It was nice to see Mother so happy. Holiday is Leto’s favorite time of the year because it allows her freedom from prying eyes. There’s no hierarchy in our home. If anything, Leto dominates, asserting authority over everything inside the house while Zeus keeps to his public roles. It’s strange, but would be frowned on by others and a society who think Zeus should call the shots in our family.
I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have Artemis with us, how would the dynamic change? There’s a hole in each of us that only she can fill, but she’s rarely mentioned. I don’t know why my father took my twin sister away. The older I get, the more pissed off I am that she isn’t in my life. One day, I want to find her and fill that hole.
We hunted and sharpened my skills with the arrow. Not that I need much. We’d just killed a buck when Zeus told me that when I return to school, I need to stay alert. Always be a champion. Trust your allies. Never be afraid. Fear is not one of my flaws, but it gave me questions.
Afraid of what? I asked but my father was vague. He told me he has visions of altering society but we’ll have to fight, and if we win, we will get the biggest reward.
“What kind of alterations?” I asked him. By then my hands were covered in elk blood.
“The all-male rule of our society is obsolete and nothing more than a corrupt circle of egotistical gods. They rule on fear and the desire for absolute power. I was opposed to this from the beginning but I didn’t have the numbers or the strength to fight them. Now that you and your friends are of age, it’s time to think about the future. Do you really want to live in this world? Master to your wives, lovers, sisters, and mothers?”
I considered what he said and no, I’d never been comfortable in that world, but I did ask the one question that is always close in mind. “If you succeed, what does that mean for my sister?”
The sadness in his eyes said she’s never far from his mind either.
“Artemis can come home.”
As soon as he said those words, I knew there’s no choice: I will win.
JULY
I’d hardly settled into my rooms and reconnected with my mates when the alarm sounded for us to go to the meeting room for an unscheduled announcement. Dion was pissed. He was in the middle of telling us about an amazing party he threw on his family’s private island over the break. Six goddesses at once, he tells us. I admit I was intrigued. I’ve never managed more than three. I may be a dog, but I like my lovers to be satisfied, and I only have two hands and one, ahem...you know. Ha ha.
No one knew what the meeting was about. Not even Loki, who makes it his business to know everything going on in the Academy because he’s so ridiculously paranoid about everything. Loki did say that Odin had arrived that morning—which is unusual for the board members to be on campus. Triton said his father was there as well.
I had a feeling the second we were called together. My father had that talk with me for a reason. Changes were coming.
On the way to the meeting, we passed the grassy area outside the goddesses’ dormitory. They were not invited to meetings with the men. I craned my neck to get a good look at any changes over the summer. I spotted Venus and Ceres. Both allowed me up their skirts two years ago—at the same time. Gaea sat on a bench near the fountain, lifting her face to the sun. I smiled, unable to stop staring at her lips. She and I spent a lot of time getting down and dirty in the training rooms the year before. Her mouth can do amazing things.
Then I spied another girl—familiar, but I couldn’t place her.
“Who’s that?” I asked Dion. He keeps track of every goddess in school as though it’s his job, marking his conquests off too.
“Dude,” he said, jabbing me with his elbow. “That’s Cassandra.”
Cassandra.
My eyes skimmed over her caramel-colored hair and curvy figure. Her face was the shape of a heart and her copper-brown eyes narrowed, looking over everything. She’s smart. Top of her class. I’ll admit here, in this journal, that I’d always thought she was pretty. Hot, even, in a low-key way. Publicly I’d never cop to it. She was too brainy for a goddess and I was sure that threatened the gods. A renegade that tiptoes on the edge of trouble with her professors and the administration.
She was a liability. Father would never approve.
“Grew up over the break, didn’t she?” I held both hands in front of my chest and arched a brow.
Dion smirked in agreement. “She sure did,” he said. Cassandra looked up from her book and made eye contact, as though she knew we were talking about her. I didn’t look away. “I’d tap that but they say she’s a witch and knows what’s happening before everyone else.”
I told him to stop spreading gossip and we entered the auditorium.
The meeting hall is different from the great hall where we eat; the place is more of a theater setting. We arrived with the other gods and filed into the front seats. My friends and I take the prime spots; center—three rows back. Thor sits to my right. Triton to my left. Loki sits next to his step-brother, Thor. We’ve gone everywhere as a pack since we were children.
Adonis, Eros, and Skoll sit one row ahead. For years, Adonis hung tight with us. Dion loved to have him at his parties and he had a mind for tricks like Loki, but as the years have passed we’ve drifted. He prefers the brute force of Eros and the dark manipulation of Skoll than the combined power of our group. His loss.
A loud bang from the front of the theater grabbed our attention. Zeus stood at a podium. Two long tables stretched across the stage. The entire board was there. My father, Odin, Jupiter, and Poseidon.
These gods have ruled the Academy and other parts of society for as long as I could recall—ever since the gender laws fell into effect. Gods dominate. Goddesses serve. It’s a rule that not everyone agrees with—my father being one of them.
A strange energy rolled off my father as he began to speak. It wasn’t about academics. It was about the Trials. They would take place differently this year. The entire audience fell silent and listened.
“Normally, the Trials take place yearly and are open to all upper-level gods to enter. Students are scored and the results help us know where you will be placed when you graduate. Not this year. There are greater stakes and new rules.”
“This year, only those who qualify will enter the Trials,” he continues. “You must all pass a round of testing first. Then you will enter the games individually. There will only be one winner.”
“Tell them what the prize is,” Odin said from his spot on the stage.
Zeus nods. “I am retiring from my position as chair of the Academy board. The winner of the Trials will take my place.”
The room exploded with shock. I didn’t explode, instead I was struck dumb. My father’s words from vacation come back to me. Thor glanced at me and Dion jabbed my arm. Loki watched the entire room with interest. I did nothing but look forward. What the hell? My father is retiring from his position and isn’t appointing me his successor as the laws state. Why?
Because, like he told me weeks before, to change the course of our society I need to win.
Then Zeus looked down at me from the stage with his dark eyes and I understood. I need to win the Trials and that way I’ll be more powerful than if he simply appointed me to the board.
This journal. The reward of Artemis coming home. The change in the Trials and my father’s announcement.
The revolution is beginning.
And I am the one to lead it.
8
ARTEMIS
Two entries are enough, so I close the book with a snap. My brother’s thoughts are overwhelming. Personal. Rebellious. Owning this book is dangerous and obviously I’m not the only one that has read the contents. I decide to return it where I found it, sliding the book back in the mattress and the bedding, along with my blade, back in place. It seems as good a hiding place as any. And maybe if the person that stashed it there in the first place looks for it, they won’t know that I’ve found it.