The Gods Defense (Laws of Magic Book 1)

by Amie Gibbons

  She'd lost the rest of her baby fluff since I last saw her and was now a full grown cat with slick black hair and golden feathered wings.

  Tyler followed the winged girls in and I shook my head. “What are you guys doing here?”

  “A tall and sexy man insisted we come with him for our own safety,” Tyler said in her best breathy Marilyn, fanning herself. “He had me at come.”

  I snorted. “He’s married.”

  “And?”

  “Can you say trashy? Anyway, his wife is a goddess and apparently a damn good queen of the underworld.”

  “He may have mentioned something to that effect.”

  “And she’s carrying his babies and he’s crazy about her.”

  “Ruin my fun, why don’t you?”

  “Just trying to make sure you don’t end up tossed into the River Styx.”

  “Is there actually a River Styx?” Millie asked.

  “Yes.” Hades walked in a second later with Henry trailing behind.

  “Hey.” Henry rubbed my arm. “You okay?”

  I shook my head. “I’m numb. How about you?”

  Henry slumped onto the couch and closed his eyes as he lay down and went fetal. “I’m just going to die here.”

  I focused on him and the faint glow of his life force was flat and even. Asleep then… just like that.

  “We’re all pretty drained.” Hades grinned and winked at Tyler. “And how do you like Olympus so far, you wicked woman?”

  “Don’t encourage her, Hades,” I said. “Why did you bring them here?”

  He gave me a look like I was a bit slow. “To keep my brother from wiping their memories since they know about the alignment and they shouldn’t. Or from capturing them to flush you out. They’re magical and willing to help so I thought we’d like to keep them non-boiled.”

  “Seriously? He would do that?” My legs went Jell-O and I grabbed the couch to stay up. “My mom!”

  “Is fine,” Apollo said quickly. “I’m having her brought to Olympus. It may help with her recovery too. My father doesn’t know she’s alive or anything about her. He thinks you don’t have any family. She’ll stay in the hospital here for a bit.”

  I sighed and took a few deep breaths. “You are really making me reconsider what side I should be on.”

  “You’re not serious?”

  “Ugh, yeah, I am. This is the shit Ravena was talking about. Murdering people for no other reason than you’re throwing a tantrum. Getting away with it because you’re more powerful than those people. Sounds like Ravena was pretty damn on the nose when he warned me about you guys.”

  “First of all, that’s my father, not all of us.”

  “He’s your leader. What he says goes.”

  “Second of all.” He scowled at me. “In case you haven’t noticed, some of us are on your side.”

  “Okay, guys, stop sniping,” Millie said. “You can fight after we save the human race.”

  “How very efficient. I love it,” Apollo said.

  “She’s a scientist. That’s what they do,” Tyler said.

  “I thought you were all lawyers.”

  “We are,” Millie said. “I’m a patent attorney.”

  “Oh.”

  “Actually I was talking to your sister on the way in. I would love to talk more with her about patenting that bow of hers.”

  They were talking to Artemis? When? And why didn’t she come in with them?

  I bet I was the answer to that last one.

  “It’s magical,” Apollo said.

  “Duh.” Millie grinned. “That’s what I do. Magical inventions. I can’t actually do the patent on the bow, but some people in my office could.”

  “So, you patent spells or…”

  “I don’t. Spells are more the realm of the engineers and physicists. I have a biochem background. My specialty is chemistry based patents.”

  “Meaning?”

  She smiled wider. “Meaning potions.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh, we have one the lab is working on one to actually channel electricity into magic. And what is magic besides a type of energy? It’d make it so you could plug in your magical doodad into the wall and recharge it like electrical inventions. That is way over my head. That’s the engineers. Pretty damn impressive, right?”

  Apollo and Hades stared at her with open mouths.

  “Humans can do this?” Hades finally said.

  “We can do a hell of a lot more than that. The invention we finally got to patent ready stage is an invisibility potion. It works by-”

  “I’m sorry,” Tyler said. “You have activated lecture Millie. To learn the entire history of patenting in America, press one. To learn about why magical inventions should be patentable material, press two. To end this conversation before the lecture continues, because you want to keep your brains in your skull, press three. To…”

  “I got it,” Millie said, flipping her the bird.

  “I’m fascinated, actually,” Apollo said. “Humans are allowing patents on magical inventions?”

  “Not yet. That’s what we’re working on.”

  “Where do you work?”

  “Vandy. We’re a magical law think tank. Not surprising considering.”

  “Ah, considering what?” Apollo asked after it was clear Millie wasn’t saying more on that one. Amazing how she managed to explain the crap out of everything else.

  “Considering we are one of the birth places of the law and neuro research network and magic ties into that so well. Whatever magic is, it’s in the brain. That’s why The Gods Defense got rolling so fast in Nashville.”

  “I’m sorry, I think this conversation jumped. Are we talking about the same thing?”

  “Yes. The Gods Defense got going here with defense attorneys so fast because Vandy is one of the universities that started the Law and Neuroscience Network. When magic woke up, as soon as people stopped panicking, well we’re lawyers so it was probably before that, but around then, the Network added magical studies so now it’s the Law, Neuroscience and Para-neurological Network.”

  “This is fascinating,” Apollo said. “And I’m not being sarcastic. But we were wondering if you ladies could lend your expertise to our little problem?”

  “Of course,” Millie said, pushing her glasses up her nose.

  “It’s why we’re here,” Tyler said.

  “So if we could start working on that?” Apollo raised his eyebrows like a boss reminding chatty employees they were supposed to be working.

  “Yeah, we’re waiting for you to tell us what’s what and what to do,” Millie said.

  “Oh. Well.” Apollo looked around. “Uncle?”

  “I will talk to Zeus. If you could start working on finding the defectors, so we can track them and try to talk them out of it?”

  “How do you do that?” Millie asked.

  “Magic.” Hades winked at her.

  Millie pursed her lips. “And how does the magic spell that does that work?”

  “Psychic powers,” Apollo said. “This will be up to Cassandra and me. I think we have recharged enough for a vision walk.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t take a lot if you have the right tools to channel your powers efficiently.”

  “Perfect, and we can start charting it,” Millie said. “Help with the visual. Where’s a map? We should also see if we can track down those wormholes, too. Chart those, figure out what’s causing them?”

  Hades paused at the door, sparks of red crawling down his arms like lines of running ants.

  “What wormholes?” He looked at Apollo.

  “This is the first I’m hearing of this, Uncle. Cassandra?”

  “Oh yeah, I was going to ask you about that tonight before…” I shrugged. “Before.”

  “Tell us what happened,” Hades said, walking back to the table and sitting down.

  Mira took off out of my arms and curled up on the table in front of him. He took the hint and petted her.


  “It was at the courthouse this morning,” I said, sitting down too. This was going to take a while.

  Apparently Zeus was just going to have to wait.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Wish I knew,” Apollo said when I was finally done and asked him what it could be.

  “The portals are definitely something we’re going to want to look into,” Hades said. “Also, a wonderful way to distract my brother.”

  “Great, if you could do that, we’ll start on this,” Apollo said.

  “On it… after I get Henry to bed. Poor man’s been through a lot today.”

  Hades snapped his fingers and the sleeping Henry disappeared. Hades left through the sitting room.

  “Yeahhhhhh, let’s get charting. How do we do this?” I asked.

  “We make ourselves comfortable and clear our minds,” Apollo said. “Psychic ability is all about stretching your mind to see the world beyond it. It must be uncluttered by its own thoughts. Meditation works for me. It’s like clearing the haze out of the sky.”

  He bowed to Millie and Tyler. “Please excuse us, ladies. While we work, would you like something to eat?”

  “Oh yeah, I’m starving,” Millie said, pointing to the next room. “Kitchen through there?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ll whip something up.” She left with Tyler behind her. Mira woke up almost like the exit was an alarm clock and took off after them without a word.

  “They are… entertaining,” Apollo said after a moment.

  “They’re my friends, sisters, comrades in arms, whatever. We’ve been friends since the first semester of law school.”

  “They’re your family. I understand. I don’t understand Tyler, but I understand the bond.”

  “What don’t you understand about her? She’s a brilliant sociopath, what’s not to get?”

  “There’s something off about her. I’m not sure what her magic is, but it’s something very, very different.”

  “Okay. Different from what?”

  “I… can’t put my finger on what it is. It has a different look than other magical creatures. Like Millie, I could tell she was the type of magic that is roughly translated these days into a siren. I knew that even before I saw her wings. Though, I can’t figure out where they go.”

  “They’re retractable.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “That’s new.”

  I shrugged. “The other sirens we’ve met so far all do it too. Maybe it’s some weird evolutionary tick tied to genes that didn’t show up until magic came back? No clue about the science stuff, ask Millie.”

  “I will. But, right now we have more pressing issues.”

  We sat on the living room’s carpet. I practically sank half an inch.

  “Close your eyes,” Apollo said.

  I did without question. Which seriously worried me once I thought about it.

  “No, don’t think,” Apollo said. “Relax. We’re doing this to save your people and mine. Keep that in mind.”

  “I thought you just said not to think.”

  “Haha, very clever.”

  He put his fingertips on my temples and I had to fight my eyelids to keep them closed.

  “And breathe in. Relax, Cassandra. You’re safe, in Olympus with rolling hills of soft green grass and red and blue flowers. You are lounging in the sun, feeling it beat down on your face.”

  I sunk into his words like his voice was a hot tub, letting it wash over me until I could feel the sunshine and smell the Spring.

  “You’re alone, but in a good way. In a temporary isolation, just long enough to collect yourself away from people. No one can bother you. No one can touch you. You could sleep for a thousand years and rest knowing you would not be disturbed.”

  I felt the grass under my back, saw the bright light seeping under my eyelids, and I rode away on it.

  “I’m looking for the defectors,” Apollo said. “You’re going to be my battery. You’re floating above the world on sunbeams. You are the sun. It doesn’t matter if it takes you one minute to find each one, or a hundred years. You have all the time in the world. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing to make you hurry. Let yourself flow into the magical energies of the world. You’re the sun, you fuel all of them in some way or another. They can’t hide from you.”

  I felt him breathe in. “You are the energy, Cassandra.”

  I let go.

  And flowed.

  # # #

  It could have been a second or a year later when I opened my eyes for all the sense of time I had. I knew I’d been something like asleep and I saw the world and blazes of color on its surface here and there, but that was all I remembered.

  I sat up. I was lying on the couch with nobody in sight. I strained my ears but couldn’t hear anyone either. That didn’t mean much since the walls could be spelled to be soundproof.

  I stretched for a minute, letting the languor inch out of my limbs, and finally swung my feet to the floor, standing up in one motion so I couldn’t talk myself out of it.

  I opened the door to the kitchen, blasting country music laying to rest the question of whether the rooms were spelled to be soundproof.

  I froze in the doorway.

  Tyler was behind a giant kitchen island, sprinkling something green on top of a line of beautiful omelets. Millie was doing some sort of bouncing dance and trying to stir something I was betting would turn into some of her amazing baked goods.

  At least once she got Mira away from the bowl because the little Meowl perched on the edge, stealing licks between beats of the spoon.

  Apollo was behind them washing dishes at the sink with waves of his hand.

  I stood for a minute, staring at the ridiculously normal scene.

  Even in the middle of a war, a girl’s gotta eat.

  My mouth watered and I walked into the kitchen.

  “Hey,” Millie said, turning down the radio. “Dinner’s just about ready. Dessert’s going in in a minute. Mira, off. There are other people who’d like some cupcakes, too, and probably without cat saliva. Shoo Shoo.”

  Mira flew off the bowl and Millie got back to mixing.

  “Let’s eat,” I said.

  # # #

  “They’re everywhere.” Millie said, pointing at the map with one hand, an apple streusel cupcake in the other. “India, America, China, Germany, South America, Africa. I mean, there’s more in some countries than others, but still…”

  “Yes,” Apollo said. “Ravena is offering them a new social structure that would allow them to keep their powers at their current levels while the rest of us are diminished. That appeals to a lot of people.”

  He squinted. There were at least a hundred of the colorful pushpins decorating the map. “I didn’t know there were so many. Why is he bothering recruiting all these humans? Most of these are people we probably never would have gotten to to ask for help in the first place.”

  “You’re gods, you tell me,” Millie said.

  “Sassy little thing,” Apollo said.

  Millie stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to study the map and Mira followed suit.

  “I will ask the others,” Apollo said. “We can see what we can figure out.”

  “But for now,” Tyler said, “we do have an idea of how many. Do you know who?”

  “How would we know that?”

  She raised a plucked eyebrow at him and tapped a finger against her chin. “From the vision? You can’t see who those dots are?”

  He shook his head. “It’s not that specific.”

  “And it didn’t occur to you people to put in spies? You knew they were recruiting. You knew they were trying to get magic humans specifically to join their cause. Hell, if you guys had told me about this before I told Ravena to fuck off, I could’ve been your spy. I’m a damn good one.”

  “This is true,” Millie said, raising a finger.

  I looked between them. Millie sounded like she saw this first hand.

  Nope, don’t w
ant to know.

  “That’s an idea,” Apollo said. “We have others we can ask. See, this is why I needed you girls here.”

  “Oh please,” Millie said. “You wanted us here to keep Cassandra from kicking your balls in and running back home. With us here, at least she doesn’t have to pay too much attention to you.”

  “Thannnnnks Millie,” I said.

  “What? Was that a secret or something? He knows you’re pissed at him, um, right?”

  “Just makes it awkward to directly address that fact.”

  “You’re mad at me, Cassandra?” Apollo said. “I thought we worked this out earlier.”

  I crossed my arms. “So, back to the map.”

  “I see.”

  “We’ve got a huge cluster in India. Clusters here and there everywhere except for Antarctica.”

  “Nobody wanted Antarctica,” Apollo said.

  “Big surprise,” Tyler said. “Why do the Greeks have the U.S. and Canada but not Alaska?”

  Apollo chuckled and gave an exaggerated shudder. “Have you met the Inuit gods? You don’t mess with a people that tied to their hunting grounds. They are insane, fantastic shots, and quite terribly territorial.”

  Tyler nodded. “I get it.”

  “I just bet you do.”

  Tyler’s look could’ve flash frozen flowers. “You have something to say, god?”

  He smirked, holding up his hands. “I’m grateful for the help of someone so… powerful.”

  “What’s he getting on about?” I asked.

  Tyler shrugged. “No clue. Either he’s messing with us or he can tell something about my powers I don’t know and is dangling it in front of me to make sure I keep helping in the hopes he’ll tell me.”

  Red flashed around her head and I raised my eyebrows at her. She shrugged, grinning. “Or maybe I know and I really don’t want you digging into it right now.”

  “I’m grateful for the help,” Apollo said with a smarmy smile meant to insult.

  He turned that look on me. “Back to you being mad at me. Aren’t I supposed to be mad at you right now? Maybe I lost track of who is mad at whom, it switches so often.”

  “Not really,” I said. “So, why do you guys happen to have the most powerful country in the world when you had absolutely no ties to it five thousand years ago? How did you get it over all the others I’m sure weren’t happy to be stuck with some of the backwaters they got? And what happened to the gods that were supposed to be here in the first place?”