Page 23 of Deception

“Students,” a dull disembodied voice sounds around the room, causing a few of my classmates to jump in their seats. Gabris freezes for a moment, her limbs shaking with fear. She snaps out of her daze and dives under her desk. Leaving the rest of us defenseless again. I shake my head in frustration, heaving out a heavy sigh. I glance around the room warily, lifting from my desk just in case some new threat is about to attack. Of course it had to be me, because why not? Did all the bad guys get together and have a meeting, resolving to wait until I got back to rain hellfire down upon the school again? Fucking fantastic.

The classroom sits in eerie silence for a moment, my ears still ringing from the shrill bell. It still makes my head hurt, even in its absence.

“All students, please report to the auditorium for an emergency meeting. I repeat, we require all students to report to the auditorium for an emergency meeting.” The voice cuts off, and the ringing starts back up, the incessant screeching disorienting me.

Gabris sheepishly crawls back out from under her desk, and dusts off her olive green pantsuit. She clears her throat and coughs at the dust billowing off her clothes.

“Okay students, follow me,” she mumbles, her voice still shaky. She attempts to pitch her voice high enough to be heard over the bell. But I need to strain my ears to hear her. Most of the students are already filing out the door, not bothering to wait for her instructions.

Domenic loosely grabs my arm, pulling me from my thoughts. He guides me forward and I reflexively reach back for Kali’s hand, making a chain as she does the same with Zina and Lucas. Domenic leads us out the door and into the crowded hallway. All the students converge at once. I grip Kali’s hand, making sure she’s still behind me, and she squeezes back, reassuring me with the light pressure.

“What’s going on, Liv?” Domenic glances back at me. His mouth turns down into a frown, and his brow creases with concern.

“I have no idea,” I offer, my mind whirling at the sudden turn of events.

But, maybe I do. I collect my thoughts, barely able to think with the cacophony surrounding us. The horde of students pushes at our backs and sides, corralling us towards the auditorium. The air is thick with a mix of fear and anticipation at the recent turn of events. I take a deep breath before looking back at Kali to make sure she can hear me too. If this has something to do with my meeting with the council yesterday, I need to fill them in. Especially given Zina’s connection.

“Last night, I was brought before the council,” I explain, turning so Domenic can hear, and my head whips back to gauge Zina’s reaction. She chews her lip nervously before I’m jostled by another student, forcing me to redirect my gaze back towards Domenic. “I’m sure this has something to do with them, but I’m not sure how,” I muse, before filling them in on exactly what happened with the council yesterday.

We shuffle in through the open entrance, and students push their way through, elbowing us in the process. The grand doors don’t look nearly as ominous with the sheer mass of students entering through them today.

Domenic slides into one of the back rows, not bothering to fight further through the barrage of bodies.

“So, you met my mother?” Zina asks expectantly before grimacing at the strange word on her tongue as she settles on my other side. I feel a pang in my chest as my mind whirrs, trying to imagine what exactly is going through her head. To call someone you’ve never met in your twenty years of life, your mother or father, is strange in and of itself. Let alone trying to reconcile that person with a powerful god. Sure the concept of one of your parents being a god is exciting yet nerve-racking when actually faced with it. I’m still attempting to piece together my own feelings on my father actually being Osias, but I at least know him and have a relationship with him. He isn’t a complete stranger to me like most students’ godly parents are, like my mother is.

“Students.” A woman’s raspy tone echoes around the auditorium. The sly, calculating note in her voice is unmistakable. Silence falls upon the room, as though swept out on the back of a wave.

Zina would need to deal with those feelings churning inside of her sooner than we thought. Especially since it’s her mother Helene, the god of the sea, who just addressed the room, gliding silently across the stage.

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