The last to go was Lucian. I figured he’d been biding his time and observing how everyone else did and figuring out an advantage.
He took in a deep breath, glancing over at me. I gave him an encouraging smile. He wrapped his hands around the lightning bolt and paused there. It looked like he was trying to acclimate himself to the electrical current shooting through his body. He then lifted the bolt, turned toward the target, and reared his hand back to throw it with everything he had. The bolt struck the target right in the bullseye.
The whole room erupted into cheers. Even Zeus clapped. But that caused the building to shake again. I ran to Lucian and hugged him. When he wrapped his arms around me, I noticed his hands weren’t even red.
Because it was our last night before the final trial, Zeus let us gather in the dining hall for a couple of hours before curfew. He even allowed us a few special treats to snack on. The six of us sat together at our table and gorged on ice cream sundaes and banana splits. We talked and laughed, forgetting about what was in store for us tomorrow. Not once did we mention that it could be our last night together like this. As none of us knew what happened once we were divided into our clans. Maybe we’d never see each other again. At least not until there was a war the Gods needed us to fight.
I tried to push it from my mind and just enjoy the moment with my best friends and the boy I’d fallen in love with.
When I slept that night, my dreams were filled with darkness and shadows again. But this time, I sensed a presence in the darkness. It reached out to me, asking me for something. Asking me for permission to be with me. I didn’t fear the shadows, as they’d always been kind to me, so I told the presence… Yes.
When I woke in the morning, I felt renewed and empowered. That feeling stayed with me as we made our way to the training field, which had been transformed into an ancient battlefield with stone walls to hide behind and trenches to jump into. The sun was bright in the sky, and it seemed to shine down on Athena as she walked out onto the field.
She wore traditional Greek robes and a gold band over her short, dark curls. Her dark skin was radiant against the white robes, and she truly looked like the Goddess she was. Ares may have been the God of War, but Athena had taught us more about the art of warfare than any other deity in the academy.
And now was our chance to show her what we’d learned. Her trial was going to be a battle, literally.
“In this trial, you will be fighting against some of the best warriors this academy has produced.” She swung around and gestured to the people walking onto the field. “Heracles, Medusa, Achilles, Antiope, Helen of Troy, and Bellerophon.” The six champions bowed toward us. It still unnerved me to see Medusa’s hair swirl around on its own. “You will be having what you would call a game of capture the flag. The object is for your team to cross the field of battle to capture this team’s flag.”
I nodded. It seemed easy enough. Well, not easy, but definitely not complicated.
“Instead of paintball guns and paint pellets,” she said, smiling, “you will be using bows and swords and whatever weapon you have at your disposal. Don’t worry, though, those arrows are blunted, as are the swords, so you won’t die on the field of battle, but you will most definitely be injured.”
Great. Just what I needed. More scars.
“You will split into teams of ten and go against the champion team. If you capture their flag, you pass the trial, if they capture yours, you fail.” She turned her head to look at each of us. “Just words of the wise… only two teams in seventy years have ever won.”
We quickly formed a team consisting of me, Jasmine, Georgina, Mia, Lucian, Ren, Marek, Jasmine’s roommate, Hella, Diego, whom Lucian had convinced to defect over to us, and a quiet girl named Rosie, who I knew was an ace with a bow. For a few of us, this trial was all or nothing. Ren, Georgina, Marek, and Diego’s fates all hung on the wire. I vowed to make sure that we won this battle.
We all got outfitted with shield and weapons. I took a bow and a quiver of blunted arrows. I was better with it than a sword or spear. Lucian took a sword, of course. Once we were ready to go, we hunkered down in our home base to discuss strategy before the horn sounded.
“How in hell are we going to beat them?” Mia shook her head, already defeated. “You heard Athena—no one wins this trial.”
“We don’t have to beat them,” I said. “Just have to distract them long enough for someone to sneak over and grab their flag.”
“At least one of them will be guarding the flag.” Lucian peered over at the champions, who weren’t in huddle, but just standing by their home base. I noticed a couple of them even looked bored.
I wasn’t so sure of that. They were demigods. They were used to winning. For them, this was child’s play. It was more of a boring task in a long list of boring tasks they’d likely done over and over again for decades. Their arrogance would play against them. Or at least, we could make it play against them.
“I think this is what we should do.” I picked up a stick and started to draw in the dirt.
When the horn blew, everyone but Georgina and Marek moved out from the home base. They were going to stay behind to spring the booby trap when it was needed. The rest of us split into two groups, going opposite ways. Lucian, Ren, and Rosie came with me, and Jasmine took charge of Diego, Mia, and Hella.
My team ran to the cover of a half-formed stone wall; some of the stones were broken, as if something chipped at them. It soon became obvious what had done the chipping. Arrows came sailing toward us. I could hear them ping off the rock. Through a tiny slit in the wall, I spotted Achilles standing on top of a slight rise, shooting at us. He didn’t even have a shield. And he was smiling.
“What a dick.” I shook my head. “We need to show this guy what we’re made of.”
“I agree.” Lucian grinned at me.
“Rosie, I hear you’re a great shot.”
She shrugged. “I’m all right.”
“Okay, on three, the three of us form a shield, and when we draw his fire, Rosie, take your shot. Aim for his legs.”
She grinned.
“One, two, three…”
We ran out from the wall, Lucian, Ren, and I had our shields together, creating a wall. The sound of arrows pinging echoed around us. Crouching behind us, Rosie knocked two arrows and when I nodded, she came around the right side, fired, and then ducked back behind the shields. We heard an outraged shout.
“Bloody hell!”
I looked through the slot we’d created between shields to see Achilles with red splotches on his legs. It wasn’t blood, but paint. Like paint pellets, our arrows, swords, and spears must’ve magically produced red paint to mimic wounds. It was perfect.
Now that we had their attention, we made a run for the next cover, while Rosie and I fired more arrows at Achilles. He dashed from his spot on the hill. One of my arrows struck him in the ass. While we regrouped, I heard a shout from the other side of the field.
“Finally. Worthy opponents!” It was Heracles, and he sounded positively joyful.
We were almost halfway across the field. More arrows rained down on our position. Achilles had found a better spot to fire from. I spied Antiope with her spear and shield. I found a hole in the wall and fired arrows back, but Antiope easily protected herself and Achilles. We needed a huge distraction to get farther down the field.
“I’m going to create a diversion. When it happens, you three run to the next cover.” After affixing my shield to my back, I rubbed my hands together, an orange glow emerging. “One, two, three!”