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)
“I meant everything I said. I can think of a great way to utilize every person who was shoved in the Sisyphean class. For one thing, the guy who can grow wheat from stone is a marvel. He can keep an entire battalion fed, and they wouldn’t need to rely on the locals—taking food out of the mouths of poor villagers.”
“Wise thinking.”
“What do you think?”
She shrugged lightly—pretty face serene. “It’s not for me to have an opinion. It wouldn’t hold any weight if I did. I am a stranger to this land. One that was plotting her escape home until you.”
I looked around. “What? Me?”
“Yes, you,” Daciana said with a laugh. “Demigods don’t know much about werewolves. Or they do and they don’t care that my heightened hearing heard everything they said about me when I shifted. From the graphically lewd remarks to the comments that I was a disgusting beast, should be put down like the other monsters, or be captured like a wild animal and forced to serve the army.”
“They said what? They’re the fucking beasts!”
She didn’t lose her amused smile. “My father did the interdominion program when he was young. He told me what to expect. He also told me that when someone shows you who they are, believe them.
“Out of everything said about me, you were the only one to appreciate my form for the beautiful gift from the goddess that it is. Also, you defended me when you believed I was being treated unfairly. You’ve shown me you’re kind and without prejudice, so I’ll believe it. You and I will be friends.”
I shared her smile. “And you just spent half an hour trying to cheer up a girl you didn’t even know. I believe that’s who you are too.” I held up my arm. “Friends.”
Head cocking, Daciana looked at the appendage in confusion. I giggled as she grabbed my wrist and gave it a little shake.
“No, like this.” I tipped her elbow and bumped our forearms. “It’s an army thing. Can’t shake hands when you’re holding swords, shields, and lances. So we bump arms.”
“Fascinating. I’m learning from you already.”
Sebastian
I watched Aella Galanis and her werewolf friend from the shadow of the stadium. They walked off in the other direction, saying goodbye to the farce behind me to find a better time with their new friends in their new dorm.
“Such a sweet idea,” I mocked. “An even better cover. No one will suspect she’s anything but a pretty novice training with her friends.”
“Something isn’t right with her,” Linus said in my ear. “There’s a sickness. A sickness in her very soul.”
My head bobbed, fixed on her as she continued on the path. “I sensed it too. The moment she stepped through those gates. She is not what she should be.”
“What will you do?”
“What I always do. Kill her if she’s a threat. Collect her if she’s an asset.” The reply dropped cold and emotionless from my lips. “But for now, we’ll just watch her.”
“But what could she be?” Linus pressed.
A smile stretched my lips. “Something Olympia hasn’t seen for two thousand years.
“She’s something new.”
Aella
There’s no reason I should’ve formed ideas about what existed behind the white doors, and those expectations were blown all the same.
I spun on the atrium’s polished floors, and the mammoth statues of the twelve Olympian gods spun with me. With one hand, they palmed the ceiling. In the other, Zeus threw lightning, Hera held a babe, Artemis drew her bow, Poseidon raised his trident.
“Come on,” Nitsa called. She and Daciana waited in front of another, albeit smaller, pair of doors. “The map says the Sisyphean dorms are this way.”
“Do we have to call it that?” I jogged to catch up. “Just because they named us Sisyphean, doesn’t mean we have to as well.”
“I’ve decided I won’t let it bother me either way.” She raised her chin. “No one is going to tell me that I’m useless to my home. If I’m fighting for it, I can never be useless.”
Daciana pushed open the door, spilling us into a long marble hallway. The two of them consulted the way while I looked around, memorizing my escape route.
I hadn’t seen guards outside, and so far, none inside. That was one point in my favor.
“Nitsa, does it say anything in the book about a curfew?”
“Course not. We’re not children. But we also train from sunup to sundown, so whatever midnight fun you’re planning will have consequences in the morning.”
I hid a smile. She wasn’t far off about the midnight plans.
“This door.” We stopped in front of the third one at the end of the hallway. “This leads to the dormitory wings. That leads to the food hall and the classrooms. That one leads to the training rooms. We’ll explore after we dump our bags.”
We entered another hallway, the near opposite of the one we left. Stone packed us in, drawing us shoulder to shoulder. Doors lined the left side going down and twisting around the corner. They were labeled simply “Sisyphean Dorm One.” “Sisyphean Dorm Two.” Etc.