Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 34. Inner Demons

Searing pain erupted in Hailey's head, and the wand slipped from her hand as she dug her nails into her scalp. 'NO!' she screamed as the memory she'd spent the past five years trying to forget dragged her back in time...

Hailey was eight. She was standing under an oak tree with her dad in Richmond Park, watching a herd of deer forage a dozen yards away.

'Happy birthday, baby doll,' Owen said, pulling a blue box from his jeans pocket.

Hailey snatched it from his hand, clawing at the white ribbon wrapped around the box, before tearing off the lid and gasping. 'It's beautiful! Thank you, Daddy.' She delicately plucked the gold necklace from the box, tracing a finger over where her name was engraved on the necklace's heart pendant. Hailey wrapped her arms around her dad. 'Thank you. You're the best dad in the whole world. I love you.'

Owen squeezed her back. 'I love you too,' he said before helping her put the necklace on. 'But I wish you'd stop growing up so fast.' He ruffled her hair.

She grinned. 'Sorry, but I don't have Mum's powers.' A cold raindrop slid down her cheek, and the next second the black sky poured down an onslaught of rain, sending the deer galloping for cover.

'I don't suppose you can do anything about this?' Owen asked, putting a hand above his head to try and shield his face from the rain.

Hailey pushed her wet hair from her eyes. 'I can try.' She raised her arms towards the sky and concentrated. Blue skies, she thought over and over again, swiping at the black clouds. A couple of them shifted a few feet. But that was about it. She sighed, her arms dropping to her sides. 'I'm sorry, Dad. I'm not strong enough.'

'That's okay. You'll be able to do it eventually. And you did move some clouds.' Thunder rumbled. 'I think we've given your mum enough time to finish the cake anyway-and to clean up whatever disaster she's made of the kitchen.'

Hailey giggled, imagining her mum frantically trying to clean up piles of spilt flour from the floor and oozing eggs from the bench. 'Let's go.'

They were racing along the tree-lined pathway that led to their street when the lightning started. Great big forks of electricity shot through the sky and thunder roared, making the earth shudder.

'Come on, Hailey, we better hurry. I don't like how close that sounds.'

Hailey stopped running. 'Maybe I should try to clear the sky again, or at least push the storm back.'

'No, we really need to g-Watch out, Hailey!'

The world flared white.

A deafening CRACK shook the air as lightning struck a tree, one of its branches exploding in flames and plunging to the ground. Owen shoved Hailey from its path; the flaming branch crashed onto his back, pinning him down.

'DADDY!' Hailey screamed. She fell to his side as the rain put the flames out. But it was too late; they'd already done their damage.

Her dad was dead.

The memory crushed the air from Hailey's lungs. If she'd been a stronger Zeus-the type of Zeus the prophecy spoke of-she would have been able to send the storm away, and her dad would be alive. But she wasn't a strong Zeus. She was a weak one. She didn't deserve her powers.

The burning pain intensified, and the memory replayed. Hailey's nails dug deeper into her scalp. STOP IT! she screamed inside her head, guilt wrapping tighter and tighter around her chest, crushing the very air out of her lungs.