Chapter 3 Fours the charm Make up, costume, cameras

I walked back into the armory and jumped as the door slammed closed behind me with a loud thump. The room was dark now, only lit by a few torches hanging on the walls, adding to the medieval look of the room. A musty dirt smell filled the air in the room, as if it was an old cellar deep under ground.

And quiet, eerily quiet.

I still didn't know what Coach meant by the weapon calling to me, so I began to wonder along the walls, admiring the weapons as I passed them, picking up a staff or a bow here and there to see the artwork etched into each of them.

Suddenly, a I heard my name whispered from the darkest part of the room. A shiver ran up my back but not from fear, rather, anticipation rushing thru me, as if my body knew something big was about to happen. The whispered voice called out to me again.

"Hadria.....Hadie..." the voice repeated in a soft hushed voiced, it was many ants one. Old yet young, feminine then masculine, changing with each syllable.

My feet moved on their own, following the call into the darkest shadows of the room. The voice growing louder closer with each step.

As I reached the darkest corner of the room the voices sounded as if they were right in front of me. A a torch lit itself above my head, startling me as it lit the darkened corner to reveal a set of weapons on a dusty table. The weapons themselves looked both old and new, untouched by time without a speck of dust on them. Gleaming in the torch light, as if they had been recently polished.

A broad sword with a white gold hilt, a matching pair of daggers with sharp pointed tips, a black leather whip with silver embroidery in the handle and a short bow with silver tipped arrows. All items calling out to me in unison, begging me to pick them up and claim them as my own.

The moment my hand touched the hilt of the sword I felt a wave of power wash over me as its voice rejoiced. The sword was sheathed, attached to a belt that I promptly put on, the sword handing off my hip felt as if it had always belonged there. As if a small piece of myself had been reattached to my body. I then reached for the dagger and the whip, the same reaction washing over me as I attached them to the belt. Finally I took the short bow and the arrows and put them over my shoulder. With all weapons secured to my body, I felt as if I was whole. A feeling I never knew I was lacking until this moment.

Turning away from the table and sensed the darkness wash back over the area as I made my way back towards the door to the field house. The room was silent again, the way it had been before. Only a content vibration was felt from my weapons as they were purring, content and pleased with being united to me. As if they had been waiting for centuries for me to come for them.

Returning to the field house I discovered the class had already broken into areas of their training. Athena stood with a long bow, aiming at targets. Evander and Alaric each with sword in hand, sparred at a far corner of the field house as other gods with swords watched with cheers as the two swords clashed.

I spotted Coach Mars working with a boy who was throwing daggers at a practice dummy and made my way to her.

At first the field house was filled with noises of clanking swords, arrows releasing from bows, thunks of dummies being hit with daggers or staffs, but as I moved toward Coach Mars, hushed whispers began to replace the sounds of combat. Coach Mars, no doubt noticing the change in the air, looked around and froze as her eyes fell on me. By the time I reached her, she was looking me up and down with pure shock, followed quickly by excitement and interest.

"Well, this is a very pleasant surprise. I've never seen a student with four chosen weapons in all my times here. Let alone one chosen by weapons forged in the fires of the deepest pits of the underworld. Those weapons were created by a god named Tenebris thousands of years ago." She regarded my weapons with a smile. "He claimed they would be wielded by his queen. Of course, he is long gone now, killed by his wife when she was unable to lay claim to the weapons, she saw it as a sign of him being unfaithful to her and she was a very vengeful goddess." Coach chuckled as she pointed to a dummy a yard away. "Go practice with each of your weapons on your own for now. I will get you the full history book on the weapons before you leave class today. It's important to know the history so you can properly wield them, but for now I want you to get a good feel of them in your hands."

I nodded and made my way to the dummy as I heard Alaric and Evander begin to bicker over their bet. Chuckling as I heard Athena call out to them to just shut up and keep their money.

I decided to work with the whip first since it began to hum loudest, as if begging to be used first. I pulled it from my belt and whipped it out with a loud clap before intuitively spinning on my heels and flicking my whip at the dummy. The whip wrapped around the dummy's neck tightly and with a quick pull I uprooted the dummy up from the ground.

"You get one of those Hadria! Don't tear up my field!" Coach Mars yelled at me as I began rolling my whip back up.

"I'm sorry!" I called back, running over to the dummy and planting it back in the ground, stomping around the ground with my foot to pack the dirt back down. Then with a little spark of my life force, I attempted to regrow the grass, only to end up growing all the grass around me two feet high and receiving a frustrated growl from Coach Mars as she told me no outside gifts in her class.

After a few more minutes of me working with my weapons on my own aiming and throwing my daggers, Coach made it over to me and frowning at the over grown grass surrounding me. "You're going to stay after class and mow this shit." She told me with narrowed eyes. "Now then, let me see you with that broad sword."

I put my daggers away, pulling my sword from its sheath, it's weight not too heavy but not too light in my hand. I took a fighting stance like in combat class and held my sword in front of me before swinging it at the dummy.

"Stop, you're going to pull your arm from the socket like that! It's not a damn hammer and nails. Both hands like this." She put my hands on the hilt, showing me how to hold it. "Listen to the sword like you were doing with the whip and daggers. It will tell you how to move it more effectively. Once you learn more about your weapons you will be able to wield them without even thinking. They are an extension of your soul."

Following her instructions, after about ten tries she finally had me switch to the bow to work on target practice. I managed to adapt quickly to the bow and arrow much easier than the other weapons. I hitting bullseyes and near bullseyes the entire rest of the class time, bringing some actual praise from Coach Mars as she watched and told me that I would be in the Weaponry Meet for archery.

She dismissed the class, showing me how to store my weapons inside me. It was an odd concept at first but after I felt the sensation of the weapons joining my body I recognized it as similar to when I pull my life force into plants to help them grow. She had me practice summoning and dismissing each weapon myself before showing me the old push mower and pointing to the grass that I had grown, telling me to clean it up before heading to my dorm.

I groaned as I got to work on the grass and watched as Coach Mars began to run around the track again like she had been doing before class. It took me about thirty minutes to get the area mowed back down and I cursed at myself for over doing it again. I didn't understand why so much came from such a small piece of myself. Putting the mower away, I waved to Coach to come check the length so she could dismiss me.

She jogged over to me and pulled out her own dagger, measuring the grass with it. Looking between me and her dagger she finally nodded and dismissed me for the day.

"That book of your weapons history is on your desk, grab it and have it read by next class." She instructed me, taking off to continue her run.

'How many laps does she run here?' I thought as I grabbed the book. Rushing back through the armory and out to the hallways, I bumped into a broad chest and fell back onto my ass.

"You good Little Warrior?" Evander chuckled as he reached down to help me up. "I guess I win, that's me knocking you on your ass one more time that you did me."

"I'm good. And I think I knocked myself on my ass. I didn't see you there. Were you waiting for me?" I asked before spotting the gorgeous goddess standing beside him.

"Why would he be waiting for you?" She scoffed, hugging onto his arm. "He was about to show me his sword."

I grimaced at the way she said sword seductively and resisted the urge to gag. "My mistake." I said, moving around them to head to my dorm with the hopes of a shower and nap before Tamera would come for me for the photoshoot.

"Actually, I was waiting for you. Anne here just showed up." Evander stated, pulling his arm from her grasp. "I wanted to hear about your weapons. I've never seen anyone with three, much less four weapons. Not even my parents have more than two weapons."

I saw Anne huff as she tried to grab at Evander's arm again just as he reached for the history book in my arm. She didn't seem to let that deter her as she followed along with us towards the courtyard in the direction of the houses.

"Damn, I've heard of Tenebris! His wife killed him because the weapons he forged wouldn't accept her as their partner. Weapons only accept one god or goddess in all eternity, but since he claimed to have forged them for his queen it was assumed he meant his true love. Crazy, guess you are his queen then." He teased, nudging my arm playfully.

"Yeah, sure." I chuckled rolling my eyes.

Anne seemed to take that as her invitation into the conversation and giggled. "She doesn't even look like a queen Vandy, don't tease her like that it's mean."

I tried to follow Evander's lead and ignore her but her comment still irritated me. "Well, I better get back to my dorm. Tamera will be getting me for this thing tonight and I need to shower and rest up first."

Evander tilted his head, "Tamera? Tamera Inse?" He asked.

"Yeah..."

"She's my cousin! I should have known you would be friends with her. I just wasn't sure with how Lily seemed to not like you. I know she is part of their little clique."

I let out a sigh, "Yeah, I'm not sure what I did to Lily to make her not like me so much. Ally says she will be fine after a few days, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, I'll catch you later." I tell him. Anne taking the opportunity to grab his arm after he gave me back my book, pressing her boobs against him and wiggling as she begged him to show her his sword and pulling him towards the Love and Beauty House.

I didn't watch for them to go into the Love and Beauty House, quickly entering the Fertility House and rushing up to my room ready to shower off the sweat and itchy grass cuttings from my body.

I hopped in the shower after locking my door and dropping my book bag and the book of my weapons on my desk next to the door. The warm water relaxing my body and the itchy feel went away as I scrubbed myself down with a sudsy loofa. The sent of lavender filled the air from my soap and added to my relaxed mind.

I got out of the shower and dried myself off, scrunching my hair in a towel that Tamera had given me last night stating it was specifically made for drying hair. Once dried off, I threw my hair up into a bun and dressed myself in some leggings and a baggy tee shirt, grabbing the book Coach gave me before collapsing into my bed to begin reading it.

The opening page was all about the god who created the weapons. He was a war and death god and had resided in the deepest parts of the underworld with his wife Deidamia, a powerful goddess of darkness and war. Like both Evander and Coach had stated, she was unable to wield the weapons her husband had forged for is queen and became enraged that he must have made them for another woman. She then took her spear and ran it through his back. As he lay dying he had whispered his final words, claiming his faithfulness to his wife but the last of his final words had been incoherent as blood filled his lungs.

I shivered at the description of my weapons beginnings. Their first day had been blood filled yet they had not drawn a single drop of it. I read on and learned that the goddess sent the weapons away, demanding they never see the light of day, but somehow they appeared in the Overworld world in the armory of a Creation God who had no recollection of acquiring the weapons.

After twenty years in his possession, and still no deity to claim them, the weapons were sold off to other gods, in hopes that in their realms the wielder of one of the weapons would be found. Only, the weapons never made it to the other god and were all lost for another forty years before resurfacing in the armory of a goddess of war.

This history seemed to repeat over and over until the weapons were eventually kept as a set and donated to Deitus Academy seventeen years ago. I skimmed over the other appearances and disappearances of the weapons over the centuries and wondered what the pattern of their return and disappearances could be, or why they had chosen me to be there wielder. I was certainly no queen of the underworld, especially not the queen of a century long dead god.

My studying was quickly interrupted by a knock on my door and a singsong voice of Tamera telling me to open up. I groaned, dreading the photoshoot she was about to drag me to but rolled off my bed and opened the door.

Tamera stood there, her own hair up, wrapped in a scarf and her face bare of make up. She was dressed in sweat pants and a tee shirt and I perked up thinking that maybe the photoshoot was canceled.

"Good! I was worried you would have tried to dress up. Let's go. The car is in the front waiting for us." Tamera said with a smile.

"What? But you aren't...huh?" I stuttered.

"Oh my deitus, did you think that we weren't going because I'm not dressed like I'm heading to a photoshoot?" She laughed, grabbing my bag for me and pulling me out the door. "Girl, they dress you, do your hair and make up the way they want it. You have to go as a blank canvas and thats what I am."

She handed me my bag and I made sure my tablet and keys were inside as she pulled me along. She kept us at a quick pace, bringing us to the front of the academy where three black SUVs were parked. I noticed Anne standing beside one of the SUVs laughing with another goddess from the House of Love and Beauty. Avoiding her line of sight as I followed Tamera to the first vehicle in the line and she greeted the other girl standing there.

"Hey Aine, this is Hadie, she is the new goddess on campus." Tamera introduced me. "Hadie, this Aine, she is the Prefect for the House of Love and Beauty so you probably saw her at your ceremony before you were assigned to Fertility House. She's also the most perfect girlfriend and cuddled." Tamera introduced, kissing Aine on her nose.

I smiled at the tall red head who smiled warmly back. "Hey Hadie, how are you doing? Settling into the school life okay? I was so happy to hear Tammy say she was bringing you along. This photoshoot will be a perfect way to introduce you to the world as the goddess you are!"

I felt my eyes widen, "Wait, I'm not just going to watch?"

Tamera chuckled. "Not likely, you are too pretty to sit on the side lines. I told you, you need the confidence boost and you will get it tonight."

As we turned to the SUV I heard a scoff from behind me.

"What is she doing here? This is for Beauty Goddesses only."

I turned around, finding Anne glaring at me with her hands on her hips. She turned to Aine and raised an eyebrow. "Are you seriously allowing Tamera to bring her little fertility war goddess friend? That's nepotism."

Aine let out an annoyed sigh. "Anne, Hadie is not only a fertility war goddess. She is also a Love and Beauty Goddess. As well as a death goddess, and even a creator goddess. She marks all the boxes and as she is a new goddess of beauty is only fitting she be included in this photoshoot. It has all ready been discussed with Lana and the photographer that she be the centerfold of this shoot."

I feel my eyes bulge at that statement and at the same time as Anne I cry out. "Centerfold?!"

Tamera laughed and pulled me into the SUV with her as Aine followed after us, shutting the door on Anne. "I hate that girl." Aine whispers as she shooed her away from the window with a smile.

"Centerfold??" I repeat with a panic.

"Don't worry, we aren't talking playboy." Tamera assured me. "You will be fully dressed, but you will get the main slot and have an interview. Just some questions to introduce you to the world as a goddess. Normally we don't do this for new goddesses but since we don't know your bloodline, no one knows who you are. Where as we all come from bloodlines and have been in the lime light all our lives."

Aine nodded. "Don't worry, just have fun. And ignore Anne. She is very jealous and shallow, even for a beauty goddess." She reassured me patting my hand.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and felt my palms begin to sweat. How would the public eye react to learning that a goddess had been raised in the human foster care system? How would that look? Gods were all portrayed as being perfect, and when they weren't the media crucified them for it. Would I be made out as a victim, or would they view me as trash and unworthy of being a goddess.

My thoughts ran wild as my anxiety rose, rising it higher as my thoughts continued. As if sensing my fears, Tamera took my hand and squeezed it taking my attention off my thoughts and towards her smiling face.

"Its going to be okay, Aine and I will be with you every step of the way."

I nod and realize we are pulling into a large underground garage attached to an even larger white stoned building. The SUV driver flashed security a badge and the yellow and white bars blocking the entrance drop down into the floor allowing us entry. I watch as he drive down to the lowest level of the garage, again coming across security, flashing the badge and another set of bars sink into the ground.

The SUVs pull up in front of a set of elevators and more security stood guard as a petite woman in a black pantsuit and a clip board in hand opened our door and greeted us.

"Welcome Goddesses. I'm Rachelle, I'll be assisting you with the itinerary of todays shoot. We are running a bit late so please follow me this way and we will get you all to hair and make up." She said in a fast and perky voice.

I noticed the other SUVs pulling up behind ours and a second woman with a clipboard approaching them and giving them a similar run down.

"So, does each SUV have their own umm assistant?" I asked Tamera quietly.

"Oh no, Janet will be taking everyone else. Since you are the centerfold, you three get me." Rachelle chimed in swishing her blonde bob around as she led us at a fast pace to the nearest elevator. "Right this way." She gestured for us to enter the elevator and once we were all in she put a key in the elevator and hit the top button marked penthouse.

I let out a groan when I realized we were five floors underground and going to the tenth floor of the building above ground. Tamera chuckled and Rachelle looked at me with concern. I smiled at her in what I hope was a reassuring smile that she returned before going into our full schedule for the evenings photoshoot.

"So first we will get you ready, the editor wants a shot of you with the setting sun first. Then we will conduct the interview while the others do their own shoots. After that we will do a couple more shots of you and the night sky before we call it for the evening." She explained to me before turning to Aine and Tamera, instructing them on their schedule. "At the very end, they want a full group shot showing you all embracing Hadria as your sister goddess."

Aine and Tamera exchange a smile as they both nod. "Any props? What is the look that the editors and photographer are looking for?" Aine asked in a professional tone.

"We have some giant make up props, flowers, cupid arrows and bows. The usual. However since Hadria is also a goddess of..." she paused, looking at her clip board. "Oh wow, she's a goddess of a lot. Well we were wanting to add a prop for each of her gifts. Fertility can be the usual flowers, love and beauty... we have some flowers shaped like hearts. Goddess do you have your weapon on you, I'm told war deities have weapons?" She asked looking around at me expectantly.

"Um, I have them..."

"Them? More than one? That could make for a cool shot. How many do you have?"

Aine and Tamera look at me expectantly as I twiddle my thumbs nervously. "I um, I have four weapons." I state, gaining surprised looks from both the other goddesses and an excited expression from Rachelle as she pulled her phone out and began to type out a message excitedly.

"Oh, yes, we will showcase you with all of them. This is perfect, and with the setting sun behind you it will look epic. And then in the interview you can talk about your weapons history. People eat that stuff up with war deities." She stated excitedly as she continued to send messages on her phone. At the sound of a message received she looked up at me with an even bigger smile than before. "The editor is all for it. They said to have your weapons in both the sun set shoot and the night shoot."

The Elevator dinged as we reached the top floor and were bombarded with people ushering us out and into a room with three salon chairs and tables full of hair and make up items.

Rachelle followed in behind us with her phone to her ear talking to someone about our costumes and telling them I need something to accommodate weapons. I tried to look around but the guy who began to do my make up told me firmly to sit still while he began to put stuff all over my face.

"Some moisturizing primer." He explained as he applied it before picking up another product and applying it to my eye lids. "Eye primer."

As he worked on my make up, another person was working on my hair, spraying product on it and brushing it through evenly as they heated up a curling wand. It felt so odd to have all this done to me. I had never really been that big on doing my hair and make up. I wasn't even that good at it.

I followed instructions of the guy doing my make up as he told me to open or close my eyes and to pout my lips. I wasn't sure what exactly that meant but I must have done it because he didn't say anything as he began to line my lips with a pencil before filling it in with some liquid lipstick.

"We ready? They want her on the roof before the sun is gone." Rachelle asked, appearing in front of me. Hair and make up backed up from me and nodded to Rachelle in answer. Before I could even look at myself in the mirror behind me Rachelle was leading me quickly to the door and up some metal, industrial style stairs to the roof. I barely noticed the other goddesses in the living room space getting ready with their own hair and make up teams. I did unfortunately notice Anne glaring at me, not real shocker.

On the roof was a ton of costumes and a sheet blocking off an area I assumed was meant to be the changing room. Rachelle led me over to the Photographer who gave me a once over before calling out a number to the lady next to the costumes.

She pulled a hanger and grabbed me, pushing me behind the sheet, telling me to undress and put the costume on.

It was a two piece, with a haltered corset and a long peasant skirt. White and covered in pearls around the waist band and the bodice. The lady helped me into it without messing up my hair and make up then handed me a pair of lace up sandals, helping me lace them up perfectly.

When she led me back to the photographer, he again gave me a once over before nodding approval and asking me about my weapons. I let out a breath and summoned them like I had practiced in class earlier.

"Oh yes! Let's see you hold that sword over here on the edge," the photographer instructed me as Rachelle led me to the spot they wanted me on. "Yes! Like that! Show me a fierce look. I just stole your man but you know you can smit me with ease. Let me have it!" The photographer called out.

I gave them my best version of what I figured they wanted and it seemed to be working as they cheered me on and praised my expression.

"Yes, perfect Goddess. Now show me that whip. I've been bad, you need to punish me. Show me the true meaning of being a Goddess of love and war. Give it to me." They called out to me. "Perfect! Beautiful! Amber! Thirteen!"

At the call of another number the costume lady rushed to me and pulled me back to the sheet and handed me another costume. This one looks like something from the old Xena show I remember some of the girls at the group home watching when we got TV privileges.

The shoot went on like that until the sun was fully behind the horizon and I was led back down the metal stairs and into a den where a lady and a camera sat waiting. An empty chair across from her.

"Hello, Goddess Hadria? I'm Natasha, and I'll be doing the interview with you tonight. Go ahead and have a seat here. Can we get you anything? Water? Sparkling or flat?"

"Oh, just plain ole water I guess." I reply, sitting in the chair. As I sat, another girl with a headset on gave me a water bottle before ducking behind the camera.

"Okay, we are going to get started now. In five, four, three, two..." The girl pointed to us silently and the red light on the camera lit up.

"So Hadria Blake, I'm told you are an anomaly. While most gods today are either one or two specialties, you are a deity of all. What exactly is your blood line? I've never heard of the Blake line." Natasha gets right into it.

I sip my water and nod. "I actually don't know my bloodline. I grew up in foster care and was given the name Blake. When I was found all I had was a white gown with the name Hadria stitched into it. I was only a few weeks old at most and from what I was told by my case worker, they searched for any family to claim me for months before giving up."

"Oh wow! And this was where?"

"Wichita, Kansas."

"And how was it growing up in a foster care? Did you have good foster parents? Were you treated well?"

"So, I was in a few different homes. They tried to adopt me but something always happened that prevented it. At about thirteen there was a shortage of foster families and I was placed in a group home with other girls. It was only supposed to be there till a new family was available to take me in, but I ended up there until Professor Malachi came and brought me to Deitus Academy just a few days ago."

"That is terrible. What would you have to say about the foster system then?"

"If you have the means and the patience and the heart, apply to be a foster parent. There are so many kids who need a safe place to call home. And if you can, adopt and make the home permanent. I know that a few of my foster parents wanted to adopt me. I just wish that what ever stopped them hadn't so that I could have had that stability."

"That is beautiful Hadria. Now, I saw in your photoshoot that you have some weapons. What can you tell us about them?"

The interview went on for about two hours. I explained the history of my weapons and was met with inquiries of if I had any intentions of visiting the underworld since my weapons came from there. I didn't exactly know how to answer that question, so I simply stated that I only had plans to study and learn how to properly and safely use my gifts to better the world.

After my interview was complete, I was lead out to the balcony where the photographer had relocated and did my best with the second portion of my shoot with the night sky. Once I was done I was exhausted and ready to get back to school and just sleep, grateful that it was a Friday and there would be no classes in the morning.

"You did so good!" Tamera told me as we filed into the elevator with Aine and Rachelle. Rachelle was on her phone again, tapping away at messages before she smiled at us.

"So the photographer was so pleased with the shoot. The editor saw the shots and is excited. The interview went well and the whole foster care thing, GOLD. We are already talking to your publicist about doing a fundraiser in your name for the foster system."

"A fundraiser?" I asked confused.

"We do them sometimes. Don't worry, all they want is for you to show up. You may have some rich people ask you some questions and fawn over you just to say they met with a goddess. If I can't come with you, I'm sure Chloe or Candy can. That or Ally and Lily, they do fundraisers all the time with their mom and dads." Tamera explained.

All of this was so new to me and I felt like it all was just being thrown at me. I never realized how much publicity deities went through. Then again, maybe I should have realized it given how often I've seen them in the news.

When we reached the school, I followed through with my desire of going to bed. I didn't even bother to wash the make up off my face before falling face first into my pillow. I was asleep before I knew it.