Children of the Gods

  Ichor Academy: Children of the Gods

  Ichor Academy, Volume 1

  Jack Knight

  Published by Jack Knight, 2020.

  While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

  ICHOR ACADEMY: CHILDREN OF THE GODS

  First edition. April 3, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 Jack Knight.

  ISBN: 978-1734453430

  Written by Jack Knight.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  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

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 1

  SIXTEEN. THAT’S WHEN everything changes for people like me.

  My sixteenth birthday started out fine. My mother drove me to the mall. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal.

  My mom, Sally Evans, never had a lot of money, so we didn’t usually do a lot for my birthday. In fact, I never expected any more than a cake. So, when she said we would go to the mall, I was surprised. And extremely nervous.

  The car ride there was great. I couldn’t look out the window when I was in a car. I didn’t get carsick, it was more like my mind tried to focus on every single thing that passed by. It made me anxious, like if I missed a single detail of anything I could die. Instead, I watched my mom talk.

  She was good about that, too. She knew going to crowded places sometimes gave me anxiety attacks, so she made sure to speak slowly, in a calm voice. I didn’t even need to tell her that just the idea of going to the mall was freaking me out.

  She told me about her job. She worked as a nurse, which I thought was incredibly gross and terrifying, and she knew it made me space out. Perfect for not making myself have a panic attack.

  Instead, I just watched her talk. My mind, always my worst enemy, focused on the light shining onto my mother’s hair. She had gorgeous blonde hair. It was long and straight, cascading around her shoulders like liquid gold. It was much better than looking at the blurred shapes whizzing by outside.

  My mother was beautiful, like “should’ve been a supermodel” beautiful. I hadn’t inherited as much from her as I would’ve liked.

  I never knew much about my dad, my mom barely mentioned him. She had told me that my wavy black hair came from him. I kept it short, not even long enough to touch my shoulders, which my mom said was almost how my father had kept his.

  I had gotten her eyes though. Green, I saw the sparkle of emeralds every time she glanced away from the road to look at me as she talked.

  “... Lexi?”

  I forced myself to focus, which wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. I could see the colors behind my mother had stopped whizzing by. The car was stopped. And I was just staring blankly at my mother’s hair.

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  I looked around at the almost empty mall parking lot. The place looked barren. The mall, a huge building with a domed glass ceiling, was only a few dozen yards away. Easy to find a parking space in the middle of the day on a Monday.

  “You ready?” My mom asked, her voice shaking a little with contained laughter.

  “Right, yeah, ready.”

  We got out of the car and into the chilly air. It was February in California. The sky was completely covered in clouds, without the sun to warm anything the air felt like ice. I crossed my arms over my chest for warmth and waited for my mom to round the back of the car.

  We walked slowly toward the tremendous building, and my heart started to speed up. Within seconds, I could feel my chest tightening. The colors around me grew brighter, and the world started to slow down.

  “Honey, you know the mall is empty, right?”

  The words sounded distorted, like a video played at half speed. I looked up at my mother’s reassuring smile and nodded.

  “There are barely any cars, it’s Monday, it’s early. You’ll be fine, okay?”

  I forced the muscles in my face to approximate a smile before I turned my head toward the mall again. I knew she was right, but the thought of being in the middle of a packed mall was still torturing me.

  I didn’t do well in crowds. Everything seemed like a threat, even though nothing bad had ever happened to me. It was like my body went on high alert for no reason, an alarm would go off in my head saying danger could come from anywhere. I was sure the parking lot was somehow lying to me.

  Sure, most of the spaces were empty. There were only a couple dozen cars parked around us, all of them as close to the building as possible, each one shining with reflected light even though the sun was hidden from view. But, what if people walked to the mall? Yeah, it was just off the freeway, people would have to walk for miles to get there without a car. Still, it could happen.

  My heart beat faster with each step, until my mother finally pushed open the glass doors that led into a place I associated with hiding in a corner, terrified for no reason, and my brain on hyperdrive so everything moved in slow motion.

  My chest relaxed, my breathing slowed, and my heart stopped trying to break out of my ribs. The inside of the mall was just as empty as the parking lot. The smells of the pizza place and the cooking pretzels near the entrance hit me and suddenly my mouth was watering. Our footsteps echoed through the nearly silent building.

  There were a few people around, most of them walking slowly without looking up from their phones like they were zombies. It was early enough that my first thought was that these people needed coffee, but there were so few and so spread out that my body didn’t start freaking out. There was no crowd. I could relax.

  “Why are we here, again?” I asked, once I could breathe normally again.

  My mother sped up her pace, leading me past a bunch of stores I didn’t even bother to look into. Beside the place selling the pizza, none of them interested me in the least bit. The stores by the entrance all sold clothes and shoes. I was wearing faded jeans and sneakers that were practically falling apart. Fashion wasn’t exactly my thing.

  “Well...” my mother still had her gleaming smile on, but I could see the tension in her face. I thought I knew what was coming, but I hoped I was wrong.

  After a moment she put her hand on my shoulder and continued, “You remember that school I mentioned?”

  Ugh. I was right. I did not want to talk about the school again. A boarding school. I had never heard from my father, not once. But, when I was a baby, he somehow got my mother to agree that I go to some boarding school. Then, a week ago, a letter arrived and reminded my mother about the agreement.

  The weird thing was, she wouldn’t even let me see the letter. She wouldn’t even tell me the name of the school so I could be prepared for it. She
just said that I’d be going there soon.

  That was weird for a couple of reasons. It was the middle of the school year, for one. Also, she wouldn’t tell me how soon. I wasn’t sure if she just didn’t know when I would have to leave, or if she just didn’t want to tell me how soon it really was.

  “So, you took me to a mall to make the school seem better by comparison?” I asked.

  My mom laughed. “No, I just... There isn’t a lot I can do for you when you go. They make you wear uniforms, so buying you some new outfits wasn’t an option.”

  Like I would want new outfits anyway. I was wearing a plain black t-shirt. It went with all my other plain t-shirts. I wouldn’t have cared if I got new clothes.

  “And, I know you wanted that new gamestation,” she continued.

  “It’s called a ‘Playstation’ and it’s been out for years. They’re coming out with the new one at the end of the year,” I told her, trying to suppress a laugh.

  We had made it through the entrance and reached a large, circular room that split the mall into sections. My mother turned to the right and we headed down a section filled with toy stores and candy shops. Did she think buying me some chocolate would make sending me away to boarding school less terrible?

  “Right, that, but you wouldn’t have anything to hook it up to,” her smile got bigger.

  Not having a TV was not something I would have ever smiled about.

  “So, I thought you might like to take something else with you.”

  At that moment, my mother moved her hand from my shoulder to my back and turned me toward one of the stores. For a second, I thought she was aiming for the Gamestop and missed, it was the next store down.

  She had turned me to face a Best Buy Mobile. I hesitated for a second and then looked up at her with my brow raised. “You’re buying me a new phone?”

  “Nope,” she said. She sounded proud of herself. My phone was two years old, there were cracks around the edges because I dropped it a few times, that would’ve been a good gift. I knew she couldn’t afford that, though. What was she doing?

  She steered me into the store, past the greeter who waved at us as we walked in.

  I hated those people. I knew it was their job, but when I walked into a store it was probably because I already knew what I wanted. If I was unsure, I would’ve searched online before I left the house. I didn’t like strangers trying to talk to me when I was just trying to get in and out as fast as possible.

  My mom walked me past the displays of cell phones, and I was totally confused. I ignored all the stuff nearest us and tried to guess where we were going. There were cell phone cases on the wall directly ahead of us. It would be a pretty good gift, it would stop my phone from getting any more broken.

  Then, we stopped, we were only halfway to the phone cases.

  She gestured to the wall beside me, and I had to grab her arm for support so I wouldn’t fall over. My knees had gone weak. There was no way. She was pointing at a small section of laptops.

  “The letter said there’d be wi-fi. I had been saving up to try to buy you something nice anyway, so I thought this would be perfect for your games.”

  I looked back and forth between my mom and the wall of computers, not fully believing what was happening.

  I played a lot of online games, most stuff that didn’t need quick reaction time because my current laptop was so old and our internet was terrible. But, at a school, the connection would be better, probably. With a gaming laptop, I would be able to play real games.

  Then, I saw the price tags.

  I tried to keep the disappointment from my voice when I smiled up at my mother again.

  “That’s really nice, but you don’t have to do that. These things are super expensive.” If she couldn’t afford a new phone, there was no way she could afford the laptops that started at twelve hundred dollars.

  She pulled me into a one armed hug. “Listen, I’m buying you a laptop. You know I don’t know anything about these things, so if you don’t choose, you’re going to be stuck with whatever I pick out.”

  I couldn’t believe it. My chest swelled up like a balloon, I felt like I was being filled with sparkling, tingling light. A smile forced itself onto my face and I couldn’t make it go away.

  I spent at least fifteen minutes comparing all the different specs and shapes, testing out every display to make sure it fit my hands correctly and the screen wouldn’t be too big or too small. I had to have one with a backlit keyboard, obviously.

  Finally, I chose one that I thought was perfect, and I was so excited I didn’t even want to put it down for the cashier to scan.

  I insisted we put it in the trunk of the car, because my mother wanted to have lunch at the mall and I didn’t want to accidentally drop it.

  A half hour later, we were sitting in the food court on the second level of the mall. I had two pieces of pizza and she had a salad. Why anyone would ever eat a salad when pizza was readily available, I would never understand, but I let her have it without making fun of her even once. She had just bought me a laptop, she earned her rabbit meal.

  I was halfway into my second slice when my mother blew my mind.

  She had barely touched her salad, she was just moving around the plate of cold vegetables and lettuce. I should’ve noticed something was wrong, she hadn’t spoken in a couple of minutes. I was just so excited about the laptop I hadn’t paid any attention.

  “So, Alexis, I have something to tell you.”

  I slowly set my half eaten slice of pizza down. She had called me Alexis, that wasn’t a good sign. My name was Lexi, she only used “Alexis” when I was in trouble, or she had tried to get my attention and I hadn’t responded. Or there was bad news.

  She raised her eyes to me, and I waited to hear the rest. I couldn’t even guess at what was going on, her face was a mask of control. That wasn’t like her, either. My heart started speeding up, my breathing became shallower with every breath. My body had sensed danger again, and this time I believed it.

  “There’s something I should tell you... about your father.”

  Whoa. That wasn’t what I was expecting.

  My heart skipped a beat and then started slowing down. Crazy unexpected, but not scary. Just weird. We never talked about him. Why bring him up now?

  “Okay, what about him?”

  She started fidgeting, playing with her salad without even looking at it. She was usually so straight forward, I couldn’t think of what could possibly cause her to act this way.

  “He’s... kind of... important,” she finally managed to get out. Even that had looked like a struggle for her.

  “Like a movie star?” I asked with a grin. “Is my dad a politician?”

  My mother smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Not like that, he’s...”

  She took a deep breath, placed her hands on the table, and looked at me with determination. Whatever was going on, it was really hard for my mother to get out.

  “This school you’re going to, I haven’t told you everything. Like, most of the kids would have gotten there before they turned sixteen.”

  Sounded to me like she was making a big deal out of nothing. I had never been great in school. So what if I was a little behind when I got there? Also, was she saying that this school took new kids in all year round? Whatever this place was, it was weird.

  “And?” I asked, one of my eyebrows raised questioningly.

  “It’s because, people like... children of people like your father... It can be dangerous for them to come of age away from the school.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve got two years left. I’ve probably got some time,” I joked.

  My mom shook her head. “Actually, Sweetie, you d—”

  A blood-curdling scream tore through the food court, cutting my mother off mid-sentence. We both jumped and looked toward the source of the sound, and my heart kicked into overdrive.

  Running toward us, down the aisle of stores, was a woman with eyes so wide it
was amazing they didn’t pop out of her head. She had already lost one of her shoes and was hobbling toward us in an awkward jog. It would’ve looked funny, except for the thing behind her.

  I didn’t know if I had gone insane. I must have, because that thing looked like it was straight out of a horror movie.

  It was the size of a person, and almost looked like a woman. It had leathery skin and a disgustingly hideous face. It wore loose, brown cloth, draped over most of its body, probably because that was all that would fit over its humongous, grey, feathered wings.

  Its legs looked like they belonged to a chicken, and its arms ended in giant, three-fingered claws. Both of its arms were outstretched, reaching forward. Its eyes were bloodshot and looked murderous.

  I didn’t understand why the woman running from it was so scared. It looked horrible, but it obviously wasn’t coming for her. A second after I looked toward the scream, it was obvious the woman was safe. The bird-woman soared right over her as if she wasn’t there.

  It looked like it was headed toward me.

  Chapter 2

  “LEXI, RUN!”

  If only it was that easy. Everything was slowing down, my heart was racing, I could barely draw a breath.

  The thing was coming at me.

  The bird-woman moved through the air so fast that, even as everything else slowed down around me, I could barely keep her in focus. She was soaring through the air like she had been rocketed out of a cannon. And, there was no denying it, coming straight for me.

  “Die, godling!” the thing screeched.

  Its voice was high pitched, and sounded like it was coming from someone who smoked six packs a day for their entire life.

  I heard something beside me, and then saw something fly into the air and smack the creature right in the face just before it reached me. It took my mind a second to realize that it was the half eaten slice of pizza that had been on my plate.

  The bird-woman crashed into the tables only a few feet from us, the pizza completely obstructing her vision.

  I looked up to see my mom standing beside me. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. Next thing I knew, we were bolting across the mall, stores whizzing by us. I could still hear the screech of the bird-thing behind us, but I couldn’t get my mind to accept that it was actually happening. All I could think about was the fact that my mother had totally wasted the last of my pizza.