Page 17 of Hades' Shadow
“Mr. Cross, what is going on?” I ask, ignoring his comments about it being forbidden and get straight to the point.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” He straightens his shoulders slightly, but he’s still hunched over.
Raven scoffs, “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”
“That’s uncalled for, Raven, and if you are going to be rude, maybe I will reconsider not reporting you to the headmistress for trespassing where you are not allowed.” He raises a brow at us, but it looks strange with his droopy eyes.
Adrian steps forward. “Our apologies for disturbing you, Professor, but we are concerned. The trouble is not over, and we think your current health situation is connected to whatever is happening with the items of power going missing.”
Cross sighs and waves us all inside. “I’m not sure that it’s connected to the items of power but now that you say it, that may be true.”
I step inside the door and scan the small space. There’s a comfy red couch in the middle of the room and a fireplace taking up one wall. It’s cozy and adorable.
“Have a seat. This could take a while.” Cross waves for us to sit on the couch, and he takes the armchair by the fireplace.
“What’s going on?” I ask again as I sit on the edge of the couch.
Raven takes a seat next to me with Adrian on the other end.
“I’m not exactly sure. After the battle at the wards, I started to feel weak but I thought it was just because I used a lot of magic.” Cross sighs.
“But it wasn’t,” Adrian points out. This is much more than just using too much magic.
“No, it wasn’t. I was feeling even weaker instead of getting stronger. I had to send my wife away when the salt water lake we have in the forest started to dry up.”
“Wife?” I ask in shock.
I didn’t know that Cross was married.
“I’m a demigod of the sea, Beth. I married a Naiad. She couldn’t stay here once the magic keeping the lake here started to fade.” He scrubs a hand over his face.
“That’s terrible,” I whisper. The poor man needs that water so he and his wife can survive here. Shit. This is even worse than I originally thought.
Raven sits forward, her elbows resting on her knees. “What happened to the magic?”
“I don’t know and I haven’t been able to get in touch with my father,” Cross says softly.
Adrian peers at me over Raven’s head before turning back to our teacher. “Can you show us the lake? I saw it in a vision, but maybe we can figure out what’s going on.”
“The lake is gone. It’s just a hole in the ground.” Cross shakes his head but moves to stand.
“I’m not weakened like everyone else. It’s possible that there is a reason this happened. It could have happened during the battle while we were all distracted.” I chew my lip nervously.
What would be the point of draining the magic that keeps his wife alive and him from being weakened?
“We can go have a look.” Cross sighs, nodding toward the front door. We all stand and follow him outside.
He leads us into the woods, and I can’t help but scan the trees before following. The dryads over here aren’t friendly like the ones in the training yard.
“What’s the matter?” Cross asks, glancing over his shoulder at me and Raven.
“The dryads here are assholes,” Raven grunts.
“That’s not any way to talk while you are walking through their forest.” Cross reaches out to the nearest tree, patting it almost lovingly.
“You didn’t have to dodge trees to get here.” Raven rubs the side of her face where she was hit not long ago.
“The dryads protect the teachers’ privacy. They report students sneaking around out here to the headmistress.” Cross shrugs and turns to keep walking.
