Zeus' Spark

ZEUS’ SPARK EMBER-RAINE WINTERS Copyright © 2023 by Ember-Raine Winters All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Created with Vellum CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Afterword Halfling Halloween Also by Ember-Raine Winters 1 “C’mon, Raven. We’re going to be late,” I huff out as my feet pound the pavement. A light breeze tosses my hair into my eyes, blinding me momentarily, and I nearly run into another student. “Sorry.” “Jeez, Beth. So what if we’re a couple seconds late? Cross is never on time.” Raven rolls her eyes, stepping up next to me and pulling open the door to the academic building. A chill fills the air. The air conditioner is always set too low in the halls of Halfling Academy. The halls are nearly empty. “Where is everyone?” My skin prickles with unease. The flickering flames of the torches cast ominous shadows across the stone walls. The only sound is the echo of our feet drumming on the ground. The halls are never this empty. The Hermes kids are notoriously late for class and are always rushing toward it at the last second. Like us. “I don’t know, but let’s hurry. The halls are creepy like this.” Raven grabs my hand, pulling me to the stairs. If Raven is freaking out, then there’s definitely a problem. She’s the most badass person I know. As a daughter of the god Ares, she would have to be though. I pick up my pace, glancing around at all the closed doors on either side. I jump when a door slams in the distance. My heart races, and my palms sweat as we hurry to class. Raven’s free hand clenches at her side where she would normally have her sword. We aren’t allowed to have our weapons unless we’re in the training yard though, and that irritates the living hell out of my dark-haired friend. Her blue eyes scan the hall as we continue to the door of the classroom. We round the corner to another creepy hallway. The tall ceilings are bathed in dancing shadows. I breathe a sigh of relief as a door opens at the end of the hall, and light fills the area. “Ladies, you are nearly late.” Mr. Cross raises an eyebrow as he holds the door open for us to enter the brightly lit classroom. After rushing inside, I flop into my seat and reach into my backpack for the ancient history book. “Where is everyone?” The seat next to me is empty, and as I scan the room, more desks sit untouched. Raven turns to me from the row ahead with a pinched brow, but before we can discuss the weird shit happening, Mr. Cross starts his lecture. “Good morning, class. Open your books to page 257,” he says over his shoulder as he writes something on the board. I guess we aren’t mentioning the elephant in the room. The entire class is made of demigods. We don’t get sick, so having so many people missing is concerning. Opening the giant textbook, I turn to page 257 and stare at the huge lion beautifully depicted on the page next to a warrior with a giant sword. This isn’t like normal ancient history. Here, we learn about what humans think are myths. I found out the hard way that the monsters of myths are very real and somehow coming back from the dead to come after me specifically. “Heracles and the Nemean Lion. Does anyone know this story?” Mr. Cross asks, shooting disapproving looks at the class when no one raises their hand. “Defeating the Nemean Lion was the first of the trials of Heracles,” I say, raising my hand. The professor nods. “Does anyone know how Heracles defeated the creature?” he asks, and an Ares kid lifts his hand tentatively in the air. “He choked it to death with his bare hands?” he asks. Mr. Cross nods to him. “And why did he need to strangle it? Why not use a bow or a sword?” He looks around the room, but no one raises their hands this time. He sighs, removing the horn-rimmed glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. I tap my fingers on my desk briefly, trying to decide if I want to be the know-it-all in the class, before finally putting Mr. Cross out of his misery and raising my hand. “The skin of the lion is impenetrable to any weapon, sir. Heracles actually did try with a bow first, but when that didn’t work, he had to find a different way to go about it.” “Very good, Bethany.” He beams a smile at me, and I roll my eyes. “It’s Beth, sir.” I hate being called by my full name. No one calls me that except for my mom, and that’s baggage better left packed away forever. “Okay, Beth. I want everyone to spend the rest of the class reading the ancient texts on Heracles. I want a two-page paper on the truth versus the myths that humans don’t believe in by our next class.” The entire class groans with the exception of me, and I read the true story of the Nemean Lion until class is over, tapping my foot the entire time. I know I’m probably irritating the hell out of Raven, but I can’t help the anxiousness in my gut. There’s got to be something weird going on here. Most of the seats are still