Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize everyone had stopped.”
“We had to,” she said softly. “Look.”
I looked down, following where she was pointing. The entire novice class stood on the steps, waiting respectfully as the procession passed. Madame Remis led the way, speaking and gesturing to the two men carrying a stretcher across the lawn. A sheet lay over them, but there was no questioning they were carrying a body.
A band tightened around my throat, knocking me off balance. Galen?
“Can’t believe it,” Nitsa continued, unaware of what was happening behind her. “Another life lost during training. It’s so senseless. Why can’t they make these lessons safer?”
Tycho’s response floated over her head to me. “Because they don’t care if a few or more Sisypheans die. It’s only further proof we don’t belong in the army. Better we die here with some semblance of honor than be a liability out there.”
Nitsa quieted while I got my breath back. My prayers were with that poor soul and their family who did not think them worthless—no matter what class they were in. But it wasn’t Galen. I couldn’t have born if it was Galen.
Only when Madame Remis and her silent bearers were gone did we continue to class. Whispers trickled through our group, passing the news on.
“His name was Giles Nanos.” I didn’t recognize the girl talking to Ionna. “Son of Alectrona, the goddess of sun and morning.”
“Was he killed during training?”
“Worse,” she replied, dropping her voice. “I heard they found him at the bottom of the southeast tower. He either fell or...”
Jumped, I finished for her. Dear gods, they think the poor guy jumped.
“That’s awful. Can’t imagine what kind of pain he was in to... choose to go that way.”
“Who knows. He was a Titan, so it’s not like he had it as bad as us. They’re saying he could conjure a beam of light as bright as the sun, blinding anyone who saw it.”
“No one’s life is perfect—Titan or not. My brothers lost so many friends in the academy. None of us are stronger than grief...”
Their conversation faded as I hung back, letting them move farther ahead. I couldn’t stand this talk of death and grief. Was this to be our life now? Every moment of every day in and then out of the academy?
No wonder the instructors and headmaster were hardened to the point of breaking trainees on impact. You can escape grief... when you stopped caring.
Morose thoughts plagued me through the trek around the academy to one of the many parts I was seeing for the first time. The stretch of freshly cut green went as far back as I could see. It’d be beautiful as a place to picnic under the open air, enjoying the breeze and sunshine while working on assignments with friends. But of course, the academy put it to more practical uses.
Platforms of the same type, but much smaller than the one in the stadium, were scattered about the lawn. A row of stands stretched in a neat line alongside them, and among them all—waiting for us—was Commander Vasili.
“Titans, find your groups. Sisypheans, find a seat.”
The next ninety minutes were as boring and tedious as Tycho promised. The commander made us sit on the stands, rays beating down on us while we watched the Titans train, practice, and form battle strategies with other children of the same god. He wouldn’t even let us work on assignments for other classes. I knew because the girl who was speaking to Nitsa about Giles Nanos tried, and he confiscated it and made her do a lap around the castle.
“I don’t get why you guys can’t practice with them too,” I said, leaving myself out. After the humiliation of self-mastery class, I had no delusions that I had anything to contribute. “They keep saying we fight together and we die together. You’ll have to do this in the army, so why have you sitting on your butts?”
“I hate to say it, but I’m not sure we would be much use off this bench,” Theron said. He couldn’t write on it, so he used a piece of parchment to fan himself. “My powers are violent and unpredictable. There’s no measuring the scale of my destruction like there’s no hating something a little or halfway. I could take out half the green and for what purpose?”
I inclined my head. “True, but Ionna, Nitsa, and Tycho, you could—”
They were all shaking their heads.
“If my gift of prophecy was more focused—more accurate—Commander Vasili would pair me with the other children of Apollo. Otherwise, who wants me out there confusing them, shouting out the dozens of possible futures I see with no idea which one is right, or if they’re all wrong?”
“Nothing for me to do either,” Tycho said. “Unless someone dies.”
He didn’t need to say more. The commander would be a twisted person indeed to send him out there to fight with animated corpses.