The Prophecy of Shadows (5 page)

She picked up her paintbrush again and pushed an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear. “Why are you bringing this up now?” she asked. “He’s in our past. You’ve never asked me this much about him before.”

“We’re studying genetics in bio,” I said the first excuse that came to my mind. “It got me thinking … he’s my biological father. I should know more about him.”

“Like if his earlobes are connected and if he can roll his tongue?” she teased, although her lower lip trembled. She looked away from me to study her painting. I knew she wanted me to tell her never mind—that I didn’t have to know that badly—but I didn’t budge. After what I’d learned today, I had to know more.

“I barely know
anything
about him—not even how you met,” I said. “Isn’t that something I should know?”

“You’re right.” She blinked a few times and took a deep breath, clasping her hands in her lap. “I suppose it would have been a great story, if it had ended well,” she said, her voice surprisingly steady. “You see, in the spring production during my senior year in college, I played the part of Christine in Phantom of the Opera. The lead role. He—Aidan—attended our last show. He was so impressed with my performance that he waited outside of the stage door for over an hour to talk with me.” She smiled, her eyes distant and full of light, as if she were re-living the moment. “We ended up talking until the sun rose. It was a perfect night. For the next two months, we were inseparable.”

“Did he ever do anything … different?” I asked. “Anything special?”

“He was the most impressive man I’d ever met,” she said. “He was so talented—it was like every instrument he picked up he could play perfectly. I couldn’t believe that he’d noticed me. I felt so average next to him, but during those few weeks when we were together, it was like living in a dream. Then I found out I was pregnant with you.”

I knew I hadn’t been planned, but I wrapped my arms around myself, guilt filling my chest at how I’d ruined my mom’s happiness with Aidan.

“It was unexpected, but I was looking forward to the three of us being a family.” She picked up a clean paintbrush, running her finger across the bristles. “I told Aidan about you, and he said he was happy, but the next day he just … disappeared. I hated him for abandoning us. But my parents helped me through it, and I moved back home after graduation and reconnected with Jerry—you know we dated in high school—and he helped me find happiness again. He promised he would love you as if you were his own, and he’s done that every day. So yes, there are times when I wonder how Aidan could leave us like that, but if it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have had you. So for that, I’m grateful.”

“Aidan just … left?” I swallowed, my voice cracking. “So easily? Have you heard from him since?”

I knew the answer, but I needed to hear her say it out loud.

“No.” She shook her head and turned back to her painting. “It’s like he fell off the planet.”

I nodded, knowing I shouldn’t have hoped for anything else. If Aidan had wanted to be in our lives, he would have reached out to us. But he never had. He probably never would. The reminder of that hard truth stung every time.

“Anyway, your dad’s going to be home soon,” Mom said. “How about we check out that restaurant near the cove for dinner? It’s supposed to be beautiful—floor to ceiling windows looking out over the water.”

With that, the conversation was over, and I headed to my room to get ready for dinner.

I hadn’t gotten the information I was hoping for, but I had a gut feeling that Aidan
had
to be a witch. It could be why he’d left. And now I was more determined than ever—I was going to get answers.

If that meant staying in Darius’s homeroom, then so be it.

Darius strolled into homeroom the next morning wearing another brown tweed suit. “Good morning,” he said, smiling when he saw that I was still there. “We have a lot to cover today, so let’s jump straight to it. Who can tell us about the event happening tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow’s the night of the Olympian Comet,” Blake answered smoothly, not bothering to raise his hand. “It’s coming around for the first time in three thousand years.”

“Correct.” Darius said. “And who can explain the importance of the Olympian Comet?”

“The comet is very powerful.” Danielle also hadn’t bothered raising her hand, and she flipped her hair over her shoulder. “The Olympians used its power to lock up the Titans and banish them from the Earth.”

“Thank you, Danielle.” Darius gave her a small nod. “But let’s backtrack. Why did the Olympians want to lock up the Titans to begin with?”

Kate’s hand shot into the air.

“Kate?” Darius lifted his chin and smiled, like he knew whatever she said would be correct.

“The Olympians are the children of the Titans,” Kate said, like she was reciting the answer from a textbook. “The fight between the Olympians and the Titans started after a prophecy that said that Cronus—the leader of the Titans—would be overthrown by his kids. In order to prevent this prophecy from happening, Cronus ate each one of his children after they were born. His wife eventually had enough of him eating their kids, so she rescued the youngest one—Zeus—by having Cronus eat a rock instead. She brought up Zeus in a secret cave. Once Zeus grew up he freed his brothers and sisters, who were still alive inside of Cronus’s stomach, and they all rebelled against Cronus, overthrowing him and his supporters in the Battle of the Titans. Then Zeus locked the Titans down in Tartarus—the deepest pit in Hades’ underworld—where he hoped they would stay for good.”

“Good job, Kate,” Darius said, and she sat straighter, clearly pleased with herself. “But the Titans didn’t give up that easily. What did they do in retaliation?”

“The Olympians retreated to their home on Mount Olympus, and the Titans used their time in Tartarus to plan the Second Rebellion,” Blake answered before anyone could raise a hand. “Cronus’s servant discovered a portal to escape Tartarus, and the Titans prepared for a battle to regain their place as rulers. They caught the Olympians by surprise, and they nearly won. But then a powerful comet shot through the sky, and the Olympians used the magic from the comet to gather enough energy to defeat the Titans once more. That’s why it’s named the Olympian Comet. This time the Olympians locked the Titans up in Kerberos—a shadow world that’s impossible to escape. They spent centuries banishing all of the Titans’ supporters—demons, monsters, and other evil creatures—to Kerberos as well, before sealing the portal and returning to Mount Olympus.”

“Correct,” Darius said.

For someone who’d been acting like this was all a myth yesterday, Blake sure knew this story well. But there was one big part that didn’t make sense.

“If this is all true, why does no one believe in the Olympians anymore?” I didn’t raise my hand, since speaking out of turn seemed to be protocol around here. “If the Olympians are real, why don’t they show themselves and set everyone straight?”

Some people in the back whispered, and Darius held his hands up for them to be quiet.

“The Ancient Greeks used to worship the gods,” Darius explained, pacing in the front of the room. “Then the Romans adopted the religion, making it their own by renaming the gods and giving them traits that better suited their society. But the essence of their belief was the same. Then, their beliefs changed. Does anyone want to tell us why?”

A blonde girl spoke up from the back of the room. “Constantine instated Christianity in Rome as an official religion around 300 CE,” she said softly. “The Romans swayed to Christianity, and monotheism overtook the Western world. But people continued to practice the ancient beliefs in secret, and Dodekatheism—the revival of ancient Greek religious practices—publicly re-emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. Our numbers might be small, but they do exist.”

“Thank you, Jessica,” Darius said with a smile. “And to answer your second question, Nicole, the gods do occasionally journey to Earth, although it’s usually in disguise. In fact, it was Ares himself, the god of war, who was behind the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. As some of you may know from history classes, this assassination started World War I. Ares loves battles and slaughter, so creating that kind of turmoil is entertaining to him.”

I nodded, even though I hadn’t taken European history yet and didn’t know much about World War I. “So the gods sometimes come down to Earth in disguise,” I repeated, trying to take this all in. “But what about all of the other … creatures? The ones from the stories who didn’t support the Titans in the Second Rebellion and who weren’t locked in Kerberos? What happened to them?”

“The harmless ones still live among us, although they create illusions to hide their true forms,” Darius said. “They don’t want to risk humans killing them with technology or using them in experiments. Then there are some dangerous creatures who aren’t in Kerberos because they didn’t support the Titans in the Second Rebellion. They’re also aware that human technology is a threat, so they keep a low profile. The Elders take care of any problems they create.”

I nodded, since I had a feeling that “taking care” of them meant killing them.

“More present-day references to the Greek gods exist than you realize,” Darius continued. “Chris’s shoes are a prime example.”

I glanced at Chris’s sneakers, which looked like they came straight from the eighties—white with the blue Nike swoosh mark on the side. I had a similar pair in pink.

“Sneakers are from the Greek gods?” I asked. “I always thought the Greeks wore leather sandals.”

“Not sneakers.” Darius chuckled. “I’m referring to the brand. Nike.”

I frowned, because of course I’d heard of Nike. My town in Georgia might be small compared to Kinsley, but I wasn’t from another planet. “How does Nike relate to the gods?” I asked.

“Nike is the Greek goddess of victory, speed, and strength.” He counted off each trait on his fingers. “Does the Nike swoosh remind you of anything else?”

“Isn’t it a checkmark?”

“Look closer,” he said. “What else do you see?”

I squinted and tilted my head to view it from a different angle. “Nothing else,” I said. “Only the checkmark.”

“As most people do.” He took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with his sweater. “But the goddess Nike is also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The swoosh is the shape of a wing.”

“Hmm.” I studied Chris’s shoes. “Now that you say it, I do kind of see it.”

Darius smiled, then refocused on the class. “As I mentioned before break, we’re going to view the comet together tomorrow night.” He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the board. “This is my address, and I expect you all to be there by 9:00 PM. This event should be viewed as a mandatory ‘field trip.’ Anyone who doesn’t show up without a written excuse from a parent will have detention for a month.”

The bell rang, and I wrote down the address.

After all, the last thing I needed on my first week at a new school was detention.

Darius lived on Odessa Road, the main street through town. Kate and I arrived at his house about five minutes before nine o’clock. Wind whipped through the air as we walked down the sidewalk, and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ignore the numbing cold.

Darius’s log cabin didn’t fit in with the typical New England homes in the area. Trees surrounded it on all sides, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it was the only house around for miles.

Hearing chattering from outside, Kate and I followed the sidewalk to the backyard. It was big enough to fit everyone from our homeroom. No clouds blocked the stars, making it a perfect night to watch the comet.

The only thing not perfect was the temperature. Even though Kate told me that it was warmer than a usual January night in Massachusetts, my blood still felt like it would turn to ice if I stood in one place for too long. Hopefully the leggings underneath my jeans, the black sheepskin boots that reached my knees, and puffy jacket would be enough protection from the biting cold.

People were gathered on the deck, around a steel container for drinks, and I walked over to grab one. Hot chocolate came out of the small faucet. I blew on it to cool it down, enjoying the tingling warmth of steam on my cheeks.

“Are you excited for the comet?” someone asked over my shoulder. I jumped, splattering a few drops of hot chocolate on the deck, and turned to find Chris. I hadn’t noticed his eyes before, but now, under the glow of the moon, they appeared almost yellow.

“It should be interesting,” I said, taking a sip of hot chocolate. It scorched my tongue, burning as it made its way down my throat.

“Hot?” he asked, his eyes dancing in amusement.

“Yes.” I lowered my cup and blew on it. “Very.”

“So, we’re supposed to form groups of five when we watch the comet.” Chris pushed some hair off his forehead, and he continued, “I was thinking we could be in the same group. If you wanted to.” His eyes filled with hope, and I had a feeling that he’d been waiting to ask all night.

“That sounds great.” I smiled to show that I meant it and wasn’t just agreeing to be polite.

Kate headed over to us, and her eyes flashed with what looked like hurt when she looked at Chris. I blew on my hot chocolate again and took a step away from him. If Kate had feelings for him, I didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. Because yes, Chris was nice, but I’d never thought of him as more than a friend.