“Ow, baby. What was that for?” Jayden rubs his shin beneath the table.
“It’s called tact, Jayden. Of course the shifter problem with have an impact on everything. It just won’t be my job to fix everything.” I throw my hands up.
“Shit, yeah, bad choice of words there.”
“Let’s finish eating and head to the war room. We need reports before taking off for Arcadia.” I stab at the eggs on my plate.
We fall into a comfortable silence as we shovel food into our mouths. Jayden grabs my tray when I’m done and takes it to the bin for me, then we leave the cafeteria. The cool morning breeze feels amazing on my skin as we make our way to the war room.
“We’re all idiots. What are you looking at?” A shout rises from the training grounds as we near.
“No, we’re the idiots. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” someone else shouts.
“What is going on here?” I whisper to Raven as we step into the clearing.
“No idea. They’re insulting themselves and acting like it’s the others insulting them?” Raven asks. “I’m so confused.”
“Blah, blah, blah, we suck and you know it,” the first kid says.
“This is bizarre,” Jayden says. “It’s a little entertaining watching Brady insult himself, though.”
“It’s not funny,” I gasp in horror. “This is what Ares warned us about. It’s reached the academy already.”
“This isn’t good. Things are already volatile here. This is just going to make it worse.” Raven bites her lip.
“Why aren’t we being affected?” Greyson asks.
“Maybe it’s only affecting those who are angry at each other?” I rush forward as Mason slams his fist into Brady’s face.
“It’s devolving much quicker than expected.” Raven steps between the idiots fighting, holding up her hands in a stop motion.
“I thought we settled this yesterday with you two?” I yell at them.
Sara steps forward, shaking her head. “I don’t know what happened. They’ve been fine since they went on their run yesterday, even stubbornly did what we demanded on the second set of laps. I thought it was over but then they started hurling weird as fuck insults that don’t make a damn bit of sense.”
“Things are getting worse and I don’t think they are going to be better until we get Hermes’ item of power back,” I say with a sigh.
“What are we going to do about them?” Raven asks.
Jackson jogs over to us. “They just need to get their aggression out or we just need to let them hash things out in the ring.”
“The problem with that is they both have the power to call weapons to themselves. If we let them have it out the way they’re being affected by this now, then it will get bloody.” I rub my forehead.
“I can put a ward on the ring,” Sara says, shrugging. “It’s an Athena thing. The goddess of wisdom loves the rules of engagement and a few of us can do it as part of our power.”
“That could be extremely helpful in the coming battle.” I grin.
“If we could ward the academy so that anyone who comes in can’t call weapons to them once inside, that could turn a tide for us when the queen attacks,” Raven says.
“Any way I can help, I’m all for it. I’m so tired of this hanging over all our heads.” Sara plants her hands on her hips.
“You and any others who have that ability, go ahead and start warding the rings. I’m going to send everyone on a circuit of the academy and once they’re back they are going to have a tournament without weapons. The winners will be helping with training the losers.” I clap my hands together.
“We can’t stay that long, baby. We have to leave as soon as possible.” Jayden pats my shoulder.
“I know. Sara and Jackson will be running the show.” I turn to the rest of the students. “Listen up. Because people still don’t understand the rules, you are all running three laps around the perimeter as a group. Go now.”
Everyone groans and a few shoot hateful glares at the two jackasses who forced my hand.
