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“Are we leaving then?” Gabris asks, her head on a swivel as though I just said that demons are already at our gate.
“No, we aren’t leaving. We want to make sure the students are as prepared as possible though, so I’ll be going over everyone’s specialty and their skill level. Anyone who is unable to fight, or unwilling to, will be brought to Ethereal, but anyone who is willing and able will be put through rigorous training for the next week and will be helped by their godly parents.”
I’d already begun going through the list of students this morning, dividing them into combat and defensive categories, and contacting their parents with an order from Osias himself to attend training starting tomorrow morning.
“Everyone’s power will be useful in battle; we just need to play to their strengths, which is exactly the reason why we put each student through combat training,” I explain, nodding to Professor Barros. His chest puffs out with pride as he nods enthusiastically. “Learning combat is essential to understanding offensive and defensive moves and strategy, and by harnessing that knowledge, we can build an army strong enough to mimic the gods themselves.”
“I’m here to help with anything you or the students need,” Pallas says, inclining his head. “I will help the students find the magic and the peace within their souls to stay calm no matter what creature they’re facing down.”
“I’ll help, too,” Barros exclaims, running a hand over his thinning hair. “I’ll continue teaching the students about combat and defensive and offensive strategies, just like you said.”
Barros grins, bouncing in his seat as though he can’t physically contain his excitement.
“Thank you both,” I huff out on a breath of amusement, nodding in appreciation. “What is your decision, professor Gabris?”
Her cheeks flush as I turn my attention to her, and she swallows thickly. “I want to be here to help the students, but after that demon attack, I’m not sure what help I can be. I don’t want to frighten them with my nerves.”
“The choice is yours, but think about how you would feel as a student. There will be plenty of demigods who are terrified, certain they won’t be able to face the demons, demigods, and gods on the other side of this battle. If they see you turn away, they might follow, or they might stay and have that tendril of doubt in their mind that if their professor left, what hope is there for them.”
I let the words sink in for a moment before I continue.
“That chaos demon came out of nowhere in an environment where you were completely unprepared. None of us could have predicted that he could have gotten through the barriers. Would you have reacted differently if you were prepared, if you knew you were about to face down a demon?”
“Of course,” she gasps, her brows furrowed. “I would have protected my students to the best of my abilities. That moment replays in my mind every night before I go to sleep, and I wish I could go back and change everything about how I reacted that day.”
“Then this is your chance,” Pallas says before I have a chance to. “This is your chance to stand with your students rather than protecting yourself and leaving them to fend for themselves.”
Silence echoes through the room as Gabris swallows the harsh truth. All of us were upset when we heard what happened. Regardless of whether my mate was in that room or not, I would’ve been just as upset if it had been any other student forced to fend off a chaos demon with no powers and barely any training. If it wasn’t for Olivia and her need for more training to face the trials, I’m not sure I would’ve let Gabris come back to her teaching post.
“I’ll help,” she says finally. “I want to redeem myself, and I want to protect my students like I should have that day.”
“Good.” I nod.
I’m not sure how involved she’ll be, but it’s admirable that she wants to try. I’ll have to keep a close eye on her to ensure she isn’t doing more harm than good, though. Pallas catches my gaze and gives me a tight nod as though he could read the thoughts running through my mind. Who knows, though? Maybe he can.
“Now, I want to go over the lessons in detail and work on expanding them.” I walk back over to my desk and pull out the notes I’ve already collected. I’ve been helping them so far, but with my focus split between the battle, Olivia in the infernal realm, and training the students, I haven’t been at the forefront of the planning as much as I’d have liked to be. “I’ll need you all to go through my preliminary list of students and their godly parents and specify what their strengths and weaknesses are so that I have notes for when they arrive tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Gabris exclaims, her eyes widening as she looks from me to her fellow professors. “With the number of students—”
“We’ll get it done,” Pallas says, cutting her off. “The demigods you brought in to help have been working with the students this morning. We’ll just ask them to fill in for a few more hours so we can get the planning in place.”
“Yes, whatever we need to do,” Barros agrees excitedly.
“Perfect, and once we get this under control, I’ll meet with all of the students in the afternoon. We’ll have to ramp up the combat portion, and I think I have the perfect place for it.”
“This is where we’re going to train?” Olivia groans, staring up at the stone monstrosity in the middle of the field.
“Yes, but not like this.” I chuckle, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“Man, you really did a number on this thing, didn’t you?” Adrian huffs out in amusement, wrapping his arm around Olivia’s waist. He tugs her out of my grip and sticks out his tongue at me over her head.
“You had enough time with our mate last night,”Adrian projects to me, his chest puffing out with pride at his smooth move.
Olivia just shakes her head in exasperation, chuckling beneath her breath. I sigh, but I don’t argue. He’s right, and I wouldn’t give up the time we had together for anything.
“I think Maximus held himself back, otherwise he’s getting weak in his old age,” Mateo quips, elbowing Maximus in the side.
Max glowers back at him in warning. “I did that with my fists, not my powers. So don’t test me, brother, or else we’ll be trying out this arena, and it won’t be pretty for you.”
