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I hung there, a transfixed captive as children of Ares blew up—exploding any monster that tried to climb the stairs. Children of Hephaestus summoned fire and weapons, burning and plunging them into the hearts of their attackers. Monsters staggered and stumbled away from a child of Dionysus—losing all control of their faculties. They kept tripping over themselves until they fell into a trap.
It was brutal. Mayhem. The horrors of blood and battle.
And then he came.
“RISE!”
Drakos’s bellow echoed through the academy. All around him, dead, mangled, burned, and mutilated monsters rose on the limbs they had left, and attacked.
Typhon against typhon. Lamias tearing echidnas apart. Arachnes shot their webs at the harpies, taking them out of the sky. Cerberi ripped the heads off empousas.
In what felt like minutes, but was likely hours, Headmaster Drakos and his army of the dead slaughtered every monster still fighting, and chased away any monster who valued their life.
Sunlight peeked over the horizon, bathing the scene in brilliant bands of amber and gold. Such beauty in contrast to horror.
Chest heaving, Drakos snapped his head up, looking to Zeus. His hair was wild, a fitting match for his torn, ripped clothes. “The barrier is down. How? Who is responsible for this!”
Aphrodite turned and brought me shrieking to the ground, dropping me right in front of Headmaster Drakos.
He snarled, lips peeling back from his teeth. “You.”
Drakos concluded at the same time I did, why Aphrodite refused to let me go. She couldn’t let the culprit get away.
“Come with me, Miss Vanda. We have much to discuss.”
He stalked off, knowing I would follow. His dead minions already had hold of me.
Chapter Sixteen
Ididn’t think I’d end up in the headmaster’s chambers this way—hauled inside by rotting corpses while I shouted explanations that fell on uninterested ears. Another time, I could’ve admired the room’s opulence. The stretching stone walls, hanging tapestries of divine battles past, stacks beside stacks of bookshelves, and the long, grim shadows stretching over them all under a single lit candle’s losing fight against the gloom. Another time, it could’ve impressed me. But not that time.
Not that day.
I sat in the chair before his desk, sweating under the collar. My lips parted.
“Please,” Drakos sliced in, raising his hand. “Be patient. Our discussion will commence soon.”
I fell back, quieting. I wasn’t sure what we were waiting on. We’d been sitting there for hours, merely staring at each other. Or more like, Drakos steadily stared at me with nary a blink while I looked everywhere but directly in his eyes.
Was it a son-of-Hades thing to be this creepy and unsettling? Why were his chambers so dark? Thick, heavy curtains smothered any scant light that tried to peek through the windows. Every item of furniture was black or blacker, and the caskets...
I shivered, fighting to swallow the lump in my throat when I flicked to the caskets. Half a dozen of them lined the back wall with two thrown open.Two.As in the two dead men standing guard over me at that moment.
“You have a pretty cool power, sir,” I blurted. “Controlling dead monsters and their abilities like puppets at the end of your string. Amazing. With power like that, no one dead or alive can stand against you.”
His brow climbed his forehead. “Is that what impresses you, Miss Vanda? Limitless power? Fear? No one able to stand against you?”
“No, sir,” I mumbled, shrinking.Gods, help me. Why do I always have to open my mouth?“I’m just thankful you were there, is all.”
“I see. Was my presence a necessary part of your plan?”
“No! I mean, yes— No,” I cried. “I didn’t have a plan. None of this was supposed to—”
A knock sounded at the door, bringing my babbling to a blessed end.
“Come,” Drakos ordered.
Madame Remis strolled inside. She wasn’t alone.
