Bringing the house lights back up, Nia couldn’t help but notice the chagrined look on Hailey’s face.
The child waved her hand in the air. “Ms. Nia?”
“Did you have a question, Hailey?”
“Uncle Thomas said the stories are all made up. Those people the constellations were named for never existed.”
“We call them myths, but usually, stories like this are handed down from age to age, and might have some basis in true life.” Nia knew most of the tales behind the information accompanying the light show were factual accounts. She’d lived through all of them. “But you can choose to believe or not. It’s up to you.”
“Thomas says not to believe in anything you can’t see or touch.”
What the heck kind of uncle turns a kid into a jaded skeptic by the third grade? Nia started to argue, but changed her mind. Getting into it with a kid in front of a bunch of other kids would only end in disaster. “Okay, then. Let’s continue our tour.”
Bradley herded the youngsters out of the small theater. Several of the Campfire Scouts grouped together, alternately whispering behind their hands and pointing back toward Hailey. Nia was certain the cornerstone philosophy of the Scout organization was to be a decent human being. Someone should give the little stinkers the definition of what kindness entailed.
Hailey hung back, crowding next to Nia, as though afraid to catch up with her troop-mates. Nia let her, but kept her own hands in her pockets to make sure Hailey didn’t have the opportunity to cling too closely to her.
The girls giggled and the accompanying moms gossiped instead of paying attention to the details of the tour. Resentment simmered in Nia as the entire group grew more distracted. She had many more important things to do than spending time with disrespectful women who should be setting an example for their daughters.
She never liked unleashing her unique brand of persuasion on people who were focused only on the importance of being them. Individuals like that truly couldn’t be inspired to think of bigger pictures. Typically they had no interests beyond the tiny universe where they played the sun and everyone else orbited around them. It would be useless to try to nudge the inattentive chaperones to tune in to what the institute was all about. She didn’t believe in wasting of her energy.
So rather than send them a mental shut-the-fuck-up command, she cleared her throat quite loudly. It worked in gaining their attention. “We’re about to enter the observatory. Each of you will have a chance to look through the telescope to see the stars.”
“Ms. Nia?” Hailey spoke up. Her brown eyes were over-large in her face. “It’s daytime. How will we see the stars?”
It was something usually asked by the adults. “Excellent question. Even though it is day here, the stars are still out. Because they are a long, long way from Earth, the light from the sun dims their twinkle during our daytime. With my super-duper telescope, we’ll be able to see all the way to where they are in space. The stars will look like big points of light in the dark blue sky.”
“My mommy and daddy are stars now.”
Nia paused as she reached for the handle to pull the heavy steel door open. That sounded like something you’d tell a grieving child. Unsure of how to respond to the girl, she continued opening the door to the observatory.
Her pride and joy—her baby—stood dead center in the massive space. The barrel of the larger refracting scope extended twenty feet from the edge of the viewing platform. A smaller version was piggybacked above it. The entire structure dominated the room and was focused on a section of the sky Nia knew would be visible at this time of day.
Bradley organized the kids in a line at the foot of the viewing platform while Nia hurried up the steps with a wooden box the youngsters could stand on to look through the viewer. She double-checked the sharpness of the image visible in the eyepiece, twisting the focus knob to better define the edges.
She straightened and looked at the line of expectant faces at the foot of the stairs. Pointing to the first child, she said, “Okay, come on up.”
One by one, the children all took turns, with the chaperones mixing in. Nia relished the chorus of oohs and aahs as they spied the celestial objects millions of miles away. Once the last person took their turn the tour was officially over. Nia and Bradley escorted the group back to the main lobby, where parents waited to retrieve their kids. Bradley hustled out of the area without as much as a glance over his shoulder, leaving Nia alone with the dissipating crowd.
The last remaining child was Hailey, who stood forlornly next to Peggy and Bridget Dartmoor. Peggy heaved a deep sigh and checked the time on her phone. “Hailey, your uncle is coming, isn’t he? He’s late. I have to take Bridget to ballet class.”
“He should be here. What if something bad happened to him?”
Now that the tour was officially over, Nia had intended to return to her office. The panic in the child’s voice punched her gut like a fist. She might not be the most nurturing woman alive, but she couldn’t leave the frightened young girl.
Peggy crossed her arms under her chest, exaggerating her already awesome cleavage. “The only bad thing that’s going to happen to him is me yelling at him for being late.” She shook her head and muttered, “It’d be easier to get mad if he was ugly as sin.”
Nia started to laugh, and quickly hid her reaction behind a cough. Peggy might have thought she was quiet, but Nia had enhanced hearing, part of the territory for being a Muse. Not much escaped her.
And suddenly, she was intrigued by the idea of seeing what Hailey’s uncle actually looked like.
The entrance door burst open and a man raced through. He paused just inside, doing a rapid scan of the area. When he caught sight of their little group, his smiling gaze zeroed in on Hailey. Nia felt a sharp pang in her chest. Her breath shortened as the intensity of the man’s grin brightened the shadowy lobby. His longish blond hair swept the collar of his cobalt T-shirt. Black jeans rode low on his lean waist. The leather flip-flops on his feet finalized his surfer look. As Hailey hurtled toward him, he stooped low to catch her. The denim of his jeans hugged his powerful thighs in a way that made Nia’s mouth water.
Definitely not as ugly as sin.
Chapter 2
“Sorry, God, I’m so sorry I’m late.” Dropping to his knees, Thomas Wilde squeezed Hailey tight.
Her chest heaved against his shoulder and her relieved breath rushed in his ear. The sharp edge of her shoulder jammed painfully against his Adam’s apple, but he didn’t mind. Never would he intentionally cause her distress. She’d been through enough in her short life. She didn’t need the upheaval of thinking he’d left her, too.
Hailey patted his shoulder. “Did you get lost in work again, Thomas?”
The constriction in his chest eased at the playful tone in her voice. He shifted away from her small body and smiled into her eyes. “Yeah. It seems someone still believes in the Loch Ness monster. Sent me pictures as ‘irrefutable evidence’.”
“Fools.” The scoffing laughter pealing out of her mouth was infectious. “Off with their heads.”
Thomas groaned. “I should have never introduced you to Alice in Wonderland.” He pushed to his feet, holding her hand. It still amazed him how quickly the minute pressure of her palm in his managed to stir his heart. When her parents had died at the hands of terrorists, he’d been her only remaining relative. She’d come to live with him two years ago and had burrowed so deeply into his heart he couldn’t fathom life without her.
His brain ached as memories best left buried surged up. The loss of his brother and sister-in-law was the most fucked up thing ever. They were great parents, wildly in love with each other and their daughter. They’d been the perfect family unit, representing everything right and magical in the world. Now the image had shattered, along with his niece’s heart. Thomas’s faith that humans were actually good and decent had exploded just like the bomb that had taken his family’s lives.
His world, and Hailey’s, had spl
intered because of asshats who believed their way of life was the only acceptable way. For the past two years Thomas had focused his energy pragmatically debunking myths and legends, in search of something magical to restore his belief in people. So far, his grieving soul had been sorely disappointed.
The dull slap-slap of Peggy Dartmoor’s trendy tennis shoes drew his attention. “It’s about time you got here, Thomas. You need to be punctual. We have things to do and we simply couldn’t imagine leaving Hailey in the care of strangers.” She gestured to the woman standing behind her.
There was a myth he could debunk instantly. Peggy would have left Hailey in a heartbeat if she really had pressing matters to attend to. “Sorry, I got caught up with work and then in traffic.” He extended his hand to the woman shadowing Peggy and apologized again. “Sorry. Thomas Wilde. I’m Hailey’s uncle.”
The woman grasped his hand in a firm, no-nonsense grip. Not the namby-pamby type of grip most of the moms in the Campfire Scouts practiced. This woman had a confident, competent grasp. Pleasure shot through him with just the casual touch.
“Good to meet you.” Her voice was low and musical, like a bow carefully drawn over a cello.
The sound drew him in and made him pause to inspect the woman. Coppery hair glinted like a nimbus in the light reflected from the gilded ceiling. Her bright blue eyes were sharp, all-seeing. There seemed to be an ancient type of knowledge lingering there. He gave her body what he hoped was a discreet once over and found her curvy in all the right places. The flowing top she wore bared her collarbones and didn’t disguise the seductive slope of her breasts. The name badge suspended around her neck proclaimed her Nia Thanos.
When he returned his gaze to her face, the light in her eyes had hardened and her mouth held a closed-lipped smile. Okay, he was clearly not as discreet as he’d hoped.
Hailey tugged on his hand. “Thomas, we saw stars in the middle of the day. I think I saw Mommy and Daddy winking at me.”
Despair bloomed in the deepest corner of his heart. He should have never told Hailey they’d become stars. He spent his life disproving legends. But out of desperation, he’d created one of his very own to help soothe his grief-stricken niece when her parents had died.
His brother and sister-in-law would never have made that mistake. “That’s nice, munchkin.” He lifted his gaze to Nia’s to find compassion softening the hard light there.
Hailey spread her arms wide, mirroring the large grin on her face. “We all got to look through Ms. Nia’s super-big—”
“So listen,” Peggy interjected, her tone edged with saccharine. She laid a possessive hand on Thomas’s arm. If only the woman held her vows as sacred as her mani-pedi appointments. “We have to leave. In the future, please be on time to pick up this child.” She sneered on the last word.
Peggy’s interruption scrubbed the happy from Hailey’s face. Anger and shock over the woman’s bad manners erupted behind Thomas’s eyes. Just one more damning tick on the tally sheet chronicling humans’ innate bent toward evil.
Before he could retort, Nia mumbled, “That was rude. You should apologize, you cow.” Her words were barely audible to him.
But Peggy paused, eyebrows needled together, as if confused. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Hailey is adorable and we don’t mind taking the extra time to keep her safe when you’re running behind.” She smiled brightly at him. “Perhaps next time, you might just give me a call to let me know you’ll be a few minutes late.”
“Sure, sure,” he replied. He flicked a gaze to Nia’s face. The woman wore a smirk that intrigued him. Her lips moved and Thomas thought she said something about getting lost.
“We’ll be going now.” Peggy grasped her daughter’s hand and tugged her away. The woman’s usual sashaying walk was curiously absent as they left the building.
He turned his attention back to Nia. “I can’t believe you just called her a cow.”
Nia’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She slammed it shut, crossed her arms over her chest, and squinted at him. “I’d never call anyone a name. It would be really bad manners.”
“Nope, I heard it. You called her a rude cow.” He tipped his head toward Hailey. “Did you hear Ms. Nia say that?”
Hailey’s brows crinkled in the middle and she shook her head.
Thomas knew what he heard. He could understand why Nia would say it. Peggy had been a bitch. But why would she deny it when he agreed?
Her plump lips moved again, but this time he heard nothing and couldn’t read what she said. It was as if she mumbled in a foreign language, “You’re mistaken, Mr. Wilde.” Her voice was cool and dismissive.
The frostiness of her tone didn’t stop the pinging south of his belt line. If anything, it aroused him more. “Thomas, please.”
She gave him an unreadable look before turning her attention to his niece. “Lovely to have met you, Hailey. I hope you’ll come back again.”
Hailey’s curls wobbled as she bobbed her head. “I’d love to. Uncle Thomas can bring me tomorrow. Will you be here then?”
Nia’s laugh was significantly warmer than her earlier words. “Tomorrow is Saturday. I won’t be here. But I hope you’ll come anyway.” She nodded at him. “Goodbye.”
Without another word, she pivoted and strode across the lobby. Thomas watched her hips gently swaying as she moved with cat-like grace away from them. Before she disappeared around a corner, she glanced over her shoulder at him, a frown marring the perfection of her brows.
Caught staring after her, Thomas smiled and lifted his hand. Beside him, Hailey did the same, cupping her fingers together in a pageant princess salute.
“I like her,” Hailey said, tugging his wrist.
He looked at his niece. “I do, too,” he replied.
Too bad he doubted the attraction was mutual.
As Nia rounded the corner, and knew she was out of sight, she jammed her back against the wall and clutched her throat. Thomas Wilde had heard her nudge. That had never happened before. She always set an illusion around her directives. Especially when there was more than one person in the vicinity of the target of her mental pushes.
Thomas was different. He knew exactly what she’d said, even with her efforts to cloak her words. And he’d resisted her silent urging to take his niece and leave. No mortal had ever resisted one of her nudges. Not in this existence or any of her past lives.
Her brain galloped through the reasons it could happen, sizing up an idea, then just as rapidly discarding it.
It made absolutely no sense.
But wait! When Clio had been in the heart of her challenge last month, Zeke Patterson had been revealed as one of Zeus’s many minions. Zeke was her sister’s partisan. His lifelines mimicked Clio’s throughout the ages. When her time on Earth was done, so was his. When she was reborn again as a Muse, he was reincarnated as well. Zeus had recently granted that same power to Clio’s lover, Jax.
Was it possible that Thomas was functioning in a similar role? As her partisan? Clio never recognized Zeke from lifetime to lifetime. In fact, the next time she came back, she’d know she had a protector, but she’d never know who was the new Zeke.
And having a man as attractive as Thomas standing by her side throughout the ages wouldn’t be a hardship. The man came served with a side of sexy. He also came with a young niece who appeared to be in his charge.
Nia pushed away from the wall and hurried to her office. The instant the door banged shut she snatched the handset from the phone on her desk and dialed her dad’s cell phone.
It rang four times before Zeus answered. “Nia, I’m late for a meeting. May I call you back?”
“Oh. Um, sure. That would be fine.” She hesitated. Chances were pretty good he wouldn’t answer her question anyway. “On second thought, don’t worry about it.”
“Are you coming for dinner tonight? Gaia is making lamb chops.”
“Making or serving?” Her mother was as challenged in the kitchen as the rest
of the girls. Meals had always been an adventure to be avoided if possible.
“Serving.” The relief in her father’s tone rang clear.
Still, it wasn’t incentive enough to spend the evening with them. Watching paint dry, or cleaning the lint out of the keyboard on her laptop, would be preferable. Besides, she really hated lamb. “Sorry, Dad. I have other plans.
“A little white lie?”
“Sorry.” She’d never been successful at lying to him. Even in the heyday of the space race, when she’d been at her most powerful. He always sniffed out her prevarications.
“I will explain to your mother. But your company will be required for Sunday dinner. It’s Mnemosyne’s birthday.”
Hmm, maybe the goddess of memory would have information about whether a mortal had ever been able to intercept masked nudges. Or Clio. She was the Muse of History. “I’ll be there. I look forward to it.”
“Good.” Nia could visualize her father bobbing his head in approval. “I love you, daughter.” Zeus hung up on the sentiment. Since Clio’s run-in with Pierus and his icky offspring, Tyranny, their father had been more vocal about expressing his emotions.
Things in all their lives had changed with the challenge. Anxiety ran high for all of them as they’d waited for Pierus to step forward again and introduce the second of his nine challenges.
If even one of Nia’s sisters failed the contest, they’d all lose. And be transformed into magpies for all eternity. Clio had nearly lost when she’d been kidnapped and restrained from helping Jax end a standoff between the Five Nations Block and the much smaller country the greedy bastards had invaded. Thankfully, with the help of the security and communications departments at Olympus, they’d stopped them right in time.
Nia fervently wished the daughter she faced would be Sloth. That bitch had been a very lazy demi-god—she’d be easy to beat. Nia leaned back in her chair and gazed out the window.
Mayhem: Goddesses Of Delphi Page 2
