The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (19 page)

“I am taking good care of him”, Mia said and stood up. “Good care. He doesn’t need anyone else. No one.”

And with that she left them and went outside.

“And I thought I was weird”, Jim muttered and chewed on a piece of bread. “That one is seriously…” He made a whirling motion beside his head. Summer slapped him.

“Maybe she is just unhappily in love”, she said and looked like she was about to cry. “I am going home to bed. I am done with this.”

She shot one last look towards Hector who now had the two girls sitting on his lap stroking his massive arms and then she left, making a choking noise. Cassandra didn’t want to stay any more either. She was just about to say she would leave as well when she realized who truly was the saddest of them all that evening. Despite his efforts to pretend like he didn’t care, Jim was having a really hard time. She could see the longing looks he shot at the girls around him. But for them he would never be more than just a boy.

Cassandra suddenly felt the familiar onrush of a vision. For a moment she was confused because all she saw was a tall, lanky figure standing behind a glass looking out. Then the boy turned to look at her and Cassandra drew in her breath. There was no mistaking that face. She shook herself when the vision cleared.

“You really are something, little Jim”, she murmured and took his hand.

He protested and shrieked when she drew him outside, looked for a dark corner where no one would see them and stood him on one of the ledges.

“What are you doing, you crazy bitch?” he spat and his voice was so annoying she almost decided to leave him to his misery.

“Would you just shut up for a moment and let me concentrate?” she said and took both his hands.

Even standing on the ledge, she was a head taller than him and his hands felt tiny in hers. Jim protested that she was just as crazy as Mia but Cassandra didn’t listen. She tried to think of a way to make him see. And suddenly she knew. Or at least had a very strong notion that this might work.

“You have to promise me two things”, she said and Jim squeaked that he would promise anything as long as she would let him go.

“Not going to happen. So, first of all, you promise that you won’t fall in love with me.”

Jim snorted.

“Why should I fall in love with you? I don’t even like you”, he said and Cassandra felt only slightly insulted.

“Glad we’ve cleared that up”, she said. “Second, you are not going to tell anyone this happened. If you do, I will kick your skinny little behind to the moon. Understood?”

Cassandra could feel his heavy nodding. She had a fleeting image of a very tall, lanky French guy with sandy hair and beautiful blue and green eyes and hoped that her plan would work. Otherwise she would soon be kissing an eight year old and that would be
really
wrong.

“Now close your eyes and keep them shut.”

“Why…”

“Will you just shut up for once”, Cassandra hissed and tried to focus on what she had seen of Jim in her vision.

Hot, eighteen year old version of Jim. And finally she didn’t have to imagine any more. Because suddenly, Jim stepped down from the ledge, now almost two heads taller than her and bent down to kiss her. It was a nice kiss, inexperienced, with no trace of passion whatsoever, but nice nevertheless. When Cassandra was sure he had seen enough, she broke the connection. She still held his hands that were tiny again and trembling.

“Is that what I would look like?” he asked in a shaky voice and Cassandra cautiously replied that she was pretty sure about it.

“I am smoking hot”, Jim cried jumping out of the shadows. “I am even more beautiful than Alexander. Or mysterious than Ben. Not quite as strong as Hector but still, did you see my muscles?”

Cassandra started to doubt the wisdom of her actions. After jumping around for a while, Jim slumped down on a bench and looked up at Cassandra.

“I will never look like this, will I?” he said, quiet desperation in his voice again.

Cassandra thought about that for a moment.

“I am not sure. Usually I can only see what the future truly holds, I am not sure whether I can also see possibilities.”

She looked at him and eighteen-year old Jim looked back at her.

“I sincerely hope I will grow up one day”, he said and she nodded.

He jumped up.

“Actually I really do have to grow up“, he said with a mischievous grin. “Because frankly, your kissing abilities. Not top-notch. I mean, seriously. Did you not see how crazy good-looking I am? And what do I get? A sisterly kiss at best. I really don’t deserve that. I will never forgive you for that being my first kiss.”

But his eyes told her thank you.

“Happy new year, Jim”, she said.

“Happy new year, Cassandra”, he replied.

Cassandra laughed when Jim tried to walk with a swagger he thought was manly. Suddenly, the evening didn’t seem like a complete disaster.

“Stop it”, she said, grabbed him and good-naturedly rubbed his hair. “You are insufferable as it is.”

“You stop that”, he cried, mortified. “My hair is the best thing about me. Or will be.”

“Cut it out already”, she said but kept smiling.

She was glad she had made him happy for a little while. And maybe, just maybe it hadn’t just been a possibility. Maybe she had truly seen the future. His future. Just like she had seen Alexander standing in her other vision. Maybe both things would come true one day. That night she didn’t dream. She didn’t struggle, she didn’t panic, she didn’t fight. She simply slept. She felt like she might as well have been dead.

It was the dark of night when everybody should have been asleep. Two figures were huddling in a room, one pacing back and forth, the other crouching in front of a mirror. Had anyone walked by, they would have wondered about the strange noises coming from the room, like someone was having a bad dream. But no one was around at that time of night and that was just as well.

“Why isn’t she answering?” the creature on the floor cried after some time.

The tall one was on her fast.

“Shut up”, she hissed and clapped her hand over the crouching figure’s mouth. “You are going to wake everyone up.”

The crouching figure made a growling sound and attempted to bite the tall one. Suddenly the mirror came alive and the tall figure had to fight the urge to shrink back.

“What do you want this time?” the woman looked thunderous.

“We have important news”, the tall one said, trying hard to seem undaunted. “She found out about her parents. That could mean trouble if she pursues it.”

“She won’t.” The woman sounded confident. Maybe a little too confident. “How did she find out?”

“She went to Madame Margot. She gave her the box.”

The woman snarled.

“She wasn’t supposed to…”, she started but then broke off. “Never mind. She has no proof. And even if she hasn’t realized it yet, no one would believe her anyway.”

“It has to die”, the crouching figure suddenly hissed and the tall one gave her a smack.

“They will all die”, the woman in the mirror said, calm again.

“She is getting close to Alexander”, the tall figure said. “And Ben seems to have taken a liking to her as well.”

“Men. They never know what is good for them.”

The woman took a deep breath.

“They will all pay in due time. Until then, do your best to hide in plain sight. And make sure you have a better plan next time you try to take them out.”

“Oh, but we do, mother”, the tall figure said derisively and the woman in the mirror bared her teeth.

“Don’t call me that”, she said.

Even through the mirror the authority in her voice was so strong that both figures immediately bent their heads.

“And don’t you dare underestimate me. I have fought this fight much longer than you have. So unless you are able to show some results soon, I will see to it that you are punished. Do you understand?”

Both figures nodded.

“Attack them all at once at the end of the semester. That will give you time to prepare. Don’t mess up.”

The woman’s full dominance was now established.

“And don’t contact me again.”

With that she was gone. The crouching figure made sounds like it was choking; the other one kicked the table and then howled because she was barefoot.

“Damn her”, she hissed and wished she could have a go at her as well. But she knew it was impossible. The creature on the floor writhed and twisted on the floor as if it was in agony.

“It needs to die. I want it dead. It’s going to take him from me but he’s mine. You promised.”

“Stop calling her an it”, the tall figure said. “Its are harder to kill. She is a girl, nothing more.”

The figure on the floor curled into a fetal position and started sucking her sleeve. The tall one looked at her in disgust.

“Don’t worry”, she said dismissively. “They are all going to die. And soon.”

With that she left the room and the creature to its misery.

When Cassandra woke up on New Year’s Day, she felt a slight rumbling in her stomach. She tried to ignore it but when she went down into the kitchen, she started sweating and shivering at the same time. Summer, who had come in shortly after her, told her to get back into bed.

Cassandra, who could barely walk straight anymore, dragged herself up to bed. She barely noticed when Summer came in to take care of her. It felt like her whole body was on fire and she had trouble swallowing. She kept tossing and turning and there seemed to be no comfortable position for her to stay in. She dozed on and off and when she finally did fall asleep, she had terrible nightmares in which she saw the people she loved dying. Afterwards she was never sure whether she had been hallucinating or whether it had been a vision. There was one recurring scene in which Charlie was swallowed alive and Alexander screamed for her to save him. But no matter how hard she tried, she always reached him too late.

Hector had offered to sit with her to soothe the nightmares but she had sent him away. She didn’t want him to get sick as well and at least one of them should be able to take part in the next challenge, she said and Hector had complied. Pandora stuck her head in once but quickly decided that she couldn’t help anyway, blew her a kiss and disappeared again. Cassandra didn’t blame her, she wouldn’t wish this on anyone and she simply longed for this to be over.

There was no escaping from her thoughts however. She kept chewing over what had happened on the evening of the ball. Staring at the wall, Cassandra thought how Alexander had suggested they’d be more than friends. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that. And then there was Ben who kept popping up unbidden in her thoughts and whose behavior that evening had been impossible to read. She thought about how different the two of them were and how each of them had come to mean a lot to her.

Whenever she spent time with Alexander she felt safe and comfortable. He was funny, intelligent, warm, insightful and – she had to admit – attractive. Very. But she had also spent a lot of time with Ben and she had very little doubt about what she was feeling for him but lots of doubts when it came to his feelings for her. One moment he was all intense and the next he switched to cool and distant. But why had he been so upset that Charlie had kissed her? And why hadn’t he resisted when Arissa had come to ask him to dance even though at that moment it had been clear that he hadn’t wanted to? And why the cape? And why had he followed her just to stay at the top of the stairs, silent, like it was all her fault?

She remembered how sometimes, during training lessons, they came so close that she had to remind herself that he was with Arissa. And it seemed like he had to do the same. But in the end he always drew back, just like he had done on New Year’s Eve. Arissa was his girlfriend; there was no doubt about that. And she was a daughter of Zeus. Cassandra wanted to think that it didn’t matter. But perhaps it counted for more than she thought. After all, he was a son of Hades.

Alexander’s face came into view and reminded her of what he had said that night. She shivered and tried to stop her teeth from chattering while she mulled over her mixed feelings towards him. She knew he was a good person but she also felt that this was not all there was. He had a dark side to him that he was very good at hiding from others but she knew he wasn’t as easy-going and nice as he wanted everybody to believe. Behind his friendly exterior there was a mind strong as steel, ambitious and yes, scheming. He did nothing without a plan and sometimes she wondered how she fit into all of this. Because as a son of Zeus he was destined to rule the world one day. Literally. So what did he want with her? She sometimes felt like a pawn he was moving in a game she didn’t quite understand and she knew that despite his apparent openness, he was as hard to read as Ben. Maybe harder.

On her third day in bed, she heard a familiar voice outside her door.

“I need to see her”, Ben said and Cassandra felt her stomach tighten.

He shouldn’t be here, she didn’t want him to see her like this.

“But not for long”, Summer said, trying to sound more confident than she felt, and opened the door.

When Cassandra tried to protest, he simply ignored her. Instead he stopped at the door and turned on Summer.

“Why isn’t she getting proper treatment?” he growled and Summer flinched but held her own.

“She is getting proper treatment”, she replied sharply, insulted that he would think they wouldn’t take good care of Cassandra. “And she is already getting better. You should have seen her yesterday.”

And with that she left. Ben, standing in the doorway uncertainly, still looking like a storm was brewing on his forehead.

“Leave her alone”, Cassandra croaked and tried to raise herself a little. “Come in. I have something I want to talk to you about.”

Ben frowned, then came in.

“You sound like you swallowed something awful”, he said and chose to stand near the window rather than sitting down on the chair next to her. “How are you?”

“Exceptional”, Cassandra replied and immediately went into a coughing fit.

Ben waited for it to be over, then handed her a glass of water.

“Obviously”, he said through gritted teeth, holding on to her to steady her hand so that she could drink without spilling the water all over herself. “You looked better after your fight with the hydra. Now it looks like some creature swallowed you and spit you out again.”

“If I had known you were coming, I would have done something with my hair”, she said and for a moment she saw an amused twinkle in his eye that was quickly gone though.

Cassandra indicated that she was done drinking and he retired to the window again.

“Why are you here Ben?”

Cassandra tried hard to suppress a cough but didn’t quite succeed.

“Actually, I was wondering where you were”, he said, his smile vanishing. “You didn’t come to training yesterday.”

Cassandra blushed.

“I completely forgot”, she said. “I am sorry, I thought you would all be gone for the holidays.”

He shook his head.

“We only go home for the summer break.”

He had hesitated slightly before the word home as if he wasn’t quite sure what it meant to him. Cassandra’s forehead started throbbing.

“How is Alexander?” she said and she saw a dark cloud cross his face at the mention of his name.

“He isn’t well”, Ben said with more than a hint of concern in his voice. “It seems you two caught something bad at the ball. He isn’t able to keep anything down.”

Cassandra closed her eyes and tried to imagine how helpless Alexander must feel.

“Tell him…”, she started but didn’t know what to say.

“Tell him to get better soon”, she finished weakly.

“He is having really bad dreams”, Ben said quietly. “And he keeps screaming for you to help him.”

Cassandra frowned. That sounded almost like they were having identical dreams.

“Help him with what?” she said but Ben shook his head.

“He can’t say, only that it is you who needs to save him.”

Cassandra tried to straighten up but her arms wouldn’t hold her.

“I can’t move”, she said through gritted teeth and fell back with a sigh. “This is worse than fighting. At least when I am fighting I know where to charge. Now it seems like my body is my own worst enemy.”

Ben’s look was unreadable.

“I will get you something that will help you get better soon”, he said and started to get up.

“Wait, I need to tell you something else”, she said and tried to concentrate. “We never talked about it but I think I know what creature attacked the girls. There are very few mythological creatures with arms like a kraken that aren’t one and are strong enough to kill three people almost at once. Actually, there is only one and that is Scylla.”

Ben nodded like he had come to the same conclusion.

“Scylla is a terrifying creature”, he said. “I have seen her a few times when I have visited my family, you know, in the Underworld. She and her sister Charybdis guard one of the entrances to my father’s realm.”

He closed his eyes as if trying to remember more.

“She is huge and she would definitely be able to do what the creature has done to the girls”, he said and rubbed his eyes. “I have talked to my father about it and he said that he hasn’t seen her in quite a while. He tried to call her but so far she hasn’t come back. My father’s power is limited in the world up here. Maybe she didn’t hear his call or something stronger is keeping her from obeying. Also, those primordial creatures can have quite a mind of their own.”

“Is that what made her come here in the first place – her own free will?” Cassandra said itching to ask him how he had talked to his father. Had he called him on a phone? Surely that was not possible, was it? How did you talk to someone in the Underworld? Her head threatened to punish her by exploding if she thought one more thought.

Ben shrugged.

“I don’t know”, he said. “I have thought about it quite a bit but I have no real explanation. She has stayed at the entrance to the Underworld for thousands of years and never once moved away so I think she would need a good reason to leave now. Or it wasn’t her choice at all, like you said, she might have been lured away somehow.”

He started to say something else but when he saw how tired Cassandra was he pressed his lips together and stepped towards the door.

“I should let you sleep”, he said quietly and Cassandra, who had closed her eyes because she was starting to feel slightly sick to her stomach, murmured that he should stay, that she wasn’t tired at all. But Ben was already leaving.