Urban Mythic: Thirteen Novels of Adventure and Romance, featuring Norse and Greek Gods, Demons and Djinn, Angels, Fairies, Vampires, and Werewolves in the Modern World

by C. Gockel

  Gertie took in a deep breath. A tiny apartment filled with people and daily activities galore. She wondered when and how she would have time to be alone to read and relax.

  She wanted to call her parents and tell them she was sick.

  “I’m not feeling well,” she said to Nikita. “Can I go straight to bed?”

  Nikita’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. You just arrived! Mamá and Babá and Klaus and Phoebe—they will all be so disappointed. They’ve been anxious. I’m sure Mamá has some medicine to make you feel better. Come with me.”

  Gertie hesitated, so Nikita waited for her in the doorway as Gertie looked around the small bedroom, with its plain white walls and short metal beds. Two scratched-up wooden chests of drawers took up all the wall space between the beds, and there was no on-suite bath—just a small closet without a door, stuffed to the gills with clothes and books.

  Gertie stepped closer to the books. “You like to read?”

  “Oh, yes. Klaus and I both read voraciously. This is only a small part of our collection. We have many more books downstairs in the basement.”

  “There’s a basement?” Gertie wondered if that might be her getaway.

  “It’s not very pleasant, but yes. I’ll show you tomorrow. Right now, Mamá wants us to eat her dessert.”

  3

  The Basement

  Gertie had hoped to sleep in, but the walls were thin and the rooms too close to keep the apartment quiet much later than nine o’clock, so she crawled out of bed and asked to use the shower. Because the shower in the main bathroom didn’t work, Gertie was forced to use the one in Mamá and Babá’s room. Nikita warned her, however, that the toilet in that bathroom was broken, so she should use the one in the hall. So between the two bathrooms there was only one working shower and one working toilet, but plenty of roaches.

  “When do we leave for Crete?” Gertie asked Nikita once she had finished dressing and had put on her shoes.

  “Not until tonight.” Nikita plopped on the rickety bed across from Gertie’s. “Want some breakfast?”

  “No, thank you. Why tonight?”

  “Well, mainly because Babá works all day, but also because it’s better to take the ferry while you’re sleeping, so you don’t waste time.”

  Great, Gertie thought. Another long ferry ride. She wondered how many people would be sharing her cabin.

  “Babá wants us to lunch at his café,” Nikita said.

  “He owns a café?”

  “No, no. He’s the cook. He wants to show off his culinary skills. So what do you want to do until then? Hector offered to drive us wherever we want to go. Maybe you want to see the Parthenon?”

  “Maybe.” She wouldn’t mind seeing more of Hector. “But what I’d really like to see is the basement. Before we go sightseeing, will you show me the rest of your books?”

  Nikita frowned. “I don’t know.”

  “Please? You were okay with it last night.”

  Nikita stood up and crossed to the door. “Okay, but don’t touch anything.”

  Gertie followed her out.

  When Klaus heard where they were going, he wanted to come too. Mamá begged Gertie to eat something, but Gertie said her stomach was upset.

  “Don’t touch anything that doesn’t belong to you down there,” Mamá said to her children as the three teens waved goodbye.

  The stairs to the basement were not well-lit, so Gertie held tightly to the railing as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Once they had made it all the way down, Klaus pulled a chain above his head, and a single bulb illuminated the cavernous room. It was a fairly massive basement, with the dimensions of the building broken up into many nooks and crannies, and entire rooms closed off with heavy wooden doors.

  “Our books are over here,” Nikita said.

  Gertie followed Nikita through a maze of boxes and crates toward a wooden bookshelf against the back wall. Along the way, Gertie noticed two chests in the middle of the room resembling antique coffins. One was as large as a man, and the other half its size.

  “Are those what I think they are?” Gertie asked. Heavy chains and padlocks wrapped around the middle of both coffins.

  “Of course,” Nikita said. “But they don’t have dead bodies in them.” She laughed—nervously, it seemed to Gertie. “Just a bunch of old stuff.”

  “How old are these?” Gertie touched the top of the one nearest her.

  “No!” Klaus grabbed her hand. “Don’t touch that.”

  Gertie lifted her brows with surprise. “Why not?”

  Klaus was still holding Gertie’s hand. He dropped it, blushed, and averted his eyes.

  “There really are bodies in them, aren’t there?” Gertie said without inflection.

  “Yes,” Klaus said. “So leave them alone.”

  Nikita narrowed her eyes at her brother. “He’s joking.”

  “Why are they kept down here?” Gertie asked. “Instead of a cemetery?”

  Klaus turned to Nikita. “We should tell her.”

  “Shut up, Klaus!” Nikita gave him a threatening glare.

  “Tell me what?”

  “She’s going to find out sooner or later,” Klaus insisted.

  “We are not having this conversation. It will gross her out.” Nikita turned to Gertie. “Just ignore him. He wants to frighten you with old stories about the dead, but they are just ghost stories.”

  “I love ghost stories,” Gertie said, brightening. “I’m especially fond of vampires.”

  Nikita clapped a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. “Can we just look at the books and leave?”

  Gertie moved closer to the book shelf and read the titles along the spines. Many of the books were in Greek, but at least a third of them were in English. Of the English books, most were children’s classics, such as The Secret Garden, Charlotte’s Web, Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Treasure Island—all of which Gertie had already read. They also had the Harry Potter books, all Rick Riordan books, most of Tolkien’s works, and—of all things—all ten books of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles.

  “Have you read these?” Gertie asked.

  “We’ve read everything down here,” Klaus replied.

  “I’m on the first one.” Gertie plucked the dusty paperback from its place on the shelf and cracked it open. “I have it on my e-reader.”

  “You’re welcome to borrow anything you see,” Klaus said.

  “Any book you see,” Nikita qualified. “Most of this stuff down here doesn’t belong to us.”

  “So which one of you is the vampire lover?” Gertie asked, as she returned the book to its shelf.

  Before the siblings could answer, a loud noise, like the sound of a thud, startled all three of them.

  And it came from the smaller of the two coffins.

  All three looked first at the coffin, and then at each other with shocked and terrified eyes. No one breathed for a full five seconds.

  Then Klaus said, “Let’s get out of here.”

  The teens scrambled up the basement stairs.

  In the doorway, Gertie said, “The light.”

  “Leave it,” Klaus said. “Let’s go.”

  4

  The Parthenon

  After lunch at Babá’s café, where the only thing Gertie recognized was the gyro (so that’s what she ate), Hector drove Gertie, Nikita, and Klaus to see the Parthenon and other ancient sites.

  He drove a red and white Mini Cooper—not what she expected for a boy of his stature, because he seemed too big for it. But it was in good condition, and the four of them fit comfortably. Klaus and Nikita insisted that she take the front seat so she had the better view of the sights as they drove toward the acropolis.

  “Why didn’t you take your car to the bus station last night?” she asked Hector out of curiosity.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Angelis didn’t want me to waste my gas when we were going to the same place.”

  “That’s their way,” Klaus said.


  “Mamá and Babá can be very persuasive,” Nikita added.

  “So what made you decide to come to Greece?” Hector asked.

  Gertie shrugged. “I didn’t decide. My mom did.”

  “Is she from Greece?” he asked.

  “No. She came to school here for a year, just before she married my dad. She loved it so much that she wanted me to come, too.”

  “You’ll love it,” Nikita said. “Greece is the most beautiful place in the world.”

  Gertie wished she cared more about seeing beautiful places, but, the truth was, she’d rather read. The adventures in books were always so much more interesting than the ones in real life—though she had to admit that if Hector lived in New York City, she wouldn’t mind having an adventure with him. Too bad he lived here.

  “It’s especially beautiful at night,” Klaus said. “We have to take her to the rock to watch the sunset.”

  “Don’t we have to catch the ferry to Crete?” Gertie asked.

  “At ten-thirty,” Nikita said. “We have plenty of time.”

  “It can be dangerous here at night,” Hector said. “But I guess if we stay together, we’ll be all right.”

  “Dangerous how?” Gertie asked. “You mean like muggers?”

  Hector glanced in his rearview mirror at the siblings in the backseat, but they kept their mouths clamped shut.

  “Just stay with me.” Hector reached over and patted her hand, sending shocks of energy up her arm. “And you’ll be fine.”

  Hector squeezed the car into a spot on the side of the road, and then they walked in the summer heat up toward the acropolis. The first thing they came upon was the Theater of Dionysus wedged in the southern slope of the hill.

  “Dionysus?” Gertie perked up. “I thought the Parthenon was a tribute to Athena.”

  “That happened after,” Hector said. “This area was first occupied by a cult of Dionysus. This is where drama is said to have been born.”

  Although Gertie wasn’t a fan of sightseeing, she was a fan of the ancient Greeks and their mythology. She loved it almost as much as she did vampire lore.

  “There used to be a temple for him here, too,” Nikita added. “But it got moved when they built the Parthenon.”

  “Some people believe that Dionysus continues to hang out here, beneath the acropolis, in the secret caves,” Klaus added.

  “Secret caves?” Gertie asked. She’d much rather see the secret caves than the broken old buildings.

  Nikita and Hector both rolled their eyes at Klaus.

  “Come on.” Hector continued along the path.

  Gertie caught up to him. “Can we go see the caves?”

  “They’re closed off to tourists,” Hector said. “And they’re dangerous, so no.”

  When they passed the area leading up to the Parthenon, Gertie stopped. “Don’t we want to go this way?” It was the way everyone else was going.

  “Later, before sunset,” Nikita said.

  “I want to show you the Temple of Hephaestus,” Hector said. “It’s the best preserved ancient temple in the world.”

  “And it’s special to him, too,” Klaus added.

  Hector sighed and Nikita shook her head.

  “Special how?” Gertie asked.

  “Let’s go get something to drink.” Nikita slapped her brother on the arm. “It’s too hot out here.”

  As they continued down the path, passing an enormous amphitheater they called the Odeon, Klaus said, “You guys are only postponing the inevitable.”

  Gertie stopped just as they were turning onto a pedestrian street. “What are you talking about, Klaus? What are they not telling me?”

  Nikita stepped in front of her brother and squared herself to Gertie. “Hector was born there. He’s embarrassed by the story, but Klaus doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”

  “Oh.” Gertie followed them along the street toward a stretch of shops and cafés.

  The teens were shining with sweat by the time they sat down and ordered drinks. Gertie asked for a Coke. Hector ordered a Frappe. Nikita and Klaus ordered water and insisted on paying the bill. But Hector pulled out his wallet and handed money to the waitress before either of the other two.

  “You should let me pay for everything,” Gertie said after the waitress had left. “My parents gave me a credit card with unlimited credit.”

  Nikita and Klaus turned red.

  “But you’re our guest,” Klaus said. “We want to pay.”

  “Yes, but…” Gertie was about to say that her parents had so much more money than theirs, but she bit her lip. “You are already having me in your home. I want to give something back.”

  The Angelis kids smiled. Faux pas averted.

  “Maybe next time,” Hector said.

  They took their drinks with them as they walked down the road toward the temple. It was a fifteen minute walk, but the heat shining down on them and reflecting up from the pavement made it seem longer.

  “Helios is bright today,” Hector said.

  Gertie smiled. “The sun god, right?”

  “She knows Helios!” Klaus said laughing. “This is great.”

  “I know about all the Greek gods and goddesses,” Gertie said. “I love them almost as much as I do vampires.”

  Hector flinched at her last statement but then tried to cover it up. As they walked further, however, he couldn’t seem to resist asking, “How can anybody love vampires?”

  “I meant I’m interested in the lore. I love reading stories about them.” She told him about The Vampire Chronicles and some of the other novels she had read that had made her want to read Anne Rice. “Klaus and Nikita have the whole collection in their basement.” Then she added, “That basement is pretty creepy, by the way. We’ll have to ask Babá to get me the rest of the books.” She laughed.

  But Hector’s face was serious when he asked, “What happened in the basement?”

  “We heard a noise,” Gertie said. “In one of the coffins.”

  “It was probably just a rat,” Nikita said, avoiding Gertie’s eyes.

  “But that coffin is heavily chained,” Gertie objected. “How would it have gotten inside?”

  “Rats can eat through just about anything,” Hector said. “Oh, look. See the temple over there?”

  They couldn’t get to it from that side, so they had to go around to the east for a few more minutes. Once they reached the ruin, Gertie thought it was worth the walk. It looked exactly as it must have once appeared in ancient Greece, except for a few cracks. Standing in the same spot where others once stood thousands of years ago was surreal.

  After they walked around and read some of the plaques, Hector returned to the front of the temple and sat on the ledge looking out over the landscape below.

  “See that jumble of rocks down there?” he asked.

  Gertie sat beside him and looked down the hill at a maze of stones in the grassy hillside.

  “That’s the ancient agora,” he said.

  Nikita and Klaus joined them on the ledge.

  Nikita said, “It was like the town square of ancient Greece.”

  “It’s where our ancestors would go to have fun,” Klaus said.

  Hector laughed. “Like all they did back then was party.”

  They all laughed.

  “They had to have fun some time,” Klaus said.

  As an American, that was one thing Gertie didn’t have: because her ancestors were immigrants, she couldn’t walk around in her hometown and reflect on the ancient past of her heritage. She had to go to another country to do that.

  Gertie really wanted to ask Hector to tell the story about the day he was born, but she didn’t know him well enough, and she didn’t want to embarrass him. She supposed she would have to coax the details out of Nikita later.

  They spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the acropolis and then had some dinner at one of the cafés. Gertie was able to convince them to let her pay with her credit card. At seven in t
he evening, they climbed the hill up to the Parthenon. Most of the other tourists were leaving to catch their buses and ferries and taxis, but there were still some milling about and enjoying the drop in temperature on the now windy hill.

  They walked around inside, all three of them inundating Gertie with information, and then Klaus called everyone outside.

  “Let’s climb down to the rock,” he said. “The sun is close to setting.”

  “Don’t you mean Helios is about to sink in his cup?” Gertie teased.

  “Wait,” Nikita said. “First Hector should tell Gertie about his great-grandfather. It happened right here.”

  “What happened right there?” Gertie asked.

  “Oh, okay,” Hector said. “But first, look over there. That’s where Athena and Poseidon had their famous contest over who would become the patron god of this city. Have you heard the story?”

  Gertie nodded. “That’s where it happened, huh? Poseidon gave them a salty river and Athena the olive tree. So where’s the olive tree?”

  “They’re all over this area,” Hector replied. “We have the best olive oil in the world.”

  “Now you sound like Babá,” Nikita said.

  “But it’s true,” Hector argued.

  “Can we go to the rock now?” Klaus asked.

  “Wait, his great-grandfather’s story,” Nikita prompted. “Go ahead, Hector.”

  Gertie was beginning to get the feeling that Nikita was in love with Hector.

  “Oh, right,” Hector said. “Well, during World War II, the Nazis occupied Athens.”

  Klaus came over and put an arm around Gertie. “And his great-grandfather was guarding the Greek flag when the Nazis ordered him to take it down.”

  Klaus was the same height as Gertie, and he looked at her, eye-to-eye with a cute smile on his face. She hadn’t noticed his deep dimples before. Was he flirting with her? Or just being friendly, like Mamá and Babá and Nikita?

  “So did he take it down?” Gertie asked Hector.