Goddess Boot Camp(5)

Partly, Damian says, it’s that I’m closer to Nike than most of them are to their gods. They’re jealous, he says. Right. And jerky Justin dumped me because I was too good for him.

“Don’t worry,” Nicole says, trying to be reassuring after laughing herself into hysterics. “Maybe no one will find out you’re in boot camp.”

“Really?” I ask, hopeful even if she’s just trying to make me feel better.

“Sure.” She takes a seat on my bed. “Usually it’s just a couple of upper-class counselors, a faculty director, and about a dozen, um, campers.”

My racing heart calms down. A little.

“Okay,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief. “That should be okay. Maybe the counselors will be friendlies.”

Not that there are many. Besides Nicole, our good friend Troy, Griffin, and a couple of my cross-country teammates, there aren’t many kids at the Academy I could call friendly, let alone friends.

With my luck, they’ll be a couple of Adara’s groupies who can’t wait to expose my embarrassment to the world. It’s not like I can do anything to make them like me since I didn’t do anything to make them hate me in the first place. My existence is reason enough for them.

Besides, the truth is I am a little freaked out about controlling my powers, especially considering how my dad died. I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but he used his powers to improve his football career . . . and wound up smoted by the gods. I don’t think I’ll ever know exactly what happened. The gods frown on the misuse of powers in the nothos world and they could just as easily smote me for using them accidentally.

Controlling my powers is a good thing, and I’m looking forward to the day when I can zap myself a Gatorade without worrying that I’ll wind up wrestling an alligator.

“Who knows?” I say. “Going to Goddess Boot Camp could be fun.”

“Goddess Boot Camp?” Griffin asks as he walks into my room.

“Hi!” I jump up and wrap my arms around his neck. Since school let out Wednesday, he’s been in Athens with his aunt Lili, picking up an espresso machine for the bakery. I know it’s only been four days, but seeing him again—all tall, lean, and dark, curly-haired dreamy—makes me shivery happy all over.

Especially when he’s wearing track pants. Call me a running geek, but I love a guy in training gear.

He hugs me back and whispers in my ear, “I missed you, kardia tis kardias mou.”

And I love it when he calls me his heart of hearts. Leaning back, I give him a soft kiss. We’ve been going out for almost nine months, but I still can’t get over kissing him. My real-life hero.

“Let me just lace up,” I say, releasing him and going for my sneakers under the bed, “and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Hey, Nic,” he says softly.

She gives him a little smile. “Hi, Griff.”

“You doing all right?” he asks.

“Always, jockhead.”

She means that affectionately. I think.

Besides, all the descendants of Ares are jockheads. But there’s more to him. She doesn’t know he’s a heroic descendant of Hercules, too. No one does.

I take a seat on my bright yellow rug and pull on my Nikes. Even though Griffin and Nicole worked through their major problems last fall—they had been best friends when they were little, until their parents got punished for something the kids did—they’re still a little awkward around each other. They both like me, though, and they have some serious history behind them. I have faith.

“What were you saying about Goddess Boot Camp?” Griffin asks as I tie my laces into bows. “Why are you going?”

“Damian’s making me.” I let out a rough breath. “He’s afraid I won’t be able to pass the test.”

“What test?”

“The one the gods are making her take,” Nicole explains.

Griffin scowls, his dark eyebrows scrunching together over his bright blue eyes in an adorably concerned way. “I was afraid something like this would happen. What with your powers still so unpredictable—”

“Hey!” I smack him on the thigh. “It’s not for lack of trying.”

“I know,” he says, reaching down and pulling me to my feet. “It’s not your fault. Not with such late-onset powers.”

“And the fact that you’re only three steps down from Nike,” Nicole adds. “They’re stronger than most.”

I feel a little better. I mean, most of the kids at the Academy are several generations or more removed from their ancestor god. The closer your branch is to the trunk of the tree, the stronger the powers. Mine are colossal strong. Which makes them colossal hard to control.