I followed my usual routine for a Monday morning, remembering to draw the Ansuz onto my eyes. Just walking around the city was a whole new experience. When I arrived at school, I saw people in a whole new light. It was almost like I could see what they truly thought, truly felt.
The time came for assembly. Mrs Jolinwood stood at the front, going on about something to do with the school. But I was too busy looking at her. Really looking at her. Surrounding her was a faint glow indicating the presence of Mist. It was so strong the Ansuz couldn't see through it. She must have something very powerful to hide if she used that much Mist. Determined to get to the bottom of this, I squinted and stared at her.
I saw a flickering form over lapping the image of Mrs Jolinwood we all knew and loved. The other form was very regal looking, with her dark hair tied back in a bun and a golden headpiece framing her face. She was wearing a toga type purple dress, and a set of scales hanging from her waist. What was this?
After the assembly, I followed Miss Jolinwood, telling Laura I had something to tell her and I wouldn't be there period one. I followed her into her office, distorting the light around me so I couldn't be seen. There she let her guard down. This other from became her only form, the full impact of it drawing a gasp from me. She whirled around, her eyes narrowed.
"I know you're there, Eden," she said, looking right at me.
I allowed the light to flow naturally around me.
"Who are you?" I asked.
Her face was still Mrs Jolinwood, but her entire demeanour had changed. She held herself taller, more refined. Even her voice had changed, gaining a slightly continental accent.
She smiled slightly. "My true name is Astraea. I am the goddess of justice, innocence and purity. I was sent here to keep an eye on all the demigods here. Apollo foresaw the arrival of great power at this school. My fellow Olympians believed the goddess of justice would be good as a headmistress.
"That is why I have been a little harder on you than the other students here. I know of your true potential, and always wanted you to achieve your best. I can tell the pureness of your heart and always wished for you to do well. I have no demigod children of my own, but I like to feel like the demigods here, as well as all of my students, can come to me for anything.
"Along those lines, I have noticed the runes on your eyes," she said, smiling coyly. I had the grace to blush. "Care to explain?"
And so I told Mrs Jolinwood, or should I say Astraea, my story. All the way from the very beginning. I also told her some of my theories and my reasoning for drawing the Ansuz. She nodded.
"I can understand where your reasoning lies," she said. "But I cannot condone the use of old magic. It is a dangerous thing for a demigod to use. I would seriously recommend disusing the runes immediately."
"Why is it so dangerous?" I asked. "All the rune magic I've seen so far has done exactly as required."
"It confuses heritages, evokes those gods. Not something you want to do," Astraea said. "It draws them closer to this world, opens up a bridge for them to cross. Calling them here isn't something I'd recommend doing."
"I'll disuse the runes as soon as I've gotten to the bottom of this," I promised. "But at the minute I have to fight fire with fire. By familiarising myself with this sort of magic, I'm preparing myself for whatever I may come across. The people behind this are going to stick to their guns and use runes, so I have to, too."
Astraea's shoulders sagged. "I suppose you are right," she said. "Just be careful," she said. "I may not have noticed something here, but then again I am not the most powerful of goddesses. I didn't even notice you trailing me from assembly. I don't approve of you cutting class, by the way."
I smiled shyly. "I'm sure Ms Francine won't mind me missing dance."
It was not a subject I acceded in, nor did I enjoy it or get to opt out of it.
"I'm sure she won't," Astraea said. "Now that I will help you where ever I can."
I nodded my thanks. "Thank you," I said. "I greatly appreciate it."
"Of course. Now, how about you go back to Ms Francine and I give you a note explaining your absence, hum?"
"Do I really have to?" I asked. "You know from my countless visits here after dance I can't do it. Is there noting I can do here?"
She just laughed. "Odd that a warrior who can fight perfectly in sync with others cannot move their feet in time to music. No dear, I'm afraid you will have to go."
"Fine," I mumbled, heading for the door. Just at the door, I tuned and bowed. "Thank you, my lady."
She nodded. "You're welcome," she said, raising the Mist and becoming Mrs Jolinwood once more. "Now go!" she said, shooing me towards the door.
The day sped by and time came for lunch. I did get yelled at by Ms Francine, but that was nothing new. Then I had double English with Miss Greenly, so it was all good. Thankfully, I was one of the rare demigods that didn't have severe dyslexia. (It was worse with numbers, but still not altogether bad).
What really caught my attention was a fight between Henry and the sheep, which occurred after Sandra had taken one look at her and fled in tears. Yes, Henry had been a bitch and abandoned me, but I still felt some responsibility over her. I sat and watched, zoning out of the conversation between Laura and Leila about whatever happened on Big Brother last night. (I really hated that show.)
"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" head sheep Diana said.
"I've told you, I have no idea what I've done," Henry said, getting a bit annoyed.
"Oh, right, like you suddenly forget having a secret relationship with Sebastian behind Sandra's back!" Diana spat.
So, Sandra had done some digging into the whole 'mistress' thing I made up. Who knew she'd be so thorough? I kind of felt bad now for making that up…
"Is that what she thinks?" Henry said, surprised. Obviously the fist she'd heard about it.
"Well done, Di," one of the other sheep scoffed. "Sandra said not to mention anything!"
"Well, Sandra's not here now, is she?" Diana said, starting on her fellow sheep. She turned back to Henry. "Well, if Sandra won't do anything about it, I will."
She went to hit Henry. I sprung up to defend her, but stopped in my tracks. Henry, the most nonviolent person I know, grabber her arm and twisted it behind her back. Either she'd been holding out on us all these years, or something was seriously wrong with her.
I bent the light around me once more and went closer.
"Hey!" Diana said. "Let me go!"
"Why would I do that?" Henry said, her voice dangerously low. "So you can attempt to hit me again? I don't think so."
Then I saw it. The blood red runes swirling around her. There was every kind of rune I knew about and a few complicated ones I didn't. They orbited around her like the rings orbiting Saturn. Slowly, I saw the runes snake out down Henry's arms and wrap around Diana's body. Diana's eyes grew wide, as if she could feel the runes gliding up her arm.
"What are you going to do now?" Henry said, a sadistic look in her eye that I'd never seen before. Her voice gained a rasp to it I'd never associate with her, too.
"I know what you're going to do," I said, allowing the light around me to run naturally so I could be seen. I placed my hand on her shoulder, turning her away from Diana. "You're going to back off."
I saw a flash of a hideous girl, her half skeleton face looking at me murderously – impressive when she didn't have any facial expression – and the living half mirroring that intent. But then it was gone, along with the dark runes.
Henry blinked a few times, as if waking from a deep sleep.
"Leave me alone," she said, brushing past me. I let her go.
I turned back to Diana, who was clutching her arm.
"You okay?" I asked.
"I think I just need to go to the nurse's office," she said shakily. "That Henry's got a solid grip."
"Just before you do," I said, stopping her from getting past. "What was all that about?"
"Well, after you told Sandra what a mistress was, she went searching," Diana said. "She found Sebastian's phone at his parent's house and saw that he'd been calling and texting Henry a lot. I mean, more than he does Sandra. But when she confronted him about it, he denied the whole thing. She was planning on talking to Henry about it, but never got round to it. I'm sure you saw the rest from there."
"Thanks," I said. "That's all I needed to know."
Her and the other sheep scuttled off in the direction of the nurse's office whilst I headed back to my girls. Austin had seen the whole thing and asked if I was okay. I said I was fine and lapsed into my own thoughts. What were those runes doing around Henry? Who was that skeleton girl I saw over her face? How did this all tie together? I quickly wrote all this down on the back of my English book (If Miss Greenly found it she shouldn't be that alarmed) and hoped nothing else happened to complicate the plot.
If only.