Goddess Boot Camp

forward and places his hands on my shoulders. For your own protection, you need to have complete mastery over your powers. Even in the face of emotional upheaval.'

'Oh.' I guess that makes sense. Nothing could shake me up more than anything to do with Dad. If I can control my powers in the midst of all that, then I can control them in any situation.

But does that mean it was nothing more than an emotional distraction?

I shake my head in disbelief. 'So this was all some kind of mind game,' I say, a wave of really uncomfortable emotion welling in my chest. 'There never was anything new in my dad's trial record, was there?'

'On the contrary,' Damian says, clasping his hands together in his very formal way. There are many things in the transcripts you may wish to see.'

So there really is something in the record. And he really is going to let me see it. I'm about to ask what it says when Damian steps sideways into the darkest shadows.

'But no one must see what I am about to show you, so you must send your friends away,' he says, his voice a low whisper. When I look at him like he's crazy-I'm here alone, aren't I?-he adds, 'A pair of them are about to burst through the far doors, and a third has been watching you from the second story chemistry classroom since shortly after you arrived.'

I scowl up at the classroom window. That would be Griffin, I'm sure of it. Stalking out into the moonlight, I look directly into what I know are his bright blue eyes-just so he knows I know-and point toward the Academy entrance. I sense his hesitation and then a shadow finally moves across the darkened window and I know he's gone. Probably to go wait on the front steps.

Then, before I can even turn back to see if Damian is impressed, the far doors fling open and Troy and Urian come racing into the courtyard.

'We've got it,' Troy shouts.

'My computer finished its search,' Urian says, holding up a computer printout and looking extremely proud of his gecky self. 'We figured out who sent the e-mail.'

'Yeah,' Troy gasps, skidding to a stop in front of me. 'it's-'

'Damian,' I say, bursting his bubble. 'I know.'

Urian drops his jaw. 'How?'

I jerk back over my shoulder. Footsteps echo across the courtyard and I know Damian has stepped out of the shadows.

Troy-who is always kind of a chicken when it comes to authority figures-blanches. 'Um, ah, Headmaster Petrolas,' he stammers. 'I thought, um, you were in er, Thailand.'

Damian takes two steps toward Troy, who is practically shaking, and says, 'I am.' in his best headmaster tone.

Troy looks too scared to speak.

'Yes, sir,' Urian says, grabbing Troy by the wrist and dragging him backward across the courtyard. 'You were never here. We never saw you.'

Damian smiles and gives me a quick wink.

'On your way out,' he says, before they disappear through the doors, 'see to it that Mr. Blake remains at a safe distance.'

Urian actually salutes and then pushes Troy through the doors.

I squint at Damian. 'You enjoy inciting fear, don't you?'

He gives me an innocent look-which is probably where Stella learned it-and says, 'It does seem to help keep the peace.'

Damian definitely has hidden depths. Who would have imagined he would send me anonymous notes and e-mails and autoporthimself all the way from Thailand just to… Wait. I'm not sure what he's really doing here.

'Hey, so why did you-'

'I thought you would never ask,' he says with a mischievous grin.

Who is this guy, and what has he done with my stuffed-shirt stepdad?

'Follow me.'

I do follow him. All the way to the center of the courtyard, he stops on the mosaic, one oxford-clad foot on either side of Plato's head.

'What I am about to show you,' he says, sounding more and more into the whole spy game with every word, 'you can never tell another soul. None know and none canknow.'

'You're not talking about the secret archives, are you?' I ask, remembering Mrs. Philipoulos' similar warning to me and Nicole. 'Because honestly, everyone already knows about that.'

'No,' he says, squatting down and placing his hand on Plato's nose. 'I am not speaking of the archives.' He presses on one of the mosaic tiles, no bigger than a half-inch square, which slides down about an inch. 'I am speaking of this.'

'Of wh-'

Before I can finish my question, the ground beneath my feet starts shaking. All the tiny tiles in the mosaic quiver back and forth. My California-bred instincts kick in and my first thought is, Earthquake! Does Greece have earthquakes? Maybe it's a volcanic eruption, or tsunami, or-

'I suggest you take two steps back,' Damian says, calm as can be. 'Unless you wish to end up at the base of a very long staircase.'

For half a second, I'm frozen in confusion. What is going on? Isn't this a natural disaster? What staircase?

Then, as Damian's smug look turns to concern, I heed his warning and take a giant leap back. Just as the mosaic beneath my feet drops. It falls in a series of thunks, leaving a steplike ledge with each crash. I feel like I'm in one of those Hollywood secret passages, where the movie hero pulls the gargoyle's head and a stone staircase appears in the floor.

'What the-'

'We must hurry,' Damian says, stepping onto the first ledge and waving at me to follow. 'The stairway will only remain open for a short time. And I need to return to your mother before she discovers I am gone.'

As he moves down the stairs, I hesitate. This is so weird. I can't count the number of times I've been in this courtyard and never thought twice about this mosaic. And all the time it was a secret entrance to-

'Phoebe,' Damian shouts up from the bowels of the Academy. 'We do not wish to be caught below when the stairway closes. I assure you it is not a pleasant experience.'

Throwing my worries and wonders to the wind, I hurry down after him.

Chapter 11

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PHOTOMORPHOSIS

SOURCE: APOLLO

The ability to control light and fire. Most common expression consists of

bringing light into an area of darkness (ie: a case or basement).