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  ‘Wait,’ Aaron called, hurrying after him with everyone else. ‘Are you really planning to let Venus and the twins get away with what they did? They forced us to hurt people.’

  ‘I’m not letting them get away with it,’ Jayden countered, continuing down the hallway. ‘I’m going to do what Alec’s been telling us to do for the past week—tell Madam Grayson. If you want revenge, you can go and get it, Aaron. I won’t stop you.’

  Hailey expected Aaron to keep bickering with Jayden, but he followed him back into the entryway in silence, with Demi taking up the argument instead.

  Hailey trekked up the entryway stairs, fury pulsing in her veins. More than anything, she wanted to see Venus expelled. And that would only happen if she and her friends told a teacher what the evil trio had done. The only problem was that Madam Grayson might not believe them, especially if she’d fallen for the sweet-as-chocolate-pearls act Venus was putting on for the teachers.

  By the time they reached Madam Grayson’s dorm, Demi had given up on convincing Jayden and Alec to take matters into their own hands and conformed to sulking in silence with Aaron.

  Jayden knocked on the door, which opened a few seconds later. ‘Boys, you shouldn’t be…’ Madam Grayson’s eyes landed on Aaron and widened. ‘What happened to you?’

  Aaron hadn’t bothered cleaning the crusted blood off his face. ‘I had a broken nose.’

  ‘How did you get it?’

  ‘That’s what we came here to tell you,’ Demi began, changing from sulky to serious. ‘Venus, Nerissa, and Cleo used their powers on Jayden, Alec, and Aaron to force them into tormenting Uniques.’

  Madam Grayson’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why would they do that?’

  ‘Because we told them off for bullying a Unique,’ Jayden said. Hailey thanked him silently for not mentioning the part where she’d used her powers on them. Blowing a little wind at the girls probably wasn’t enough to get her expelled for misusing her powers, but it would no doubt get her a week’s worth of detentions.

  ‘Power misuse to that degree is a very serious accusation,’ Madam Grayson informed them. ‘I wasn’t witness to it, so I can’t do anything until I hear Venus, Nerissa, and Cleo’s side.’

  ‘Don’t bother,’ Aaron said with a shake of his head. ‘They’ll just lie and tell you we were the ones doing the wrong thing, like they did with Master Anderson.’

  Madam Grayson opened her mouth to say something, but Alec spoke first. ‘Did you say you were an Athena?’ he asked timidly.

  She nodded. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I know that some Athenas can use their powers to gain knowledge from people’s minds. Can you?’

  Hailey had never heard of an Athena being able to read someone’s mind before. But an Athena’s powers were predominantly related to gaining knowledge, so it made sense that they could. After all, isn’t a person’s mind like a really big book?

  ‘I’m afraid using my powers like that is illegal—it’s considered an invasion of privacy.’

  ‘Isn’t there anything you can do?’ Hailey asked. ‘They’ll just use their powers again.’

  Madam Grayson appeared thoughtful. ‘Go to Madam Norwood. She might know how to block mind-controlling powers—she’ll be in her classroom.’

  Things hadn’t gone how Hailey had imagined, but if Madam Norwood could make the boys immune to Venus’s and the twins’ powers, it would be the next best thing to the three of them being expelled.

  ‘I think that went pretty well,’ Jayden said as they headed from the girls’ dormitories.

  Alec smiled smugly. ‘I told you telling Madam Grayson was smarter than getting revenge.’

  They reached the Powers classroom, where Hailey knocked once on the door. She stumbled back a step when it swung open almost instantaneously. ‘Enter,’ Madam Norwood called from inside.

  ‘I love her power,’ Demi said as the five of them piled into the room.

  Madam Norwood sat at her desk, three piles of neatly stacked papers in front of her. She peered at Hailey and her friends over her glasses. ‘What brings you to my classroom on the weekend?’

  ‘We’ve come to see if you know how to block an Aphrodite’s and siren’s powers,’ Jayden said.

  Madam Norwood frowned. ‘Block powers? Why would you want to do that?’

  ‘Because Venus, Nerissa, and Cleo used their powers on Jayden, Alec, and Aaron to get them into trouble,’ Demi explained again. ‘But we can’t prove it, so Madam Grayson told us to come here and see if you have a way to make the boys immune to them.’

  Madam Norwood drummed her fingers on the desk. ‘I see. Well, since Madam Grayson sent you, I suppose I can help.’ She ambled to the other side of the room, where she disappeared through the last archway on the right wall.

  ‘I wonder what room she went into.’ Demi took a couple of steps to the side, trying to peer through the archway twenty yards ahead. She jumped back when Madam Norwood exited it and headed towards them.

  Hailey stared curiously at the vial she held, watching the shimmering liquid inside change from clear to pink to red to black. It was obvious now that Madam Norwood had been in the Hecate room. Only those gifted with witchcraft could create potions such as the one in her teacher’s hand.

  ‘Cool,’ Demi said, her eyes growing wide every time the liquid changed colour.

  ‘Each of you take one sip from this,’ Madam Norwood instructed the boys.

  Jayden took the vial, squinting at the liquid. ‘What is it?’

  ‘A potion designed to block mind-controlling powers,’ Madam Norwood explained. ‘Once you drink it, no Aphrodite or siren will ever be able to control you again.’

  Alec plucked the vial from Jayden’s hand so he could get a closer look. ‘How does it work?’

  ‘You’d have to ask a Hecate,’ Madam Norwood said with a prickle of annoyance clear in her voice. ‘Now drink up so I can get back to work.’

  Alec looked disappointed that Madam Norwood couldn’t tell him more. He tugged the cork from the vial and tentatively took a sip. ‘Mmm, tastes like berries.’ He passed the vial to Jayden.

  ‘Why isn’t every guy given this potion?’ Hailey asked.

  Madam Norwood took the empty vial from Aaron. ‘How would an Aphrodite or siren learn to use and enhance their powers if they had no one to practise on?’

  They wouldn’t; that’s the point. ‘Mind control shouldn’t be practised,’ Hailey said a little more forcefully than she’d intended.

  ‘I can understand your aversion, but no one chooses what powers they’re born with, and it would be discrimination to make it impossible for an Aphrodite or siren to use their gifts,’ Madam Norwood said. ‘Now, off you go. You should be studying.’

  Hailey thanked Madam Norwood for helping them before leaving. She waited outside with Demi while Aaron and Jayden dragged out Alec, who’d begun quizzing Madam Norwood on where to find a Hecate who could tell him about the potion.

  Hailey could see Madam Norwood’s point about it being discrimination to block someone’s powers—even if they were an Aphrodite. But when it was someone like Venus who abused their powers, she thought an exception could be made.

  ‘Okay, so you were right,’ Aaron admitted reluctantly when Madam Norwood’s door closed behind them. ‘But the next time Venus tries anything, I’m getting back at her my way.’

  ‘I guess we’ll battle that minotaur when we cross it,’ Jayden said.

  ‘I knew Madam Norwood would have a way to make you boys immune,’ Demi bragged as they wandered back to the stairs. ‘Revenge isn’t always the answer.’

  12

  The Forest

  Hailey choked back a scream as she woke up. She’d had the nightmare again. The same one she’d been having since her arrival at Poseidon’s Academy ten weeks ago: she’d walk into the grounds to find Demi staring at the sea and saying something was coming, right before a sea-monster grabbed Hailey.

  She rubbed at her leg, where she could still feel the sting of the barbed tent
acle digging into her skin. It felt as though the nightmare was trying to tell her something. Maybe that going into the grounds at night is a bad idea…? Or maybe that I shouldn’t do my Monsters and Creatures homework before bed?

  She glanced at the window, where sunshine filtered into the dorm, making the frosted crystal walls glitter. No point in going back to sleep, Hailey thought, throwing off the covers and rolling out of bed. She pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before sneaking past her sleeping dorm mate. Well, if she couldn’t enjoy a sleep-in, then she might as well pay her old hiding spot a visit and see how the horses were.

  Silence greeted her in the hallway. Today was Saturday, which meant 9.30am was too early for three quarters of the palace to be awake. She was glad, because it meant there wouldn’t be anyone to stop her from visiting the stable.

  Hailey made her way through the common room and down the stairs. The stable had been her main hiding spot those first few weeks after Amathia had started raising the palace. But it’d been a couple of weeks since anyone had pestered her about her powers. Apparently, if you kept refusing to use your powers and snapping at people to leave you alone, they eventually stayed away. Of course, it also meant you got a reputation as a bit of a harpy, but Hailey could live with that.

  Hailey continued down the third-floor staircase. She no longer needed the stable as a hiding place, but she still liked going there, especially after one of her nightmares. Something about being around animals calmed her. And she liked that they listened.

  The stable’s double doors were open when Hailey arrived. She paused outside them and frowned. They were always closed when she came down here. There’s probably a teacher inside, she thought and turned to leave, not wanting a detention for being there without permission.

  But then another thought occurred to her... What if it’s a nereid? She hadn’t seen any of them since finding Nemertes in Amathia’s classroom in second week. While she’d started to believe Jayden’s theory about Nemertes’s threat being a bluff, Hailey wasn’t one hundred per cent convinced by it. And if a nereid was inside the stable now, it could be a chance to find out what they were up to.

  Sucking in a breath, Hailey slipped through the doors and hid in the corner. A few seconds later, someone crept out of a stall, leading a horse behind them. Hailey’s eyes narrowed. ‘Kendra?’

  Kendra jumped, whirling around. ‘Oh, it’s just you, Hailey.’

  Hailey glanced at the horse Kendra was sneaking out. ‘Kendra, what are you doing?’

  ‘Letting the horses stretch their legs.’

  Something in her tone told Hailey she wasn’t telling the whole truth. ‘You’re not planning to do something stupid like go for a ride, are you?’

  Kendra bit her lip, hesitant. ‘They’re begging me to take them to the sea—the nereids hardly ride them.’

  ‘Did you ask Amathia if you could?’

  ‘Well… no.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Kendra. If you get caught, you could get expelled. I’ll go with you to Amathia right now, and we can ask her together.’

  Kendra shook her head. ‘I can’t risk her saying no. I need to get out of this palace. The horses feel trapped, and it makes me feel trapped.’ She stared at Hailey with pleading eyes. ‘We’re right near an island. I’m going there so I can talk to some other animals. Please don’t tell anyone.’

  Hailey was aware of the island floating about half a mile from the palace, which was close enough for her to know it had a forest. It was well known forests were dangerous places riddled with hungry monsters waiting eagerly with sharp teeth for someone to wander into their territory.

  Being an Artemis wouldn’t save Kendra from becoming breakfast, and Hailey wasn’t about to let her run off and get herself killed. ‘You can’t do this.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Hailey, but you can’t stop me.’ In a quick movement, she pulled herself onto the horse and galloped through the open back doors into the grounds.

  Hailey bolted after her, hopelessly watching the horse leap into the sea. She ran back into the stable and reached to unlatch one of the gates so she could borrow a horse and go after Kendra. But she stopped herself. If she went after Kendra alone and something happened—like a giant attacked them—their chances of survival would be minimal, at best. She needed help.

  Hailey darted from the stable and almost ran straight into Aaron, who was standing in the hallway, scribbling something down in a notebook. ‘Aaron? What are you doing here?’

  Aaron’s eyes widened for a split second. ‘I was—’

  ‘Never mind.’ Hailey grabbed his wrist and pulled him down the hallway. ‘We need to get back to our common room and get Demi, Jayden, and Alec.’

  Aaron dug his heels into the ground. ‘Wait. Tell me what’s happened. Is someone hurt?’

  Hailey spun to face him. She didn’t have time for this. ‘Kendra’s in trouble. I’ll explain everything once we get the others. Right now, we need to hurry.’

  ‘Okay,’ This time Aaron grabbed Hailey’s wrist and sprinted down the hallways with her. ‘I’ll get Jayden and Alec, and we’ll meet in your dorm,’ he said once they reached the common room.

  Demi was still asleep when Hailey burst into their dorm. ‘Demi, you need to wake up,’ she practically yelled, shaking her best friend.

  Demi’s eyes half-opened. ‘It’s Saturday, Hailey—sleep-in day.’

  ‘I need your help.’

  ‘Get Alec to help you with your homework. He’s the smart one,’ she muttered, rolling over.

  Hailey wanted to shake her again. Kendra was probably on the island by now. ‘This isn’t about homework. Kendra’s run off to an island.’

  Demi sprang up and whipped her head towards Hailey. ‘How?’

  ‘The sea-horses.’

  Hailey thought she saw a glint of jealously in Demi’s eyes. ‘Why would she do that?’

  She didn’t have time to explain. ‘We need to do something, Demi.’

  ‘About what?’ Jayden asked as the boys shuffled in.

  ‘Kendra stole a sea-horse and went to an island,’ Hailey told them quickly.

  Alec gasped. ‘Did you tell Amathia? Has she gone after her?’

  ‘No.’ Hailey hadn’t considered telling Amathia. It was probably the smart thing to do, but Kendra would likely get expelled as a result. ‘She’ll get kicked out. We need to go after her.’ Hailey felt confident they could get to the island, grab Kendra, and get back to the Academy before anyone noticed they were gone.

  ‘I’ve been looking for an excuse to ride a sea-horse.’ Demi tossed the sheets off her legs.

  Alec threw his hands up. ‘You’re crazy. We can’t go after her. What about monsters?’

  ‘With all of our powers, I pity any monster that picks a fight with us,’ Jayden said, showing Hailey he was on board with her rescue plan.

  Alec remained apprehensive.

  Hailey didn’t want to drag anyone into danger who didn’t want to go. Four of them—five if they found Kendra—would hopefully be enough to defeat anything that attacked them. ‘It’s okay, Alec. You can stay here.’

  ‘And leave you to get lost in the forest? I think not. I’ve read books on tracking, so you’d have a better chance of finding Kendra with me.’

  The door on the other side of the dorm flew open as Kora and Tahlia burst in.

  ‘We overheard everything,’ Kora admitted. ‘Thin walls,’ she added with a shrug.

  ‘We want to help,’ Tahlia said.

  An extra two powers sounded pretty good to Hailey, and Kora’s healing abilities would be handy to have if something went wrong. ‘It could be dangerous,’ she warned.

  ‘We don’t care.’ Kora tugged off a hairband from around her wrist and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

  ‘Yeah, Kendra’s our friend,’ Tahlia agreed. ‘We’re going with you.’

  ‘Then let’s go,’ Hailey prompted, feeling that every minute they wasted at the palace was another minute Kendra could have been attacked in.<
br />
  The seven of them raced downstairs to the stable, where they each let out a horse. ‘There are just enough horses for us,’ Jayden observed. ‘It’s a good omen.’

  ‘Yeah, but how do we ride them?’ Tahlia asked, shooting her horse an apprehensive glance.

  ‘The hippocampi are smart,’ Alec said. ‘If you paid attention in Monsters and Creatures, you’d know they respond to commands.’ He placed a hand on his horse’s back. ‘Down.’ He blushed when nothing happened. ‘That should have worked.’

  ‘You have to be firm, Alec,’ Demi told him. ‘Down,’ she commanded her own horse, and smiled when it obediently dropped to its belly. ‘See.’ She climbed onto its back and squealed with delight when it stood up. ‘I can’t believe we get to ride sea-horses.’

  Hailey turned to her own horse and coaxed it to lie down. She shifted onto its back, hugging her arms tightly around the horse’s scaly neck as it jolted up, feeling as if she was about to topple off—she wished Madam Grayson had given them riding lessons back in first week.

  ‘What now?’ Kora asked when everyone was on their horse.

  ‘We get to the sea and head for the island,’ Hailey said simply. Her plan was basically to get to the island, find Kendra—preferably on the beach—and drag her back to the Academy before anyone noticed them missing.

  Hailey gently nudged her horse in the ribs, hoping it would move forward at a walk. But the motion sent it off at a gallop towards the open doors. Hailey screamed, clinging to her horse’s neck tighter as they soared across the grounds, and then her horse leapt, plummeting towards the sea.

  Instinctively, Hailey inhaled and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself to hit the water. She expected her horse to sink. But instead she felt it gliding beneath her, as though it were flying.

  She peeked her eyes open, and blew out a breath when she realised her horse was swimming towards the island and not sinking to the bottom of the sea with her on its back. Her eyes widened when she saw its front legs. They had transformed into flippers, which sparkled like a rainbow in the sun. Its back legs had also transformed, but instead of flippers a scaly mermaid-like tail flicked through the water. If Hailey hadn’t been heading towards an island to potentially battle a monster or two, she might have enjoyed the ride through the sea. But her mind was focused on finding Kendra.