by S. E. Babin
Marshall chuckled. “Like I’m going anywhere.”
I stood up and brushed a lock of dark hair away from his face. His strong gray eyes met mine filled with tenderness and something else I couldn’t identify. “I love that you’re so foolhardy,” I said. “It’s an admirable and completely insane trait. It makes you fit right in.”
Marshall smacked a quick kiss on my lips. “I’m here to serve, darling. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head into town to take care of some business down at the department.”
“On a Saturday?” I pouted. Marshall had been promoted to Detective recently and his work schedule picked up so much I barely saw him anymore.
He nodded. “We have a weird string of incidents throughout the city. Never seen anything like it before. There’s some new evidence I need to take a look at.” He reached for me and toyed with one of my curls. “I’ll be back by six.”
I nodded. “I’ll be here,” I said. “And if Artie has anything to say about it, probably trying to communicate with fuzzy deer and squirrels.”
Marshall laughed. “As long as you aren’t singing and twirling around the house when I get home, then I’m okay with that.” He picked up his hat from the hook as I walked him to the door. “And if you are, make sure you’re naked. And alone.” With that, he winked at me, set the hat on his head and walked out the door.
I was in love with that man. And I was too scared to let him know.
2
Chapter Two
The house fell quiet. No telling what Keto and Artie were up to, so I cleaned up the kitchen as fast as I could, then headed to my office where I could contact Zeus without being disturbed. After taking his offer, he gave me a calling stone. It could be used to get in touch with him no matter where he was. I’d never used it before, but I thought this counted as an emergency. If Gaia was waking up, everyone needed to know about it.
The stone sat innocuously on my computer desk. It looked like a normal rugged green stone, but the truth of it was, it was an emerald. Let me rephrase – a big ass, priceless emerald. If anyone who knew what they were looking at saw this sitting on my desk, they’d probably swallow their tongue. I made myself comfortable in the leather office chair, leaned forward and stared at it for a few seconds, having no idea what was going to happen when I used it and feeling the teeniest bit apprehensive about it.
Finally, after steeling my nerves and steadying my harsh breathing, I wrapped both of my hands around the base of the stone and concentrated my thoughts on Zeus. He never told me how to use the thing, just gave it to me, probably in the hopes it’d take me forever to figure it out.
“You look like an idiot, Abby. Let go of the emerald. It looks like you’re trying to choke the life out of it.”
I jumped in my seat and accidentally shifted the emerald. The base wobbled to and fro and my heart lurched into my throat at the thought of it shattering. I steadied it with a hand and turned to glare at Zeus. He stood in the middle of my office sucking up all the air in there and making it feel claustrophobic. It didn’t matter what room he was in, he always had the same effect. I felt like a mouse being chased by a lion every time he showed up.
“Yeah, well, if someone had told me how to use this thing before giving it to me, I wouldn’t have trial and error.”
His lips quirked in amusement. “Now why would I do that? I’m really not the type of person to ruin my own fun. There’s little enough of it in my world.”
I couldn’t fault him for that statement. Sometimes I really thought I was only still alive because I amused him. Hermes always told me I kept Zeus on his toes. I was beginning to suspect it was the other way around.
Zeus’ emerald eyes twinkled at me. He looked around the office and finally settled his large girth into one of the cushy reclining chairs over by one of the numerous bookshelves. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
My thoughts churned as I tried to figure out a way to nudge him about Gaia. Finally, I just spit it out, apparently leaving my tact in the barn. “There’s some talk about Gaia waking up. Heard anything about it?”
By the way his mouth turned down and his gaze shuttered, I was willing to bet this wasn’t the first he’d heard of it.
“And why are you asking me this?” His arms crossed his chest and a thunderous expression appeared on his face.
“Zeus, two of the Twelve Olympians are living right here under your nose. Artie’s creatures are talking to her, and even Keto suspects something is amiss.”
A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. “Keto senses this, too?”
I nodded, wondering what he was thinking about.
“Have you ever asked Keto his origins, pet?” He studied my face, no doubt watching the myriad of emotions crossing it.
I shrugged. “Not really,” I said. “It’s enough that he’s here and loyal to us. He’s been my friend for so long now, if he needs to keep secrets I won’t judge him for it.”
One of Zeus’ eyebrows rose. “I should think your opinion would change once he tells you those secrets.” He waved a hand. “Not important right now. Let’s talk about the matter at hand.”
I didn’t want to. I’d rather talk about Keto. His words stirred the already simmering suspicion inside of me. I wondered how much Zeus knew about my flying feathered friend. I would drop the subject for now. Soon enough I’d get to his secrets, but it wasn’t the most important matter we had going on.
“Gaia is stirring,” Zeus finally said. “Those on the thrones can feel it, but there isn’t enough information coming in for us to discover why. Whomever she is working with is trusted and discreet.”
I processed this new tidbit. Gaia and Zeus had this weird love/hate, hate/hate relationship going on. Our friendly benefactor here accidentally knocked Mother Earth up not once, but twice. That was enough to make even the friendliest person lather at the mouth. Imagine, walking along minding your own business and boom…knocked up with a race of monsters. Then having it happen all over again. Zeus was a hot mess that was for sure. He came by his enemies honestly.
I closed my eyes and exhaled. “You didn’t impregnate her again, did you?”
Zeus barked out a harsh laugh. “Absolutely not. I learned my lesson.”
It was my turn to laugh. Zeus never learned his lesson. He was like an errant toddler. The only reason he didn’t get punished was because he was so powerful. Gaia was the only one who ever came close to knocking him off of his high horse. If she were after him again, it wasn’t too far out of the box to think she might win. Zeus was still recovering from the loss of one of the Apples of Hesperides. Turns out, he was storing some of his powers inside of those apples. But he didn’t separate them. Zeus literally kept all of his eggs in one basket…except this time the eggs were apples and the basket was a tree. When the apples were stolen, he was considerably weakened. And while the apples were eventually recovered, one of them was missing – eaten by Apollo’s demi-god daughter, Eurydice.
She’d wisely high-tailed it out of town somewhere after we rescued her from Eris, but even though she realized she was now immortal, she had no idea she’d consumed some of Zeus’ powers. We were all stilling waiting to see the after effects from that one. If I were a betting woman, I’d bet Zeus had henchman all over the place searching for her. If I were in his shoes, I would have done the same thing.
“Well, it’s good to know we won’t have a brand new race of bouncing baby monsters running around, but the only reason she ever starts walking the earth again is because someone has made her very angry. Any idea what could have happened?”
Zeus shook his head, but the flicker of something in his eyes gave him away.
“Zeus?” I questioned.
His mouth tightened and he shook his head again. “Bide your time, Abby. This has the potential to blow over. At this time I do not require your assistance. You should focus more on honing all those brand new powers of yours.”
And with those cryptic words, and a long heated look
at me, Zeus blinked out of my office in a shower of emerald smoke.
Shit. He knew about my powers. I’d stopped looking over my shoulder the past month or so, but I was about to pick that habit up again with a vengeance.
3
Chapter Three
Keto, Artie and I were piled in my car heading into downtown. One of our favorite coffee shops was there – The Rusted Hearth. It was run by a beautiful, cheery redhead who looked awfully familiar to me, but I just couldn’t place. Maybe it was just one of those things because I’d lived for so long. Everyone reminded me of someone I’d met in my travels.
Artie opened the door to the merry jingle of bells, announcing our arrival to everyone within. We were greeted with a hand in the air by a woman bent over a bakery case. A couple of seconds later, she popped up showcasing lush curves covered by a cheery pink and green apron and atop her head, a shower of wild, fiery red curls. “Hey, ya’ll,” she said as she wiped chocolate off of her hands with the towel next to her.
We waved our greetings and headed up to the counter to see what delights April had in store for us today. She gave me a knowing grin and pointed to an area behind her where a gigantic multiple layered chocolate cake rested. My eyes widened and I was like Pavlov’s dog. Show me the cake and I automatically drool.
“That,” I said, and pointed at it. April grinned and cut an embarrassingly large slice off of the cake. She handed it over the cake display and turned to Artie.
“Me, too,” Artie said. April looked at Keto, but his face was pressed against the display like a kid in a candy store. He was too busy to respond. April shook her head and turned to dish Artie up a slice. We both asked for cappuccinos, so April busied herself with making them while Keto continued to try to make up his mind about what he wanted.
“Did you see that cake?” I asked him.
Keto nodded. “I’m not too fond of chocolate,” he said.
How had I known him for this long and not known that? “Are you ill?” I reached over and lay a cool hand against his forehead. He smacked it away laughing.
“No, I just am not female. Women love chocolate much more than men. I am manly and require something non-girly.”
I grunted. “Me caveman. Me require live bugs.” I growled and heard April snicker behind the counter.
Keto sighed and stood just as April handed me and Artie our cappuccinos. “I’ll have the strawberry shortcake,” he said, “and a cappuccino, too.”
“Good choice,” April said. Was it me or did her voice deepen just a touch? I smelled attraction. With sharp eyes I glanced at April and then Keto, noting the slight flush to his skin as April spoke to him. I subtly glanced over at Artie and noted her eyes widening behind her spectacles. Artie might not have my ability to sniff out love, but she wasn’t anyone’s fool.
April, noticing my curious glance, dropped her head and turned to dish up Keto’s cake. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he shrugged, wisely saying nothing. I nudged Artie as he turned away, mouthing “Did you see that?” Her mouth twisted as she slowly followed Keto over to the table he’d selected. April turned back with the cake, surprised to see only me standing there.
I took the slice. “Do you know Keto from somewhere, April?”
Something ancient flickered in her eyes before she suppressed it with a merry smile. “Should I? Oh no, but he is a handsome one, isn’t he?”
I smiled, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes. “That he is.” I leaned closer. “But fair warning, he’s taken by that gorgeous woman with the crazy chestnut hair. And her hair isn’t the only thing crazy about her, if you know what I’m saying.” I bared my teeth at her and motioned for her to hand me his coffee.
April reared back like she’d been slapped. She handed over the coffee, saying nothing and turned away, but not before I noticed how much her hands were shaking. Interesting. And suspicious. I was going to be doing a little digging into exactly who April was. This little incident made me think April wasn’t just a shrinking violet coffee shop owner.
I strode over to the table, noting with concern the stiff set to both of my friend’s shoulders and the stubborn tilt to their jaws. Carefully setting Keto’s things in front of him, I sarcastically curtsied and affected a sweet Southern accent. “I hope it’s all to your liking, sir.”
Artie laughed, breaking the tension for now. Keto slid the cake toward him and, with that, we all dug in. April might be a homewrecker, but she sure could bake up some delicious goodies.
“So,” I said, after we’d gone into a major sugar high, “Zeus popped in today. He pretty much just patted my head and told me to sit there and look pretty.”
Keto snorted. “Did he have anything productive to say?”
I shrugged. “Seems like it’s definitely Gaia. And she’s angry about something…again. But Zeus won’t say what, even though I’d bet money he knows what’s going on. He seems to think he can head her off at the pass and get her to settle down.”
“Zeus appears to be delusional,” Artie said dryly.
We all raised our cappuccino mugs and clinked them together. “Hear, hear,” I said.
Once we had cleaned up our table and carefully avoided April on the way out, we headed over to Curiosity Brambles, an occult store owned by a woman we were all getting to know much better – Clotho. The first time I walked into the store to look at some specimens for my rock collection I almost lost control of my bladder. Clotho, one of the three Fates, stood behind the register smiling like she’d been living in Asheville for years.
It was one of the most bizarre scenes I’d ever been involved in, and I had lived through the Trojan-Spartan war. She greeted us with wide open arms, engulfing us all in a strangely familiar hug none of us felt like we deserved. When we asked her what she was doing there, her eyes did that freaky silver thing and she intoned some cryptic crap none of us had yet been able to decipher. So we decided to take the essence of it – doom and gloom and miserable days. Clotho was always a big ol’ fat ball of sunshine.
When we walked into her store today, Clotho’s smile was nowhere to be found. She stared at us with a grim expression and with a jerk of her head motioned us to the back of the storeroom. We trudged to the back, careful not to brush the shelves too closely. Everything was tightly packed inside Curiosity Brambles and most of it was junk. Clotho had packed it with mumbo jumbo things she knew the tourists would like but carefully interspersed real magical goods among the junk. Those with a discerning eye would know exactly what they were looking for. If they couldn’t find it, they knew she had a huge stockroom in the back filled with the rest.
There was no way the magical community around here thought she was merely a humble shop owner. Anyone with even an inkling of magical talent could see the power coming off of her. The rest of the community amused her to no end. She called them her “chewy mortals,” which gave me the skeevies on a cellular level, but I didn’t interfere. I did, however, check the newspaper on a regular basis to make sure Clotho wasn’t snacking on the locals.
Clotho held up the stereotypical beaded curtain and motioned for us to head into her office. I couldn’t keep the smirk off of my face as we passed the curtain and headed into her hippy den. This area was much larger and cleaner, but Clotho still seemed to be living in the 60’s. Posters of The Beatles and Elvis Presley were slapped up all over the walls. A red lava lamp sat bubbling on a rickety table covered by a tie-dyed tablecloth. It was like getting slapped with time travel; the only thing missing was the pot and patchouli.
Clotho followed us in and gestured for all of us to sit. The furniture was worn but comfortable, and I sank gratefully into one of the chairs. Keto and Artie sat a respectable distance from each other on her couch, something that attracted Clotho’s notice. Her eyes narrowed and she focused on them for a moment, doing that creepy silver oracle thing. Artie noticed, her mouth tightening as she stared at Clotho.
I said nothing, trying to stay out of the line of fire. A moment later, Clotho’s eyes returne
d to their normal shade, the swirling grays and purples of time. For the sake of keeping her cover, Clotho had chosen a respectable shade of brown for her eyes and kept the wild honey color of her normal hair. It still hung past her hips, but today she had it braided down both sides and hanging down to the middle of her back. She looked like a young, beautiful hippie, but none of us were dumb enough to test her. She was still one of The Fates and the sooner we figured out what her game was, the sooner we could get her to rejoin her sisters.
Clotho’s attention returned to Keto. Wind picked up in the room and blew her braids softly. Her gaze took on the colors of a storm, spinning with her prophecies. “Your secrets will spill soon, Keto. You will risk love and friendship if you don’t fully embrace your nature.” Keto stiffened but nodded once at her.
Clotho turned to Artie. “Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, it is not in your nature to fear. Embrace your inner warrior for the time will soon come for you to face your past.” Artie’s violet eyes widened, and I saw her throat work in a swallow. Clotho turned to me and I steeled my spine. She didn’t do this often and though her words were always cryptic, I did my best to heed them.
“Aphrodite,” Clotho paused, her mouth twisting. Her shoulders tightened and slumped. “I – I am sorry to tell you this.” My eyes widened. Whatever she didn’t want to tell me was bound to have catastrophic results.
She stepped forward and placed one hand on my shoulder. My body jerked as her power poured into me. Pictures spun out of control in my mind. Marshall, Artie, and I laughing over a favorite tv show, Ares staring down at me through an Olympian portal, Hermes telling me he wouldn’t give up on me, Marshall in the cage at Eris’ mercy. The images of past, present, and future spun through my head, confusing and angering me. Marshall, mouth tight and packing a suitcase. Hermes pulling me into his arms. Artemis disappearing in a shower of ichor and light, her sister, Athena, grinning maniacally in her wake. Keto with wings of ebony and light, pouring power at something I couldn’t see. His face was haunting and beautiful, mouth twisted in a grimace of concentration. Destruction of forests, Olympus burning. A giant walking upon the earth, destroying everything in its path, and a beautiful woman wearing a dress of silk and ivy, laughing as she burned the world down.
