Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Book 2 Chapter 28

28

Val leads the way to the faculty dining hall. During class he tends to sit at the back of the classroom. When I glance back at him (one or twenty times per class) he usually looks either amused or disinterested. But all the teachers love him anyway. Other than his attitude, he’s the perfect student, easily acing every assignment.

Val holds one of the heavy double doors for me. Inside I see nothing but gloom. But that instantly transforms when I pass through the doorway. Suddenly, it’s like I’m still outside—but in a beautiful Grecian garden.

White pillars with creeping vines stand in a circle around stone tables set with grapes, wine, and food. On a dais is a taller table with the more “important” teachers and Zee’s guests of honor. It looks like a wedding party, or the Last Supper, with Zee in the middle gazing down on everything.

To his left is Themis, and to her side, Kratos. On his right are Maddox and Priapus. I guess the students are meant to sit across from the teacher who chose them because Nico sits across from Zee and waves me over to take the seat across from his mother.

Val goes to his place across from Kratos without another word. I cross through the “lesser tables” and nod at some teachers I recognize from around campus but haven’t had any classes with yet. There’s an empty chair that has Hermes’ name gilded onto it, but he’s not here yet. Finally, I squeeze in between Nico and Larissa. She grins at me.

“I didn’t know you would also be here,” she says.

“Maddox invited me,” I hazard a glance at her. She’s studying me so intently it makes me shiver. I reach for my wine glass, hoping it’s filled with something that will take the edge off.

“And Priapus invited you?” I ask.

I sip the wine and it’s so smooth and fruity, it has to be magical—possibly ambrosia. I’ve heard that the gods’ self-healing powers are derived from that drink, and that a few years ago a shifter—jealous of the vamp’s ability to never age—got it in his head to swipe some from the gods’ table. Apparently, all it did was give him a stomachache and a painful erection for a solid week.

“Oh yes, Priapus invited me. He says that I am his best student,” she tells me excitedly. “He was very impressed with my dedication to anatomy—and with my drawings of…how do you say? The hoo-hoo!”

I spit my wine into my napkin and cough.

“Are you okay?” Zee asks me.

“Yes, of course.”

“That liquid is the nectar of the gods,” Zee tells me. “Ambrosia. Watered down for human consumption.”

“I thought that was a kind of sweet salad,” Larissa says. “With marshmallows. No?”

“It is,” I tell her kindly, “just not in this context.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Hepa runs up to the table, taking her seat at the end, across from Themis and next to Val. “Metis has all the healers working overtime on a cure for the shifters.”

“Any progress?” Val asks.

Hepa gives a tight shake of her head.

“I’m sure that Metis will figure it out,” Themis says. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Yeah, that stubborn b***h won’t stop until she has a cure,” Zee agrees.

Nico leans in and whispers to me, “Zee and Metis used to be married.”

“That was a very long time ago,” Zee tells me with a wink. “The things one gets up to in their youth. Did you know I once had an orgy with Cerberus and a centaur? Those were the days!”

“Indeed!” Priapus agrees with a raise of his glass. “That’s when you could wang noodle a hippogriff and no one would say boo!”

“Edie,” Zee’s focus is back on me. “I wonder if maybe you and I should do some private tutoring? We need to understand what you can do in your dragon form.”

I don’t like the lecherous way that he’s looking at me. Themis must not either, because she appears at Zee’s shoulder.

She lifts his empty glass from the table. “Zee, let me get you more ambrosia. You seem thirsty tonight.”

“Oh, yes. We are celebrating after all.”

“There is nothing to celebrate yet,” Maddox speaks for the first time and all eyes are on her.

Over her shoulder, though, I notice Themis slipping something into Zee’s glass. It’s so quick, I wonder if I’m imagining it. The thing is, my sight is stellar. Above 20/20. Grandma’s optometrist used to jokingly refer to me as, “A freak.” I guess it’s another dragon thing. When Themis sees me looking her way, our eyes meet. She gives a tight shake of the head and then holds a finger to her lips. It’s the classic symbol for, ‘let’s keep this secret between us.’

So that’s weird.

But also just another day at Mount Olympus.

“My son told me a lot about you,” Maddox says, drawing my attention to the table once more, where suddenly, all eyes are on me. “You saved his life.”

“That was more of an accident…” I mumble.

Is it hot in here, or is it just the intensity of Maddox’s gaze?

“Don’t be humble. It’s a fear emotion. And fear is weakness.”

I know my role here is simply to smile and nod at everything Maddox says. No matter how crazy it might be. But honestly? I’m not in the mood today.

“My mom used to say, ‘There are no wrong emotions. Own them all or they’ll own you.’” My throat thickens. At the end Mom obviously forgot this bit of advice, because she let grief get the best of her.

“How stupid,” Maddox says dismissively. “I hope your time at Mount Olympus has begun to offset such awful advice.”

I set my glass down with more force than necessary. “Actually—”

Nico cuts me off before I can say anymore. “Edie’s an amazing warrior. You should’ve seen her when we rescued Cassie—”

“That was an unsanctioned mission,” Themis says.

“Better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.” Nico gives Themis one of his best grins.

Maddox smiles at this. “And that is what Nico’s mother taught him.”

I roll my eyes. She acts like she made that saying up.

Maddox is too busy taking a swig of ambrosia to notice. After wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she gives a sharp clap. “I’m ravenous. Let’s eat.”

“Yes, of course,” Zee motions for the servants—various sprites—to serve us. The largest platter has an actual whole boar with an apple in its mouth. It smells delicious, and the meat falls apart on my plate. My mouth waters.

“Artemis and I brought down this family of boars ourselves,” Maddox says. “They screamed for mercy as my teeth ripped out their throats one by one.”

Holy Hades. I’ve never understood vegetarians more than I do right now.

Larissa must feel the same way—she picks at the grapes on her plate. Nico, on the other hand, digs right in, apparently committing some table manner faux paus because I hear Val mutter, “dog.”

Nico spits a bone onto his plate and looks up at his mom. “Tell us the story of that vampire you killed, the one that got you kicked out of the Academy.”

“That’s not exactly dinner table conversation,” Maddox says, but with a grin that lets us know she’d be happy to tell us.

“Actually, Maddox, why don’t you tell us about what you’ve been up to since that rather memorable event?” Themis easily slides into the conversation. “I hadn’t heard much about you until Zee invited you to guest lecture this summer.”

“Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that,” she says, but a little of the satisfaction that usually oozes from every word has disappeared.

Nico bumps Val’s elbow, just as he’s about to take a drink. Ambrosia splatters down the front of his shirt. It’s one of my favorites of his. There’s a picture of a giant cactus and next to it the words: Don’t Be A Prick.

“My bad,” Nico says with a giant smile.

“Don’t worry about it,” Val says, his voice pitched low and dangerous. “It’s tight quarters. These things happen.” Calmly picking up a napkin, he dabs at his shirt.

My shoulders relax as it seems like maybe there won’t be a brawl.

But then Val’s hand becomes a blur as he sets his napkin back down and the next thing I know the apple that had been in the boar’s mouth is now filling Nico’s.

Nico’s jaws clench, smashing the apple and sending juice rushing down his chin.

Larissa giggles. A soft titter, barely audible over Nico’s growl. But his head immediately whips in her direction.

“I am sorry,” she says, both hands over her mouth. “It is just Val’s cleverness.” One of her small hands covers Val’s. “He made you the boar after you were a boor. Yes?” She looks at Val, eyes wide and uncertain. “You were meaning to be funny, Val? Joshing, as they say?”

Nico’s growl gets louder and it’s obvious from the bursting of the neckline of his shirt that he’s on the verge of changing.

“Don’t shift where you eat,” Kratos says, standing and planting both of his giant hands on the table. His gaze shifts from Nico to run down the entire length of our side of the table. “Kids, play nice.” So we understand it’s not advice, but an order, he flexes his biceps a few times before sitting down again.

“I’m surprised you allow vampire trash at the dinner table,” Maddox says to Mr. Zee, her eyes still locked on Val’s. He gives her the Val special, sleepy eyes with a half-smile. Like he doesn’t even care. But I can see how tense his whole body is, and I wonder what it costs him to have so much control. Maddox shifts her attention to Larissa, who immediately shrinks away. “And how did this girl even get into Mount Olympus? She can barely speak English.”

A little gasp comes out of Larissa and Val reaches over to comfort her. I quickly look away.

“Everyone, everyone,” Themis says, coming to Maddox’s elbow. “Let’s try to remember that we’re all on the same side.”

“Party Pooper,” Maddox says in a low voice, obviously meant for Mr. Zee’s ears.

He giggles and then hiccups.

Themis’ hand lands on his shoulder. “Right, Zee?”

“Huh?” Mr. Zee asks. “Yes, of course,” he agrees, finally.

Larissa looks at me, her light eyes full of hurt. “Trash? This is not an American word for vampire, is it?”

A sudden rush of hot anger fills my stomach. “They’re not trash,” I say, just as Maddox is taking her seat. “They’re here to learn, and to fight, just like the rest of us.”

Maddox’s gaze melts my anger. I’d thought that I was locking horns with her earlier, but she was just playing with me. This, though, is the real thing. Fear, a cold, hard dead thing, fills my gut and makes me believe I’ll never be able to make fire again.

“The vampires have long been selfish creatures,” she tells me. “They are for themselves. Either you are with us, or you are our enemy. And death comes to my enemies.”

“Whoa, things are intense up here,” Hermes says, appearing behind Zee and breaking the tension. “Death and enemies all before dessert?”

“Yes,” Priapus says, nodding towards me. “This hoo-hoo holder is right. Vampires and shifters are only exterior classifications. It’s inside that counts. And what’s underneath!” He motions to his ginormous p***s—and gods help me, my eyes automatically follow the movement. That’s when I discover his d**k currently rests on the back of a Shetland pony under the table.

Mr. Zee laughs, and smacks Priapus on the back. “Speaking of which, that thing you wanted arranging…I took care of it.”

“What is this?” Themis asks.

“Oh, just a little trip for the boys,” Zee says with grin. “A field trip.”

“No field trip was approved.” Themis sounds panicked now.

“Not for the students,” Hermes assures her. “Teachers only.”

“Yes, we’re going to…” Zee looks befuddled. “Where are we going to again?” he asks. I think of what Themis snuck into his wine. Does that have something to do with his memory loss?

“We’re going to a strip club!” Hermes announces loudly.

“Oh yes, that’s right.” Zee nods, taking another drink from his glass.

“I heard the Florida ones were especially nasty,” Priapus tells us gleefully.

“Well, have fun with that,” I mutter.

“It’s for the best that it’s not for students anyway,” Nico says, with a yawn. “I have too much prep to do. My team has a raid in two days.”

“Wait, we do?” I ask, but Hermes cuts me off.

“Children,” he says, shaking his head. “They don’t know how to properly party.”

Kratos raises his glass. “Drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!”

There’s a round of ‘here, heres’ that sound perfunctory to my ears. Of course, most of the faculty are gods—and they will never die.

“Oh, I have a splendid idea,” Zee says, slurring slightly. “You,” he points to Val, “and you,” he motions to Larissa, “Should be on Nico’s strike team. Bring the species together!”

“Yes, that’s exactly right!” Priapus jumps in. “Bring the students together. Let them learn intimacy on the battlefield, instead of the bedroom. That’s how we stop them from crossbreeding with all their boom-boom, dinky-tickling, hibbity-dibbity, doodle-bopping, fenorking, humpy squirty, knobbing, jiggery pokery, organ grinding, porking, quelching, rip-n-dip, or—well, there are students present and I don’t want to confuse them, so let me finish with the proper terminology—schnoodlypooping.”

Mr. Zee looks drunk. And confused. “What in the gods are you going on about?”

“s*x!” Hermes bursts out. “His wealth of knowledge is a gift to us all.”

“Yes, of course. I knew that! I wanted to ensure everyone else was following. It must be clear to all that Moggies are no longer accepted at Mount Olympus Academy.” Zee is definitely drunk. And Priapus is not far behind. “Good thing we’re having the vamps test for Moggies along with the shifter plague. I’m thinking of making them wear armbands next semester or some such thing.”

“You’re what?” I ask.

My blood was tested. If it turns out I’m a Moggy, I could’ve been outed to everyone. But Val tested me and he wouldn’t say anything, even if he knew. I glance up, but he avoids my gaze. What about the rest of the shifters who are mixed? Are they in danger?

“I’m not comfortable adding vampires to my team,” Nico starts but Maddox cuts him off.

“You should be comfortable commanding vampires. They are lesser beings.”

“This is too much,” Themis says, tossing down her fork. “If we can’t even have a nice dinner—” She’s interrupted when Metis rushes into the dining hall.

“I’ve done it!” she announces. “I found a cure for the plague!”