Page 6 of Dark Gods
"The party," I groaned, running a hand through my hair. I was starting to get used to the fact that everyone was looking at me. Unlike high school, they weren't glares, just curious glances every now and then. Guess everyone wanted to see if I was Hades' type. "I almost forgot. You're going?"
"I never turn down an invitation to a good party," he answered, glowing with excitement. "It's mostly faculty and their children, but since you're you-know-what to you-know-who..."
"Letter of the law, Dionysus."
He gave me a grin that was anything but apologetic.
"Wanna go together?" I asked. Once I saw the hesitation on his face, I added, "Not as a date or anything. I just figured you could use a decoy and it's not like I'm on the market."
"It's not that, it's just..." He glanced over his shoulder, and so far, I couldn't understand why. People seemed nice enough, if a bit nosy. "I'd rather not end up on Hades' radar. Loki already hates me."
"Loki? Why?"
That troubled look came back into his eyes, like a shadow blocking out the sun. "It's a long story," he murmured, back to his usual cheerful self in an instant. "But really, the party is wonderful. It makes all this look like a cheap diner.” He waved his hand around the vast hall that would have put Valhalla to shame.
"What does one wear to such an exclusive event?" I asked wryly.
"If you like, I'll come over after class and help you pick something out."
"Sounds great. I'm pretty sure the dress code here's more conservative than in Manhattan."
"Manhattan," he said with a wistful sigh, popping a grape into his mouth.
"You should come back with me sometime. I think you'd like it."
"I'll take you up on that," he said, glancing down at his phone. "Oh. Class starts soon, I should probably get going. I'll see you later?"
"Count on it," I said, deciding I had a few moments to finish up before I headed to class. As I walked my tray over to the table across the room, I became aware of someone staring a bit more boldly than most.
It was a guy sitting alone, and he looked like he shopped at the Valkyries’ favorite store. He had long, dirty-blond hair adorned with the odd braid, shaved close to his head on one side. He towered over the students around him, and his broad shoulders tested the limits of his uniform blazer, but it wasn’t his stature or the stubbled jaw hard enough to cut diamond that caught my attention. It was the fact that his eyes were the most piercing shade of gold I’d ever seen, and looking away proved as difficult as holding that intense gaze. Everything about him screamed man, but there was something animal in that gaze. A kind of primal energy that emanated from his soul so powerfully it made the skin he was wearing seem like just another layer of disguise.
My hand twitched at my side, eager to flip him the bird for gawking. I’d kicked men in the balls for less, but I reminded myself getting kicked out of this school would only make things worse and turned around to deposit my tray in the appropriate receptacle.
Good behavior, Kore.
By the time I turned around, he was gone. Fast for someone built like a mountain.
Shrugging it off, I left the dining hall and went to find my class. Human Politics was on the first floor, according to the magic scroll, and by the time I made it to the classroom, there were only a few seats left. One just so happened to be in the very back, so I took it out of habit and waited for the professor to show up.
My coffee from breakfast still hadn’t fully kicked in and I found myself yawning. My reflexes weren’t fast enough to stop my pencil from rolling off the desk and before I could reach to grab it, another hand shot out.
“Here,” the girl next to me said, giving me a deer-in-the-headlights look as she offered it to me.
“Thanks,” I said, taking it from her. I decided not to offer my hand since she looked like a leaf ready to tremble off the vine with her huge gray eyes as wide as eyes could go. She had short, kind of choppy brown hair framing a pretty face and her uniform was all regulation. The spitting image of what my Mom probably wished I was. “I’m Kore.”
“Ariadne,” she said timidly, straightening upright when a tall man entered the room. He looked about forty even though the answer was probably more like forty thousand. He was wearing a clean gray suit that matched his eyes, a bold silver against his dark skin.
“Good morning,” he said in a stern voice, looking over the class. The entire room fell silent under his gaze, and students who’d been chattering happily moments earlier now looked as solemn as gargoyles, staring down at the empty notebooks in front of them. “As most of you already know, my name is Hephaestus, but you may call me Professor. I see a new face or two, so let me be clear. This is a first year class, not a seminar. Save your political musings for the discussion group and pay attention, because I don’t repeat myself.”
“Geez,” I muttered under my breath. “Think he takes himself seriously?”
Ariadne looked like she’d just turned to stone, and when I glanced up, I could see why. Hephaestus was staring right at me. Guess he had good hearing.
“You there, in the back,” he said gruffly. “Is there something you’d like to say?”
“No,” I cleared my throat, adding, “Professor. Sorry.”
If I’d thought everyone was looking at me in the lunchroom, it was nothing compared to the blank stares I was getting now. I hunkered down in my seat hoping for the storm to pass when someone came breezing into the room.
