Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Book 3 Chapter 19

19

Missing Tina is weird. Missing David Bowie is even weirder.

Every time I walk into our dorm room I’m ready for an insult or an attack about something I did wrong (or forgot to do), or even just Tina being in a pissy mood for no reason whatsoever.

I never thought I would miss my bitchy vampire roommate. But her bare mattress, and the empty spot on the windowsill where Vee sat, makes me super depressed when I come home. Even the dirty spot on the wall where David Bowie kept knocking himself senseless bums me out.

It’s not just my dorm room that’s different. The whole campus has changed.

Themis ended up expelling Nico and two of his friends, and seven vampires—including Val, Tina, and Marguerite.

The rest of the vamps on campus saw it as pure bias...although to be fair, most of the deaths were from them. But the vampires argued that by pissing them off, the shifters got what was coming to them. In the week after the expulsions, more and more vampires left MOA for UWA.

Since all the vampires were in the Assassination class, the sudden drop in the vampire population was immediately obvious for me. In a way, it was kinda good, because it forced me to look around and realize I didn’t belong there anymore either.

Themis was right from the very start. I never should’ve been in the assassination class. I transferred that same day to the spy class. It seemed like the best choice for the moment, and I figured I might also pick up some tips that could help me work with the monsters to free Mavis.

Cassie was devastated by my switch, even while she admitted it was a good choice. She tried to switch with me, but none of the other classes would let her in. So now she mostly just cuts classes, hanging out in the quad or with her mom in the archives. Because Merilee carries all the details of MOA in her head, and has a magic spell to transfer everything to Cassie upon her death, no one here is gonna flunk her out.

Now most of my classes are with Jordan, who is always entertaining. And I’ve gotten to know Nico’s old roommate, the little chicken shifter, better too. He is, of course, thrilled with Nico’s expulsion and no longer having to share a room with someone who regularly terrified him. For some reason I keep finding myself telling him stories of when I first met Nico. Even after everything, I can’t stop a small part of myself from hoping that he’ll one day figure out how to be a better man.

Now two weeks later, as I prepare to visit Val at Underworld Academy on a visitation pass just like he’d promised, Fern is at my side once more. She came straight to my room after checking on Mavis. With the trial now only one week away, we’re all growing increasingly anxious about how it will all shake out.

Seeing my agitation, Fern changes the subject.

“If you see Marguerite, tell her I miss her. Tell her I’m doing great. Better than great.” Fern paces. “Okay, wait. Don’t lie. Tell her I’m having a hard time, but don’t mention the crying or that day I couldn’t get out of bed.”

“Fern.” I give her a big hug. “If I see Marguerite, I will tell her you miss her.”

This sets off a fresh round of tears. But she gets past them relatively quickly and walks with me to the portal fountain.

Metis is waiting there when we arrive.

The majority of the portals have been sealed off due to Mr. Zee’s growing paranoia about one of his bastard children coming to kill him. Metis, though, talked to Hades and arranged for me to take a “campus visit day” to Underworld Academy, something Hades had been more than willing to accommodate.

“He thinks he’s on a roll now that he’s taken most of our vampires,” Metis explains, rolling her eyes as she hands me a day pass. “Convincing the only dragon shifter ever to die for a place at UWA would be quite a feather in his cap.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” I say.

“I’m sure Themis has big plans for you once you graduate,” Metis replies crisply. “With you at the helm of our intimidation team, I think we could make the monsters sign a peace agreement giving in to all our demands. Gods, it must’ve been at least seventy centuries past or more since we last got them so fully under our boots. And then we made the monsters lick them.” She smiles at me, her eyes cold. “Edie, would you like to have a monster lick your boots clean every day? Their spit adds a special sort of polish. They positively gleam.”

She says this so seriously, like this is the plan. I try to swallow, but my mouth has gone dry. “I don’t really wear boots,” I finally say.

Totally lame, I know. But I don’t want to cross swords with Metis right now about the gods’ treatment of monsters. Still, not setting her straight right here on the spot makes me nervous. Like I’m agreeing to that future for myself.

Or maybe it’s just because I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do after Mount Olympus Academy, and drawing a big blank.

Even though I believe in the monsters’ cause, I don’t want to be drawn into their never-ending war with the gods. On either side.

But what else is there for a dragon shifter to do?

I’m still pondering this question as I step into the freezing cold of the black nothing that magically takes me from one place to another.

One more step and I’m standing in the middle of a dry fountain with yet another n***d Hermes statue. My teeth chatter from the cold of the portal and now from the snow swirling down around me.

I put a shivering hand out to catch a flake. Mid-October seems a little early for snow.

“I thought it would be romantic,” says a low voice in my ear. “Snow. New York City.” He holds a hot cocoa up beneath my nose. “Warm drinks in mittened hands.”

I take the cocoa. “Have you been reading my diary or watching too much of the Hallmark Channel?”

Val keeps a straight face but his eyes twinkle at me. “The second one, actually. I never knew such a thing existed, but last week I was one of the losers of the school-wide limbo contest—”

“School-wide?” I echo.

“Uh-huh. Apparently, they’re held regularly and there are some intense rivalries to see how low can you go. The losers have to watch twelve hours of television of Hades’s choosing.” He leans in close, his breath colder than the chilly New York air. “Don’t tell anyone, but I sorta liked it.”

I laugh, ignoring the pang in my heart at the realization that Val is happy at his new school. Quickly, I push that feeling down. I want Val to be happy. Of course I do. It’s just difficult when I feel less and less certain about where I belong.

But I refuse to spend this brief time with Val worried and moping.

Giving him a kiss on the cheek, I slip my hand into his.

“I assume you know where you’re going?” I ask Val.

“Of course. Right now we’re in a quiet section of Central Park, but around the corner is a lovely subway station. And that’s our destination.”

We chat as we talk. I catch him up on all the Mount Olympus news. Val tells me that the monsters found all my inside information about the prison helpful and the plan to save Mavis is coming along. Abruptly we stop.

“Where now?” I ask.

Val points at steps leading to the underground subway station. “Down.”

We head into the subway tunnels, where Val confidently unlocks a keypad-protected door by swiping his Underworld Academy student pass. Seeing that in his hand, even more so than the limbo story, reminds me that he now belongs to this other place.

The light on the door turns green and Val wrenches the door—four inches of solid steel—open. It clicks shut behind us, and we’re left standing on a metal staircase that leads down into darkness.

“Don’t we have a tour guide, or something?” I ask Val. “Where’s the welcoming committee?”

“Do you really want to meet the welcoming committee at a school where the first requirement for enrollment is that you are dead?” Val asks, and I huff.

“No, I just…” The truth is, going to Hades is a little scary.

“Remember the lotus stream?” Val asks me, and I nod.

In order to gain admission to Mount Olympus Academy, I’d been dropped—literally—by Hermes into a swamp, where I’d had to find a stream of lotus flowers which led me to the entrance of MOA. It was a test to see if I had what it took to be admitted.

“So it’s like that?” I ask. “Except…” I look at the rust on the stairs, the darkness welling at our feet. “More depressing?”

“Well, my test for actual enrollment was a bit different than whatever this is. Right here is actually the visitors’ entrance, which is usually easier...but in this instance…” Val shrugs. “Maybe not.”

I glare at him knowing there’s something he’s not telling me. “Just spill it, Val. Ignorance won’t make it easier.”

He sighs. “I don’t know anything for certain. I was just told that having parents on campus puts on the damper on the fun-loving atmosphere and so Hades might’ve made the visitors’ entrance a little more intimidating than the actual student entrance exam.”

“And what was the entrance test?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Oh gods. Did you have to kiss another girl or even—”

“Edie, no!” Val puts his arms around me and pulls me close. “It was nothing like that. We had to play beer pong with ambrosia.”

“Beer pong!” I explode, unable to believe that can be a test to get into a supernatural academy.

“Well the ambrosia was barely watered down and we all had horrible hangovers the next day, so…”

“Whatever,” I say, more annoyed than I should be, though I can’t pin down why. Actually, I know why. It’s because Val is having all these adventures without me. When I first arrived at MOA it all felt a bit like a game, too—not a game of beer pong—but still, it was all shiny and new and full of possibility.

But the bloom is way off that rose now. And I’m still stuck with it.

For now.

Soon though, Mavis will be free. And then I too can find new adventures beyond Mount Olympus Academy. I need to stop thinking about the possibilities my dragon shifting has closed off for me and think about the ones it will open up.

Feeling better about the future just for having decided that it’s my own to make, I put my chin up and head down the steps, while Val’s footsteps sound on the stairs behind me.

We lose the light entirely after we’ve descended to the third platform. Val bumps into my back, then grabs my waist to keep me from falling.

“Sorry,” he says, his cold breath in my ear. He doesn’t drop his hands from my waist.

It’s distracting. And it’s dark. The sort of dark that feels like you’re drowning in black ink. And while I certainly don’t mind our situation, I am not entirely sure there isn’t a fatal fall waiting for me in the next few steps. It kind of takes the heat out of my blood.

Speaking of heat…

“Val, how confident are you in Fern’s fireproofing spell?”

“Pretty confident. Why?”

I don’t explain, just raise his hand next to my face and expel a stream of dragon’s fire at it. He jumps, but doesn’t react otherwise. My fire burns, endlessly looking for something to devour, while his skin refuses to catch, providing us with an unending light source.

“Does it hurt?” I ask.

“It’s not exactly comfortable,” Val says. “But I’ll manage. Onward.”

We descend, continually edging forward. I test each step with one foot before trusting it to hold my weight. Val hovers behind me—literally—his lit hand raised to light the way, the other clutching my arm in case the stairs give out. I wish I could unfurl my wings and fly, but there's not enough room.

We finally reach the bottom, a layer of concrete with something fuzzy growing about an inch thick on top of it. There’s also a bundle of rags resting at the bottom of the steps, a stench emanating from it that I also choose to let remain a mystery. Val lifts his lit arm, glancing both ways down the passage.

“Password?” The bundle of rags says, and I scream. Val spins, ready to set the thing on fire, when he spots a pair of eyes looking out.

“Password?” It says again, and I lean in closer, covering my mouth and nose. It’s human, I’m pretty sure.

“Sir?” I ask, then to decide to cover all my bases. “Ma’am? Do you need help? Are you in need of medical attention?”

“I need the godsdamned password,” it says.

“Saturday night dance fever,” Val says, and I give him a solid smack.

“This isn’t funny,” I say. “A demented homeless person has found their way down here, and we need to get them out. Who knows how long—”

“Saturday night dance fever,” Val says again, and the bundle of rags raises an arm, pointing to the left.

“Proceed.”

Val leads the way, fire held aloft.

Wanting to stay close, I clutch the back of his shirt. “They really take the whole party school thing seriously,” I can’t help but observe.

“Yeah, it’s pretty much the only thing they take seriously,” Val replies. “Tina’s going crazy. Nothing here challenges her. She might transfer to a vamp school.”

“And what about you?” I can’t help but ask. “You seem to like it.”

“Do I?” Val voice is laced with amusement. “Honestly, I refuse to take any of these academies seriously. We act like they’re different, but really they’re just variations on the same bullshit.”

I knew Val wasn’t into the whole school thing, but there’s a bitterness in his voice that I’ve never heard before. “You don’t believe in education.”

He makes a scoffing noise. “This isn’t education, it’s propaganda.”

Before I can ask more about that, I see something glowing up ahead. “Look.” I point a finger over Val’s shoulder. “Is that the entrance?”

“I don’t think so,” Val answers as we get closer.

It turns out to be graffitti, the letters taller than us and spelling out EXISTENCE IS FLAWED.

A flickering light ahead catches our attention and we aim for it, the hall growing thinner as we go. It’s squeezing my shoulders by the time we reach the light. I slip out of the passageway into a circular room, where Val stands before an elevator door.

It only has one button—down. He pushes it, and the doors slide open, a Muzak version of “Stairway to Heaven” playing for our benefit.

“Charming,” Val says, shaking out the fire on his hand, since the elevator has lighting.

On the inside of the car, there is just a single button, pointing down.

“How far below do you think we already are?” I ask with a shiver.

“Not at the bottom yet,” Val says. “But at least it’s all downhill from here.”

"Great dad joke," I tell him, humorlessly.

He shrugs and pushes the button. We begin to sink.

It feels like it takes forever. I hold Val’s hand. It’s the one that had been on fire, so it’s still slightly warm. I don’t usually give much thought to the fact that he’s a vampire, and his cold touch sometimes takes me by surprise. To feel his hand warm in mine is even more weird, but I don’t mind it.

Finally, the elevator rumbles to a halt, and the doors slide open to reveal a large, attractive man in a toga, a puff of very dark hair erupting from the folds at his chest. “Edie,” he says, holding his arms out wide, to reveal that he’s hairy everywhere.

“I am Hades, and welcome to Underworld Academy.”