Page 18 of Dark Gods
Her commanding tone left no room for hesitation, but it left no room for the other students to play odd one out either, so I was happy enough. I turned to the girl next to me and her wary gaze made it clear she wasn’t eager to pair off with the school pariah.
Before she could say as much, Ingrid came out of nowhere and shouldered her out of the way while Artemis’ back was turned, answering some guy’s question about a polearm. “Hey, Rabbit. Let’s buddy up. Unless you’re scared?”
Irritation simmered in my empty stomach. I was going to have to find time to visit the cafeteria on off hours, because dealing with the Valkyries without having any food in me was not going to work out long term.
I knew Ingrid was just trying to get a rise out of me, to force me to call for the teacher and make her give back her place in line, but screw it. If she wanted to fight dirty, I’d give her what she wanted.
“Rabbits have a lot of natural predators, but a rat isn’t one of them,” I shot back, pulling a short wooden blade from the rack. “Let’s go.”
Her expression mellowed to spite, but she pulled a long wooden spear from the rack and moved so swiftly I barely had time to dart back before she made a deadly jab with the pointed tip.
Next time, I was ready. I brought my blade up and struck the spear out of range, but she was fast. One shot after the other, I kept dancing back on the defense and those long limbs weren’t running out of stamina anytime soon.
She’d definitely chosen her weapon in accordance with mine. I couldn’t even get in close range to take a swing that wasn’t blocking her. Lesson learned. The other pairs were sparring, but it soon became apparent through sideways glances that ours was by far the most intensive match. If I didn’t find a way to start striking back soon, the whole school was going to see me get skewered by Viking Barbie, which was surely what she had planned.
Accidents happen and all that.
I finally saw my opening and I took it, hooking the very tip of my wooden blade underneath the notched hilt of her polearm saber. The wooden implement went flying from her grasp and I relished the look of surprise on her face as I moved in close enough to hold the edge of my sword to her throat.
“I believe that’s one for me?”
Her eyes narrowed and the ground trembled so violently beneath me that I had to stagger just to keep my balance. The fact that the spectators, who’d all ceased their own sparring matches to watch ours, were standing steady was proof it was a localized effect.
Holy shit. She could control earthquakes?
Just before I could find out the extent of my new enemy’s power, Artemis’ voice rang through the rumbling. “That’s enough!” she barked, blowing on a shrill whistle that made my ears burn. “No powers. Kore, Ingrid, walk it off. The rest of you, back to practice!”
With a glare that could’ve frozen lava, Ingrid turned and stalked off the stone platform of the gymnasium.
“You wanna tell me what that was all about?” Artemis asked, folding her arms as she stood before me.
I remembered what Dionysus had told me about the teachers all being complicit to one degree or another and put on a fake smile. I had the feeling I was going to get a lot of use out of it here. “Just a little friendly rivalry.”
She eyed me doubtfully, but I added, “About that training team. I’d like to join.”
That seemed to distract her. Her furrowed brow eased as she studied me. “Meet us here tomorrow night, then, but be warned. The training class doesn’t use wooden weapons.”
“Of course it doesn’t,” I muttered under my breath as she walked off to supervise the others.
If everyone in this school was determined to put a knife in my back, I figured I had better learn to wield a sword.
8
Ispent my second night at the Academy in my dorm room, and when Mom tried to call and ask how I was doing, I texted back that I was having dinner with friends. Lying to the Nymphs was a bit harder, but I’d put on a big show of being fine before I left so they wouldn’t worry about me. Admitting that everyone already hated me two days in and my fiancé was as big of an asshole as I’d always feared just felt like admitting defeat, so I texted them a few pics I’d snapped of the gardens and my lavish accommodations. They sent back pics of their shared dorm room.
What I wouldn’t have given for popcorn ceilings and wobbly bunk beds.
Sure, Olympus Academy was adorned in luxury from top to bottom, but the student body was rotten to the core and at the very pit of that rotten core were three bad seeds, one of whom I hadn’t even met. Not that it seemed to have stopped him from committing to make my life hell.
The most annoying part of it all was that Hades hadn’t even lifted a finger to do anything yet. He just relied on the influence of his adoring minions, and they did the dirty work for him.
I’d find a way to turn that against him soon enough, but for now, the plan was to keep my head down and learn as much as I could about how this school worked. I couldn’t very well use its machinations against him otherwise.
With nothing to do but study, I soon fell asleep with my political science book next to me and by the time I woke, the dim blue light of morning had arrived to alert me of a new day.
Wednesday wasn’t any better than Tuesday had been. This time, I got tripped in Runebinding and didn’t manage to catch myself before my books went everywhere. The professor did his best to silence the gale of laughter, but at least the class was probably the liveliest it had ever been.
By the time the next period came, I was looking forward to a much-needed break. The professor who led the Training class had been out for the last two days, but it seemed today just wasn’t my day. Not only was the Training room door open, but Thor was standing there in the middle of it, addressing a group of three. I recognized one of them as Daphne, the redhead from my dorm. She didn’t glare like the others, but I could tell she was wary of my presence. The other two were fraternal twins, a boy and a girl with the same ice white hair and eyes as black as coal. They looked me up and down with the same predatory intent I’d come to expect from other students.
