Children of the gods, p.27
Children of the Gods, page 27
part #1 of Ichor Academy Series
Finally, right before noon, everyone was told to get inside and get dressed. Meg practically dragged me up the stairs to our room. She insisted she dress me herself, I wasn’t allowed to say a word. After setting up for a party, I was glad I didn’t have to worry about clothes.
She made me wear a green dress, it only covered down to my knees, and it was slit up both sides a lot higher than I was comfortable with, but Meg ignored my complaints.
She also tied braids into my hair, they wound from the front to the back, one on each side of my head, making it look like I was wearing a tiara or something. It was cute, and it kept my hair out of my face, so that was fine.
Meg, of course, wore a skin-tight, bubble-gum pink dress that was even shorter than mine and dipped lower over her chest than was necessary. She didn’t do anything to her hair, not that she needed to, but insisted we both wear bright red lipstick.
I never wore lipstick, and I did my best to fight it, but she wouldn’t hear it. Apparently, she had already convinced Sam and Hannah to wear the same shade. Meg wanted us to have something that matched, she had tried to get us all to go in the same color dress, but Hannah refused to wear pink, and Meg didn’t want to wear black, so she had settled on lipstick.
We had barely finished getting ready when a voice so loud it echoed through every inch of our fourth story room boomed from outside.
“Alright, man, party time!”
“Looks like Apollo showed up,” Meg giggled as she grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room.
We met Hannah and Sam next to the doors of the building. Sam was wearing a dress that looked almost exactly like Meg’s, except it was black and made out of a shiny material. Hannah was in a white t-shirt and a dark blue skirt. Both of them immediately rolled their eyes when Meg squealed at them.
“You guys really wore the lipstick!” she shouted and wrapped her arms around the two of them in a tight hug.
“You mess up my hair before Gizelle sees it, I’ll rip yours out,” Sam hissed, causing Meg to immediately let go.
We walked out as a group, but separated quickly. It had been explained to me that the best part of these parties was that the students all got a chance to talk to their parents, and it became instantly clear that nobody cared much about anything else.
The gods were spread out all over campus, around each of them were a group of students, all clearly fighting for their parent’s attention. I understood for the first years, this was when most of them would be meeting their estranged, godly parent for the first time. Meg hadn’t been able to shut up about it since we returned from our little trip. The older students I couldn’t really understand, it looked like they were fighting just as hard for attention as the people in my classes were.
Except Adrian. I spotted him at the side of a tall man wearing a tuxedo. I could have picked Zeus out of the crowd even if I had never met Adrian. The flowing, golden brown hair and short, almost glowing beard. The way he reclined in one of the chairs, like the entire universe belonged to him, because it kind of did. Zeus reminded me of a CEO, so rich and powerful he could basically do whatever he wanted, and he held himself like he knew it.
Even the vampires and shifters had visitors. In the spirit of equality, the other students' families were invited as well. The fae, I couldn’t figure out at all. Obviously, titans weren’t invited. I knew some of the fae were the children of gods, but none of them seemed to be grouped around the gods with the rest of the students. They were all just grouped together, spread throughout campus. Even some of the dryads had come down to join the party.
It made me a little sad. As excited as everyone was to meet their parents, it had been made clear that I wouldn’t see mine. Hades was only allowed on the surface of the earth a couple of days a year.
I tried, for a little while, to enjoy the party anyway, but Meg and Hannah had disappeared. Even after the effects of Sam’s blood had worn off, I would’ve hung out with her if I could have, but she was busy being introduced to Gizelle’s grandmother.
Instead, I got a plate of food, most of which consisted of desserts, like small pieces of cakes and cookies, and sat against the school building, away from all of the happy families.
For the first time since I got to the academy, I was eating alone, letting the music block out all the sounds around me. The fact that Euterpe and Apollo kept changing between pop, rock, and reggae made it easy to be entertained by myself.
About a half hour passed before Adrian appeared out of the crowd and walked up to me. I hurried to finish the cookie I had been working on and stood up just as he reached me.
He smiled, this time it touched his eyes. He looked actually happy for the first time since we had gotten back. He held out his hand and asked, “Care to go for a walk?”
Chapter 39
ADRIAN SEEMED LIKE he was doing his best to make this as weird as possible.
First, he laced his fingers through mine, and we walked around the building, just outside the crowd. It was nice, I felt close to him for the first time since before he had found out about Raze. Then, his father saw us.
Adrian’s hand disappeared from mine without any warning, and I looked up at him to see that he was looking in the direction of Zeus.
The god was shooting a withering glare at me. Even from a hundred feet away, I knew I was the object of his anger. I was sure I could even feel my body warm up, like I was being set on fire by his gaze alone.
“Your dad doesn’t like me, does he?” I asked, looking down at my feet. The thought of the king of the gods not liking me was scarier than fighting a vampire in the castle of the titans.
Adrian nudged me with his shoulder as we walked around the corner of the building, but even outside Zeus’ eyeline, he didn’t take my hand again.
“He expects a lot from me. I think he’s hoping I’ll be the next Heracles. When I told him about you... Well, I won’t be coming back to school next semester.”
I stopped walking and pushed Adrian, rather roughly, to face me. “What the hell?”
Adrian gave a sheepish smile. “He said he wants me to help Heracles. That guy’s kind of in a lot of trouble right now.”
I wanted to stay angry, Zeus not liking me was one thing, taking away Adrian for liking me was beyond fucked up. The mention of the disappearing teacher piqued my interest, though.
“Why’s Heracles in trouble?”
Adrian’s smile grew larger, and when he spoke it sounded like he was trying not to laugh. “Heracles set Prometheus free. The titan was supposed to be tortured for eternity. Apparently, he’s the one that’s caused this whole mess.”
Everyone knew the story of Prometheus. He brought fire down to humans, and Zeus sentenced him to be chained to a rock. Every day he would have his liver eaten out of him by a giant eagle. Before Heracles became a god, he killed the eagle and freed Prometheus. But, what did that have to do with Adrian?
Adrian must have seen my confusion on my face. “Raze was working with Prometheus, they are probably still trying to overthrow the gods. Raze talked about it while I was chained up. Heracles is in trouble for setting him free, and I have to help track him down.”
“Oh.” It was all I could say. I couldn’t exactly tell Adrian to ignore the king of the gods and stay at the academy just for me.
Adrian put his hand underneath my chin and lifted my head so I had no choice but to look him in the eye.
“I won’t be gone long, and I don’t leave for another month,” he said quietly.
If he was going to be leaving, I should at least get another kiss. I pushed myself up onto my toes and stretched toward his lips. I closed my eyes and waited for the contact, but someone spoke right beside us, making us both jump.
“You aren’t really going to kiss my daughter in front of me, are you?”
Adrian and I burst apart, both stepping away from each other quickly. The voice was so commanding I felt like I was in trouble, even though I knew I had done nothing wrong.
Then, I saw the man who had spoken. He was about the same height as Zeus, probably at least six feet tall. He wore a fine, black suit, not as flashy as Zeus’ tux, but it looked just as regal in its own way. His hair was the same shiny, black color as mine, flowing down to his shoulders. His eyes were so dark I couldn’t tell where his irises ended and his pupils began. His skin was so pale he might have been a vampire, but he was much too handsome to be anything so mundane.
I could tell I was seeing my father for the first time. There was a darkness, an anger, about him that couldn’t possibly belong to anyone else.
As a perfect contrast to him, a woman was standing next to him. She was my height, with long, auburn hair and delicate features. She was just as pale as Hades, but her blue-green eyes held a kindness more profound than any I had ever seen before. She was pretty, in a kind of plain way.
“My Love,” the girl said with a voice so filled with excitement it didn’t seem appropriate she should be talking to Hades, “be nice to the boy.” She smiled at Adrian, and then me. “Lexi seems to like him.”
I was getting strong “Ana from Frozen” vibes from this girl.
“That’s the issue,” Hades growled, glaring at Adrian just as fiercely as Zeus had looked at me only a few minutes before.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Lexi,” Adrian said quickly.
He did a pretty good job of keeping his voice steady, despite the fact that the rest of his body was trembling. He waved to me without ever taking his eyes off Hades, and then hurried away without another word.
I glared at Hades, even after Adrian was gone and my father turned his gaze on me instead. His expression softened, and a small smile transformed his face. I was still angry.
He had never been a part of my life, I hadn’t even met him once, and now he was showing up and scaring guys away? What right did he have?
“Lexi, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” he said softly. It was hard to imagine this voice and the one from before came from the same person. It sounded just as gentle as the previous one had been harsh.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “Who do you think you are?”
Talking to the god of the dead like that probably wasn’t the smartest thing I had ever done in my life, but my anger was spreading through me, egging me on. My body was filled with ice in seconds, all of my resentment for the father I never knew burst forth all at once.
Hades kept smiling down at me, in fact, I thought he might have smiled a little bit wider when I spoke, but he made no movement and said nothing.
The girl beside him acted first. She took a few quick steps forward and lightly touched my arm. I wanted to shake her off of me and continue to yell at Hades, but the second she made contact with my skin, the ice inside me disappeared, taking my anger with it. I felt a little disoriented, and looked at the girl, feeling extremely confused.
“Hello, my name is Persephone. I guess I’m your step-mother,” she said sweetly.
That made sense, I definitely should have guessed that before. But, that made her the goddess of spring, what the hell did she do to me?
“I’m Lexi,” I replied, still feeling very confused.
Persephone laughed lightly and patted my arm. “I know. Your father has talked about you more than any of his other children.”
I glanced at Hades, who was still smiling, and then back to my step-mother. This was the strangest conversation I had ever had, blowing away the weirdest things that had happened to me without competition. One, Hades talked about me? Two, Hades had cheated on his wife with my mother, and here was Persephone, talking to me like she couldn’t be happier to meet me. This chick was crazy.
“I know it might be difficult for you,” Persephone told me, “meeting your father for the first time. But, please keep in mind he had to fight with his brother for a long time to be allowed to come to this party.”
“Do you mind if we talk?” Hades asked politely. He had moved his hands behind his back and was standing up much too straight. He looked very uncomfortable. Was he... did gods get nervous?
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
Persephone gave me one last smile, and then finally removed her hand. The cold inside me returned, but much less intense than before.
My step-mother stood on her toes, and Hades leaned down far enough for her to kiss his cheek. “I guess I should say hello to my father before I find my mother, shouldn’t I?” she asked Hades with a tinkling laugh.
“The self-centered prick wouldn’t understand the honor,” he answered, before he lightly pressed his lips against Persephone’s forehead.
Persephone laughed, waved goodbye to me, and walked gracefully around the building to the rest of the party. Leaving me alone with Hades.
“She seems nice,” I said, not sure how to start a conversation with the father I had never met.
“No offense to your mother, but I could never love anyone more.”
Offense taken on her behalf, still the way he said it was so sweet, I couldn’t be that mad.
“So, why’d you come?” I asked. I figured “why’d you cheat on her” wouldn’t go over very well.
Hades looked me directly in the eye and sighed. “Your mother must have told you by now, I wanted to be there for you.”
“And?”
I wasn’t going to let him feel good about wanting something. All the gods probably said the same thing. As much as Meg idolized her mother, they had never met. I couldn’t imagine Hades would be much better with his kids.
“I warned you about the war.”
“So that I would stop you from having to slaughter a bunch of kids,” I rebutted immediately.
“I gave you a sword.”
That one threw me. “What? No you didn’t.”
Hades held out his hand, and shadows leapt from the ground, swirling in the air around his arm until they came together, forming a sword identical to the one that was currently upstairs in my room.
“You were in danger in the forest, remember? You had no weapon, so I gave you one made of Stygian Sleep. It’s the essence of the Underworld.”
I took a step back and leaned against the school building. “Okay, fine, you gave me a sword.”
Hades released the weapon and it melded back into shadows that dove to the ground and disappeared into the ones already cast by the school. When the sword was gone, an expression of sadness crept over Hades’ face.
“Lexi, I’m sorry we never spoke until that day in the forest, but your mother didn’t want me to. Technically, I’m really not supposed to now, but Zeus paid me a kindness.”
“Even though he’s a self-centered prick?” I asked, a tiny bit of a smile touching my lips.
Hades returned the smile with a chuckle. “Exactly.”
“Then, why are you?”
Hades returned his hands to his back and said, “There is a school in the Underworld. It’s... not quite the same as this one.” He added the second part while looking up at the building behind me. “But, it is in the Underworld. I could see you every day. I feel that the trouble with Prometheus has just begun, and I have a bad feeling that, as one of the most powerful demi-gods on earth at the moment, you’ll be dragged into it if I don’t keep you safe.”
I could tell that he meant it, there was no way I could doubt his expression or the tone of his voice. Leaving the academy, even to get to know my father, wasn’t an option at the moment, though.
I didn’t want to leave Meg and Hannah, Sam was even becoming tolerable. And, if Adrian was only going to stay for another month, I wanted to make sure I got to spend time with him while I could.
“I appreciate the offer,” I said honestly. “But, I want to stay here. I barely got to settle in before I had to go and save your ass.”
Hades laughed, not just a chuckle or a snort, he threw his head back and laughed loudly enough I’m sure it disturbed the party on the other side of the building.
“Fair enough,” he replied, once he could breathe again. “Can I at least request your company for the duration of the party?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not really one for parties,” I apologized.
Hades nodded seriously. “Neither am I, to be honest, but I won’t get to see Persephone for another six months, and I’d like to spend some time with you, too.”
I took a deep breath and pushed myself off the building. I shrugged as I uncrossed my arms. “Okay, fine, but only if you promise not to make me a sibling while Persephone’s up here.”
Hades smirked. “Are you going to promise to stay out of trouble and avoid this Prometheus mess?”
“Probably not.”
He held out his hand. “Then, why don’t we just go and pretend to enjoy a party.”
I took my father’s hand and let him lead me back around the building. So, maybe he wasn’t so bad. I wouldn’t get to see him much either way.
Who knew, though. I had just started at the academy. Two and a half years left.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Jack Knight, Children of the Gods
