Chapter Two
“Stop,” I say. “This is fucking ridiculous. You will do this or you will be kicked out for bullying each other. Do you understand?”
Jayden steps up next to me with his arms held loosely at his sides, ready for an attack should one come. “You guys are acting like petty toddlers having a tantrum. Shape up or ship out. This is your only warning.”
There’s a lot of grumbling but the students finally back down. They wanted to mutiny over not being able to pick their own teams. This is ridiculous.
“Everyone, you have thirty minutes and then meet at the training yard. This starts now.” I wave them all off.
“Do you think maybe you were too hard on them?” Adrian asks.
“No, this needs to end or the war that’s coming is already lost.” I square my shoulders.
“But if we just told them about Apollo, then maybe they would realize that this feud is stupid,” Thad says.
“I don’t think that’s what will happen,” Raven says.
“They could have a point,” Jayden says, thoughtful.
“What?” I round on him. “That’s not a good idea. Yes, it will vindicate the Apollo kids but the Athena and Aphrodite students will have it even worse. Especially after what Mia did.”
“We put too much faith in them when we announced who the players were and lines were drawn and look what happened. They turned on each other like rabid animals.” Raven crosses her arms.
“I don’t know,” Thad says. “It could prove that perception is off and they should look at the person and not their parents.”
“You’re talking about my brothers here. You’re giving them way too much credit. Do you think they have thought provoking moments like that?” Raven raises an eyebrow.
I kick a rock by my boot and start moving. Am I wrong? This could be a terrible idea. It could all blow up in my face, but I don’t have an alternative.
“I don’t think Dax would appreciate being lumped in with the others,” Thad points out.
“He has his moments but for the most part, he’s an idiot too. I’m telling you, Beth is right and if we want any chance at winning this war, they need to train.” Raven loops her arm through mine and we walk away from the others to the training grounds.
“I was just playing devil’s advocate, baby,” Jayden says. “I think this is the best solution. Hopefully they take it seriously.”
“They better take it seriously. I hope they are too tired and exhausted to start shit with each other when we go to the temple of Hermes and get his item of power back.” I lean my head on his shoulder.
“You’re right, though. The Athena and Aphrodite students who are still here don’t deserve the treatment they would get if we outed what Apollo has done.” Raven bumps me with her shoulder.
“Shit,” I say and change direction. “We need to go check on Draven.”
“What do you think she hit him with?” Raven asks.
“I don’t know but it couldn’t have been anything lethal, right? That would have been way over the line.” I shake my head.
“He’ll be okay.” Jayden squeezes my hand.
“He has to be because we need him for what’s coming, and if he’s down for the count, I might just strangle Bethany,” I say.
“Same. He’s the only Hermes student we can trust,” Raven says, then gags. “Who would have thought those words would ever come out of my mouth?”
“He’s gotten a lot better since the mission to save Artemis.” Jayden shrugs.
That coming out of his mouth just shows how much Draven has changed. If even Jayden is standing up for the guy you know he’s done some work on himself.
“He has come a long way since the mission to get Ares’ shield back. It’s almost like night and day. I just hope he’s okay.” I chew my lip, nervous.
“He’ll be fine, baby. Let’s go see for ourselves and then come back to train.” Jayden wraps an arm around my back, pulling me close.
