by Melody Rose
“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” I said with a sigh. “Any of you want to ask your godly parents?”
“I wouldn’t even know how to get in touch with mine,” Violet said with a snort.
“Same,” Darren agreed as Benji rapidly shook his head to indicate his disapproval of that idea.
“Why don’t we just leave?” Violet suggested. “Let’s get off the island, and then we can form another game plan from there. There’s got to be a god that can help us.”
“Sorry to break it to you, Vi,” I said slowly, “but if you haven’t noticed, our boat isn’t going anywhere.” I pointed out over Darren’s shoulder, reminding them of our predicament.
“Right,” Violet said with a defeated sigh. “Fuck.”
“Fuck is right,” I agreed.
I leaned back and laid down flat in the sand, looking up at the stars. My three friends followed suit. For a moment, it felt as though we were back in middle school, at summer camp, learning about the constellations, rather than demigod students on the island of a crazy goddess after my father refused to help us and our only way home was stuck in a sea of ice.
I thought about the last several hours and how the interaction with Hephaestus had gone. I hadn’t realized how much I relied on the idea that he would help me just because I was his daughter. He’d never helped me, ever. None of our godly parents had. When had they ever stepped in to lend us a hand? The answer was never. Not at least in my time of being a demigod.
Hephaestus’s words kept running around in my head like horses on a track. The idea that the gods didn’t give two shits whether we lived or died was such a disturbing thought. Though, on the one hand, it made sense. Eris was willing to wage war because she hadn’t been invited to a graduation. That had wounded her pride, so she spent a hundred years plotting her revenge. The whole notion was absurd, but when one literally had all the time in the world, who was to say how they should use it?
It was a mentality I wasn’t ever going to understand. I had only one life, and I wanted to live it as well and as long as I possibly could. I wanted these memorable moments, like lying on a beach with my best friends. I wanted to see Ansel again and kiss him senseless. I wanted to walk my dogs around the lake and make more weapons, perfecting the craft. These were simple desires, but I had every right to them. I had a right to live the life I wanted.
Unfortunately, in order to do any of that, I needed to follow through on this stupid prophecy.
“Gods!” I exclaimed unexpectedly, even surprising myself. “Why do they have to make this so hard?”
“What do you mean?” came Darren’s voice, even though I couldn’t see him.
“With the prophecies and the riddles and the challenges,” I lamented. “I mean, we couldn’t just go and find Hephaestus. I had to make the tools, and in order to do that, I had to go to the stupid drama class, which was a disaster.”
“No kidding,” Benji said with a snort. There was a quick flash of sand as Darren nudged him with his leg.
“Then we had to solve the riddle, survive the library, survive the evil branch leaders, beat a Scylla, all to find out that Hephaestus is an asshole and we’re no better off than where we started,” I said as I sat up, the frustration forcing me to move. “It’s not fair.”
I knew I sounded like a petulant child, but I didn’t care. I was exhausted and wanted a nap and a juice box, just like a five-year-old.
Benji reached out and put something into my hand. For the briefest of moments, I thought it was a juice box. But when I looked down, it was a rock, a long flat oval shape.
“What’s this?” I asked, blinking up at him in confusion. Benji got to his feet and held out his hand.
“We’re going to throw some rocks,” Benji said definitively.
“Why?” I asked, drawing out the word into two syllables.
“Because it will help you release some of that anger,” the son of Demeter reasoned as he extended his hand further towards me, indicating that I should take it.
I eyed him warily. “Isn’t there some movie quote or something about there never being enough rocks?”
Benji rolled his eyes at me. “It’ll help. I promise.”
Violet and Darren also stood up, brushing themselves off so that soon I was the only one sitting. Reluctantly, I got to my feet and walked to the edge of the sand, right where the water touched the shore. My three friends stood behind me, each holding their own ammo to throw. But each of them waited for me to take the first shot.
I looked out onto the horizon, most of it ice. However, knowing my arm, I probably wouldn’t make it that far. Feeling like I fool, I leaned into Benji’s suggestion and hurled the rock as far as I could throw it. I even added in a ferocious grunt for good measure.
It landed in the water, just on the inside edge of the barrier, with a little plunk.
Something about the motion, the exclamation, and the effort satisfied a small part of me. I cocked my head to the side as I watched my three friends throw their rocks in, each of them making their own battle cries. Violet hollered like a Scottish warrior, a loud sound that I didn’t think could come from such a small human. Benji practically sang out a note, straining his vocal cords with the guttural noise. Darren growled like a bear before his rock just sort of fell out of his hand and landed closest to the shoreline.
There was a pause as the four of us waited for the next step. There was no sound save for our labored breathing and the crashing waves.
“I’m going to get another one,” I said, deciding for the group.
“Let’s do it!” Benji hollered as he jumped up into the air.
Soon, my friends and I were throwing rocks into the ocean. We were the only mortals on this island, and the two gods never came to bother us. We took ownership of the beach, hurtling all kinds of shit into it. Eventually, Darren abandoned the throwing, it wasn’t really his thing anyway, and became our perpetual supplier, getting each of us a pile of shit. Violet and Benji made a contest out of it, seeing who could throw them the farthest.
For a moment, we were just friends horsing around on a beach. We weren’t heroes tasked with saving the world. We grieved our pasts and enjoyed the present with laugher, some tears, and lots of rocks.
I continued the cathartic route, relinquishing my anger with each throw. To be honest, it did take quite a lot of rocks. The weight of the item, along with my exclamation, opened up something inside of me. I cracked and let the tears come when they needed to, let the laughs, and the anger. It was freeing to concentrate on one task at a time, one throw at a time.
I was so in the zone that I didn’t notice when I picked up the stick. Darren had already announced to us that he was running out of rocks without having to venture a half a mile down the beach. So I didn’t care about the change in item. It was still something to throw, something to channel my emotions into and release them into the ocean.
Only it wasn’t a stick that I released. It was a stick on fire.
Everything stopped as the four of us watched the line of flames arch through the air and land on the other side of the barrier, right on a piece of ice. We watched, dumbfounded as the fire stick melted a little circle into the ice. None of us spoke the entire time as the fire descended into the thick ice until it hit the water below and sizzled into steam.
The three soldiers turned to look at me with stunned expressions on their faces. I didn’t return their looks. Instead, I kept my eyes on my hands, ogling at what they had just accomplished.
“Uh, Cheyenne,” Benji ventured, always the one to break the awkward silences. “What just happened?”
“I’m not sure?” I said, the rising pitch in my voice turning the statement into a question.
“Did you just… make fire?” Violet checked, taking a tentative step in my direction. “With your bare hands?”
“I… I can’t do that,” I said as I shook my head, though my gaze never left my hands as though I expected them to explode at any second.
&nb
sp; “Uh, honey,” Violet said sympathetically. “You just did.”
“And you did before, right?” Darren stepped in. He held out his hand, a finger pointed at me. “When you were trying to make the tools with the traditional materials. The string and the wood caught fire when you touched them.”
“But that wasn’t… that wasn’t me,” I said, unable to process this newfound ability. “Like, I can just control flames. And only the Eternal Flame. I can’t create fire. That’s Ansel’s thing.”
“Maybe it’s your thing too,” Darren suggested. He held out another stick for me to take from him. “Try it again.”
“I don’t know how,” I protested, a weird wave of unease stirring my stomach uncomfortably.
“What were you thinking about when you threw the stick?” Darren prompted, keeping his voice calm like a teacher coaching a child through a hard math problem.
“I guess I was thinking about my dad and my anger at this whole situation,” I answered, though I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that that wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
Instead, Darren’s face brightened into a smile. “Channeling your emotions into your powers is very common for demigods. It’s what Benji uses, right?”
“That and I talk to the plants,” Benji said with a shrug. “But a little bit of emotion goes a long way.”
Darren held out the stick further, encouraging me to take it. “Try again.”
“Why?” I said with a shrug, still not taking the stick. “So I can burn down the whole island? As appealing as that is, we’re already in a war with another goddess. I don’t really want to start another one.”
“No,” Darren said with an exasperated sigh. “If you can use your fire and it’s hot enough, you can burn through the ice.” My friend gestured out to where our ship was still stuck in the frozen tundra.
My mouth curved into an “o” shape, and then it spread into a knowing smile. A sense of hope and accomplishment bloomed in my chest. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, a way out. All I had to do was channel my rage into a type of fire. I had a lot of rage that I could use.
I snagged the stick out of Darren’s hand and turned it this way and that. Violet clapped her hands, like a parent on the sidelines at a little league game.
“Come on, Shy, you got this!” she shouted like the supportive cheerleader she was.
It was easy to bring up pictures of my father and the way he disgustingly gnawed at the pig’s leg. How he spoke so crudely about my mother. It was such an insult, speaking about her like trash while she meant the world to me.
This time, I noticed the heat sizzling between my fingers. I had been so focused on other actions before now, that I didn’t notice the clear difference in my temperature as my inner fire bubbled at the surface, ready to break free.
I reeled back and threw the stick as far as I could manage, a bear’s roar exploding from my lips. Once again, the stick lit up like a flare and soared through the air. It landed only a few feet from the first one and proceeded to melt its own hole through the ice.
I looked over at my friends with a smirk on my face. “Let’s go. I’ve got some ice to melt.”
“Really?” Benji said after a pause. He cocked his head to the side. “That’s the catchphrase you’re going to go with?”
“I couldn’t think of anything else, okay?” I defended, feeling slightly deflated at his judgment. “Let’s just get the stuff and head out, okay?”
We layered up, gathered our supplies, and left on the beach. However, when Benji tried to push through the barrier, there was a loud smack as his forehead collided with the pink shield. He rubbed the wounded spot with his palm and squinted in disgust.
“I forgot the whole ‘this keeps people in’ thing,” Benji mourned, grimacing at his mistake.
“Great,” Violet said as she threw up her hands exasperatedly. “How are we going to get out of here now?”
“Try asking?” came a sweet voice from behind us, back on the beach.
The four of us whirled around to see Calypso standing on the shoreline. This time, she wore a sheer, flowing afghan which didn’t do much to cover her, but I had to give her credit for trying to be modest. She folded her hands across her chest and cocked her hip out, expectantly.
“You’re telling me you’re just going to let us leave?” I wondered, not bothering to hide my suspicion.
“I have no use for four demigods,” Calypso said with a single shoulder shrug. “I threatened you before because I wanted to protect my property, and I saw you as a danger to my island. But if you want to leave, good riddance.”
“He’s not your property,” I snapped, surprising both myself and the goddess.
“He might as well be,” Calypso said casually, my accusation not offending her in the slightest. “Hephaestus doesn’t want to leave, dear girl. I’m sorry he disappointed you, but you best get used to it when it comes to the gods. We are not your friends.”
“I don’t believe that,” I said. I paused to inhale some courage before speaking again. “I think that mortals and immortals have hurt one another for so long. There are millennia of broken trust there. We just have to work at rebuilding that trust.”
Calypso huffed so hard that her lips fluttered. “Keep dreaming, demigod. Keep dreaming.”
“I plan on it,” I said definitively before I turned my back on the goddess and took a chance to step beyond her barrier.
The climate shifted instantly, resorting back to the bitter cold that scraped along my intestines. My friends followed behind after having seen my successful attempt. We walked towards the Argo without once looking back at the island.
We boarded the ship, and Violet readied it for departure. Benji and I gathered flammable items for me to start a fire with. We made a circle around the boat, with enough space so that the ship itself didn’t catch on fire. Once we thought we had enough materials, Benji got back on the boat and back to safety. We tied a rope around my waist, and it was the boys’ job to haul me back up on deck once the fire was lit.
I stood with a pile of flammable items and a seemingly endless wasteland of ice. I had to carve out enough of a path to free the Argo so Violet could lower the boat into the water. I held a stick in one hand and a piece of cloth in the other.
I closed my eyes and gathered as much frustration as I could. I thought about the pressures of having to save the world and the lack of support I had from my father. A sense of despair washed over me, and I let it come. I allowed myself to fall into that well of hopelessness, only to find a fiery core of anger and determination at the bottom.
Once again, the hairs on my arms rose as the heat buzzed against my palms. Before I knew what was happening, the items I held burst into flames. As planned, I laid them both down. The flame took to the wood, cloth, and paper right away. Like a string of dynamite, the fire raced along the circle of materials, burning ice as it went.
Suddenly, I felt as though someone had hit me in the head with a hammer. Exhaustion overwhelmed me, and I almost passed out on the ice. The energy that it took to create that hot of a fire wiped me out. I noted that I would have to be careful about how much internal fuel I used in the future. This ability wasn’t going to be like the others that were innate and second nature to me. This power required a piece of myself every time I used it.
Luckily, Benji and Darren hauled me up as promised, and it wasn’t until I had both feet on deck that I let myself collapse into a state of unconsciousness.
29
Ansel
The next several weeks were some of the hardest I ever experienced as a soldier. In the past, I fought monsters of all kinds: chimera, gorgons, griffins, scylla, and everything in between. However, nothing tested me like the daemon spirit children of the goddess of chaos.
None of it happened immediately either. Each spirit took weeks to appear fully. One would assume that after we managed to put away two of the spirits that they would back off. But it was as though each of them wanted to see i
f they could succeed where their brothers and sisters had failed. One by one, they attacked our comrades mentally.
When we got word of murderous plans from some of the Aeras soldiers against the Nero barracks, we knew it was Phonoi. The same went for Androctaslae when there was talk of brutal violence amongst the soldiers.
The hardest two were Ponos and Limos, who struck together. The spirits of hardship and starvation made our lives a living hell for two weeks as they rid us of our appetites and made every task all that more difficult. Even Esme and I struggled with the effects of their powers. We struggled to eat even though there was food right in front of us. Getting out of bed took the effort of moving a stubborn elephant.
It didn’t help that Ponos and Limos hovered just above the base, rather than stalking among us like their siblings did. It took some time, but Esme and I were able to trap their asses right out of the sky with a little help from our Aeras friends. Each time we defeated a daemon spirit, I had to tap into my supernova powers. It was a scary proposition, but I managed to calm myself down every single time. It was the kind of practice I wish I had before so I could learn the full effects of this ability.
I rarely kept track of the days because they were filled with strategy meetings and training sessions so that we could be as ready as possible for these new threats. However, the end of the semester came quicker than I anticipated.
I still hadn’t heard word from Cheyenne. While the weather had warmed enough to send regular mail back and forth, she didn’t return a single one of my letters. Neither did any of her friends when I finally gave in and wrote to them.
As a last resort, I decided to send a letter to both Mac and Arges, hoping that one of them would be able to tell me if Cheyenne was okay. I knew that the Academy was up and running because other soldiers were getting letters from students, siblings and lovers alike.
I did my best to not let her silence bother me, but I would have been lying if I said it didn’t. I trusted Cheyenne with my life more than once and would do it over and over again. But didn’t she miss me as much as I missed her? I wanted to know how it was going, if she managed to make the tools or not.