At the bottom of the steps, we were met by an assuming woman with curly brown hair up in a messy bun, a very plain dress, and sensible shoes. She looked like a librarian. She even had reading glasses hanging on a chain around her neck.
She smiled warmly at us. “Good morning. My name is Pandora, and I’ll be your guide for the day. I will show you to your various classes and answer any questions you may have about the academy. I’m your TA for the year. If you need anything, you can come to me.”
She led us down a very large, wide corridor—the whole academy seemed to consist of enormous corridors—to a set of gray stone doors with stars engraved into them.
“This is where your history of the Gods class will be. It’s a very important class, as you will need to know everything you can about each of the primary Gods and Goddesses to prepare for your trial at the end of the year.”
A tall girl with blond hair raised her hand.
Pandora smiled at her. “Yes?”
“Are the trials as bad as they say? I heard that a boy died during the trial of Zeus.”
Others in the group looked around nervously.
Pandora gave us a tight-lipped smile. “Rumors don’t do anyone any good.” She gestured to the doors. “Have a good class, and I’ll see you afterwards.”
The doors swung open, and we all entered the dark room. I wondered if anyone else noticed Pandora didn’t exactly answer the question. Probably not, as everyone was busy gawking at the domed ceiling above us. It was lit up with a thousand twinkling stars.
In the center of the room stood a rising platform, and around it were fifty desks and chairs. There was a scramble for the desks in the middle, but I opted for one farthest from the lectern. Georgina followed me to the back. As I slid behind my desk, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jasmine taking a desk in front of me. We smiled at each other.
Another door at the far end of the room opened and a woman entered. I assumed it was Hera, our professor. She walked to the center of the room and stepped up onto the dais. She wore a long, flowing dark blue dress, and her hair was wrapped up on top of her head with a string of flowers acting like a turban. Jewels sparkled around her throat, her ears, and her fingers, as she lifted her hands in front of her.
“Everything in the cosmos was created by Uranus and Gaia, Heaven and Earth.” Between her hands, light formed. She twisted her hands around until a solid ball of blue erupted then she threw it up at the ceiling. The orb bounced from one star to the next and the next, sending them all spinning, until they were a spiraling mass of stars and light above us.
There were gasps around the room as the stars separated and rotated into position in the universe. Then one star grew ten times its initial size into a large globe. Land and sea formed on as it turned on its axis. It was the Earth.
“Heaven and Earth gave birth to twelve great, ferocious and ruthless Titans. Oceanus…”
The thundering sounds of crashing waves filled the room. Then a swirling blue maelstrom spouted from the floor. Some of the students nearest to it jumped out of their seats and screamed. It looked so real; I expected to be sprayed by water as it spun through the room, turning into a gigantic monster made of water, with eight whirlpool arms spinning around.
“…dominated all the seas and oceans and lakes and rivers, demolishing ships and drowning everyone he came in contact with.
“Hyperion, made of the sun itself…”
Out from the ceiling dropped a male form made of fire, with huge fiery wings. A wave of heat surged through the room with every flap of his wings. He lifted his arms, which were columns of fire, and shot out fireballs every direction. One fireball zoomed straight for my head and I ducked. I could actually feel the heat as it flew by, vanishing when it hit the stone wall.
“…scorched everything in his path…”
For the next hour, Hera introduced all twelve Titans and talked about how monstrous and destructive they were. Then she talked about Tartarus, the stinking, dark, frozen wasteland they were imprisoned in, a place far below the underworld, and how important it was for the Gods to make sure they stayed there.
“This is why you are being trained,” she said, her voice rising to a crescendo. “You will be the Gods’ Army, to fight by our side in the event our enemies are unleashed on the Earth.”
A chill ran through me, as I thought about the repercussions of any of the Titans being released from their prison, and why someone would ever want that to happen. It made me think about what I had overheard in the academy halls last night.
After history class, Jasmine and I met up.
“That class was crazy, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah, seems so unreal.”
Georgina came along my other side. “It’s as real as you and me.”
I introduced her to Jasmine, and the three of us followed Pandora and the rest of the group to our next class—Spear and Shield—which was outside behind the main academy building in an open grass field. As we lined up in a semi-circle, three men ran out onto the field, shouting and making shiver-inducing battle cries. All three carried a long spear with an arrowhead-like tip and a round shield. I assumed one of them had to be our professor, Ares.
Two of the men, dressed in black military fatigues, attacked the third man, who was older, and wearing red nylon shorts and a white tank top. His hair was cut short, much like an army general. I remembered him from the hallway last night. This had to be Ares.
As I watched him dance around the field, deflecting blows from the other men, he reminded me of my old gym teacher from high school who loved to play dodgeball. I swore it was his most favorite activity. He’d probably even slept with the dodgeball clutched tight in his hands, like a child with his little stuffed toy.
The image made me snicker. I put a hand up to my mouth to stifle it, but it was too late. It had already escaped, and a couple of the people around me noticed, and basically took a step away from me, singling me out.
After Ares made a sharp cutting motion with his hand, the other two men immediately stopped what they were doing and stood at attention with their shield held at chest height, and their spear held upright in their hand, eyes forward, chins lifted. Ares spun around and glared at me.
Obviously, he had also noticed my snicker.
He pointed right at me. “Step forward.”
I gestured to myself. “Me?”
“Yes. Get out here. Now!”
I stepped out of the group and onto the field. Both Georgina and Jasmine looked horrified, while the dark-haired girl, whose name I discovered during history class was Revana, openly smirked.
Ares tossed his shield at me. I put my arm up just in time to catch it before it smashed me in the head. It was heavy, and I had a hard time keeping it balanced. Then he thrust his spear at me.
“Protect yourself!”
I raised the shield just in time, so the spear tip didn’t pierce my face. It bounced off the metal. “What the hell?”
He thrust it toward me again, this time at my legs. I managed to move the big metal plate down in time, and the clang of metal hitting metal reverberated over my entire body. My arm shook, and I nearly dropped the shield.
“Do you find this funny?” he shouted at me.
“No!”
He lowered his spear and took a step back to address the entire group. “War is not funny.” He tapped the spear onto the ground. “There will be no laughing in my class. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” some of the group said.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes sir!”
He came back to me and tore the shield from my hand. “Get back in line.”
Head down, I quickly walked back to the group, standing next to Georgina and Jasmine. Jasmine leaned in. “Are you okay?”
I rotated my right shoulder; it was starting to ache from holding the shield up. I nodded. “I’ll live.”