Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 22. Spying

'Hailey.' Hailey opened her eyes—when had she closed them?—and looked at Aaron. 'Are you okay?'

She'd just killed someone. Of course she wasn't okay.

Her stomach heaved, and she leaned forward to throw up, but paused when she heard Venus laugh. She glanced past Aaron and saw her standing with the twins near the palace's entrance. She's alive. But how? Hailey instinctively looked at the wand lying on the ground, and suddenly realised it had sent her a vision. The wand had wanted her to use it to kill Venus.

Its power called to her now, urging her to pick up the wand. To use it. To kill. She didn't dare reach for it. Hailey might despise Venus, but that didn't mean she wanted her dead.

'I'll get it.' Aaron grabbed the wand before Hailey could stop him. She froze as he aimed it and said, 'Onakar.'

Venus and the twins screamed.

But not because Aaron had sent a death spell at them. They were screaming because the patch of sky above their heads was dropping an onslaught of rain onto them.

'Hailey, what's the matter with you?' Aaron asked as Venus and the twins fled into the palace for cover. 'You look as if you've seen a shade.'

She pulled herself together. 'Give me the wand.' Aaron cocked an eyebrow, but he handed it to her. She flinched when he placed it in her outstretched hand, expecting it to possess her again with images of what it wanted her to do. She blew out a breath when nothing happened and shoved the wand into her pocket. 'We can't use it anymore.'

'What are you talking about? It's the only thing that can help us get revenge on Venus while our powers are gone.'

Hailey had happily used it for that exact reason since they'd found it, but she couldn't trust the wand anymore— not after what had just happened. And she wasn't going to risk her, or her friends', freewill by continuing to use it.

She explained to Aaron what the wand had shown her.

'I'll be right back with the others,' Aaron said and ran off into the palace.

Hailey sank to the ground, next to an aquamarine tree. The wand pressed against her leg and she tensed, waiting for it to possess her and force her to embark on a killing rampage. How many people would it compel her to murder before letting her go, or someone else killed her? She shuddered at the thought and was grateful for a distraction when her friends came hurrying towards her fifteen minutes later. She told them what she'd told Aaron.

Demi laughed. 'Is that it? You think we should stop using the wand because you had a vision you killed Venus? You were angry, Hails. Your mind was probably showing you what you really wanted to do to Venus. It had nothing to do with the wand.'

'Demi might be right about it being in your mind,' Jayden said. 'You sounded pretty angry.'

'I don't think my anger could have transported me into a vision so real it made me think I'd actually killed Venus,' Hailey retorted. 'It was the wand. It's dangerous.'

'I told you wands are dangerous,' Alec said. 'The power they're infused with is said to be so strong it can take on a life of its own.'

Demi snorted. 'It's a wand, Alec—an inanimate object.' She fixed her gaze on Hailey. 'So are you saying we should give the wand to Amathia?'

'No,' Hailey said so suddenly she surprised herself. The wand needs to be protected. 'I just don't think we should use it anymore, that's all.'

Demi crossed her arms. 'But we've barely done anything with it.'

'I think you might be overreacting a little bit, Hailey,' Jayden said in a measured voice.