Chapter Three
We rush through the halls of the academic building following the Hermes kid and I shiver. “I thought this place was creepy before. Now that I know there’s a creepy dungeon in the basement, it’s worse.”
“Yeah, I’m not exactly excited to visit the creepy dungeon either, but we don’t have much choice,” Raven says.
“It’s really not that bad. It’s not like a creepy dungeon so much as a modern prison cell block,” the Hermes kid says. He opens the door and holds it open for us to go through first.
As we descend the stairs, I grip Jayden’s arm with both my hands, waiting for something to jump out at me. It’s embarrassing, really. I jump in headfirst to slay monsters but I’m scared of a creepy basement.
At the bottom of the stairs is a long hallway lit with sconces. There’s a heavy metal door at the end that buzzes with magic and shouting sounds from the other side. That has to be Zeke making an ass of himself trying to get out.
“I can’t even call him an idiot for this,” Raven grumbles. “Because it’s not him.”
“When he’s back to normal, I’m sure there will be plenty of new things to call him an idiot for, Raven,” Dax says.
I chuckle because Dax isn’t wrong. Raven is constantly lovingly calling her brothers idiots. It’s her love language with her family.
“Shit, what happens when we do get them out of it?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” Jayden asks.
“Are they going to be even worse about the other students than before after Mia’s betrayal and being taken over?” I run a hand down my face.
“That hadn’t even occurred to me. This could be even worse. Can we even let them out of there after they are freed from the magic?” Raven asks.
“Hold on,” Jayden says, raising a hand. “Let’s not borrow problems. We have enough of them today. One thing at a time.”
“You guys ready?” the Hermes kid asks.
I nod and square my shoulders as he removes the magic from the door. Zeke’s roar is louder with the magic off the door. They must have used magic to muffle the sounds in case students were in the building. It’s smart. A passing student could get the daylights scared out of them with the racket he’s making.
“Let me go. You cannot contain me.” Zeke slams himself against the bars.
“Give it up,” I scoff. “We already know you’re not Zeke.”
“We just don’t know who’s controlling him.” Raven crosses her arms.
A sadistic grin spreads on Zeke’s features as his gaze locks with mine. “Well, well, this is great timing.”
“Who the fuck are you? I don’t have all day and I would like to ask you to kindly fuck off out of my friends’ minds.” I glare at the trespasser in Zeke’s body.
“You don’t know?” A laugh explodes from Zeke’s throat.
It’s a seriously unhinged sound and dread stiffens my body. It can’t be though, right? She would send someone else to do her dirty work. Sweat beads on my neck and I turn to Jayden with a grimace. An expression of horror mars his face as he pulls me behind him. Raven has her battle ax in hand in a second, ready to square off should she try anything.
Because it is a she and the worst woman in the world. The goddess controlling Zeke is Hera and she wants me dead more than anything.
“What do you want?” Jayden snarls.
“You do realize that it’s a punishable offense to be rude to the queen of the gods. I could strike you all down where you stand,” Hera says.
“No, you can’t. The spells on the walls and bars of that cell block all magic. You’re basically human in there,” the Hermes kid says.
“Let my new pets go and you won’t suffer the consequences,” Hera screams.
It’s odd to see Zeke speaking like this with different mannerisms. They simply don’t fit Raven’s idiot brother at all.
“Pets?” I ask in disgust. “They are Ares and Apollo’s sons, not new pets or toys for you to play with for your own amusement.”
