“You have a window into our lives? Every waking, sleeping, er…not sleeping moment?”
The knife Ken had been using clattered to the plate. Bright red flashed up his neck. “It’s not like that. It’s not an open window. Shit. It’s not even a window. More like a sense. We aren’t voyeuristic, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Indignation swirled around Nia’s chest. “Well, wouldn’t you be worried? Would you want me peeking over your shoulder all the time?”
Zeke laughed. “Ken, you’re really fucking this up. Allow me.”
“Go for it, dude.” The tips of Ken’s ears had gone scarlet.
“Did you ever play operator as a kid, Nia?” Zeke asked.
“That game with two tin cans and a string?”
“Exactly. You’re the can on one end and Ken is on the other. The string between you only transmits emotions like fright or pain. We never receive flashes of an intimate nature. We only activate when you are in danger or distressed. And we can be at your side in the instant it takes to travel the Hollow.”
“Oh.” It was a slight comfort to know they didn’t know all her secrets.
“Like that time in the seventies, when you were in the car accident. I was the motorist who stopped and helped you until the ambulance arrived.” Ken spooned up a bite of stew.
“That was you?” She remembered the accident had been bad. She’d hit a patch ice and slid into a ditch. The front end of her car crumpled and her leg had been trapped under the dashboard. “You look different.”
“Our features change in each lifetime. It’s a safety measure to keep you Muses from recognizing us.”
“So now that Clio and I know you two, can you come back the same in the next life?”
Zeke shook his head. “Probably not. You’ll know we’re around, but you won’t know who we are unless you need us. The difference will be that if you do, you’ll recognize us as your partisan when we do show up.”
Curiosity got the better of her. “Will that make your job easier?”
“Not necessarily.”
Now that her interest had been piqued, the questions kept coming. “Are you generally employed in the same field as the Muse you watch over?”
“Not always. The Q and A portion of the program is over now, Nia.” Ken pressed his lips together, his brows drawn together. “Zeus is already upset that you girls know about our existence. If we spill all our secrets, we can be replaced.” His phone pinged and he plucked it off the table. His lips moved as he read the alert.
Contrite, Nia said, “Oops. Sorry. Wouldn’t want to cause anyone to lose their jobs.”
Zeke grunted. “As long as Pierus is around, no protector is in danger of being unemployed.” He swiped his napkin over his lips, then wadded it and tossed it on the table. “So what’s your plan to win the challenge, Nia?”
Doubt crushed her chest like a massive boulder. “I don’t know.”
“You’ll need a plan soon.” Ken spun his phone so she could see what had distracted him.
A NOAA alert that tides around the world had altered had launched the media into a frenzy. Dismay dragged up her spine with chilled fingers as she read the sensational reports. A meteorologist from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh had theorized that last week’s coronal burst had modified the sun’s positioning on its axis. Must be a slow news day elsewhere if weather claimed the front and center spot.
The scientist’s theory was solid, but pointed at the wrong orb. Nia rubbed her neck, hoping to ease the sudden tension that came with reading the alert. She wanted to nudge the bastard in Scotland to instruct him to stop sprouting his doom-saying ideas. Too bad her gifts would be greatly diminished by the sheer distance.
“This would be easier if the fix required nothing more than Atlas rehanging the moon in the correct spot,” she groused. The whiny, petulant timbre of her voice annoyed even her. She deserved the scowl Ken tossed at her across the table. She sighed and then straightened her spine. “Ken, would you like to take a trip to Helios with me tomorrow?”
“Certainly.” His tone mimicked Curly of the Three Stooges. Those bumbling oafs would never have amounted to anything without Thalia’s inspiration in the Twenties. Ken stacked their empty bowls. Carrying them to the sink, he glanced over his shoulder. “I’m sure all hell is breaking loose there without you.”
She hadn’t checked her phone since she’d returned from the board meeting. Glancing toward the little planning desk in the corner of her kitchen, she was startled to discover her purse was not in the normal spot.
Her brows needled together uncomfortably as she tried to recall the last time she’d seen it. “Damn. I left my stuff in the boardroom,” she fretted. “I’ll need my ID badge to get into the observatory tomorrow.”
Zeke patted her arm. “I’ll go grab it while Ken cleans. You still look tired. You should head back to bed.”
Smoothing a hand over her wrinkled cotton blouse, Nia protested, “I worked hard this morning.”
“The work will just get harder going forward. Rest.” Pressure built in the room as he prepared to shift into the Hollow. His features faded as his body became a mass of dark blue light, then blinked out, leaving his chair empty.
Nia muttered to herself as she bustled toward her bathroom. Zeke was right about one thing. She was tired. Every molecule of her screamed in agony with each step, each breath. The places where her sisters and Ken had touched her to bolster her strength stung and burned. Only time would heal those injuries. After a good night’s sleep they could go pick up her car and drive to Helios, like normal mortals.
Sleep had descended as soon as her head hit the pillow, but it hadn’t been restful. Her dreams were filled with images of riots, and people being maimed. One particularly haunting image was of hundreds of frightening, partially molted magpies with human eyes spread over telephone wires, fences and playground equipment. It was like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Nia had pulled the blankets over her head after that one, calling out for Morpheus to aid her. But still she’d gotten no relief.
Bracing her hands on the vanity the next morning, she peered at herself in the mirror. Goddess, she looked a hot mess. The dark circles ringing her eyes had nothing to do with losing sleep in Thomas’s arms the night before. Those she could handle. But her raccoon appearance came from pushing dangerously close to the edge after the night spent with the very sexy man. At least it seemed her reserve energy was back to normal. And most of the aches in her back and shoulders had diminished.
With a grimace, she reached for her comb and gave herself a pep talk. It wouldn’t do to show up for work looking as though she’d been through the wringer. Or just crawled out of bed to do the walk of shame.
Standing under a cascade of hot water from her rain head shower, she considered a variety of plans to encourage Thomas to travel back toward the light of magic. She needed to shove her doubts to the background where they belonged. While she didn’t doubt magic—she knew it existed, she was living proof—she distrusted her ability to convince a man of the truths behind myths and legends when he made a living disproving them. She’d not been able to convince the druids about placement of the monoliths that told the seasons. The world had been stuck with leap year ever since.
Thomas’s belief was the door she needed to open. But dammit! She needed more time with him to locate the lock. Right now, the key was buried so deeply, it might as well be on the moon. Hmmm, maybe she should arrange a trip to the moon for him. She quickly discarded the idea. It was hard enough for her to go. Taking him along was a logistical nightmare. Mortals didn’t breathe the way gods did.
When she left the bathroom she heard Ken talking. Either he was on the phone, or Zeke had returned again this morning. She padded down the hall to her bedroom to change her clothes.
Ten minutes later, she ventured back into the kitchen. Ken was alone, and scrolling through the newsfeed on his phone, a cup of coffee cooling on the table in front of him. Her purse was on the floor under the
desk, so Zeke had returned at some point.
Ken definitely looked at home. Although she’d rather it was Thomas sitting there. Damn, the man dominated her thoughts. If this was how she reacted after one night with him, imagine what a lifetime might bring. She couldn’t afford to let her growing feelings for the man distract her from the challenge.
As soon as she entered, Ken looked up and smiled. “You look better.”
“Feel better. Do I have time for breakfast?”
“Yeah. Want me to fix it?”
“Nope. Just going to have an orange.”
Ken wagged his finger like a displeased governess. “You need protein for strength right now.”
Raising her brow at him, she reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a container of yogurt, and the orange. “Yes, mother. Did you sleep okay in the spare room?” She hadn’t had many guests in this house, so she hoped the bed was suitable.
“Not really. You kept muttering in your sleep.”
“You heard that?”
“Comes under the heading of distressed, which I’m attuned to, so yeah, I heard.”
While she ate, Ken focused on his phone, grunting occasionally, reading the headlines to her. Mayhem must have been tired from causing all the ruckus yesterday. Things seemed pretty quiet around the world. Anxiety soured the taste of yogurt on her tongue. It sucked waiting for the next wave of turmoil Pierus had planned.
When she’d finished off the last section of her orange, Ken stood, pocketing his phone. “Ready?”
“I left my car at the square. We’ll have to go there first.”
“No worries. Once we are done at Helios, you can drive me to the Athenian. I need to pack a bag if I’m staying here until after the full moon. I’ll need my car, too.”
“I’m sorry, I should have thought about that before insisting on coming here first.”
“Girl, you were hell-bound on getting a nap. Not that I blame you. You’re my priority. My shit will always come second to what you need.” He grinned as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ll do well to remember it.”
Her back twinged uncomfortably when she stood. She washed and dried her hands at the sink. She trudged across the room to retrieve her purse. Once it was in hand, Ken moved into place behind her.
Pressure tightened the air around her chest as the real world dissolved into the Hollow. Ken’s vibrant cobalt aura flashed into her field of vision. Her own lighter sky-colored aura blended with his as they metaphysically moved from her kitchen to downtown Delphi. The light changed as Ken set them down in an alley around the corner from the square. Brows furrowed, he kept their presence cloaked until they determined the area was clear of mortals. As their bodies solidified again, the cloaking dropped like a blanket falling to the ground. Strolling casually, they exited the dank, narrow alleyway and headed toward her car. Ken’s gaze swept the street, while Nia focused on the treetops. She doubted Mayhem would have wandered far away from the scene of their little skirmish yesterday. Relief trickled through her heart when she didn’t spy the magpie anywhere near her.
Nia dug in her purse for her keys as they approached her car.
Ken whistled his appreciation. “Sweet ride, Nia. Can I drive?” His tone held a hint of gear-head hope.
“Is chauffeur part of the protector service?”
“Nope. I just always wanted to drive one of these.”
She underhand-tossed the keys to him. “I’ll navigate.”
“I knew I’d won the partisan lottery!” The car chirped as he unlocked it.
“Hang on. You guys switch your charges around for each of our lifetimes?”
“We used to. It added another layer to the secrecy each time. But eventually, we kind of all fell to protecting the same Muse existence after existence.” Ken slid into the driver’s seat and sighed. The engine growled to life, then purred like a well-fed cat.
Fastening her seat belt, Nia shook her head. “Have you always been a Ken? Because I’m fighting the urge to say ‘Drive on, James.’”
Ken’s laugh was swift and infectious. “Our names change in each existence, but I haven’t been a James. Not yet anyway. But if the job comes with perks like this car, maybe I will be in my next lifetime.”
“Okay, then.” Nia chuckled along with him. “Take me to Helios, Ken-James. My presence is needed.”
Chapter 15
After Nia introduced her new houseguest to Bradley, Barry and the other techs in the observatory, she excused herself, instructing Ken to find her when he was ready.
She left him in Bradley’s capable hands and hustled to her office down the hall. The constant ping on her phone was a sure clue her email was exploding with messages from around the world. The Helios Institute was a go-to source of information for astronomical sites as well as some scientific and tabloid journalists. When something as big as tidal shifts occurred, Nia would naturally be the first person many people sought out for the facts.
Ken eventually joined her in her office, placing a paper cup of fragrant, and direly necessary, coffee in front of her. He spun the guest chair around, straddled it, and rested one arm along the back. After frowning at the muddle of papers scattered across the surface of her desk, he pulled a printed lunar chart toward him. Resting his chin on his arm, he studied the complex detail on the page. One good thing about having a partisan who was MIT trained in meteorology was he’d understand every word and line on the chart.
Nia replayed the video from the coronal burst last week as he read. Putting a hand to her neck, she rubbed hard at the knot that had formed while she’d been talking to the director at the Royal Observatory in Scotland. She’d failed to convince him the calculations were wrong and that there was no problem with the sun’s axis.
“I wonder how much Mnemosyne would be able to make people forget if she did a broadcast memory wipe?” The goddess of memory was on call for the duration of the challenge. She’d be a good option for removing the most important information. Like the little detail of a celestial body out of place.
“A world-wide broadcast? Has it ever been done?”
“Not to my knowledge. But this Royal scientist’s theory is troubling.”
“Got a little tension there?” Ken pointed to her shoulders.
She tipped her chin from side-to-side, hoping for relief. “Yeah. I’m debating how much relief I’d get by travelling to Scotland and gagging this buffoon. He doesn’t seem to understand, even though I’ve sent him doctored data.”
“Why would you alter the data?”
The question prickled painfully along her already taut neck. “If we can keep a lid on the moon’s new orbit until we fix it, no one will have to know how close the world is to the edge of reason. Better for us gods and goddesses, don’t you think?”
Ken shrugged. “Devil’s advocate here…the general population discovers you’ve known but didn’t reveal how the world was essentially going to hell. How are they going to take it?”
“Not good.” She rolled her shoulders instead of shrugging. “I’ve got to figure this out. What will make Thomas believe?”
Ken stood. Skirting around her desk, he stopped behind her chair. His hands warmed her tight muscles as soon as he laid them on her shoulders. “Maybe some kind of demonstration. What do you think his biggest hang up is?” He dug his fingers into the knots on her shoulders.
She dropped her head forward, squeezed her eyes closed and moaned. “Goddess, maybe you should give him a massage. Your hands are magic.”
Chuckling, Ken swirled his thumbs in circles. “My hands are infused with magic. But I doubt that will work for Thomas.”
“That’s the problem with pairing with a man whose popular television show is called Doubting Thomas.”
“I can see where that would be an issue.” He stilled his hands on her back.
“Hey, keep rubbing. It helps me think.”
Ken thumped the heel of his hand down her spine. Sunlight streaming in from her office window flickered ove
r her closed eyelids.
She rounded her back. “Pierus predicted that if I fail, an innocent life would be lost. This person’s destiny is to help someone bring aid to the poorest people. What if that person is Thomas’s niece, Hailey? She’s his world. If anything happened to her he’d never recover.”
“We need to figure that out. Maybe the Fates could read Hailey’s line. We could ask Lachesis. She spins the length of everyone’s life. Makes sense to have her check on Hailey’s life span.”
“Seems like the challenge would negate all her hard work. Doesn’t matter how long the Fates spun Hailey’s lifeline. All bets are off if Pierus wins.”
“Well, shit! Didn’t think about that.” Ken sighed. “Another problem we need to address is the identity of Pierus’s silent partner.”
He shoved his fingers under her hair and massaged her scalp. Tension began to melt faster, in spite of their somber conversation.
Continuing, Ken speculated. “For Clio he enlisted the weather gods to distract her. For you, it’s the lunacy unleashed by the alteration in the moon. Can’t concentrate on leading Thomas to the big what if question when your power is constantly being drained to stamp out these anarchistic fires that keep popping up.”
“Could it be Cratus?” She twisted to look over her shoulder at Ken.
He cupped the back of her head and urged it straight again. Keeping his hands moving on her scalp, he mused aloud. “The god of power and strength? Could be. If he is partnered with Pierus that could explain how that dick with ears was able to hold Zeus in thrall when he was present at your meeting at the Athenian. I think I’ll ask Mars to do a little digging into that.”
She closed her eyes and gave herself over to the pleasure of ease his fingers provided. “I love you, Ken. You’re one of the good ones.”
His breath tickled her cheek when he bent and whispered into her ear. “Damn straight.”
She chuckled, then moaned as he jabbed his thumbs into her neck.
“Oh, good. You’re here.”
Nia’s eyes flashed open when she recognized the voice coming from her doorway.
Mayhem: Goddesses Of Delphi Page 12
