Seraphine’s class was boring the shit out of everyone today. She taught our Fundamentals of being a God class, which meant all the Gods-to-be were in attendance. Odysseus was literally drooling with his head slumped back in his chair as he slept; I tried to poke him awake with my pencil, but he only snored louder from my poking, so I let him get in trouble all on his own. Soren. Praxis, and Griffin were using their binders to hide the fact they were creating fantasy football teams, while Sebastian and Xenobia were scrolling the internet for wedding ideas for both our upcoming ceremonies. I seemed to be the only one willing to actively participate, though admittedly, I was losing my focus by the minute.
“The balance of the world rests on your shoulders. Every decision you make can have catastrophic consequences, even something as simple as-…” She paused her writing on the whiteboard to turn and see the state of her class. I was the onlyone paying attention, with my face in my palm as I watched her work. She set her hands on her hips and cleared her throat. “Is literally anyone awake right now?”
“I am, thank you very much,” I snorted.
“Oh really? What did I say about the order of the planets, then?”
“You said: ‘It is imperative that the order of the planets is kept regardless of what affects they have on the course of nature. One slipped position and the universe can suffer greatly’ yada yada yada,” I mocked in a drowned-out tone.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Hmm, fine. You might try and wake your fiancé up, considering this next section is about his ability to, ya know, MAKE HUMANS!” she yelled obnoxiously to try and jolt him awake, but I knew his ass was not going to budge.
I groaned dramatically and grabbed his shoulder to shake him as hard as I could. “Yo, Squeaks, wake up dude!” I called in tune with my shaking.
He let out a loud snort before smacking his lips and breaking his eyes open. He had to wipe crust from them, and when he realized Seraphine was glaring heavily at him, he shrunk into a ball in his seat. “Er… sorry, Ms. McBride…”
“I take it no one else is paying attention to my lecture?” she barked.
“Negative,” Sebastian bluntly shot back, eyes still glued to his phone.
She smacked a hand to her forehead. “Fine, fine, we’ll call it here. You kids… whoever invented electronic devices should be quartered and hanged.”
“Are we free?” Soren popped up from his binder. “Woo, yes! Now I can solidify my choices on some actually good Wi-Fi!”
“I give up.” Seraphine collapsed into her chair.
I laughed lightly and put my belongings together swiftly. The others scrambled for freedom, clogging the hallways with their obnoxious talking. I shut the door on them before leaning against her desk. “Well, you tried at least. I’ll give you an A for effort.”
“What do you want, Nicodemus?” she moaned out.
I stole a chunk of her long hair to spin it through my fingers. “I wanted to see if my super awesome auntie wanted to be a part of my meeting on Saturday.”
“Meeting? What meeting?” she inquired.
“I’m going to tell Mom that I chose Emmeline and Elektra as my second-in-commands.”
She lit up like a firework. “My, what an important conversation! You’re sure you picked good candidates?”
I shrugged loosely. “After what they did for me and the Shadow Realm when Dad went berserk… how could I say no? Emmeline alone kicked some major ass and led her Elementals through the literal fire and flames. She’s definitely got my stamp of approval.”
Seraphine procured a planner from her tote bag and skimmed it briefly. “Well, I don’t have much planned for that afternoon, so I can certainly attend with you.”
“That’s what I was hoping to hear.” I patted her distended abdomen lovingly. “How have you been feeling? Is this little monster doing ok?”
She beamed at my loving tone. “So far as I can tell. Lysander and I are nervous about the four-month mark.”
“Why?”
Her face sunk into despair. “That’s… when I usually lose the baby. We’re about a week or so away from that point, so only time will tell.”
I rubbed her arm gingerly. “Hey, don’t freak. If my mom gave you this baby, then she’ll see to it that it reaches maturity.Besides, you and Erasmus areParticeps Potestatis, so the likelihood that things will go as planned has skyrocketed.”
“So it will.” She tucked some hair behind her ear and sighed softly. “Nick, can I ask something of you? I don’t want to put you in the middle, but I kind of have no choice.”
“Uh oh,” I laughed, sitting on the desk fully this time. “I hate to hear that!”
She flicked my nose with an eyeroll. “It’s… about Stark.”
I fell into serious mode immediately. “Oh, yeah, what about him?”
