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“Worse,” she replied, dropping her voice. “I heard they found him at the bottom of the southeast tower. He either fell or...”
Jumped, I finished for her.Dear gods, they think the poor guy jumped.
“That’s awful. Can’t imagine what kind of pain he was in to... choose to go that way.”
“Who knows. He was a Titan, so it’s not like he had it as bad as us. They’re saying he could conjure a beam of light as bright as the sun, blinding anyone who saw it.”
“No one’s life is perfect—Titan or not. My brothers lost so many friends in the academy. None of us are stronger than grief...”
Their conversation faded as I hung back, letting them move farther ahead. I couldn’t stand this talk of death and grief. Was this to be our life now? Every moment of every day in and then out of the academy?
No wonder the instructors and headmaster were hardened to the point of breaking trainees on impact. You can escape grief... when you stopped caring.
Morose thoughts plagued me through the trek around the academy to one of the many parts I was seeing for the first time. The stretch of freshly cut green went as far back as I could see. It’d be beautiful as a place to picnic under the open air, enjoying the breeze and sunshine while working on assignments with friends. But of course, the academy put it to more practical uses.
Platforms of the same type, but much smaller than the one in the stadium, were scattered about the lawn. A row of stands stretched in a neat line alongside them, and among them all—waiting for us—was Commander Vasili.
“Titans, find your groups. Sisypheans, find a seat.”
The next ninety minutes were as boring and tedious as Tycho promised. The commander made us sit on the stands, rays beating down on us while we watched the Titans train, practice, and form battle strategies with other children of the same god. He wouldn’t even let us work on assignments for other classes. I knew because the girl who was speaking to Nitsa about Giles Nanos tried, and he confiscated it and made her do a lap around the castle.
“I don’t get why you guys can’t practice with them too,” I said, leaving myself out. After the humiliation of self-mastery class, I had no delusions that I had anything to contribute. “They keep saying we fight together and we die together. You’ll have to do this in the army, so why have you sitting on your butts?”
“I hate to say it, but I’m not sure we would be much use off this bench,” Theron said. He couldn’t write on it, so he used a piece of parchment to fan himself. “My powers are violent and unpredictable. There’s no measuring the scale of my destruction like there’s no hating something a little or halfway. I could take out half the green and for what purpose?”
I inclined my head. “True, but Ionna, Nitsa, and Tycho, you could—”
They were all shaking their heads.
“If my gift of prophecy was more focused—more accurate—Commander Vasili would pair me with the other children of Apollo. Otherwise, who wants me out there confusing them, shouting out the dozens of possible futures I see with no idea which one is right, or if they’re all wrong?”
“Nothing for me to do either,” Tycho said. “Unless someone dies.”
He didn’t need to say more. The commander would be a twisted person indeed to send him out there to fight with animated corpses.
Nitsa just shrugged. “How many famed battles do you know that involved a cow? For once, I don’t think they’re being cruel. They’re just being realistic. Sisypheans are destined for positions in the army that don’t see a lot of combat. The medical battalion, messengers, sentries, border watchers, trackers, weapons-making. We’ll still do our part, Aella. But not right now. Not today.”
“So... we sit here.”
They all leaned back against the stands, glistening sweat shining on their foreheads.
“We sit here.”
At the end of time, it was a relief to march inside the cool castle and head to field medicine. Tycho, Nitsa, Theron, and Ionna took me inside the lecture wing, down the hall, and up a spiral staircase. Two doors awaited us at the top. Sirena and her feathered companion disappeared through the door on the right.
That was reason enough to turn and drag my sweaty body into another bath. She was too busy barking orders at her group and making all the decisions to worry about me sitting in the stands, but now that we were in close proximity again, I had a feeling she’d finish what she stuttered to say that morning in the stadium.
Squaring my shoulders, I went in and stopped—mouth hanging open.
“Beautiful.”
Was I dreaming? I couldn’t be. I wasn’t hot, sticky, and achy in the dreams where I imagined the home I’d build of windows, windows, and windows—spreading warmth and freedom through all four walls and the ceiling.
This room was my imagination come to life. Double-paned windows let the light in, but the heat out. Matter of fact, a cool breeze enveloped me as I stepped over the threshold—soothing my burnt skin.
Hugging the windows were potted trees of all types, bearing plump, delicious fruit. Some of them I’d never seen before. In the middle of the room, the space was cleared out to make room for ten desks. My friends gathered around one, settling into a routine now familiar to them.
“A greenhouse. Why can’t every classroom be like this? It’s amazing.”
