Poseidon's Academy and the Deadly Disease Page 7

  ‘I did it!’ Hailey gaped, barely able to believe she’d made it to this side.

  ‘I know how you feel.’ Alec was clinging to the trunk of the tree, a little colour having returned to his cheeks.

  ‘Ooh, this will be interesting,’ Demi said.

  Hailey followed her gaze. Venus was gripping the vine. Despite the defiant look on her face, Hailey was pretty sure she was fighting the urge to wet her pants.

  Venus stood there.

  And stood there.

  And stood there.

  ‘It’s easy, Venus,’ Cleo called.

  ‘You just swing and reach,’ Nerissa yelled.

  Venus didn’t budge.

  ‘Don’t,’ Hailey heard Jayden say, right before Aaron shoved Venus.

  The scream that tore from Venus’s throat echoed through the forest. A frenzy of cawing and wing flapping followed it as birds took to the sky in fear. Venus seemed to remember her life depended on her reaching for the next vine, so she did.

  And missed.

  6

  Breaking Point

  Hailey’s stomach dropped along with Venus as she watched her fall. Sure she despised Venus and had fantasised about her dying once or a hundred times, but that didn’t mean she actually wanted her to die, or even get hurt—well, grievously at least. But she couldn’t do anything to save Venus.

  The flames rose up to meet her falling body, but Venus didn’t plunge into them. She stopped mere inches above them, her body appearing frozen in mid-air while a force field rippled beneath her. Hailey glanced at Aaron. His hands were by his sides, which meant it wasn’t his force field that had saved her.

  ‘Safety measures,’ Alec muttered.

  ‘YOU PUSHED ME!’ Venus roared, stumbling to her feet and glaring up at Aaron.

  ‘You weren’t moving,’ Aaron retorted. ‘Besides, you threatened to push Alec.’

  ‘I didn’t actually do it.’

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you up,’ Cleo called down.

  ‘Hurry. This force field thing is really hot.’

  ‘Get her up,’ Nerissa yelled across to Aaron.

  ‘Me? What can I do?’ He appeared disinterested, like he’d have no issue leaving Venus behind while the rest of them finished the race.

  ‘Use your force field,’ Cleo shouted.

  ‘Whatever. But we’re swinging across first.’ He held the vine to Jayden. ‘Your turn.’

  Jayden swung across to Hailey and the others, and Aaron followed after him.

  ‘Now help her,’ Nerissa ordered.

  Another conch shell sounded.

  Aaron’s jaw clenched, and Hailey thought he might shove Nerissa off the platform for bossing him around. Instead, he aimed his palms down.

  The force field Venus stood on shook violently, rippling like a lake being pelted by hailstones.

  ‘Stop it!’ Venus cried, losing her balance. She tried to get up, but the force field continued shaking and she stumbled again. ‘Stop it. Now!’

  Aaron dropped his force field. ‘That was weird.’ He stared at his hands with a frown. ‘It felt like trying to force two opposite magnets together.’

  Alec scratched his head. ‘I think your force field was fighting the energy from the one down there.’

  Aaron shrugged. ‘Well, I tried. Let’s go.’

  ‘Demi can get her up,’ Jayden said with an admonishing look at Aaron.

  ‘Again? I’ve already saved her once.’

  ‘Hailey will help you this time.’

  ‘I will?’ Hailey wasn’t sure what she could do.

  ‘Yes,’ Jayden said. ‘Demi can use her powers to grow one of the vines down to Venus, and then you can create a breeze strong enough to get her swinging again.’

  ‘I guess so,’ Hailey said, disappointed they’d worked out a way to rescue Venus and she had to help. ‘Come on, let’s get it over with,’ she told Demi.

  Demi rolled her eyes. ‘Fine.’ She aimed a hand at the vine Venus had missed; it stretched down towards the flames, dropping low enough that Venus could grab it. Demi flicked her hand boredly, giving as much effort to saving Venus as a child forced to apologise to their sibling. The vine retracted back up, Venus dangling from the end of it.

  ‘Get ready to swing,’ Hailey warned Venus.

  ‘I don’t think I want you to swing me. The last time you used wind on someone, they broke their arm.’

  Hailey gaped. Was Venus seriously dissing her abilities when her escaping the fire depended on Hailey’s powers? She was about to leave her hanging—literally—but a chiding look from Jayden stopped her. ‘I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.’

  Hailey reached out a hand, warmth flowing into her fingers. The leaves of the trees rustled, and Venus began to swing back and forth like a pendulum as Hailey shifted her hand from side to side, containing the wind around Venus so that the next vine she had to grab wouldn’t blow away.

  ‘Enough swinging. Get some more power,’ Venus shouted.

  Oh, I’ll give you power. Warmth shot from Hailey’s fingertips like a blast of hot air, and the trees above Venus creaked as the flames from the fire below grew.

  ‘That’s too much!’ Venus yelled, closing her eyes against the wind as she sailed backwards on the vine.

  ‘Get ready.’ Hailey flicked her hand to the right, changing the wind’s direction. Venus shot forward and missed the next vine, flying straight past it. She screamed, her grip on the other vine slipping, and soared into the tree. She didn’t crash into it—a little to Hailey’s disappointment. Instead, she dangled from the platform they were standing on.

  Venus scowled, her eyes pure fury. ‘Get me up!’

  Demi laughed. ‘Nice work, Hails.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Hailey felt a lot better now.

  ‘You almost killed me!’ Venus screeched at Hailey after the twins dragged her up.

  ‘The force field would have caught you before you hit the ground,’ Hailey retorted. ‘And besides, you should have expected me to drop you, since I apparently have no control over my powers.’

  Venus growled—actually growled. Maybe she’s half harpy after all, thought Hailey.

  ‘Enough,’ Jayden told them. ‘Just one more obstacle. That’s all we need to get through.’

  ‘Lower us down, Demi,’ Aaron instructed.

  ‘Aye aye, Captain.’ Demi saluted before touching the tree, which shrank down and down and down until they were close enough to jump to the ground.

  A wooden sign was banged into the earth, which said GO RIGHT.

  ‘Right?’ Alec frowned, glancing to the right, where more forest stretched before them. ‘That’s towards the other teams.’

  ‘I wonder if it’s a fight to the death,’ Demi pondered as they followed the sign’s direction.

  Jayden smirked. ‘I highly doubt it.’

  It took about ten minutes of hiking through the forest to get to their next obstacle, which appeared to be in a cave. Hailey tensed. She was as fond of caves as she was of forests.

  ‘I don’t want to go in there,’ Alec said, his skin losing colour again as he stared at the cave’s entrance, which was big enough to allow a half-grown giant through it.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s no Scylla in this one,’ Aaron joked.

  Venus raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. ‘What are you talking about? Why would a monster be inside?’

  ‘Just a random example,’ Aaron replied casually.

  Another team arrived while they were standing there. There were eleven of them, and they were covered in dried sand and bleeding gashes. They spared a glance at Hailey and her friends, eyeing up their competition, before darting into the cave.

  ‘Hurry up,’ Aaron barked, taking the lead again, not impressed that another team was beating them.

  Hailey swallowed. It’s just a cave, she told herself, and shuffled into the circular cavern. Lanterns rested on the dirt ground, casting a dim orange glow over everything. Carved into the wall of rock directly acro
ss from the entrance were six tunnels. Hailey’s chest tightened, and she stepped backwards as images of Tartarus flashed into her mind: the tunnels in the pit… the hatch… the Erinyes… the fear rooms. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the images. Instead, glimpses of her nightmares greeted her.

  The gods surrounded Hailey.

  A hand grabbed her wrist, and her eyes flew open. ‘It’s okay,’ Jayden told her, voice soft. ‘This is a cave. It’s not the Underworld.’

  ‘Right.’ Hailey blew out a long breath and felt her fear go with it. ‘Okay. I’m okay. Thanks.’

  ‘Come on.’

  The rest of their team idled before the tunnels, staring into them, trying to work out which one to go down. Thankfully, they hadn’t witnessed her panic attack. The cavern’s appearance had taken her by surprise. She focussed instead on how different this place was to Tartarus—there were no jewels embedded in the rocks with prisoners extracting them, nor Erinyes patrolling, waiting to punish anyone for slacking off. It was just an ordinary cave.

  ‘Which one do we choose?’ Aaron asked Alec.

  Alec threw his hands up. ‘There’s no riddle or anything to point to the right one.’

  The blast of a conch shell echoed from inside the tunnels.

  Hailey gulped, wondering what might be lurking inside. A minotaur? Amathia had promised this island was monster-free, but maybe one had snuck in after she and the teachers had created the obstacles, and was waiting in the darkness to devour them.

  ‘They’re probably all the same,’ Aaron said. ‘There’s probably six to stop the teams from running into each other. Let’s just go with this one.’ He entered the third tunnel from the left.

  It’s just a game, Hailey reminded herself, following her friends into the tunnel. Like the cavern, lanterns lined the floor, lighting the straight path ahead. Hailey imagined it leading them to an old mine shaft, where they’d have to pile into a cart and speed over a bunch of tracks that would suddenly end in the middle of nowhere, leaving them stranded on an unfinished rail line.

  Another shell bellowed. Hailey ignored it, not wanting to freak herself out by picturing students falling down a mine shaft—or facing a monster.

  ‘Wait.’ Aaron’s voice cut through the silence.

  Hailey peered past him to see why he’d stopped. She expected to see the mine shaft she’d envisioned, but what she saw was a thousand times worse.

  Spider webs!

  Where there are webs, there are spiders. Big. Hairy. Scary. Spiders. With long legs and eight blinking eyes. A shudder jerked through Hailey’s body, and her hairs stood on end.

  ‘I’m not going in there.’ Venus’s voice trembled.

  Great, Hailey thought, now she’d have to fake bravery to show up Venus.

  Demi scoffed. ‘Are you kidding me? The last obstacle is getting through a few spider webs—there aren’t even spiders in them.’

  Hailey looked again. Web hung from the ceiling and weaved across their path, looking like an explosion of candy floss threads. She couldn’t see any evidence of spiders, but that didn’t mean they weren’t hiding somewhere, waiting for someone to get tangled in their sticky traps before striking.

  ‘I’ll clear the way,’ Demi told them.

  ‘Demi, I don’t thi—’ Aaron started.

  Demi swiped at the closest spider web, her hand becoming tangled. ‘What the?’ Demi yanked her hand, but the web kept it glued in place, not a single strand breaking.

  ‘That’s no ordinary spider web.’ Alec narrowed his eyes at the threads clinging to Demi’s skin. ‘That’s diamond spider web.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Alec?’ Demi tugged her hand again. ‘There’s no such thing as spiders that spin diamond webs.’

  ‘It’s not made of diamonds,’ Alec corrected. ‘It’s named after its strength—it’s as strong as a diamond. An incredibly rare spider called the—’

  ‘Yep, that’s great, Alec,’ Demi interrupted. ‘Now get me out of this stuff.’

  Alec grabbed the web entrapping her and yanked it. Instead of breaking, the web glued to Alec’s hand too. ‘Um, I’m not strong enough.’

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ Demi yelled. ‘You lifted a tree before and you’re telling me you can’t tear this spider web.’

  ‘It’s the strongest spider web in the world,’ Alec argued. ‘It makes that tree look like a tree branch.’ Alec tried tearing his hand free a couple more times before giving up and using his Unique powers to phase through it.

  ‘Don’t suppose you’ve learned how to pass your powers to other people since our last Powers class?’ Aaron asked him.

  Alec’s shoulders slumped. ‘No.’

  ‘Of course I get stuck with a bunch of rejects on this.’ Venus shook her head. ‘All of your powers are pathetic.’

  Hailey didn’t know if it was because she’d had enough of the obstacle race, or because she was sick of being scared, but something inside her snapped like a twig beneath a minotaur’s hoof. She whirled on Venus. ‘Are you serious? You think our powers are pathetic? What have you done to get us through the obstacles? Nothing! Because your and the twins’ powers are worthless. All you can do is control boys. That’s what’s pathetic. You don’t even have real powers. We’ve all taken turns saving your arse today, and did you thank us? No. You’ve complained the whole time. And now you’re telling us that we’re pathetic?’ Hailey shoved Venus into the twins, the three of them tumbling down together.

  ‘Hailey, you—’

  Haile’s eyes shot to Jayden. ‘Don’t tell me to be the bigger person after what she just said and has been saying all day. You can’t defend her anymore. She’s a harpy, and we shouldn’t have to put up with it.’

  ‘I was just going to say there’s a spider above you.’

  Hailey glanced up, her composure to stay brave in front of Venus faltered, and she stumbled backwards—right into the spider webs. It was like falling against a wall—a very sticky wall. She tried to pull free, grimacing when the web tugged her hair.

  ‘Don’t bother, it won’t work,’ Demi sighed from right beside her. ‘Oh, and nice speech. If I wasn’t stuck here, I would have pushed her too.’

  Venus and the twins were back on their feet, looking so angry Hailey thought they might burst into flames. ‘Now you really are pathetic.’ Venus reached her fist back.

  Aaron grabbed Venus’s hand before she could punch Hailey. ‘Don’t.’ That one word was lined with so much threat it sent a chill through Hailey. Venus was smart enough not to argue or resist, and Aaron let her go.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ Jayden asked.

  ‘You lose.’

  Everyone spun around—except for Hailey and Demi, who were already facing the tunnel. A team of nine stood before them. All boys, each of them covered in sand and gashes like the other team they’d seen. The boy who had spoken looked like a senior, and had puncture wounds dotted over his arms and legs. Hailey guessed he’d decided to run through the darts.

  ‘Get out of our way.’ The boy unsheathed a sword from his back and pushed past Jayden, Alec, Aaron, and the evil trio.

  A glimmer of hope sparked in Hailey when he approached her, thinking he’d cut her free—or at least try to. Although she wasn’t sure what good a sword would be against these webs. The boy sliced the sword towards the web to Hailey’s right, the blade glowing orange in the lantern light, and it cut straight through it.

  ‘Hephaestus steel,’ Alec gasped in awe. ‘The strongest metal in the world, besides adamantine,’ Alec explained when everyone looked at him. ‘Hephaestuses craft it by combining a variety of metals like—’

  ‘Hey, Sword Guy,’ Venus cooed.

  The boy who appeared in charge of the team turned around. ‘No, we won’t help you.’

  Venus strutted towards him, a cloud of pink mist puffing from her mouth and swarming the nine boys. They blinked, swiping at the mist, before their bodies went rigid and the light in their eyes dimmed. ‘How can I serve you, my love?’ they said
in unison.

  Venus smirked. ‘That’s more like it. I want you to get me and my friends’—she indicated to the twins—‘out of this tunnel.’

  ‘Of course, my love,’ the infected boys said.

  ‘Hey, you can’t leave us here.’ Demi’s free hand lunged out to grab Venus, but she was a few inches from her reach.

  Another conch shell bellowed as the web Sword Guy had sliced through knitted back together, as if an invisible spider were weaving it—it appeared the web was spelled to reform after a minute.

  ‘Why not? Apparently my powers are worthless and aren’t even real powers,’ Venus retorted.

  Hailey sighed. Of course her words would come back to haunt her.

  ‘Well, we didn’t expect to run into a team of boys,’ Demi countered. ‘Normally, your powers are worthless and—’

  ‘Later.’ Venus moved to leave.

  ‘Wait.’ Hailey ground her teeth together. She knew what Venus wanted. What it would take to free them from this. She was more tempted to blow her shell—not that she could get to it—than do what she was about to. But her friends had worked so hard to get here, and she wouldn’t let them down.

  ‘Yes.’ A smile of pure venom curved Venus’s lips.

  ‘Hailey, it’s not worth it,’ Aaron said, sensing what she was about to say.

  ‘Yes, it is.’ She knew he, more than anyone else, wanted to finish this. ‘I’m sorry for what I said earlier.’ The words tasted bitter. ‘Your powers aren’t pathetic or worthless. I was just taking my frustration out on you.’

  ‘It’s good that you’ve come to your senses.’ Venus’s voice oozed conceit. ‘But there’s one more thing I’d like to hear you say.’

  ‘What?’ Hailey snarled.

  ‘I want you to admit what you are—a pathetic excuse for a Zeus.’

  ‘Hailey, don’t,’ Demi pleaded. ‘Nothing is worth that.’

  Aaron glowered at Venus, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. ‘Just free them, or else…’

  ‘Or else what? You’ll take on nine boys—one with a sword?’

  ‘If I have to.’

  ‘Venus, if you want your tiara, we have to reach the end of the course as a team,’ Jayden pointed out. ‘If you leave us behind, you won’t get it.’