Alec stood for a moment, gazing down at his new uniform. The material was light and supple, and seemed to run through his fingers like water. But Alec couldn't help but feel a tinge of unease; Hades, from what he remembered of Greek mythology (which was truthfully not much), was nowhere near as revered as his brothers. Did the faculty at Helix, perhaps, adopt the Greek’s feelings towards their gods as they did the gods themselves?

“Mr. Barrowman will accompany you back to your Dorm,” Professor Vera said, interrupting his reverie. “Dinner will commence in about” — she too consulted a watch — “one hour. You will follow the rest of your Dorm-mates to the canteen when it is time. That will be all.”

“Yeah — uh — thanks,” he muttered awkwardly, his mind drifting back to thoughts of the three brother-gods. He turned and walked absent-mindedly towards the door, still running his hands through the cloth.

Hartley, who had been leaning against the wall outside, straightened up as the door opened and peered wordlessly down at the new school uniform in Alec’s hands. There was a short pause, then he said quietly, “Hades, huh? Yeah . . . thought you might get that. . . . Well, let's go, then.”

He turned back down the staircase and continued past the stretch of blocks on their right, marching down in the direction of the play field. Alec trotted behind him in silence, hardly paying attention to his surroundings, mulling over Hartley’s words: “Hades, huh? Yeah . . . thought you might get that. . . .”

The question was, why? What qualified one for the Hades Dorm? Were all three not of equal stature?

The moment Alec opened his mouth to ask this, however, Hartley spoke again. “Here we are.”

Alec looked up, his eyes widening. Several towering stretches of building were looming ahead of him, coated in the same glistening hues of black and bronze as his new suit, with a large, pale-trunked tree with white leaves shooting up beside what seemed to be the main building.

“What is that?” said Alec, who had never seen such a plant before.

“White poplar, sacred tree of Hades,” Hartley said. “Come on, I'll take you up to your room.”

Hartley led him through the door of the main building and along a narrow corridor lined with a thick, dark purple carpet. They continued forward, then pushed open a set of silver doors at the end of the hall and entered a vast room, much like the one in which he had met his assessors, but quite smaller; it was filled with squashy armchairs, tables, desks, and several comfortable-looking poufs, all of which were occupied by students in the same black-and-bronze uniforms as the one Alec was clutching, playing card games or chatting merrily amongst themselves . There was a powerful smell of mint wafting through the room, and the only illumination came from a green fire roaring under the ornate marble fireplace on the right of the room.

The emerald glow washed over the entire room, giving the students a rather ghostly look as it played upon their faces. All of the students looked up as Alec entered, gazing curiously at him; it was like being in a very bright spotlight, and Alec could not think what to do or say. Thankfully, Hartley seized him by the shoulder and steered him off towards a staircase on the right, muttering, “Come on, you can meet ‘em later, I've got things to do.”

Up the staircase they went, and around another corner. They turned onto a long passageway lined with doors, all of which were marked by large numbers made of what looked like bones. They ventured to the very end of the hall, then Hartley turned to the door on their left, numbered '24,' and pushed it open.

The room was almost pitch-dark, even though the sun was still out. Alec groped the wall for a moment, searching for a switch, then he flipped on the lights, and saw that there were two bunk beds positioned on either side of the room, all draped in thick, black velvet sheets, with fluffy white pillows, a half-open window between them, and an enormous, dark wood dresser to their right.

“Dinner’s in a few,” Hartley said. “I gotta go, but just follow the rest of your Dorm to the canteen and you'll be fine. Oh, and, kid —”

Alec turned to him, and a wide grin broke out over his face. “Good luck.”

Alec smiled back, then the door was closing, and Hartley was gone. When his heavy footsteps had faded out of earshot, Alec turned back to his room — the room he would now be forced to spend his nights in. It was not as comfortable as his own room back home, but was still quite lavish, albeit coated in some rather gloomy colours. No, the problem wasn't the appearance — in contrast to what Alec had expected, the Dorm was actually quite handsome. Why, then, did he still have this faint feeling of foreboding?

Perhaps it was simply because he wasn't used to this place, he thought, sinking onto the left lower-level bed with a sigh. It was such a grand, imposing building, and was clearly filled to bursting with talented young prodigies, all of whom had likely had people to teach them all they could about their powers, and about Helix.

And then there was Alec. He could not even properly state what his own powers were (aside from the evident conclusion that he clearly had some influence over rocks), let alone actively use them to any degree. Had he made the right decision in coming here? Or had he only signed himself up for a term’s worth of embarrassment and failure?

He shook his head; it would not do well to plague himself with such thoughts on his very first day. Perhaps all he needed was a simple meal to take his mind off things. . . .

Yes, that was it. He stood up, ripped off the plain black suit Hartley had given him, and pulled on the black-and-bronze vestments that the assessors had handed to him. He adjusted himself in the dresser mirror, a little awed at the perfect fit that the uniform presented.

“Looks good on you.”

Alec started, leaping about a foot into the air and smashing his head against the bed base behind him.

“Oh gosh — sorry!”

Alec squinted at the doorway, rubbing his head as his eyes focused on the figure at the doorway. A boy about Alec’s age came into view, with bright blue eyes like Dusty’s and dark, curly hair. Alec, so absorbed in his own thoughts, had not heard him enter the room.

“Sorry,” the boy said again. He looked anxious.

“No problem,” Alec said, grinning against the throbbing pain in the side of his head.

“Name's Javon,” the boy said, holding out his hand. “I'm in this room too; you must be the new kid, the one they said destroyed half of that town a few days ago?”

“Gah, does everyone know about that?” Alec said bitterly, though he shook Javon’s hand all the same.

“Of course!” Javon said brightly. “You took down Shadow Shifter and half a city block all on your own! Of course everyone is going to be talking about it! Was that the first time you'd ever used your powers?”

Alec sank back onto the bed, still rubbing his head. “Yeah, that was my ‘Trigger Moment,’ apparently.”

“Really?” Javon looked excited. “Most of the people here talk about their Trigger Moments all the time, but I never actually had one. My powers just sorta . . . clicked one day.”

Alec gazed at him in awe. “That sounds cool! Much cooler than what happened to me! What can you do?”

“Oh, um . . .” Javon’s voice trailed off, and he looked suddenly uncomfortable, but before Alec could speak again, a loud bell rang out in the distance. “Dinner,” Javon said at once, looking profoundly relieved. “Come on, the whole Dorm has to go.”

Curious, Alec followed him out of the room and down the stairs; along the way, all the people who had been in their own quarters instead of the huge, fire-lit room below were now emerging from their rooms and heading downstairs. The female students were appearing from the staircase on the other side, and those who had been in the room beforehand were now lining up at the silver doors. Alec and Javon joined the line, then they all marched out into the evening light, sheperded by two older students, one male and one female, both wearing bronze pins shaped like helmets over their uniforms, whom Alec concluded must have been prefects.

Back up the path that Hartley had so recently led him down they walked, talking loudly.

“ . . . and over there is the Poseidon Dorm,” said Javon, who had been pointing out several more attractions of the school to Alec, and was now gesturing towards a mass of blue-and-silver accommodations which Alec had passed earlier, though had not noticed in his preoccupation.

A gleaming blue trident was hung above their door, beside which stood a bearing pine tree, which Alec assumed must have been Poseidon’s sacred tree.

“And here's Zeus.”

They had reached the superb, gold-and-white-coloured buildings, where a mighty oak tree stood spearing the sky, with a great, glistening banner of a large eagle hung over the door of their main building, which seemed suspiciously larger than either Hades or Poseidon’s. Alec distinctly noticed many of the Hades students throw glowering looks at the Dorm as they passed, but before he could inquire about this, the black-and-bronze-clad mass had collectively swerved left and were now piling along a broad corridor and into another huge room, from which a pleasant aroma of food was issuing.

The enormous canteen was buzzing with talk. Several long, silver tables were lined up against the wall, where students from all three Dorms were queuing up, stocking their trays with food. In the middle of all the commotion stood three gigantic, circular tables, arranged in a triangle.

The Zeus table was draped in magnificent covers embroidered with clouds, thunderbolts, and eagles, and in the dead center stood a miniature statue of a superhero that Alec did not recognize.

“That's the Founder,” Javon explained, seizing a tray and spooning liberal amounts of mashed potatoes onto it. “Galvan.”

Alec absent-mindedly spread some potatoes upon his tray as well, then his eyes drifted to the Poseidon table as he shuffled along in line. Their table was covered in shimmering blue, green, and silver cloths, with many different species of fish and marine plants embroidered into it. In the center of this table stood the statue of a rather austere-looking woman with long, curly hair flowing to her waist.

“Ayana,” said Javon, as Alec picked up a plate of roast turkey. His eyes drifted again, settling onto the Hades table, which was draped in black velvet and decorated with embroideries of dancing skeletons and large splotches of what looked like blood, and in the center of their table, a man whose face was covered completely by a helmet, but who stood with his hands against his hips, his chest thrown outwards in a rather foolish-looking pose.

“Helios. Our Founder,” Javon said, rolling his eyes. “Bit of a joke compared to the other two, but he's cool, I guess. Come on.” He nodded to the throng of people on their left.

They moved on to the last table, which bore all kinds of succulent-looking desserts. A challenge presented itself when Alec had to choose between plates of several of his favourite cakes, but eventually he decided on what seemed to be the last piece of Black Forest cake. He reached out for it, but —

“Whoops! Sorry, there!”

A tall, muscular youth with a head of sandy hair and meadow-green eyes was standing before him, garbed in the gold and white of Zeus and smirking as he placed the cake slice, which he had snatched away from the table, tenderly on his tray. “Ah, too bad, but I just really wanted that Black Forest, you know. Maybe you can get a slice tomorrow, Hades,” he sneered, patting Alec jeeringly on the back, and he made to turn away.

“And what if I want it right now?”

He had not meant to say it, it had burst from his mouth in rising indignation; for a second he hoped that he had merely imagined it, but the boy stiffened as though he could not believe his ears, which told Alec quite clearly that it had not been a hallucination.

The boy turned very slowly, his face contorted in incredulity.

“What did you say to me, Hades?”

“The name's Alec, Zeus. And I don't think I stuttered."

Again, Alec had not meant to respond as such, but the words seemed to be flowing out against his will. The Zeus boy was not the only one who had stiffened now; everyone around them was gawking at the scene, some looking terrified, others transfixed. One boy, however, was sniggering to Alec’s right.

The Zeus boy moved a step closer, and nearly everyone drew breath, but Alec, though his mind was racing, was still looking coolly into the boy's eyes — which for a split second had turned solid gold — then what seemed to be a prefect from the Poseidon Dorm forced his way through the throng, shouting, “What's going on here? Break it up! Move along, now! Get your food and go!”

Slowly, the crowd thinned. The Zeus boy, his eyes returned to their normal green, cast Alec a scathing look and stomped away.

“What did you just do?” Javon hissed at Alec, when they had taken their seats around the enormous Hades table.

“I have no idea!” Alec replied, just as anxiously. “I didn't mean to say it — it just — came out! Like I couldn't stop myself!”

Javon looked across at the Zeus table, where the boy was whispering to a few of his peers, his face screwed up in rage. Javon turned back to Alec, looking terrified. “That was Damon Messus, one of the top recruits for this year! You don't want to go messing with someone like that, and especially not on your first day!”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Alec said. "Won't happen again!"

The teachers had set up a table for themselves, directly ahead of all three Dorm tables, where they sat and ate their own meals as the student body did their own. Alec saw several familiar faces; the three assessors, and Headmistress Lewis, who was wearing a pantsuit identical to the one that she had been dressed in when she had met Alec at his home, though this one was red. Their eyes met, and she held his gaze for a moment, but apart from that she gave no indication that she had noticed Alec and returned to her meal, so Alec did the same, trying not to think about Damon Messus, or what the Headmistress would think if he got involved in any violent altercations this early in his school career.

The food was as delicious as Alec had ever tasted, and even succeeded for a while in ridding Alec of his worries; but then minutes later all trays had cleared, Headmistress Lewis had risen to her feet, and Alec was apprehensive once more.

“Good evening!” she said, in an oddly honeyed voice, beaming around at the students. “And welcome, welcome to all students, new and returning alike! Now that you have all been properly fed, I think it is time to remind everyone that the start of the new term begins tomorrow, and as such, we have a few notices to give out before then.

“Firstly, as our older students will know by now, you will progress along the course of your new years in the same squads as those which you were sorted in during your first year — unless, for whatever reason, those members are no longer with us, in which case you shall be notified of such changes later on. As for our first-year students, however, your squads will be chosen now. So I suggest you pay very close attention."

“Squads?” Alec muttered to Javon. He started to respond, but then, at a gesture from Headmistress Lewis, Professor Vera stood and took the floor.

“Good afternoon to you all,” she called. “After careful consideration of all new students, these are the selected four-man squads for our first years . . .”

She started first with the Zeus Dorm, calling out random names of first year students and grouping them with three other members, along with a specific squadron leader chosen from a pool of older superhumans lined up on the opposite side of the room, who nodded or waved when they were assigned their groups. The boy whom Alec had faced off with earlier was grouped with a tall, brutal-looking youth with auburn hair, and two girls, one with dark, braided hair, and the other with short, cherry blond hair, all of whom were already sitting beside him, smirking, and to Alec’s slight surprise, it was Professor Duncan, one of his very assessors, that was selected as their squad leader.

Professor Vera finished and resumed her seat, and Professor Duncan stood next to announce the squads of the Poseidon Dorm, and finally, Professor Wyatt for the Hades. He reeled off group after group for quite a while, and around him Hades students gave cries of enthusiasm as they were teamed with friends, or grumbled in outrage over unfamiliar partners.

Alec’s attention started to wane after a while, and he began to think longingly of the treacle tart that he had chosen after the debacle with Damon Messus and the Black Forest cake, when the sound of his own name made him perk up.

“. . . Squadron Omega-B-11: Alexander Michaels, Javon Thomas” — Alec exchanged grins with Javon — “Maddison Smith” — a girl halfway down the table jerked upright, looking incredulous — “and Ethan Buckley.” The boy whom Alec had seen sniggering earlier raised his head in mild interest. “And the leader for Squad Omega-B-11, is one of our very own Hero League Patrons — Wildfire!”

He pointed towards the back of the room, and Alec spun around, taken aback. He spotted him a moment later: he had not initially noticed him, for Wildfire was presently donning the same blue and white suit as the three assessors rather than his usual attire of scarlet and gold; his fair hair, which had been thick and bright the first time Alec had met him in person, now hung lank around his head, there was a distinct greyish tinge to his skin, and he looked thinner than before, but there was no mistaking that it was him. He was leaning against the wall, looking distinctly disgruntled, and merely nodded at the polite round of applause he received from the other students.

Professor Wyatt continued to spin off names, but Javon turned to Alec, looking as displeased as Wildfire. “He's going to be our squad leader?”

Alec was surprised at the mingled disdain and disbelief in his voice. Raising his eyebrows, he said, “What's wrong with him? He's a great superhero, isn't he? Shadow Shifter only beat him because he took him by surprise with Ryu’s venom!”

“Yes, but that's not what I meant; yeah, he's a great hero — or he was, anyway, until a few days ago. But he’s barely recovered, how could he be our teacher now?”

Alec could truthfully think of no response to this, and though he would rather not have admitted it, Javon’s words lingered in his mind all the way back to the Dorm, with a tiny part of him agreeing with them, even after Headmistress Lewis had risen again to inform them of other last-minute notices and send them off. Maddison and Ethan, his new squad-mates, seemed to have made their way to the Dorm already, leaving Javon and Alec to forge ahead alone.

As they passed the pristine Zeus Dorms, Alec glanced over and saw Damon Messus and his group of friends standing outside the main building, their eyes fixed directly on Alec. It seemed Damon had been waiting for him: Damon cast him a glowering look, then looked around as if ensuring that no teacher was present, and ran one of his thumbs threateningly across his throat before disappearing inside. The other Hades children had paused to gaze at this scene too, some curious, others apprehensive. All of them turned now to look around at Alec, and it was clear to everyone, including Alec, what they were all thinking about: the next day would not bode well for him.