The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (8 page)

“Are you all right?” Heracles boomed, not unkindly, when he saw her sway a little.

Cassandra nodded but felt a growing unease towards the eerie silence behind the trapdoor. And something else was bothering her: before, there had been howling and scratching and an occasional rumbling from the animals fighting against each other, but this time it felt as if even the animals were afraid of what was coming. Cassandra, barely able to breathe anymore, looked around for something to cover her mouth with and finally took off her shirt.

“Are you planning on dazzling us with your beauty?” Heracles boomed and Cassandra, who was now wearing nothing but a black tank top that revealed her perfectly shaped stomach, put the shirt over her nose and mouth in the hope that this would keep the fumes out long enough.

“What are you doing?” Heracles asked but at this moment the trapdoor opened and Cassandra found just enough time to pick up her sword again and raise it towards the creature exiting the trapdoor, or rather exploding through the trapdoor, destroying it in the process.

There were screams of horror from the spectators’ rows and Cassandra, who had to jump to the side to evade the creature, saw the guards rattling at the doors, seemingly unable to open them. She heard Alexander scream at her to get out above the sudden ear-deafening noise but knew that this was impossible. Because the creature that had apparently been chosen for her was a hydra.

The hydra looked like a creature straight from a nightmare but Cassandra knew she was as real as the other animals that had come out of the trapdoor. A hydra was a mixture between a dragon and a serpent and if Cassandra had had time to look at it properly, she would have seen that apart from three heads, the creature  had colorful scales and spikes that sparkled in the sunlight, too. However, Cassandra was fully occupied with the task of evading the creature’s heads, all of them equipped with mouths sporting big, ugly and very sharp teeth.

The hydra roared and spittle flew around. When a drop touched her arm, Cassandra cried out in pain. She felt the acid burning into her skin and quickly went over her options: she knew that cutting off a hydra’s head only meant that two new ones would grow there instead. She remembered how Heracles had once defeated the creature – or one like it – in his twelve labors. Cassandra saw another small trapdoor beside her open and a man-sized scorpion came crawling out of it. She didn’t even have time to think, she simply rolled to the side, away from the razor-sharp claws of the scorpion and its raised sting.

At the edge of her vision, Cassandra saw that Hector and Ben and several others were trying to gain access to the cage but it seemed like all doors were still locked. Heracles came running at them, shouting something that sounded like an order but Cassandra had no time to see what they were planning on doing because the hydra reared its heads towards the sky and let out a cry that shook the earth.

“Hector”, she cried, hoping that he would hear her despite the noise. “I need fire.”

And then she ran towards the hydra, the scorpion following her with unnatural speed. She ducked in the last possible moment and slid away from under one of the hydra’s mouths and heard the satisfying crack when another one of the hydra’s heads snatched the scorpion up and broke it in half. She saw Hector run towards the torches like she had hoped, taking several of the guards with him. They threw the torches into the tar pits, igniting them for the spectacle that should have been the glorious finish to this day’s challenge, and for a minute the burning likeness of a roaring lion could be seen on the floor. But the effect was lost on the terrified crowd and even though the fire burned hot and managed to hurt the hydra’s exposed underbelly, it only served to make the creature angrier.

Cassandra, who had hoped that she could burn the creature’s stumps with the fire, realized that the fire wouldn’t be hot enough and that there was no way she would be able to cut off one the heads and evade the other two at the same time. There was only one way out of this mess and that was currently blocked by the hydra’s body. Cassandra, hoping that the creature would at least be a little distracted by the pain caused by the fires, tried to rush to the side of the cage but was hit by the creature’s long tail and smashed into the metal bars. She hit her head and felt her wrist crack when she fell on the floor and knew that there was no way she would survive this. She started coughing from the black smoke and felt the hydra’s heads coming closer, spittle flying everywhere, pounding down on her like acid rain. Cassandra screamed and held up her arms and tried to scramble away but there was nowhere to go.

Then Hector was beside her, dragging her away while Heracles, Ben and the other demigods attacked the hydra with everything they had.

Ben was swinging his silver sword fast and efficiently and Sol, virtually ablaze with some kind of giant torch burning in his hands, burned off the stumps so that nothing could grow back there. Wolf, attempting to cut off the creature’s last head, stumbled and would have been caught by the hydra if River hadn’t thrown himself between them. But River only managed to cut off part of the head and stood below it when the hydra’s blood rained down on his arm. River screamed in pain and Wolf swirled around just in time to see Ben cut off the rest of the head while Sol burned down the last stump. The hydra instantly lost its power and died.

Wolf was instantly by his friend’s side. River, watching the skin melt from his arm, screamed unnaturally high until the pain became too much and he passed out. They all had to go through the splintered trapdoor at the back because the doors to the cage still wouldn’t open. River was carried by Bear who immediately ran on to the infirmary with Sol and Wolf following suit.

Once outside, Hector broke down coughing and Cassandra, too, and felt bile rise in her throat. Someone handed her a bottle of water and Cassandra greedily drank from it. Then she started scratching her skin where the hydra’s poison had touched her, causing her skin to blister in a hundred places. She looked up to see the pale faces of Heracles and Ben who didn’t seem to have fared much better.

“You, young lady, have a bit of explaining to do”, Heracles said and raised himself into a standing position with the help of Ben, who looked pale and shaken.

Before he could go on, Alexander and Arissa came towards them, looking agitated and worried in Alexander’s case and cool and almost like she was disappointed in Arissa’s case.

Cassandra tried to say something but she had to cough so hard she thought her lungs would rip. Ben bent down beside her. His eyes were a dark storm of emotions when he handed her a small bottle. She accepted it gratefully but he had to help her keep her hand steady so that she could drink. The liquid tasted
golden
somehow and reminded her of the one Charlie drank that helped restore him to his good looks. It was like fire running down her throat but this time it was a healing one and she felt instantly better. With a thankful look she handed the bottle back to Ben, feeling her hand burn where he had touched her.

“Why didn’t you say that you felt something was wrong?” Heracles asked. “You covered your nose. Did you know that something wasn’t right?”

He said it with an intensity that made Cassandra’s nerves tingle. Something about him seemed strangely familiar, like they had known each other for a long time, but Cassandra knew that that was impossible.

Alexander, who was holding on tight to his chair, looked furious.

“Why was there a hydra coming out of the dungeons?” he inquired. “How could you allow this to happen, Heracles? And why were the doors locked? How dare you put one of your contestants into such a position of danger?”

Cassandra saw anger flare up in Heracles’ face but he quickly got himself under control again.

“The doors should have never been locked”, he said. “They must have malfunctioned.”

Cassandra thought that this was not very probable but Heracles wasn’t finished.

“And if you really think that I would put even one of my students in that kind of danger, you are wrong”, he said angrily.

He had looked as shocked as everyone else about the hydra and he had come to her rescue with no regard to his own safety.

“We will look into this”, he said and thereby effectively cut off anything Alexander might have had to add. “Ajax told me that the guards in the tunnels had been dosed with something and were unconscious so there was no way they could have warned us. Also, a hydra was never intended for Cassandra but a pack of wild dogs and hyenas. They were either eaten or replaced by the hydra, we aren’t sure yet. And now I suggest that we all go to Miss Nightingale to have ourselves checked out.”

Alexander asked whether there had been magic involved but Heracles only shrugged and repeated that they would look into it. Cassandra couldn’t help but think that he seemed remarkably calm about it. Not about the fact that the hydra had attacked them – he was furious about that – but about the implication that magic might have been involved.

Heracles, who saw Ajax and Hippolyta standing at a little distance looking worried, went over to talk to them.

“It’s a shame the hydra was so slow in the end”, Arissa said once Heracles was gone. “It would have rid us of at least one quite nasty specimen.”

Alexander’s grip on his wheelchair got so tight that the knuckles of his hands showed.

“Would you leave us alone, please”, Alexander said and Cassandra nudged Hector to help her up but Alexander shook his head.

“Not you”, Alexander snapped and Cassandra looked at him in surprise. “Ben, Arissa, I want to talk to her.”

This time no “please”.

Ben had a burning look in his eyes but it was Arissa who truly scared Cassandra. And that after she had just faced a hydra.

“Fine”, Arissa snapped. “Are you coming, darling?”

And then she took a deliberate step towards Ben and kissed him full on the mouth. When she was finished, Ben pressed his lips together and led her away.

Cassandra asked Hector to go ahead as well and when he hesitated she assured him that she was fine. The strange drink Ben had given her would sustain her a little longer, she was sure and she was curious what Alexander could have to say to her.

“Excuse my sister’s manners”, Alexander said once the others were out of earshot. “She can sometimes be a bit much to take in.”

Cassandra, too worn-out to be polite about it, nodded. Alexander smiled but when he saw how tired she was, he indicated to the servant who was pushing his wheelchair to get him going and Cassandra found herself walking beside him, wondering what it was he could want from her.

“How did you know how to fight it?” Alexander asked after a while.

Cassandra frowned. They didn’t just have to pass the physical entrance test to be admitted to the university, there was also a theoretical one on Greek history, including the stories of the heroes, monsters and other creatures that were a part of it.

“I read”, she said hoarsely. “It was an exact reenactment of one of Heracles’ labors.”

“I am sorry”, Alexander said. “I didn’t mean to imply that… Never mind. You could have been killed in there. And I don’t like the idea of losing you.”

Cassandra stopped. That had sounded strangely possessive and Cassandra wasn’t sure she liked that.

“Why would you even care?” Cassandra asked, confused by the intensity with which he was looking at her. “You know nothing about me.”

His turquoise eyes lit up when he saw her struggling.

“Then why do I feel like I should?” he said, smiling and again there was a hint of something Cassandra couldn’t quite place but she was tired and hurt and all she wanted was to go home.

“I don’t mean to sound rude but you are demigod and I am an Unclaimed”, Cassandra said, rubbing her arms which were starting to itch again. “There is not much reason that should make you want to know me better.”

Alexander, still smiling, shrugged.

“No problem from my side”, he said and raised his finger just as the servant wanted to start pushing again.

“Fine”, Cassandra answered and saw that she had drawn blood scratching her arm. “But who says I want to get to know you.”

And with that she left him standing, knowing that she needed to go see Summer about her itching skin as soon as possible before it drove her crazy.

“Be that as it may”, Alexander said, catching up with her, “sooner or later you’ll want to get to know me better. I am quite irresistible, you know.”

Cassandra bit her lip and stopped once again.

“Annoying is the word you are looking for”, she said and bent down towards Alexander, laying her hands on the handles of his wheelchair and coming very close to the son of Zeus. The guards immediately stood to attention but Alexander told them to leave her alone.

“I will be your sponsor from now on”, Alexander said and Cassandra didn’t t like the possessiveness of his tone. “That means that I am allowed to endow you with a monthly allowance and organize additional training opportunities for you.”

Still, it sounded tempting.

“In exchange for my generosity I expect you to train with Ben once a week. He is faster than you and his training is… extensive”, he continued and held up two fingers before she could voice her protest. “Second, you are going to come talk to me whenever I want to see you. And you will accept anything I give to you, no matter what it is.”