Without responding, I turned and ran out of the room then out of the hall. The big, heavy gold doors slammed shut behind me the second I was out. The sudden need to be with my friends spurred me on, and I ran through the academy halls to the dorms.
I didn’t quite know what had just happened with Aphrodite, but a sense of dread tightened in my guts. I’d been in danger that much I grasped, but I didn’t know why. How was I a threat to Aphrodite? And what was she willing to do to end it?
Chapter Eleven
MELANY
Pitch black surrounded me. I felt like I was floating. I could see a pinpoint of light, and that was when I realized I was back inside the spiraling portal underwater. My lungs burned from lack of oxygen. A few more minutes and I would certainly die.
I looked past the portal to the dark waters beyond, and saw a shape hovering nearby. Watching me. I reached out toward the form, pleading for help. Suddenly I didn’t know how to swim. I didn’t know why I was here in this portal again, but I was going to die if I didn’t get out.
My fingers breached the edge of the whirling spout. My hand reached for the form floating within inches of me. I wriggled my fingers, grasping for assistance. “Help me!” I tried to scream, but when I opened my mouth, water poured in. And now, I was choking on it.
My vision blurred. The pressure inside my head expanded. Pain pummeled at me. It wouldn’t be long before I succumbed to the water and took it in.
Then a hand snatched mine and pulled me out.
Bolting straight up in bed, I coughed and sputtered, taking in greedy gulps of air. Whispers swirled around me, trying to penetrate my ears. But I didn’t want to listen to them. They were telling me bad things. Asking me to do bad things.
I swatted at them, buzzing like stinging insects. “Stop it!”
Then I felt warm hands on top of mine. “Mel! You’re okay. You’re safe.”
Slowly, my surroundings came into view. I was in my bed, in my dorm. And Georgina held me, talking me out of whatever fugue I’d been trapped inside.
She ran a hand over my head. “You’re okay. You’re here, with me.”
I nodded, and took in a deep breath, trying to slow my heart rate, which thundered in my chest, each beat like a hammer against my rib cage.
“Same dream?” she asked.
I nodded.
For the past nine days, I’d been having the same horrible dream every night. It all started right after the incident with Aphrodite. It was almost like she’d sparked something inside me. Tried to force open some door inside my mind. And it was opening. I could hear it creaking inside my head and feel every small progression in my body. I feared what was inside.
After Georgina helped me calm down, we dressed and headed to the dining hall for breakfast. Jasmine caught up with us, and upon seeing me, immediately hugged me.
“Are you okay? You look so pale.”
I gave her a look.
“Well, paler than usual.”
“Bad dreams still,” Georgina piped up, as she slopped oatmeal into a bowl and handed it to me.
We took our meals and sat at our usual spot at one of the long tables in the hall. Mia joined us, and I noticed the instant grin on Jasmine’s face.
“Are they the same?” Jasmine asked.
“Yeah, I’m trapped in the portal underwater, and I’m going to drown, but someone who I can’t see pulls me out right before.” I played with my oatmeal, not hungry at all.
“Maybe it’s just stress getting the best of you,” Jasmine said. “That is sort of what happened to you getting here, wasn’t it? I mean, Lucian saved you, didn’t he?”
I nodded, just as my gaze landed on him two tables away, laughing with his friends. He glanced up from his meal and caught me looking at him. Before I could turn away, he gave me a soft smile that made my heart thump a little bit faster.
“Maybe you’re stressed about the practice water trial today.” Mia shrugged.
Georgina nodded. “I bet that’s it. You did tell me you weren’t looking forward to it since you didn’t do too well in water.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” I smiled at my friends, knowing they all meant well and were only looking out for me. But they were wrong in this. It wasn’t stress trying to burrow into my mind like a worm in dirt; it was something altogether more worrisome. Something sinister.
There was a buzz of excitement and apprehension during elemental class. After our lessons with the other elements, we were all going to be doing a practice water trial in the pool with Poseidon. Despite my attempts to deny it to myself, I was nervous about the trial. I wasn’t all that good with water or in it. After six classes, I’d only been able to make a tiny cyclone in the water while some like Ren, Marek, and even Lucian, could make waves as high as the twenty foot ceiling. But the prep training wasn’t about making water spouts and waves, it was about staying underwater for as long as possible and collecting rocks from the bottom of the pool. It seemed simple enough, but the catch was we had to do it while evading an attack from some water beast Poseidon was going to set loose. Fun times at Poseidon’s pool party.
The whole thing was a distraction, and I nearly set Hella’s pants on fire when a fireball I was making got away from me, bounced once, and exploded at her feet. Hephaistos rushed over with a bucket of water and doused her before it could do any damage.
“I’m so sorry.” I rushed over to her, my hands still aflame.
“It’s fine.” She moved away from me.
But I could see it in her face that it was far from fine, and now she was afraid of me. I supposed I didn’t blame her; I had come at her waving around my fire hands.
“What’s wrong with you, girl?” Hephaistos growled at me, tossing the rest of the water from the bucket onto me to douse my hands. “You have to stay focused, or you’re going to hurt someone.”
That distraction followed me through shadow class, as I walked through the motions, dissipating at will, then to lightning where I was barely even allowed to touch the metal rods in case I got electrocuted again, then over to the garden, where we were practicing growing vines. I hadn’t managed to do anything in this class. I knew it wasn’t possible to be good at everything, but I had no affinity to the earth and plants whatsoever. The rest of my group had been able to at least coax a flower to open its pedals and to move a huge boulder across the garden. Georgina was already growing fruits and vegetables with the touch of her hands and the intention in her heart.
After having completely given up, I sat on the ground and watched as the others tried to coax some vines to wrap around Demeter’s legs. I laughed when Jasmine’s vine went crazy and did a loop around her feet and tried to trip her.
I heard other laughter, and my gaze drifted over to where Lucian and his group were at the fire station. Revana and Isobel were huddled together, looking my way and snickering. When Revana spotted me watching them, she sneered.
I didn’t know how one person could be so hateful. It wasn’t just me who she looked down on, either; it was almost everyone except her immediate friends, although I had overheard her talking crap about Isobel behind her back to Diego.
As I stared at her, I got angrier and angrier. Gritting my teeth and pressing my hands down into the dirt, I thought someone needed to shut her up. She reminded me so much of Callie with her backhanded remarks, disdainful looks, and condescending manner. I’d put up with it for years, swallowing it down over the lump in my throat because I hadn’t had a choice.
While Revana continued to smirk and sneer, probably remarking about how trashy I was, all I could picture was a gag in her mouth. It was such a vivid image that I grinned.
Then I was being shaken out of my stupor. “Snap out of it, Melany.”
I looked up as Demeter squeezed my shoulder. “What? What’s going on?”
“Let go of Revana.”