I tried.
In a shocking turn of events (that absolutely no one saw coming), General Cleandro marched us back up to the gallows.
The hours of torture in the classroom continued.
I missed the butterflies.
Pine drew fractions on the board; Augustus guided us through a meditation; Pine rambled on about the ethics of graphs while he wrote out equations that were too long for the blackboard; Augustus told us in Latin about fearsome Cyclopes creatures, who looked sentient but were dumb as rocks (he glared at me the entire time).
Is he insinuating I have the intelligence of a Cyclops?
Candle wax dripped. Smoke hung hazily on the low rock ceiling. Classical melodies played, and teeth chattered from the damp cold.
The world was nothing but shades of black, red, and gray.
Without windows, time didn’t exist. Only misery did.
“Here are your tests,” General Cleandro said an indeterminable amount of time later as he dropped packets of paper onto our lap.
The room shifted back into focus.
Boots scuffed against rocks, and Leo whimpered as thegeneral kicked him. “Stop slouching. Sit up straight and take the fucking test.”
A hawk screeched in warning.
Will the drones ever stop spying on us?
Pen fisted awkwardly in my hand, arm shaking, I started on the long Thagorean equation. It spanned multiple pages. One number at a time, I solved it.
The pattern, the repetition, was calming.
“PENS DOWN.”
Another packet was placed on my lap. It took long minutes to switch my brain to Latin, then I scratched out an essay about Cyclopes and their limited intelligence.
“TIME’S UP.”
Maximum grunted in the front row as General Cleandro “accidentally” kicked him when he picked up his test.
When the general got to me, I flinched and waited.
He grunted, staring down at me with an unreadable expression as he picked up my test, then he moved onto the back row.
Alessander, Titus, and Leo all got kicked—hard.
Thank you, God, for being so good to me. I see what you do. Praise be.Sadly, I was too exhausted to celebrate properly (feel anything).
“Everyone, please pay attention.” Professor Augustus stood at the front of the class. He glanced at me with a fierce scowl, then looked pleasantly at the rest of the class.
What do they call reverse favoritism? Wait, isn’t that bullying? Do they have HR around here? I need to report him.
Stylish black glasses perched on Augustus’s nose and somehow contrasted with his scar, making him lookmoreuncivilized.
“All of you,” he said, “showed a decent aptitude for the material, so no one will be punished for their performance.”
He paused.
“That being said, if you’re consistently at the bottom, you need to study harder if you want to last till the spring. Here is your order: First, Alexis Hert. Second, Cassius Hermes. Third, Alessander Poseidon.Fourth, Drex Chen. Fifth, Maximum Hera. Sixth, Leo Apollo. Seven, Titus Dionysus.”
