I was about to sputter a protest when we finally reached the bottom of the stairs. I turned to look back from where we came. We were at least five or six stories below the main academy.
Pandora led us down a long corridor. It looked more like a tunnel carved into a mountain, as the sides and ceiling weren’t smooth, but rough with pieces of rock jutting out. With each step forward, the air around me seemed to be getting warmer. I noticed beads of sweat on Georgina’s forehead. Bright orange light flickered ahead in the distance. The sounds of machinery thundered all around as we neared Hephaistos’s classroom.
There was a wave of gasps as the tunnel opened up, and we stepped into a cavernous space. I couldn’t even call it a room, as it was way too expansive. Stone steps led to bridges hovering over rivers of what I assumed was molten metal, linking various large, circular platforms. Past the biggest platform, bellows puffed, fanning the flames in a forge; its opening mimicked that of a mouth of a black dragon.
Above on the nearest platform, a man stepped out from the steam and smoke of the churning foundry. “Welcome to the forge.” His voice was as baritone and resonant as the huge gears turning nearby.
Beside me, Jasmine grabbed my hand. “I don’t want to be here.”
“It’ll be fine. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Technically, you could fall off one of the bridges and into the fire.”
I frowned at Georgina, letting her know she wasn’t helping.
Carefully, as a group, as everyone seemed to be a bit on edge, we went up the stone stairs and over a bridge to the platform nearest the dragon furnace. I kept my eyes straight ahead; I didn’t want to tempt fate by looking over the edge of the bridge. There were several long rectangular stone crafting tables and bowls of fire at the ends. On top of the tables were various sized hammers, iron tongs, and metal files. Near the bowls of fire were several anvils.
We lined up behind the tables, as our professor took up a spot in front of the dragon. On close inspection, I could see that Hephaistos wasn’t a pleasant looking person. He appeared a bit misshapen, especially his face and head. Longish, curly brown hair couldn’t hide the scar running along his scalp. And his thick mustache couldn’t cover the cleft in his lip.
“In this class,” he bellowed above the rumble of the foundry behind him, “you will be forging your own personal shield. This shield you will use in various classes and one day out on the battlefield. By third year, the crest of your assigned clan will be proudly embellished on the metal.”
“Cool,” one of the guys at the table said.
Hephaistos glared in his direction. “The first thing you will learn in this class is that I don’t tolerate jokers. There will be no tomfoolery or shenanigans.”
Diego, who was at the other table, chuckled.
Hephaistos picked up the closest thing to him, which looked like a blade for a spear, and launched it at Diego. “What did I just say?”
Diego ducked in time, and the spearhead stuck into the stone pillar behind him with a loud thwack.
“To get started, everyone look under the table top, and you will find a cubby hole. Inside, you will find a pair of leather gloves. Put them on or else you will burn your fingers off. And what use will you be without any fingers?”
Over the next hour, Hephaistos showed us how to heat up and bend metal, using the forge and an anvil. Then as a group from each table we got to approach the main forge, stick a hunk of metal into the fire with iron tongs, and then take it over to one of the anvils and hammer it until it bent in half. In theory, it looked and sounded pretty easy. But I couldn’t seem to get it right. Like with archery, I didn’t possess the right skills. Soon, someone was going to point this out and kick me out of the academy.
I hammered at the glowing part of the metal piece I had, but it didn’t bend the way I wanted it to.
“What are you doing?” Hephaistos loomed over me.
“I’m doing what you showed us.”
“Then you must be blind, stupid girl. You are doing it all wrong.” He snatched the hammer from me, and the tongs holding my metal, and struck at it on the anvil. With three sharp blows, the metal bent in half. Glowering at me, he handed the hammer and tongs back. “Do it again.”
I carried my piece of metal back to the fire. Holding it over the heat, I watched as it melted, creating the tell-tale orange glow. Before I moved back to the anvil, something beyond the foundry caught my eye. There were several shelves along one of the only walls in the room, stacked with various metallic objects. Objects I assumed Hephaistos had made—swords, daggers, a flail, a mace even… and Shadowboxes. There was one long shelf with them, each of them different in size and design.
“For Hades’s sake girl, it’s going to drip into the fire!”
I turned abruptly and nearly dropped the metal piece. As I passed by the other table of recruits, Revana smirked at me and mouthed, “Loser.”
It took all I had not to go over there and shove these tongs right up her—
“Girl, get a move on.”
I hustled back to the anvil and hammered at my metal piece. This time I got the hang of it, and it bent the way it should have. I looked up at Hephaistos for approval.
His brow furrowed. “I’m not your mother. I’m not going to tell you what a good job you’ve done.”
Anger swelled inside me. I was tired of getting pushed around today. “My mother’s dead.”
Hephaistos’s eyebrows went up, but he didn’t say anything, and just moved on to another anvil, to berate another recruit.
When class was over, I shuffled along with the rest of the group out of the forge and back up the seemingly non-ending spiraling staircase. At the top, everyone scattered in different directions, as it was our free time slot.
“We’re going to the dining hall,” Jasmine said. “I heard pizza is on the menu tonight.”
“I’ll catch up with you. I need to get something from my room.”
Jasmine’s eyes narrowed at me. I thought for a moment she was going to tell me she’d go with me. “Okay, see you in a bit.” She left with Georgina and a couple of the other girls.
When they were gone, and the front hall had cleared completely, I crept back down the stairs. I wanted to get a closer look at those Shadowboxes. I wanted to know how they were made. I needed to know their secrets.
When I reached the entrance to the foundry, I stopped and peered into the gloom, making sure Hephaistos was gone or at least in a place where he wouldn’t see me. I waited for five minutes, and when I didn’t see or hear him, I mounted the stone steps and rushed across the bridge.
In my haste, I didn’t see the loose stone, and I tripped over it. My heart leapt into my throat as I nearly keeled over the bridge. At the last second, I pushed off with my legs and jumped, arms pinwheeling, praying to every God and Goddess I could recall in a few seconds that I didn’t land in the molten metal.
I fell onto my knees on the next platform. Closing my eyes and counting my blessings, I took a few seconds to catch my breath. I opened my eyes and glanced over at the bridge. It had to have been no less than fifteen feet away. How the heck had I just jumped more than fifteen feet? I shook my head to clear it and then ran over to the shelves before I got caught.
My fingers ached to touch the Shadowboxes. They were so beautiful, so exquisite. I reached for one when I felt a presence behind me. I whipped around and came face to face with Hephaistos.
“What are you doing here?”
“I… I had to look at the boxes. They’re so beautiful.”
His face softened at little. “You’re probably wondering how someone so grotesque made something so magnificent.”
“No, I…”
“I think about that all the time.” He picked up one of the boxes. “It is my curse, I suppose.”
“Did you make all the Shadowboxes?”
He nodded. “Yes, every last one of them. I would’ve made the one that came to you.”