“I found you!”

I can’t help but smile as the kid yells from the doorway. I giggle as I respond, “You sure did kiddo! Good job!” He was getting good at this, though I still like to make it easy for him to find me. Today, I hid myself in a janitorial closet, or what would be a janitorial closet if it wasn’t completely empty and unused. We don’t want the kid getting lost in the halls of the Academy, after all.

I’m glad I get to have moments like this. I don’t know how it happened, but the kid latched onto me as soon as he saw me that day. Now, I’m essentially a glorified babysitter. It beats being stuck in classes, though.

“We’ve been playing this for a while, what d’ya say we take a break and get some lunch?” I ask the small bundle of energy in front of me.

He nods, his blond locks bobbing with the movement. His hair is starting to get long, the academy’s going to make him cut it soon. A shame really, the soft locks are something that I love playing with and braiding.

I guess that’s as good of an answer as I’m going to get. As I stand up, I lean over to pick the kid up. He sprints away from me, stopping a good distance down the hall before starting to run back towards me. I brace myself as he launches his full weight onto my back.

I stumble but manage to catch myself with a hand on the wall next to me. It’s still enough to make the little gremlin start laughing, though. God, this kid is going to be the death of me.

As I stabilize myself, I reach back to grab the little shit’s legs. Have to make sure he’s not going anywhere. Not that he needs my help to keep from falling with the absolute death grip he has around my neck right now.

I can’t breathe, but before I can do anything to get him to loosen his grip a voice calls out from down the hall, “Stop choking him, Achilles. He can’t carry ya if he’s dead!”

I turn around—a smile already growing on my face—to see my sunshine walking towards us. I wasn’t expecting to see him today, what with classes and training and all. I’m not going to complain, though. I will take any moment with my own personal source of sunlight that I can.

The good mood doesn’t last, however, as he leans to whisper in my ear, “I’m taking over looking after the kid. Daedalus wants to see you.” The smile falls off my face at the words. What do they want with me today? I’m not supposed to train, and I have been excused from class to watch Achilles.

“Okay, and?” I whisper back. That man can wait, I would much rather go to lunch than deal with his bullshit.

“Birdie, you can’t ignore this. Nyx wants you there too.”

“Well, why didn’t you say that?” He shoots a look at me, silently judging me for my disregard of the summons when they came from Daedalus. I roll my eyes, leaning away from his warmth to break the news to the kid in my arms.

“Hey kiddo,” I say, maneuvering Achilles so that I was holding him in front of me. I reach up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “I have to go talk to some people. Apollon is gonna take you to lunch today, okay?” Uh-oh, he does not look happy at that. “I’ll be right back! I won’t take long! Just go with Apollon for now and before you know it, I’ll be there. I promise.”

I hate making false promises, but it’s the only way to get the kid to go with my sunshine. I will just have to deal with the repercussions later, after I talk to Nyx and Daedalus. God, I wish I knew what they wanted.

The kid took a moment to think about what I had said before nodding and detaching himself from my body. After I set him down, he walks over to Apollon, who has his arms out ready to pick him up. Achilles stands there, judging the arms that were waiting before letting out a huff and crossing his arms. He then turns to walk down the hall towards the cafeteria, not even waiting to make sure Apollon was following him.

I shoot an apologetic look towards my sunshine, patting his shoulder and mouthing a quick ‘good luck’ before turning and walking the other way. I shove my hands into the pockets of my pants as I make my way to the training room. That is the only place we were allowed to go as students besides our rooms and the classrooms, so they must want to meet me there.

Every step I take towards that room makes me more nervous. Why do they want to see me right now? This is highly unusual of them. The sound of my boots hitting the floor accompanies my thoughts as I make my way through the winding corridors. Before I know it, I’m rounding the corner to see two large arched doorways before me.

They don’t like it when we are even a second late, so I don’t have much time to dawdle or worry about what might be awaiting me. Well, here goes nothing, I think as I open the large wooden doors in front of me.

Whatever I was expecting, it was not Nyx berating Daedalus. Seeing the tall and otherworldly woman demeaning and belittling someone was not something I thought I would ever see. I had always seen her as graceful and elegant, and this was anything but. Her face is sharp and pointed as she spits insults down at my father. Though, it does feel good to see Daedalus get his comeuppance. He deserves to be knocked down a peg.

As the door slams closed behind me, Nyx straightens herself and turns to look at me. “Child,” she says as if she was not just yelling, “thank you for coming so quickly.” I don’t know what they were arguing about, but for Nyx to lose her composure like that it must have been something serious. But it’s not my place to know.

I bow my head out of respect for her as I say, “Of course, ma’am. I came as quickly as I could.” I don’t have much of a choice in being here, but I greatly respect her and would never be so rude as to ignore her summons. Daedalus, on the other hand… Well, I would push the bounds as much as I could when it comes to him.

Speaking of the Devil, he seems to finally compose himself enough to step forward, taking his place next to Nyx. I look up at him as he clears his throat, trying to find his voice. After a moment, he growls out a simple, “Training. Do your best.”

I let out a sigh, I was really looking forward to not having training today. But it’s not like I can say no. I nod once in acknowledgment before I turn and make my way to the wall where the weapons are resting. I am just a few steps away when I hear rustling and the sound of a flamethrower heating up. I barely have time to think before I feel the searing heat tickle the back of my neck. Why is he already attacking? I haven’t even grabbed any weapons yet; he shouldn’t be attacking!

I duck and roll away to the side, barely missing another lick of flame sent my way. Shit, I don’t know what to do. I can’t get close enough for a bare-handed attack with him using the flamethrower, but I don’t have any weapons on me. I have to get a weapon.

When the flame dies down, I decide to make a dash for the wall. I was only a few steps away from it before I rolled, and now I just need to get there. Lady Luck is not on my side today, as I am knocked over by Daedalus. He has come to stand between me and my only chance at winning.

He points the flamethrower at my face. Surely, he’d call it here and let me get a blade so we can properly train, right?

Time slows to a crawl as I hear flint striking from within the flamethrower. I look up at Daedalus, up at my father, with my eyes blown wide. What is he doing? I am prone and clearly not going to win this battle. That doesn’t seem to matter as the flames reached my face, hot and burning. I can feel the fine hairs on my face catch on fire, my skin blistering and boiling as the flames quickly spread to my clothes and my hair. I scream.

What have I done to deserve this?

What did I do wrong?

The pain is too much to bear as I slip into unconsciousness.