by Melody Rose
The one hope I did have about not hearing from her was that she had found out where her father was and got permission to go find him. If that were the case, then I knew she was close to ending this war for good, and we would have all the time in the world to be together.
However, that moment happened sooner than I thought it would. I woke up one spring morning, too late to get breakfast. It was unusual for me to sleep that late, so I dashed out of the barracks in the hope of snagging something quick to eat. For that reason, it also didn’t surprise me that none of my fellow soldiers were in the barracks when I woke up.
What did surprise me was the fact that most of them left. The base was almost deserted, with only a few remaining soldiers packing up the tents. Two were even lowering the flag.
As I watched the multicolored symbol descend the pole, I realized the removal of the flag could only mean one thing.
We were leaving.
I forgot all about trying to get some food and jogged over to the commanding officer’s tent, one of the few things still standing on base. I knocked on one of the wood stands, holding up the tent.
“Come in,” Officer Quinton permitted.
I entered the tent and saw that it, too, was mostly empty. The only thing left was a personal pack that no doubt belonged to the officer and two square crates.
“Good morning, Ansel,” Officer Quinton greeted me as he slung the pack on his back. “It’s good to see you’re alive. You missed the announcement at breakfast this morning.”
“This base’s been disbanded?” I asked, my voice coming out harsher than I wanted, because I hadn’t yet used it this morning.
“Indeed,” Officer Quinton confirmed. He straightened his back and adjusted the straps on his pack. “There is no more magical activity in the area, and so we are all being re-stationed. The first group of soldiers left just before sunrise, and everyone else is set to leave in the next hour. That includes you, soldier.”
I froze at the officer’s words as they took longer than normal to compute in my head. “There isn’t any more magical activity in the area? You’re sure, sir?”
“Absolutely sure,” the officer said with a definitive nod. “Your work with the spirits cleared the area and made way for us to help out in other areas of the war.” He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a pat. “Good work, soldier.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” I said, taking a step back out of Quinton’s reach. “There’s still four more spirits. They all travel together, and it wouldn’t make sense for us to leave without defeating them all.”
“We still might be able to defeat them, but it just won’t be here,” Officer Quinton said. He walked past me and out of the tent. I knew that in order to finish the conversation, I would have to follow him, so I did. I kept pace with him as he walked away from the deconstruction of the base and down the hill to the pegasus.
“But sir,” I protested. “Esme and I have spent months now studying their patterns. The daemon spirits stick together.”
“Maybe this time they split up,” Quinton said with a shrug. “The Military and I greatly appreciate all that you’ve done, Ansel, truly. However, there’s just nothing left for us to do here. We can’t wait around for something to happen when there are other battles to be fought.”
“Sir, I understand that--” I started, but the officer didn’t let me finish. He spun on his heel and looked me dead in the eye.
“This is an order, soldier,” Officer Quinton said, pulling rank on me for the first time since I’d arrived at this base. “We are to evacuate this base and move on to other assignments. Now I suggest you go and get your stuff and find a pegasus before you find yourself having to share with another soldier.”
Without another word, Officer Quinton dismissed me by turning his back on me and walking down the hill.
As much as I wanted to argue with the officer, he was my superior. Maybe I had gotten used to all of the power and freedom Esme and I had experienced over the last several weeks, but I knew that I still needed to do as I was told. It was the job of a soldier not to argue, not to ask questions.
Still, as I walked back to the barracks, something about the situation didn’t sit right with me. It anchored in my stomach like an acidic meal. I tried to clear my throat and ignore it, but the feeling nagged at my core.
I stuffed my bag with my clothing and assorted weapons, which I noted needed a shine and a sharpening. My mind was so focused on ignoring my gut feeling that something was off that I also ignored the person who walked into the barracks.
“Earth to Ansel,” Esme said as she suddenly waved a hand in my face.
Instinctively, I reached out and grabbed her wrist, spinning it so that the force would push her wrist back and break it if she moved.
“Whoa, hey, what the hell?” Esme cried. She stomped on my foot and got herself out of the hold. “What has gotten into you?” she barked when she took a step back and rubbed her wrist.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I was distracted, and you surprised me.”
“I should say so, holy Hermes,” she muttered to herself. “What was distracting you?”
“This whole relocating thing,” I said as I gestured around the barracks. “It doesn’t feel right.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Esme said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket. She slapped it a couple of times against her palm. “But there’s nothing that we can do. We have to go where they send us. We were just lucky enough to help while we were here.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“I heard it was somewhere north, like Maine area or something like that,” Esme said as she scratched the back of her neck, not quite sure. “But you know how this works. They never tell us the exact location, but the pegasus know.”
“Right, right,” I said under my breath.
Esme must have caught on to my dismay because she took a step forward and said, “Look, I know you probably wanted to go back to the Academy, and Maine is so not where the Academy is--”
“No kidding,” I said sarcastically.
“But hopefully this will cheer you up,” she said as she held out the piece of paper. “A letter came for you. I don’t think it’s from Cheyenne, but maybe Mac can tell you where she’s off to.”
I dropped my pack and snatched the letter from Esme so quickly that she chuckled at my enthusiasm. I tore open the envelope, and my eyes scanned over the words.
It didn’t take very long because it was short and to the point. But as soon as I deciphered Mac’s scrawl, I felt the blood drain out of my face.
“What is it?” Esme asked immediately, seeing my demeanor change.
“Something isn’t right,” I said, my thoughts coming too fast for me to voice them. “Mac said that Cheyenne is off finding Hephaestus.
“Well, that’s good?” Esme said, her voice turning the statement into a question.
“That’s not the weird part,” I said quickly. “He mentions that things are weird on campus and that the new branch leaders are changing a bunch of things, which makes him uncomfortable.”
Esme’s head jerked back in surprise. “New branch leaders? You mean those four creepy soldiers that took over when you all left?”
“Wait, you met them?” I balked. I held out the letter to her so she could read it. “The General told me that they needed to station all of the soldiers in the field. That they couldn’t spare anyone to be branch leaders on campus right now.”
Esme didn’t finish reading the letter. She let her arms drop to her sides as she stared at my worried face, her features moving to match my own.
“Something isn’t right,” she repeated, using the same ominous tone that I used only seconds ago.
“Esme…” I said as a new thought formed in my head, one that I didn’t even want to consider. “What did you mean when you said they were creepy?”
“I don’t know,” Esme considered
for a moment. “I just didn’t like the way they made me feel. It reminded me of…”
When she didn’t speak right away, I moved my hands in a circular motion and prompted her. “Reminded you of what?”
“How I felt in the Underworld,” Esme finished, her eyes flitting up to meet mine.
“No,” I said slowly. “It can’t be.”
“If it is, we need to get the Academy right away,” Esme finished for me.
“We’re going to have to steal the pegasus,” I concluded. “It’s the only way to get there as fast as possible.”
“Or we just tell Officer Quinton that we think the other four daemons spirits are at the Academy,” Esme concluded.
I pointed at her. “That sounds like a way better plan. Then I need to find Temperance.”
Esme cocked an eyebrow at me. “Temperance? Why?”
“Because I need to tell Cheyenne,” I said, my voice cracking at the sound of her name. I hadn’t spoken it in so long, and the thought bothered. I had to push back the wave of hurt and aching that welled up. I had a mission to complete, feelings be damned.
“And Temperance can help you with that how?” Esme wondered.
“I…” I stalled, not knowing if I should say anything to Esme in order to keep my promise to the other soldier.
“You know what, whatever, we don’t have time,” Esme said as she waved her hands in the air. “We have to get to Officer Quinton.”
I could have kissed her right then for not putting me in an awkward position, but I opted for running out of the barracks. “Also, if the officer doesn’t believe us, then we can steal the pegasus and get to campus ourselves to warn them.”
“I’m right behind you,” Esme said as the two of us took off out of the barrack tent and down the hill.
We had to deliver some new orders to the commanding officer. Either way, we were going to the Academy, either with an army of soldiers or as two traitors to the Military.
30
My dream transported me to the top of some snowy mountain. I didn’t feel the cold, but there was a flurry of snow falling from a gray sky. Around me, I could see the remnants of some sort of village or camp that used to be here. There were holes in the ground where posts would have gone, along with some left-over items like abandoned clothes and a couple of pots and pans. Whoever had been here looked like they had to get out in a hurry.
Something about the scene felt familiar to me, though I was certain I had never been here before. Other than the times I flew in Ansel’s chariot or on a pegasus, I was sure I had never been above three thousand feet. This mountain, however, stood up in the sky, seemingly so close that I could touch it if I just stretched upward.
Briefly, I wondered how my subconscious had formed this landscape when I saw the reason I was here. Temperance sat in the snow, leaning up against a wooden stake in the ground. She huddled against herself, little flakes of snow appearing on her shoulders as if she’d been there for a while.
This must have been one of Temperance’s dreamwalks. I’d experienced two of them in the past when I was in Italy, and my mom needed to get a message to me. Temperance appeared in my dreams and relayed a prophecy that my mom had. Both times in the dreamscape had taken place in my mom’s apartment, so I wondered why we were here, atop a mountain.
It had to be something important as I knew that Temperance, a daughter of Hypnos, used this power rarely. She didn’t bother telling the Olympic Officials about it because of the powerful nature. She didn’t want to abuse people’s privacy or be forced to attack them in her sleep. I always admired her choice to do that and kept her secret when she asked me to.
Flashes of worry flitted about my stomach, the kind of butterflies I didn’t want. I didn’t like the concerned expression on her face or the tightness of her posture.
“Temperance,” I called out, taking a couple of steps towards her.
“Cheyenne?” the Fotia soldier perked up at the sound of my voice. She lifted her head, saw me, and then scrambled to her feet. She ran right up to me and grabbed my arms. She was surprisingly solid, as if we were meeting in person and not in our dreams.
“You’re alive!” Temperance cried, tears springing to her eyes.
“Of course I am,” I answered, rather confused at this greeting. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I couldn’t get a hold of you,” Temperance said in a rush, her words straining at the edges, trying not to break. “For weeks, I tried and tried. But either you never fell asleep, or you were dead. Ansel made me keep trying because he said that if you were dead, he would know.”
“Hang on,” I said, stopping her while I squeezed her arm. “Ansel’s with you? And what do you mean weeks?”
Panic took hold of my mind as I thought back to the myths about Calypso’s island. Like the Lotus flower, Calypso’s island had the power to make people forget how much time had passed. Even though it seemed to only be a couple of hours for us, in the real world, we had missed much more time than we thought.
“Weeks, Cheyenne,” Temperance emphasized. “When we got back to campus, and you weren’t there, Ansel freaked out. He begged me to keep trying, so I reached out to you every night, even though in my heart, I thought you were gone.” She hung her head in shame. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you, Cheyenne. It’s just that I’m able to step into everyone’s dreams unless they’re dead or immortal. It just…”
“It’s okay,” I cut her off, doing my best to reassure her. “You didn’t know. We were on Calypso’s island. She has some protective barrier around it, and time doesn’t work the same there. You couldn’t have known.”
But as I said that, the words didn’t sound right to me. I raised an eyebrow and asked Temperance, “Why didn’t you ask anyone where we’d gone? I mean, it wasn’t exactly official what we did, but the Olympic Officials knew where we wanted to go. It wouldn’t have been hard to figure it out.”
“That’s the weirdest part,” Temperance said, her eyes growing wide with worry. “When we asked about you and your friends, no one seemed to remember you. It was like you had never existed.”
My mouth fell open. “It’s the branch leaders. It has to be.”
“Yeah, those fuckers,” Temperance said through clenched teeth. She stepped back, and her whole stance changed. “I have to tell you about them.”
“What is it?” I prompted, begging her to spill it all out.
“They’re not human,” Temperance began, shaking her head slowly. She crossed her arms over her chest, and her lip curled up into a snarl. “They’re the daemon spirits from Pandora’s box.”
The minute she spoke the words, my mind dipped into a tailspin. Information flashed across my mind’s eye, and I tried to process all of the incoming images at once.
“Eris’s children,” I deciphered. “They’re Eris’s children.”
“Yep,” Temperance confirmed. “We defeated most of them but couldn’t find the other four. And now we know that they were on campus this whole time.”
Guilt wracked through me as if I was being thrown in a blender. I couldn’t believe we left the campus in the hands of those bastards. We’d only been thinking about the mission ahead, focusing on the greater good. All the while, we were leaving the Academy at the mercy of some of the most dangerous beings in the Greek canon.
“Let me guess,” I said with a scoff. “The four are Ate, Algea, Neikea, and Horkos.”
Temperance’s blinked up at me in surprise. “Mischief, Pain, Arguments, and Lies. That’s right. How did you know that?”
“Their aliases were A.T., Gia, Nikita, and Horace when they posed as branch leaders,” I explained. My words tumbled out of my mouth as I was only coming to the conclusion while I spoke. “Horace said he was an excellent liar, and he made you believe lies about yourself. A.T. caused mischief in the library, while Nikita forced the Olympic Officials to argue incessantly. And then Algea must have been the one to force those waves of pain on us during that battle by the lake.”
“So, what now? How is campus right now? Is everything completely destroyed?”
“Not in the way you would think,” Temperance said as she raised her eyebrows suggestively.
“What do you mean?” I asked, worried to hear her answer.
“It’s like everything is normal,” she confessed, surprising me. “Things are business as usual. Students took their final exams, and they’re even going forward with graduation tomorrow.”
“What?” I balked, unsure if I heard her correctly. “Graduation is in the morning?”
“Yeah…” Temperance said slowly. “Why? Is that a problem?”
“The Fates told me that that I had to make the weapon before graduation or chaos was going to overthrow everything,” I said as I tugged at my hair.
I had expected to have more time, but now the deadline was right on top of us, only a couple of hours away, and I still had no clue how to finish, let alone start, the Ultimate Weapon. I shifted my thinking, trying to focus on processing all of Temperance’s information so I could get a full picture.
“What about Ansel and the other soldiers? They just went along with this business as usual shit?” I asked my comrade.
“Oh no,” Temperance assured me. “They tried to start a coup, and the Officials promptly threw them in jail.”
“That sounds like Ansel,” I grumbled.
“I have been hiding out, dreamwalking to escape being captured,” Temperance informed me. “I’m scared, though, that they’re going to find me any day now.”