The Prophecy of Shadows (26 page)

“What’s a typhon?” I asked, hoping I got the name correct. “The harpy said something about a typhon. What does that mean?”

“You mean
who
,” Kate said, her expression grim. “Typhon is one of the most dangerous monsters out there. If he gets loose …” She paused to take a breath. “I don’t see how we can beat him. But the harpy told us that Typhon had to ‘return to his true form.’ And his true form is—”

“As tall as a mountain,” Blake interrupted, holding his hands high in the air. “With a hundred heads, vipers for legs, fire in his eyes … well, that’s an exaggeration to scare people, but basically, we don’t want to have to fight him. We won’t stand a chance.”

“Maybe we won’t
have
to fight him,” Chris said. “We just have to kill him before he reaches his true form.”

“And where’s his true form?” I asked.

“Zeus struck him down with lightning a long time ago and trapped him under Mount Etna, which is in Sicily, Italy,” Kate replied, her eyes lighting up at the chance to share her knowledge. “The Titans wanted to free Typhon in the Second Rebellion, since he’s the deadliest monster out there, but Zeus forced them into Kerberos before they could reach him. Then Zeus split Typhon’s soul from his body and put his soul in Kerberos, while keeping his body under the mountain. It makes it twice as hard for him to escape.” She looked down at her fingernails and shrugged. “I wish you all had more time to talk with the harpy before killing her. Maybe she could have given us more information…”

“Or she would have killed us first,” Blake interrupted. “We did the right thing by stopping her when we did.”

“Yes.” Darius nodded. “What you did was very brave. But do me a favor and don’t tell anyone yet. There’s no need to cause a panic before we know exactly what’s going on. I’ll tell the others in homeroom on a need to know basis once we have more information. Until then, stay quiet about it.”

“But the others can help us fight.” Chris leaned forward and smacked his fist into his palm. “Shouldn’t we start training as soon as possible?”

“We can only start official training when we know what we’re up against,” Darius said. “Hopefully it won’t take too long to figure it out and develop a strategy. But for now, stay focused on making those weapons and practicing your powers.”

“It makes sense to me,” Kate agreed. “What else can we do to help?”

“Go home and act like nothing’s changed,” he instructed. “Work on improving your skills.” He faced me, his expression serious. “And Nicole—I’m sure Kate has already told you that I’ve wiped your sister’s memory of everything that happened. We couldn’t risk her telling others what she saw—especially humans.”

I remembered what Becca had looked like with her wrists and ankles tied to the chair, helpless to protect herself. I was just glad that she was okay. “It’s for the best,” I told Darius. “Becca isn’t good at keeping secrets.”

“Now, I have to leave to meet with the Head Elders in DC so we can discuss the details of what’s going on.” Darius leaned forward and closed the Book. “And it’s time for you to all go home and get some rest so you’re ready for school in the morning. Until I get back, don’t go anywhere except for school and your houses—the places where the protection spells are up. As I will be out of town, there will be a substitute in for me. I’m sure you know to pretend that our homeroom is completely normal.”

Normal. I rolled my eyes. My life was anything
but
normal nowadays.

We said goodnight, and everyone was silent as they stood up—probably taking in everything we’d discussed. The new information was still spinning in my mind, too.

“Why don’t you let me take you home?” Blake asked me as I put on my coat. He watched me closely, and I flashed back to when he kissed me in the cave, my heart beating faster at the memory. “I’m meeting my family for a late lunch, and the restaurant is only a block from your house.”

I looked at Kate to see what she thought, since she was the one who had driven me here. She lowered her eyes, as if telling me to do whatever I wanted, and I turned back to Blake. “Okay.” I tried to keep my voice from wavering. “I guess that makes sense.”

Danielle walked over to us, swinging her keys. “I’ll see you tonight,” she said to Blake. Her voice was firm and controlled, like she was trying to hold back anger but not doing a good job. She leaned forward and kissed him, and even though he was about as responsive as a wooden board, my blood boiled just the same. “Call me when you get home.”

“Will do,” he said, and then he looked back at me with guilt in his eyes. “You ready?”

A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed to make it go away. “Yeah,” I said. “Thanks for offering to drive.”

I acted as normal as possible while saying bye to Kate and thanking her for taking care of me while I recovered. The determination in her eyes let me know that there was no way I was escaping her giving me the third degree later about what was going on between Blake and me. And I was terrible at lying, so I would have to tell her. At least I trusted that she would keep it secret.

For now, Blake and I walked towards his Range Rover in silence. He opened the door for me, and I smiled in thanks, wondering as he walked around to the driver’s side if he was going to bring up our kiss in the cave. He most likely would.

Then I would have to tell him that as long as he stayed with Danielle, nothing like that could ever happen between us again.

Blake barely looked at me as he pulled out of the driveway, and I fidgeted in my seat, glancing out the window. It seemed like it was going to be up to me to start this conversation.

“What was ‘all you could think about?’” I finally asked.

He looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

“You started to say that in the cave, but Danielle interrupted you before you could tell me,” I explained.

“All I could think about…” He focused on the road as he repeated the words. “When the harpy pushed you off the cliff, all I could think about was how much it would kill me if you didn’t survive the fall.” He tightened his grip around the steering wheel, and continued, “I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ve felt connected to you since I saw you walk into homeroom on your first day. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt for Danielle. Do you have the same thing? Or am I going crazy?” He glanced at me for the first time since getting in the car, the intensity in his eyes sending a wave of heat through my body.

“I do feel the same way,” I said. “But what happened in the cave … it can’t happen again.” I paused, my voice catching in my throat. “Because even if you break up with Danielle, she’s still part of our group. The five of us are bound together whether we want to be or not. If you and me are together, what if Danielle gets so angry when she finds out that she refuses to work with us? Without her, we might not be able to fight like we need to. It would put not just us, but our families, in danger. And after what that harpy did to Becca, I can’t risk that happening.”

Saying it made me feel empty inside. But I was doing the right thing.

So why didn’t it feel like it?

“We can figure it out,” he said, his knuckles white as he gripped the wheel. “We could be together in secret.”

“And have to lie to everyone?” I asked. “And constantly feel like we’re doing something wrong? I can’t do that.”

“It wouldn’t be like that forever,” he said. “Don’t say no yet. Take some time to think about it.”

“I can’t,” I said. “Especially not while you’re still with Danielle.”

“My decision hasn’t changed,” he said. “I haven’t had time to talk to Danielle yet to let her know that it’s over between us, but I plan on doing it soon. I promise.”

We were both silent for a few seconds, and just when I was about to make some filler comment about the weather, he added, “I should have known you were a demigod from the start. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner.”

“Even Darius didn’t know,” I said. “Why would
you
have been able to realize it if he couldn’t?”

“Never mind.” He shook his head. “Forget I said anything.”

“You can’t do that.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Can’t do what?”

“Start saying something and stop. If you don’t want to say anything, then don’t start. It’s like the ‘not telling someone you have a secret if you don’t plan on sharing it’ rule.”

He laughed, his eyes brightening. “There’s a rule for that?”

“Yes.” I smiled and crossed my arms over my chest. “You started to say that you should have realized I was a demigod—despite the fact that even Darius doesn’t have the power to know that. Now you
have
to tell me what you were going to say. If you don’t, it’ll drive me crazy.”

“Maybe I
want
to drive you crazy.” He smirked.

Heat rose to my cheeks, and for a few seconds, I was speechless. “Come on,” I finally said. “Spill.”

“I was referring to how your powers are so strong,” he said. “I was the only one who saw when you defeated the hound at the playground. I should have thought about it and fit the pieces together. If Kate had been with you, I guarantee it would have crossed her mind.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Or maybe not. But don’t act like it was all me—the two of us defeated the hound
together
. And you did an amazing job with the harpy. We couldn’t have killed her without you.”

“I guess you’re right,” he said. “We do make a great team.”

“But even with our new powers, I don’t know how we’re going to do this,” I said. “We’re up against every evil creature in existence that sided with Typhon and the Titans in the Second Rebellion.”

“And maybe even Typhon and the Titans themselves,” he added, his lips straightening into a grim line.

“Darius and the Head Elders better have an amazing plan.”

“They’ll come up with something,” he said. “And remember—we have the Olympian gods on our side. If it comes to it, they’ll fight with us. They’ll have to.”

I hoped more than anything that he was right.

We chatted for the rest of the ride, and it didn’t take long to reach my house. He pulled into my driveway and came to a stop.

I took my seatbelt off and faced him, not wanting to leave yet. “Thanks for taking me home,” I said, pushing my hair behind my ears. Even though I’d just told him that nothing could happen between us, my heart pounded harder than ever, and I watched him in expectation, wondering what he would do.

If he kissed me again, I wouldn’t be able to resist.

“Like I said, your house is only a block away from where I’m going.” His formal tone surprised me, and he sat so straight and rigid. It was like there was a wall between us. Which I should have been grateful for—since it was what I’d ask for—but it disappointed me anyway. “I’ll see you in school tomorrow.”

“Right.” I hopped out of the car, although I didn’t close the door. “And thanks for everything you did in the cave. If you hadn’t come up with the idea of letting me channel your energy, I wouldn’t have been able to heal Kate.”

“It wasn’t too hard to think of,” he said simply. “It’s just something that no one ever talks about because of the risks. But you were going to try healing her even though you didn’t have enough energy left to do it, and I couldn’t let you die. I would never be able to forgive myself if that had happened.”

With those words, the energy between us grew stronger, like a string pulling me towards him. I wanted to take back everything I’d said earlier, about how we couldn’t be together.

But if Blake knew what I did to the harpy—using black energy to kill it with a single touch—would he still feel the same way about me? Or would he be scared?

I couldn’t be sure.

So as hard as it was, I said goodnight and headed inside, not looking back as he drove away.

When I got inside, I found my mom in her studio finishing up the painting I’d seen earlier that week. She didn’t question it when I told her I was going to take a nap. She probably assumed Kate and I had stayed up all night talking, like I usually did when I slept over my friends’ houses back in Georgia.

I peeked inside Becca’s room on the way to mine. She sat at her computer, either doing homework or messaging her friends—probably the latter. She’d pulled her hair back into a messy bun, and she wore a red sweatshirt from her middle school back in Georgia. Dark circles rimmed her normally bright eyes. I’d never seen her so exhausted. Even though Darius had wiped her memory, could she possibly still remember anything from yesterday?

She must have heard me approach, because she rotated her chair and smirked. “Did you have fun this weekend?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows. “Especially on Friday night, in particular?”

I almost asked her what had happened on Friday night, but then I remembered—that was the night I’d sneaked out with Blake. So much had happened since then that it didn’t feel like it had only been two days ago.

And judging by how relaxed Becca was being about it, I knew Darius’s mind trick had worked. Becca didn’t remember the harpy kidnapping her, or anything that had happened in the cave. She was safe. I had to resist the urge to run up to her and give her a big hug. However, Darius had said to act like everything was normal, and that definitely wouldn’t be a normal thing for me to do.