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“Oh, didn’t I say?” Selene’s voice was light. “Your mother is at Deucalion Academy, and so am I. Rejoice, for after two years, you will finally be near your mother again, and I... will be free.”
Chapter Five
Ijostled in the back of the cart, bumping along down the forest lane.
Stella and Freckles—real name Luca—got rid of the manacles on the first day of the trip when they saw I wasn’t going to run. Actually, I think they wished they could trade the manacles for a gag to stop my endless questions about Deucalion Academy and all that went on there.
I’d more than proven I was eager to go. No deserters here.
I got up on my knees, straining to see over their heads. I’d never seen the place before, but I knew what I was beholding.
Deucalion Academy.
Pristine white stone glinted in the early morning sun, blinding me, so I couldn’t stare too long at the towering statues lining the stone steps beyond the gates. I counted three—four—five floors stacked on Corinthian columns and each one topped with a piedmont depicting a different historical battle scene.
I could tell this from that far away because every part of the academy was larger than life. Even from a distance, I couldn’t see all of it in one look.
“Peace is the way,” someone called. “Say no to violence. No to war.” The chant popped the wall of silence, letting a flood of noise in.
It was as though we emerged from our own private path to rejoin the world once again. Carts and horses lined alongside the gates, letting out demigods from all over the land. Winter coats and boots worn by demigods from somewhere cold. Sleeveless tunics and short-style pants of demigods from somewhere warm. Then there were the glitters and jewels of the demigodsfrom places I couldn’t guess but assumed didn’t have much of a middle class.
Gathered near the entrance were a group of people dressed in all white, from their woven boots to the flowers in their hair. They chanted to people who walked past like they didn’t see them.
“Peace is the way,” said an older woman with a scar on her cheek that curved her mouth unevenly on one side. “You can say no to violence. Say no to war.”
“Children of Eirene,” Stella said to my unasked question. “They protest conscription, the army, the academy, and campaigns to hunt down monsters. None of them actually have the power of the goddess though. She doesn’t choose humans as her host.”
I wanted to ask what kind of goddess Eirene was, but Luca near enough had a heart attack the first time I showed such ignorance of the Greek gods. Three days we’d been on the road, traveling to the academy. It was impossible to hide how little I knew about Olympia, and they were suspicious. Very suspicious. But so far they stuck to their orders to deliver me to the academy.
“You go on campaigns to hunt down monsters?” I heard myself ask. “Does that mean you attack them unprovoked?”
Stella flashed me a sharp look. “Don’t start that child-of-Eirene bullshit. Monsters attack us unprovoked. All the time. Every day. Any chance they get.”
“No arguments here.” I wouldn’t be banging around in the back of a cart if monsters left the innocent alone. “But if they’re hunting down the demigods, and you’re hunting them, that means... Olympia is at war.”
“The demigods? You’re? Them?” she repeated. “Why are you speaking like you’re not one of us?”
“No, I meant us! We, you, me, all the demigods. What else would I mean?”
“What else indeed.”
The cart came to a sudden, jerking stop, throwing me to the side.
“We’re here. Get out.”
Stella didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed my new pack and hopped out, joining the line of young men and women streaming through the gates.
After seeing that I wasn’t lying about not having gold and silver coins other Olympians had jingling in their pockets, Callan ordered Stella and Luca to buy me everything I needed to join the academy. Turned out there was a list, a dress code, and no room for argument.
I glanced back and found Stella and Luca hadn’t moved. They were both watching me like hawks. Was that because they had to make sure I entered the grounds, or they were considering whether to report my strangeness to Callan or take it right to the enigmatic council?
“Hurry up, girl. Cross the gates. Enter the academy. You must begin the search for me immediately.”
Her voice faded. Standing just inside the gate, handsome and shining under the rising sun, was Alexander.
I beat it around everyone, running up to him. “Alex? Alex!”
He turned around and cursed. “What the fuck? What are you doing here?”
