Architects_Sons of Olympus

by Helen J Perry

  Strange things were happening in her hometown of Beaumont—strange things that had stolen Lauren from a normal life and taken her to live in some other place. Everyone in the world had probably heard of Sparta, but you wouldn’t find Lauren's house on Google Earth. It had no internet connection, and it required magic to get there. Her Spartan home existed in a different dimension.

  Needless to say, Lauren didn’t often have phone service.

  Jade answered the call. "Hey, babe."

  "Oh my god, Jade," Lauren grumbled. "Really?"

  Lauren was most certainly not Jade’s babe. Jade snickered. "Are your boyfriends going to warn me off encroaching on their territory?"

  "They're not my boyfriends."

  Lauren called her three men her soulmates, which sounded very forever in a permanent and final way to Jade.

  Jade rolled her eyes in the same way that she imagined Lauren doing at the other end of the call. "Right. Your life partners. Or… whatever. Will they summon a giant to run into Brenna’s car or a God to dazzling blind me with bright light and…? Or will they chain me up and throw me into another dimension?"

  "It’s your car now. Brenna made it quite clear she didn’t want it back."

  "Really? I say all that and you pick up on my calling it Brenna's car."

  Brenna had planned on staying in Beaumont for just a few months when she met three princes in the woods surrounding Beaumont, literally, and decided to go and live with them in another dimension. Jade and Brenna were practically strangers when Brenna had to get rid of her car; she couldn’t take it with her, so she gave it to Jade, who did need one.

  It solved both of their problems.

  "No, I don’t expect any immortal is going take their godly form because of anything you might do. And the defenders of the forest aren’t going to capture you and send you into a dimension where you don't belong." Lauren snapped. She didn't sound in the best mood for banter.

  Not that Jade understood soulmates, or getting tied down to one man. Lauren had three, but it was still very exclusive and forever in a way that Jade couldn't comprehend when they were still so young.

  Exclusive and forever, that didn’t appeal to her at all.

  When there is just one lifetime and so many sexy hot people out there, men and women, how should a woman choose one person forever?

  Nevertheless, she’d also harbored the contradictory hope that she too would stumble across a special someone from beyond the veil or better yet a group of someones. Jade felt more than a little envious, and she longed to have someone who cared for her like the Spartans loved Lauren. Eventually.

  Lauren’s boyfriends, the Spartans, were immortal warriors resurrected by the ancient Greek gods to defend Olympus and the earthy realms from vile, monsters and magical entities who might otherwise traverse between different dimensions creating havoc.

  From what Jade could tell, the Spartans kept watch over one of many gateways to Olympus and between the different worlds.

  They looked tough and fierce, and had one hell of a reputation. Once you got to know them, however, they seemed gentle and playful, with quite a sense of humor. They had many soft spots. They loved music and worshiped the goddess of fertility, Artemis, as if she were their own mother.

  If you judged them by appearances only, they looked every bit as terrifying as you'd guess from the stories. Lauren never made much of it, but Jade had read up on Spartan warriors. They'd trained as brutal fighters from infancy, could kill with only their hands as weapons, and probably in their sleep. As far as she could tell, they were as badass as it gets. And Jade didn't doubt it after finding out more about some of the giants and monsters they fought in combat. Lauren was safe with those three as her minders.

  Lauren and the Spartans' souls were bound together. It involved rebirth, and magic, and all kinds of things that Jade would’ve called crazy, if she hadn’t seen some evidence.

  Along with other gods, the Spartans prevented the worst of the worst from other realms passing through dimensions and worming their way into the world as Jade and Lauren knew it.

  Lauren had taken Jade beyond the thin fabric that divided the dimensions on a few occasions, and Jade had glimpsed those other worlds. That would’ve made for a fun spring break trip and being half a day’s drive by car; it was within Jade’s budget. She hoped the purpose of Lauren’s call was to invite her over.

  "Not even if I call you ‘babe,’ babe?" Jade placed her laptop to one side so she could enjoy chatting with Lauren.

  "I don’t think so, but they can be jealous, so I won’t tell them, just in case," Lauren joked.

  Lauren was totally straight and Jade would never have threatened their friendship in that way, anyway. Jade was just a friendly, with everyone, male or female. And she often came across as flirting even when she didn't intend to.

  "So, what’s up?" Jade asked.

  "You need to come home."

  Yes!

  "There’s something going on around the woods. They’re fencing off the area, securing it, and preparing to take down trees." There was an unfamiliar serious tone to Lauren’s voice. "I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I think they’re going to level the woods."

  "What?" Jade sat bolt upright, brow furrowing. "They’re leveling the woods? What do you mean?"

  "I mean there’s a bulldozer and fences and men in safety vests. I don’t know what’s going on. They’ve already started putting up a fence with signs to warn people to keep out. I don’t know what to do. I’m freaking out."

  The smile fell from Jade’s face and all the excitement at the thought of visiting Lauren melted.

  "Are you safe?" Jade didn’t understand how it worked, but she worried that if the trees went, the rift would close and Lauren wouldn’t ever be able visit the mortal world again. "Are the Spartans safe?"

  "Are you kidding me? Of course they're safe," Lauren reassured her. "It's not them I'm worried about. Our safety isn’t the problem. If they tear down the forest and put in buildings, it’s going to be a lot harder for me to come back and forth, and I don’t know what I'd do. But more importantly, can you imagine what would happen if there were houses or businesses put in place? How many people would accidentally travel between dimensions? Or how many would come face to face with monsters before my guys have caught them and sent them back?"

  "Yeah." Jade’s stomach knotted up with tension. "So… you need me to come home?"

  "Right now they've got some huge traps set up, they're trying to capture a stray minotaur but, at the same time, trying to keep it all hidden from these construction workers who are traipsing through the woods."

  "Sounds a nightmare. A minotaur, huh?"

  "Yes, they'll get it. I need you here so we can fight these developers together. I can’t do this alone. I doubt I’m going to have much support from the town, and I just… I need someone here to help me. I don’t want this to happen. Not only is it going to be a pain for me, but it’s going to be dangerous for everyone. People could slip through into other dimensions and die or be trapped. They might find themselves in the Labyrinth or even Tartarus. People might disappear forever. They could be killed by a monster or a titan."

  "I get the picture. Calm down, I understand. You’re completely right." Jade rose from the bed and glanced at the window. Still daylight outside. A four-hour drive, without stopping, and it was already late in the day. "I’m going to pack my things and head on over in the morning, okay? We’ll figure this out together."

  "You’re the best, Jade." The relief in Lauren’s voice was telling—Jade knew right away how hopeless she felt. "I’ll see you tomorrow?"

  "Bright and early." Getting an early night and setting off first thing seemed like the best plan.

  They said their goodbyes and ended the call. Jade tugged her suitcase from her closet and pulled open her dresser drawer. She tossed clothes in, unconcerned with what she picked out or how it landed in the suitcase.

  Ten minutes later, it seemed, Jade hit
the snooze button on the alarm, sure it was too early to wake up. Way too early for a student on spring break.

  She suddenly remembered why she was waking up so early and at least that spurred her on.

  Jade cleared the sleep from her eyes and double checked her belongings one last time.

  Toiletries? Check.

  Jewelry? Well, just one item. Sentimental value. Check.

  Clothes? Check. Neatly packed so she wouldn’t have to iron them at the destination? Who was she kidding? Kinda neatly packed so she wouldn’t look any more crumpled than usual in her never-ironed clothes? Yeah, sure. That.

  Wallet and keys? Check, check.

  She needed breakfast and to wake up properly before she hit the road for a four-hour drive. A shower would help.

  Still sluggish from just waking up, Jade headed into the kitchen. She shared the apartment with a roommate, but Adriene had promptly left for Florida the night spring break began.

  The lucky bitch.

  At least it meant Jade had an empty house.

  She opened the fridge and took stock of what she had. Maybe it’d be best to take care of perishable items before she left. Jade didn’t know how long she’d be gone, but she assumed that stopping a deforestation attempt wasn’t going to take just one night.

  It was a damn good thing they weren’t exactly rolling in produce.

  There were seven eggs and some butter; they’d keep okay. The ketchup wasn’t about to go bad, and the bottle of soy sauce next to it was just about immortal, so she was safe to leave those. Everything else, she jammed into the freezer.

  Jade closed the door and scrawled a note for Adriene.

  Hey. Needed to take off. We’ll go shopping when we’re both back in town. :)

  Jade frowned at the note, then added to it.

  PS Still hate you a little bit for going to Florida without me <3

  PPS How the hell are you getting your papers done? Teach me your secrets?

  There. That seemed better. It felt a lot less like an urgent emergency with a little embellishment and teasing.

  Jade didn’t like confrontation. She had no problem speaking her mind, but she always tried to do it in a diplomatic manner. The less serious she needed to be, the better. There was nothing worse than a heady conversation without some humor to give it dimension.

  She felt more than a little depressed at the prospect of a humorless confrontation in Beaumont. With so much at stake, she didn’t imagine it would be a barrel of laughs.

  She hoped she wouldn’t be drawn into this any further than just being a cheerleader for Lauren. In the pit of her stomach, she knew this campaign was going to require more from her than she wanted to give.

  She did a final sweep of the apartment, grabbed her suitcase from her bedroom, and left. Cooler slung over her shoulder, suitcase wheeling behind her, Jade took the stairs to the ground floor and left her Riverside student apartment behind. She needed to get on the road and get the journey back to Beaumont underway.

  The drive wasn’t easy.

  The back roads leading to Beaumont twisted and turned, often sharply, a nightmare for even the most experienced drivers. Jade had grown up in Beaumont and was used to the roads, but she’d seen more accidents than she cared to admit.

  She took the roads slowly that morning, partially because she didn’t want to push her luck and end up skidding off the road, and partially because she dreaded what was to come.

  Four hours offered a long time to think, and Jade had a lot to think about.

  She mostly worried about Lauren. They’d been best friends since their freshmen year in high school, and Jade had taken to her quickly. Theirs was the kind of friendship where nothing changed even after a time apart.

  Since Lauren had gone to live with the Spartans in another dimension, Jade had seen a lot less of her, but every time they met up, they picked up right where they’d left off; they never experienced any awkwardness. Now, what would happen?

  They might never see each other again. While Lauren worried for the safety of others, if the area was developed, Jade’s concerns were more selfish. She'd lose her friend and lose her opportunity to travel to the mythical lands beyond.

  Jade knew that if Lauren had to choose, she’d be with the Spartans no matter where or what the consequences. Hot sex and three hot guys notwithstanding, they were soulmates.

  At only twenty-one, Jade wanted what they had, but she didn’t want to give up on casual flings and one-night stands. She hadn’t had nearly enough of them.

  And she was only interested in helping because she didn’t want to lose Lauren. Deep down, Jade was thoroughly self-centered, but at least she knew it.

  Realistically, they’d only just turned twenty-one—how were they going to convince a commercial development to quit destroying legally obtained property?

  Jade thought she already knew the answer, but she didn’t like to linger on it. The answer was, they wouldn’t. They couldn’t. No matter how influential Lauren may be when it came to inter-dimensional travel, and ancient Greek gods, she was just a kid as far as anyone in Beaumont was concerned. As was Jade.

  Life was going to change irreversibly, and it wasn’t going to be for the better. What would she do if Lauren couldn’t come back to this earthly realm? Jade had been away attending college, but they’d spent their summers together, both at Jade’s parents’ place and in other dimensions, since last year when Lauren met the Spartans.

  Jade’s phone rang. She’d left it on the passenger’s seat, propped up against the cooler. She spared it a quick glance and saw Lauren’s name.

  "Shit," Jade muttered. There was no way she could answer. She was about ten minutes outside of town, and the roads were treacherous. Lauren would have to wait.

  The call rang and rang, then got sent to voicemail. As soon as she got into town, she’d call back.

  Lauren had found happiness in the supernatural, and a few years ago, so had another girl, Brenna. Both of them were newcomers to Beaumont, and both of them had found their soulmates amidst the trees surrounding the town. Both of them found not one but three men to love and adore them.

  Lauren and the cute bookworm, Brenna, had found three hot guys to live with, in societies where foursomes were nothing out of the ordinary.

  It just wasn’t fair. Jade wouldn't say no to some of that.

  After living her whole life in Beaumont until recently and going to college in Riverside, she'd never once come across her fated partner or three men who'd be happy to share.

  Brenna had found love with three royal princes including the heir to the throne of the Corax, she'd be a queen one day.

  The Corax could fly by virtue of the fact that they had wings and their ability to transform into ravens. Or they were a land of ravens who sometimes turned into people. Jade hadn't quite clarified which, or whether there was a difference. Many of the original Corax were people who'd been transformed by the ancient gods, thousands of years before smart-phones could have captured any of it on a clip and sent it viral.

  It seemed the woods around Beaumont offered the best place to find broad minded hot magical boyfriends, and they seemed to come in a set of three. Lauren had three. Brenna had three. Destruction of the forest might dash Jade’s chance of finding her own magical fuck toy.

  She'd had a fumble among the olive trees with a cute minor god the previous summer, but it didn't amount to much. After that one time, she never saw him again. Not that she was bothered. She liked him as a friend but hardly knew him. And couldn't expect an ancient god to be interested in her when she wasn't interested in dating anyone, anyway.

  She’d not even gotten her degree yet, so she knew it was stupid to think that she should’ve found her one true love already… if such a man, or men, or women, were out there for her, of course.

  Jade drove past the sign welcoming her to Beaumont. She slowed down. It wouldn’t be long now.

  The high school was on the way to her parents’ place. Jade spared it a glance
on her way past. The parking lot should’ve been empty, but there were a few cars, a couple of construction vehicles, and other construction-related stuff that Jade couldn’t identify at a glance. Just gray and metal stuff that wasn’t usually in the parking lot outside of the school.

  The crew had torn up the football field to get at the forest. It looked like it was a routine workday—people unloading kit from trucks and walking about the grounds with a sense of purpose, some working to clear away newly fallen trees while others did… well, Jade wasn’t sure what they were doing. To her, construction always seemed like a whole lot of standing around and talking, and not a whole lot of work. She had no clue how things got done on a construction site, really.

  It wasn’t the workers or the heavy machinery that drew her eye and kept it—it was Lauren. Jade screeched to a stop. Lauren was standing at the other end of the parking lot, her slender frame distinct against walls of workers.

  From her body language, shoulders squared and fists clenched, Lauren did not look happy. She was arguing with someone, and it wasn’t going well. She looked outnumbered and in need of help.

  Jade couldn’t get a good view of the man Lauren was arguing with, but she got the impression that whoever it was, they were important.

  "Shit," Jade murmured. With a change of plan and no need to return the call, Jade started the car moving again. Slowly she turned into the parking lot.

  Chapter Two

  "You need to stop! You’ve no idea what you’re doing!" Lauren had probably shouted this same comment and similar, several times over already. Lauren sounded a little hysterical as if she could barely restrain herself from breaking into a full-blown, foot-stamping toddler tantrum.

  Not good.

  "Is that so?" The man sounded calm, though too weary for barely mid-morning. He seemed like a parent who’d witnessed these hysterics many times before. "Look, there are plenty of other forests in the area for your walks. They surround this whole town. Just not this bit of land because I own it. It’s private property, and the trees on it aren’t endangered or protected. I can fence it all in and chop ’em all down if I want to."