Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 24. Jail Break

Hailey materialised outside Demi's house in a swirl of colours, the floral scent of perfume engulfing her the second she arrived. Red, yellow, pink, and purple tulips bloomed in Demi's front yard, alongside pansies, snapdragons, chrysanthemums, and periwinkles; and jasmine climbed over the house, almost completely covering up its brick exterior. Hailey pulled off her bronze travelling necklace, tucking it into her jacket pocket, before knocking on the door.

The final verdict on Hailey's punishment, for almost getting killed, was a two-week grounding. Hailey thought her mum would have grounded her for the rest of her life, so she'd gladly submitted to two weeks of house arrest. Demi, however, hadn't gotten off so easy and was still grounded, but, thankfully, her mum was letting her have visitors.

'Hailey,' Demi's mum, Nicole, said with a bright smile, opening the door. 'Come in. I'd hug you, but I can't let go of Alice or she'll run out the door.'

'Another rescue?' Hailey asked, reaching out to pet the fluffy white bunny tucked in Nicole's arm.

'Yes, and she's settling in just fine with all the other animals-speaking of which, I better go feed the guinea pigs. Demi's upstairs.'

Hailey made her way up the stairs, a tabby cat skittering away from her as she wandered down the hallway to a door with a hand-written sign reading, Demi's Room. Keep Out! A snarling minotaur was drawn underneath it, followed by, that means you Annabelle!

Hailey knocked on the door.

'Come in.'

She pushed into the room, the sweet scent of blooming flowers swarming her. Fuchsias, roses, and wisteria snaked along the walls and hung from the ceiling, and grass grew on the ground in place of carpet, making Demi's room look like a vibrant garden.

Demi lay on her unmade double bed, watching the small television against the wall, where a news reporter was interviewing someone about the increasing prices of houses.

Hailey frowned. 'Since when do you watch the news?'

'Since I got locked in this house and discovered there isn't much else on in the morning. Now shh, a report on the missing people is coming up.' She pushed herself into a sitting position and used the TV remote to turn up the volume.

Hailey manoeuvred her way around scattered clothes and books, and plopped down next to Demi.

The screen changed to an anchor woman sitting behind a desk, shuffling papers. 'Well, there you have it-if you want to afford a house, you need to give up eating smashed avocado,' the anchor woman said. 'Now, in other news. Another twenty-three people have gone missing this week from countries including France, Japan, Turkey, and New Zealand. Like the previous people to go missing, no clues have been left to explain what's happened to them. This brings the total number of people to go missing in the past two months to 182. The police still have no leads on potential suspects, and are advising people not to leave their houses after dark until the parties responsible for the disappearances are apprehended.'

That's weird, Hailey thought as the anchor woman moved on to a story about twin golden hinds being born at a zoo. She didn't exactly watch the news, or follow missing-person reports, but something told her that 182 people going missing in a couple of months was a little out of the ordinary.

'Hey all.'

Jayden, Alec, and Aaron piled into the room.

Jayden shook a packet of sour cream and onion crisps. 'We brought food.'

'And drinks,' Alec added, showing off a 2-litre bottle of imitation ambrosia.

'Awesome.' Demi abandoned her bed to join the boys on the grass. Hailey sat down beside her, just under a vine of blooming wisteria that smelled like grapes.

'So, what were you two watching?' Aaron asked.

'The news,' Hailey said, filling a paper cup with ambrosia and taking a sip of the toffee-apple-tasting liquid.

Jayden cocked an eyebrow. 'The news? What happened, Dems, did you hit the wrong button?'

Demi scrunched her face up at him. 'No, Jayden. I was watching the report on those missing people.'

'Oh, I've heard about that,' Aaron said, pouring ambrosia into his cup. 'Something like 300 people have gone missing in a month.'

'It's the last couple of months, actually,' Alec corrected, popping open the packet of crisps, the scent of onion drifting up Hailey's nostrils. 'And it was 182 the last time I checked-most of which are criminals.'

'As in prisoners?' Jayden slurped his ambrosia.

Alec nodded.

'No, the reporters haven't said anything about mass prison break outs-the missing people can't be criminals,' Demi argued.

Hailey had a hard time believing that too. Prisons weren't exactly easy places to break out of for a few criminals, let alone almost 200. 'Whoever told you that is lying.'

'Well, I overheard my dad telling my mum, and he heard it from my uncle, who's a police officer in Dublin,' Alec said, taking a sip of his ambrosia. 'They're not going to say that on the news though. They don't want to create a mass panic by telling the public that criminals are going missing from high security prisons all over the world, especially when they have no leads to find them with, and no idea how they escaped.'

'How can they not know how they escaped?' Aaron asked. 'Are the prison guards really so slow they haven't found the dugout tunnels yet? I'd think they'd be pretty obvious.'

Jayden threw a crisp at him. 'You watch too many movies.'

'There are no holes or any other signs of escape,' Alec explained. 'It's like they just disappeared from their locked cells overnight, which is another reason why they're not saying prisoners have escaped, because they're starting to think that maybe they didn't escape. That maybe something else happened to them.'

The whole conversation made Hailey uneasy. Criminals being on the loose was freaky enough, but it was even worse knowing that they seemed to be disappearing. What's happening to them? Has someone with the power of Hermes found a way to break through the power-neutralising barriers that surround the prisons? And if so, why are they breaking out so many criminals?

The only thing that gave Hailey comfort was knowing all prisoners had to wear neutralising bracelets, so if they were on the loose, their powers wouldn't work.

Demi's door flung open. 'Annabelle, get out!' Demi ordered the freckle-faced girl standing in its frame.

Annabelle smirked, flicking a strand of blonde hair from her face. 'I'm not in your room, Demi. I'm standing outside.'

'If you don't close the door and leave right now, I'm calling mum,' she threatened.

'Fine. But here's a little present before I go.' A plump red water balloon materialised in her outstretched palm.

Hailey was so impressed by Annabelle's conjuring skills that it didn't register with her what was about to happen. The water balloon flew from Annabelle's hand and exploded on the ground with a pop, water spraying over everyone-even the crisps weren't spared.

Demi lunged to her feet. 'You're dead!' Annabelle bolted from the doorway. 'Fine, I'll kill you later,' she shouted after her, slamming the door before turning back to everyone, her hair dripping. 'Sorry about that.'

'Was that your sister?' Aaron asked, picking pieces of red balloon out of his drink.

Demi plunked herself back on the damp grass. 'Unfortunately.'

'She looks nothing like you,' Alec remarked, wiping at the water dripping down his face.

'Um, that's because we're not technically blood relatives,' Demi said, focusing her attention on scooping up pieces of red balloon. 'My parents, ah, died when I was four. There was a robbery... wrong place, wrong time. My aunt didn't want me, so she put me up for adoption, and that's how I ended up here.' She dropped the balloon pieces into an empty paper cup. 'Now, can we please talk about something not so morbid, like plotting Venus and the twins' downfall.'