CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

 

Rhea gazed commandingly around at us all. “Stronger now than you were, I need each of you to haul two Hurler posts down to the entrance gates.” She paused. “Don’t look at me with that tone. From there, the Cyclopes will take the posts to the lower academy at Limnos for later use. They’ve been trying to rekindle the fires of our own forge and can’t seem to spark things to life.”

“Oh right,” Shade interjected. “Because there’s a forge there at Limnos.”

“And, it’s far larger than ours here.” Rhea nodded. “Brontes, Arges, and Steropes will craft weapons and armor for each of you.”

“Oh man,” Hera chuckled. “Shade, you actually remember something from your youth? I thought that accident when you bumped your head erased your memory.”

“I’ll have you know,” Shade said as he hoisted two Hurler posts into the air. “I have near perfect recall. Like an elephant.” He stared into Hera eyes. “So don’t cross me.”

Hera laughed. “Yep. I see the resemblance. Big ears. Long nose.”

Shade performed hammer bicep curls with the Hurler posts while exiting through the door to the observatory. Tia and Metis hugged their posts close to their bodies while Hera and Meter tucked one under each arm as they, too, headed out. I gripped the posts, rough under my palm, close to the neck to lift them to rest on my shoulders. The density and heft of each post still surprised me, despite being stronger than I’d ever been in my life.

The pulsing blue lights of the posts bobbed ahead of me as we all walked down the night path from the Observatory toward the front gates to our school. Near the rear of our convoy, one of Metis’ posts slipped from her grasp. She probably should’ve sat all the way on the throne. She groaned to lift it back up.

I sidled back to her. “Want me to get that?”

She waved me off. “Absolutely not.”

The Cyclopes greeted us outside the immense, obsidian gates.

“Thank you for bringing these to us, Rhea,” Brontes said. “The observatory is a wee bit tiny for us to fit inside.”

“You think?” Tia joked.

“Yah, but now you’re here for the most important step to designing weapons and armor for Olympians,” Arges stated. “You all must reverse infuse your posts with your signatures.”

“Invert my what with my who?” Shade asked.

“Is that a bag of rocks on top of your shoulders?” Tia joked.

Shade immediately dropped his posts on the ground with a thud and began feeling around his neck, shoulders, and upper back.

Meter, Tia, and Hera looked at one another and shook their heads.

Arges explained the process. “Hades, and others, who are muddy as to the manner by which reverse infusion occurs … first you must hold the post as if you are extracting energy, or hurling. And instead of siphoning energy from the post, you release your own energy signatures into the posts.”

Steropes further clarified, “This is the only way to develop weapons and armor for you specifically, that links to your own energy force.”

For the next several moments, we all huddled over our posts.

Rhea must’ve noticed confusion on our faces, and in our minds. “To make it easier and the energy transfer more complete, I will count down and everyone must focus. Take three deep, calming breaths.” She paused as we did so. “Now, here we go. Really focus intently. When I say the number one, push your energy into the post. Three … two … one …”

The rough iron molded to my palms. Suddenly, it felt as though a knife circled a fiery cut around my sternum. I gazed down at my chest and saw nothing unusual, but the agony nearly stole my breath. Radiating from that circle, energy sparks spewed angrily in hot flashes under my skin. Embers strung together into jagged tendrils, dragging like dagger points toward my shoulders. Ill-tempered energy strings pulsed from my neck and shoulders, and then revolved around my arms down to my hands. My yellowish-white hands spasmed atop the Hurler posts as thousands of needle points pushed through the palms. My hands shook as a solid torrent of my signature energy rushed down my arms, through my hands, and into the posts. Life might have been simpler at that moment if I could’ve hacked my arms off. That’s how bad they ached.

“Ouch! Triple Tartarus!” Shade yelled.

Meter jumped back as well. “Is it supposed to hurt this bad?”

“Umm yeah, Headmistress,” Hera echoed. “You could’ve warned us about the thrash. It feels worse than extracting energy. And that feels like soaking yourself in oil and having a dragon breathe fire on you.”

Rhea waved her arms. “Alright. Perhaps I should’ve warned you. It does sting a litt—”

“A little?” I asked.

“I just thought that after sitting on the throne,” Rhea began, “this would be a walk along the beach at sunset.”

“It’s a walk somewhere,” Metis chimed in.

Rhea came around and soothed each of us with a simple palm to the rear of our necks. We all found the inner strength and resolve to power through the remainder of the reverse infusion. When it was over, I stood slowly. My vision blurred. The two posts in front of me became four. And then eight. Headmistress split in half, then became three.

“W-w-what’s wrong with me?”

Arges’ voice rumbled behind me. “The infusion process does leave you slightly weakened. After all, instead of taking energy for sustenance, you’re giving of yourself, your own life force.”

“Rhea, make sure they take it easy for the rest of the night,” Steropes said. “They’ve been through a lot this evening.”

Hera sighed, then rushed to the tree line to vomit.

“Ewww, that mouth’s not very kissable,” Metis jeered.

Hera coughed and spit. “Maybe not, but my ass is. Come get some.”

“Ladies …” Rhea cautioned. “Let’s just get you all some nectar and then on to housing. You’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. Off you go now.” She waved her hands in a shooing motion. “After the Cy-bros gather the posts and head off to Limnos Lower Academy, I’ll meet you in the Andron for a little late-night snack before bed time.”

Don propped up Phi. Meter hobbled along with Shade. Tia offered to help Hera, but Hera waved her off. Tia then fell back to aid Aphro. We moved slowly back toward the Megaron. Though I struggled to keep my head up, I still managed to put my arm around Metis to help her along.

We arrived at the Andron, poured goblets full of nectar, and then sat at the tables nearest to the windows for fresh air and drank deep. Half of us rested our heads on our hands. I took several deep breaths and glanced at Metis. Then Tia. Then Shade. Everyone appeared to be ghostly versions of themselves. No one spoke.

I couldn’t be certain how long it had been. I thought sure that when I raised my head, sunlight would be greeting us outside again. My gaze trailed over to Metis. I shook her shoulder. She snorted herself awake from a certain energy drain-induced slumber.

Rhea joined us. “Alright, you all need to get back to housing,” she said. “That is an order. Let’s go.”

Tingles of circulation finally returned to my extremities. I shook out my limbs and pulled Metis to her feet. Her coloring had returned. We all appeared to be back to normal.

We exited the Megaron double doors, ambling along, crunching down the pebble and shale path. I draped Metis’ arm around my shoulder. She smiled up at me and then leaned into my side. My chest warmed at the thought of her being safe. Ahead of us, Hera turned around. She stared for several seconds, and then smirked.

Reveling in the warmth of Metis’ closeness, something odd registered in my peripheral vision.

“I know I’m still a bit woozy,” I said, “but what’s that over there? That red thing?”

Shade turned in circles. “Where? My night vision must be compromised.”

Tia grabbed Shade’s arm. “Stop twirling. You’re making me dizzy.”

Shade glared at her in the darkness.

“Well … dizzier. And besides, Zeus …” Tia quipped, gazing into the distance. “My new night vision works just fine. And I don’t see a thing.”

“You have night vision, too?” Shade asked.

“Some kind of something, I reckon,” Tia responded. “At the moment, it seems that I can pick up heat signatures. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.”

Unsure of my own possibly compromised eyesight, I snuck a peek at the hazy red thing in the trees above the sunken theater. Suddenly, two of them appeared, growing closer. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. I caught up to Tia, gripped the crown of her head and rotated it toward the theater.

“Look …” I pointed. “Just above the …”

KRA-BOOM!

“What the …” The ground quaked and the theater imploded. A mushroom cloud of dust plumed into the air. After reestablishing my shaky footing, I jumped back and grabbed Metis’ hand. We stared at the rubble with gaping mouths. Through the billowing dirt and debris cloud, not two, but four reddish-orange rectangles appeared.

“I-I see them now,” Tia stammered.

“Smite!” I thought back to the monster in the Caldron. “Those are eyes! Like the ones at the Caldron. That means two beasts.”

“Like the one we just fought?” Meter said.

Four gigantic hands slammed down on the ground again, crumbling the remainder of the theater structure, and barn behind it. The impact launched us all into the air. I stumbled backward again upon reconnecting with solid ground.

“The animals!” Tia yelled, moving forward. “We have to save the livestock back there!”

“And the greenhouse!” Meter added.

Hera grabbed Tia’s arm. “They might be gone. Look at what they did to the theater.”

Tia’s eyes filled with tears. “Dammit! Now what?”

We adopted aggressive stances, but I had no confidence in defeating two of what we fought before. We barely escaped that last one.

“Does anyone have offensive abilities?” I asked. The ache in my hands foreshadowed the pulsing, yellowish-white energy that suddenly engulfed them. “Anything new from sitting on the throne?”

Don thrust his chest forward. He then wound his arms in a circle and flexed his hands open and closed. “I got nothing.” He whipped a glare toward me. “Why in Tartarus did you get all the cool powers? Where’s mine?”

“Whining is so beneath you,” Hera said.

“Shut it! Both of you!” Metis stepped between us all with her hands raised. “We need to gauge exactly what we’re fighting here. Gotta get aerial intel. Who can fly?”

KRAAAACK!

One of the monsters broke off a piece of the theater wall and lifted it in the air.

“Zeus, can you dragon up again?” Metis asked. “Or the eagle?”

I shook my head. “I don’t have the energy for that.”

“Incoming!” Don yelled.

The section of theater wall sailed through the air toward us.

I pushed Metis out of the way. Pained gnawed up my back, spreading like tentacles. Everyone evaded the jagged wall turned projectile. It lodged into the middle of the quad courtyard.

The Muses and Phoebe jogged onto the quad from the housing area behind the gymnasium. Phoebe was paler than usual. Her mouth hung open upon seeing the shard of theater wall jutting out of the ground. Mnemosyne pulled Aoede and Melete close as they assessed the situation. Their white hooded cloaks whipped in the wind, almost glowing in the darkness. Then Pontus and Rhea ran from around the Megaron Hall.

“What in Tartarus is going on here?” Phoebe asked.

“This isn’t an accident!” Rhea said, her hands visibly clenching and unclenching the handle of her whip. “Those monsters must’ve been sent here. I don’t think we can win this without the Cyclopes. We need to retreat and regroup.”

“Where?”

“Limnos Lower Academy … to reunite with the Brontes and company.”

“But I thought Olympians never retreated?” I said.

“To retreat is wise when necessary.” Rhea looked in my eyes. “But never, ever … to surrender.”

“What about the school?”

More crunching and cracking sounds rose in the distance. The ground shuddered.

“It’s a mandatory evacuation for all students and faculty. Your safety is primary. We’ll worry about the school and classes later.”

“But—”

“Just do what I say. To the Cloudwell, now!”