Cursed Academy (Year One) Page 17

  "Get back!" the guy behind me shouted, wrapping his arms around me from behind. Who was he, anyway? And who was I? "That's water from the River Lethe. She's trying to make you forget everything!"

  Huh?

  The guy pulled me out of the vapor, and instantly I came to my senses. Ronin held me in his arms. Maria backed away, staring at the mess on the counter with her jaw gaping open. Mikey looked between us, confused. Carmen grabbed onto a rack of potato chips.

  Grandma had tried to erase my memories. She was more connected to all this than I thought.

  And I was going to confront her. Really confront her.

  A hint of dark, icy rage spread from my chest and I faced her. "Grandma, I'm not sorry. I'm glad I left. At Cursed Academy, I have friends and I have a future. If you can't feel good for me, that's your problem."

  The bubbles finished popping and the vapor cleared. Grandma, right behind the clearing vapor, lifted her teary face to us.

  Only she wasn't Grandma anymore.

  The creature in front of us had golden-flecked eyes, bloody cheeks, and a stream of tears running down her face. Thick dust covered her shoulders as if she had spent the last century in a dusty room. She raked her long, fungus-ridden fingernails along the counter, filling the store with a sad, mournful screech.

  Terror filled my chest, only to get crushed by that heavy stone of despair. Grandma was...Grandma was a dark goddess?

  "Grandma?" I asked.

  She rose from her seat, staring me down with those tearful eyes. "I am not your grandmother, Giselle. I am Achlys, the goddess of misery, charged with keeping a lid on your powers. And you've fallen right into my trap."

  Chapter Seventeen

  My jaw fell.

  And then a heavy feeling of just give up already filled me, pulling me down to the floor. Achlys continued to stare me down as the store darkened. Carmen sucked in a gasp like she was about to cry. Ronin swayed on his feet and Mikey fished for his dagger, but he sighed like he was sinking into a deep sadness.

  "She's making us feel this way," Maria said. "Back away!"

  Now I knew why Colton Corners was such a crappy place.

  And misery loved company.

  "Yes. Back away," Ronin said, letting go of me and pushing in front. With him as a shield, blocking my view of the goddess, the awful feeling vanished. I was free. I flailed at Ronin's leather jacket for the Chaos Dagger.

  "You're only delaying the inevitable. You of all people should not want Giselle to mature," Achlys said. She sobbed again. Didn't she ever stop whining?

  "Who put you in charge of her?" Ronin roared, balling his fists.

  Shaking, I reached around him. There. The dagger. I plucked it from his inner pocket and the icy plasma filled me again.

  Could we fight a goddess?

  Now was not the time to be a klutz. Or let myself believe that was all I was.

  Achlys burst into another round of tears. As she did, her cloud of despair reached around Ronin and wrapped around me. My chest hurt. My shoulders felt heavy. It felt like being at home, times ten.

  Beside me, Carmen sank to her knees and put her head in her hands. Mikey leaned against a rack of motor oil.

  "You're such a disappointment," Achlys cried, clawing at her face as she walked out from behind the counter. "Ronin. A son of Zeus who can't even do his job properly. What is this world coming to? You couldn't even save your mother!"

  Ronin backpedaled into me. He trembled. "Stop!"

  I tightened my grasp on the dagger. The darkness within swept the heaviness away and I stepped out from around Ronin, pointing my weapon at Achlys's heart. If she had one. "Leave him alone! Those things weren't his fault." Strength filled me. I was something other than human, something other than a monster. The low groan filled me. Let her go up against the void. I held my arm steady as the goddess raised her tear-stained, bloody eyes to me.

  Ronin stepped aside, gasping. "Stand aside, Giselle," he forced, raising his palm at her. But he was shaking. Weak. And pure misery filled Ronin's pupils as he gasped and lowered his arm again.

  But I was resisting.

  I'd had practice.

  "The world is a terrible place," the goddess said. "Terrible. People leave you. This boy will leave you. And you'll regret everything, Giselle. Do you know what's going to happen to you?"

  Her words stopped me from ending her right there. I had to know. I maintained my stance. Behind me, Carmen sobbed. Mikey sighed again. And Maria stood frozen, club in hand. Everyone was helpless in the face of misery.

  "Fine," I said. "What's going to happen to me? Who are my parents? And why are two schools fighting over me? Are you with the Lower Order? You're going to give me some answers or I'm going to—"

  "Randy!" Achlys shouted. "Help me, please!" Slapping her hands to her face, she broke into a fresh round of crying. "You have to!"

  Randy?

  I'd forgotten about him, pacing outside.

  The door to Gramp's Convenience Store burst open and Randy darted in, not even batting an eye at Achlys.

  He was working with her.

  That explained—

  And Achlys wasn't attacking him.

  Ronin staggered backwards, helpless, as Randy closed in. I whirled, but it was too late.

  "Drop the weapon," he said to the tune of sobbing, wrapping his hand around my wrist. He kept his voice low, almost sexy, but it sent a shudder down my spine.

  The pressure of despair broke through my strength and the icy plasma, despite the fact that I still held the Chaos Dagger.

  "I said, drop the weapon."

  "Randy! I can't believe I was ever your friend."

  "You burden," Achlys said, gasping between sobs. "You klutz. Why did I have to have a charge who can't even fight a descendant of a minor goddess? So pathetic."

  The heaviness increased, crushing me from all sides. She was right. I wanted to drop the dagger. I really was a klutz and it was my fault she was miserable. Ronin was in this situation because of me. Maria and Mikey, too. I deserved to feel like this and—

  "Drop the dagger," Randy ordered for a third time. "It's better if you do. Go back to being the Giselle I know and things might be fine." He blinked and took a contact from his eye, revealing golden flecks within. He was a god descendant.

  And behind him, Ronin paced, lost and muttering. "I let my mother die...oh, shit. I let her die...I'm worthless..."

  I was on my own.

  I had to force the words out. Achlys's misery was overtaking my power. "Why did you two do this? And why do you care?"

  Randy hardened, locking me in a glare as I tried to pull from his grasp. Achlys was even taking my strength. I'd give up soon. Then it would be all over. They'd make me forget. Maybe I wanted to forget.

  "Not all god descendants get to go to either academy," Randy said. "I'm a descendant of Eunomia, goddess of meadows. I'm going to mow lawns all my life. That's it. No need to train me. But that's better than what you're going to do."

  "So you're jealous?"

  "I was supposed to be rewarded for stopping you from becoming an immortal," Randy shouted in my face.

  "Randy!" Achlys shouted as if betrayed. The cloud of sadness rippled, loosening for a bit as she turned her anger on him.

  And the room spun.

  Did Randy just say—

  "An immortal?" I asked. As I spoke, the others continued writhe under Achlys's influence. Ronin paced down the aisle, away. And Mikey eyed the door.

  Randy grit his teeth. "You have no parents. No family. You came straight from Chaos sixteen years ago, just like the primordial gods. The first in ages. You'll end up like them. But what will you be?"

  Ronin's jaw dropped as he whirled to face us. His shock cast off Achlys's misery.

  "Do not tell her these things!" the goddess wailed, letting despair roll through the store again. "She'll rule nothing. She's just a blank slate. Putty. Something for the gods to mold to their liking. Giselle can't even tie her shoes right or get the d
ishes done properly. If anything she'll just end up a disaster goddess. Look at what she's already done!"

  I trembled as the floor went out from under me. The store expanded and contracted again, warping into strange colors as I sucked in a breath.

  I was supposed to become a full immortal?

  Someone feared me. Someone didn't want that to happen. And someone had put me with Achlys to stop me from awakening.

  Only, it hadn't worked.

  Maria stared at me in horror, even as a tear rolled down her cheek.

  And Randy tightened his grasp. His breath even smelled like grass. "I might have gotten to go to a school. Maybe I still can. This is our last chance to nip this in the bud."

  Randy's words froze me, overtaking my own dark power and Achlys's cloud of misery.

  "Who ordered you to do this?" My voice quaked. "Did Wendy have something to do with it?"

  We stared at each other while the muttering and sobbing of my friends filled the store, forming a background of misery that belonged in the deepest parts of the Underworld. Even Ronin said nothing now. My knees trembled. The floor seemed to rise. I should lie there. Everyone was against me and it was better this way.

  "I'll just end up killing my friends." Mikey stalked out the door, shoulders down.

  "I'm never getting out of this town." Carmen.

  Maria dropped her club. "What's the point of this?"

  I pulled against Randy's grasp again. All my power was leaving, abandoning me in the face of real danger. Achlys maintained her oppressive atmosphere, turning all her attention on me, sucking my life away, dulling the icy plasma to a whimper, and making me remember who I was. I heaved out a sigh and let my muscles relax. I just wanted this to end, to forget I'd done this to my new friends.

  "Good," Randy said as Achlys closed in.

  She held the glass of bubbling, icy cold Lethe water.

  My knees went out from under me, but Randy held me up. I'd take it.

  And then Ronin, straightening up and shaking as if he had the sky on his shoulders, appeared over Randy's shoulders. He turned his mouth up into an obnoxious grin and snorted. "Typical. Giselle just gives up. She's even falling down like the klutz she is."

  Achlys had taken her attention off him.

  And Ronin's words got under my skin, flaring up the icy, electric plasma again.

  Achlys realized her mistake and faced Ronin, whipping up a new wave of tears, but he'd given me what I needed. I raked my knee up Randy's thigh and hit him where it hurt, and I was rewarded with a grunt of agony and him releasing my arm. Tightening my grasp on the Chaos Dagger, I advanced on the goddess. "Achlys."

  My voice filled the store.

  "Giselle!" She raked at her bloody cheeks, forming streaks. "You're turning on me after all I've done for you!" Her misery tried to press on my heart, but the icy plasma held it out. Pure strength filled every inch of my body. Randy was right. I would be an immortal—someday. I held onto that thought, casting off Achlys's influence, because if I believed otherwise, she'd destroy me.

  Achlys screeched and threw the glass of cursed water at me. It shattered at my feet, soaking through my shoes. Ice stabbed at me, but I held my breath.

  "Giselle!" Ronin shouted. "Just end her already!"

  The vapor rose, but I maintained my stance and held my breath. I could do this.

  Frigid plasma raced down my dagger arm, invisible, and then gathered around the Chaos Dagger before bursting to life as purplish-black energy, obeying me, gathering around the blade. If anyone needed destroying, it was misery.

  Achlys screamed as if sensing my thoughts. A new lasso of purplish-black energy fired from the blade, wrapping around her, tightening around her emaciated body. She sobbed and sobbed, trying to shove the magic away with her arms. I commanded more energy from the dagger, from me, and the groaning sound inside me got louder and louder until I could no longer hear her screams and sobs. A curtain of darkness settled over my vision, dulling everything but my magic and my prey.

  Hands wrapped around my arms, pulling me back, and I snapped back to reality as Ronin and Maria got between me and the wailing misery goddess. Ronin's mouth moved like he was shouting something. Maria still had tears flowing from her eyes.

  I dropped my dagger.

  And I snapped completely back to reality.

  "Stand back. It's done," Ronin said, and not without an evil grin.

  And then a sucking sound cut off Achlys's sobs.

  Ronin stepped aside so I could see.

  And yes, the hole to Chaos had opened, right inside the goddess's chest, sucking in everything around it as she flailed. Cigarettes. Papers. Lotto tickets. Even the liquor bottles fell off the counters.

  And Achlys began to collapse inward, chest first.

  She flared into a sad gray light and snapped back over and over. The lasso had attached to the opening now, like tentacles spreading from the mouth of a monster, and they were pulling her inside. I blinked as the goddess wailed one last time, snapped into gray and then purple light, and simply blinked out of existence with a loud, fizzling sound. The hole and the purple energy vanished, leaving just afterimages when I blinked. The papers and lotto tickets settled.

  A single unlit cigarette rolled across the floor.

  It was over. I leaned over and gasped.

  Grandma's reign of terror had ended. I was free.

  Chapter Eighteen

  "Get out of here. Now."

  Ronin's low growl broke me out of my shock. I went from staring at the junk on the floor, my dagger, and the lack of Grandma to Ronin. Turned out he wasn't grumping out on me. He had turned on Randy, who I'd forgotten about.

  I watched Ronin because it beat thinking about what happened.

  Randy pushed himself to his feet, but he had no hope of racing down Ronin. I watched as he curled and uncurled his fists.

  "Get out," Ronin said. "Don't come near Giselle again."

  "Wait," I said. "He knows who wanted to stop me from getting my powers."

  "Randy was working for a goddess?" Carmen asked, pushing herself off the floor. Maria helped her up.

  Then Ronin seized the front of Randy's plaid shirt. A few grass blades poked out from the fabric. And Randy gulped.

  "Actually, I don't," he said.

  "Cough it up," Ronin said, raising another fist.

  "What is going on?" Carmen asked from the side.

  I took a breath. Already, the cloud of misery was clearing from the air. Carmen's eyes were red. She'd been just as helpless and crying as the rest of us.

  "Well, we figured out why Colton Corners is such a horrible place," I whispered. "We need to get Mikey in here. No, we need to listen." Mikey couldn't have gone far.

  "Cough it up!" Ronin shouted in Randy's face.

  "Randy was helping your grandma?" Carmen hissed.

  I had a lot of explaining to do. But later. "Shh."

  "Achlys was paying me. Said she could pull some strings and get me into a school," Randy said as his cheeks flushed red, then purple. Ronin was lifting him off the ground. "I don't know who she was working for. I'm sorry, man. She just told me...she just told me to keep Giselle here. That she was better off here and this place would keep her from getting her powers."

  "You don't know who wanted to me to stay here?" I asked, leaving Carmen and Maria behind.

  Ronin breathed in Randy's face. The air turned electric. Randy was shaking. And I saw no lie in his eyes. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the worst.

  "He doesn't seem to know," I said to Ronin. "Just let him go." Staying stuck here mowing lawns was punishment enough.

  Ronin faced me. I saw a fierce protectiveness in his eyes, a total alpha male. "He wanted to make you forget your potential and keep you here as a nothing." As he spoke, he trembled. Then Ronin turned his gaze away from me, shame filling his eyes. He'd done the same for a while. And that was why he was so angry at Randy. "I ought to kill you."

  "Let him go," I said. "Achlys is go
ne. We killed her."

  My ears rang.

  I killed a goddess.

  It was no wonder the Lower Order wanted me. I could destroy immortals.

  And I was going to become one.

  "Not before I have a little talk with this awesome excuse of the male species," Ronin said. "Go find Mikey."

  I shook my head, collected the Chaos Dagger, and waved Carmen and Maria out after me. The icy plasma burst to life within me again, so I shoved the dagger into my pocket and hoped it wouldn't poke me while I walked. Because that couldn't possibly happen.

  Though Colton Corners still spread out before us, a series of old buildings, houses, and potholes, the air had already cleared of that despair I'd felt all my life and not realized. Carmen took a long breath as if it was the first air she tasted.

  In the store, tense silence stretched out. I had to give Ronin this.

  "Mikey," I called.

  "I don't know where he went," Maria said.

  He didn't answer at first, and we found him sitting on the side of the store, hands wrapped around his knees and his dagger beside him. Slowly he lifted his gaze to face us.

  "Mikey, it's okay," Maria said. "Achlys did a number on all of us. When she took her true form, I felt like everything was hopeless. Like I'd never compete with the rest of you guys because all I've got is a club."

  "So did I," Carmen said. "I felt like I'd spend my whole life here and just end up having five kids with a deadbeat."

  I forced a laugh. "Carmen, you won't. Mikey, get up. Ronin's about to destroy Randy. I don't think he'll get answers, though."

  "You drove Achlys off?" Mikey asked, pushing himself up. He didn't need to explain how she'd made him feel or what thoughts she got going through his head.

  "She no longer exists," I pushed out.

  Mikey's jaw dropped.

  "And Giselle kicked ass," Maria said. "I don't know how she resisted the misery spell. Ronin could barely do it."

  "Well, Ronin knows how to make me use my powers," I said. I had to talk to him. The world spun again. "Was Achlys right? Am I really going to become immortal? Maybe I already am." The lion shifter bite hadn't even killed me. "And now what?" My pulse raced with panic.