Page 16 of Dark Gods
I winced, holding the phone away from my ear. "Okay, first of all, this morning has sucked enough without going half-deaf, and second of all, what the hell is going on? What does that flower mean?"
"It's not something I can explain over the phone," he said impatiently. I could hear noise behind him, like he was in a crowded classroom.
"Well, where can we meet?"
He hesitated a moment before answering, "The garden at noon."
"I have class," I protested.
"Skip it," was the last thing he said before he hung up. I stared down at my reflection in the black mirror of the phone screen. Looked like I was finally going to get my answer. I just hoped I was ready to deal.
6
As I waited for Dionysus in the garden’s courtyard, I couldn’t help but admire the great stone goddess who stood in the center of the fountain, her vase overflowing with cool water that poured into the basin. Being surrounded by hanging willows and thick shrubs taller than the titans themselves was the only thing capable of chipping away at my anxiety at all, but there was still plenty of it left.
I heard rustling up ahead and my racing heart settled with relief as I saw Dionysus walking toward me. He looked especially handsome in the school uniform, more boyish than beautiful today, even though he possessed an abundance of both qualities.
“Where is it?” were the first words out of his mouth.
It took me a second to realize what he meant, but I reached into my bag and pulled out the white rose I’d stashed in there without thinking. It should’ve been crushed by my books and all the other random shit that lived in there, but it was perfect. “You mean this?”
The look on his face said more than I wanted to know. He stared at the flower like it was a cursed object and just looking might be enough for it to rub off on him.
“Dionysus? Hello, anyone in there?”
He blinked back to reality and gave me a sympathetic look that bordered on pity. “That’s the White Rose,” he murmured. “It’s a mark.”
“A mark? A mark of what?”
“A mark of prey,” he answered in a grave tone. “It means you’re the new White Rabbit.”
I frowned, recalling the Valkyries’ strange words. “Okay, so what the hell is this White Rabbit and why does everyone at school suddenly have it out for me?”
“Because you’ve been marked,” he answered, seemingly oblivious to his circular logic.
“Yeah, you said that. The question is, marked as what?”
“The Triad’s target for this semester,” he answered. “Usually they don’t choose one until the end of the first week, but you certainly made an impression at the party last night.”
I grimaced. “I’ve been trying to apologize for that all morning, but Hades’ posse might as well be a ten-foot plated glass barrier. There’s no getting through.”
“An apology won’t help,” Dionysus said, holding my gaze. “Once you’re marked, there’s no getting out of it. You’ll be the Triad’s target, and the school’s by proxy, until another is chosen next semester.”
“Well, who was the last?”
He hesitated.
“Come on, Dionysus. If I’m going to be tormented for the next semester as some stupid preppy bully game, I’d at least like to know who I’m replacing. Unless…” I trailed off as another possibility occurred to me. “Holy shit, did--?”
“No. He’s alive,” he answered quickly. “But he transferred out in the middle of the semester, so the Triad is already hungry.”
“It got so bad he transferred?” I asked in disbelief. “What the hell did they do to him?”
Dionysus sighed, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. He patted the spot next to him and I did the same. “There’s something you need to understand about this school, Kore. The Olympic Games? They’re just the pretense. The sanctioned version of the sport that really runs this place, and has since it was founded. The Wild Hunt is a sport that everyone plays, whether they want to or not, and you’re either the predator or the prey.”
“What do you mean?” I asked warily. “It’s not just the Triad?”
“They’re the leaders of the Wild Hunt. Not the first, and they certainly won’t be the last,” he muttered darkly. “Anyone seen aiding and abetting the White Rabbit is part of the herd, and trust me, no one wants to be part of the herd. It makes you a target in your own right.”
