AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A choked noise came from Sirena’s throat. “Nothing and no one is autonomous of the council. You—”
“Let’s open the discussion to the class,” Remis breezed on, dismissing her. “What do you think of the treaty in light of what I’ve told you? Were we treated unfairly? Was there a better solution that no one considered?”
“Yes,” Kosma cried. “Why weren’t the monsters trapped in their own world instead of in ours?”
“Ah, a sixth dominion. Would that have worked?”
“No,” said Alex. “Because the barrier has to be maintained from the inside and outside. Monsters are hardly going to maintain the walls of their prison.”
“Then children of Hecate could’ve gone in there with them.”
“Hey!”
Wasn’t sure who shouted that, but I guessed they were a child of Hecate.
Tentatively, I raised my hand.
Remis waved me down. “There’s no hand-raising in my class, Aella. We’re all adults. We know when to speak and when to listen.”
“Okay then, I was thinking. If monsters aren’t mindless beasts, and they can think and reason, why did they have to be imprisoned anywhere?” I asked. “Why couldn’t they have sat down at the table while the species were crafting the treaty and voiced what they wanted? Maybe they wouldn’t be so murderyand hate us all a lot less if we stopped throwing them into prisons for being born.”
Thick, smothering silence filled the room. I shrank back as everyone stared at me. Did I say something wrong?
“Do you know something... In my seven years teaching this class, not a single person ever asked the question you have.” Remis’s eyes were shrewd, shrinking me further in my chair. “I’m going to want to hear more from you as the season goes on, Aella Vanda. You can bet you’ll be called upon often.”
“Um, thank you, ma’am?”
“Called on for what?” Sirena barked. “To spout more of that Stymphalian bird shit? Of course they couldn’task them what they wanted?” She put on a high-pitched, whiny tone that I assumed was supposed to be me. Her handmaidens laughed on cue. “Being clever enough to reason the best way to lure prey into a trap isn’t nearly on par with the superior mind of a demigod. In every way that matters, they are mindless beasts.
“The best solution was the solution the first council decided upon. Don’t any of you strain your little minds to come up with another one.”
“But Madame Remis just said the first council didn’t come up with this solution,” Nitsa returned. “It was forced on us by threat of war.”
Sirena sniffed. “I’ll believe that when she proves it.”
Remis laughed—another reaction I couldn’t put to any of my old teachers. “See? This is what we need. Spirited, lively debate. I love it, I do.
“What about the rest of you? Does anyone else agree with Miss Vanda? Could we have tried a little diplomacy with the monsters?”
“Maybe not with all of them, but possibly with some,” a wavering voice spoke up. I connected it to Marinos, a son of Ares. “I grew up in a port town. One day, my little sister foundan injured baby siren washed up on the shore. She was six and didn’t know any better. We had no idea she’d hidden the creature in the pond behind our home and was nursing and feeding it food from the kitchen.
“When it was strong enough, she released it back into the sea. None of us knew a thing about it until one morning Father took us out on the boat. We were set upon by sirens three miles out,” he said. “We thought that was the end until... they simply turned and swam away. My sister waved and thanked herfriend, wishing her well.” He shrugged. “The creature remembered the debt she owed my sister and showed mercy. Maybe some monsters can be reasoned with—”
“No. They can’t.” The boy sitting beside Alex stood up. I recognized him.Ajax.“That cute little story, if it’s true, proves nothing. The creature owed your sister a life debt and paid it in full by sparing you all. I’d bet anything if she and it met out on the seas again, the creature wouldn’t hesitate to drag her to the depths.
“Monsters cannot be reasoned with.”
“Thank you,” Sirena said. “Finally, someone speaks sense. Monsters want to destroy us all and rule on the ruin of our corpses. The end.”
“What do you think, Xander?” Hyacinth asked.
All eyes turned to him except Daciana’s. She hadn’t lifted her head through the entire conversation or unballed her fists.
Alex got to his feet. I wanted to, but I couldn’t look away. “I didn’t know before today that a siren could turn away from their prey, let alone remember the kindness of a young girl and show it in return.”
He swept the crowd. “Clearly, our world is more mysterious, puzzling, and beautiful”—his gaze lingered on me—“than we were raised to believe. I don’t know if there can ever be peacebetween monsters and demigods, but it’s my duty to try—if it means a safer and happier world for you.”
My throat bobbed with a hard swallow. I couldn’t say how I knew... but Alex was speaking to me, and only me.
