“You can’t be serious?” Ares blurted.
Relief surged over me. I couldn’t believe I’d convinced the almighty Zeus to give me a second chance. I met my friends’ gazes and smiled.
“I will give you a choice.” Zeus turned to the crowd as if to regale them. “Accept a bolt of my lightning, or be expelled and thrown into exile.”
“No. She’ll be killed!” Demeter bolted forward.
All the blood left my head, and I thought I was going to pass out.
I looked out at the crowd and saw Lucian on his feet. “Don’t do it, Blue.”
“No,” Jasmine and Georgina both shouted. “Mel. It’s not worth your life!”
I looked at my friends and Lucian. I never wanted to forget them. The thought of it churned my stomach. What would I be without my memories of them, of this place? I’d be empty and alone for the rest of my life. What kind of life would that be? Not one worth living, that was for sure.
Swallowing down any fear I had, I lifted my head proudly. “I’ll do it.”
Chapter Sixteen
LUCIAN
I couldn’t sit and watch this. It was wrong. I tried to dash out into the stadium—I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I had to do something—but Heracles, who had been sitting in the rows with the students, grabbed me before I could.
“You can’t stop it, Lucian.”
“The lightning will kill her. She’s not ready to control it.”
“She’s strong. Stronger than you think.”
Zeus held his arms up toward the murmuring crowd, and a crack of thunder zipped in the air over head. “Silence.”
That stopped everyone from talking.
“Everyone needs to witness the bravery of this girl, as she attempts the lightning trial.”
Melany walked to the middle of the arena and stood there waiting. She looked so courageous out there on her own, preparing to undergo the most dangerous and most difficult trial of the academy training. I wanted to go to her, hold her hand, hug her, and tell her how I truly felt for her before it was too late.
“During the trial, Melany will have to hold my greatest and most powerful weapon crafted for me by the great cyclops, Arges—the lightning bolt.”
Zeus clapped his hands together causing a loud crash of thunder to reverberate through the stadium, making everyone jump. The floor shook from the power of it. Then he slowly drew his hands apart. In between them the air sparked and crackled, until he’d formed a five-foot long bolt of glowing white lightning.
I could feel the power of it, even from where I stood. The little hairs on my arms lifted, and I could taste ozone on my tongue.
Zeus stepped toward Melany, whose face paled with every step he took.
“She will need to pick it up and hold it for no less than two minutes. There have only been ten recruits in the past one hundred years able to complete this trial. And they have gone on to glory as part of my clan.”
Rearing his hand back, Zeus stuck the lightning bolt into the floor in front of Melany. She jumped back in surprise. Zeus moved back and waved his hand toward her. “You may start.”
A tense hush fell over the arena. I couldn’t sit and watch, so I stood beside Heracles just on the edge of the main platform. I dug my fingernails into the palms of my hands to keep me grounded. Nerves rooted deep in my gut, and I felt nauseated as Melany took a step forward.
She closed her eyes for a moment, lifted her head, and I saw her lips move. Was she praying? I could’ve told her it was useless, as all the Gods were standing in this room, most of them indifferent to what was going on. No one was going to rescue her.
When she opened her eyes again, she took a wide stance, then wrapped her hands around the bolt, and picked it up. Her face instantly contorted in pain as the electricity shot through her. There were several shocked gasps in the audience. I looked over to see Georgina and Jasmine clutching hands, their eyes wide in horror as they watched their friend be tortured.
Seconds ticked by and Melany still held the lightning. Her whole body shook with the effort. Even from here, I could see her hands had turned red, burned from the heat of the electrical current pulsing through the bolt. I couldn’t believe she still held it. By the looks on the Gods’ faces, they couldn’t believe it, either. Zeus looked practically gleeful.
After a minute, the glow of the lightning intensified, and sparks started to flare, and I wondered if Zeus had done that on purpose. But his face told me that what was happening wasn’t anticipated. Frowning, he moved toward Melany. Was he going to put a stop to it?
Just as he went to reach for the bolt, zigzags of white lightning surged up Melany’s arms. She opened her mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream as more waves wrapped around her body from head to toe until she was entombed in crackling white bolts.
People in the stands jumped to their feet.
“Stop it!”
“It’s killing her!”
I tried to push past Heracles, but he held me firm. I watched in horror as Melany was consumed by the lightning. But then I saw something dark swirling around her; it was like black smoke curling up from the floor. It weaved in with the electrical current, surrounding her body.
Demeter broke ranks and ran toward the spectacle. “Put a stop to this. Now. You’ve proven your power.”
Even Hephaistos and Dionysus rushed forward.
Zeus reached over and grasped the bolt in one hand and yanked it out of Melany’s grip. The second that happened, she dropped to the floor like a puppet without strings.
Apollo moved out of the circle and crouched beside Melany. I could see him checking her pulse on her neck and then picking up her wrist.
I pressed against Heracles again. “Let me go.” If Apollo said she was dead, I was going to hurt someone. I was going to make someone pay.
He nodded to Zeus. “She’s alive.”
“She did it,” someone from the crowd yelled. “She held it for over two minutes.”
There were a few cheers and some clapping, but for the most part, everyone was a bit stunned at what we’d just witnessed. I wasn’t sure what to call it. It was supposedly a trial, but it felt like corporal punishment. Torture even.
Heracles smacked me on the back, but not as hard as he usually did it. “You see? She’s strong.”
“She could’ve died, Heracles.”
His smile faded, and he bent toward my ear. “It was a message. You and your friends would do well by heeding it.” He moved away from me.
“Take her to the infirmary,” Zeus said, his voice no longer commanding.
Chiron pushed through the crowd that had started to gather around the platform, everyone craning their necks to get a glimpse of Melany on the floor. Once people saw him, they made room. Standing close to seven feet tall, the centaur was very imposing. Apollo gathered Melany in his arms and very gently draped her over Chiron’s back, and then together they left the stadium.
“Classes are canceled today,” Zeus said. “Everyone return to your dorms.”
It was a bit of chaos as recruits and Gods and others streamed out of the auditorium. I caught up with Georgina, Jasmine, and Ren as they exited through the main doors.
“Do you think they’ll let us see her?” Georgina asked.
Jasmine shook her head. She looked worn out. “I doubt it.”
“I can’t believe that just happened.” Ren rubbed at his mouth, and then his voice went low. “It was almost like they wanted to kill her.”
I looked at each of them, wondering if I should tell them what Heracles had said to me. “I think we need to be careful from now on and don’t trust anyone. Especially not any of the professors.”
“Who do you think ratted us out?” Jasmine’s gaze was pointed, and I assumed she suspected me.
“I don’t know, but I’m definitely going to find out.”
She nodded to me, and I hoped that meant she believed me. Because if she thought I had informed on them, then maybe Melany did, too, and I couldn’t live with that. Especially not after what she’d just gone through.