“This is crazy,” Justin told me. “I’m not waiting for anybody anymore.”
I heard him tapping on a phone.
“No, listen to me,” I argued.
He didn’t. But before I could say anything else, something slammed, and the couch under me quivered.
“Where is she?” Zeus’s voice thundered.
My heart jumped. Joy. Fear. Anger. They all battled inside me at the sound of his voice. Just like always.
“Here,” Athena called.
The next moment, Zeus’s handsome face was hovering over me. His grey eyes were soft, like the day we first met. They hadn’t been soft since. Until now.
I felt something wet on my cheek. I moved to wipe it away, but Zeus did it for me. Then he turned away.
“Apollo,” he commanded.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me! The scholarship thing? Still?” Justin fumed. “Just drop it already! This has gone far enough--”
“You’re right,” Athena interrupted. Her voice was so irresistibly smooth. “But we need to get her more painkillers first. I don’t have any more in my purse.”
Justin exhaled, frustrated. “Fine! There should be some in the bathroom. Follow me. But . . .”
“We’ll call the hospital as we walk,” Athena assured him. I could picture her hauling him out of the room.
“About time!” Justin breathed. His voice was getting further away. “Um, have you seen my phone?”
“I’ll help you look,” Hermes offered.
Well, that explained what had happened to the phone.
A new face entered my vision. Just as handsome as Zeus, but fair instead of dark. Hair like spun sunlight and eyes as blue as a cloudless sky. Apollo smiled. He radiated warmth and confidence. Just looking into his eyes, I felt comforted. Zeus was the reassurance of strength, but Apollo was the reassurance of love.
Apollo pressed his hands against my temples. His touch was butterfly light, but a massive jolt of power slammed through me.
There was no more pain. Only bliss. The euphoria carried me away. For one brief moment, I forgot about everything, and I was free. But the ecstasy faded, and when the last of it finally disappeared, the world came crashing back in again. I was alone with Apollo. His power had restored me. I was healed.
“Impressive,” I said as I rose to my feet.
“Ever at your service, my queen.” Apollo bowed deeply.
“How are you standing?” Justin gaped.
I turned to see him, Zeus, and Athena in the doorway. Hermes was nowhere to be seen, which meant he was almost certainly around somewhere. Invisibility was the perfect power for him.
“Legs,” I replied dryly.
Zeus grinned, despite himself. “I see you’ve stopped trying to pry sympathy from this poor boy.”
“My name is Justin,” Justin shot back. He gave Zeus a dark look, which Zeus returned.
“Right, because like all women, what I long for most in all the world is the attention of a man,” I replied.
Still, I had to fight back a smile. Zeus was baiting me on purpose. Like me, he knew that if my temper was intact, I was doing just fine.
Justin shook his head.
“I just can’t believe it,” he murmured, staring at me. “It’s like a miracle.”
He headed toward me and, from the way he was studying every inch of me, I actually thought for a second that he planned to physically examine me. Instead, he stopped himself at a respectable distance. Well, at least I wouldn’t have to kill him.
“I found your phone.” Hermes appeared at Justin’s side, tapping him on the shoulder with it.
“Thanks,” Justin replied, shoving the phone in his pocket. He eyed Hermes suspiciously. “I’ll keep a closer eye on this.”
Hermes was all innocence. “Were you going to report that dog to the police? The one that attacked her?”
“Yeah, I should,” Justin admitted reluctantly, tearing his eyes away from me.
He took out his phone and tapped a number. He began to speak in a low voice. He paced out of the room, distracted by what only he could hear.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Zeus began.
“What was it?” I demanded. “Really. Some kind of monster?”
Athena and Hermes exchanged a glance.
“A giant,” Athena whispered, watching for Justin.
“A giant?” I echoed in disbelief.
“You could’ve been killed,” Zeus said softly after a moment.
“Gods can’t die,” I replied automatically.
“Not even in mortal form?” Athena countered.
I opened my mouth, and then I shut it again. I didn’t like that look in her eyes. Haunted. Frightened. I’d never seen her look that way before.
I’d just assumed our immortality stayed with us. We borrowed mortal bodies, but they didn’t belong to us. They weren’t ours. They weren’t us. If they died, we’d just return to the Heavens. Or so I’d thought. But it’d never happened before. I had to admit I didn’t actually know.
Facing Blake, I’d dreaded what might happen, but I never actually thought I could die. Not the real me anyway.
“Blake could have killed me?” I murmured. “That ... thing could have killed me?”
“It’s possible,” Athena replied softly. “I mean, I feel like I’m being influenced by this body somehow. Feelings, thoughts, that don’t belong to me.”
“You’re not suggesting that we’re . . . becoming mortal?” I demanded, shocked.
“No,” Athena said quickly. She paused. “Not exactly. Maybe just . . . less divine? I don’t know. This is a new situation. We’ve never borrowed bodies for so long. And we’ve never been attacked while we’ve been inside them.”
“I’m more concerned about what attacked us,” Artemis said.
Athena nodded. “It was no accident. That giant didn’t just happen to find us. It was too perfect. It waited until we weren’t all together. And it was a breed of monster that Hera couldn’t use her powers on. That giant was sent precisely because it hit us where we were weak.”
“And it almost worked,” Demeter realized, horrified.
“What do you mean ‘sent’?” Artemis pressed.
“Giants don’t strategize. They’re the brawn kinda monster, not the brains,” she explained. “It had to have been sent by someone else. Someone smarter, much smarter. And more powerful.”
“And whoever that is, they’re still out there,” Artemis concluded. “Which means this isn’t over. There’ll be more attacks.”
Silence.
“We have to find out who’s behind this,” I said firmly. “Fast.”
“Good news, if you can call it that: whoever’s attacking us has to be the same one who took the Fates,” Athena mused. “Which begs the question. Did they take the Fates to lure us to the world so they could attack us? Or did they attack us so they could keep the Fates?”
“Or a bit of both,” I added. “Kill two birds with one stone.”
“Gods, not birds,” Zeus corrected grimly.
Athena nodded. “The ‘why’ is tricky. And the ‘who’ is, too. We’ve got our share of enemies. But the ‘how’ we can work on. For anyone to summon and control giants takes power. A lot of power. And giants can’t just run around the mortal world. It would violate the Necessity. So they have to be hidden. And that takes even more power. So we need to figure out where that power is coming from. It shouldn’t be that hard. Magick isn’t as common these days as it used to be. We made sure of that. So, whoever’s behind this must be using something ancient to get their power.”
“So we’re looking for . . . some kinda magickal batteries?” Hermes asked.
“Didn’t Justin mention a Greek mythology exhibit in town?” I recalled.
“That could definitely be it,” Athena agreed. “They could be harnessing the divine power in those artifacts to boost their magick. If what we’re looking for is there, it’ll resonate with the divine part of us. We’ll sens
e it.”
Athena’s posture changed, and I knew we weren’t alone anymore.
“Wow. That took forever!” Justin grumbled as he joined us. “But they’re on the lookout, at least. With any luck, they’ll find that dog before anyone else gets hurt. Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine,” I told him. “See for yourself?”
“Actually, I was hoping I could ask you a question,” Athena interjected. “You mentioned a Greek mythology exhibit near here?”
Justin’s brow furrowed. “You mean the one at the museum? You want to go check it out? Now? After everything?”
“Could we?” Athena replied. “It’d really help us with the program. And Hera is just . . . so dedicated to the program. And you’ve seen how stubborn she can be.”
Justin pulled out his phone and glanced at it. “We have an hour before it closes, but it’s not far if we drive. Are you sure it’s that important? After everything that’s happened?”
One look at Athena gave me the answer.
“It's more important,” I said, “than you can possibly imagine.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I still don’t see why I can’t sit up front,” I muttered, crossing my arms.
“Because Justin needs to drive, and Zeus can’t fit anywhere else,” Athena replied reasonably.
I refused to believe that mortals had invented anything gods couldn’t figure out in a matter of moments.
“You sure you don’t want me to wait for Dayna and Danny?” Justin asked, starting the van.
“They’ll meet us there,” Athena assured him.
Artemis and Apollo were tracking the giant that had attacked us. With any luck, they’d be able to retrace its steps to where it was summoned and find some hint about who summoned it.
It was dangerous, of course. For anyone else, stupidly dangerous. But Artemis was the perfect huntress: no one saw her until it was too late, especially now that she could shapeshift. And Apollo had gone with her. Individually, the twins were formidable. Together, they were practically unstoppable. I hoped they wouldn’t run into any trouble, of course. But if they did, well, too bad for the trouble.
As we cruised along on our way to the museum, I watched the landscape roll by, house upon house, person upon person. I could almost imagine I was back home, in the Heavens, looking down on the world. But before long, all the people were gone. The streets were deserted. All I saw were buildings.
“I wonder where everyone went,” I murmured.
A thump broke my reverie. The van shot upward and then slammed back down onto the road.
“What the . . .” Justin said, checking the rearview mirror. “Oh, my god! I think I hit something.”
He pulled over. His hand was on the door handle when Zeus’s closed over it.
“Don’t,” Zeus said, eyes fixed on the rearview mirror.
“But I . . .” Justin began. When his eyes followed Zeus’s, he went white.
I spun in my seat.
Something that looked like a single, severed tentacle, easily the size of me, was convulsing in the middle of the road.
“Snake?” Hermes guessed.
“Giant,” Athena murmured.
As she spoke, it emerged from behind a building. We must’ve hit it just as it was leaving the road. Now, it was back. All of it. Half-man, half a mass of undulating serpents, it dwarfed the van. Roaring defiantly, it started toward us, moving with incredible speed, propelled by hundreds of writhing snakes.
“Drive,” Zeus commanded.
But Justin was frozen in shock.
“DRIVE!” Zeus boomed.
Justin blinked, the thunder in Zeus’ voice shaking him out of his shock. He forced the van forward as fast as it could go.
“How can this be happening?” Demeter demanded. “The Necessity! No exposure to mortals!”
“There are no mortals,” I answered. “Someone must’ve done something to keep them away.”
“A cloak,” Athena guessed.
“What?” Hermes asked.
“A cloak,” Athena repeated. “Half-invisibility, half-repulsion. It’s a spell that blinds mortals to whatever’s going on inside an area, and also keeps them out. Like a big No Trespassing sign, only they won’t even realize the cloak’s affecting them.”
“What are you talking about?” Justin yelled. “What is that thing? What’s going on?”
There was no time to explain, not when all our lives were in danger.
“But Justin...” I started.
“Our presence must be disrupting the spell’s effects on him,” Athena guessed. “Divine interference. Static. As long as we're close by, he probably won’t be affected.”
The giant was gaining on us. The engine revved as Justin tried to speed up, but it was no use. We were already going as fast as we could.
The giant had caught up. It swung a massive arm at the van. But with the roads empty, Justin swerved to the side and narrowly dodged the blow.
The giant roared in frustration. It had sacrificed speed to make that clumsy swipe. Now it had fallen too far behind to catch up.
“Woo-hoo!” Hermes crowed.
“That was close,” Athena breathed. She was worried. I’d never seen her worried. That couldn’t be good.
A scream of metal, and the van careened to the left. Justin desperately twisted the steering wheel. No effect.
Athena had just enough time to click my belt into place before, in a spray of glass and metal, we plowed directly into a brick building.
CHAPTER NINE
The next thing I knew, I was being dragged from the wreckage. When my vision cleared, I realized that Zeus had flung me over his shoulder and was carrying me from the crash.
Miraculously, everyone looked more or less unscathed. Zeus was virtually unscratched, but that only made sense, given the power he’d brought to the mortal world: incredible strength. Demeter was bruised on her face and arms. Hermes had several deep scratches on his face, but they’d stopped bleeding, at least. Still, something was wrong, because he was frowning. I could count the number of times he’d frowned before on one hand. Athena was the worst of all: she leaned heavily on Hermes, putting all her weight on her right leg.
I turned to survey the wreckage. The van was crushed. A giant spear had skewered its right tires.
“The giant won’t be far,” Zeus said grimly. “It just wanted to slow us down. It wants to kill us itself.”
“We can’t run,” I replied, eyeing Athena. “I could try to use my powers.”
“We can’t risk it,” Zeus disagreed. “It might be immune like the giant from the forest.”
“If we can’t run or fight, then we have to hide,” Athena said.
“Then we hide,” Zeus decided.
He’d never hidden before in his life. Neither of us had.
Zeus pulled me toward the brick building we’d crashed into. The van hadn’t done much damage to it. We could still hide inside. Hermes hauled Athena with him as he followed. But when we reached the door, it was locked.
“Figures,” I muttered.
Zeus rolled his neck and then hurled himself at the door. To his chagrin, it shook, but it didn’t break.
“Huh,” he said.
“This might take a while,” Hermes said.
“We don’t have a while,” I replied.
As if to punctuate my words, a strange sound rose in the air. It grew louder. And louder. A dry, rasping noise. The sound of thousands of scales running over each other.
“It’s here!” I whispered.
It was then I noticed that Demeter was still at the crash. In a moment of horror, I thought she might be injured. But sensing my gaze, she rose and met my eyes.
I gestured desperately for her to run to the building and join us, but she shook her head stubbornly. She pointed at Justin. He was sitting, wide-eyed, on the concrete. He didn’t seem hurt, but he was shaking his head back and forth, over and over again.
> “Oh, for the love of the Heavens,” I swore.
“He shouldn't be hurt,” Zeus rumbled as quietly as he could. “I threw myself over top of him before we hit.”
“It’s not that,” I replied. “He’s freaking out. The giant, the crash . . .”
The rustling sound was getting louder by the second. But Demeter wasn’t going to leave Justin. Our stubborn streak was probably the only thing we shared in common.
I rushed over, dodging Zeus as he tried to grab my wrist and hold me back. Demeter beamed at me. I just scowled and grabbed one of Justin’s arms. I pulled him to his feet. He came willingly enough, but slowly, as if he were indifferent to the danger we all faced. I would’ve slapped him, but I didn’t want to stop and waste any time.
The slithering grew so loud, it was impossible to ignore, and that seemed to shake Justin awake. He turned to look at where the sound was coming from. Just then, the giant appeared. Its head was swung the other direction, searching for any sign of the wreck. Justin froze, too terrified to move. He was mouthing something over and over again, but no sound came out.
We had no time. Already, the giant was ponderously turning its massive head. Soon, it’d spot us. Soon, it’d attack. Soon, we’d die.
Demeter hauled desperately on Justin, trying to move him by sheer force. But it wasn’t working. And it wouldn’t. He was too heavy.
I grabbed Justin’s chin and forced him to meet my gaze. Galaxies spun in my eyes.
“Snap out of it.” I forced the thought into his mind as deeply as I could.
Something in Justin shifted. Before I could stop him, he pushed Demeter and me behind him. I sighed and pulled him toward the others.
By now, Zeus had battered the door open. He, Hermes, and Athena were already inside. They motioned urgently to us. As if we’d head anywhere else.
We made for the doorway as quickly and quietly as possible. But a deafening roar came from behind us. It was too late. We’d been spotted us.
We bolted.
The moment I was within reach, Zeus yanked me into the building. I flew inside and slid across the floor, stopping inches from the wall. Demeter and Justin were close behind.
Hera, Queen of Gods (Goddess Unbound) Page 5
