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“Yes, sir,” we chorused.
We climbed down from the stands. Something moved out of the corner of my eye. I turned just as Sebastian and Marinos disappeared into the forest.
“Good, then you’ll have no trouble proving it.” Vasili flipped up one of the fighting platforms. “All of you, grab a shovel. I want a pit latrine that’s ten feet deep and three feet wide from each of you. One hour. Begin.”
He rattled off his instructions so calmly. Our reply wasn’t.
“But, sir! We can’t dig that deep in only an hour.”
“Why do we have to dig shit pits?” Kosma argued. “The Titans got to train and fight, so should we.”
Vasili’s blank expression didn’t blink. “The task of preparing a base camp falls to the Sisyphean army members. Every act and every task are vital to the well-being and success of the whole. It grieves me to hear you all feel this task is beneath you. Maybe you would all like to adjourn to the reflection room, ponder which lessons you deign to learn, and then return with a list of your demands?”
No one spoke.
“No?” Vasili asked. “Well, then. Pick a shovel.”
My class moved on the shovels with no more complaints. I didn’t.
Breaking away, I slipped through the trees—searching for Sebastian and Marinos.
A strange noise drew me to the left. Rounding a tree, I stepped out as Sebastian buried his fist in Marinos’s gut. Marinos doubled over and the son of Hades cracked his knee into his nose—spurting blood down his pant leg and raining crimson on the grass.
“P-please,” Marinos cried. “Stop. Why a-are you doing this?”
Roaring, Sebastian grabbed his pants and collar and threw him overhead. Marinos smashed into a tree so violently, I screamed—feeling the breaking bones like they were my own.
Marinos crumpled on the ground. Barba advanced on him.
“Sebastian, stop!” I shot between them, throwing my arms out. “What are you doing!”
“Out of my way, Vanda.” I’d never seen the expression on his face before, or felt such bone-chilling fear at the growl ripping from his throat. “This is none of your business.”
“I’m making it my business!” I threw my arms around him, locking fingers and palms. “Marinos, run. Get out of here!”
The guy didn’t need me to tell him twice. He beat it away from us without a glance back, limping as fast as he could. Surprisingly, Sebastian didn’t try to follow him.
“You know something, Vanda?” He untangled from me. “I’m starting to see what your roommate is talking about. You’re developing an annoying habit of sticking youropistain my business.”
I heated under the collar. “I’ll tell you where I’m about to shove my opista!”
Sebastian cracked bloody knuckles. “You should learn what that word means before you repeat that sentence to anyone else.”
“Fuck you!” I shoved his chest.
It was like pushing on a mountain. I didn’t move him a millimeter.
“We made a deal, Barba. I don’t tell Drakos what you’re doing, and you stop torturing people and fucking up their lives.”
“I didn’t break our deal,” Sebastian said through clenched teeth.
This wasn’t the usual smirking, winking guy I was used to. Sebastian was angry, and angry made him dangerous.
I erased the distance, getting in his face. I was angry too. “What do you call what just happened? You could’ve killed him! And why? Let me guess, he was short on a blackmail payment? Or maybe he didn’t pay at all, and you’re sending a message to all your victims about what happens when they get cute. Fuck’s sake, Barba!
“This place is hard enough.Lifeis hard enough. Do you realize that the rest of us are going through shit you can’t even begin to comprehend? Some of us are crying before they open their eyes in the morning.” Visions of my mom trapped, isolated, and losing her grip on hope and sanity burned across the inside of my skull. “They’re crying because their problems are already crushing them before they get out of bed.”
I uselessly shoved him away. “What gives you the right to make it worse! You promised me no blackmail, no selling secrets, none of it. We had a deal!”
