The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (22 page)

The next morning found Cassandra asleep with her head buried beside Alexander’s pillow. The bottle containing the Ambrosia had fallen on its side and there was only a little left of the healing liquid. She was still holding the spoon with which she had fed Alexander and when she felt him stir, she was instantly awake.

“Water”, he whispered and Cassandra, careful not to spill it because her hands were shaking so hard, gave him what he had asked for.

She called out for Ben but he didn’t react and she guessed that he had left sometime during the night. She watched Alexander drink and couldn’t believe how changed he already looked. His lips weren’t cracked anymore and some color had returned to his cheeks, his breath had almost returned to normal and with satisfaction Cassandra noted that his stomach grumbled. She gave him some more Ambrosia.

“How are you feeling?” Cassandra asked quietly, relief washing over her.

“Like I have been dragged through the Underworld and back”, he said and reached for Cassandra’s cheek. “Thanks for making me fight. If it hadn’t been for you…”

He closed his eyes, fatigue winning him over again.

Cassandra got up, kissed him on his forehead and told him to get some more rest. He was asleep almost immediately. When she looked up, she saw Arissa standing in the doorway. The look of hatred in her eyes was so intense, Cassandra instinctively prepared for an attack that never came though. Instead, Arissa slowly strolled towards Cassandra until she was face to face with her.

“You have no right to be here, Unclaimed”, she hissed. “I don’t know why my brother keeps insisting on keeping you as his pet. But to me you are nothing more than the dirt under my fingernails. Less. At least I can easily get rid of that. You seem to cling to things like a particularly nasty …”

Cassandra, who knew that Arissa was trying to get her to say something she would regret, didn’t rise to her bait.

“I don’t know if you are interested in this information but your brother seems to be doing better”, Cassandra replied, slowly taking a step back. “He needs water, rest and Ambrosia. The real stuff.”

Cassandra saw Arissa’s eyes contract in surprise for a millisecond.

“What else would he get?” she said quietly and then signaled to the guards.

Four heavily armed guards appeared behind her and Arissa told them to remove Cassandra.

“Four guards?” Cassandra said, walking towards them, holding up her hands to show that she wouldn’t resist them.

“Get her out of here. Now”, Arissa hissed. “And make sure she doesn’t come back.”

The guards gripped her tightly. Cassandra was led out of the room by two guards and the other two followed to make sure she really left. When she stepped out of the room, she gave the first two a smile that was all teeth. One made a step towards her as if willing to take her on, but the other one held him back.

“Leave her alone. She is Alexander’s protégée”, he said and Cassandra thought she saw some compassion in his eyes and a degree of shame about their behavior.

“Hasn’t helped her today, has it?” the other one said and the other two guards laughed. “I wonder what she has to do to stay on his good side.”

The other two in the background sniggered once more.

“Shouldn’t be too difficult”, the mean one continued. “He only has one.”

The compassionate one in the front suddenly looked very angry.

“Shut up”, he said. “Unless you want me to report you for bad behavior, I think you had better stop talking right now.”

Cassandra nodded to him and then turned around to walk away. She knew exactly who those other three guards were and she would make sure that they would never serve under Alexander again and that they would be punished for their behavior. Then she relaxed her shoulders, shook her head to clear it and saw herself out.

When she came into the kitchen, Hector and Pandora threw her a worried look but Cassandra waved their concern away. She downed a whole pot of coffee, asked Summer to give her something for the terrible pounding behind her forehead and then went to see Jim in his room. She gave him the glass splinters she had rescued from Alexander’s room and asked Jim whether he thought he could analyze the liquid on them.

Jim looked at the glass shard, sniffed at it, carefully licked it and gave it back to Cassandra.

“Done”, he said. “It’s Ambrosia. I know the taste. Remember I am a god, not a drop of human in me. Still, I like the normal food better but Ambrosia is fine, too. From time to time anyway.”

Cassandra pressed her lips together.

“This is not Ambrosia”, she said through gritted teeth. “At least not the good stuff. And don’t tamper with evidence like that ever again, do you hear me? That was just plain stupid.”

Jim frowned, then rummaged around a little and eventually produced a pair of tweezers with which he carefully picked up one of the other glass shards to take a closer look at it.

“Relax”, he said. “I promise to be more careful with it from now on. And what do you mean by evidence? Are you some kind of a detective now?”

“Just work on the liquid, ok?” Cassandra said. “And get back to her with results this afternoon. Please.”

“I have to get to school today”, Jim protested but shut up when he saw the look on Cassandra’s face.

“Fine, I’ll do it”, he muttered. “But you’ll owe me something in return.”

Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. You won’t owe me. Will you at least explain to me what I am doing here?”

But Cassandra had already left the room. Jim muttered something about crazy people storming into his room, ruining his life but when he took up the shard again and held it up to the light, he frowned. He sniffed at the liquid, then he took a magnifying glass and began looking at it with a lot more interest.

“Strange”, he murmured. “It shouldn’t do that. Why would it do that?”

Finally, he picked up a pipette and drew in the rest of the remaining liquid. It had his full attention now.

Cassandra went to class with Hector. Life had to go on and there were a lot of things she needed to think about in the days to come. Like for example what kind of game Madame Margot was playing. Or Arissa’s strange reaction to her brother being saved. She wouldn’t have expected her to say thank you, but she had clearly not been happy that Alexander was getting better either.

When they arrived at the training arena, Ajax and Hippolyta were already waiting for them. Everyone started with their usual routine of running twenty laps. After the tenth round, Cassandra felt like she had already had enough.

She still hadn’t fully recovered from the flu despite the medication she had received from Madame Margot; add to that lack of sleep and worries about Alexander and it almost seemed impossible to set one foot before the other. She noticed that Wolf, River, Sol and Ben also had trouble keeping up with the others. Only Bear, who looked like he had lost a few pounds, seemed to be his old self again except for the strange glow in his eyes. Cassandra guessed that he was probably on some kind of drug again and wondered why the others hadn’t taken it, too.

It seemed that once the initial effect of the Ambrosia wore off, you pretty much had to recover on your own again and so Wolf looked like he still had a fever while Ben’s face was white as a sheet. After the next round, Hippolyta called out to River, Sol, Ben and her while the others were called away to train with Ajax. Hippolyta pressed her lips together when she saw them standing before her, panting heavily and each of them looking like they were about to throw up. She shook her head in worried disbelief.

“How on earth do you plan on surviving the second of the challenges this weekend?” she asked quietly. “It’ll be different from last time but you’ll still need your strength.”

They shrugged. They’d be better by then.

“I see”, Hippolyta said.

Then she passed them each a bottle of water.

“Drink this. It will get you through the day, if nothing else.”

They took the bottles and Hippolyta walked away. When Wolf took the first sip, he almost spat the drink out again.

“What is that?” he said and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Does she intend on poisoning us?”

“Don’t be such a baby”, River said and downed the whole bottle in one go.

Afterwards, he looked a bit nauseous but when they followed his example they found that they indeed felt instantly better and stronger.

“To getting through the day”, Cassandra said and threw the bottle to the side.

She felt like she had just gotten a massive energy boost. At the same time she knew she would probably pay dearly for that later. They followed the others to the training grounds and were immediately assigned training partners.

Ajax waved Bear and Cassandra over.

“You” – he indicated Bear – “sword training with her.”

“Why am I not surprised”, Cassandra said through gritted teeth but quietly enough that Ajax wouldn’t hear her.

“I would like to take care of her today”, Wolf said, suddenly standing beside Ajax and baring his teeth. “I feel like I could teach her a lesson or two.”

Ajax, seeing the look in Wolf’s eyes, nodded and paired Bear with Hector instead. Ben was sent to fight several Unclaimed and Cassandra wondered what he had done to get on Ajax’s bad side. Then she went to get a training sword and shield and it didn’t take long for Wolf to join her. They circled each other, each one waiting for the other to strike first.

“Can’t say that I like you”, Wolf said and Cassandra bit her lip when he made a fast movement towards her and she just about managed to raise her shield in time to avoid a nasty bruise on her arm.

“Can’t say this is warming my feelings towards you either”, she replied and went to attacking him instead.

They fought for a while, each one giving it their best but Cassandra knew that her strength would soon run out. She was able to stand her ground because Wolf was off his game too but she knew that she wouldn’t have had the slightest chance if she had gone against Bear. Wolf, dripping with sweat, more than once swore so loud that he got curious looks from the others. When Ajax finally told them to take a short break, they both immediately dropped their weapons and fell on the sand next to each other, panting. When the servants brought them something to drink, Wolf sat up and murmured a quiet thank you.

“For what?” Cassandra said and wiped away the sweat from her brows. “For being your punching bag today?”

“You weren’t exactly soft me on me either”, he said and stretched out his hand so that they could help each other up again when Ajax called them to archery training.

Cassandra groaned.

“Come on, let’s see how bad your aim is today”, Wolf said and went so far as to lay a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Cassandra looked up to him.

“I am not sure I like the new, touchy you”, she said and he grinned but she also saw something else in his eyes.

“You saved him”, the son of Ares said quietly and Cassandra wondered whether Alexander knew how Wolf felt for him. “I will always be thankful for that.”

Then he pressed her shoulder so hard that Cassandra almost buckled under the sudden weight.

“Doesn’t mean I like you any better, though”, Wolf said and this time his grin had way too much teeth for her taste.

“Duly noted”, she replied and stepped a little to the side. “Next time you feel like bonding: don’t.”

Wolf winked at her and went away to pick up a bow and arrows. She heard Bear’s dirty laugh that was quickly joined by Wolf’s and together they went to the shooting ground. Cassandra, who wished she could simply fall asleep on the spot, followed them dragging her feet and somehow got herself to do some target practice. She had no idea how she made it through the rest of the day. In the end, she staggered home with her brother at her side and would have gone straight to bed, if there hadn’t been a letter waiting for her. It was from Alexander, telling her that he was feeling better. Nothing more. But nothing less either. Then she finally went upstairs to bed.

On the evening before the second of the challenges, Cassandra and Hector were walking home from their last training session when it started to snow.

“Great”, Cassandra mumbled and started to shiver. “Tomorrow morning, everything will be covered in snow and we will need even more firewood that we cannot afford.”

Hector laughed and stuck out his tongue like a child.

“Don’t do that”, Cassandra chided him but felt herself raise her hands to catch the big, fluffy flakes.

Hector was right. It was beautiful. But Cassandra also knew that something beautiful could very well be deadly. Or at least very annoying as in the case of Arissa. Which reminded her that she hadn’t been allowed back in the palace ever since she had saved Alexander’s life. The presence of guards had been heavily increased and they were everywhere now. She had tried to sneak in once but had been caught and unceremoniously thrown out again. They told her that if she came back again uninvited, they would bring her before the dean. Cassandra wondered why Alexander didn’t want to see her. She wanted to talk to him about it but she hadn’t heard from him since the short letter he had written and somehow she felt that for some reason he didn’t want to see her anymore.

When they arrived back home, she was in quite a foul mood and only muttered a short good night when Hector told her he would go see Summer in the kitchen. Cassandra wanted to go straight to bed but when she saw a light in Jim’s bedroom, she went in without knocking.

“Where have you been all this time? I told you to get back to me with results three days ago.”

Jim, who had almost jumped out of his skin because she had barged in like that, didn’t look too pleased to see her.

“I don’t remember you knocking or me inviting you in”, he said sourly.

He looked smaller than usual and exhausted, like he hadn’t slept or eaten in a while.

“I am still testing it”, he replied cautiously. “It takes a while to distill all the ingredients.”

“I need the results, Jim”, Cassandra said. “It’s really important.”

“Do you have any idea what it is that we are dealing with?” he said and looked at her like he was trying to figure something out.

He looked haunted and suddenly Cassandra felt that he knew more than he let on. She hadn’t really said why he was testing the liquid or what this was about and she knew that she would lose his trust if she didn’t start being more open about it now.

“The liquid you are testing is something I took from Alexander’s room. I know that at first it looks like Ambrosia and that is what everyone believes it is. Alexander has taken it the past few months to relieve pain.”

Jim still didn’t look satisfied.

“I think it is dangerous”, Cassandra continued. “I think it is something dark, maybe poisonous and I don’t like it at all. When I first smelled it, it gave me the creeps and I really wonder what it has done to Alexander or why anyone would give him something like this.”

Jim still seemed to hesitate but in the end he nodded, looking at her through red-rimmed eyes watery with fatigue.

“It is all of that and more”, he said and yawned. “I know that the Ambrosia is sometimes intermixed with other things so that you can take it without the risk of being seriously harmed. Mostly it is watered down and then you add some pain killer or sleeping potion and it is really helpful then.”

He rubbed his eyes, then looked up at Cassandra with something bordering on fear.

“Someone has managed to fuse the Ambrosia with something else so that it changes its original purpose”, he said and shook his head. “Ambrosia is something special, something that is incredibly precious because it can do so much good. But like you said, someone has turned it into something dark and I really don’t like that. This shouldn’t be possible but somehow it is.”

“How does it affect Alexander?” Cassandra asked.

“Are you even sure that he took it?” Jim said and Cassandra had to admit that she had no further proof of that. After all, she had only picked up that one bottle Mia had dropped on the floor.

“Let’s assume he has taken it”, Cassandra said, frowning. “What would happen to him if he was taken off this bad kind of Ambrosia and given the real stuff?”

Jim looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I am not sure”, he said. “I guess, it would have prevented Alexander from getting better from something that was ailing him. He had the flu, you said? Maybe he wasn’t supposed to survive that? But why? Why would anyone want to harm him?”

Cassandra wasn’t sure either. Again she thought that Mia surely hadn’t wanted Alexander to die but what about everything else?

“Would that modified Ambrosia have stopped Alexander from being able to move his limbs again?” she asked and at first Jim wanted to shake his head but then he said that this was not entirely impossible.

Cassandra remembered how Ben had said that Alexander had thought that he could move his legs again a while ago.

“Maybe. I am not sure”, Jim said.

“Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Cassandra said.

“I don’t really believe in magic”, he said. “The whole idea of someone snapping their fingers and suddenly someone gets turned into an animal or dissolves into thin air – it just seems unnatural.”

Cassandra didn’t know what to say to that. A lot of things were other with them, magic wasn’t so far-fetched, she thought. She had visions, Alexander could control others with his voice. Ben could appear out of thin air. It wasn’t exactly magic but it wasn’t far from it either.

“Anyways, there is no other explanation for this”, Jim continued, yawning. “I am not even sure that it would take someone very knowledgeable with magic to do it. I think someone who is willing to go down a dark road would do just as well.”

Again Cassandra had to think of Mia and wondered whether there was something hiding beneath that mouse-grey appearance that was more than met the eye.

“I am not sure there is anything else I can tell you”, Jim said and yawned again.

Cassandra, seeing how tired he was, told him thank you and Jim nodded with a tired smile.

“You are welcome”, he replied and crawled towards his bed. “I really have to get some sleep now. Tomorrow is the big day. Second challenge. Don’t wanna disappoint the ladies.”

He lay down on his bed, cradling a huge teddy bear.

“He is there to protect me”, he murmured, already half-asleep.

Cassandra carefully closed the door behind her. What a strange little boy. So torn between his outside appearance and inner development. She remembered how proud he had been when Hector had asked him to come to the challenge with him. With a sigh, she retired to her room. He was right, it was time to catch some sleep before tomorrow.

The next morning found Pandora jumping up and down in front of her until Cassandra asked her whether she had already packed for the challenge. Pandora squeaked, shook her head and dove into her room. Cassandra touched the small black bundle that was the coat Ben had given her for New Year’s. It was the only thing she would bring today as they weren’t allowed to carry weapons. The coat felt warm to the touch and she had a feeling that she might need it sooner or later that day.

Cassandra followed her sister and stopped dead at the door when she saw the chaos in it. Pandora’s room looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. There was stuff lying everywhere and Pandora was still whirling through her room, rummaging through the closet and throwing clothes on her bed.

“Are you packing a bag?” Cassandra asked incredulously.

Pandora didn’t answer but instead dug deeper.

“I. Can’t. Find. My… Ah, there it is”, she said and emerged with a huge umbrella.

Cassandra used all calming techniques she had, took the umbrella from her sister’s hand and sat her on the bed.

“Please, let me do this for you”, she said and dumped out the bag.

While Cassandra was going through Pandora’s things trying to find at least one useful thing to take with her, Pandora sat bouncing on her mattress and pestered Cassandra with questions about fighting monsters, the upcoming challenge and their chances of dying a horrible death.

“Would you like me to braid your hair?” she asked but Cassandra shook her head.

“It is fine as it is”, Cassandra said.

“But it is the first time you are going to see Alexander again”, Pandora said excitedly.

Cassandra tried to shove the image of an almost dead Alexander from her thoughts and dove under Pandora’s bed instead.

“Finally something useful”, Cassandra said and held out the piece of clothing she had found towards Pandora.

“I am not wearing that”, Pandora said appalled and backed away from Cassandra until she hit the wall. “Not if all of Hades froze over and there was not a single hot-blooded girl left willing to warm me.”

Cassandra held up the huge coat that looked like it had been a bear once.

“Consider Hades frozen over and me not available for any cuddling”, Cassandra said and tried to lift her arm. “This will keep you warm today. The temperature in those caves is colder than Arissa’s heart and they didn’t say how long we have to stay down there. You will thank me later.”

Pandora wailed and Cassandra went to see how Jim was doing. Jim was so nervous that he shrieked when she came in. He almost dropped a bottle of red liquid that somehow looked like it was alive.

“I hope that is not blood”, Cassandra said and Jim threw her an imploring look.

“I have no idea what I am supposed to bring”, he said, looking like he was ready to throw up any moment. “Everything could be useful. Something to make fire, something to extinguish it, acid that eats through stone, liquid food” – with that he held up the red bottle and Cassandra almost gagged – “a knife, a sword, ten of them? I don’t know how to use them but still…”

Cassandra carefully lifted the red bottle from his hand and then took him by the shoulders.

“Calm down, breathe”, she said and waited until she felt that his heart rate had slowed down a little. “You will take something to make fire, a warm coat and that big brain of yours. There is no need for anything else. This won’t be like the first of the challenges. This will be about finding something, about using our heads instead of muscles. Well, at least until we have to face the Minotaur. But you’ll be fine, Hector will take care of the beast.”

Jim had gotten even paler when she said Minotaur but he held on tightly to the knife he had grabbed and Cassandra took that as a good sign. She finally got him to leave his room but not before he had made sure he was really bringing everything that might be useful with him.

They all met in the kitchen and Cassandra was glad to see that Summer and Hector seemed to have come to an agreement and Summer was helping him pack. When she saw Cassandra coming in, she gave her a sad smile and told her to take good care of herself.

“There is no use in trying to stop you, is there?” Summer said and hugged Cassandra.

“It would be like stopping you from taking care of sick people”, Cassandra said and hugged her back.

“Only sick people usually don’t try to kill you.”

Summer wished her luck and went back to packing up some bread and cheese. Cassandra called out for Charlie and Pandora to come down but there was no reaction. When her sister finally came, Cassandra had a hard time not smiling.

“You didn’t say how much of it I have to wear”, Pandora muttered and spun on her heels. “Looks good though, doesn’t it?”

She had cut off so much of the bear hide that all that was left was a kind of vest.

“Yup. Excellent”, Cassandra said. “You’ll freeze to death but at least you’ll have looked your best.”

Pandora stuck out her tongue and Cassandra drew her into a quick hug. They called out for Charlie once more and then left when there was no reaction.

The snow had covered everything around them, turning the whole university into a beautiful winter landscape. It wasn’t too cold either and as it hadn’t been snowing the past few hours, the roads had been cleared and they were able to walk on unhindered. But the sky was covered in thick, grey clouds again and it would only be a matter of time before it would start snowing again. Cassandra was glad she had been able to afford good boots that would keep her warm and threw a worried look at Pandora who had already started shivering.

By the time they passed the Colosseum, they weren’t alone anymore. There was excited chattering and some waving towards her and her brother. They passed the fighting arena and a little later the spot where the three girls had been killed. Cassandra saw several people bow their heads and did the same, renewing her vow to avenge their deaths should she ever get the chance. Cassandra also remembered the strange metal scrap they had found. There had been no further incident since that night; maybe the creature that had made the strange scratches in the rocks had simply left the island again.

They arrived at their destination which proved to be a rather smallish rocky arch close to the water. Once they entered, it opened into a kind of natural staircase that led them up at least fifty steps, away from the rumbling sea.