Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Book 2 Chapter 3

3

“Hey team!” Hermes joins us—yes, the actual god—and I stifle a groan.

Hermes was my first contact with the gods. After flirting with me more than state law allows, he gave me my first flying lesson…by dropping me from the sky.

“God-bro!” Jordan says, fist-bumping the god.

Hermes goes in for the hug, giving the panther shifter a little extra squeeze. He’s a total sleaze, but at least he doesn’t discriminate.

Mount Olympus Academy boasts gods for instructors, and shifters, witches, and vampires as students. While there’s not exactly an interspecies dating rule, it’s definitely frowned upon. Last year when Val and I—

“No,” I say aloud, breaking my own thought process. I’m not going to think about Val. There’s a reason there aren’t any vampires on my team.

“No what?” Greg asks.

“No…” I search for an answer. Because I am definitely not talking about Val either. “No dance number until we come back with my mom,” I finish lamely.

“Ahem,” Themis is suddenly with us, her disapproving gaze falling on Hermes as he curls a tendril of Hepa’s hair around one finger.

Hepa doesn’t even have to slap him away. She looks him in the eye and says, “I do not consent.” Immediately there’s a flash of blue light where he’s touching her hair, and the smell of electricity in the air.

Hermes shakes his hand but grins, undeterred. “I’m just trying to be friendly.”

“Wow.” I say. “You’ve got to teach me that spell.”

“If you touch me again without my permission, I’m going to put a hex on you that will shrink your…”

“Okay, fine,” Hermes tells her. True, he doesn’t seem to care about the interspecies dating thing, but he could stand to discriminate a little bit more. We are students, after all. Hermes breaks away from Hepa, coming to me last.

“Hermes,” I say, dancing out of his reach when he comes in for the hug.

“Edie,” he says, nonplussed, holding his arms out wide.

Hepa’s reaction has inspired me. “I don’t think teachers should hug students…much less try to do other things with them.”

“She means s*x things,” Greg cuts in.

“When are you going to learn that s*x is fun?” Hermes shakes his head but drops his arms.

“s*x is fun!” Jordan agrees enthusiastically.

“AHEM,” Themis says again, finally bringing the group into some sort of order. “Edie, is your team ready for their mission?”

I glance at the group: Jordan, still a little starry-eyed and distracted by the mention of s*x; Hepa, standing at strict attention, eyes bolted to Themis; and Greg, who is looking at…my chest.

I sigh. I’d hoped he’d be over me by now. We did go to the Spring Fling together, but it was a pity date and people died, so not exactly the start of an epic romance.

“Yes,” I say, trying to sound confident. At least everyone remembered their packs with their supplies. Some food, some Euros, a few other things. “We are definitely good to go.”

But my voice doesn’t quite ring true, because it’s not.

Someone is missing.

Cassie.

My friend. The first person to welcome me to Mount Olympus Academy. The girl whose prophecies were never more relevant than the lunch menu. She also helped me find out all that information about my parents, even going so far as to touch a Seer Stone in order to increase her powers. That stone knocked something loose inside of her, causing her to see more important events. Bad events. Like when she foresaw Darcy, her crush, literally losing his head the night of the ball.

But a lifetime of saying unimportant things had sullied her reputation and she’d known no one would believe her. The last I saw Cassie she was sobbing uncontrollably near the puddle of blood that had been Darcy. I’d been shuttled away, my newfound dragon-shifting ability putting me in the spotlight. The gods all wanted to talk to the first ever dragon shifter. By the time I got back to my dorm I’d heard the news—Cassie was gone. The only thing she left behind was a note, hastily scribbled but clearly in her handwriting.

The monsters want me. They’re going to take me. Send help.

I wanted to go straight out and find her, even if it meant burning down anyone who got in my way. I’d lost enough people and Cassie wasn’t going to be among them. Not if I could help it. But before I could even pack my bags, Themis showed up and nixed my plan. She told me any unsanctioned mission would lead to expulsion.

I had trouble fitting in at my old school. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be any better now that I’m a dragon shifter. Plus, the Academy has become my home.

So I decided to bide my time and wait.

But Themis is still on my s**t list.

Speaking of which…

Themis and her constantly judging gaze slides over my group. “A team with three shifters? And no vampire?” Her eyebrows inch higher.

“Bet I know why,” Hermes adds helpfully. My temper flares, and I open my mouth, sending a small jet of fire towards him, singing his eyebrows.

“Ow! s**t, kid!” He cries, hands going to his face. “Not my money maker!”

Ocypete was right about one thing–the gods are total babies about pain. Hepa pushes past me, her hand going to her leather pouch at her side.

“I got it, I got it,” Hermes waves her away, his god’s blood already healing his injuries. We watch as his eyebrows grow, the bubbled skin around them smoothing back out into the chiseled features we all know so well.

“Are you done with your petty squabbles?” Themis asks me, hands on her hips.

I look at Hermes, who puts his hands up in surrender.

“Yes,” I tell her.

“As I was saying, this is an interesting crew,” Themis continues. Her eyes going to Jordan and Greg. “Two trackers?”

Jordan grins. “I’m not a tracker. I’m a spy. I don’t conform to your stereotypes.”

Okay, I don’t know what the boy has been doing with his free time, with all his talk of stereotypes and personal pronouns.

Greg, noticing my surprised look, whispers to me, “Jordan got called out for being a bro so he’s trying to compensate. Think he did some research when he went home for his week off…or he banged a women’s studies major.”

Jordan lifted his shirt after noticing the print on it and is now trying to read it upside down. He’s still a bro. It’s unescapable. But judging from the way Hepa is scoping out his exposed six-pack, she’s definitely buying what he’s selling.

“Preconceived notions of shifter roles are so last millennium,” she agrees and melts when Jordan turns his grin on her.

“It’s a recovery and rescue mission,” I remind Themis, trying to get us back on track. “It made sense.”

To me. At the time. Of course, now Themis is making me second-guess everything.

“Interesting,” is all she says in the face of my carefully constructed logic.

“Alright,” Themis claps her hands together. “Are you ready to depart?”

We look at one another, and nod. But Themis isn’t talking to us.

“Hermes?” she asks, who seems to be distracted by Jordan’s still lifted shirt.

“Huh?” Hermes asks. “Depart? Yes! I am totally ready.” He jingles the key ring and the bundle of old-fashioned keys rattles. “Follow me, my lovelies.”

That’s right. A group of teens consisting of a witch, a bat, a panther, and a dragon are following a pervy god to an undisclosed location.

This is my life.