Until We Break (3 page)

“‘Pilfered’,” Ev scoffed. “They make it sound like a crime.”

Jaysin had to point out, “Technically, it was.”

“What those fat-asses were doing was the
real
crime. I did what nobody had the balls to do. Besides, it was
hard
flying while holding onto all those burgers.”

The anchorwoman was somewhat less sympathetic. “The owner of the restaurant is demanding city authorities crack down on super-powered vigilantes and reimburse him for the damages inflicted tonight. The governor has yet to comment on the situation. For News 8 in Seraphim City, I’m Ali Sandols.”

Jaysin turned off the TV. “You’ve really done it now.”

“Relax. I wore a mask. No one’s going to know it was me.”

“Mate, as your friend, I feel I must warn you. You’ve broken a lot of rules since coming to this school. One day you’re going to push your luck farther than it can go. I’m just telling you to have a little caution. Big
higglers
aren’t always a good thing.”

“All right, all right,” Ev conceded. “I’ll be more careful about it. And Jaysin…”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“You know I’m always here for you.”

* * *

He was darkness, and darkness was him. For Hades, there was no distinction between his body and the shadows all around him. His domain inside Olympus was his own personal sensory depravation chamber. All the noises of the outside world grated on his nerves, so he enjoyed this dark void he had modeled after Gehenna.

Hades
. It was Athena.

What is it?

I’m sending you a psychic teleplay of a Seraphim City newscast that just aired.

He quickly processed it.
He dares…?

Ev Bannen is calling himself the new god of justice. He mocks us. We had hoped the bounty we placed on his head earlier this year would have taken care of the problem, but it seems it has only emboldened him.

Yes. He needs to be punished. Leave it to me.

What will you do?

Ev Bannen must be taught what it means to make an enemy of Zero Grade. Simply killing him will not be enough.

Ah. I see. Very good, then. Will you see to it personally? It is distasteful for us to sully our hands on upstarts like Ev Bannen, but he has proven himself…resilient.

Of course. I will show him agony beyond his imagination.

The telepathic call ended, and Hades was once again left to bathe in darkness. He drank up its silence.

Ev Bannen needed to be made an example of, but—embarrassingly—no one in Zero Grade knew where Divine Protector Academy was. Belial might have known, but that ungrateful wretch hoarded secrets and now he was dead. That meant Hades could not simply go and kill the kid; he needed to lure him out by threatening someone Bannen cared about. That ruled out the kid’s friends, who also enjoyed the Academy’s protection. Thus there was really only one option.

Time to go and say hello.

* * *

The next day was Advanced Conjuring, an elective Ev was taking in order to further hone his skills. Earlier that year, he had been in danger of completely bombing Conjuration and would have been elated just to squeak by. However, Incident 29 had changed all that. In order to defeat Arcturus Reich and change the world back to the way it was, he had been forced to tap into his latent conjuring skill to come up with a powerful weapon. Ev sucked at conjuring weapons, so he ended up creating a pair of gauntles that could also be used offensively. They sufficed to win the battle, but it broke at the end, and Ev knew if he was ever to be a full god, he would have to master the skill.

Brandon Strong was once again the professor. “I’m looking forward to seeing great things today. As usual, I’ll be calling you up alphabetically.”

First up was Daryn Anders, the tall ginger with Ashbury’s Syndrome who was known to occasionally explode in anger at minor provocations. Without a word, he made his way to the front of the class and conjured his trademark war hammer, only this time, the head was even larger. Ev estimated it was the size of those giant speakers you see at rock concerts. He had to admire Daryn’s strength; the guy hefted that thing like it was a baton. Of all the students at the Academy, Daryn was the one person Ev definitely did not want as an enemy. They had come to blows shortly after Ev had joined the school, a situation he wanted to avoid repeating if possible.

“Not bad, Daryn,” Brandon said. “You succeeded in evolving your weapon. Normally, simply making it larger wouldn’t get you a good grade, but it’s obvious you’ve increased your strength to match.”

Daryn silently returned to his seat. Being a Bannen, it was soon Ev’s turn. But he was no longer dreading it. Just the opposite. “All right, Ev; dazzle me.”

Grinning ear to ear, he said, “You got it.” He flexed his arms, and his signature pair of full-length silver gauntlets enveloped them. They felt so smooth and fit so well, and why not? They were custom-made for him
by
him.

“I’ve seen that before, Ev,” Brandon reminded him. “Merely creating tools was enough to pass the prerequisite class, but
evolving
them is the key to passing this one.”

“Just a sec.” For this next part, he had to close his eyes and concentrate. Suddenly, a dozen blades—six on each side—shot out from each of the gauntlets. He had personally tested them in Seraphim City, so he knew how sharp they were.

Brandon wrote in his grade book. “Very good, Ev. Instead of being embarrassed of your weakness, you’ve actually turned it into an advantage.”

Ev took his seat next to a proud Maya who patted him on the shoulder. It was her turn next. However, she announced, “My demonstration can’t be done in an enclosed space like this. Could we take this to the hangar?”

“Sure. Color me intrigued,” Brandon said.

Once in the hangar, they gathered along the main door which looked down below at the waves crashing against the rocks of Mt. Orleia. Maya conjured her trusty bow. “It may look the same, but it’s got a few new tricks. Take a look at this.” She launched an arrow into the sky where it soon exploded. That much was nothing new, but the group was quickly taken aback by green rain which showered down from the smoke and fire. “That’s acid. It’ll cut through almost anything. It took me a while to figure out how to safely duplicate its chemical makeup.”

“Excellent, Maya,” Brandon said.

“Oh, but I’m not finished yet.” She fired off another arrow which also exploded, but this time the fragments promptly froze solid, leaving a cloud of white vapor in their wake. “As you can see, that’s an ice arrow. Pretty self-explanatory.”

Brandon was so pleased, he turned to Ev and said, “You’re still lagging behind this young lady here.”

“It’s not a competition,” he shot back.

“Well, if it was, she’d be winning.”

“I’m still not done yet,” Maya said. “Watch—my final trick.” She fired off a third arrow, but instead of exploding, it went left to right, up and down, and even did a loop. “This is my manual arrow. One released, I can control its trajectory by moving my left arm.”

“You’re on
fire
today!” Jaysin said.

“That’s my girl!” CiCi added.

Ev sighed. “It pains me to say this, but I must agree.”

She shot him a dirty look. “It
pains
you to say it? Well, thanks a lot.”

“I didn’t mean it like that! Really, I’m proud of you, Maya.”

Her countenance suddenly did a one-eighty. “I know. I’m just messing with you.” She turned her attention back to Brandon. “And I am officially out of tricks for now.”

The group erupted into cheers, and Ev had to admit—it felt good. Not too long ago, Maya was the most reviled student at the Academy for her part in the Stiftung Crisis. So reviled, in fact, that several students conspired to murder her. She, Ev, and Arcturus managed to fight them off, but stain of Incident 28—as her previous crimes were now known—remained. Ev glanced at Daryn, who was not sharing in the applause. He still hadn’t forgiven her for her betrayal.

Back in the classroom, it was CiCi Decker’s turn. With her usual boundless optimism, the aspiring goddess of relaxation extended her hands and conjured her twin chakrams. The bladed circlets had cut down more than a few otherworldly enemies, so Ev was interested to see what they could do now. “Vwalah!” They began hovering over her hands, except now each one had a creepy translucent eye in the center. Even more startling, her actual eyes were gone! “I have a confession to make. Maya told me about her new arrows, and I kinda stole the idea for the manual ones. I, too, can control where my chakrams go, but there’s a big difference. You see, I put a bit of my consciousness into each one, which allows me to not only direct their movements, but I can see what they see. It’s very useful for reconnaissance.” They floated about the room, scrutinizing the other students and mildly freaking them out.

Brandon was barely able to hide his astonishment. “Wow, CiCi. That’s probably the most dramatic evolution yet. Very impressive. Now please put your eyes back in.”

The weapons, and her eyes, returned to her, and she took her seat. Several more students demonstrated their evolved weapons, but none could top the diversity of Maya’s or the spectacle of CiCi’s.