by Tamara White
Coach Daniels gets to his feet with a look of anger so intense that I find myself cringing. He stalks towards, then, all of a sudden, his track pants go up in flames, revealing a pair of boxers with tiny lightning bolts all over them.
I freeze, unsure what just happened or what to do now. The whole class is dead quiet and I do the only thing I can think of. I run.
A burst of energy zaps through my veins as I bolt from the room, ignoring Zane when he calls after me. I run, straight past the parking lot and out into the street. Cars honk at me as I sprint through traffic, but I don’t stop for anything.
When I calm down, I realize I have no idea where I am. I see a park with a set of swings and go sit down, swinging myself gently as I think.
How did I do that? One minute, the coach was going to swing at me—well, I think he was at least— then the next, he was sent flying across the room by some unseen force. Did I do that? What was the spark I felt just before that happened? Did I just imagine it? What the hell is happening to me?
If I believed in magic, I would think I had a magical ability of some kind, but that can’t be it. I mean, magic doesn’t really exist... does it?
An image of Hades pops into my head and I start to wonder if maybe, just maybe, magic could be real.
Twenty-Four
“My child is distressed, I have to go to her.”
“No, she’s aware of her powers now. It is her guardians’ job to explain what they can to her. Our time has not yet come.”
“Do you not worry she will be taken from us?”
The smile that lights up the woman’s face is absolutely breathtaking. “No, honey. I know exactly what our daughter is capable of. She will do remarkable things when put to the test.”
“That is what I am afraid of. She is my child. For twenty-one years, I’ve had to leave her to deal with the human realm and all the problems within it. I do not want her to be tested. I want to let her live her life the way a child should. But my War calls to hers. We both know a battle is coming, but at least with me by her side, hopefully she won’t have to face it alone.”
Why has this happened? My life was finally going somewhere good and now this.
I miss Natalie. She was a crazy girl, but she was my best friend. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did. And her parents, they must be in so much pain having lost their only daughter.
If she were here, she would know exactly what I should do right now. As it is, I left my phone behind, but even if I hadn’t, who would I call?
While wallowing in my thoughts, I sense someone else’s presence nearby. I look up to see Jaxson and Zane both approaching me, an unreadable expression on their faces.
They must think I’m a freak, just like Joy said. I mean, how else could I explain to them what on earth happened back there? It was like this strange force took control of me and I had no choice but to let it out.
They approach hesitantly, as if worried I’ll lash out at them. I drop my head, not wanting to meet their eyes. It’s not that I feel ashamed, it’s just I have no idea what to say. Will they believe me if I tell them I have no idea what happened or how I did that? Or will they think I did it on purpose? Will they treat me differently because of it?
They take a seat in the swings on either side of me and for a few minutes, we just swing back and forth in silence. After a while, I decide to speak. “I have no idea what happened, so don’t expect any kind of explanation or a repeat performance.”
They both stay silent and my heart feels like it’s being torn apart. I look upward and am pulled from my thoughts when I see a crow land on the bar above Jaxson. I can’t help but smile at the way he subtly moves over, as if afraid of being crapped on.
I go over the many times I’ve seen crows lately. Nearly everywhere around here, a crow has been watching from the trees. I think it might even be the same one. The more I think about it, the more I start to wonder if it has become attached to me for some reason. Stupid, I know, but he always seems to show up when I’m having some kind of emotional crisis.
It’s strange, but comforting.
Right now, though, his presence isn’t enough to stop the panic in my chest from clawing at me. My head pounds with images I can’t quite make sense of. It feels like they’re memories, but I don’t remember doing any of these things. It all flashes by so quickly and I groan in frustration unable to grasp it all.
“Oh god, I have to leave!” I say abruptly. Then I jump up and go to walk away, but Jaxson grabs my hand, stopping me from moving.
“Jaxson, please let me go! The whole school saw me. And the coach. Oh god. He’s going to call the police for sure. I have to leave before they try to send me to some kind of freak science lab!” I shout hysterically, trying to pull from his grip, but it’s ironclad.
A zap shoots down my arm, forcing him to let me go. Tears spring to my eyes at the thought I may have hurt him. I can’t stand the thought of hurting one of them. It would kill me to see them in pain because of me.
I need to run. But as I turn to leave, a pair of arms wrap around me. For a minute I panic, thinking that a stranger has hold of me, until I hear Zane’s voice behind me.
“Calm down, Val. It’s okay.”
“What are you doing? Let me go! I need to go!” I start to freak out, clawing at Zane’s arms. It does no good, though, and he continues to hold me tight.
“Stop panicking,” he coaxes, trying to calm me down. “We can explain. Just please, don’t run.”
Then Jaxson sits down on the ground and gestures for Zane to hand me over. I’m placed in Jaxson’s lap and I struggle for a moment, but Jaxson doesn’t give me room to flee. He starts rocking me back and forth slowly. While part of me realizes he’s trying to be comforting, my mind has gone into full-blown panic mode at this point.
Zane crouches down in front of me, his soft brown eyes filled with concern. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. Someone should have explained things to you a long ago, but everyone left you in the dark because they thought you wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. My mom wanted to tell you when you got here, but your dad said you needed more time.”
Okay… this is starting to freak me out even more. Am I some kind of abomination or something? And why would Dad keep me in the dark about it? Argh! There are too many questions!
Jaxson’s breath in my ear helps calm me down a little and his voice sends a wave of goosebumps down my arms. “We’re the same, Valerie. My brothers and I are demigods. So are you.”
Oh… My… God…
“Yeah, okay. I really need to go now,” I say with forced calm, wanting to escape from this situation as quickly as possible. Fantasy is one thing, but this is reality, there’s no such thing as demigods.
Zane looks at me with pity in his eyes, “Valerie, we’re not messing with you. You really are a demigod. One of the most powerful ones be born in a long time, actually.”
“Okay, I really need a drink. Is there wine back at the house?” I ask hopefully, desperate to drown myself in alcohol. This is just too much for my mind to handle.
Jaxson eases his grip and Zane pulls me to my feet with a grin. “Yeah, Mom has a stash hidden in the cellar. It’s her personal collection, but I’m sure she’ll be happy to share with you. Let’s go home and we’ll explain everything, okay? Carter and Coop should already be back by now.”
“What about my dad?” Should I call him home from his trip? Would he even answer? “And your mom? Won’t she be at home?” I ask, not sure how to react, knowing they all hid this from me.
Demigod. Wow, it seems so strange when I think about it. I really need a glass, or a bottle, of wine.
“Your father should be home by now, actually. My mom called him right after we told her what happened in the gym,” Jaxson explains as we start making our way back home.
He and Zane keep hold of my hands the whole way home. As we walk, I notice the same crow from the park following after us and can’t help but be suspicious.
“So, is there a reason that crow keeps following me?”
Jaxson looks up at it with a frown. “We’re not sure. That crow does really seem to like following you, though.”
As we start up the drive to the house, Carter and Cooper open the front door and jog the remainder of the distance to meet me. Carter scoops me into a hug. “I’m sorry we didn’t say anything sooner.”
Then he sets me back on my feet and Cooper places a hand over my shoulders as we continue towards the house. “You okay, babe?”
I sigh and try not to focus on how he calls me ‘babe,’ but it’s hard. It makes me feel a lot better at the moment.
We all head inside and make our way to the sitting room. I sit down on the floor, needing to feel something stable under me. Carter and Cooper sit down on either side of me, offering the comfort of their touch.
A moment later, Zane walks in holding an old book. Jaxson, however, has disappeared, most likely to tell his mother we’ve made it home.
Zane grabs a huge pillow from the couch and throws it onto the floor. Then he sits down on top of it, facing the twins and me. Carter reaches over and takes the book from his brother. “As Jax and Zane told you at the park, we are all demigods. This book explains our shared history. We figured we could go through it together and help get you better acquainted with the basics. I can’t even imagine how overwhelming this must be for you. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and we will do our best to answer them. Are you okay with that?” he asks with a tenderness in his voice that catches me off guard. Carter has always been the one to joke and make light of things. This serious side of him is so calming, and if I’m being honest with myself, it’s pretty sexy to see him in a way I’m don’t think he shows most others.
I nod, feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Resting my chin in my hands, I stare at him, waiting for him to start.
Carter opens the book in his lap and takes a deep breath. Then he begins to read. “Gods were once isolated to their own realm, a place Zeus named the Realm of Light. All the plants and wildlife were said to be alive, yet could also be controlled by the gods themselves.
“Zeus’ brothers loved him, but there was an undercurrent of tension between all them. Poseidon was comfortable with how they currently lived, with Zeus in charge, but Hades felt it would have been better if they all shared the burden of leadership.”
Carter turns the page and passes the book back to Zane, who continues to read aloud. “Hades confronted his brother, asking if he would be willing to share the leadership of the gods. Unfortunately, Zeus had grown power-hungry by this point and became enraged at this, banishing Hades from his presence. After this, Poseidon tried to act as the mediator between his brothers, but over time, their anger grew and resentment blossomed between Hades and Zeus.
“One day while he was wandering through the land, Zeus came across a portal. He was hesitant to pass through it at first, but eventually his curiosity got the best of him. When he came out the other side, he found a place filled with death and destruction, a place he named the Earth Realm in honor of the already named planet Earth.”
At this point, Zane pauses and I look to either side of me, seeing that Cooper and Carter are just as enthralled by this story as I am. I wonder if they’ve heard it before, or if this is the first time for them too?
“While in the Earth Realm, Zeus discovered his power had increased tenfold. In the Realm of Light, he had little control over the elements. But on Earth, he could make lightning strike wherever he wanted and create thunderstorms capable of destroying the realm if he so wished.
“With this knowledge, Zeus began to plan. If there were other realms out there, maybe he could get rid of Hades by removing him from the Realm of Light and sending him elsewhere? Zeus explored for days until he found another portal. By this time, Hades had amassed a large following of gods: Hecate, Delphi, Persephone, Ares and a few others who were willing to help him in his crusade to claim the Realm of Light.”
Jaxson opens the door, takes a quick look at us, then immediately leaves again. He must have forgotten something.
“On the day Hades planned to confront his brother, he was thrown into a portal that led to a place much worse than the Earth Realm. This realm held the souls of all who had died and Zeus assumed leaving Hades there would mean his death.
“The realm used to be called the Realm of Souls by its inhabitants, that is until Hades renamed it Hell. Because that is what it was for him. He was trapped there with the souls of the dead, unable to return home to see his family.
“Poseidon tried to look for his brother, but Hades was only ever able to travel to the Earth Realm. In order to travel back to the Realm of Light, he would have needed a much stronger portal, but one was never found.”
Zane slams the book shut and I raise an eyebrow in confusion. “That’s it?”
He smirks at me. “No, Val. That’s just all that was written by Hermes before he was killed. Zeus showed the other gods how to reach the Earth Realm and here, the other gods found something they never expected. Life.
“The gods were unable to reproduce with one another, but found when they joined with humans, a child could be conceived. Poseidon was the first to discover this. His son was born and although he was half-human, he had power to rival the gods. And while so many of the gods could only remain on Earth for a short period of time, he was able to remain in any realm for as long as he wished with no ill effect. But when Poseidon brought his son back to the Realm of Light, something amazing happened. The land crowned his son as their next leader.”
Oh, I do not like where this is going.
“In his quest for power, Zeus had let his obsession consume him. So when the land chose another to be ruler instead of him, he became enraged and murdered his own brother and nephew.
“Zeus had done his best to hide what he’d done, but eventually rumors of the murder of Poseidon and his son began to spread. But Hades didn’t know who was behind their deaths. So he hunted down and tortured every person who had witnessed their deaths to find the person responsible. Then he went into a murderous rage, destroying all those who served Zeus or had assisted in Poseidon’s murder.
“The rest of the gods thought Hades had gone mad because Zeus had lied to them. He had claimed Hades had slipped into the Realm of Light, and that he had been the one to kill Poseidon.”
“Right. Hold the fucking phone. So Poseidon was murdered? And Zeus blamed it on Hades, even though it was really him? Do I have that right so far?”
All this talk of Hades has me wondering if the mysterious stranger I met knows about gods and called himself Hades just to mess with me. It couldn’t be the real Hades, right? I mean, why would a god show interest in me?
Cooper nods, a drawn expression on his face. “Yep, that’s the gist of what we know,” he says sadly.
“So basically, Hades is in hell, although he’ll occasionally slip away into the Earth Realm, while Zeus lives in the Realm of Light, only coming to Earth to breed his own army of demigods in the hopes of killing Hades,” Carter says with a smile. Then he wraps a comforting arm around me. I know that he’s doing it to try and soften the blow of my new reality, but I was really enjoying his soft yet serious side.
Oh shit. Does this mean all the Greek gods are real?
Zane frowns and sets the book to the side, before closing his eyes. “There’s something else you should know, Valerie. Today, you met Zeus.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Cooper grips my hand reassuringly. “Coach Daniels is Zeus. And he’s also our father.”
No… Fucking… Way …
“Wait, did you just say what I think you did?”
I look to Zane, hoping he’ll say Cooper was just messing with me, but he doesn’t. Instead, his eyes sparkle in amusement while I freak the fuck out.
“Yes, Valerie. Cooper is telling the truth.”
“So your dad…”
He smiles, waiting for me to gathe
r the words.
“Your dad… is Zeus? That’s what you’re telling me?” I ask, my heart racing.
His grin widens and he rolls on the balls of his feet, seeming pleased I’ve caught on. “Yes, our father is Zeus.”
“Zeus?” I screech, now fucking terrified. “Zeus—the homicidal maniac that framed Hades for murder—is your father, and I just fucking threw him across the room like he was nothing? Is that what you’re fucking telling me, Zane?!”
The hysteria in my voice seems to break him and he starts chuckling.
Jax chooses that moment to enter the room holding a bottle a wine and a few glasses. “Yes, Val, you just threw the leader of the gods across the room and set his pants on fire so everyone saw his underwear. I’d say you made a marvelous first impression.”
He places the glasses down, but I ignore those. Instead, I get to my feet and snatch the bottle from him, starting to chug it down.
Jaxson just grins when I come up for air. “You may want to finish that, seeing as our father will be here any minute.”
Fuck!
Twenty-Five
I pace back and forth, anxious for their dad to arrive. Cassie and my dad haven’t arrived home yet, so it’s just me and the guys at the moment.
Jaxson pulls me to a stop, his eyes filled with pain. “There’s something else, Valerie. We’ve been wiping your memories. Your dad wanted us to keep you in the dark for a little longer, so every time you witnessed magic, we had to wipe you.”
“What?! Can you give them back?” I ask, anger in my voice. I know they were only doing as they were told, but they wiped my goddamn memory! What gives them the right?
Zane looks around the room, like he’s hoping one of the others will answer. None of them speak, though. “I’ll do it,” he volunteers after a moment. When no one moves, he raises an eyebrow at them. “Can we have some privacy?”
Jax grumbles under his breath, but then leaves the room. Carter and Cooper get to their feet a moment later, each offering chaste kisses before they too depart.
