Until that moment, I hadn’t realized I’d been waiting for that hug my entire life. My face was tight against her chest. Now that I’d found my true mother, I wasn’t letting her go. My heart grew two sizes bigger with joy. She smelled like lemon and home.
My arms tightened around her.
I wanted so desperately to call her “Mom,” but I didn’t have the nerve yet. Wasn’t sure how to work it casually into conversation.
She gently pulled out of my embrace, my hands still firmly clasped in hers. Her smile seemed made from sunshine but her eyes were damp. Pretty much how I must have looked at that moment. “Let me see you.”
My throat was a giant lump of emotion. My body pulsed with nerves and delight. I was terrified I wouldn’t measure up.
Demeter stroked a hand over my hair. “I can see the differences between you. She’s there but you are, too. My beautiful girl.” She gazed at me fondly.
I beamed, trying not to burst in glee.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where Jack is, do you?” Theo asked.
I hadn’t realized the others had entered the room, but that definitely was not the reaction he should have had to Demeter’s presence.
I glared at him. Couldn’t he see I was experiencing the most amazing moment of my life here? My glare got wider as I saw that with the exception of Hannah, who was smiling, all the guys looked really unhappy.
How could they be so selfish? It really hurt. Screw them. I turned my attention back to my mom.
Demeter shook her head. “Maia should be back soon. Maybe she’ll know.”
“Sorry for uh, being inside like this,” I said, not wanting her to think I burgled on a regular basis.
“I think we can safely place the blame on these three characters,” she said, motioning to the boys. “But who do we have here?”
I happily introduced her to Hannah.
Demeter greeted her politely then smiled at me like she couldn’t believe I was here. “So? Tell me about yourself, darling.”
That was all the invitation I needed. I couldn’t stop talking. I wanted to tell her all about my life.
And she seemed to want to hear it.
We ended up in a living room stuffed with knickknacks and ugly floral seating complete with plastic slipcovers. I sat on a spongy sofa between Hannah and Kai, even happy about the cloying scent of lavender in the room. Festos and Theo were squashed into one of those chair-and-a-halfs.
Demeter laid out lovely pink and black hand-crafted mugs, milk and sugar. Also a plate of heaping round almond shortbread cookies dusted in powdered sugar. “The tea is steeping,” she said. “Meantime, try Maia’s cookies.”
I bit into one of them. Sweet Mama. Buttery, crumbly joy.
“Breathe, wolf,” Kai murmured.
“They’re so good,” I moaned.
Hannah scooted away slightly from me, like she was embarrassed to be in my presence.
I blushed under my mother’s stare. She nodded, “Good to appreciate. But you need to slow down. It’s better for the digestion.”
Motherly advice? Yay! The most I’d ever gotten from Felicia was to use sunscreen or I’d look like a toad.
“Hope you like Oolong.” Demeter headed back to the kitchen.
“Great,” I called out, swinging my feet like a little kid. I glanced at my friends. Hannah smiled at me, but the boys were tense. “What is wrong with you?” I hissed.
“Honeybunch,” Festos began in a gentle tone. He stopped and looked helplessly at Kai. “I can’t do it. You’re the jerk. You tell her.”
“Sophie, sweetheart,” Kai said, turning me so I faced him and taking my hands in his. “Don’t you think it’s a little convenient that after missing all these years, Demeter happens to be here?”
“No,” I insisted.
“It’s just, we know Jack plays games.”
My body flashed cold and my heart pounded in my ears at what Kai was implying. “Takes a trickster to know one,” I snapped defensively.
Kai sighed and released my hands. He looked at Theo. “Your turn.”
“Magoo, think about this logically, not emotionally,” Theo gently urged.
I crossed my arms. I felt lightheaded. I didn’t care about logic. What place did logic have in a world where teen girls ended up with goddess powers anyway?
“Hannah?” Theo turned to her for help. “Does this seem right to you?”
“Theoretically, I guess it’s possible,” she said. But I could tell from the doubtful look on her face, she was only saying that to be supportive.
A slow burn started in my gut. I wanted nothing more than to prove them wrong. Because the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.
Demeter returned with a steaming teapot. “Now, who wants tea?”
Nervously, I took a deep breath. Time for all these naysayers to see that she was who she claimed. “Mom,” I faltered, but she nodded at me encouragingly as she poured, “why didn’t you come find me? When I realized who and what I was?”
Her face fell. “Darling, I wish I had and I’m so sorry I didn’t. But until now, I had no idea that you were alive.”
And that’s when the bottom dropped out of my world. Because I knew she was lying. The entire damn pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses became aware of my presence upon my awakening. It wasn’t ego. Just fact.
I bit my quivering lip and looked down, blinking furiously at the tears filling my eyes. The happy fantasy I’d built in my head in the span of the twenty minutes I’d known Demeter—involving noisy holiday gatherings and quiet moments together—was just that. A fantasy.
My body splintered into a million fragments of icy cold at the realization that this was just another of Jack’s illusions. Another trick from the God of Tricksters.
Stupid, stupid girl.
In that moment, I got a littler older, a littler smarter, and a little harder.
My body tightened with a fury unlike any I’d ever known.
With a shriek of rage that didn’t even sound human, I jumped up and blasted a single pulse of green light at whatever that sham Demeter was, destroying the illusion, and my own.
There was a shocked silence, but before anyone could say a word, I ran.
I tore through the streets of Athens, adrenaline and rage fueling my flight. I ran farther and harder than I ever had before, my chest heaving and sides burning.
As fast as the anger had risen in me, it vanished, leaving me spent and alone at the base of a large rock.
I scampered to the top, laid my head on my knees, and began to cry. Those fast, thick tears that can only be pushed past your tear ducts with big, shuddery sobs.
It wasn’t about “poor me.” Well, not totally. My emotions had been whacked every which way since I’d tried to flee Olympus. The more I tried to face things, the more crap came along to knock me down.
Maybe I was being tested. Maybe I had to morph into the strongest, most resilient version of myself in preparation for my final showdown with Hades and Zeus, but at that moment, I didn’t feel strong at all.
Just an empty ball of longing and loss.
Strong arms came around me. My body relaxed into them before my brain even processed that it was Kai.
He turned me into his chest and held me, stroking my hair. “Please feel better.” He sounded really distraught. Of course he did. I’d already seen that my emotions amped up his own, courtesy of the arrows. We were feeding off each other.
How much of his concern was a side effect and how much was real, I had no clue. All I did know was that the crazy charge that had buzzed between our bodies since I’d been shot, had changed into a deep, binding current.
My crying slowed to the occasional shuddery breath but I didn’t want to let him go. Have Kai let go of me. Whatever else there was between us, right now, Kai made me feel safe. “Is this us or is it Aphrodite? Because I’m losing it here, trying to figure it out.”
Kai sighed. “I don’t know which way is up around you anymore.” He ga
ve me a mocking grin. “Another thing we have in common. Insanity.”
“I hear all the best love affairs have it.”
“I hate being trendy.” Kai draped his leather jacket over me. “Here, you’re getting goosebumps.”
I hadn’t even noticed the cold but now that he mentioned it, I was glad for the jacket. I burrowed into it, trying to surreptitiously sniff it. Yeah, spicy and Kai.
He caught me and smirked.
I wrapped the jacket tighter around me. Kai still had his heavy green sweater on, so I didn’t feel too guilty. “How did you find me?”
He wiped my damp cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “I told you once. Ever since I kissed you, I sense you.”
I gave him a watery smile, remembering. “You said you hated it.”
He shrugged. “Things change.” He peered at me closely. “You gonna be okay? Because I’ve got a hysterical girl back there, convinced you’ve gone over the edge and are offing yourself.”
I frowned. “That’s not like Hannah.”
“I meant Festos.”
I gave a small laugh. “That sounds about right.” I shifted, readying to get up. “I guess we should go back.”
Kai waved it off. “They found a possible portal and are trying to figure out how to get past its wards. Let them have their fun. Besides, I think the date part of this adventure has been sadly remiss.”
Twist my rubber arm. Since it was on the to-do list. Also, it’d be a chance for me to get back on top of all this. Amp my plan of making Kai fall in love with me first into high gear.
Except, after how nice he’d just been? I didn’t really want it to be a competition. At the moment, I just wanted it to be a date with no one trying to win anything.
“Guess another half hour won’t hurt.” I glanced up. “Are we safe out here?”
Kai shrugged. “If the minions show up, I’ll get us out fast.” He leaned over me and reached into his jacket pocket. “Close your eyes.”
I leaned back, wary.
“Girls who close their eyes get treats.”
“I’m not sure I’m old enough for any treats you might have to give me,” I muttered but I closed them.
“Now open your mouth.”
I did and was rewarded with a piece of bread that tasted like yeasty, salty, cuminy heaven. “More,” I breathed.
He pressed a chunk of flatbread into my hands. I opened my eyes and tore into it. “Not very romantic,” I said, through bites.
“There’s romance and there’s your scary appetite. I don’t intend to lose my fingers.”
Once I’d finished eating, we stared out at the sprawl of Athens, dotted with millions of tiny lights. The sky was a deep purple. The moon a bright crescent.
It was quiet and calm and lovely. “What is this place?”
“Areopagus. The Rock of Ares. The Athenian High Council used to meet here.”
“It’s so peaceful.”
Kai laughed. “Come here in summer and fight the drunken backpackers and tell me that.”
I started thinking about Demeter again. I guess my sigh was a bit loud and sad because Kai eased down against the rocky ground and tugged on me to do the same.
“Katasterismoi,” Kai said, pointing up at the vast number of stars.
I repeated it. “Constellations?” I guessed. “I know some of those. Polaris.”
“Cynosura,” he corrected.
“Ursa Major.” I pointed out the big dipper.
“Arktos Megale.”
I turned my head to the side to look at him. “Then all the zodiac signs. Which I won’t bother to say because I don’t know the Greek names.”
His lips twitched in a smile. “Thanks for not making my head explode.”
I gazed up at the sky. “This is what we’re fighting for. Letting people reach for the stars without godly intervention.”
“I hadn’t thought you were such a romantic.”
“My cynical, shriveled soul has room for romance.” I said it lightly, but he had no idea.
Kai considered me for a moment. “Virgo.”
“Uh, no. I’m Pisces.”
“Over-sensitive. Figures. Virgo,” he repeated, motioning upwards. “You can’t see it right now. But if it was spring,” Kai said, “and you followed Arktos Megale along the handle, you’d come to a bright star called Arcturas. Guardian of the bear.” Holding my hand, he showed me where in the sky it would be.
Through my clothes, I felt the heat of him, pressed against my side. The tiniest breeze stirred but I was no longer cold. I was, in fact, kind of hot.
Kai didn’t seem to notice. “From there you could find Spica. Very bright. Very obvious. That’s the main star in Virgo.”
I smiled. “Ah but that’s the nasty Roman pretender name. What is it in Greek?”
Kai propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at me. His dark hair fell slightly into his face. “Persephone.”
I stared into the depths of his eyes. “Really?”
Kai nodded. “When I kidnapped you, Demeter was so upset that Zeus projected an image of you in the sky for her. If you’re ever feeling lost, you can look up at it and know that those lights are you. Shining brightly.”
My throat choked up with emotion. Kai was trying to give me the gift of my mother’s love. Except it wasn’t mine to have. It was Persephone’s. “They’re not me. Not really.”
His eyes darkened as he scowled fiercely. “Yes. They are.” His expression softened. “Demeter loves you. You, Sophie. Because you are Persephone. If she can find her way back to you, she will. And then she’ll get the infuriating joy of knowing the Sophie side of you, too.”
Whoa.
Kai had just given me back my mom and the stars and emotions I didn’t want to look too closely at right now. How could any guy ever top that?
I reached up my hand to touch his face. It was an incredible moment of connection.
Too incredible. I freaked out.
“Really, it’s kind of like my own personal milk carton,” I blabbered. “Seen this goddess? Call Zeus.”
“A solar system missing child poster. How special,” he said, with a shake of his head. He got to his feet and pulled me up. “Better get back.”
The moment was definitely broken.
He laced his fingers through mine. “You good?”
I took one last look around, knowing that whatever else happened, I’d remember this forever. “Yeah.”
Surprisingly, I was.
Twelve
Kai blinked us back into the courtyard of Maia’s house.
My friends had set up shop in her laundry room.
The washing machine had been pushed to one side. Other than that, the room contained a sink and a shelf holding a small radio, now tuned to a English Eurotrash dance station. Oh, and a container of cookies that had been liberated from a kitchen cupboard.
All of them turned to me as one with the same worried expression.
“I’m fine. Really.”
“Told you,” Festos said. He shoved at Theo. “You’re such a drama queen.”
The boys had opened the portal. Festos stood in front of a big glowing hole muttering to himself. Through the portal, I could see a tropical island bathed in moonlight.
Theo perched nearby, arms crossed, staring into the hole with an intent expression.
Hannah sat on the washer, now barefoot. She waved me over.
I shot her a quizzical glance.
“Jack’s private island. In Thailand. Crazy, huh?”
Whoa. “Impressive secret tunnel.”
“They’ve already undone three wards. We think this is the final one.”
I leaned against the washer, watching them idly. The radio turned to its “on the hour” International news update and one particular story caught my ear. I reached over and cranked up the volume.
“… on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada. The earthquake hit about an hour ago in the Cowichan Valley, registering about a four on the Richter
Scale. And while there were no injuries and only minimal damage, scientists were surprised at the small radius of the quake zone …” The announcer continued with brief details.
This was no natural disaster. It was Zeus and Hades, showing me that they could cause destruction in my life if they so chose. A warning. I clenched my hands. My cheeks flushed.
“Don’t let them win,” Hannah said, in a hard voice.
I almost missed the next item, reassuring her I wouldn’t.
“… Sassy Lass makeup stocks are up 200 percent after It girl Bethany was spotted wearing their latest lipstick in a video that went viral only hours ago. Riots broke out at makeup counters everywhere as women from fifteen to fifty clamored for the brand to emulate this new web sensation. Seventeen were reported injured.”
My ribbons shot out. It was all too much. I wanted to destroy something.
“Easy.” Kai clasped my hands in his to keep me from doing damage.
“When reached for comment,” the newscaster went on, “B had this to say.”
It switched to a clip of Bethany speaking. “While it’s empowering to wear feminine shades like those in the Sassy Lass line, if you are not up to the quest of seeking that treasure, then do us all a favor and stay home. Reward is for the mighty.”
I was stuttering by this point.
“Wise words for us all,” the newscaster finished up.
“Could do with a touch more subtlety in her approach,” Festos said.
“Jack is certainly milking Bethany for all she’s worth,” Theo said, glancing at his phone. “Guess who the majority owner of Sassy Lass makeup is?”
I couldn’t help myself. I ripped my hands from Kai’s grasp and blasted the radio to smithereens. I’d never hated anyone like I hated Jack. Between the mommy head games and the Bethany world tour? He was one serious son-of-a-bitch.
Kai put his arm around my waist, holding me in an iron grip. “Calm down. You’re just exhausting yourself.”
“What’s Jack’s deal?” Hannah wondered. “He can’t need the money he’d make off Bethany.”
“It’s not about the money,” Festos explained. “He’s not in Aphrodite’s league, looks-wise.”
“Who is?” Hannah asked.
My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy Book Two) Page 16
