Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Cassie walks me straight to the admissions office, and takes a seat by the door. “Don’t worry, Themis is always fair. She’ll take good care of you. And I’ll be right here when you’re done.”

“Great.” I give her a thin smile and step inside.

A beautiful blonde woman sits behind the desk. She looks me up and down, pursing her lips. I feel super judged.

“Hello, Edie. Hermes told me he would be bringing you here today.” She doesn’t sound entirely happy about my arrival. Her long arm adjusts a pencil on her desk, putting it in line with all the other ones. “I’m the guidance counselor. You may call me Themis.”

“Just Themis?” I ask. “Is that like your first name? Should I call you Miss Themis?”

She smiles faintly. “I’m no miss. If you must, Ms. Themis is fine, but our faculty doesn’t depend on the use of honorifics to get the respect they deserve.” She pauses a beat before adding, “Nor do I.”

She stands and walks around her desk. “Please. Sit.”

“I’ll stand,” I tell her. I’ve still got swamp water on me and her furniture looks even nicer than the stuff Carla and Rod had. Plus, I’m too weak to pull my wings in. I tried earlier, and they just drooped there.

She nods and studies me, arms crossed. “I’m sure Cassie filled you in on our various disciplines. That girl isn’t good at much, but she certainly can talk.”

“That’s mean,” I tell her.

Ms. Themis smiles wanly. “Sometimes the things I say may sound…harsh, but it’s in my nature to judge. And to create order. Please, let me help you.”

She puts a hand on my shoulder and my wings are suddenly gone. “You’ll get better at this, don’t worry,” she tells me kindly. “Now sit so we can chat.”

I collapse tiredly into the chair and she returns to her side of the desk. “What did Cassie tell you about our Academy?”

“There are…were-people and vampires…and…” I stop. It’s all a jumble in my mind.

“We help people like you. People who shift into other shapes. People who don’t belong anywhere else. We train them as protectors, or as spies, or sometimes they track down dangerous monsters. And sometimes they kill them.”

I sit up.

“That’s it. I want to kill monsters,” I tell her.

“Shifters mostly become spies. Depending on what they shift into. That discipline would be most beneficial to you—”

I shake my head. “A monster murdered my family. I want to become…” I think about what Cassie told me. “I want to become an assassin.”

Ms. Themis’ lips twitch. “The assassination class is the most rigorous. And you’re coming to us late in the year.” She pauses then asks. “What kind of student were you at your previous schools?”

“Really good,” I lie.

“I do have your records,” Themis replies with one single perfectly raised eyebrow.

“Oooh.” I quickly backtrack. “I meant I was always on time and attentive and…” I wrack my brain for another positive and can only come up with, “clean.”

“Impressive.”

I can feel myself being pushed away from the assassin track which is my only reason for being here. And that is not happening. “Look, I don’t test well. It’s a high pressure situation—”

Themis breaks in. “All our classes are high pressure. Especially the assassination class ones.” There is something like pity in her eyes and I can feel her gearing up for the part where she lets me down gently.

“Wait! Cassie had a vision—that’s what she does, right? Predict the future? She saw us in the assassination class together.”

“Cassie’s visions are not set in stone. Quite the opposite, really. The future can be changed. Cassie also sometimes exaggerates what she sees.”

I stand. “Look, I came here for one thing. I’m not going to waste my time spying on whoever.” I take a deep breath and attempt to stare down a god. “I. Want. Revenge.”

Ms. Themis nods slowly. “That’s easy to say, Edie, but I don’t think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation.”

“My father was killed. I understand the gravity just fine.”

“He was killed. But you must understand that it wasn’t a random act of violence. Your father was a casualty of war. A war that we’ve been fighting for much longer than you’ve been alive. The other side has one goal: the complete eradication of the gods who run this Academy as well as anyone we’ve trained or worked with. They will not stop until everything and everyone we love is destroyed.”

War. It’s a heavy little word. For some reason I’d had the idea that this was more of a rival g**g situation. The wave monster guy versus the gods. But war is way bigger. And messier. Yet somehow I’m now in the middle of one and volunteering—no, insisting—on fighting.

It occurs to me that I might be in over my head. I gulp and resist the urge to run out of the room screaming.

“Who exactly are these people we’re at war with?”

“They’re not people at all. They’re monsters.”

“Ummm…” I hesitate because I’m pretty sure this is a stupid question. But still, it’s gotta be asked. “You mean literally? Actual monsters, like that Levi thing that murdered my father?”

“Yes, indeed. They are monsters in all senses of the word. The students in our assassination class are trained to meet them on the battlefield—wherever that may be. Though it pains me to admit it, these students must in some ways become every bit as monstrous as those they are fighting.” She pauses and levels me with a hard gaze. “You need to ask yourself if you truly are up to this challenge. You haven’t been raised with this knowledge. However hard everyone else works, you will have to work twice as hard. You’ll have to take the full load of assassination classes, as well as a remedial flying class so that you can learn how to use your wings. Are you ready for this?”

For six months I’ve done nothing but grieve and mope and be sad. My father and grandmother are dead. Murdered. My sister and mom are missing. Maybe dead too. I am for all purposes completely alone in the world.

I close my eyes and the giant glowing ones from the swamp once again stare back at me. Maybe I’m not completely alone after all. Whatever I’m meant to shift into is inside me…and apparently it has opinions too. Or one opinion, at least. It wants to be in the assassination class. The idea of war doesn’t scare it one bit. The eyes communicate that as clearly as any written message might. They are glittering. And eager. And ready.

My wings are not a broken umbrella. They are this thing inside of me, struggling to come out.

I am terrified.

But also, weirdly sorta…excited?

“Yeah,” I say. I stand and my wings burst out of my back and billow into the room. “I am ready for this.”

I didn’t understand how exhausted I was until I lay down on my bed. Almost immediately I am dead asleep. It seems like only seconds later I’m being shaken awake.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my bed?” A girl dressed all in black stands over me, daggers in her gaze.

I blink blearily. “Your bed?” I look around.

“Yeah, dummy. My bed. If you’re my new roommate obviously your bed is the one with all the new stuff on it.”

I scramble to my feet. “Sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“Whatever. I heard about you,” she tells me, tearing the blanket and sheets off her bed, like I have some kind of contagious disease.

Already? I think. I imagine Cassie, bursting at the seams with news, running off to tell everyone about my arrival.

“You’re the shifter who thinks she’s something special,” the girl continues.

That definitely doesn’t sound like something Cassie would say. No, I’m guessing my new roomie added that part all on her own. We’re definitely not going to be having pillow fights anytime soon, or painting each other’s nails.

She lies on her stripped bed. “Well, you’re not special. I give you two weeks before you fail out. Or are dead.” She smirks at this last bit. Like she’s imagining it and likes what she sees.

“Well, nice to meet you too,” I tell her. “I’m so glad my roommate is a supportive person and not a soul sucking bitch.”

Her eyes flick to me. “Blood sucking bitch.”

“Whaaaa?”

She makes a hissing noise and flashes me her fangs.

Oh. Hell. No.

“Don’t worry, I’d rather eat roadkill then suck on a shifter.”

“Super comforting,” I mumble, turning to my bed and all the stuff covering it.

There are clothes—new underwear and pajamas and my uniforms. Ms. Themis said that the uniforms are magic and when I shift will allow space for my wings. Other than that the uniform looks like pretty standard private school stuff, complete with knee high socks and a preppy tie.

Also in the pile are books, and on top is my class schedule. a*s CLASS is printed in block letters at the very top and I let out a laugh. My roommate eyes me.

“You know, I may not sleep but I do like quiet.”

“I was just…ass class…” I giggle. “I’m Edie, by the way.”

She huffs. “I’m Valentina. My friends call me Tina.”

“Nice to meet you, Tina,” I say sarcastically.

“I said my friends call me Tina. You are definitely not one of my friends, so let’s not do this.”

“Do what?” I ask.

She turns. “This roomie thing. You and I are not going to ever be friends. I am going to pretend that you don’t exist and try very hard not to kill you, since that will get me kicked out of the Academy. You are going to try and stay out of my way.”

“But…”

“Let me explain something to you. This is the warmest welcome you’re going to get. No one in the assassination class is going to think your little wide-eyed ‘gee shucks’ act is cute. That kind of bullshit could get us all killed.” Tina turns away from me. “The less you talk, the better for your health.”

I take a deep breath. a*s Class? More like Asshole Class. I turn my back on my less-than-friendly new roomie.

“Oh, and don’t touch my Vee.”

“What?” I whirl back around. “Don’t touch your what?”

Tina smiles, obviously thrilled at the reaction. “Vee, my Venus Fly Trap,” she says, and points to the corner, where a huge plant rests by the window.

“Um, is that breathing?” I ask.

“No,” Tina tosses her hair. “But I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Vee became self-aware one day. You’re a terribly smart little angiosperm, aren’t you?”

Her voice merges into baby talk on the last sentence, and she actually scratches the plant under the chin. I swear, it smiles. I can see myself waking up in the morning missing a finger, and Vee slowly digesting her breakfast.

Feeling deflated and realizing that Cassie might be the exception rather than the rule as far as friendliness goes, I spend some time sorting through my new stuff before making my bed and crawling under the covers. I take the picture of my family and place it on my nightstand, feeling very alone.

You’d think it would be impossible for me to fall asleep with a real-life blood-thirsty vampire laying a few feet away, but when I close my eyes, the glowing eyes blink back at me. It’s almost as if they’re trying to tell me they’ll keep watch while I sleep. And even though it’s ridiculous, it’s comforting too. I sink into a deep sleep.