Is there a third option?
“After these two weeks”—Augustus paced at the front of theroom—“you’ll have survived the summer—the hardest part. The fall is easy. You’ll start visiting the animal menagerie to choose the animal you want to bond with, we’ll give you more frequent breaks,andyou’ll gain access to the local symposium.”
Where all the buxom sirens are subjugated? I’d rather not.
Augustus continued, “There will be food at the symposium.”
Sign me up. I’ve always wanted to meet the sirens. They sound like good, hardworking big-breasted people.
Augustus narrowed his eyes at me. “Only fourteen more days,” he said. “Then your lives will get immeasurably easier. Stop bitching and pull yourselves together—what is a measly fourteendays compared to immortality?”
It sounded so simple when he put it like that.
But my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth, and I couldn’t feel my limbs, or my face or...Is that a raccoon eating a candlestick?
“General Cleandro,” he said, “wanted to have you run the circuit, but I petitioned for a break. You have five hours right now to study in the library. Use the time wisely. Calm your minds, it will be okay.”
Someone gagged loudly.
It was me.
“Everyone will get a sip of water as a treat.” He walked around handing out (throwing) cups of water to us. I barely caught mine and greedily sucked it down.
If a sip of water is a treat, I don’t want to know what he views as a punishment.
Augustus mumbled something about an ungrateful girl (he was probably talking about Titus), then he said, “I recommend using your time wisely and reading ahead in your Thagorean textbooks. It’s where most of youstruggled. You’re supposed to be intelligent, powerful Spartans. Start acting like it.”
He turned his head.
“Your... rare abilities,” he said slowly as he stared directly at me, not blinking, “won’t be enough to carry you forward.”
Who is he speaking to?
“Go on, get out of here.” He clapped his hands. “Move, it’s going to be okay. Focus on gaining control of your thoughts.”
My spine screamed as I unfurled to my full height (I stood hunched over with my hands on my knees).
Nyx’s weight didn’t help.
I took a shuffling step forward, then stopped as I almost lost consciousness. Maximum crawled past me on his hands and knees.
Crap, I should have done that.
Somehow, someway, against all the odds in the universe, I made it into the library (I passed out, and Augustus carried me from the classroom while mumbling something that didn’t make sense about dishonor, legacies, and lies).
“Finally, a freaking break,” Nyx groaned, and I jolted awake.
I was lying in front of a library hearth, spread-eagle.
Nice.
“How are you still alive, kid?” Nyx asked, and I groaned as I sat up. “Genuine question, because I slept the entire time and Ifeel dead.”
I grunted in response, lips dry and cracked, tongue too heavy to use.
Who am I?
Slowly I stood up and hobbled across the room. I lowered into a seat at the table (I clipped the chair and crumbled to the ground, then crawled forward and lay atop it, and a muse picked it up with me in it).
