Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

We’re woken in the middle of the night by alarms wailing. Cassie and I smash into each other as we scramble from our beds, still half asleep. Cassie puts her hand on the doorknob and screams, clutching it to her chest.

“It’s scalding,” she tells me, coughing.

I grab a shirt and try the knob, but I can’t get it turned. Finally I just use my hands. It’s hot, but not painful. I look down at my palm and purple scales glisten back at me. Something tugs inside of me, similar to how it feels before I let my wings out. I have a feeling with just a little push, I could shift. Right here. Right now.

I ball both hands into fists and hold it back. Even with the threat of being kicked out of the Assassination Class—I’m still not ready.

Cassie taps my shoulder. “Are we waiting for something?”

I blink and realize I’ve been standing here while the building burns down around us. There’s no time for this right now.

“Sorry!” I throw the door open.

The hallway is full of smoke, and Cassie falls to her knees. “The air is clearer near the floor,” she shouts.

I’m not having any trouble breathing so I lead the way and drag Cassie beside me. We crawl through the thick smoke until we reach the stairwell. Thankfully, the smoke is thinner here, and Cassie doesn’t look as winded. We run down the remaining stairs and burst outside.

I barely get a breath of fresh air when Tina is on top of me.

She comes at me from behind, smashing me into the ground. I try to scramble up, but she gets on my back and then with a hand pushes the side of my face into the gravel walkway. “You are not getting away with this. And if Val doesn’t make it out of that building in the next minute, the rest of your short life will be filled with suffering.”

“Enough.” I turn in time to see Themis lift Tina in the air as if she weighs no more than a child. “Your brother is coming out right now.”

We all turn to watch Val exit the building. Sooty and with burn marks across his chest and arms, he carries someone wrapped in a sheet.

“We need a medic,” he yells in a scratchy voice as he falls to his knees. “I put her out, but…” He can’t say anything more as a coughing fit overtakes him.

Themis takes the sheet-wrapped person from Val, while the released Tina runs to his side.

Peeling the sheet back, she gasps.

“No.” A voice from the vamps say. It’s Marguerite, the vamp that defended Fern earlier, only to earn Tina’s wrath. For her to be this upset…

“Oh no,” I say.

“It’s Fern.” Ms. Themis confirms. She looks out at the rest of us. “She’s still breathing. What was a witch doing in the assassin dorms?”

No one answers, but Marguerite falls to her knees and wails. No one comforts her. I want to go to her but I don’t have the right. Fern was nothing but nice to me. She was such a good person. Why did this happen to her?

The medics come and bundle the girl onto a stretcher. One of them also collects Marguerite, who probably will be given some form of magical lithium. Themis watches them go, then turns to Val.

“What happened?”

Tina is on her knees beside her brother. “Can’t you see he needs time to recover?”

“It’s okay.” Val puts a hand on Tina’s arm. He coughs and Tina helps him stand. “The alarms went off. Once my door opened and I saw the smoke, I headed toward Tina’s room. As I passed the girl’s bathroom, I could tell the smoke was coming from there.” He glances toward Tina. “I thought it might be…”

She rolls her eyes. “i***t. I would never get set on fire.”

This earns a wry smile from Val. “Well, I decided to check and found Fern. She was on fire, but fighting it. It wasn’t a natural fire. She’d cast a spell to put it out and it’d come back again. Like it was determined to burn her alive.” Gasps come from all around me.

Themis nods. Grim. “And then?”

“I pushed her into a shower and turned the water up. Then ran to get some sheets and blankets. By the time I came back she was on the ground, smoldering. I wrapped her in the sheet and brought her out here.” He coughs again. “That’s it.”

“You’re a hero,” Tina says. She looks out at those gathered. By now the whole school has woken up and spilled out of their dorms. She is very clearly working to shape the narrative in real time. As she transfers her gaze to me, I realize I’m part of that narrative as well. “Themis, you of all people know that justice must be served here. We cannot trust this fire breathing unknown shifter living amongst us. We’re not safe in our own beds.”

“Fern was clearly not in her own bed,” Themis replies, dryly.

“That’s beside the point,” Tina says after only a slight pause. “She was on fire. Who can account for Edie’s whereabouts before the fire?”

“I was sleeping,” I protest.

“And what about when Jenn died?”

“She was with me,” Val disconnects himself from Tina and takes a step toward me. Tina’s whole face goes tight and angry.

“No she wasn’t.”

“Yes, she absolutely was. Earlier today and…” He holds his hand out to me and unsure what else to do, I take it. “And tonight too. We’ve been secretly seeing each other.”

As I gape at him, Val lifts my hand to his lips and lightly kisses my knuckles. It should be a ridiculous gesture, but the cold touch of his lips against my skin burns through me. Meanwhile, there are audible sighs behind me.

Still holding my hand, Val tugs me closer. “There is no way Edie is behind these fires.”

And suddenly, he’s the one shaping the narrative. The hero of the night, clearing my name. Not just giving me an alibi, but wrapping me up in his own moment.

Themis nods. “All right. Val, get to the infirmary so they can take care of those burns.”

Tina steps forward. “I’ll go with him.”

Val’s arm snakes around me. “Actually, Edie will take me.”

Tina’s eyes narrow as they focus in on me. There is a new level of ferocity behind her eyes. Before she hated me on principle. But now it’s personal.

Val and I make our way through a crowd that parts around us. People seem unsure whether to be awed or scared or impressed. At least until we reach the witch group. Then Val is given endless gentle pats on the back along with soft words of thanks. I glance up at him to see how he’s taking this, but he remains as unreadable as ever.

Finally, the crowd fades behind us. For the few feet between us and infirmary, we’re alone.

Which gives me limited time to set things straight.

“Um, we’re not secretly dating.”

“No,” he agrees easily. “Not anymore.”

Reminding myself that I can’t pinch a guy with serious burns, I settle for a sigh. “I mean we’re not dating at all.”

“You want to break up already?”

“Val.”I say his name, exasperated.

“Edie.”

We’re almost at the infirmary and nowhere close to settling this. I stop. Weirdly, it starts to rain for only the second time since I’ve been at Mount Olympus. The cool drops fall around us both, and Val groans in pleasure, opening up his burned arms to let them fall on his skin. But I’m not going to be distracted.

“You make no sense. Why didn’t you just tell the truth last time and say we were together? Then maybe people would’ve stopped suspecting me before now and they could’ve started looking for whoever is really doing this.”

Val gives me a long suffering look. “Edie, were things simple where you came from? Or did you just pretend they were, like you’re doing now?”

I step away from Val. “If you’re gonna be a d**k, you can get yourself the rest of the way there.” I make it all of three steps before Val is in front of me.

“Okay, wait. You deserve answers.” He hesitates, then adds, “some of them, anyway.”

“Wow, thanks.”

He reaches for me, but I step away. “I didn’t say anything the first time because it wouldn’t have cleared your name. People think I helped my roommate get away last semester. They don’t trust me. My alibi would’ve made you less trustworthy.”

“And now because everyone thinks you’re a hero the calculus has changed?”

“I guess?” Val holds both hands out and shrugs. “Or at least I hope so.”

I cross my arms over my chest, not buying his wide-eyed innocent thing. It’s obvious there’s ten million more things he’s not telling me.

I walk up to Val. His shirt is singed, but I can make out a flamingo and the words, majestically awkward. Very purposefully, I poke him in the middle of his chest. “Listen, buddy, I’m not about to get into some fake relationship just because it’s convenient.” My fingers linger, gently feeling his chest muscles. His t-shirt is soaked now, the solitary rain cloud above us still blessing us with cooling drops.

The corner of Val’s mouth lifts ironically. “Oh, I’m fairly certain it will be very inconvenient.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I drop my hand.

“It means that shifters have a way of getting me into trouble and you so far have been nothing but trouble.”

“Thanks a lot!” I plant my hands on both hips. “I never asked you to help me.”

“No, you were just going to stand there and let Tina tear you apart.” Val shakes his head. “I can’t let her kill you and have her get kicked out of school.”

Realization hits me like a slap. Val doesn’t have some secret crush on me. He’s just watching out for his sister.

“You know what?” I say. “I think I’ll take my chances with Tina.”

Spinning on my heel, I walk away. Except I don’t make it more than two steps before Val grabs my hand. I try to shake him loose, but for a half burnt dude, he’s got a hell of a grip. He forces me around to look at him.

“Don’t be stupid, Edie. This goes beyond Tina.”

I stop tugging at our linked hands. “What does that mean?”

“The gods are big on revenge.”

“Yes, I know. Fire or flood,” I say, rolling my eyes. But I’m not even done talking before my tone gets serious instead, as I think about what he just told me—the gods are big on revenge. Like he’s certain this isn’t some petty inter-species student squabble.

“What are you saying?” I ask. “You think one of the teachers is behind this?”

He releases my hand and takes a step back. “I don’t know. But I’m saying, be careful who you trust. Students are dying and every one seems fine with all the evidence pointing to you.”

I gulp. Hating that he’s right. I assumed they were trying to figure out who’s behind this…but they don’t seem to be trying very hard. “And why should I trust you?” I ask.

Val smiles and puts both hands over his heart. “If you can’t trust your fake boyfriend, who can you trust?”

And with that, he marches off, leaving me alone and confused in the darkness, aware that it’s stopped raining as suddenly as it began.