End of Night

Chapter Five

"Why wouldn't he listen to you?" Amora asks softly, stroking the fur on her beloved tiger, Beauty. She lounges on the floor of our room next to me, head resting on the tiger's side. The gentle beast licks her hand affectionately, making me miss Crescendo and Cupid so much more.

I look over to my friend with an aching heart. I'd brought her here after Arawn took Jeremy in hopes of cheering her up, but she's made it clear that she won't be happy until Jeremy is set free.

"I don't know," I say in answer to her question. My relationship with Arawn has been bumpy since the day I arrived at the Academy with no memory of him, but he'd always listened to me. He's in Warrior overload right now. Protecting me is all that matters, no matter who he damns in the process.

"Amora," I say slowly, thinking again of what Jeremy said before Arawn dragged him away. "Jeremy said his sire god was-"

"Zeus," she says softly.

"But that's not possible," I say, but I know she already knows. Jeremy can't be the demigod-turned-god of Zeus, because Skye, the Pantheon member that had disliked me so much when I'd first arrived at the Academy is the demigod of Zeus. A Pantheon member wouldn't like about who they were, so Jeremy must be the one lying. But why would he lie about something like that? He obviously has the power of a sky god, why lie about which one?

None of this adds up.

Amora bites her lip. "He wouldn't lie. I know he wouldn't," she says, almost to herself. I can see in her eyes how desperately she's trying to find a way to prove Jeremy innocent. "Maybe he's just confused."

"Or maybe we don't have the whole story," I add softly. We're trying to put this puzzle together but maybe we don't have all the pieces. I sigh and run a hand over my face. "I just wish we could talk to Jeremy. I don't know where the cells are that he was taken to. I didn't even know the Academy had cells."

Amora looks up with an almost unwilling flicker of hope in her baby blue eyes. Slowly, she says, "I do."

The corners of her heart shaped lips turn down. "Leon used to get into trouble a lot when we were together. Usually, it was getting into fights with other demigods and the Pantheon would lock him up as punishment for his 'delinquent behavior'. It was never for very long, but sometimes I visited him. If memory serves, the cells should be in the woods near the falls. I think I remember the way."

With renewed confidence, she stands and moves towards the door, but pauses. Eyeing me with apprehension, Amara says, "if you don't feel up to this, you don't have to come. I can handle it by myself." Her melodious voice is sprinkled with worry. I must look truly terrible to have worried her so. I let out a heavy sigh and put on a brave face.

"No," I say with false strength. I ease myself off my bed, pretending like I don't feel as if I've been repeatedly hit by a truck. I grimace slightly. "I'm not going to let you go out there alone, especially if Bel or his pack of gods could be out there somewhere. I may be a little worse for wear but I am still death and I can still kick a wannabe god's ass if I need to."

Still, the demigod of Aphrodite appears skeptical.

I smile with false confidence and slash my father's sword through the air. The motion causes screaming pain in my arm but I bite it back and stride confidently towards the door. As I step through it, Amora follows me, although reluctantly.

Together we walk through the halls and out the front door, ignoring the looks of passing demigods as they take in my tired and broken appearance. They whisper to each other, wondering what could have possibly happened that would have this effect on me. Isn't she a goddess, they ask. Who knew Death was so fragile, others snicker. So clueless are they of the war that's brewing right beneath their noses. How can they go on with life so carelessly when so much blood has been shed already? I can feel in my bones that there is so much more to come but still they move on in ignorance, unknowing or uncaring of the evil that taints this earth.