The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (17 page)

Cassandra nodded.

“They can tell you who your parents are”, Madame Margot said carefully.

Pandora got all excited.

“So who are they?” she cried and Cassandra looked up for the first time, as if waking from a dream.

With a neutral face, Madame Margot indicated the club.

“Your father is a hero whose symbol of strength has always been the club”, Madame Margot said and Cassandra nodded, suddenly seeming to see straight for the first time in her life.

She knew who that hero was. Some said he was the greatest hero of all times. And he had admitted her into university. Did he know who she was? She had no reason to believe he did. Still, it was a strange coincidence.

“He doesn’t know”, Madame Margot said quietly. “He would have never admitted you to the university if he had.”

“Who? Who doesn’t know?” Pandora wailed in frustration. “Why are you being so strange? Is it bad? Is he some kind of a caveman? Does he live here? I want to know as well! I am your sister, I have a right to know.”

Cassandra and Madame Margot ignored her.

“This has never been drawn before”, Madame Margot said and indicated the owl. “Are you sure?”

Cassandra nodded and Pandora let out a cry of frustration.

“Will somebody please tell me what is going on?”

Cassandra felt her whole world turn upside down. Then she picked up the club and turned to her sister with a dry throat and tears in her eyes.

“This means that Heracles is my father”, she said and wondered at the same time how she felt about that. “And this” – she indicated the owl – “is something that is not possible.”

“Why?” Pandora said, a lot more subdued now. “Who is your mother?”

Madame Margot looked at Cassandra strangely.

“Her mother is someone who has never given birth”, Madame Margot said in a deep, booming voice that somehow made the room feel too small. “Her mother has never lain with a man, never even thought about it. So you shouldn’t exist. And yet, here you are.”

Cassandra carefully picked up the pendants and gave them back to Madame Margot.

“What does it mean?” Pandora said, with a scared look on her face.

“It means that your little box doesn’t work”, Cassandra said.

“It has never failed”, Madame Margot said, shaking her head. “It can’t lie. It can’t show what is not true.”

Comprehension started to dawn on Pandora.

“Are you saying that…”

“Don’t say it out aloud”, Madame Margot said and suddenly she seemed afraid. “There is a good reason why this has been kept a secret, Cassandra. Like I said, you shouldn’t exist.”

“And yet I do”, Cassandra said and felt more forlorn than she ever had.

“She doesn’t know it”, Madame Margot said quietly to Cassandra. “There is no indication that she has the slightest idea that you were born. For your own good, don’t try to change anything about that.”

Cassandra felt like she was rooted to the cushions. She couldn’t move.

“You have to go now”, Madame Margot said. “I need to think.”

When Cassandra didn’t move, Pandora shook her.

“We need to go”, Pandora said. “The dinner is about to start and you can’t be late for that.”

Cassandra’s teeth started to rattle. She recognized it fleetingly as a sign of shock. Pandora looked around and saw the coat. She wrapped it around her sister and begged her to get up. Cassandra felt the warmth of the coat encompassing her and it was as if he was suddenly there beside her, dark and warm and steadying. She closed her eyes and somehow she managed to get up and outside.

The cool night air hit her and she felt her head clear. Pandora, who was worried about her sister, didn’t dare to say anything, simply waited until her sister had at least partly recovered.

No one noticed their entrance at the palace. The whole place was buzzing with excitement and they were only two more party guests ready to have a good time. Pandora brought her sister to the foot of the big stairs and watched as Cassandra went up the stairs looking lost and forlorn in her black cape. Then she disappeared from view and Pandora started to walk towards the big hall on the ground floor that had been converted into a dance hall for the lesser descendants of the gods, the Unclaimed and even the servants for that night. It was when she passed the statue of Athena that she realized what she should have seen long before. Of course. How could she have been so blind for so long?

Cassandra not only looked like the younger version of the goddess, she also had all the characteristics that were usually attributed to the goddess: wisdom, courage, strength, justness. If anyone ever bothered to look as closely as she did that night, they would all see the truth, wouldn’t they? So why had no one ever said anything before?

Pandora blinked tears away and suddenly Athena didn’t look quite as much as Cassandra any more. Had she been wrong? But then Pandora remembered how Cassandra had talked about seeing the true nature of something even if no one else seemed to be able to see it and suddenly she was sure that she had seen Athena’s true face for a moment. She also knew that if anyone ever found out about who Cassandra’s mother was, it would have catastrophic consequences. For Cassandra and for Athena. Because it was true what Madame Margot had said: Athena had never given birth. In all those thousands and thousands of years that the gods had existed, she had never once had a lover, let alone a child. Athena, the virgin patroness of the heroes. Being a virgin was what gave her power. And no one was supposed to take away a god’s power. Not even their own children.

Cassandra’s emotions were in complete turmoil. She couldn’t have said for the world how she had gotten from Madame Margot’s to the palace and from there up the stairs and to the ballroom. But instead of going in, she stood hidden in the doorway watching her fellow students enjoy the light, joyful atmosphere. Someone had put a lot of effort into replacing the sober atmosphere of the opening ceremony with something festive and that someone had done a pretty good job.

The rows of chairs were gone which made the room seem much bigger. Big, round tables had been set in red and gold and were overflowing with food and drink. They had been placed in a circle around the room, leaving enough space in the middle to dance. A little orchestra was playing soft, pleasant music and many couples were already moving gracefully along the dance floor. The Claimed girls looked divine in their extravagant, plush dancing gowns and made-up hair. The boys were all dressed in black tuxedos and looked smart indeed.

Cassandra found herself frozen to the spot with indecision. She had known that she was a demigod from the moment when Ben had shown her how her blood turned into Ichor like his. But until this day she hadn’t
felt
it. And she still would have thought that Ares was her father. But now she knew that she had a hero as a father and a virgin goddess as a mother, or at least she thought she did. What if Madame Margot had been wrong and she had simply picked two pendants by chance? Maybe she wasn’t who Madame Margot thought she was after all. But the sorceress had been right with one thing: some secrets were better left untouched and she would steer clear of this one.

Cassandra sighed. She knew she couldn’t stand out there forever so she decided to concentrate on Alexander instead. He had invited her to the ball and he had been good to her the past few months. More than good. She knew that she had feelings for him that were hard for her to place but it wasn’t hard that evening.

Sitting slightly elevated at an elongated, square table facing the room, Alexander and Arissa were presiding over the room. Both of them were unearthly beautiful that night with their blond hair and fair complexion. Arissa was dressed in a simple, yet infinitely elegant, light-blue, strapless dress that caressed her tall, slender body and revealed just the right amount of skin. She had chosen some simple, yet no doubt very expensive jewelry that only enhanced the overall effect. She was easily the most beautiful girl in the room. Alexander on the other hand didn’t even seem to know just how handsome he was in his black tuxedo and with the slightly tousled hair and his turquoise eyes that shone warm and bright like the sun. Cassandra wondered whether he had put any effort into looking good tonight and guessed that he probably hadn’t. And yet, underneath it all, he looked strained because there was something he desperately wanted to hide but Cassandra could still see it: there was pain and a lot of it, too.

She felt her heart go out to him but she knew she wouldn’t be able to talk to him that night, not like they usually did. There was still too much of a gap between them and even if Hector was seated at a table right next to the one with the demigods and there was an empty chair right there waiting for her, it didn’t mean that they were on an equal footing with them. It was the fact that they were contestants like the others that had opened the door for them tonight, nothing more.

Only then did Cassandra allow her gaze to wander to Ben. Of course his place was next to Arissa’s and while Cassandra had thought that Alexander looked amazing, she was stunned by Ben’s appearance. She would have guessed that he would feel awkward in a suit, like it would bother him as much as her wearing a dress, but when he got up to talk to some people from another table, she realized that he was moving with more than his usual simple grace. He moved like he owned the room and she felt her stomach tie into a knot when he threw glances towards her empty chair as if he was waiting for her to show up. But maybe he was just bothered by the fact that she wasn’t there on time.

Ben kept touching his wrist like it hurt and Cassandra wondered once again what the silvery band on his wrist meant. Ben laid a hand on Wolf’s shoulder in passing but it didn’t do much to lift his friend’s spirits, it seemed. Wolf and Bear were sitting at Alexander’s table as well, each with a blond, attractive Claimed girl beside them. The two girls looked like identical twins except for the fact that they were wearing two differently colored dresses and one was enjoying herself and the other clearly was not. Bear was all over his giggling blond companion while Wolf didn’t even pretend to listen to the other one. She seemed to have given up a while ago and downed one glass of champagne after the other.

Sol and Beatrix were dancing while River was flirting with some girls across from his table. It took Cassandra a while to realize that the hunched over girl with the grey dress and the mousy hair sitting a little to the side was Mia, Hestia’s daughter. She didn’t seem to be happy at all and was throwing miserable longing glances at Alexander who was busy talking to a constant flow of Claimed couples who made it their business to be acknowledged by him at least for a few minutes that evening. That didn’t give him much time for himself, Cassandra thought. Arissa coolly accepted everyone’s greeting and didn’t bother to talk to anyone. Still, thanks to Alexander, everyone left the table with a smile.

Finally there was no way to avoid looking at the teachers any more. Of course they were seated at the other table next to Alexander’s and Arissa’s. The dean headed it, as was befitting his place. He was dressed in a black suit as well but it looked worn and a little greasy, sitting a little tight in some places and a little lose in others. He had already had too much to drink and was swaying slightly to the music and ogling the pretty girls in front of him. There he was. Her father. The greatest hero of all time. Shouldn’t she have felt something more? Why didn’t she feel elated? Or at least happy?

Suddenly Cassandra had to suppress the urge to laugh. He was not a great hero, just a sorry old man who couldn’t hold his liquor. Maybe she was better off without him. At the same time, the knowledge that he was her father almost choked her and she wished she could just walk up to him and talk. But that was impossible, and she knew it.

Icarus, the skinny vice dean, picked at some grapes, sipped some water and after a moment excused himself. Cassandra was sure he wouldn’t come back any time soon. Beside him, Ajax had already drunk himself into a red-faced stupor and was staring fixedly at his glass. He kept ignoring Hippolyta’s attempts at conversation, just raised his glass from time to time and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Hippolyta seemed to have no more luck with the ever stern-looking Ms. Nightingale who hadn’t bothered to change into anything else that evening from her usual practical nineteenth-century black gown. Her lips were pressed into thin slits that made it very clear what she thought of the goings-on around her.

The only ones who seemed to be having fun at that table were William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and the librarians, the Brothers Grimm. Shakespeare was the center of attention and kept amusing his companions with stories that made the brothers snort with laughter and slap their thick, round bellies with mirth. Jane pretended to be shocked and repeatedly slapped William playfully on his hand but it was clear that she thought he was very funny. William, aware of Jane’s feelings for him, repeatedly took her hand and kissed it or bent down to whisper something in her ear which made Jane blush like a school girl. To her surprise, the vice dean returned with a sour look on his face and whispered something to the dean. Heracles didn’t seem too pleased about it but nodded and made to raise himself. Apparently he was supposed to make some kind of speech. But he didn’t seem ready for it yet and decided – to the vice dean’s grief – to order more champagne first.

Cassandra knew then that she couldn’t postpone going into the ballroom any longer. She took a deep breath, removed her new coat, hung it over her arm and entered. When she walked along the lines of tables towards her empty seat, she thought how only a short while back they had been welcomed to the university here. So much had changed since then. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn’t notice the looks she got; appreciative from the boys, surprised and envious from the girls. She didn’t see how Alexander stopped his glass midway to his mouth and simply stared at her or that Ben’s grip on the back of a chair behind which he stood to talk to some guy got a lot tighter all of a sudden. Arissa tensed, then laughed a little too loud at one of River’s jokes.

Cassandra, unaware of the small commotion she had caused, was glad she had somehow made it to her table and when she saw the desperation and pleading in Hector’s eyes who was surrounded by girls who wanted to get him to dance, she snapped. She told the girls to leave them alone and when that didn’t help, threw them such a wild look that they finally scattered. Hector murmured his thanks, then looked at her with a worried expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with his deep, reverberating voice, concern in his eyes.

Cassandra wished she could simply crawl into his arms but she shook herself instead.

“Not now”, she said and drank some water. “Let me tell you another time.”

Cassandra had a fleeting thought that this might put him in danger but she had never kept a secret from her brother and she wouldn’t start now. The noise of a spoon tapping a glass distracted her from her thoughts. The music stopped and the dancing couples returned to their seats.

In the meantime, Heracles had raised himself to his full height and again, Cassandra was struck by the change that seemed to go through him whenever he was facing a crowd. He looked younger and taller suddenly, the tired, worried lines on his face almost gone and when he spoke, there was nothing that indicated that he had had too much to drink.

“Welcome everyone to our annual New Year’s Ball. I won’t bore you with a long speech, I just wanted you to know that we have to thank Zeus’s children Alexander and Arissa for sponsoring this incredible feast this evening that will surely bring us into the new year well-fed and with no worries about our throats getting dry any time soon. Thank you for that. You honor us with your beauty, grace and intelligence.”

Arissa and Alexander acknowledged the praise with a slight inclination of their heads.

“Just one more thing before you can return to the joys of this evening: in twelve days, there will be the second of the challenges.”

There was a murmur of approval among the crowd while the remaining contestants pricked their ears in anticipation.

“I won’t reveal too much tonight, just that it is going to be close to the water and you will be expected to return something to us.”

The murmur got louder, especially when he mentioned the part with the water.

“You will be allowed to bring one person with you”, the dean continued and there was some confusion as to what that might mean. “This particular challenge won’t be about strength, it will be about cunning, about finding your way back home and also about team work. And you won’t be allowed to bring any weapons.”

That still didn’t seem to give him the reaction he was hoping for. Cassandra felt disappointed, too. There was nothing really spectacular about this.

Heracles suddenly looked thunderous.

“And you will have to face a creature even viler than the ones you met during the first of the challenges”, he boomed. “This time, my semi-divine friends and other contestants, you will have to go against the Minotaur.”

A gasp went through the crowd, then everybody cheered except for the contestants. The Minotaur was a brutally strong creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. It was viciously intelligent and usually guarded the center of a labyrinth from where it was almost impossible to escape. Armed with just a knife – because there was no way any of them would go into something like that without at least some kind of hidden weapon – and being responsible for another human being would not make this easy at all.

Heracles raised his glass, toasted Alexander and Arissa and then wished everyone a good evening.

“Well, you have spoilt it for me”, Cassandra murmured and Hector patted her hand.

Suddenly, she was hit by a wave of nausea and knew that the challenge wouldn’t end well. Cassandra blinked and tried to see clearer, but couldn’t. She gasped and held on tightly to her brother. Then the vision was over. Lucky for her, dinner was served at that point. Cassandra somehow found it in her to talk to Robin, the descendant of Poseidon and the nicer one of the two contestants sitting with them at the table while Hector took to shoveling as much food into him as he possibly could, and didn’t talk at all.

Jack, the descendant of Apollo, didn’t even pretend to be interested in any conversation with them and concentrated on bragging to the other Claimed about his achievements instead. After dessert, Hector excused himself and Cassandra watched him approach the girls she had sent away earlier that evening. He was greeted with enthusiasm and made to sit with them which he accepted with grace and a sly smile in her direction. Cassandra smiled back and wondered whether it would be ok for her to go downstairs now. She had a sudden urge to talk to her sister.

“I see Madame Margot has worked a small miracle”, Charlie said, suddenly sitting right next to her. “You look divine tonight.”

Cassandra wondered why no one had stopped him but as usual people seemed to simply accept him as a natural part of the crowd. Charlie indicated towards Hector who now had three girls sitting around him, looking up at him in admiration.