in the world.”
“I didn’t… I never thought it would come with perks like this,” I gaped, unsure of what to say.
“You’re an Elemental Official now, what did you expect?” Hailey said as she put her hands in her pockets.
I turned to look at her with a curious expression. She said that last statement with a weird tone, one I’d never heard her use. It seemed… resentful?
Before I fully had a chance to decipher her words and body language, Bethany appeared seemingly out of nowhere and grabbed my hand. She dragged me forward, yanking me along.
“Cameron!” she exclaimed like someone who had just won the lottery. “You’ve got to see this.”
“Bethany--” I protested but my girlfriend didn’t let me finish.
“You’re got your own forge.”
“What?” I said, stunned.
My legs moved of their own accord. I lost control of my body as excitement pulsed through my veins. Daniella held open the glass sliding door that led out to the backyard. There was a shed-like structure, though it mimicked the design of the house. Jade was waiting at the entrance and I raced towards her, right through the open barn door.
Inside was a fully equipped forge. I’d worked in numerous smithies in my life by now, even one carved into an Italian cliffside. But this was the ideal size, unlike the Academy’s classroom forge which could accommodate multiple blacksmiths at once. This one had one forge, one workbench, a single set of tools. My tools.
I reached out and stroked the anvil, perfectly worn and ready to be used. My eyes wandered across the various metals, each of them singing to me. I saw potential in every single piece, already forming designs in my mind.
Despite the fact that I had been overwhelmed by the constant changes and wrestled with the foolishness of my decision, I couldn’t help myself. This forge might have made it all worth it. If this was one of the perks of being an Elemental Official, I could seriously get used to this.
5
“I think I could get used to this,” Bethany said as she lounged out on the couch, resting her feet in Daniella’s lap. The daughter of Asclepius shoved her girlfriend’s legs off and Bethany pouted dramatically.
We spent the evening in my new house. Jade cooked us a delicious dinner of pork chops and mashed potatoes with applesauce we could dip the pork chops in. She made a custom pear sauce for me because I was allergic to apples.
Our dishes were piled up in the sink, and we stretched out in the living room with the fire blazing. The January evening quickly turned cold, the dark clouds covering the stars and threatening snow. It was cozy and nice to just relax in this safe environment before classes started again tomorrow.
Jasmine explained that this was my house and no one could enter it without my explicit permission. There were magical wards to prevent break-ins and snoops. Not even other Officials had a right to enter my home, just like I couldn’t go into theirs without permission.
It was a level of privacy I couldn’t remember having in my entire life. Even before the Academy, when I lived with my mom, she had a habit of not knocking and just barging into my bedroom. Since then, I’d either lived with roommates or moved back in with my mom. Even when studying abroad in Italy, I shared the villa with Arges and Phae. I never imagined having a whole house to myself.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be that way for long. I imagined all my girls moving in here after I graduated at the end of this semester, and we could share it together. It was such a big space for one person to occupy all on their own. And we could definitely add elements to make it brighter for her, since I knew Hailey wasn’t a fan of the cave-like interior. She was the daughter of Apollo, after all. Sky and sun were her friends whereas I could spend the whole day inside, completely focused on forging and forgetting the outside world. Kari could be sitting at the table with Hailey as they went over maps where monsters were located. Jade was already in love with the kitchen and I was more than happy to give that space over to her to do what she wanted. I could see Daniella coming back from a long day in the hospital falling down in the chair by the fireplace as she talked about the cases that were stumping her. Bethany would be the one to remind us all to clean and to get some rest as she ranted about changes that the Military needed, ever
the activist. I could even picture Bella coming in with stories of monsters that she battled.
I curled up like a cat in the chair closest to the fire while Daniella, Bethany, and Jade took over the couch. Khryseos and Argyreos laid at my feet, sleeping contentedly on either side of me. Kari sat on the floor, leaning back on her hands, her face content for the first time in weeks. Hailey was in the other chair, across from me, resting her chin in her hand. It was so rewarding to see all of them splayed out and comfortable like this. It was a rare moment of peace for all of us.
“I’m going to be knocking on your door every single night,” Bethany announced as she tried to stretch her legs out on Jade’s lap this time. Unlike Daniella, she let Bethany stay and rested her hands on her shins, tucking her in closer to her.
“Not every night,” Daniella said with an eye roll. “You're just going to abandon Bella like that?”
“She’s got stationed off campus this semester,” Bethany said with a frown.
“Oh no, Bethany, I’m so sorry,” I said immediately, feeling for her loss, feeling a loss myself since Bella had been part of all of our relationships for the last few months as well. “When did this happen?”
“Over Christmas break,” my friend said with a sigh. “She came over and told me. We’re going to try the long-distance thing, I was supposed to tell the rest of you because she felt horrible about leaving without being able to say goodbye, but apparently she’s out somewhere in the Dakotas where the Symplegades appeared.”
“The what?” Jade asked with pinched eyebrows.
“The Symplegades were two huge rock monsters also known as the Clashing Rocks that cause earthquakes and tidal waves,” I answered automatically, my Oracle powers turning on instantly. “They were originally defeated by Jason and the Argonauts using a dove.”