The Curse of Betrayal (18 page)

I whip out my phone and snap a hundred pictures in the first few seconds that they walk out—just so I have more than enough for revenge down the road. I can tell when the boys have had enough, because their eyes start rolling, and they look at each other. They don’t say anything, but I know they’re about to unhinge.
 

Mikey flicks off his shoes and the other three follow. One heel almost hits Megan in the head—she has to duck so it misses her. The boys come towards us and start attacking, reaching for our cells or tickling us to get their clothes out of us. Mikey swoops in and lifts me into his arms, twirling me around and digging his nails into my sides.
 

“Where’s the clothes, ladies?” Carter asks, making sure to let his eyes trail up and down Lisa extra-long. He reaches for her, but she bats him away, a puss on her face.
 

“Not telling.” Lisa makes the motion of locking her lips shut while Carter stares her down.

“Tell me,” Mikey whispers into my ear, sending hot iciness up and down my back. I pull back from him, but he has a deep predatory look in his eyes. I try to focus on Kara instead of him, but the kid is right in front of me.

“Girls, please let the boys have their clothes. I need them in a meeting in ten minutes, and if they show up like that, they’ll have a big problem with Professor Nike,” Ari commands as he emerges from the gym with his messenger bag slung over his shoulder.
 

He makes sure to sneer at me and then at Mikey. I’m sure he doesn’t like the way this looks, but it’s not like I’m asking for it. They’re all just my friends. Ari continues down to hall towards the alleged meeting and doesn’t look back.
 

“Fine,” Lisa mutters as she points towards the garbage can. Carter goes over there first and pulls out the overstuffed bag. They all retreat into the locker room to change, making sure to rub it in our faces that they won.
 

“See you later,” I excuse myself first as I hurry towards Professor Onassis’ office. I make sure to email myself the photos as I walk to the admin building, so even if someone gets a hold of my phone, I can’t lose them. They’re way too priceless.
 

When I get into Onassis’ office, the receptionist makes me check in, and I angrily give my name. When I get into her room, she’s staring down at the wood on her desk, but when I peek over, there’s nothing there to hold her attention.

“Hi,” I say in greeting as I sit on the couch in the corner of her room. She doesn’t even look up at me, which is weird. Even though I haven’t known her long, it seems weird that she’s ignoring me right now.

“Eurydice, I have some bad news,” she begins, making my heart sink. Professor Onassis has deep green bags under her eyes and looks like she hasn’t slept in weeks. She stands up in front of me and then decides to sit back down behind her desk. She’s uneasy as she taps a pencil on the desk before she pushes up to stand again.

“There was an attack on the grounds late last night. A student is critical in the infirmary right now. I can’t release her name, but it seems like it was an isolated attack. She was walking to the woods when it occurred. The dean wants to have a curfew for all students put in place starting today. Every student needs to be in their dorm by nine p.m. There is no threat or danger to you; it’s just precautionary,” she explains to me.

“What?” I’m surprised by the news.

“There’s no threat, but I thought you should know. The other students will be notified during their advisor meetings as well,” Professor Onassis says.

“Oh god. What happened?”
 

“I’m don’t know the whole story. But it seems her neck was what was injured. She’s putting up a good fight and the nurses are working as hard as they can.” Professor Onassis’ voice quivers like she’s on the edge of losing control.

“Oh my god.” I cover my mouth with my hand. Who would do something like that? But then I think… “How old is the woman?” I ask her. Professor’s eyes dart up to me.

“What do you know, Eurydice?”

“My mother was here last night. Is it…is it my mother?” I ask. I reflect on our conversation, on how she was talking in circles about how dangerous it is now and that we’re not safe.
 

“No, of course not.” Professor Onassis shakes her head back and forth. “But your mother was here?” she clarifies.

“Yes, briefly,” I tell her.

“What did she say to you?” Professor Onassis reaches into her desk and pulls out her famous binder of notes.

“She said it was dangerous and she had to go. She said I couldn’t get to know her yet. She said it wasn’t time.” I think back to her exact words, but my head is in a jumble. Who would attack a student? And so violently? It doesn’t make sense to me. I drop my head in my hands again and try to compose myself, but the fear overwhelms me.
 

“It’s going to be okay. The students are safe. I promise,” Professor Onassis says to me as she comes to my side. She sits right next to me and wraps a small arm around my shoulders, tugging me close to her body. I feel the need to cry, even though I have no idea who was attacked. But I don’t. I keep it in, taking deep breaths to calm myself down.
 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

blast from the past

January 27
^th

Sorry it took me a while to email you back.

I’m already slammed with homework and I’ve only been here two weeks.

Kara and I pretty much hibernated all weekend but it was fun.

I like having a roommate, if you can believe that.

Have you ever wondered about mom? Where she went? Why?

Lately, I’ve been thinking of her a lot.

Will you tell me about her?

Please.

Love you.

Ryder Mason

Sent from my MacBook.

Between classes, the death of a student, and prank wars, the rest of the week goes by quickly. Everyone’s eerily quiet about the attack. People are struggling to act like everything’s back to normal, but in the back of my mind, I don’t want normal. I want to know that this place is still safe. My mothers awnings constantly whispering in the back of my mind.

It’s now Friday, my twelfth day at DGA, and it’s the slowest day ever. I’m excited because Ollie and Junior are coming to visit me, so naturally, the day’s dragging. I’m happy Ollie’s coming because I feel safer when he’s around.
 

Ari knows what’s going on but refuses to talk to me about it. He and Magdelina upset me too much, so I’ve been avoiding him altogether. It’s a weird feeling, because I can’t avoid him completely since he teaches two of my classes and my strength training group. But I try to focus on my new friends and making those relationships count.

Junior has barely talked to me since I got here, and I can’t blame him. Communication goes both ways, and I haven't even had a chance to text him. I have to admit: it sucks that I barely know my best friend, but I’m hoping we can reconnect tonight.
 

“Hello, may I help you?” the receptionist asks me like she does every freaking time I enter the waiting room in the administration building.
 

“Professor Onassis,” I say, walking right past her desk and into my second favorite teachers office. The door is open so I waltz in, and she’s waiting patiently for me at her desk.

“Good afternoon, sweetie.” Professor O pats the chair next to her desk. “Shut that, will you?” She gestures for the door. I obey, and then sit in the chair beside her. We normally sit on the couch, so I’m a little taken aback by the change. Professor O has proven to be a very routine-oriented person thus far.
 

“What are we doing today?” I ask Professor Onassis, hoping it’s something fun. She’s been having me do meditation exercises so I can learn how to control my dreams. They’ve been working, too, surprisingly enough.
 

“We’re going on a field trip to the library. We’re going to dissect this curse,” she announces, rummaging through her desk. I wait patiently for her to elaborate, but she continues to ruffle through her stuff, cursing under her breath.

“What are you looking for?” I ask her. “Do you need help?”
 

“It’s okay, sweetie. I seem to have misplaced my reading glasses, but oh well. I’ll have you read to me,” she says, standing up from her chair. She looks so tiny behind the large, wood desk—it reminds me just how fragile she is.

Professor Onassis leads me out of the admin building and to a new monstrosity off to the side of campus that I’ve never even seen before. It’s out of the way, but once we’re there, it’s jaw dropping. I can’t believe I never saw the library before since it’s enormous.
 

The beautiful stone masterpiece has high peaks that reach for the sky. It looks more like a church, minus the steeple. A large courtyard off to the side has wrought iron tables and chairs, but it’s vacant now, most likely due to the cold. I can picture it being overcrowded once the weather is warmer, filled with learning students.

“It’s amazing here,” I tell Professor Onassis as she leads me up a set up stairs to the main double doors. She pushes them open, and I’m assaulted by the smell of must and old paper. I take a deep breath and let the scent resonate deep inside me. The doors open into a foyer that’s clad with marble floors and stain glass windows. The windows extend from floor to ceiling. There aren’t pictures in the glass. Instead, it’s just different colors of glass making multicolored light flood the room.

A man sitting at a desk greets us. He raises his head when we enter, and his glasses drop to the bottom bridge of his nose. He adjusts his frames and relaxes when he sees Professor Onassis.
 

Professor Onassis stops to chat with the man, and I stand behind, taking in the monstrous hall. There are tons of double level bookcases, separated by a foot or two of space. Some have those old fashioned ladders that hang in front. They’re so intriguing that I have to resist the urge to run up and ride one down a shelf. I’ve only ever seen them in movies.

Outside of the bookcases, there are large wooden tables with lamps on them. The lamps are actually cool in themselves. They’re stained glass and have these little strings that you pull to get the light on.
 

Along the edges of the room are private tables closed off by wooden half doors. There are not too many kids around, but it is a Friday after all. Instead of studying in my room, I think I’m going to start coming here to focus.
 

Professor O finishes talking to the librarian, only stopping to briefly introduce me before leading us up stairs to a private room. “I’ve found some books that discuss your curse. I think we might be able to find a loophole and get you out of this mess,” she says, opening up the door to our room.

It’s a small room with only a table, a small bookcase, and four chairs in it. I drop my bag next to the door and then sit in a chair across the table from Professor Onassis. She sits and then pulls out a book from under the table and plops it on top.

The first one is labeled
Hades: The HellHound
. Then she grabs a couple more from a stack and lines them up on the desk. She flips the HellHound book open to the center, where there is a book mark sticking out with brightly colored strings keeping ahold of sections of the book. She hands the book to me and instructs me to read it carefully before reporting back to her on what it says. Obviously, I blindly do what she says and start reading.

Prologue:

Hades, the man of hatred. The man of hell. Haggard man. Headstrong. Half-witted fool. A hazard to society. Handpicked as the devil of demons. Harasser of all things good. Hardhearted, hardheaded has-been. Hasty to wreak havoc. Haughty. Heartless, heartsick. Heinous, Hell-bent destroyer.

“That’s a lot of Hs.” I murmur, already feeling a headache form
.
I try to get through the book, but all of the h words hold my tongue captive. I drop the book and pick a new one from the pile, hoping it’s written more like a book instead of some twisted poem based off the evil letter h.
 

The hour goes by fast, and I don’t find out anything new. The books are a dead end. I already knew that Hades was a power-hungry, evil man. Apparently, he’s inflicted harm on people to be spiteful or just for fun. There’s no real method to his madness.
 

“Professor O, the hour is up,” I tell her, placing the book I was reading back in the pile when I check the time.

“Whoa. That was fast.” She double checks the time on her wrist watch. “Did you find anything?” Her eyes are hopeful, and I feel bad letting her down.
 

“Not really. Hades is a bad, powerful man. That’s about it.”

“Okay. It’s okay.” She nods he head a few times. “Let’s meet here Monday. I’m going to stay and finish this book.” She flips through the book and weighs how much she has left to read. She’s a fast reader, because the book looks to be at least five hundred pages, and she’s over half way done.

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this,” I tell her, not wanting her to feel like she has to help me out.