Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 2. Poseidon's Island

Hailey's skin erupted in tingles, and the world spun around her in melting and merging colours. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing it would end before her somersaulting stomach expelled the chocolate-chip pancakes she'd had for lunch.

She could still smell the scent of turpentine and vanilla that had clung to her mum as she'd hugged her goodbye seconds ago. Hailey held on to that smell, imagining she was back at her house and not being hurled through space.

Her head and stomach calmed when she arrived at her destination. Gingerly, she opened her eyes and gasped.

Before her an endless sea stretched, the sun glinting off the water, making it sparkle like a sea of aquamarines, sapphires, and turquoises. Waves rolled onto the beach, their steady rhythm making the sea sound as though it were breathing.

'Beautiful, isn't it?' A kind-faced woman stood beside Hailey, wearing a white Grecian dress. 'I'm Madam Grayson. I'll be your overseer until you graduate. You're Hailey Woods?'

Hailey tensed, thinking Madam Grayson knew who she was, but relaxed when she realised the teacher's eyes were on a piece of parchment covered in names and arrival times. 'Yes, that's me.'

Madam Grayson ticked her name off. 'I need your travelling necklace.' Hailey pulled off the winged pendant and handed it over. 'Not everyone has arrived yet, so please wait with the other first years until they do.' She pointed to an apprehensive group of students standing twenty feet away.

But Hailey's eyes weren't on them. She focused instead on the island, which was a tropical beach formed of white sand that appeared as fine as dust and soft as powdered sugar. Students lounged beneath palm trees, and several other teachers dressed in Grecian outfits waited at varying points around the island, ticking off names as students materialised before them.

'It's not a good idea to keep standing there, unless you want to get squished.'

Hailey turned back to Madam Grayson. 'Sorry. I'll join the others.' She gripped her suitcase's handle and moved out of the way as a boy, who looked ready to throw up, appeared in the spot she'd been standing.

She continued towards the group of students she'd be spending the next five years with. Only a few of them appeared to know each other, talking in hushed voices while those around them either shuffled their feet or fidgeted with their bags.

'Hailey, you're here.' Demi broke free of the crowd and yanked Hailey into a quick hug.

'Where's Jayden?'

Demi waved a hand. 'Talking to some randoms. I don't know any of these people. I think we're the only ones from our school.'

Hailey glanced back at the crowd, studying the students' faces. No one looked familiar. A lightness spread through her, making her smile. If she didn't recognise anyone, then that meant no one knew she was a Zeus. She was officially a nobody. Blue skies. 'I think you're right about us being the only ones from our school.'

'We must be even awesomer than I thought.'

'What have I told you about modesty, Demi?' Jayden tsked, appearing from the crowd. 'Hey, Hails.'

'I can't believe this is really happening.' Demi bounced from foot to foot. 'We're going to Poseidon's Academy. Poseidon's Academy! And we'll probably get to meet sea-nymphs!'

'Maybe you should tone it down a little so people don't think you're crazy—well, at least not just yet.' Jayden grinned. 'And they like to be called nereids—not sea-nymphs.'

Hailey, too, could barely believe she was about to enter Poseidon's Academy and see Poseidon's palace. The gods' kingdoms and hideouts were coveted places that many archaeologists and historians had spent their lives searching for unsuccessfully. Poseidon's palace was one of the main places searched for, and there hadn't been a single sighting of it since the gods' demise. Its lack of appearance had led people to think Poseidon had destroyed it before he'd died to ensure no human ever set foot in his home.