Page 28 of Dark Gods
"Good to know," I snorted, taking down notes on the behavior of the latest tincture. "I'm sure I'm the only girl in school who hasn’t screwed him."
"Which makes you the only girl in school he's interested in," she said with a hint of bitterness that quickly vanished.
"Interested in torturing, maybe. In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of public enemy number one thanks to him."
"Well, you did smack him in front of an entire party," she reasoned. "Whydidyou do that, anyway?"
I sighed. I wasn't about to let out the truth that could incriminate my mother, however bullshit it was. Well, Ihopedit was bullshit. The idea that she'd kept so much about my father from me was one thing, but the possibility that she'd lied to me about his entire identity? That was way too much to handle, and it wasn't like I could come out and ask her for clarification.
The truth was, Hades' words were at least part of the reason I'd been avoiding having a heart-to-heart with her. I'd rather live in ignorance than have that conversation, especially when I was living a nightmare because I'd tried to defend her honor.
"He was just being an asshole, and I'm not the type who rolls over and takes that," I answered. It was the truth, even if it was lacking a few important bits.
She considered my words and seemed to buy the explanation. "Well, I hope it was worth it."
"It was," I muttered.
After everything that had happened and everything I knew was still ahead of me, it was the truth. The only thing sweeter than that moment of comeuppance was going to be displacing the dark god from his throne once and for all.
14
Kore
My second week at the Academy flew by, mostly because there was nothing notable about it to mark the passage of time. I still got the cold shoulder and the odd shove in the hall, but I'd grown used to that. My third week was almost blissfully uneventful, and the only downside was that I was starting to getusedto not existing.
It seemed like shunning had become the Hunt's go-to method of torment, since Helle and Phrixus had been temporarily suspended for the more hands-on approach. For all I knew, they were expelled, but when I showed up to training class Monday afternoon of week three and found them waiting alongside Daphne, I knew otherwise.
"Look who's back. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dipshit," I said, folding my arms.
Helle shot me a look that could melt steel, but Phrixus was on his phone, either oblivious to the world around him or pretending to be. I'd never forgotten what Daphne had told me about their fling with Loki, but now that they were back and still as aggro as ever, I was somewhat less on the fence about using it.
Daphne gave me a knowing look, but said nothing. I'd gotten used to being one of the only two in class, and we actually made a half-decent team together. We'd been able to progress through the first two weeks worth of training sims, but I suspected that progress was going to slow down.
"Good, everyone's here already," Thor announced, striding into the room, late as usual. I'd wondered what had made him miss the first couple of classes, but at this point, I was pretty sure he'd just been nursing a hangover. Considering that he was wearing sunglasses indoors, I'd say he had another one to contend with after the weekend.
"Helle, Phrix, welcome back," he said, nodding to them both.
"It's Phrixus," the young god muttered.
Thor ignored him. "Today, we're going to be doing something a little bit different. Two-on-two combat in a high-stakes scenario."
The twins looked at each other with a malevolent grin that was far from comforting.
"If you choose to compete in the Games, you'll be battling not only your opponents but the arena," Thor continued. "Now, considering that Helle and Phrix have been absent for a week, they'll be at a disadvantage, so I'm going to split them up. Helle and Daphne, you'll be team one and Kore and Phrix will be team two."
"What?" Helle blurted out. "You can't be serious!"
"I'm not fighting on the Rabbit's side," Phrixus protested.
His sister shot him a dirty glare. The Wild Hunt was the school's worst-kept secret, and even though I hadn't been given the rules from a participant's point of view, I'd gathered that mentioning the game or any of its facets around a teacher was a no-no.
Thor looked slightly uncomfortable, which just confirmed he knew as much as I already suspected, but he moved on quickly enough. "You're going to be fighting in a world-breaking simulation, so keep your wits about you and choose your weapons wisely," he said, gesturing to the rack of weapons across the room.
I wanted to ask what the hell a world-breaking simulation was supposed to be, but the twins were already descending on the weapons rack and I knew I had to choose fast. I grabbed the short sword I'd been training with under Artemis' guidance, and found myself wishing Thor believed in wooden weapons.
"Halcyon, load sim sixty-three."
As the grid disappeared and the room changed around us, I drew my blade and stood a safe distance away from Phrixus as Daphne and Helle grudgingly prepared themselves. We were surrounded by blood-red cliffs on all sides, standing in a circular arena about thirty feet in circumference. It wasn't exactly the Ritz Carlton, but compared to some of the other simulations we'd run, it didn't seem all that brutal.
