Buildings in the typical ancient Greek style were positioned alongside the limestone street. The triangle roofs sat above stately pillars. In a language I couldn’t understand, the names of every building were written above the massive doors on each separate structure.
Hermes did not stop at any of the initial places and it dawned on me that I had no idea where he was taking us now that we were here.
I tried not to panic, but when the gates rattled shut behind us, encasing us in this super strange place, I couldn’t help the squeak that jumped from my throat.
Hermes gave me another superior glance and kept moving forward. The higher we climbed, the more of the city I took in.
Inside the city, green grass flowed over hills and dipped into valleys where glittering blue streams flowed freely. Palaces dotted the tops of each hill in every direction. I stared at them in awe, shocked by the immense structures on every hilltop.
Houses wouldn’t be good enough for these people. They each needed their own palace.
The opulence and grandeur was astounding, each palace bigger and better than the last. The sun favored the pretty white stone glistening beneath its shimmering heat, bathing each residence with an unearthly glow.
I chewed my bottom lip and pictured each of the gods I had met so far. They were evil, manipulative, greedy men that would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. They believed that they were above humanity, that they could own whomever they wanted and treat them according to their depraved standards. They were not capable of morality or dignity. They murdered innocent girls when they didn’t get their way. And they would do the same thing to me. They would tug and pull and twist me until I was a misshapen caricature of my former self.
They lived in a place that looked like heaven, but it was only a pretty picture meant to deceive and confuse.
This place was really hell come to life- the holding place of demons and devils.
Ryder squeezed my hand, giving me the courage I needed to keep moving.
We walked for at least twenty minutes without seeing another soul. The city was eerily quiet, not even the gentle breeze rustled leaves or grass. Our footsteps jarred loudly as we made our way deeper into the city.
Finally we turned a corner and the pinnacle of the mountain came into view. The road led to one place that I had been expecting since we walked through the gates.
The temple.
At the highest peak stood an enormous, rectangular building. The close sun hit the limestone so perfectly I had to shield my eyes against the brightness. The classic, thick columns bordered the building on every side, creating an open venue without traditional walls.
We stood too far back to see what was inside of the temple, but I could feel the buzzing of power radiating from the center. I sensed the gods waiting for us inside and heard the low murmur of voices drifting on the wind.
Hermes paused midstride and Ryder and I nearly bumped into him. He held up a hand, tilted his face toward the sun and stilled almost completely.
I swallowed against new nerves and waited for this event to finally begin.
Soon enough, a man came rushing down the hill from the mouth of the temple. His white toga flapped with every stride, billowing back from his muscular body.
“Aether,” Hermes greeted when the man came to a stop in front of us.
Aether stopped a few feet from us and seemed to crowd out all of the light from the sun. His enormous body reminded me of the time Nix had transformed into his god-like form. Just like Nix had been, Aether was too large to be a man, his muscles too formed and chiseled. His blinding beauty could only belong to a place as incredible as this and the weapons at his belt seemed to signify the kind of situation we’d stepped into.
“Brother,” Aether greeted stoically. “You brought guests.”
Hermes squared his shoulders and said, “You could call them that.”
“I did call them that,” Aether countered.
Hermes leaned in with challenge. “Then you’ve picked a side?”
Aether’s laughter broke through the tension, cutting the atmosphere with a knife. “Let’s not be hasty, Messenger. I’m only relaying the words of our queen.”
Hermes’ head snapped toward the temple, lightning sizzled at his fingertips. “She is expecting us?”
Aether’s smile turned sinister. “Only since the beginning of time.”
“Let’s not exaggerate,” Hermes chided, sounding much more like himself. “Back then we used Titans and Furies. We’re more civilized these days. We’re more modern.”
Aether snorted, but didn’t disagree. His large hand swept toward the temple and he inclined his chin. “This way, song-singer. Your queen awaits.”
I glanced at Ryder before turning my wide-eyes back on the temple. “My queen?”
“Hera,” Aether explained. “She is not pleased with your presence.”
“Why not?” I dared to whisper.
“I should think it would be obvious.” Aether raised an eyebrow at me and when it was clear that I didn’t understand, he said, “You bring a war with you, Siren. Nobody here is anxious to fight again after years of peace. Least of all the mother of the gods. She requests a word with you and she is not patient.”
I gulped audibly. Hera? Of course. The last story I’d read about her involved murders, cannibalism and curses.
It was probably best to go when she summoned.
Chapter Fifteen
We followed Aether into the temple and disappointment dampened some of my nerves.
I had expected something jaw-dropping and almost offensively opulent. I expected the gods to have designed this place with their crass materialism, engorged with gold, bulging with jewels and precious stones, bloated with the tainted tones of their entitlement and greed.
Instead, after expecting so much, after climbing a mountaintop to reach this pinnacle of the Pantheon, it was actually pretty anticlimactic.
The wind blew stronger up here, gusting through the space between the columns as a reminder of where we were. There was no other furniture besides two thrones at the very back of the interior. And if I hadn’t known they were meant for Hera and Zeus, I would have been reluctant to call them thrones.
Their low slung backs turned into wide armrests that bowed away from the seat with a dramatic flair. They were made from stone, the same white limestone that the temple had been forged from. I looked for gold embellishments or diamond detailing, but nothing obstructed their simple style.
“I think she’s disappointed,” a female voice snickered from the corner. “Hermes, didn’t you warn her how poor we’ve become? How destitute and bedraggled we’ve sunk? Why, we’re practically beggars.” She walked toward us, stopping at the side of her throne. Her eyes cast their judgment on us within seconds, the tick in her jaw revealing her displeasure with our presence.
“Sister, do I detect bitterness in your tone?” Hermes met her sarcasm with bullets of his own. “You’re not jealous of the child are you?”
Hera. Queen of the gods. She was the opposite of anticlimactic. Her beauty was so severe that I felt it aggressively, like an attack on my senses. Her dark hair reached the floor, dragging in soft waves behind her. Her olive skin glimmered in the light of the sun from the open ceiling. Dark eyes watched me intently, as if she expected me to attack her. There was an endless depth to her black gaze that seemed bigger than a soul or spirit, something infinite and all-powerful lurked in her eyes.
She was not good. That much was obvious.
But she was also not entirely evil.
There was something about her that separated her from Nix. I felt it with Hermes too. These gods would never be my friends. I couldn’t even consider them my allies. Not really anyway. They had their own agenda and they would use whoever or whatever they could in order to accomplish their goals.
But at the same time she didn’t want to turn every single human into her slave either.
So bonus points for Hera.
“The child?” He
ra snorted and I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “Hardly. You know I just like to have my fun.” She swirled her finger along the ivory armrest and pouted her lips prettily. “I thought that was the lie Nixy was feeding everyone these days. We need the patrons again. We’ll die without virgin sacrifices. We cannot possibly survive another century unless we feed on the prayers of the weak minded and easily confused,” she said with all the gusto of a doomsday prophet. She dropped her chin and her sparkling onyx eyes became stone cold with their brutality. “Who wants the prayers of the stupid anyway? Not me. I prefer my patrons to be from more substantial stock. Heroes, dragon-slayers, ship captains that command fleets and fleets and fleets. Poseidon wants to trick them into loving him. But the fun is in the chase.”
Hermes let out a long suffering sigh. “You mean the fun is in the seduction, don’t you?”
“Careful, brother,” she sneered, acid dripping from each syllable. “Sister or not, I am still your queen. And until my husband returns home, you answer to me.”
Hermes did not look impressed. “The point is, Poseidon doesn’t care what you think or what you do. He plans to invade Olympus and make it his own. How are you going to stop him?”
Her mouth stretched into a wide smile, transforming her beauty yet again. I felt my head spin as I tried to keep up with her mood. She had yet to speak to me directly and I was okay with that. “He doesn’t have to invade Olympus. He’s always welcome. This is his home too.” She took a few steps forward until she stood in front of us. Her eyes flitted over Ryder, taking in his form with hungry eyes. I immediately felt like scratching them out. When her attention turned to me, I felt the same sentiment rolling off her in waves. She wanted to kill me. “You’re the reason for all of this… drama?”
I shrugged one shoulder, not sure how she wanted me to respond. “Like you said, Nix wants to force people to worship him.”
“And you think you have the ability to control an entire species?” Her black eyes flashed with lightning. The clear sky overhead turned sinister and dark. The sun disappeared, replaced with heavy gray clouds that blotted out all of the light.
“No,” I answered honestly. “I think it’s ridiculous to believe I have that much power. I’m just a girl.”
Hera’s face softened, but the sky remained as black as her mood. “Don’t play with me, Siren. We have no time for modesty.”
“I’m not being modest,” I snapped. “I’ve tried to control people before; the most success I’ve gotten was complete mayhem from maybe thirty men. I would have no idea how to go about controlling all of the male population around the world.”
She leaned forward, bringing our faces closer together. She smelled like exotic spices and something I instinctively knew was ambrosia. It smelled like the rarest fruit and heaven. “But that was then, wasn’t it? And now you’re eighteen and on the brink of your greatness. Only an insignificant number of years before you come into the fullness of your power. You were a child. Now you’re a woman. Start acting like it.”
I took a step back. I hated that I let her know she’d intimidated me, but I couldn’t help it. She was terrifying. And she said terrifying things. And if I could pinpoint one of the hundred emotions assaulting my chest, it would be terror.
“I will never do what you think I can do. Even if I am capable of it.” My voice trembled, but the conviction I felt was clear.
Hera pulled back and glanced first at Hermes, then at Aether. “Time will tell,” she finally said. With a sweep of her hair and her silky white gown, she turned toward her throne and took a seat. She didn’t glance at me again; instead she looked at Ryder and addressed him for the first time. “And Orpheus? What do you think of all of this?”
Ryder’s jaw ticked with frustration. “I am not Orpheus.”
Hera smiled patiently at him, giving him all of the good grace she kept from me. “Of course you are. Only Orpheus has been able to control a Siren’s power. It’s the gift your mother gave you.”
“My mother?” Ryder’s already gravelly voice turned raw with confusion.
“Calliope, of course.” When Ryder and I stared at her blankly, she added. “The mother of the muses.”
I rocked back on my heels and let that settle over me. “Oh.”
“Oh?” Ryder’s eyes went big and he looked close to choking on his tongue.
“It makes a lot of sense actually,” I mumbled. “You’re really good at the guitar. And at singing. And you are immune to my powers.”
Ryder shook his head incredulously. I squeezed his hand and hoped he didn’t start hyperventilating.
“She didn’t adjust well to the human form,” Hera said with the smallest note of sympathy in her voice. Her eyes slid to me and I didn’t understand the severity behind them when she said, as if in warning, “Sometimes that happens.”
I thought of Smith immediately. He had said almost the exact same thing and blamed his brain tumor on that. He had recovered though. Was it possible that a god or goddess could die from adjusting to human life?
Why couldn’t that have happened to Nix?
That would have simplified my life by like a million.
“So, now you are on my mountain. What do you plan to do?” Hera asked with one lifted eyebrow. Her power had yet to recede. The storm clouds churned overhead, creating an ominous vortex directly above us. Lightning flashed hotly between the clouds, reminding us of her ancient power.
“Stop Nix,” I answered quickly.
A sardonic smile lifted one corner of her mouth. “You’ve set out to do what none of his other brothers and sisters have accomplished. The Furies could not contain him. Skolopendra, Charybdis and Scylla could not destroy him. Yet you, a girl of only eighteen, a child that does not know the power she is capable of, you attempt to kill a god amongst gods?”
I swallowed and forced my gaze not to wander to Hermes. He hadn’t been exactly forthcoming with all of this information. “Yes,” I said.
Hera’s half smile turned into a full, victorious grin. “Good,” she laughed. “Because he’s here. And if you do not succeed, he will destroy us all.”
Just as I went to ask her a million questions, the ground shook beneath my feet. It wasn’t enough to knock me over, but I felt the impact as someone landed outside the gates. When a second, third and fourth rumble quaked through the temple, I went from nervous to petrified in a half-second.
“Messenger, why don’t you show your guests to their rooms,” Hera suggested.
Hermes nodded quickly, then turned to briskly walk out what could only be described as the back door. Ryder and I followed him without giving the temple another thought.
Stairs bordered the entire structure and a road led away from the temple down the opposite side of the mountain. Houses, that fell somewhere between the simple structures we’d passed on the way to the temple and the palaces that dotted the hillside, lined the road. We did not stop at any of them though.
Hermes walked for a long time before he found the place he was looking for. Even though he set a hurried pace, he did not run. Anxiety burned through my blood and I wanted to scream at him to get us out of here. But I managed to stay quiet and appear calm.
The only thing that kept me from panicking was Ryder’s hand over mind. I didn’t think Hermes wanted me to die, but I also didn’t think he had the same sense of urgency when it came to Nix that I did.
If Ryder hadn’t come with me, I would have died of a heart-attack by now.
Eventually we came to one of the many palaces. It sat at the peak of a grassy hill, magnificent against the horizon. Vibrant, green ivy climbed the limestone pillars in front, stretching toward the warm sun that hovered so closely. The estate seemed to go on forever, taking up acres of space. Fat cherub statues danced along the roof. Beyond the doorway, I could see a foyer made with marble tile and a dangling crystal chandelier. A golden fountain held more dancing angels shooting water into the air and the pool that circled them.
“My home,
” Hermes muttered as we passed the first set of columns and fountain.
We walked into the main part of the house to find more white marble and more stately pillars; gold accented everything.
The house was eerily quiet. I had expected servants or concubines or… I didn’t know what. But it seemed we were the only people in the entire residence.
“Why didn’t you beam us here?” Ryder asked and his voice echoed through the rest of the house.
Hermes didn’t bother to slow his stride or turn around. “Beam you here?”
“You’re disappearing act,” Ryder growled. “We walked all this way. I’m just curious why you didn’t use your powers.”
“My brothers and sisters can feel my powers on the mountain. Our comings and goings are not secret here. Nothing is secret here. I was attempting to be discreet.” His reply only amped up my nerves. “Here,” Hermes went on. He stopped in front of an arched door. With a push of his hand, he swung it open and revealed an expansive room, decorated in pure whites and glittering golds. “Ivy, this is for you.”
“We’ll share,” Ryder announced before I could say anything. “We’ll share a room.”
“Wh-what?” My heart jumped to my throat and I suddenly felt very unsupervised. Not that I needed to be, er, supervised. It was just the first time in a long time that I truly felt the absence of an adult in my life.
Even more so than my entire year on the island.
“I’m not leaving you, Red. Not even to sleep.”
“Fine,” Hermes cut in before I could freak out some more. “It’s easier that way for me as well. But if you need… space, there is a room made up for you right next door.” Hermes swept his arm to the left and I saw a second arched doorway not far away.
Ryder nodded his approval, but did not offer to stay there.
I stepped inside the room and inhaled the fresh air breezing in from the open balcony. I quickly absorbed the huge bed in the center of the room, a sunken bath tub in one corner and a lounging area with white settees in another. There was a door on one wall that I hoped led to a bathroom.
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