Hellenica by Jonathan Maas

Author:Jonathan Maas [Maas, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781490366326
Publisher: Cynical Optimist Press
Published: 2013-08-15T22:00:00+00:00

THE MANITOU

Tommy brought Kayana her meal and all four ate in the common room, sitting around a small stone table. Gunnar was pacing around the room, deep in thought, and Kayana was looking out the window onto the courtyard. The meal was more ambrosia, and she was ignoring it.

“It’s odd that Mantus sent Kayana here,” said Gunnar. “You don’t discipline a cadet by detaining them with their team. They have a small prison here called Tartarus; if he really wanted to punish Kayana, he’d have sent her there.”

“They probably sent her here on purpose,” said Tommy. “They probably want us to bond.”

“I don’t think they want anything,” said Gunnar. “This place seems to make up the rules as they go. But perhaps he wants us to come up with a plan. Mantus himself admitted the possibility that Kayana was right, and that means she’s on to something.”

Gunnar looked at Kayana; she was staring at her food with white eyes. What’s she thinking when she’s in that state? he thought. Is this her version of sleep? In a moment she looked up at him and her eyes were were jet-black once again.

“I’m not on to anything,” said Kayana. “I saw a man being tortured in a dream and made his situation worse.”

“What’s your sense, Saoirse?” he asked.

Saoirse was playing with her ambrosia and thought for a moment. She was wearing a silk kimono that she had sewn earlier that day. The white cloth highlighted her blonde hair and accentuated her dark skin perfectly, but Gunnar pretended not to notice.

“I don’t know,” said Saoirse, “but I have Kross run free at night, and he’s reported creatures much like the one Tommy described.”

Kross growled and whined at Saoirse, and she spoke in sharp, clipped tones back to the hyaena. His surgery had gone well, and both were apparently glad to be able to communicate with each other so clearly, though Gunnar was left out of the conversation completely. Gunnar had been taught by the Agoge to at least decipher intent from the languages he couldn’t understand, but he was absolutely clueless in regards to the strange tongue Saoirse shared with her pet. Though he dared not show it in front of his team, for this and a host of other reasons, Gunnar was lost, disheartened and didn’t know what to do. I was trained to fight in wars and brawl in pits, he thought. I’m not built for mysteries.

“Continue to have Kross run free, and have him report to you only. He can’t even share his knowledge with the dogs. But tell me,” he said, now looking at Kayana, “what do you think is happening?”

“I don’t know,” said Kayana, “but there’s something wrong here, and right now it’s wrong on a very small level. The creature that attacked Tommy and the beings that infected Dion’s dream are all connected somehow. I cannot prove it, but I know. Our teachers are oblivious to this and will continue to be so. It’s up to us.”

“Up to us to do what?” asked Gunnar.

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