Chapter 6 What do death deities do

I had spent the entire Sunday in my room sleeping. The only time I wasn't sleeping was when Ally or Chloe would pop in with some food for me, insisting that eating would help my hangover. The greasier the better, they said.

Come Monday I was still not 100% but I was at least functioning. And Monday was my first day of Death Deity classes. I had caught a glimpse of the death house the other day heading to the arena.

It was surrounded by death, no living plant grew within its yard and the building was made of black stone resembling a dark temple. It was a complete contrast to the rest of the light stone colored buildings that made up the campus.

At breakfast Ally volunteered Lily to show me to my classes for the day, and judging by Lily's reaction, she wasn't a happy about it. However, she agreed to do so, making sure to tell me on the way to our first class that it was only because her sister asked her.

First class of the day was actually a psychology based class. Grief Stages 101. We were instructed on understanding the different stages of grief and how to help a person through it. I was so fascinated, learning that a death deities job was more than simply bringing death to ones door, but they helped people with their grief. Be they the dead themselves, grieving the loss of their life cut short; or loved ones of the dead, grieving the loss of family or friend.

I took notes and listened carefully as I sat alone since Lily went to sit at a desk surrounded by other students, clearly not wanting me to sit anywhere near her. Despite being alone, I found myself favoring this class the most so far out of all my classes, even Malachi's.

Moving to the next class with Lily walking a few steps ahead of me, I checked my phone, finding text messages from Alex asking me how my day was going. I smiled, replying to him about my new fascination with grief, and laughed when he replied, teasing me that I sounded like a full fledge death goddess.

Lily looked back at me with a scowl, hearing my laugh then pointed to the arena. "We get the arena today for our class. The war gods allow us to use the arena when needed." She explained to me when I frowned, looking at my schedule. "Next week we will be back in the class room."

I followed her into the locker room where she walked straight through to the arena. I looked around, for a moment before jogging after her and found the other gods and goddesses already in the arena and in their regular uniforms just like Lily. I caught up to her, despite her sour expression as I stood beside her.

"What do you do here? I thought this was Death Magic class." I asked, confused.

"Necromancy practice." Lily answered, giving me no other information as she walked away from me again.

The few other students near me sneered at me, following Lily like lost puppies, leaving me to stand off alone. I was incredibly aware that I had no friends in this course as they all stood tightly together around Lily as if she were their queen. She doesn't like me, therefore they don't like me either.

The professor arrived accompanied by two large men with vacant looks dragging wooden crates behind her. The professor wore all black and had the face of someone who has never seen the light of day. Her henchmen were no better off, dark circles under their glassy eyes.

"Hello dears." She greeted, pointing for her henchmen to set the crates next to her. "Who is ready for some Necromancy practice?"

I had heard of necromancy before, some of the girls in my group home believed they were witches and had spell books, one of their favorites had been a necromancy book. One night they tried to sneak out, it had been on Halloween. Their intentions were to go to the cemetery and raise the dead to do their bidding. What they wanted them to do exactly, I never knew.

Most of the class cheered, excited for the practice while I stood off to the side, hugging myself as my nerves began to itch. I wasn't even certain I could perform death magic, much less necromancy. I wasn't sure I would even be able to participate.

So consumed in my own worries, I didn't notice the professor's henchmen sniffing around me, coming closer, not until they were right beside me, sniffing my hair and neck. Letting out a shriek, I drew everyone attention to me.

"Max, Brutus! Heel boys." Professor called out to the two men as if they were her pets and they hesitantly obeyed, giving me a longing look as they returned to the professors side. "Sorry about that dear. You are our new goddess correct? Max and Brutus have far better manners than what you saw, I promise."

She turned back to the class, a few students snickering at my expense, then. asking who would like to go first. Lily stepped forward.

I watched closely to try and understand how this would work, Lily stood with her eyes closed like she did in Horticulture class to bring life to the plants. As she slowly opened her eyes one of the crates began to shake violently. My eyes widened, the crate bursting open and skeletal remains began climbing out the stench of decay following them.

As they pulled themselves free, I watched in horror as organs began to form around the creatures. The bloody show continued as muscles and veins took form around the organs, the scent of decay still ripe, but fading. When the remains stood before Lily they bowed to one knees, strips of skin hanging off their form, covering the bloody sight of their exposed muscles.

I stared at the real life zombie before me. Doing my best not to show how utterly terrifying they appeared and how freaked I felt by it.

"Beautifully done Lily!" The professor called out.

"Thank you Professor Moore." Lily replied, with a smile.

"Now, I know it's intimidating going after such a perfect performance," Professor Moore continued with a smile at Lily, "but all do need to practice. Who is next?"

I watched as the other students stepped forward, each raising the remains again and again, but none of their remains had as much meat on them as Lily's had. Some managed to get some organs, but most remained as skeletal remains.

At least until one of the male students stepped forward, he black hair and slate eyes hooded by thick brows. I admired his looks but then when he raised his remains I admired how close his power. His creatures had full muscles but none of the skin like Lily's had. They were bloody and gruesome looking, making my stomach churn at the sight of them but they miraculously had none of the decay stench.

As if sensing me, he turned his gaze both hot and cold. His eyes boring into my own, lighting a fire at my core. I wanted him on a level I had never felt before. For a second I thought I saw the same desire burn in his eyes before they turned completely cold, turning away from me. I watched him release his power of the creatures, dropping them to the ground as a pile of bones. The flesh retreated before the skull hit the red dirt of the arena.

Professor Moore praised him then looked around the class before landed her gaze on me. "Well, I know this is your first class with us, but let us see what you can do and we will build from there." She instructed, beckoning me with her finger.

Taking a deep breath I stepped past the other students, all their eyes on me as they whispered and giggled back and forth. I caught Lily's cold gaze before she rolled her eyes and looked away to talk to the girl beside her.

"So, I imagine you have learned by now how to pull on your magic and share it with other living things?" I nodded, my eyes on the remains before me. "Good, this is essentially the same thing, only these bones are no longer living. Not on their own. Just pour a small amount of her life force to them with your magic. Not too much, don't want to hurt yourself."

I nodded again, recognizing the same warning I received in my horticulture class. Closing my eyes I focused on the bones before me, reaching into my power and pulling a small bit from it, aiming it towards the remains. I could sense the, asking my intentions and replying to give them life in exchange for their loyalty to me. The last part was pure instinct taking over. The dark voice in my head telling me that that is what I needed to do for this magic.

When I opened my eyes, I watched the remains begin to rise up, bones snapping together, tissue began to form organs, ligaments and muscles forming around the frame and nerves and veins spidering through the tissue. From the other crates, more remains began doing the same. The creatures growled, now having vocal cords. Eyes with irises as red as blood formed in their sockets and skin began to cover the muscles and veins, followed by full heads of hair. When I was finished, two women and three men stood before me. Each bowing deeply to me as they used their own voices to vow allegiance to me.

"What in the world.... Miss Hadria I told you not to over do it!" Professor Moore cried out, rushing to me and inspecting me as Zohra had done when I grew the tree.

I heard murmurs from the class behind me turning to find the shocked eyes of Lily staring at me from the center of the group, as they all looked between her to me, disbelief and confusion in their gazes.

My creatures moved closer to me as Professor Moore pawed me scolding me like a disobedient child. I held a hand to them to keep them from approaching, another mere instinctual move. I sighed with relief as they obeyed, keeping those blood eyes locked on my professor.

The professor turned to my creatures letting out a sigh of her own. "They are undead now. I don't know how you are still standing my dear, but these creatures were given enough life-force from you that they won't return to the other side for centuries now. I'll be needing new cadaver donations I suppose. Come along creatures, you will be needing blood."

The creatures didn't move, their gazes turning to me expectantly. I glanced between them and Professor Moore as she tried whistling at them like they were dogs. Watching her, realization set in at what Max and Brutus were. They were undead, but they didn't look as well as my creatures. My creatures had intelligence in their eyes, where as Max and Brutus had nothing in theirs. Just a dull, vacant look. My creatures were also beautiful, the kind of beauty that warns you of their danger.

'What is your command my queen.' Came a voice in my mind startling me for a moment before realizing it was the larger male amongst my creatures. His gaze locked with mine, respect and devotion in his eyes.

'Um, follow what she says, go get what you need and follow her commands for now.' I thought back, hoping I was sending the message properly.

I got my answer immediately as my creatures bowed before finally following Professor Moore who was patting her legs and speaking to them in a high pitched baby voice. Her treatment of them irritated me, and looking at their tense body language, they didn't care for it either.

'Should you need us, only call my queen.' They all spoke in unison, a chorus of voices singing in my head. Shaking my head and I turned to find my class all whispering and pointing at me again, but it was the pair of cold grey eyes that my gaze locked with.

His lips pulled into a sneer as he turned away and whispered into Lily's ear, her expression somehow colder than it ever had been before. Growing colder with whatever he was saying. I watched him pat her shoulder, then walk away with two other students behind him, not bothering to look back again.

Professor Moore called out that class was dismissed as she opened a trap door into an underground tunnel, ushering my creatures inside. I waited, watching them disappear one by one before I finally turned and left the arena.

The glares and whispers the rest of the day solidified that I had no allies amongst the Death Deities. I noted that Mondays would be my loneliest day of the week, while one of my favorite classes at the same time. High off the power I just displayed. Death was easily my strongest power, equal to my fertility gifts.

At dinner I sat with my friends and Lily. Lily continued to ignore me from the opposite end of the table, but Ally squealed as I arrived, sitting in my seat.

"Hadie! I heard you brought back the dead!"

Lily snapped at her sister, shaking her head. "She didn't bring back the dead, that's impossible. She just created more complete undead minions. They can make noise and speak basic phrases, but other than that they are as braindead as Max and Brutus."

I frowned, not liking the insulting way she described the undead creatures. "Max and Brutus didn't seem that brain dead to me. They just seemed to be a little more animal than human."

Lily rolled her eyes at me. "Well, you're new to everything. Probably why you keep over using your magic. Only a matter of time before you kill someone or yourself."

I took a deep breath, biting my tongue. If I was over using my powers then why hadn't I had to go to the infirmary? The only time I've felt sick since being here was when I drank too much Saturday night. I was getting a bit tired of everyone assuming I simply had lack of control of my own abilities.

"I'm going to have the buffet tonight." I announced, getting up to put some space between Lily and myself.

"Me too." Ally chimed in, following me to the buffet line. She grabbed a plate and followed along with me as we selected different food. "Don't mind Lily, I know I keep saying it but she is still really hung up on this dream she had. She has precognition and often she can't tell the difference between a normal dream and a glimpse of the future."

I kept my eyes on my tray and the buffet line but frowned as I listened to what she said. "So she had a dream about me then?"

Lily sighed. "She had a dream about something big coming, something that scared her. Then the next morning you were discovered and a few days after that you were here at the school. Again, this could just be a normal dream that she is misinterpreting." I finally looked at Lily finding her amused grin, looking back at me. "It wouldn't be the first time."

I laughed, moving forward with my tray when I bumped into someone who had jumped in the line ahead of me.

"Ope, excuse me." I said on reflex before looking up to see who I ran into. When I did I found myself locking eyes with a pair of cold slate eyes. Heat pooling again in my core as we stared at each other. I gulped down the air trapped in my throat, the world around me melting away.

"Damien." Ally greeted with an uncharacteristically cold attitude that could have match Lily's. "Maybe you shouldn't jump in front of people like that, then you wouldn't get vanilla pudding on her shirt."

I looked down, seeing my pudding smeared on his sleeve and felt a bit of embarrassment flood over me. Looking back up at his face, ready to apologize again.

Damien looked down his sharp nose at us sneering at Ally. "Maybe you should help your friend pay attention before she walks, I was standing here a solid five minutes." He paused, smirking. "Then again, you Fertility Goddesses do tend to have your heads up in the clouds, so what should I expect."

Lily growled after him as he walked away with an empty plate, laughing to himself. I watched him sit at a table with the two death gods who followed him out of class and a couple war gods I recognized from Friday's classes. His eyes still locked on me as he leaned back, wiping the pudding from his sleeve.

"Fighting with Damien again Lils?" I heard from behind us., smiling as I recognized who's voice it was. Alex draped his arm over his sister's shoulders while she glowered towards Damien, who had turned away from us, speaking to one of the death gods.

"He's a dick. He walked right in front of Hadie right when he saw her moving and then blamed her, saying she should pay better attention. No, he caused that before I could even warn her to watch out."

Alex chuckled then smiled at me. "You okay Hon?"

I smiled back, nodding. "Yeah, just ready to sit down and eat this food. Well, minus my pudding, seems Damien gets to enjoy that dessert tonight."

That made Lily laugh, returning her cheerful smile to her face as we walked back to our table. Alex joined us, sitting beside me, asking how my day was.

"I heard through the grape vine that you reanimated several remains into undead minions. Impressive for your first day using necromancy." He stated, taking a drink of his soda.

"Wow, does everyone in the school know what I did in class then?" I asked, taking a big bite of mashed potatoes.

Alex chuckled, "Didn't I tell you, the deity world is a small one. My dad even knows now."

Ally perked up at the mention of their father, "You talked to Daddy? Did he say anything about me?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "No, I talked to my mom who told me that Dad told her about Hadie's minions. Dad has been working long hours recently."

Ally pouted for a moment then pulled her phone out and began typing a message, making Alex chuckle and shake his head as if he knew who she was messaging.

Lily looked over Ally's shoulder, rolling her own eyes with a sigh. "Didn't Mom and your dad both just send you money Friday?"

"Yeah, that was weekend money. I need weekday money now." Ally laughed, "Don't you all want to go get manicures Wednesday after classes? My treat!"

Chloe laughed while both Tamera and Candy cheered at the idea. I smiled, finishing my plate just as the waiter approached to collect dirty dishes from our table. I thanked him as I handed mine over then turned to Alex his lips pulled into a sweet smile.

"Want to go for a walk with me?" He asked.

I caught Tamera making kissy faces at us and Ally nodding her head viciously with excitement. "Sure." I laughed, moving to stand up. Alex stood first, helping me pull my chair out, like an old fashioned gentleman. As we made our way to the door I felt eyes on me. More than one pair.

Looking around I found Damien and Evander both staring at us, both with a similar look in their eyes. Fire, both cold and hot shining in each gaze. I shuddered, turning away, letting Alex place a hand at my back to guide me out the doorway.

Alex and I walked along the pathways of campus, a cool breeze blowing the scents of fruit and flowers around us. He showed me to the ship yard where the ocean and water deities did most of their classes. Waves lapping at the shores, the soft floral scent replaced by sea breeze. We followed the path by the giant windmill at the farthest end of campus where the weather and wind deities took the majority of their courses, the windmill settled like a watch tower in the wall around campus.

I admired all the natural landscaping as we circled back past Creation House, making it back to the path towards fertility house. As we arrived, I finally noticed just how vibrant our yard was compared to the rest of campus.

"I guess you can really tell who lives in these dorms." I said, looking at all the flowers and blossoms littering the ground and trees.

Alex chuckled, "Yeah, but the same can be said about Death house." He stated, pointed down the path towards the house on the barren hill surrounded by dead trees. "Both houses are such polar opposites and have the most dramatic yards showing exactly who they are."

Nodding, I couldn't help but agree. Though I enjoyed the classes, I was so glad I lived in Fertility House.

"Well, I guess this is good night then." Alex stated with a sigh as I looked up at him smiling.

"Yeah, I guess so. I have to get my beauty sleep I guess. I'm taking my love and beauty classes tomorrow after all."

Alex laughed with me, shaking his head. "I don't think you have to worry about getting beauty sleep. You're plenty beautiful naturally. Though me on the other hand." He gestured to himself and laughed more. "I could use all the extra help."

I slapped his arm playfully, laughing. "Shut up, you have godly good looks."

Alex smiled down at me, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "Well thank you for that."

We stood in silence for a moment before Alex squeezed my hand and leaned forward. I closed my eyes, waiting in anticipation for a kiss. One that I would actually remember. However, his lips did not land on my lips. I let out an involuntary gasp as he kissed my forehead gently before stepping back and smiling down at me softly.

"Good night Hon. Get on inside. I won't leave till I know you are safely inside."

I smiled and backed towards the porch, not wanting to take my eyes off Alex. When I finally turned around, I almost tripped over the first step of the porch, earning me a chuckle from Alex as he watched from the path at the end of our yard. His hands in his pockets, rocking on his feet.

"Night Alex." I said before entering the house. I leaned against the closed door and felt a shiver run through my body. I touched my forehead and couldn't help the smile. How did I get so lucky as to kiss the sweetest guy in school while blackout drunk.

Pushing myself off the door, I headed upstairs to my room, falling onto my bed and pulling out my phone simultaneously. I had messages from Ally asking how my walk was, and messages from Tamera asking if I was ready for class tomorrow.

Tamera: Our photoshoot from Friday will be revealed in our first class. Be ready!

I groaned. I hadn't looked at any of the raw photos when the photographer offered to let me see. I had only wanted to get back to campus and go to sleep that night. The group photo at the end had been most exhausting of all the shots as they directed all of us at once.

Hadie: Does that mean my interview will be out too?

Tamera: Yeah, it will be live on the magazine's website at noon along with all our photos.

I sighed, sounded like another day of me being the talk of the Deity World.