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)
“That, I know of,” Sirena said, nose high in the air. “The Five Dominions Treaty designated the sovereign land of the mundanes, vampires, werewolves, demigods, and fae.”
Remis snapped her fingers. “Correct, but did you all know that because of the treaty, we got the short end of the stick?”
“By being granted Olympia?” I heard myself say. “How?”
“Oh, it’s not the land. It was magnificent even back then when it went by another name: Atlantis. No,” she said. “We got the bad deal... because we got the monsters.”
“Got the monsters?” Nitsa repeated slowly. “Are you saying the monsters live in Olympia because of the treaty?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying, Miss Castellanos. When it came time to determine what species monsters were, and therefore which dominion they should live, the other four representatives voted ours unanimously.
“These creatures were the descendants of Greek gods, the creations of Greek gods, and the enemies of Greek gods. If they were anyone’s problem, they were ours. Back then the very first council was ordered to enter this land with the monsters and seal the barrier behind us. If a single monster escaped to wreak havoc on the other dominions, it’d be a violation of the treaty and the war would begin anew with every being magical and mundane descending on Olympia.”
No one spoke for so long, I wondered if we lost the ability.
“I don’t understand,” Sirena said. “How can any of that be true? Why is this the first we’re hearing about this? If the fae or the whoever forced the monsters on us, it’d be known. It’d be taught.”
“Would it?” Remis said softly. She leaned against a bookshelf, running her fingers along the spines. “Between the pages is a safe place, isn’t it? There can be no lies, no half-truths, no missing information in the books we trust to tell us the world. I’m sorry, my dear novices, but the first thing you’ll learn about history is that it’s like everything else—subject to bias. Do you think the history books in vampire academies paint them as the villains or the heroes?”
A low growl escaped Daciana’s lips.
“But then why?” I asked. I laid my hand over Daciana’s, comforting her like she did me in the face of Captain Hondros.
“Because look around you.” She swept out her arms. “We’re trapped in a land with monsters that eat our flesh, devour our children, sing us to our deaths, burn down our villages, and wipe away everything we love in a single day.
“In the early days after the treaty, demigods attacked the barrier daily. Bands of Hecate’s children went after it looking for weaknesses. The council weathered more than a few assassination attempts for agreeing to the terrible terms in the first place. Keeping control got ugly and violent very fast. As a result, the wars and the true terms of the treaty were stricken from the history books. Here we are two thousand years later, and no one remembers.”
“Why can we know now?” a guy in the third row spoke up.
“Because there’s been a recent change in the curriculum.” Madame Remis’s smile swept over us. “Me.”
“You?” Sirena repeated. Did she hear the disdain in her voice, or was it just natural at this point? “You’re going against council law to teach us banned information? You have no right.”
“This is my classroom, Miss Cirillo, I have every right. You’ll find Deucalion Academy is autonomous of the council. Here, I tell you what the laws are.”
A choked noise came from Sirena’s throat. “Nothing and no one is autonomous of the council. You—”
The gong sounded, signaling the end of class. I jerked like it snapped me out of a dream. An hour and a half passed already?
“That’s all for today, ladies and gentleman. Your assignment for tonight is to read chapter two, The History of the Gods. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you what’s missing.”
“I doubt there’s anything missing,” Sirena snapped.
She flashed her a smile as pleasant as the one that beamed on me in the reflection room. “You’ll find out tomorrow.”
Sirena was at the front of the class, but managed to shove her way through and storm out the door first. Daciana was right on her heels, ignoring our calls.
“Is she okay?” Ionna asked.
“I’m not sure. I got the feeling she’s not a fan of vampires.”
“None of us are after that,” Theron put in, shuffling up between us. “Think all that stuff’s true?”
Nitsa slung her arms around our shoulders. “I mean, it does make sense. Mother told me the monsters came to Olympia because they could smell the divine in our blood. If that was true of all of them, there’s nowhere we could hide. But we do and we can. When I was nine, I was playing with my brothers in the woods when I stumbled into the path of a gorgon. I dove under a bush and hid there until my brothers came to find me. If she could sense me, why aren’t I dead?”