The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (31 page)

“
We
can’t help you but it is about time we send someone who can”, Zeus cried, throwing an angry look at his wife. “

As if in reply to this, Scylla reared her ugly head, roaring. And suddenly a horribly maimed Medusa came slithering up from behind. She had been blinded, her eyes terrible unseeing empty sockets and her hair had been cut off so close to the head that it had left ugly, oozing spots where her snake hair had been.

Cassandra remembered that Heracles had said that she wouldn’t be punished for what had happened to River but maybe they had revised their judgment; why she would still help them in their distress was for another day to find out. Medusa, sniffing the air, hissed and then stretched out her metal claws, ramming them into Scylla’s lower body where the dog part was. Two of the three dogs looked like they were dead by the time Medusa was finished with them and if her roar had been loud before, it now became deafening.

Scylla shook her head and dragged herself forward on her aching, bleeding stomach, her tentacles slashing through the air uncontrollably.

Cassandra gritted her teeth and told herself to get up again. She started towards Mia but kept slipping and then she fell. She landed on her hurting shoulder and almost passed out from the pain once again.

“I wouldn’t touch her if I were you”, Charlie suddenly croaked beside her.

Cassandra grabbed him and drew him towards her.

“What are you doing here?” Cassandra cried, and then realized that he might be their only chance.

“You need to turn”, Cassandra said and Charlie looked at her as if she was crazy. “You need to be who you really are, Charlie, please.”

But Charlie, who still looked terribly ill, gave a burp and then simply passed out beside her.

Cassandra felt like throttling him but drew herself towards Mia instead. What had she expected, really. He was useless and she should have known it. Heracles got smashed into a rock not too far away from her and Cassandra felt desperation rise. Hippolyta could barely hold herself upright anymore and even Medusa looked like she had almost exhausted her strength.

At the same time Bear was gaining ground on Ben and Cassandra knew they were going to lose this battle.

“What are you doing?” Charlie cried, suddenly holding on to her leg. “You will never survive this. Release me and I will help you.”

He said it like it should mean something to her but it didn’t. She tried to make him let go but he was stronger than she had thought. She screamed at him to leave her alone and suddenly the world stopped turning.

Cassandra looked around. The world seemed to be frozen into a terrible tableau of war where no one but her seemed to be able to be moving.

She looked up and saw that Zeus was holding up his hand and staring in horror at his son. Cassandra followed his gaze and saw that Bear had fallen to his knees and was holding on to something on his chest, like it could save him but he was beyond help now.

Bear’s last act on earth had been to release a knife that was now flying towards Alexander. The knife, too, was frozen in time for the moment but as soon as time would come back, the knife would pierce straight through Alexander’s heart and Ben wouldn’t be able to prevent it. When she wanted to move, Zeus shook his head.

“Not yet, child of my child”, he said. “It’s not time yet.”

Cassandra wanted to scream at him, wanted to tell him that he was as useless as everybody else but then she saw the love in his eyes, the desperate wish that he could be down there and have the knife pierce through him and knew that it wasn’t his fault.

“You need to release me, father, I can help them.”, Charlie cried frantically.

“You know I can’t do that”, Zeus answered and Charlie fell to his knees, begging.

“You demoted me. You cursed me to become human. To suffer for what I did to Artemis and Athena. You said that I would suffer as long as that terrible night wasn’t redeemed. But you never told me
how
I could redeem myself. You have stuck me in this damn university for almost twenty years now and I get it. I do. I was a bad boy. Naughty, really. And I am sorry. Truly. But how shall I redeem myself if I don’t get to save them today?”

Cassandra bared her teeth. It was all true what she had seen in her flashback vision. It had been him who had mixed something into Artemis’ and Athena’s drinks and it was his fault that the two goddesses had gotten pregnant after that fateful evening. It was all because of Charlie. Charlie who wasn’t Charlie after all and who wasn’t a simple descendant of the gods. He was the real thing: Dionysus, the god of wine and merry making and ecstasy.

“You haven’t changed one bit, son”, Zeus said derisively. “Still whining instead of doing something, of finally manning up and be responsible for yourself. I can’t even bear to look at you.”

Charlie tried to hide his hurt behind a flippant comment but Cassandra had seen the crack in his façade. It hadn’t been much, but maybe there was hope after all. She remembered how Charlie had stayed with her when she was sick, how he had taken care of Jim long before they had come here. He hadn’t always been the nicest of people, but he had given her good advice and he had helped her become who she wanted to be. There hadn’t been any deviousness in his behavior then and she knew that this was the Charlie she had come to like, not the one standing before her and his father now.

“What did you mean when you said I should release you?” Cassandra asked.

She almost felt sorry for Charlie when she saw the hope in his eyes: He wanted this to be over almost as much as she did.

“I was cursed to be human until I was relieved of my guilt”, Charlie said, starting to get up and focusing entirely on Cassandra. “Only two people on this earth can do that.”

Me and Jim, Cassandra thought and suddenly remembered her nightmares from four months ago in which she had dreamt that Charlie would be swallowed alive and that she would be too late to save Alexander.

“All right”, Cassandra started and Charlie raised himself to his full height. “I…”

“Wait”, Zeus cried and Charlie stomped his foot in frustration.

“What is it?” Charlie hissed. “She is about to release me, so shut up.”

But Zeus didn’t seem to hear him. He was entirely focused on the knife flying towards his son.

“Hera said that we don’t meddle in the affairs of our children”, Zeus said slowly, stretching out his hand as if he could stop the deadly weapon. “But that is not true. We meddle with their beginnings when we fall in love with human women and abandon them. We meddle with their upbringing when we decide whether we take them in as our own or abandon them into the orphanages. We meddle with the decision of who they are to love, who to marry and we never stop. Because we are parents and that’s what we do. You will understand one day.”

Cassandra had no idea whether that was true but he was talking more to himself than to her anyway.

“Will you be fast enough once I turn time back on?” he said and Cassandra looked at the knife about to pierce through Alexander’s heart.

Then she nodded, slowly, because she knew there was no other way.

Zeus threw another longing look at his son.

“Save him”, Zeus said and Cassandra stared at Alexander, hoping that he would forgive her for what she was about to do. “It’s the only reason you exist, Cassandra.”

And with that time started running again.

Time had started running again but it was still in slow motion, like it needed a moment to accelerate. Cassandra judged the distance between herself and her target and guessed that she would maybe have another thirty seconds left. Then she cried out for Charlie. Her friend saw the determination in her eyes and started smiling.

“Go ahead, do it”, he whispered and Cassandra could feel Chaos reaching for her, attempting to cloud her vision. But she saw clear enough.

“I know what you are going to do, Charlie”, Cassandra said and locked eyes with Charlie. “Nevertheless, I am relieving you of any guilt.”

She felt the air around her getting charged with a power that felt alien and familiar at the same time. That was when she started to run.

“Good-bye my friend”, she called out to Charlie. “Enjoy your old family.”

She heard Zeus roar with anger because there was nothing he could do from up there. He had to watch helplessly when she acted in direct contradiction to his orders and betrayed his son. She hated herself for it but she had no choice. Because even though she was running away from Alexander, she was running towards Ben. Ben, who wasn’t standing between Alexander and Bear anymore, because he had been grabbed by a tentacle that was quickly crushing all life out of him.

Cassandra didn’t see that Sam was slowly stretching out his hand trying in vain to reach out for his brother. She didn’t listen when Zeus yelled at her to stop. And she didn’t look to see how Charlie, who had now turned into Dionysus for real and whose divine power was tangible like an electric current, turned to walk away from them. All she saw was Ben’s sword gleaming in the hot afternoon sun. She snatched it up in passing and then she jumped up the side of the rocks and raised his sword to cut off the tentacle that was holding him.

And then time was on for real again.

Cassandra felt the knife pierce through Alexander’s heart the moment she cut off the tentacle and Ben crashed down beside her. She fell to her knees, reaching for her breast, unable to breathe. She tried to tell herself that she wouldn’t have been fast enough to stop the knife and then go after Ben, that no matter how fast she could have run, she would have never reached them both in time. But it didn’t matter now that she had made her decision. All she could do was live with the consequences and for a moment she wasn’t sure she could.

Ben, struggling to free himself from the tentacle, looked from Cassandra to Alexander and when he realized what had happened to his friend, he threw off the last of the tentacle and went to Cassandra to draw her into a violent, desperate embrace. She felt his whole body shake, felt his disbelief and his utter despair. Then he grabbed her hair with both hands and their foreheads touched so hard it hurt. His breath was hot in her face and she closed her eyes, knowing that this would be the last time they would ever be this close.

“It should never have been me,” he whispered into her ear and Cassandra felt her heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

With that he let go and ran towards his friend.

“I am sorry”, Cassandra whispered, her voice breaking, but he didn’t hear her anymore.

When he reached Alexander, he pounded his fist against the rock beside him and slid down to cover his head in desperation.

Cassandra made herself turn away from that picture because she knew she still needed to stop Mia. As if reading her thoughts, Scylla positioned her huge body between Mia and Cassandra, effectively blocking Cassandra’s access to the girl. Cassandra raised Ben’s sword and started hacking at Scylla all the while thinking that according to her nightmare vision this could have all been over now: Scylla killed by Charlie and Alexander saved by a miracle, just not by her. But Charlie was gone and there was no miracle. She had been wrong and now they would all die because of it.

On the verge of a major panic attack, Cassandra stumbled on nevertheless, desperately trying to find a way to pass the creature. Zeus, who was looking in shock and grief at his dead son, was crying something in old Greek.

The air around her crackled and suddenly Charlie reappeared. Or rather it was the god Dionysus who still looked a lot like Charlie only that he was five times as tall and vibrating with power. He was wearing nothing but a leather loincloth in the form of a wine leaf and there were black lines dancing on his skin. His body showed no signs of his heavy drinking anymore. He looked strong and utterly alien. And yet she could still feel Charlie somewhere in there.

“You want me to kill her?” Charlie roared at his father who slammed his lightning bolt into the earth ineffectively. “You want me to kill the only person who has seen through me and still called me her friend?”

“Do it”, Zeus said, his anger transforming his face into a horrible mask of hatred.

“Fine, father”, Charlie cried. “As you wish. Now look what freedom of choice in all your children looks like.”

And with that he started running towards Scylla. The creature, noting the difference in the air, reared her ugly head as if sniffing for something. With a swish of her lower body, she turned towards Charlie and opened her mouth so wide spittle flew everywhere. Charlie, who was growing even taller, had grapevines sprouting from his hands, mouth and head and was slashing at the creature’s tentacles, cutting through them like butter. Scylla, hurt, confused and angry, roared so loudly the earth shook and the god that had once been Charlie catapulted himself straight up in the air and into the huge gaping hole of Scylla’s mouth. The force of his impact threw the creature backwards and made her hurtle over the rim. Once again she fell towards the ocean and Cassandra hoped that this time there would be no return.

She wanted to go over to Ben and Alexander but there was still the problem of Mia. The girl’s face had distorted into an ugly mask of frustration when Scylla fell and seemed to only hesitate for a second before she started blowing the Pipe again. Or would have if Arissa hadn’t raised her head for a fraction and let go of Mia. Mia, surprised by the sudden change, stopped the Pipe midway to her mouth and then looked at it curiously as if she saw it for the first time.

Arissa, who still looked like a shrunken mummy, took a step back. Running towards her, Cassandra saw that her eyes turned back to a normal color for a moment. Except that they weren’t Arissa’s ice-blue color but chocolate brown ones. It was over so quick that Cassandra couldn’t be sure, not from a distance, but something strange was going on. She slipped and was momentarily distracted and when she looked up again, Arissa had reached into her dress and taken out a sharp knife. Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed the hair on Mia’s head from behind and cut Mia’s throat.

Then, as if awaking from a dream, she threw away the knife and started screaming uncontrollably. Mia, who had been looking in wonder at her hands and the chaos surrounding her, seemed to want to scream, too but couldn’t. She let go of the Pipe and reached for her throat with both hands. Blood was spurting through her fingers and the girl slowly crumbled to her knees, an expression of mild confusion written all over her face.

Heracles, who had come running, took the hysterically screaming and biting Arissa into his arms and tried to soothe her while Hippolyta, who looked like she could barely hold herself upright anymore, ripped off a piece off of her shirt and pressed it on to Mia’s throat.

Again, Cassandra wondered whether it had really been Mia who had been controlling Scylla or whether it had been Arissa and whoever was lurking behind those chocolate brown eyes after all. But she could also see that Arissa had paid dearly for whatever had been going on. The daughter of Zeus was shaking from head to toe and her once beautiful face was lined and haggard, like that of an old woman. But when their eyes met, Cassandra knew that she was still the same. Cold and taxing, sly and mean.

Mia, who still seemed utterly confused by what was happening to her, tried to stop Hippolyta from helping her and desperately attempted to get a view of Alexander. When she finally did, she tried to say something but there was only a gurgle coming from her mouth. With a strength no one would have expected from her, Mia pushed against Hippolyta and Cassandra had to step in to stop her teacher from falling while Mia scrambled towards Alexander who was guarded by a Ben that looked even paler than his dead friend.

Ben waited until Mia was close enough, then he slapped her so hard she fell to the ground at Alexander’s feet. After everything that had happened today Cassandra still thought this was cruel but when she came closer and saw Alexander’s beautiful face devoid of all life, she understood why he had done it. He held Mia responsible for calling Scylla and for bringing death and destruction to them that day but she was also clearly destroyed by Alexander’s death.

Cassandra made Hippolyta, who was breathing in ragged, labored breaths, sit down against a rock and waited until Heracles brought a distraught Arissa before them. Arissa, seeing what had happened to her brother, fell to her knees crying.

“What is going on? What is wrong with my brother?” she asked stammering and for a moment Cassandra almost believed her.

Ben looked down at Arissa but there was no softness in his eyes. She looked up at him in pleading but when she saw the expression in his face, she shrank back. Ben took a step towards her as if he wanted to slap her too. The band on his wrist started glowing like crazy and he winced but instead of drawing back, he took yet another step towards Arissa who looked at him in shock.

“It’s not my fault”, she stammered and tried to hide behind Heracles. “I have no idea what happened. It was all her fault.”

She held out her hands towards Ben, begging.

“Look at me”, she said, tears streaming down her face. “Do you really think I would have done that to myself?”

Heracles, leaning against the rocks, tired and worn and beaten, contemplated the object he had taken from Mia’s hands. He looked from Mia to Arissa.

“She had the Pipe”, he said musingly. “I have no idea how she got it but there is no way she could have done this all by herself.”

He didn’t look at Arissa directly when he said it but it was clear what he meant. Cassandra thought that this was a dangerous path to follow. Heracles looked up at Zeus and Hera who hadn’t interfered or spoken since the huge creature had gone over the edge. Zeus was looking at his son, desperate and broken.

When Heracles held up the Pipe to them, Zeus pressed his lips together while Hera’s expression remained carefully neutral.

“The Pipe should have never left Mount Olympus”, Zeus said, pulling himself together. “We knew it had to be somewhere here on earth but we had no idea where it was until today.”

Hera stiffened beside him but still wouldn’t say anything.

“You weren’t made to fight each other”, Zeus said quietly. “This should have never happened.”

Arissa looked at her brother.

“Is he… dead?” she said with just the right amount of tremble in her voice, Cassandra thought.

To their surprise, Ben shook his head. Arissa’s eyes widened and Cassandra was sure that was not the answer she had expected.

“He is alive?” Heracles asked incredulously. “Are you sure?”

Ben nodded.

“We need to get him to Ms. Nightingale”, Heracles said and freed himself from Arissa’s clutches to approach Alexander but Ben stopped him.

“You need to let us help you”, Cassandra said but Ben was looking right through her as if she didn’t exist anymore.

“We can’t move him”, Ben said to Heracles. “If we remove the knife, he’ll bleed out.”

Hippolyta coughed and when she spit, there was blood. She fell to the side and was caught by Medusa, who had appeared beside them in her human form, drew her on her lap so that Hippolyta could breathe more easily.

“Relaxxx, dear”, she said, her voice shaking.

The fight was showing on her mutilated body that was even more terrible to behold in her human form. Her empty eye sockets looked like they were inflamed and there were oozing wounds where her hair had been shorn to the skull. But she sat there with her back straight and her head held high and Cassandra wished Pandora could see her grandmother like that. And she knew that Medusa hadn’t been punished for what had happened to River but that she had paid a price for being able to turn into a human again. And she had done it for her grandchild. Medusa bent her head like she could hear Cassandra’s thoughts and Cassandra nodded back to her but didn’t say anything.

“If he is still alive, there is hope”, Cassandra heard herself say and Ben was on her in an instant. He pushed her against the rocks and Cassandra let him.

“What are you talking about?” Ben hissed in white-hot anger. “Haven’t you done enough today?”

Every word cut through her like a knife but Cassandra met his eyes nevertheless. She had been prepared for anger, rage, even hate. But what she hadn’t been prepared for was the sudden hope she saw there. Ben held on tightly to her shoulders and Cassandra repeated what she had said before and he let go.

She looked at Alexander, whose shirt was covered in blood and who was barely breathing anymore. She had assumed that there was a way that he would survive this day because she had had that vision of him standing. Then she remembered the slight tingling feeling when she had touched the Minotaur on their way up and knew she was right.