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“Stop!” I jumped up, toppling my chair. “It’s my fault. I should’ve found you after I was released and asked what the assignment was. It’s been a while since I’ve been in school— I didn’t think,” I rushed out. “I will answer the next question right, or I’ll do ten scrolls for each one I’ve missed.”
He turned on me, eyes bulging. I couldn’t even be sure he heard a word I said. “You, yourprotector”—he spat the word—“and the entire class will give me twenty scrolls if you respond incorrectly.”
“Oooh. Mean little son of Anteros, isn’t he?” She laughed a strange,tsking chuckle. “Fitting that a man of such misfortune should be host to the god of unrequited love. I’m sure torturing my sweet pet does make his blood run south. Surely no man or woman has given him the honor.”
I tried to mute her nastiness, focusing on the question that would seal my fellow novices’ hatred. “Agreed.”
“Where do mermaids make their home?”
I ran the question five times through my head before it penetrated. This couldn’t be real. Of all the questions, he asks this of a girl who grew up by the sea.
“Mermaids do not exist. Olympia was founded by people from many lands, and their history, myths, and traditions molded with those of ancient Greece to create something that is entirely our own. But there were never mermaids in Olympia. The closest creature is the half-woman, half-bird sirens who build their nests on rocky, uninhabited islands.”
A tense silence followed my response. Though we were locked on each other, I felt the eyes pinging from me to Captain Hondros.
“Correct.”
I didn’t have to breathe a sigh of relief. Half the class and all my friends did it for me.
“That just leaves the twenty scrolls on the monsters Barba answered for you.” My chest tightened. “That applies to everyone. On my desk first thing tomorrow morning. Dismissed!”
“Fuck’s sake,” shouted a boy I didn’t know. “You weren’t satisfied with getting Galen killed. Now you’re messing everything up for the rest of us.”
Me? They were blaming me for Barba’s rebellion and Hondros’s power trip?
Nasty, poisonous glares trailed me out the door. I didn’t need help for that question. The answer was yes.
My friends practically hustled me through the halls, carrying me back to the dorm. We burst in and slammed the door like a mob was coming for us.
“What the hell?” I burst out. “Is every instructor like that? Will every class be like that?”
“That was our fault,” Nitsa said. “We thought they’d give you a break ’cause they all know you’ve been in the reflection room. I underestimated what bastards they can be.”
The guys nodded in agreement. Seems they were all like this.
“Have they really been treating everyone like this all week?” I asked, flopping on the couch.
“Not everyone,” Tycho corrected. “The Sisypheans. One week and we got the hint. The Titans can do no wrong. The Sisypheans can sit down, shut up, and just be glad we’re here.”
“That’s awful. I’m sorry, guys. All I did was walk in there and make it worse. Forty scrolls in one night? That’s impossible.”
“Course it is,” Theron said. He dropped his head against the door, gazing resignedly at the ceiling. “When we show up more than a few scrolls short, it just gives him an excuse to pile more punishment on us. But you can’t blame yourself, Aella. That was all Sebastian.”
“Does he always speak to teachers like that? I thought my eyes would fall out of my head and roll out the door.”
“Oh my gods.” Nitsa dropped down beside me. I had no idea why she was whispering. “The guy is unreal. Most days, he just sits there, staring off into space like all of this is a waste of his time.”
“And we were lucky for it,” Ionna threw in. “It’s when he speaks... That’s when there’s trouble.”
They didn’t have to explain further. I saw it for myself. “Did he finally reveal his power? Is it as mind bending as everyone thought? Is that why Hondros put up with him for as long as he did?”
Nitsa tossed her head. “It’s been nothing but smoke creatures. At first I thought it was cruel, but now I know why they make us reveal our powers to everyone on the first day. Sitting next to someone in class and having no idea what he can do to you...” She trailed off, expression grim.
“Demigods only get one power,” I reminded. “That power can take different forms like it does for a shapeshifter like Sirena, but it’s still just the one. He isn’t lying about playing with smoke. The question is, what else can he do with it?”
“Maybe he’ll tell you,” Ionna replied.
“Me?”
