Page 3 of Dark Gods
"So the headmaster's brat and the crown Prince rule the school, just like their daddies run the Council of the Gods." I rolled my eyes. "What a shocker."
Dionysus glanced around nervously and when he took my arm to lead me toward one of the great staircases framing either side of the lobby, I decided to follow him. "You should be careful what you say around here. The walls have ears."
"And eyes, apparently."
"I'm serious. Even if you are Hades' fiancee, he's not to be trifled with," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Those three are like the mafia of Olympus Academy, and they don't take disrespect lightly."
Geez. Whatever these guys were pulling to have the other young gods skittering around like nervous cats, someone needed to take them down a peg.
Notme, of course. I was already sworn to be on my best behavior.
"Chill. I'm not gonna cause trouble," I told him, since he seemed anxious enough. "Where is everyone, anyway?"
"Classes don't start tomorrow, and people usually come in at the last possible moment," he explained. "I could show you to the dorms, if you like?"
"Sounds good," I answered, following him down the equally ornate west wing upstairs. At least there were no creepy portraits in these halls. The windows were huge, overlooking a garden far more expansive than the lackluster landscaping out front. Looked like I'd already found my favorite spot.
"The dorms are all on this floor. Girls in the east wing, boys in the west,” he said, letting his arm slip from mine. I realized this time, his touch hadn't sparked Ecstasy. Not that it was really something to mind, but I had a rule back home: no indulgence.
It seemed like that was going to be an equally important rule of thumb to follow here, if the other guys were half as hot as Dionysus. Then again, something gave me the impression I wasn't really his cup of tea.
"Do you know which room is yours?" he asked once we came to an open area I assumed was the girls' lounge, given the corner library and the billiard table in the center of the room.
I pulled the small scroll that had come with my admissions letter out of my jacket pocket and a number materialized on the page. "333."
"Lucky," he said with a grin, coming to a stop in front of a big stone door with silver filigree all along the frame.
"Fancy," I snorted, touching the handle. As soon as I did, magic flared beneath my fingertips and the door popped open.
"Security," Dionysus explained, standing by.
I took his sleeve and pulled him in with me. My eyes widened as I took in the lavish space. My room back home in the Manhattan loft I shared with my mother was nice, but nothing compared to this. "Holy shit."
Dionysus gave me a look, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall separating the ensuite bathroom from the rest of my room. "You're going to get a demerit before your first day is over."
"Wouldn't be the first time," I told him dropping my bag on the bed. It was easily king-sized, surrounded by three massive marble pillars and dressed in white covers so luxurious I wanted to jump in and curl up, but exploration called. "This is sweet."
"This is Olympus Academy," he reminded me in a coy tone. "Only the best for the future elite."
I rolled my eyes, sliding open the glass door that led out onto a small balcony. I had a gorgeous view of the gardens below and even though it was hard to resist the urge to prune and tweak anything green and budded to perfection, it was hard to find anything to criticize.
Maybe this place wasn't going to be so bad after all.
"I have this whole place to myself?" I asked doubtfully.
"There are more gods than goddesses in attendance, so most of the girls have singles," he explained. I could tell he was less than thrilled about it, too.
"Shitty roommate, huh?"
"Atlas," he mumbled. "He's a complete jock, which I don't mind aesthetically, but I could do without the collection of running shoes as vast as it is odoriferous."
I laughed. So my assumption about him being into guys wasn't totally off. "Sounds torturous."
"I shouldn't have said that," he sighed. "I'm not exactly out, but you seem less stuffy than most, so..."
"Your secret's safe with me, and if ithasto be a secret, that's bullshit," I said, starting to pull my clothes out of my bag. "Something tells me I'm gonna hate this place as much as I thought."
"It's not so bad," he assured me. "There are cliques and unspoken rules, like any other college. Once you learn to navigate them, you'll be fine."
