Created by Chaos

by Melody Rose

  Phae’s eyebrows shot up, and she gripped her staff tighter. Ansel’s mouth fell open in surprise. The General’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 Moriai is one of the worst decisions that 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.”

  “Cheyenne,” 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?” Ansel asked.

  “Yes,” I said slowly, not having thought about that before now.

  “I get that you’re nervous,” Ansel said, coming to my defense. “But Shy, 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?”

  Silence met my question as my boyfriend 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 General, almost as a joke.

  “You got any ideas?” I scoffed, not really expecting him to jump in.

  “Unfortunately no,” the General 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 wood shop 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 General 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 Moriai 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?” Ansel asked, his eagerness coming through in the way he leaned against the table.

  As I watched him do that, I realized that I was still sitting atop the table. My butt started to get sore, so before I answered him, 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 Moriai 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.

  Ansel released a low whistle. “That’s quite the bargain.”

  “I didn’t know you were searching for him,” the General 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 General 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 General 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 General 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: Gi, Fotia, Aeras, and Nero.

  They symbolized Earth, Fire, Air, and Water branches. They drafted each student 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, my friends and I all got drafted in the middle of last year, though we were all in different branches. 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 General reached into the back, bypassing 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 General 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 Olympic Official, and that trumps your student status,” the General explained.

  I looked at the sash like a snake that might jump out and bite me. I didn’t take it right away. The General 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 Olympic Official. There was no turning back now.

  Then, the General 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 General 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 General was serious, then I would graduate from 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, Cheyenne, you have been an exception to the rules since you got here,” the General said. I couldn’t tell him from his flat tone if it was a compliment or an insult. Knowing our history, I figured it was the latter.

  Then the General left the board room unceremoniously. That left Phae, Ansel, and me alone, and it dawned on me that this was the first time I was in here without an Olympic Official.

  “Are we supposed to be in here?” Ansel said to the pair of us, with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

  “Cheyenne is an Olympic Official,” Phae said with a gesture in my direction. “What she says goes.”

  “That’s not terrifying at all,” I said, the exasperation clear in my voice and on my face.

  “And just think,” Ansel said with a smile playing at the corners of his 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 Olympic Official is a lifetime position,” Ansel said. I couldn’t tell if he was happy or dismayed by the situation. I would have to ask him 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 Ansel 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, right?” 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 Ansel and I eventually left the Olympic Official’s boardroom, my friends immediately bombarded us with questions, demanding to know what happened. Ansel acted as my bodyguard and helped calm my friends down. We agreed to go back to my dorm room to discuss everything. Janet, 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.

  “Ansel,” the General 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. Ansel stepped forward with his hands behind his back, and his chin raised.

  “Yes, sir?” Ansel said, putting on his official voice.

  “I need to speak with you for a moment,” the General said as he passed by our group and walked back into the boardroom.

  As Ansel followed after the General, I stepped forward, wanting to make sure my boyfriend was okay. Ansel sensed my nearness and shot me a reassuring glance.

  “Go on,” Ansel said with a nod. “I’ll meet you at your dorm.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, feeling uneasy.

  What could the General possibly want with Ansel? 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 to start the semester off right.

  “Come on, Shy.” Violet 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 Ansel’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 Esme reinstated. But now, there was 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 Olympic 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 Esme 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 Olympic Official for the rest of my life, according to Ansel.

  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 Ansel and my friends. I refused to live without them. I knew it would be difficult to stay in touch with my friends once we all graduated and were stationed throughout the world. But these weren’t the kind of friendships to dissolve over time. We’d fought monsters, flew pegusai together, and saved the Academy more than once. Not to mention the fact that Darren even killed Ansel and me on purpose. If that wasn’t true trust and friendship, I didn’t know what was.

  Then there was Ansel. While the son of Apollo had been my recruiter when I’d first met him, the chemistry between the pair of us had been there since day one. Ansel had the ability to go supernova with his fire powers, and I was the only person who could get close enough, due to my heat resistance, to calm him down. It had been years since it happened, as he had been working on getting it better under control.

  But that wasn’t the only way that Ansel was hot. He was insanely attractive with his dirty blonde hair and surfer’s body. He was strong, but not overbearing. While he looked like a typical macho male, he 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 him, Ansel caught up with the group sooner than I expected. I paused and waited for him, enjoying the sight of his toned body jog along the dry grass.

  “Hey,” I said with a smile, loving the way his hair flopped as he ran.

  “Hey,” he said, returning my smile with his own, but it didn’t reach all the way up to his eyes.

  I cocked my head to the side. “What was all that about?”

  “I’ll tell you later,” he said with a casual wave of his hand.

  Something about his tone threw me off. It was trying too hard to be nonchalant, like he was hiding something. I tapered down my suspicions, thinking that maybe it was something he didn’t want to talk about in front of everyone. Our friends could be pretty nosy.

  So I reached out to take his hand, reassure him that I understood, and I would let the matter drop for now. However, he surprised me by rejecting me. Well, he didn’t reject me outright. Ansel 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 his comfort right then, but maybe he had to process his own feelings first. I loved him enough to give him the space to do that. Plus, I was lucky enough to have other people to lean on at the moment.

  I was grateful that he did too because he sidestepped off the path onto the grass so he could walk alongside Esme. 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, Ansel and Esme had feelings for each other but just missed the mark. While I trusted Ansel, I knew that history was a powerful thing that he 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 knuckleheads behind me.

  Darren, Violet, and Benji chattered like little birds behind the pair of us. Ansel 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 back across the courtyard to the dorms. “Go on, you guys.”

  Immediately, my friends closed their mouths and looked at me with falsely innocent faces.

  “What are you talking about?” Benji asked with a shrug. He fiddled with his ball cap, adjusting it back on his head. The son of Demeter was a small teddy bear who was a big gossip and flirt. Though he loved his boyfriend Zach, another soldier and the leader of the Gi students at the Academy, the boy had his own level of charm. Unfortunately, I’d know him long enough to not have it work on me.

  I frowned at him. “Don’t bullshit me, Benji. You want to talk about the Fates and the whole Official thing.”

  “We can wait,” Darren said casually, waving his hand.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Violet looks like she’s about to pop like a balloon.”

  It was true. My petite friend held her hands in fists, and she puffed her pale cheeks out like a chipmunk. She had her own level of dramatic flair, and I knew she was trying to hold back her words physically. I gave her another thirty seconds before she burst.

  Benji elbowed Violet as a warning. But that only caused her to burst early. Her words flew out in a rush, like a rushing waterfall.

  “Holy Hermes, Cheyenne!” she exploded, her voice raising two octaves as she spoke. “That was amazing. But also terrifying. What are you doing to do now? What does this mean? Do you have to be an Olympic 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.”