by Melody Rose
I pressed my face up to the door like a puppy waiting for their kiddo to get home from school. I watched him walk down the line of houses, back towards the quad where he and a series of remaining soldiers would take an army of pegasus out to their undisclosed location.
When I couldn’t see him any longer, I stared at his footprints for a while. I thought about the man I loved going off to war, and the air caught in my throat. With a series of scolding thoughts, I told myself to knock it off. I’d seen Ansel in combat, fought alongside him. He would survive. Not only that, but he would also thrive being the warrior he was.
And if I wanted to see him again, I had my own mission to accomplish.
My eyes flitted up to the Eternal Flame in the lantern above my door. I coaxed it down, out of its cage. It gleefully hovered over my palm. I took the element inside and let it fly into my fireplace, where the Flame knew exactly what to do. It consumed the wood in a single giant gulp and glowed the bright baby blue that was oh so familiar to me.
Seeming to know that I needed space, Khryseos and Argyreos stepped back out of the room and scampered out to the backyard. I eyed them wearily.
“Thanks for the support, guys,” I grumbled before I turned back to the fireplace.
I wasn’t quite sure how to talk to the Moriai, so I acted like the Eternal Flame was my operator and asked it to connect me with the goddesses. Suddenly, their voices spoke out of the flame, which turned a shimmering gold color.
“I knew you would accept,” Clotho said first, not bothering with a typical greeting.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling,” I replied as I smacked my lips together.
“Why don’t you come back to the Cave so we can have a proper consultation of what we want?” Clotho said with a false sweetness that I could sense even without seeing her face.
“Actually, I don’t have a lot of time,” I said, jerking my thumb behind me as if I had to catch a cab. “I have to get to another meeting with the--”
“You get one chance at this, Cheyenne,” the older goddess warned. “You wouldn’t want to displease us, would you?”
I held back a groan. “Of course not.”
“Then by all means,” Clotho said, resuming that sickly sweet tone. “Come on over.”
After figuring out that I had to crawl into the Flame in my fireplace, I popped out on the other side back in the Cave of Eileithyia. I sat down with each of the three Moriai, one by one. Clotho, of course, had to go first.
“I need it to be golden,” she demanded. “I refuse to have any other color aside from gold.”
“Please don’t ask me to make it out of straw,” I joked.
“Straw is the wrong color, too pale,” Clotho said as she waved her hand dismissively. “Maybe silver, if I really felt like a change. But it better be just as beautiful as gold.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as she missed my fairy tale joke about Rumplestiltskin, but I should have known better than try to reference European folklore with a goddess. So I smiled politely and promised the older sister her gold string.
Lachesis was much more particular and opinionated than her older sister. “It needs to be perfect,” she emphasized. “I don’t want a single bump or knot in the rod. It needs to be smooth and fit right in my hand.”
I asked to see her hand and did my best to measure out the right size without any tools to assist me. Lachesis also demanded that it be an exact eleven and three-quarters of an inch.
“No more, no less,” she warned, holding up a single finger. “I will know if it’s wrong.”
“Got it,” I gulped. While I wanted to ask why such a random length, I wanted to be done with the conversation way more.
Atropos, surprisingly, was the most casual of the three. With her violent temperament that I witnessed the day before, I thought for sure that she would have the most specifications.
“It’s just a pair of scissors,” the goddess said with a shrug. She examined her nails, painted the same ebony color as her eyes. “Make sure they’re sharp, and I’m good to go.”
“So, I could make them bright purple, and you won’t care?” I double-checked.
“Oh no, I’ll care,” Atropos said sternly, without looking at me. “And I’ll reject them if I don’t like them.”
“But you’re not doing to tell me what you want?” I wondered, trying to ask the question gently.
“You should just know,” the goddess answered as if this was the most obvious answer in the world.
So much for casual.
After I talked to each of the women individually, I asked a final question of all three. “So, do you have some kind of deadline for these? Like, when do you want them by?”
“We have all the time in the world,” Clotho said with a small shrug.
“But you don’t,” Lachesis said while her eyes flashed in warning. Even though there was no discernible difference between her irises and pupils, I swore I could see the shimmer of crazy that lay beyond those black orbs.
With a gulp, I looked away from the middle goddess and tried to plaster a brave smile on my face. “Right, I get that, so if you don’t have a preference, then I will just get them to you as soon as possible.”
“You’re the one who is going to have a preference on time,” Atropos said ominously. She stretched out on the floor, kicking off her high heels and letting her feet warm up by the fire.
“Oh, am I?” I asked, sensing that the three of them were being purposefully obtuse. Due to my emotional morning, I wasn’t really in the mood to play games. But I tried to restrain some of my frustration, reminding myself of the power these immortal women held.
“Do any of you care to share what that preference might be with me?” I wondered, trying too hard to keep my voice casual that it ended up cracking on the final word. I coughed and corrected myself. “I mean, this is supposed to be mutually beneficial, isn’t it?”
Clotho clicked her tongue. “Chaos is brewing, daughter of Hephaestus. But you knew that already.”
“I had an inkling,” I said stonily.
“Chaos is impatient,” Lachesis added, finishing where her sister left off. “It can start small and build or come crashing down all at once. Boom!” The middle goddess threw her hands into the air, and her voice rocketed off the walls. Dust exploded from the nearby curtains, and the flames in the campfire trembled.
I couldn’t help myself. I jumped back from the sudden exclamation and took several large steps away from Lachesis, who looked like a lion ready to devour me.
“Why can’t the gods just give it to me straight?” I said exasperatedly. “I mean, I get that it’s your job to be cryptic and all, but between you, Hades, Eros, the riddles, and prophecies, I wish I took more logic classes in high school.”
Atropos burst out laughing. It sounded like multiple sets of china falling from a cabinet and crashing. I jerked from that noise too, realizing that maybe they all were insane, not just Lachesis. To their credit, who wouldn’t be batshit crazy after spending millennia in a cave with only their sisters for company?
“I like this demigod,” the younger sister said as she jerked her thumb towards me, speaking directly to the other immortals. “She’s got balls.”
“More than Odysseus had,” Clotho scoffed.
“How do you know about Odysseus’s balls?” Lachesis hissed.
She said it, not me, I comforted myself because I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t thinking the same thing.
“None of your business,” Clotho snapped at her younger sister. Lachesis responded by spitting like a wet cat. The two of them proceeded to shout insults at one another.
I sidestepped out of the line of fire and looked to Atropos for help. “So, as soon as possible, then?”
“If you want to have enough time to find your father, make the Ultimate Weapon, and save your love, then you’re going to need to make our tools before the snow melts,” Atropos said as she tapped her pointed nails on the floor.
I blinked back my surprise. “Before the snow melts?”
“That’s as clear as I’m going to get, daughter of Hephaestus,” Atropos said with a glare.
“I appreciate it,” I said, pushing as much sincerity in my voice as I could.
Atropos waved her hand, clearly dismissing me. “Take your gift and leave.”
“Thank you,” I said hastily before I spun on my heel, leaving the hostile Fates in disarray.
I left the Cave of Eileithyia, feeling more dismayed than I had the day before. The more I thought about creating the three tools for the Fates, the more impossible it seemed. Before I even had a second to process all of the information I just gained or come up with any sort of game plan, there was a knock at my front door.
7
I paused for a second, wondering who the hell was bothering me at this early hour. At first, I thought it would be one of my friends, like Benji, making good on their promise to be over all the time. I opened the door to my surprise, found a panicked Annika on the other side.
“Oh thank the gods, you’re awake!” Annika bounced from foot to foot on the porch. “Can I come in?”
“Uh… sure, I guess,” I answered, opening the screen door for her. The daughter of Apollo dashed into the room and started talking immediately.
“I was supposed to tell you last night, but I forgot,” Annika said in a rush. “We have to get you ready for the Official procession.”
“I have to do that?” I wondered, not sure I was hearing her right.
“It’s the beginning of the semester, and all Officials have to do it,” Annika said as her eyes roamed around the house. “Where’s your sash?”
“My Official one?” I thought about where I tossed that the night before when Ansel had been removing all of my clothes. “Probably my bedroom but--”
Before I could finish, the Official dashed up the stairs and bolted for my room, taking them two at a time. I sighed, resigned to the fact that I didn’t have a choice in this matter. I thought I would have time to hide the fact that I was an Olympic Official from the rest of the student body, but I forgot about the introductions.
They happened at the beginning of every semester. It was also one of the opportunities for the branches to recruit second-years. It was normally a cool thing, a celebration for the hard-working students to take the next step in the Academy. But it also meant that I had to stand up in front of the whole school as the Official representing Hephaestus.
Suddenly, I was really grateful that I hadn’t had any breakfast yet because I wasn’t sure I could keep it down just then.
Annika returned with my sash in her hand. She threw it at me, and I caught it haphazardly.
“Put that on as we walk,” Annika commanded. “We’re already late.”
“Great,” I muttered to myself as I slipped the sash on over my head as I walked out of the door.
Luckily, Annika and I were the same height, so my long legs could keep up with her brisk pace. There was a light brush of snow on the ground from the night before, though the pathways were clear. I knew that was the work of the nymphs who agreed to help with campus maintenance for their stay on campus. It was part of the deal Oliver negotiated with the Olympic Officials.
Seeing the cleared cobblestone made me think of the fact that I had to see Oliver this morning too. I cursed myself for not making more time to get everything done before having to see the General after this stupid ceremony.
I kept my breathing in check and focused on the task at hand. As much as I wanted to believe I could do more than one thing at a time, I knew that was impossible. I had to take it one step at a time, and right now, the step in front of me was presenting myself as an Olympic Official to the entire Academy.
I stopped in my tracks. Fear glued my feet to the ground when the cafeteria building came into view. It took Annika a few seconds to realize that I wasn’t right behind her. She waved her hand for me to follow. “Come on, Cheyenne.”
When I didn’t move right away, the daughter of Apollo jogged back up to me. “You have to move. Now.”
“I can’t do it,” I said, my mouth barely opening enough to push out the words. “I can’t do this.”
“You have to,” Annika said sharply. “You chose this when you sat in the chair. Now come on.”
“Why did you do it?” I asked suddenly, surprising myself and her. “Why did you take up the mantle?”
“We don’t have time for this,” Annika said as she shook her head.
“Please,” I begged. “Please, just tell me, and I’ll move, I promise.”
Annika sighed, her breath visible in the cold air. It swirled around her and fully disappeared before she talked again.
“I wasn’t originally their first choice,” Annika said as she wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb. She played with her bottom lip nervously before she caught herself and dropped the habit. “I had a twin sister, and she was supposed to be the Official.”
“Seriously?” I asked, but Annika shot me a look telling me to shut up and let her finish. I did as I was told, knowing that we were already short on time.
“Apollo’s Official was training her, grooming her for the role. They went out in the field and got killed by a scylla that they didn’t know was there,” Annika said through a tight throat. I couldn’t tell if she was emotional or if it was the dry air that was doing that to her voice. “News got back to us about their deaths, and I, like you, made the rash decision to take up the mantle. I did it in her memory, but I didn’t realize the weight of my choice either.”
The Official turned to me and put her hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye directly. “I know that you did the same thing for your friend. And I’m not going to let you drown in this, okay? I promise to help, not just because you were foolish like me but also because I like Ansel like a real brother. In my eyes, that makes us allies.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t really understand, and her story hadn’t made the fear go away completely. But my legs thawed somewhat, enough to move.
“I’m sorry, for what it’s worth,” Annika said, the corners of her mouth turning down in a frown. “I heard he and the rest of the soldiers got deployed.”
“Thanks,” I said grimly, giving her a clear indication that I didn’t really want to talk about it.
The Official picked up on my hint and shut her mouth. I pushed my way forward, keeping pace with Annika. Neither of us spoke another word when we approached the rest of the Olympic Officials standing outside of the cafeteria. Tené and Fiona gave me welcoming nods as we passed, but others like Egan and Clarissa didn’t bother to acknowledge me. I had the overwhelming feeling that I was the nerd that had invaded the cool kids’ table in high school.
Despite their belittling glances, I straightened my shoulders and adjusted my Official sash on my shoulder. I inhaled as much confidence as I could muster, knowing that I was about to put myself on display in front of the Academy in ways I never had before.
“Nice of you to join us, Cheyenne,” the General said, a growl tucked behind his words.
“Happy to be here,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. All I could think to do was fake it till I made it. Maybe after enough practice playing the game, I would finally get good at it.
“After the meal, I expect you to meet me in my office to go over the expectations,” the General reminded me as he straightened the sleeves on his shirt, fiddling with the lightning bolt cufflinks.
“It’s on my calendar.” I smiled, stretching my cheeks to their limits, sure that I looked like a demented clown.
The General didn’t acknowledge me again. Once he decided that his clothes were ready to go, he signaled up to the four soldiers at the front on the procession.
“On my signal,” he hollered up to them with his hand raised.
In unison, the line of Officials, soldiers, and teachers stood at attention. It was a well-oiled machine, years of training snapping into place with a single motion. After a h
eartbeat, the General lowered his hand, and the doors to the cafeteria opened up.
Even though I had seen this processional at the start of every semester, except for my first one where I had come late, it always surprised me. The routine never changed, but I couldn’t shake the sense of pride I felt when I saw the four flags representing the four branches of the Olympic Military. The flags matched the colors of the branches, and each held a symbol. It was the same symbol stitched on to the graduated soldiers’ sashes. There was a triangular flame for Fotia, a spiraling circle for Aeras, a teardrop for Nero, and a single mountain top for Gi. They paraded into the cafeteria while the students sat in silence.
After the flags, all the professors entered in a single file line. This year, Arges joined the group. My cyclops mentor had taken the place of Ruby, the former ferrier and blacksmith teacher. His large body lumbered along, forcing the rest of us to walk a little slower to keep in time with the tempo change. I couldn’t help chuckling at myself a little bit because I knew how much Arges would hate everyone staring at him, considering he was the only non-human mentor. Well, save for Glaux, who could transform into an owl at will, but that didn’t really count.
The leaders of each of the branches fell into line next. I realized quickly, however, that Zach wasn’t the only one to be deployed. The Nero leader, Kiley, and the Aeras leader, Samson, were no longer there. Four new faces stood in line, wearing the appropriate sashes to match their branches.
The Aeras branch leader was a shorter male, almost as short as Benji, which was saying something. He had a glint in his blue eyes that looked like mischief lingered behind them. His mouth, narrow and sharp, always looked to be perked into a smile.
The Gi leader was a lithe woman who moved with the grace of a willow branch. Her brown skin shimmered off even the fluorescent bulbs in the cafeteria, giving her an angel-like aura, but she never smiled. There wasn’t an ounce of warmth emanating off her.