Page 85 of Blood of Hercules
General Cleandro looked pissed. “If I find out that one of you took it upon yourself to try to separate your weak classmates...”
What is he talking about? It was Kharon. I saw him. He must have done something with his powers to hurt him.
The general narrowed his eyes. “Then I won’t be happy. You don’t need to do a single fucking thing but worry about yourselves. Weeding out the weak ismyjob... or do you not think I can do my job?”
“No, General!” we chorused, our voices cracked and raw. Someone coughed up water (it was me).
We’d gone from ten to nine, in just one day.
A pervasive deadness filled my chest.
How am I going to survive this place?
The doctor had said that the House of Zeus was known for its fertility issues, and recent mutts struggled. Now her words felt sickly prophetic.
Another one was dead.
Am I next?
“I was originally going to give you all a break, but now”—thegeneral’s smirk was cruel—“you will attend Lost Classical Lore with Professor Augustus.”
The setting sun cast long sinister shadows.
“MOVE, INITIATES,” the general bellowed. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LAZY FUCKERS WAITING FOR? FUCKING MOVE.”
Unsurprisingly, we all moved.
Back under the mountain, the dripping wax, life-size sculptures, long crimson pool, and melancholic music were depressing.
It was also freezing.
Slipping, I winced as the raw cuts on the bottoms of my feet scraped against the rocks as I sat back down on the hard classroom floor (fell over and somehow landed on my butt).
My hands were also covered in wounds. Blood, river water, and despair dripped off me.
Our breaths were loud and raspy, and someone coughed every other second.
The mood in the room wasmisery.
The door flung open.
A man entered.
His energy was vicious.
Unlike with Pine, everyone in the room immediately sat up straight, even General Cleandro.
It was him.
The infamous assassin, rumored to have dark powers.
Theheir to the House of Ares.
Augustus.
The son of Ares and Aphrodite looked more like a savage warrior than a professor.
Evil incarnate.
