The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (20 page)

“You know there is no way to kill her”, Cassandra murmured, already half-asleep. “Scylla, I mean. She can’t be killed, right?”

She heard Ben as if from far away.

“I am not sure”, he said quietly. “But I will try and find out.”

When she felt his lips brush her forehead, she was pretty sure she was already dreaming. It was definitely better than being swallowed alive, that was for sure. And with a sigh, she finally felt sleep coming.

When she woke up next, Summer gave her some concoction brought over by Madame Margot’s servants to help her get better sooner. Cassandra briefly wondered why it had come from Madame Margot and not from the infirmary but before she could protest, Summer had given it to her and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep again.

The next morning, at least she hoped it was only the next morning and that she hadn’t slept for a week or so, she felt much better. She stretched, felt that her muscles were tense from lying in bed for so long but otherwise she was doing much better. She wrinkled her nose when the smell of illness hit her and decided to go take a shower.

Afterwards she was greeted with a cheer by everyone in the kitchen. Pandora even sprang up and hugged her sister, so happy was she to see her well again. Hector smiled and made space for her beside him and Summer asked what she would like to eat. Charlie waved at her from the sofa and excused himself for not getting up and hugging her, too explaining that he still had the world’s biggest hangover. He actually sounded proud saying it but he had lost weight and under his mass of facial hair, he was hiding circles so deep they were almost shimmering black. He had never exactly looked the picture of health but now he had an outright haunted look about him.

“You are not still contagious, are you?” he said and Cassandra’s nostrils flared.

He looked like he was a whole lot of transmittable diseases walking on two feet and he was asking her whether she might give him the flu.

“I guess now would not be a good time to kiss me, huh?” she said and saw Jim’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. “I would let you. Tongue and all.”

Charlie puckered his lips and blew her a smoke and sour wine impregnated kiss.

“I think I’ll pass for now”, he said. “But in, say, three weeks’ time, I am here for you. Tongue and more.”

Jim, who had tried very hard
not
to look at her, didn’t seem amused by their interplay. She caught him looking at her strangely like he was wondering whether she remembered their kiss as well as he did. She winked at him and he almost fell off his chair. Then she was momentarily distracted because Summer presented her with some delicious smelling scrambled eggs.

“Anything new?” Cassandra asked while digging into her second plate already and then noticed how Summer gently brushed up to Hector when she was handing out more scrambled eggs. There was an almost palpable connection between them that must have sprung up when she had been sick.

“You mean besides them?” Pandora grinned and indicated Hector and Summer who both blushed and then shyly held hands. Cassandra hoped that Summer was aware of what she had gotten herself into but she seemed happy enough and maybe her brother had it in him to change.

Pandora mentioned that she had broken up with her girlfriend the day before. Cassandra knew her duties as a sister, hugged Pandora, telling her that next time would be better and that love was just waiting around the corner. Pandora sniveled for a bit, then smiled and started talking about another, insanely hot girl she totally fancied.

Charlie and Jim hung on her every word until Pandora decided she had said enough and turned her attention on Jim whom she patted on the head like a puppy.

“Our little one seems to have had too much to drink on New Year’s as well”, she said and ruffled his hair. “He insists that someone kissed him that night but that he can’t say who because it is top secret and he would get killed if he ever breathed a word of it to anyone.”

Jim had the decency to blush.

“So why did he then?” Cassandra said, raising an eyebrow at Jim who looked like he wished he could disappear into thin air.

“I never… I just… I never said…”, Jim stuttered.

He turned an even darker shade of red. Charlie looked from her to Jim with a raised eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Pandora, unaware of the discomfort she had caused their friend, kept on speculating as to who it could have been.

“Was it an Unclaimed Girl? Or a Claimed? Don’t tell me you have managed to smooch one of the upstairs ones? Have you no shame? No? Was it a teacher then? A servant girl? Or no girl at all?”

Jim’s head threatened to explode and Cassandra finally took pity on him.

“I think that is quite enough about kissing today”, she said determinedly but Pandora didn’t listen.

“One can never talk enough about that”, her sister said, wrinkling her pretty nose. “Although how Charlie gets girls to kiss him despite that god-awful smell of his, I really don’t know. However, what really interests us, and I think I am speaking for all of us here, is your story of that night. Up until now it’s only speculation, so spill, sis, how was it?”

“How was what?” Cassandra asked innocently and bit into her bread.

“Oh come on”, Pandora protested. “We all saw you on the roof with Golden Boy. Who, except for me of course, would be able to resist those eyes?”

Summer tried to say something but Pandora waved her off.

“Please don’t tell me you let that one slip away as well”, Pandora said and turned her eyes pleadingly to heaven. “You are never going to find love if you keep not kissing the right guys.”

Jim almost turned green at that point. Cassandra wanted to get up but Hector, who could have very broad shoulders if he wanted, made it impossible for her to go anywhere.

“Don’t be such a spoilsport”, Charlie said. “It’s about time we made fun of someone other than Jim.”

Jim nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that is getting old”, Pandora said. “So. You, Golden Boy, up on the roof. What was all that about?”

Everyone waited for Cassandra to say something.

“Ok fine”, she said and she almost laughed at their expectant faces. “I admit it. It was me. I kissed Jim.”

Pandora looked crestfallen.

“That’s not fair”, she protested. “We have all poured our hearts out and there you are withholding the juiciest bits. That is nothing less than unsisterly behavior.”

“Nothing happened up there”, Cassandra said, hoping Pandora would leave her alone.

She didn’t want to talk about it, not now, not ever.

“That is impossible”, Pandora whined. “He is gorgeous, don’t you see that?”

Charlie raised his eyebrow even further.

“Maybe gorgeous men with blond hair and blue eyes aren’t her thing”, he said with a grin. “Maybe she is more attracted to…”

He stopped when he saw the warning look on Cassandra’s face.

“I think I’ll go back to bed now”, Cassandra said sharply but Pandora as usual choose to ignore her sister’s wishes entirely.

“Don’t be silly”, she piped. “The fun has only just started! Did you know that my sister was once so angry at a boy that she strapped him to a pole. Naked?”

Cassandra didn’t stay to listen to her sister telling the story. With a sigh, she went upstairs to crawl back into bed because she was starting to feel tired again. She waited for sleep to come; instead there was Charlie.

“Leave me alone”, she murmured, trying not to gag from the smell. “I need to sleep.”

“Why did you kiss Jim?” he asked and Cassandra sighed.

“Right”, she said, attack being the best form of defense. “I kissed Jim and you and Alexander and Ben and Wolf. And then Sol and River and Beatrix. And everyone else at that party. Are you satisfied now? And why do you care anyway?”

“I don’t”, he said. “But he is just a boy and impressionable so you’d better be careful. And for the record: I kissed you. Not you me. I would have remembered that.”

Suddenly he didn’t smell bad anymore. Cassandra crossed her eyes.

“Stop it”, she said and yawned. “It is not going to work on me. And how do you know I didn’t do exactly as I said.”

Charlie took a strand of her hair and started playing with it. Cassandra, too tired to fight him, let him.

“As you have set your pretty little head on aims you won’t achieve”, Charlie said and Cassandra opened one eye to see him looking at her strangely. “Let me set something straight for your own good: you will never kiss him. Or he you for that matter.”

Cassandra didn’t like the finality of his words but only shook her head to indicate that she didn’t care but Charlie saw right through that.

“I mean it, Cassandra”, he said quietly and gently removed another strand of hair that had fallen into her face. “Ben will never kiss you. He is bound to Arissa in ways that you can’t even imagine. So get him out of your head. It will be for the better, believe me.”

Before she could ask what he meant by “bound”, he got up and left, leaving her feeling empty and lost and terrible. This had all been too much. Why would Ben never kiss her? And how did Charlie know that with such a degree of certainty?

She was asleep when Charlie came back in to cover her with another blanket because she was shivering. He gently stroked her hair and then sat down to watch over her. When the nightmares came, he touched her forehead and murmured some words. Cassandra stiffened, then relaxed and finally breathed evenly.

Charlie wasn’t so lucky. No one stopped his dark thoughts from taking an even darker turn. Finally he gave in and reached for a small bottle in his side pocket. He took a sip and immediately felt the sweet release the drink gave him. He knew he didn’t deserve it but then he took a second one and another one until the bottle was empty and he was feeling much better, almost to the point of enthusiastic. But he knew it wouldn’t last for long. But for now the pain was gone and so were the memories. With a last look back at Cassandra, he left the room and went to see where he might be able to find a way to spend the evening agreeably. He was sure he wouldn’t have much trouble finding a diversion. He never had.

Cassandra dreamed of darkness and death, of scratching noises and a scream so unnatural it made her shudder in her sleep. And then, at the end, there was a coldness so extreme that it threatened to annihilate her entire being. Cassandra woke up shivering and swore to herself she would never fall asleep again. No more dreams, no more nightmares.

The dream had been vague, general in character but she thought that it was somehow connected to the second of the challenges and she had a gloomy sense of foreboding that something bad would happen that day. She even thought of going to Heracles to ask him to stop the challenge but she knew he wouldn’t listen to her just because she had a bad feeling about it. And maybe in the end it would turn out that that was all it was: just a bad feeling.

Cassandra had overcome the last symptoms of the flu and was feeling ready to get out into the world again, ready for the second of the challenges. They still didn’t know more about it other than what Heracles had told them on New Year’s Eve. They would encounter the Minotaur which meant that they would most likely have to find their way out of a labyrinth. She hadn’t even started to think of a proper tactic yet. Neither had she asked Pandora whether she would be willing to accompany her. She was banking on her sister’s general adventurous disposition and hoped that she would simply be able to make up a tactic along the way.

She shook off the bad dream and the bad feeling and went downstairs to have breakfast with the others. Today was the first day of classes again and no one looked particularly enthusiastic about it. Worst off was Charlie, who looked positively destroyed and was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed. But he never went to classes anyway.

Cassandra sat down next to Pandora who hugged and kissed her and asked her how she was feeling. Cassandra assured her that in a day or two she would be her jolly old self. Pandora sighed and told her sister that she was many things, not one of them jolly. Then she winked at Cassandra and went on to dig into her pancake with little enthusiasm.

Cassandra smiled and wanted to ask Hector whether they would start with their usual routine again the next morning, but he was throwing anxious glances at Summer who somehow seemed less than happy about something. His girlfriend – at least Cassandra guessed that this was the correct term for their relationship – stood making pancakes and ignored Cassandra and the rest of the crew entirely.

Cassandra raised a questioning eyebrow towards her sister who simply shook her head and whispered “trouble in paradise” and then kept on chewing on her pancake. They watched Summer slam the batter into the pan as if she wanted to punish the pancakes for something which meant she wasn’t shaking with sobs but with anger, Cassandra thought with relief and liked her the better for it. Jim didn’t look too happy either. He was anxiously flipping through several books at the same time as if he was looking for answers he simply couldn’t find.

“What’s going on?” Cassandra whispered to Pandora, who shrugged again and indicated to an official looking letter with grease stains all over it. Cassandra used her little finger to draw it to herself. It was written on parchment, had the university’s symbol on top and some writing in ancient Greek before it changed to English. Cassandra read it once, then again and when it didn’t make sense after the third time, she gave up.

“Is this some kind of joke?” she asked but Pandora and Hector shook their heads.

“Charlie says it’s for real”, Pandora said, mouth full, syrup dripping from her mouth.

“But this is an invitation to an ice-skating dance”, Cassandra said slowly as if the words alone could bite.

“I know”, Pandora exclaimed enthusiastically, her eyes shining with excitement. “This is going to be so much fun!”

Charlie gave a derisive snort while Jim looked like he had swallowed a lemon. Summer’s shoulders, if possible, tensed up even more.

“It says that there is a natural ice-rink close to the caves that freezes over only for a few days every year and that next Saturday is the time again.”

“Yeah, that’s about right”, Charlie groaned and Cassandra wished he would stop drinking so much.

Every time he moved, the smell of empty beer bottles and cigarette stubs pervaded the room and even the pancakes couldn’t cover it up. It was worst when he was talking. Cassandra knew it had a lot to do with what he drank. There was one kind of drink that restored him to his good looks. She had tasted it, sweet and somehow golden, on his lips when he had kissed her on New Year’s Eve.

Unfortunately, Charlie rarely made use of that special drink and seemed to prefer to get entirely wasted and end up looking like the godfather of all hangovers. She couldn’t for the life of her fathom why he kept on drinking even if he knew that alcohol had such a destructive effect on him. But then he was a son of Dionysus and maybe he couldn’t help himself. She only knew that if he kept doing it, it wouldn’t end well for him. Charlie groaned as if to confirm her thoughts.

“It says here that it is part of the second challenge”, Cassandra said trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach when she thought of her dream vision that night.

Pandora nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, it is”, her sister said, grinning so hard her face almost split. “First you’ll all skate gracefully along the frozen lake thingy and then us mere spectators can all huddle together, have some of that famous heated wine and wait for you to come back victorious. I love that!”

Summer’s slapping of the pancakes instantly grew more vicious and Cassandra swallowed when she thought that soon enough she would have to ruin the fun for her sister.

“Who are you bringing anyway?” Pandora said and Cassandra sincerely considered taking someone else.

Summer’s head snapped around.

“Yes, who are you going to take?” she asked and approached Cassandra, batter dripping from her raised ladle. “Someone as strong as you? A fighter? Someone who can help you when you have to face the Minotaur? Someone who won’t run the second he hears someone sneeze?”

Jim, who was watching Summer with eyes as big as saucers, seemed to shrink in on himself while Hector tried to say something but Summer shut him up with a look.

“No, please, no more explanations as to why you would rather take him than someone who might actually be able to save you”, Summer spat.

Instead of retaliating though, Hector simply got up, took the ladle from her hands, put it on the table and then gently drew her to himself to let her sob into his chest.

“So you are going to take Jim, I gather”, Cassandra said and gave Jim an encouraging smile but he looked crestfallen. Summer shrieked at the mention of his name and again withdrew from Hector.

“It’s crazy, right?” Summer cried looking at Cassandra for confirmation. “He almost died in the last challenge. And now, of all people, he wants to take a child with him?”

Cassandra exchanged a look with Hector.

“I am not going to stand there and watch you die, do you hear me?” Summer cried and Cassandra was surprised at the intensity of her anger.

“He is not a child”, Hector said in his deep bass voice, holding out his hand towards Summer.

“Fine”, Summer replied, shoving away his hand. “Do whatever you want. If you are all so bent on getting killed, go ahead. But I am not going to pick up the pieces this time.”

And with that she stormed out of the room and left Hector standing there with a puzzled look on his face.

“Just let her calm down a little”, Pandora said and patted Hector’s arm. “She’ll come around eventually.”

Once Summer was gone, Jim seemed to feel a little more confident and proclaimed himself ready for anything. He threw an imploring look at Hector, who followed Summer eventually but not before he gave Jim a friendly slap on the shoulder that sent Jim flying through the room. Jim immediately got up again, smiling.

“That means he still wants to take me, right?” he said when Hector had left and Cassandra nodded, smiling.

“So you are going to do this?” Pandora asked and patted him on the shoulder, too. “That’s great. But aren’t you afraid something might happen to you?”

Jim shrugged.

“I don’t care”, he said, sitting down again. “Life is not getting any better like this. Summer is right. I look like a child and up until now I have often behaved like one. But I am not a child. Maybe it is time I tried something new.”

Cassandra had a sudden vision of grown-up, lanky Jim who looked hell-bent on some action.

“Who are you going to take?” Charlie said from the depth of the sofa.

Cassandra thought of darkness and despair, of noises in the dark and of cold, heart-freezing despair.

“Pandora”, Cassandra said.

Pandora screeched and then took her sister into a lung-crashing embrace.

“Yeah you are!” she exclaimed and Cassandra smiled but wished her sister would at least consider the dangers. “I’ll be kicking the Minotaur’s furry ass, that’s what I’ll do.”

And then she got up and did a series of complicated movements with her legs and arms that would do a lot of things but not hurt anyone, least of all a creature that was twice her size.

“Pandora, don’t be silly”, Cassandra said sternly and told her to sit down again. “I am taking you because you have an incredible sense of direction. There will be no fighting, no kicking, no touching and you certainly won’t get anywhere near the Minotaur’s furry backside. You will stay behind me every step of the way and you will not take any risks. You will not get yourself into any danger. And most important of all: you will not get
me
into any danger by doing something stupid. Do you hear me?”

“I love you too, sis”, Pandora said and grinned from ear to ear. “And I promise to be attached to your backside for the whole expedition. No risk. No fun. Promise.”

Cassandra gripped her sister’s arms.

“I mean it”, she said. “You’ll stay with me all the time and you will follow my directions to the letter, understood?”

Pandora nodded and this time forced a smile. Cassandra’s grip was pretty hard.

“Don’t worry about it, I will not put myself or you in any danger, ok?”

Cassandra again thought she heard metal scratching and very much doubted that Pandora would be able to keep her promise. But she also knew that she needed to bring her sister, that Pandora somehow was the key – maybe to surviving, maybe to something else – and that she had to be part of this challenge.

“I need to go see Alexander now”, Cassandra said and Charlie sat a little straighter. “We will talk about this again when I am back.”

Jim announced that he would go to the library now to borrow some books before classes started and Pandora joined him. They went out chatting happily and Cassandra rolled up a pancake to take it with her. She was about to leave when her gaze fell on Charlie who lay on the sofa pale and unmoving.

“Why do you keep destroying yourself like this?” she asked softly and at first she thought Charlie hadn’t heard her.

Then she felt an overwhelming wave of desperation and sadness and knew that Charlie had heard her just fine.

“Who says I don’t enjoy it?” he said, opening an eye and rubbing his stomach. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I will throw up my uneaten breakfast.”

He raised himself and staggered out of the room. Cassandra knew there was nothing she could do for him, not until he accepted that he needed help. She sighed, threw her pancake in the garbage and left for the palace.

Cassandra managed to get to Alexander’s room unhindered. The guards were used to her presence and didn’t give her any trouble even that early in the morning and Cassandra suddenly realized that they probably thought that she was having an affair with Alexander. But it didn’t matter what they thought because as soon as she entered Alexander’s room, she knew something was wrong.

There was an overwhelming smell of sickness that couldn’t be covered up by disinfectant. Cassandra needed a moment to adjust her eyes to the dim light. All curtains had been drawn shut like they were trying to shield it from outside forces and Cassandra shuddered.

The room felt cold, alien. She saw one of Madame Margot’s servants asleep on the sofa and a nurse from the infirmary, both looking completely exhausted. There was another one standing guard at Alexander’s door and when she approached the servant, she saw the tired look in his eyes and the hostility intermixed with hopelessness.

“What do you want?” he asked quietly, trying not to disturb Alexander who seemed to be asleep propped up on a heap of cushions and pillows behind him.

Up close the smell of sickness was almost too much to bear.

“I want to see him”, she said, loud enough that Alexander would hopefully hear her and call her in.

“You can’t”, the servant replied but just then Alexander moved and the servant went straight to his bedside, his manner brisk but efficient.

Cassandra followed him.

“He shouldn’t have any visitors”, the servant said but Cassandra ignored him, so shocked was she by Alexander’s condition. He had lost so much weight that she could see every single bone protruding from his body. His cheeks were hollow and sunk, his breath shallow and labored and his skin had a sickly, yellowish color. His lips were so dry they were cracked and clotted with blood in several places. She had been prepared for something bad but this was worse.