Page 29 of Dark Gods
"Ready, set... begin!" Thor bellowed from his perch on a rock far above us.
Before I could even move, the ground beneath us began to quake. At first, I thought it was one of the twins, but Phrixus seemed as bewildered as I was and I already knew Helle's power well enough.
When the ground split between us, revealing a well of roiling magma underneath, and spiderweb cracks started to form all across the surface of the arena, I realized the simulation was aptly named.
“Holy shit!” Daphne cried as the ground between her and Helle split open, unleashing a hellish plume of smoke that smelled like ass.
“Get a move on!” Thor called, tapping an invisible watch on his wrist. “Losing team gets kitchen duty! One step outside the arena means immediate disqualification.”
Helle didn’t need much more convincing. She drew her butterfly sword and leaped across the flaming pit between us. I barely managed to block her first blow and the flurry that came after it. Phrixus stood by idly, and only moved to get involved when he had to defend himself from Daphne’s spear.
As Helle’s furious slashing pushed me further toward the arena’s edge, I was starting to get the feeling that she held a grudge for her suspension. At least her aggressive onslaught meant it was only a matter of time before there was a weakness in her defense. For all her viciousness, she wasn’t nearly as strong of an opponent as Ingrid. I saw an opening and I struck, slicing through the side of her blouse. Her eyes narrowed in rage as blood hit the air, but I went on the offensive, not about to be cornered again.
She parried my next blow and leaped back over the cliff. She was petite as it was, but she practically floated, giving me a clue that her true ability had something to do with affected gravity. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.
To my right, I could see Daphne gaining ground on Phrixus, who was struggling just to fend off her advances. He’d chosen the biggest sword on the rack, of course, which was way out of his comfort zone. He wasn’t big or fast enough to use it effectively, and all it did was make his movements sluggish. He seemed oblivious to the fact that she was backing him toward a newly opened crevice in the earth, and if I didn’t intervene, we were going to spend the rest of the night scrubbing pots and pans.
“Hey!” Helle cried as I leaped out of her path and grabbed her brother by the back of his blazer. I managed to pull him out of the way just in time, and as we slid to the earth a safe distance from any magma, Daphne’s blade pierced the earth where he’d been a second before.
“You saved me,” Phrixus said, wide-eyed and dismayed as he stared up at me.
I planted my blade in the ground as a crutch and stood, ready to face off against his sister, who was already coming at me. “Just watch your ass,” I growled before blocking her next strike. Now I was back on the defensive, and both she and Daphne were coming at me.
Daphne took a swing and even though I blocked it, the force threw me back. It wasn’t enough to push me out of the arena, but it did have me on trajectory for the bubbling magma crevice a few feet away.
As I prepared for impact, the blazing heat behind me suddenly dulled and by the time I hit what should have been a pit filled with magma, the surface beneath me was soft and barely warm. I looked down in confusion and realized there was a strange plastic-like film coating the crevice. It wasn’t quite solid, nor was it like anything I’d encountered before, but when I looked across the arena to find Phrixus crouched with one hand on the ground, I realized it was him I had to thank.
I wasn’t allowed long to be confused. Helle’s furious shriek as she turned on her brother was enough to make my eardrums bleed and I cringed as she struck him with the butt of her blade, hard enough to send him flying across the arena.
He landed just past the border with a painful thud.
“You idiot!” she seethed, stalking over to him. Thor lunged like he was ready to intervene, but rather than run him through, she pierced the ground just shy of him and stormed out of the simulation room before the illusion around us had even faded.
Seeing a door open in the middle of the desert was a bit too surreal for my brain to handle, and I felt nauseous. Daphne and I just stared at each other in confusion as Thor waved a hand, dissipating the simulation.
I finally walked over to Phrixus, who was still on the ground, and offered my hand. “Are you alright?”
He stared at my hand and scowled, getting to his feet on his own. He stalked out without a word the way his sister had come and Thor called after him, “Don’t forget you have kitchen duty tonight!”
I sighed heavily. Like there was anything that could make itmoreunpleasant.
15
Kore
"You have kitchen duty with Phrixus?" Dionysus asked, grimacing distastefully as he sat perched on the end of my bed. "My sincerest condolences."
"Come on. He's notthatbad," I sighed, combing out my wet hair. I'd estimated just enough time to shower and change after class, and I wasn't eager to wash dishes in my uniform. I felt comfortable enough changing in front of Dionysus and he had already changed in front of me, despite the fact that his ripped bod was probably a hell of a lot more intriguing to me than mine was to him.
"Who are you trying to convince? I've gone to school with him for the last ten years."
I turned to him, blinking. "You guys went to high school together?"
"Unfortunately," Dionysus snorted. "Long enough to know he sucks at Frenching, and to know he's way too close to his twin to be anyone's boyfriend."
"So I've heard," I snorted, setting my brush down to grab my makeup bag.
"Wait, what?" Dionysus asked, squinting suspiciously. "What exactly did you hear?"
