Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

After ten minutes of trying to unravel my wings, Hermes gets frustrated and tells me to hop on his back. It’s beyond awkward at first and I think we’ll be too heavy for his little ankle wings, but he takes a running leap and we’re airborne.

I cry out, but it’s really not that scary. After everything I’ve been through, I mostly just feel exhilarated. I’m going to find Mom and Mavis. More importantly—I’m going to make whoever took my dad and grandma pay.

I look down on the beach-goers, still cleaning up. “Can’t they see us?” I shout into Hermes’ ear.

“What do you not get about god-magic?” he shouts back. Soon we’re so high I can see way out into the water, the clouds just above us. Hermes flies inland, toward the swamps. I tighten my grip when he swoops.

“Follow the path of the lotus,” he tells me. “You’ll find the Academy.”

“I don’t understand…”

That’s when Hermes drops me.

For the first few seconds all I can do is scream. As the ground rushes toward me thoughts of my family fly through my mind. Reflex takes over and I feel the pain and release of my wings unfurling.

I hold them out and they catch the wind. My descent is softened. I let out a loud barking laugh. I can actually fly.

Well, I can fall less quickly. But still way too fast.

The ground—full of swamp trees and brackish water—comes up swiftly. I try to flap my wings but can’t break my momentum.

I crash into the swamp.

I stand, shakily, drenched. The water is up to my knees. I will my wings to retract and am pleasantly surprised when they do. I am anything but happy about my surroundings, though. I’m in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The everglade bottom is slimy and unpleasant and I’ll probably die of some weird fungal infection before I can even reach this mysterious academy.

“Thanks, Hermes,” I shout up to the darkening sky. “You colossal asshole!!!”

Something slithers next to my leg in the water and I scurry to the nearest tree. All I can think about is Grandma’s hatred of alligators. I hope I’m not about to become gator bait.

What did Hermes say? Follow the path of the lotus. What even is a lotus? I look around. In the distance is a light, and I figure it might be a camper--or some murdery swamp people—but hey, I don’t have much of a choice at this point.

I walk for what feels like forever, smelly slime up to my knees, and sucking sound following me everywhere I go. And that’s not all that’s following me. There’s definitely something in the trees. I can only hear it when I stop moving, but then it does, too, and I’m left staring suspiciously over my shoulder when I probably should be paying more attention to the water around me. Something sweeps past my legs and I jump, my wings accidentally sprouting. I swear I hear a giggle.

“Bite me,” I say, then really wish I could take the words back. I have no idea what was in the water. I pull my wings back in, happy to note that it gets easier every time.

The light doesn’t seem to be getting any closer, but the way starts to become easier and the water pulls at my legs, more like a river than a marsh. It smells better too; the heavy fecund scent of the wetland is replaced with a flowery perfume.

A flower actually floats by me, the current taking it ahead. A lotus is a flower! I remember and rush after it.

But rushing is hard in water, and the current changes direction suddenly, pushing against me rather than helping me along the way. I’ll never get to that light if I don’t think of something. The flowers are floating past me now in a torrent, seeming to tease me that it’s so easy for them to get to where they’re going.

“Hermes, I hate you,” I tell him. I hate him for showing up in my life. I hate him for not telling me more. I hate him for coming onto me (and myself for liking it, just a little bit). But mostly I hate him for dropping me from the sky with no warning. Like a shitty parent just throwing a kid into the pool and telling them to swim.

Oh, wait. Maybe that’s exactly what he was doing. Testing me.

Except I don’t have to swim. I have to fly. There’s only one problem with that.

“I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FLY!” I shout up at the sky. “I couldn’t even pass a driver’s test!”

No response.

“Fine,” I say, and climb up on to the bank. Some lotus flower petals stick to my legs and I kick them off before popping my wings out.

I try flexing them. I get a couple inches off the ground, but not much. And I’m exhausted. I automatically reach for my inhaler. It’s only once I bring it up to my mouth that I realize—I don’t need it. I’m breathing hard, but I’m not breathless. My lungs aren’t tight.

Having wings pop out of my back was crazy. But this is definitely the shock of the day. I look at the inhaler in my hand once more and then toss it over my shoulder, suddenly feeling free.

It’s time to fly.

Birds, I tell myself. Think about birds.

But when I close my eyes I don’t see little feathered birds. Two large beady eyes stare back at me. It should remind me of the alligators Grandma hated, but there is more intelligence in these eyes… and they’re red. It’s a deep, glowing red, like a ruby. No…like a ruby that’s on fire. I stare back, entranced.

You are not a bird, those eyes tell me. You are a force beyond nature. You are a—

My eyes fly open. I don’t want to hear more from whatever is inside of me staring out. It’s too much. I’ve seen plenty of horror movies. Red eyes can’t mean anything good.

I pull my wings back in, overwhelmed. And hopeless. I kneel beside the water to scoop some into my mouth, too thirsty to worry about it making me sick. What does it matter, I’ll probably die out here. It’s only as I dip my hands in that I notice the water has changed directions again. The flowers are moving towards the light.

What kind of river changes directions at will? I’m suspicious, but too tired to care as I slide back into the current, letting it take me toward the light.

One moment I’m thigh deep in water and the next I stumble through a rusty copper gate onto a grassy knoll.

Through a copse of trees I glimpse a gorgeous building. It looks like it’s made out of white marble and belongs in Washington, DC more than a Florida swamp. Or… I realize. It belongs in Greece.

This must be Mount Olympus Academy.

“You have to find the way yourself, the first time,” a voice at my shoulder tells me and I jump out of my skin. Literally. My wings unfurl. I’m starting to feel like a broken umbrella here.

“That’s interesting.” A girl in a private school uniform complete with Mary Jane shoes stands in front of me. I’m half embarrassed I look so shabby right now.

“I’m Cassie,” she tells me with a toothy grin. “I saw we’d have a new student today. Also, the headmaster told me.”

“I’m Edie,” I tell her. “Who…I mean what…”

“Oh, I’m just your run of the mill seer. The witches and warlock crowd think I’m perfectly useless,” she informs me cheerfully. “You, on the other hand.” She reaches out and tugs at my wings.

“Hey!” I pull away. It has got to be rude to touch someone else’s wings without asking.

“What are you?”

“I don’t know. Hermes said I would learn in time.”

“Well, let’s get you sorted.” she tells me. “The first thing you have to do is choose your discipline so we know what dorm to place you into.”

“Um yeah, hey Cassie, explain it to me as if I had no idea what you’re talking about.” I follow her, trying to get rid of my wings, but not succeeding. I just manage to hug them tightly against my body instead.

“Okay. Well, there are four different tracks. Defense is the least prestigious. That’s where most of the witches and warlocks, including me, get sorted. But they bumped me last semester. They’re all about healing, casting protective spells, or creating devices for those out in the fields.”

“Sorta like Q does for James Bond,” I say.

Cassie shrugs. “James Bond? Was he a student at your former academy?”

“No,” I laugh. “James Bond is James Bond. He’s fictional, or at least I think he is. The line between what’s real and not feels pretty thin lately.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Cassie says with a little gurgle of laughter. “But I think you’re very funny.”

We pass beneath a stone arch and enter a beautiful courtyard. An elaborate fountain sprays jets of water so high into the air that they disappear into the clouds.

“Wow,” I can’t help but say.

“What were we talking about again?” Cassie asks. She answers herself as I continue to gawk. “Oh right, the various disciplines. Next are the tracker and spy craft schools. They’re separate but share a few of the same classes. It’s also mostly shifters in those. You know, your run of the mill were-folk—you’d probably fit right in there.” She tweaks the edge of my wing again and I jerk away.

“Hey, could you maybe not invade my personal space?”

Cassie’s eyes grow wide. “Sorry!” Her hands fly up in surrender. “I’m terrible with boundaries. It’s why the witches hate me. Well, they also say I don’t know when to shut up. And I had a prophecy that half the class would cheat on the midterm exam and the professor overheard me when I announced it. So everyone sorta wants me dead—not literally, I’m sure. Well, maybe literally.” Cassie shrugs and looks sheepish. “But we could be friends. I mean, with those wings—” She very carefully gestures but doesn’t touch. “You might be a bat. Not exactly the sexiest of shifters, but incredibly useful and great for tracking or spying.”

Oh s**t. With my luck I’m totally a bat. A flying rat.

I shouldn’t be crushed, but I am.

Cassie, oblivious, continues talking. “And finally, the last and—let’s be honest—most brutal of all the tracks, is the assassination class. A few of the less civilized shifters end up there, but it’s mostly vampires. The violent ones love that track. Less thinking, more killing.” Cassie makes little stabbing motions—I think. It’s also possible she’s trying to raise the roof. Finally her hand falls.

“I’m a little nervous, because that’s where I’m going to be now. Midyear switch! After I got booted from defense the gods didn’t know where to put me. They said I’d be useless as a spy since I can’t shut up. And I’m a hopeless tracker; I barely know my left from my right. I think they figured if all else failed I could just talk our enemies to death. Honestly, I think expulsion would’ve been on the table if it wasn’t for my mother working here. Thank goodness for the fact that this place wouldn’t run without her.”

“Is your mom the dean or something?” I ask.

“The Dean?” Cassie goggles at me like I’ve said something insane. “No, that’s Mr. Zee. My mom runs the archives. She’s a finder. Of objects and stuff, you know.”

I nod, pretending like I do know.

“She started working here before I was born, so I was basically raised on campus. And since Mom’s the only person who understands her filing system, they’ll never be able to get rid of her.” Cassie pauses and then adds with a little shrug, “Or me.”

“Wow,” I say. “You’ve never lived in the real world?”

“Nope. From what I’ve heard it’s not that different from our world. Well, except for bathing in a huge tub of hot cocoa. I’d maybe like to go and try that out once.”

I am debating whether or not to tell Cassie that is definitely not a thing, when suddenly her whole body goes rigid.

“Cassie?” I reach towards her as her eyes go milky white.

“You’ll be in the assassination class too. We’ll sit next to each other at lunch and share our meals. We’ll be best friends.” She blinks and her eyes are normal again. A giant smile spreads across her face. “Can you believe it? We’re gonna be besties!”

Once again treading all over my personal space, Cassie throws her arms around me.