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Remis grabbed his head. I watched in horrified fascination. His skin knit itself back together. The tears seamed into one. The ruined flesh became whole and brown. His screaming subsided, and Marinos stood there—chest heaving and eyes wide, but fine.
“Are you all right, boy?” Remis checked him all over. “What happened to you?”
“I—I—I don’t know.” He was shaking like a leaf. “I think... there was something in my pack. I dropped it.”
“Dropped it?” She and half the class searched the floor. “There’s nothing here.”
There was nothing. Even though I was sure I saw something too.
Lifting my head, I flicked to Castor. He was head down on the table, fast asleep.
“Whatever may or may not have been in your pack, you’re going to the infirmary. Don’t leave until Healer Helena has checked you over for curses, hexes, possessions, and the rest.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It took a while to settle after he left. Everyone was shaken—except for Daciana, who was still out of it.
“That’s enough whispering and wondering,” Remis said. “Back to the discussion. Mr. Lambros, what are your thoughts on nature and—”
The gong sounded, signaling the end of class. I jerked like it snapped me out of a dream. An hour and a half passed already?
“That’s all for today, ladies and gentlemen. Your assignment for tonight is to read chapter two,The History of the Gods. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you what’s missing.”
“I doubt there’s anything missing,” Sirena snapped.
She flashed her a pleasant smile. “You’ll find out tomorrow.”
Sirena was at the front of the class, but managed to shove her way through and storm out the door first. Daciana was right on her heels, ignoring our calls.
“Is she okay?” Ionna asked.
“I’m not sure. I got the feeling she’s not a fan of vampires.”
“None of us are after that,” Theron put in, shuffling up between us. “Think all that stuff’s true?”
Nitsa slung her arms around our shoulders. “I mean, it does make sense. Mother told me the monsters came to Olympia because they could smell the divine in our blood. If that was true of all of them, there’s nowhere we could hide. But we do and we can. When I was nine, I was playing with my brothers in the woods when I stumbled into the path of a gorgon. I dove under a bush and hid there until my brothers came to find me. If she could sense me, why aren’t I dead?”
“Nitsa, I never felt more stupid than I do right now,” Theron said gravely. “It’s so obvious now that you say it. Why didn’t we notice that before?”
Nitsa, Ionna, and Tycho echoed him.
“What about Marinos?” I voiced. “He was right. There was something in his hand. It looked like...” The Hell Boys brushed past us. Sebastian gifted me a wink. “It looked like one of Castor’s Tartarus rocks.”
Tycho hissed. “Ooh, that explains it. Anything from that pit of torture and despair is going to be nasty. But didn’t Castor say it punishes people for their sins? What could Marinos have done that he deservedthat? And who put it in his pack?”
None of us had an answer.
“—tell my mother about this.” Sirena echoed through the hall. “It’s an outrage that this information was kept from members of the imperial household, but it’s even more disgusting that she shared it for every pig-stinkin’ peasant in there to hear. She should’ve held a private class for those with the right to know.”
We passed by her. I barely kept hold of my tongue.
“Mother will be furious when she hears about this.”
Her handmaidens chimed in on cue.
“You’re right, Sirena.”
“Madame Remis went too far.”
