A/N: Alright, sorry I don't have a character A/N up now, but I'm a little pressed for time right now. Besides, I have something kind of important to say -without the 3rd person thing- after the chapter. For now, please enjoy Chapter Nine.
Chapter Nine
"Well, it looks like we owe Mr. Davince a 'thank you,'" Travis said nonchalantly to Malcolm as the two teachers waited for the Headmaster to visit.
Malcolm was far more shaken up by the incident than Travis was, sitting on his Infirmary bed with his head in his hands. "And an apology. Gods, I... I actually hit him. If we didn't stop when we did, I might've killed him."
"I think you're giving yourself far too much credit," Travis said jokingly, hoping to diffuse the tension. "That demititan can handle a berserk, washed-up athletics teacher."
His efforts had the opposite effect; Malcolm glared up in surprising fury at Travis. "You think this is a joke, Travis!? We had swords! If we weren't preoccupying ourselves with each other back there, we could've killed any of the other students. Do you think it would be so funny then!?"
Travis stared back in shock for a second. Malcolm never lost his composure like that, no matter what Travis had said. He realized this was much worse for Malcolm than it was for him, not just because Malcolm had actually hurt a student, but also because Malcolm needed control. Losing himself must've scared Malcolm, far more than he'd ever admit. Then Travis started to get mad; Malcolm was acting like this was nothing to Travis. Acting like it didn't tear Travis up inside at the thought that someone could've ended up dead. A son of Athena should know better.
"Well, we didn't kill anyone, did we?" Travis said sharply. "The danger was there, but thanks to James, no one will have to deal with that kind of guilt for the rest of their lives. Not you, not me, not any of the students, and not Emily. We can't focus on what could've happened, Malcolm. You'll beat yourself to death if you try. All we can do is make sure this can't happen again."
"I believe I have a solution," Gwen's voice sounded from the doorway.
Travis turned to see the Headmaster standing as calm and collected as usual, hands on her hips and head leaned back comfortably on the door frame.
"Glad you could join our happy little talk, Gwen."
"Glad to be included. Malcolm, as uncommon as the instance is, I agree with Travis. You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened. No one was at fault, not even Ms. Peterson; whatever triggered her powers was out of both her's and our control. And as I said, I think I have a way to help."
"Let's hear it," Malcolm replied with as much enthusiasm as he could probably muster.
"James Davince. I just spoke with Ms. Diwaali, who's currently watching over him; apparently he was completely unaffected by the spirit of strife. I suggest we use that to our advantage. We can temporarily excuse James from his classes, get them a classroom to themselves, and allow James to train Emily's powers how he sees fit. When they both feel confident that the situation won't repeat itself, Emily may join the rest of the seventh grade class."
"So, we're going to make James do even more than he already has?" Malcolm asked.
"I wish we had another option. James is going though far more than he can let on right now. But I don't think we have much of a choice. No one else is safe around Emily right now; besides, I think James has bonded with Emily somewhat, so I don't think he would be too opposed to the idea. He's sympathetic to a fault, even if he himself won't admit it."
"Yes, very sympathetic," Travis stated as he massaged his sore back. "I could've sworn he slightly enjoyed teaching me a lesson in falling back at the arena."
"I hear it was well-taught," Gwen replied handily.
Malcolm chuckled, earning an evil-eye from Travis. In his head, Travis was happy that his friend was beginning to recover, but on the outside he had a reputation to uphold. "Something to add, Malcolm? If I recall correctly, Mr. Matthews had you on the ropes back there, before everything went to Hades."
Malcolm frowned. "I wouldn't go far as to say that, but he has potential. If he could gain more confidence in his style, I think he could be a match for Steven or James someday. Both of them could."
Travis could attest to that. Emily fought like a bear possessed by a demon -who had gotten its lunch money stolen. By larger demons, Travis supposed, for reasons unknown. Lengthy metaphors aside, Travis had his hands full trying to hold her off in their duel. Someone that small shouldn't even be allowed to be as vicious as Emily was with that battleaxe of hers.
"Speaking of which, aren't they all in James' room?" Malcolm now asked Gwen.
"No. James recovered for a period and told them not to worry. I passed Emily on the way here."
Travis raised an eyebrow. "We're letting the girl that can make people go on rampages go into... what I assume to be the student commons? With the one person who can stop her being in the Infirmary?"
Gwen narrowed her eyes. "I assumed her powers work on the principles of other demigods, in that they need to be replenished and rested before use. We should be safe."
"We're pinning our safety on an assumption?" Malcolm asked bolting upright. "We've never dealt with a child of Eris before! Who knows if her powers were even depleted by that last outburst! I'm going to the commons right now."
Gwen suddenly didn't seem so sure of herself. "That may be for the best. I... I may have been hasty in my decision."
"Don't worry about it," Travis said reassuringly. "We can't all be know-it-alls like Malcolm. Let's just hurry to the commons."
Emily was deep in thought as she waited for someone to open the door on the sky-bridge thing.
First and foremost, she was thinking about what James had said about these "Swords of Damocles." They sounded dangerous, and despite what she'd said to James, she was more than a little nervous. She had a feeling James was holding something back when he said they were completely safe in Delphi Academy- or else, why even tell her? He could just be a cautious guy, considering his history with these people, but she still had a feeling it wouldn't be as easy to avoid them as James had suggested.
She was also thinking about her powers. She couldn't lie to herself; she was terrified. She had not only forced people to lose their minds and attack their friends, but she also had no idea how she was able to stop it later. Both James -and more recently the Headmaster- had trusted her enough to let her on her own, but what if it happened again? James was in the Infirmary, courtesy of Emily herself (which she was additionally beating herself up over, especially since he was obviously a decent person for a change), along with half a class of students. Who would stop her now?
Emily was additionally preoccupied with what James had said about "fitting in". Yeah, right; if this school was anything like her old one, the entire place already knew what happened. Who would even want to be around her after that, much less be her friend? The only person she'd been able to call a friend before the incident was Marty, and he probably hated her now. She didn't blame him. The entire thing was her fault, even if James was too nice to admit it, and a smart guy like Marty had to know that, too. He'd stayed completely silent while they were waiting in James' room together, holding that ice-pack to his head and (unintentionally or not) making Emily feel like a jerk.
She realized miserably that there wasn't a thing in the world that she could say to make up for it. What could she possibly say, anyway? "Sorry I made you almost kill one of our future classmates! Hope we're still friends, despite all rational reasoning to the contrary!" She could only hope he didn't want anything else to do with her. Emily had a sinking feeling James might be her first and last friend at this school- and he was three grades above her, a tenth-grader, one who had his own life and problems to deal with. Sophie, nice as she was before the incident, couldn't hide her contempt towards Emily for hurting her friend; Tyler, the quiet guy who had just this morning threatened to skewer her (not without cause, she conceded) probably now wanted even less to do with her than before; Will might still be friendly enough, but Emily assumed he was like that to everyone, so calling him a "friend" would be equivalent to calling him a "person."
The fact remained that she had no one to support her throughout the school day, which resulted in the friend situation being only slightly better than her old boarding school. At least here, James could occasionally talk with her after class hours, assuming he wasn't busy with his own business. At Baridon Boarding School, people kept away from her like she had the plague. The only regular socializing she got was snickers and teasing from popular girls. She was never jealous of them for any reason, save one: as mean, girly, and stupid as they were, they had friends who were roughly as mean and girly and stupid as they were. Emily was always alone; and alone she would probably stay, for the most part, at Delphi Academy.
With all of these things swirling through her mind, she almost failed to notice someone coming to the door from the other side. She realized with a start that it was Tyler, striding quickly towards the Infirmary- probably to see James. He noticed her standing there and opened the door without a word.
"Thanks," she said, trying to sound genuine. "James is in the third room on the right down the first corridor."
Tyler nodded and proceeded forward. Emily turned to face him as he walked down the sky-bridge. "Does everyone know what happened?" she asked.
He stopped and nodded again. It looked like she wasn't going to get a sound out of him. She turned again and held the door open to leave when he spoke: "It's not your fault."
The blood ran to Emily's face. Somehow, hearing him try to reassure her in his own way was worse than if he'd remained silent. "Yes it is. Maybe I didn't have control over myself, but I still feel like it is. I bet everyone else agrees with me."
"Marty doesn't," he replied without turning around. Emily inhaled sharply; how could Marty not blame her? He was at the epicenter of her power; he of all people should know how terrifying it was. How terrifying she was.
Apparently sensing her hesitation, Tyler continued briefly. "Believe me or not, but I'm absolutely sure he'd forgive you. He already has. Not everyone feels the same, though, so be careful in the commons. Go straight to Will and Marty and the others at the table in the corner. They shouldn't be hard to spot; an entire host of Athena kids are watching Marty and Steven have at it in chess." With that, he continued walking without a sound.
Be careful? Emily thought as she watched him go. She remembered that this was a demigod school; she wasn't the only one with strange powers. If someone wanted to harass or even hurt her, they didn't need to do it in the traditional sense. Should she even risk going there? Then she remembered that Tyler said Marty had forgiven her. Emily couldn't just avoid her problems and run off to wait for someone to protect her. She literally couldn't; it went against everything she believed in. Emily stepped through the door and followed the sign that read "Student Commons."
Sophie was sitting in the chair next to James' bed reading her chemistry textbook when Tyler entered.
"Took you long enough," she said without looking up.
Tyler rolled his eyes and walked over to James. "He looks terrible. Who gave him that bruise?"
Sophie bookmarked her page (a page depicting the effects Chimera venom had on the human body) and set it on the nearby nightstand. "Mr. Kuriger. Unintentionally, of course, but I'm guessing you heard the story yourself. Or saw it, I guess."
"Both in shifts, really. Emily seems to be blaming herself for it."
Sophie adverted her eyes. "Really? I hadn't noticed-"
"Yes you have. Sophie, it wasn't her fault, and you know it. You just want to find someone to blame. I know you; you're a good person, but you really need someone to take out your frustration on. Both you and James need an antagonist -probably from the whole Swords of Damocles training- but James doesn't assume things like you do."
Sophie sighed. "I know, Tyler. I'll try to work on that. I... I guess I'm just mad I didn't see it coming. All of today, my powers have been completely useless. I didn't see those flying automatons coming, or those Laestrygonians, or Emily's outburst. All those things people count on me to see. Instead I've been treated to a treasure trove of next week's lunch menus and homework. Wonderful stuff like that."
"Don't feel like it's your obligation to give everyone a heads up when you've seen nothing. Anyone who relies on a variable like that's going to end up regretting it."
"You're starting to sound like Steven," she replied with a small smile.
Tyler groaned. "I know. Can I stop talking now?"
"Please do. I'm sure you've had enough social interaction to last a few weeks lately."
Tyler realized she was right. Tyler could go for an entire week without uttering a word, but he'd been saying the equivalent of a presidential address throughout the last day and a half. Steven really was getting to him. He pulled up a chair to the other side of James bed and resolved to shut his trap for the rest of the day, in fear of developing the habit he loathed so innately.
Emily entered the student commons with hesitant optimism. The large room itself was pretty sweet; a high-arching ceiling with sky-lights and windows going down the sides filled the tan-colored commons with a crisp, clear light. Tables and chairs were scattered around the commons; not necessarily in a messy sense, but it was obvious that the students were free to move them around as they saw fit. There was a large -but not overwhelming- number of students currently in the commons, milling around, chatting, and doing homework freely and comfortably in non-uniform school clothes. There was even a small cafe to the left selling hot chocolate and coffee to eager students. It was in stark contrast to Baridon's commons area, which was always in a state of smothering quietness, and the students always had to wear the red school uniforms (Emily was still wearing the white long-sleeved shirt and black dress pants without the red jacket). All in all, it was a friendly, open environment at Delphi Academy, which made Emily hopeful that things would be different here.
She scanned the far corners of the commons, looking for Marty and the older students she'd met. It didn't take long to find them; in the far right corner, a small crowd of blonde-haired kids were surrounding a table, watching what was going on with undivided attention. Emily caught a glimpse of Marty's face through the crowd, staring down at the table with intense concentration. The chess game was apparently at a critical point in the opinion of the players and observers. Emily wouldn't know; chess wasn't exactly her game. She couldn't even remember how all the pieces moved on the board. Nevertheless, she began to walk towards them.
Or she would have, had an outstretched leg not tripped her up and almost cause her to land on her face. She was able to reel forward, landed on her feet, and turned to see a tall, older brunette girl sitting at the nearest table retract her foot with a smirk.
"Oops. My bad," she said sarcastically, as the other students at the table snickered. "It was almost like I couldn't control myself. Fancy that."
Emily felt nearby eyes land on her, some of which were accompanied by more laughter. She felt her face begin to burn from indignation. Is this what she'd have to deal with? The optimism she'd felt moments ago was gone, replaced by the all-too-common feeling of embarrassment she'd felt back at Baridon.
"Watch it," Emily warned dangerously, trying to regain her composure.
"Or what?" another girl -a redhead with emerald-green eyes- at the table asked with mock sincerity. "You'll make her beat us up? Way to fight your own battles, Eris Kid."
More snickers. Emily attempted to walk away, but the second girl snapped her fingers and appeared with a puff of smoke in front of her. Emily reeled back in surprise, earning a vicious smile from the girl in front of her.
"Running doesn't work so well on a daughter of Hecate. I bet you wouldn't even affect me with your scary powers if you tried. You're far too weak for that; I can feel it."
Emily clenched her fists. "Back away, or you'll find out how scary I can really be."
"Challenge accepted," a female voice sounded behind her. Emily turned just in time to see the brunette who first tripped her touch her lightly on the shoulder.
Immediately, everything went dark. Emily had a vague feeling she was still actually in the commons, but what was before her was a small room completely devoid of light. It felt suffocating, dark, and -most disturbing of all- familiar.
"Let's see what you're really scared of," the brunette's voice sounded from somewhere above her.
"Where am I?" Emily demanded, her fear mounting. She did not like small spaces.
"Ah, that's something I can work with," the girl sounded back, as if she could hear her thoughts. Immediately, the walls of the small room began to slowly creep towards her. Emily began to desperately push against them, but she was powerless to stop them. They kept coming, ever closer as the brunette's voice laughed above her. Emily began to scream for help, for someone to take her away from the prison, but no one came. The walls stopped in a very peculiar position, on that Emily needed a second to imagine correctly. It was a coffin. Emily's fear reached its highest point, and tears began to run down her face.
"Please stop!" she cried up. "No more, please!"
Suddenly, she was back in the student commons, lying on the ground with the brunette standing above her. The redhead laughed loudly. "Well that didn't take very long!"
"She was screaming before I could even look deeper," the brunette replied with an evil look in her eye. "I wonder what I would find, claustrophobe. Are you even more cowardly against something else? You can't hide it from a child of Phobos if she wants to find out. Fear is my dad's specialty."
Others were gathered around her, some with looks of worry, a few enjoying the show. Emily felt her face; all the tears and cries really happened, and they could all see how scared she was. Emily had never felt so helpless in her entire life. She felt a tug in her stomach, as if the power she possessed wanted to wake up from its nap and make all those faces disappear. This needed to stop, but Emily had no idea how. She was alone, afraid, and powerless against the two girls gloating above her.
"Enough!" a familiar voice shouted angrily. Emily looked up to see two stormy grey eyes looking with concern into her own. It was Marty. "Are you alright?" he asked, genuinely worried about her.
"Who do you think you are?" the redhead asked with an amused expression. "Get out of the way; this is how we deal with new students who cause trouble."
Marty reached out and grabbed Emily's hand, pulling her up softly onto her trembling feet. He then turned and stared daggers into the two girls, with such intensity that they backed up slightly.
"You're both the jerks here, not Emily. Who do you think you are? You think you have power over her, but you have no idea who you're dealing with here. And let me say this: everyone is scared of something, but I'm not scared of either of you. Especially not you," he said motioning to the brunette. "Your powers are nothing more than illusions. You can't hurt me, any more than a horror movie could."
Emily looked with incredulity at Marty. He was defending her, daring them to start something, knowing he could get hurt by either of them. What was he thinking? He'd seen Emily get trapped by the brunette's terrifying powers, but right now, he seemed completely unfazed. More than that; he looked confident, in control of the situation, as if he already knew what was going to happen.
The brunette seemed equally shocked as Emily; apparently, she wasn't used to that kind of reaction. Then she glared back at him. "Well look at Mr. Fearless. You want some of this too? You're probably an Athena kid, newbie. Spiders are your phobia -irrational as it is- and I'd love to see you squirm. I'll show you just how powerful fear can be-"
"Go ahead and try," a soft voice called out from the crowd. Emily looked to see one of the girls who visited James in his Infirmary room step forward, the blonde one in pajamas who woke James up. "I'd love to try out some nightmares that would be perfect for you, Claire."
The brunette recoiled. "Go drift off into dreamland where you belong, Sleep Freak." But it was obvious that the girl looked unsure of herself- a fact that satisfied Emily immensely. Claire, the daughter of the fear god, was scared of a girl in bunny slippers.
"I don't think that will be necessary," Marty said firmly. "They're both just going to walk away. It's the only option they still have now without getting humiliated. Isn't that right? If you go after me now that I've stood up for Emily, you'll just look defensive and petty. Well, more than you already do, at any rate." The two girls, who had moments ago been in complete control could only stand and watch in anger as an underclassman dismantled their psyche.
"I've met people like you two; you only care about yourselves and your reputations. And you have no idea what to do if someone stands up to you. So you'll walk away, sulk off to try to get an upper hand later. I'll be waiting, and I will not lose if you try anything else with me or Emily. Because I'm already three steps ahead of every move you think you have. Whatever kind of powers you have mean nothing with the advantage my mind gives me. If you think a couple of parlor tricks and spider apparitions will beat cold, hard, uncompromising intellect... well, I hope everyone here is around to see you both land on your faces."
As he spoke, a glowing sign slowly began to form over his head. Unlike Emily's golden apple and crossed swords, the image over Marty's head depicted a silver-grey owl with wings outstretched and talons ready to strike. Murmurs and gasps sounded through the crowd as Marty looked up at the sign above him, then returned his gaze to the two girl he had so thoroughly defeated without moving a inch. "It's your move now; I'd suggest you tread lightly."
Malcolm, Travis, and Gwen watched as the two girls -Claire Williams and Natasha Fairview- storm off, muttering curses and threats to the newly-claimed underclassman. The two teachers and the Headmaster had arrived in time to see Emily get affected by Claire's invasive powers, and were about to intervene before Marty beat them to it.
"That was... one of the bravest things I've ever seen," Gwen said with reverence.
"It takes guts to stand up to a daughter of Phobos," Travis agreed. "The Athena Dorms just gained a promising demigod."
Gwen turned to Malcolm. "Did you feel that too? Before Marty intervened... there was something in the air around Emily."
Malcolm nodded, a dark look on his face. "I think her powers would've activated if she hadn't been drained from her last discharge. It looks like we didn't have anything to worry about in that regard after all."
"I don't know," Travis interjected. "The demititans have reserves of strength they tap into when pushed too far. Maybe if those girls hadn't stopped, we'd be dealing with something far more dangerous from Emily." Malcolm shuddered at the idea that there was something worse Emily's powers could do.
Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, anger in her eyes. "Those girls will be punished, mark my words. I will not tolerate that behavior at Delphi Academy. And if they try anything like that ever again-"
Travis chuckled. "I think they've learned their lesson for the time being. You Athena kids can be scary when you want to be, Malcolm."
"Dang straight," Malcolm replied with a wide grin. "I'll go talk to Mr. Matthews about getting a room in the Athena Dorms." With that, he walked towards Marty, joining the gathering crowd of blonde-haired Athena students who were surrounding Marty, giving him high-fives and applause.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed what I've written this week. Now as I said at the beginning, I have something to say to you all, and if you have respect for me and my story, I'd really like you to listen.
As many of you may already know, I'm currently planning to write a fanfiction guide on this site after Apple of Discord is completed. In order to do that, I've been reading fanfictions on my own time, critiquing and assessing what is lacking and shining in good or bad stories on the site. As a consequence, I've been reading a great deal of the most cliche, poorly written, plotless stories on the site, I'm afraid to say. I'm not usually so critical of other writers' work, but I speak the truth. Some of it is absolute garbage. And one thing that angers and disheartens me the most is this: a few of them have more reviews, follows, and favorites than my own story.
It got me thinking; am I any better than those writers? A number of people have been kind enough to tell me otherwise with reviews and PMs, but far more have kept quiet, apparently not caring enough to respond to me. Last week's chapter was unintentionally reserved for veteran readers, and guess how many reviews I got. None. I'm beginning to lose faith in myself as a writer. Why should I have to devote my entire weekend to writing a story that is either terrible, or a story that no one reads or cares about?
Please don't misunderstand me. I love writing, and I truly appreciate many of you readers. I would never quit this story; not with those readers waiting every week to see something I've written. But how can I know I have potential if so few people support my work? I'll sometimes spend an entire hour every night thinking and fretting over my story. I want to continue, but I need my other readers to give me some sign that what I'm doing means something. So I want to request one thing from you, my respected readers: please give me that sign. A review, a PM, anything. You all have no idea how much it would mean to me. Until next week.
-Grandmaster4