Page 4 of Wild Hunt
“It’s not just about this,” I promised. “This is definitely the straw that broke the camel’s back, but the camel was a fed up bitch a hundred straws ago.”
“Okay, so what’s going through your mind?” He still sounded nervous, but I could tell curiosity was winning out for the moment.
“This school is fifty shades of fucked up, right?” I asked, plopping down next to him.
“That’s one way to say it,” he chuckled. “What’s your point?”
I shrugged. “Someone should change it.”
“Someone meaning us?” he asked doubtfully.
“Who else? Not like we have anything to lose.”
“I’m sorry, but were these past couple of months younottrying? Because if so, I’m kind of afraid to see what trying looks like for you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not talking about getting petty revenge on the Triad. They’re just three oozing symptoms of the cancer at the bottom of this school.”
He frowned, and it took him a moment to realize what I was talking about. “You mean Odin?” he asked, his eyes widening.
“Our ‘headmaster’ is nothing more than a glorified bully himself,” I answered. “He doesn’t deserve the job, and I know for a fact there are people on the Council who’d agree if half the shit that’s allowed to go on at this place got out.”
“You realize that no one’s going to believe you over Odin, right?” Dionysus asked. “Or me, for that matter. We’re low on the totem pole in here and out there.”
“I know, but they won’t have to believe us. All we have to do is make it so obvious that anyone with eyes could see it, and if the right people see it, all the assholes who’ve let it go on for this long will have no choice but to do something about it.”
He hesitated, but I could tell he was actually thinking about my words. “And how do you propose we do that?”
“We’re still in the middle of a murder investigation, as much as everyone might like to pretend otherwise,” I said with a shrug. “For the first time in forever, people are actually watching Odin with a critical eye—and I say we give them something to see.”
“You mean framing him?”
“Please. You only need to frame someone when they’re not guilty,” I snorted. “I’m talking subterfuge. Resisting from the inside.”
“That’s going to be difficult to do, considering that we’re both relegated to the outside of acceptable society now.”
“That’ll just make it easier to get away with,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll play along. Let them think we’re victims.”
“We aren’t?” he asked warily.
“No! And if we are, it’s time to stop,” I answered. “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being the punching bag for a bunch of elite, ignorant jocks who think they run the world just because they have rich daddies.”
“I suppose it would be nice to get some comeuppance for a change,” he murmured. “But that’s still not a game plan.”
“Nope. That’s for the Games.”
“The Games?” His eyes widened even more. “What are you talking about?”
“The winners get to make a speech, right?”
“Kore…”
“I’m just saying, it’s the one time of year the entire world of the gods is watching. Why not give them something to watch?”
“It’s certainly a thought.”
“The winner of the Games is the epoch of everything the Academy is trying to instill,” I reasoned. “If someone were to use that platform to call attention to the issues at this school, then the Council wouldn’t have a choice but to investigate. Especially with all the bad press we’ve been getting lately.”
“Yes, but all that is predicated on the fact that we’d have to win.”
