“You’re going to need people to work the bar though. I don’t know if you had anyone in mind... I mean unless you’d prefer a chaotic free-for-all.”
“No, you’re right. I think I know a few girls who could do it for me. For us.” He amended himself quickly.
“Awesome. Well, I’m excited. I’ll see you tonight.” He nodded, suppressing another yawn, which I took as a polite way of him telling me he wanted to sleep a bit longer. I excused myself quickly and walked out, back into the hallway. With nothing to do now, I felt a little listless and decided to go to my garden.
I liked all the free time that was offered here, but there were still down periods where my past would come back to haunt me. Even if that life was behind me it wasn’t forgotten, and thinking much and being around Griffin only reminded me of that. He wasn’t coping with his past and could I say I was coping with mine?
I had completely shut off my memories of my former life. I didn’t even acknowledge the existence of that other life anymore. I rarely thought about the condition I had been in when brought to Mount Olympus or the beliefs I had held onto when I first got here.
It probably wasn’t healthy to have sailed right past those complicated emotions, accepting that they were complicated and I didn’t want to deal with them. I kept avoiding them by launching myself right into work that would occupy my mind like helping Griffin, doing the parties with Jed, and my garden. I was busy burying myself away hoping that long as I didn’t think about those things of my past everything was going to be okay.
I wanted it to be okay.
Chapter 7
The party came and went, but I never made it to the party. Not for any catastrophic reason but because I had lost track of time in the garden. At least, that’s what I assumed happened. I eventually rose, brushed myself off and went back to my apartment to get ready. When I finally went to the club, it was empty, not a single trace was left behind to indicate people had been there.
I wondered if Griffin had tricked me, leading me to believe that I could use the club but when people came it didn’t exist. A part of me said gently that this didn’t entirely make sense, but it was too late. I was angry. I stormed into his apartment, knocking unrelentingly on the door. When he finally came to open it, his eyes were red rimmed and watering; I knew that he had been out drinking.
“Where were you tonight?” He said first, throwing me off.
“I- huh? What?”
“Tonight? The party? Your party, I thought... No one knew where you were.”
“What time is it?” I countered in disbelief. Griffin looked over his shoulder, rubbing his head slowly as he checked the clock, “Five am.”
Five am. Seriously? Had I spent that much time in the garden? How had I lost much time? I stared at the floor for a moment, wracking my mind for an explanation but all I remembered was working on the flowers, and working and working until I thought it was time to go.
“I’m sorry...” I said, finally looking back up at Griffin. “For waking you up,” I said quickly, backing away and turning to go to my apartment.
“You okay Valentina?” He shouted after me. But I was too lost in my own thoughts, trying to figure out what had happened.
When I reached my apartment, I felt exhausted suddenly and collapsed in bed, clothing and all, falling into a deep sleep. I knew I probably couldn’t afford to lose more time tonight especially if anyone from tonight were worried about me but there was no stopping it. I fell soundly asleep; I didn’t wake until much later.
It was only persistent and unrelenting knocking on my front door that finally roused me. Groggily I dragged myself to my feet and went to the door, opening it up to see an almost frantic looking Atlas staring down at me.
“You’re okay.” He said, breathing a sigh of relief. My features etched themselves into a look of confusion as I nodded slowly.
“Yeah, I was sleeping...”
“For three days.”
“What?” I said, looking around startled as if there would be a calendar to confirm what he said. “That... That can’t be... possible.” I finished lamely, but I knew it was, anything was possible in this new world he had thrust me into.
“What is going on?” I said rubbing the stiffness of sleep out of the back of my neck.
“She’s trying to go back to sleep.” He said wearily, shaking his head. “I was afraid this would happen.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Your Goddess, she’s trying to reject the union. She’s attempting to put you into a meditative state you won’t ever have to be fully joined and you won’t have to return to your former immortal life.”
“Is being a Goddess that horrible?” I said incredulously, which was enough to make Atlas laugh at me slightly.
“No, but she would probably try and make a good argument against it.”
“Who is she?” I said, staring up at him pleadingly. He seemed to run away that he was saying too much, that even talking to me about her was too much, and he shook his head and stepped away from me like I smelt. Though, there was always the chance that I did if I had been sleeping for three days.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” He said, looking away from me and nodding his head to no question. Then, as strangely, he turned and walked away.
I watched him retreat, disappearing through another door in the hallway before I closed my own. He was strange and not that helpful anymore. Sighing softly, I retired back to my bedroom and flopped down on my bed.
She wanted me to sleep my eternity away... Why?
Who was she?
The question nagged at me, making me feel restless. If this situation wasn’t hard enough to cope with now, I had a reluctant Goddess, who wanted nothing to do with her second chance.
I threw myself into my research after that. I was desperate for an answer and spurred on by knowing there had to be one out there somewhere. I locked myself in my room, occasionally the library, forgetting the parties that Jed and the others threw to keep looking and searching for her. But none of the clues I had, or any of the hints Atlas had accidentally given me, helped. There was nothing as far as I was concerned.
For a week and a half, this was all I exhausted my energies on, trying to sleep as little as possible out of fear that she might put me into a coma. As immortal as I was though, Jed was right, we still needed our sleep. I tried to live on caffeinated teas and then eventually coffee. I was wiring myself up much that I spent the time, I wasn’t reading every tome available in the Olympian library, wandering through my garden. The flowers didn’t need me anymore; they were in full bloom now and the garden looked amazing. Every often I would catch someone else wandering around it, enjoying and basking in its beauty. This pleased me, I was happy to have been able to bring joy to others.
But then one day I ran into someone completely unexpected in my garden, someone who looked entirely out of place in his tight black jeans and black t-shirt. He was like a dark cloud coming to suck the life out of the flowers.
“Are you avoiding me?” I stopped walking and slowly turned around to look at Griffin, frowning to myself and shaking my head.
“No, of course not. Why would you think that?” “I was rude, more than once, to you.” I smiled my instinctive reaction.
“Not rude enough that it would make me avoid you, I’m kind of stubborn like that.”
“I haven’t seen you in weeks and it was making me...” He stopped talking slowly like he was indulging too much information. I raised my eyebrows slightly, hoping to be able to probe for him to finish, but he tucked his hands into his pockets and shrugged.
“I’ve been busy.”
“With the books?” He guessed and I nodded.
“How did you know?”
“You might not have been actively avoiding me but I’ve been around, I saw you a few times carrying those massive things back to your room.”
“I’m trying to figure out my Goddess,” I explained, looking down at a calla lily, watch
ing it bounce as I touched it lightly.
“She’s still eluding you?” I looked up again and nodded, a frown still creasing my brow.
“I wish mine was.” He said frowning himself as his shoulders hunched.
“I feel that without her I have no purpose here
it makes me wonder if I’m even supposed to be here.” Griffin looked back up at me and raised his eyebrows.
“I think you’ll find if you weren’t here a lot of people would be upset.” I smiled at the comment, but I couldn’t believe it was true. I hadn’t been at a party in over a week and the only person far who had noticed my absence was Griffin apparently.
“True or not...” I began slowly, “it’s frustrating having her allude me much. And, I’m getting no help from Atlas, who merely explains that she’s actively trying to not come into existence.”
Griffin didn’t say anything, but his features twisted for a moment like he was in pain before his brow furrowed and his jaw tensed slightly. Then before he could say or do something in anger, his face relaxed again and he let out the breath he was holding.
“I need to go. I’ll see you tonight?” He asked.
I frowned, “what’s tonight?”
“You have been avoiding everyone.” He said with a teasing smile though it turned more into a grimace after a second or two. “It’s the grand unveiling of the Olympians. We’re supposed to ascend our thrones tonight and rightfully resume our place.”
“Oh,” I said the disappointment was not lacking in my tone. “Then the Olympians have all united with their hosts?”
He nodded his head, “yes. And now we are supposed to introduce ourselves to everyone else. There’s going to be a big turn out tonight.”
“Right. Well of course I’ll be there. I’m sure Jed wouldn’t let me miss a big party like that.”
He nodded, his expression unreadable again before he looked back to the door, “well, see you tonight then.” He started turning away from me and hurrying back to the door.
“Griffin, wait!” I said, stepping closer to him again. As he turned once again, I could sense the reluctance of the gesture as he inclined his head toward me as if to say, “yeah what?” I licked my lips and proceeded.
“Who is your God then?”
His face grew sad like he didn’t want to tell me, “Hades.”
“Oh,” I said, taking a moment to think about this. I supposed my disappointment was related to hoping he was someone who might give him hope that this second chance was worth having. But this sad, confusing boy also made sense as the God of the Underworld.
“Yeah.” He said, as he finally turned and walked away completely. I felt bad almost instantly, the interaction leaving me feeling guilty for judgment he had thought I had made. But I didn’t care if he was Hades, other people might which I could understand given his tense history with all the other Gods but Hades wasn’t exactly a bad guy.
Not at least from what I’d read which was mostly his interactions with female Gods throughout my studies. Whatever was Griffin’s internal conflict with his God, I hoped he wasn’t too hard on himself. But I also hoped that tonight people would use their humanity to be a little more forgiving about who he was as well.
I wrapped my cardigan tightly around my slight frame and walked out of the garden, I wanted to go and see Jed and ask about this party tonight. Griffin seemed less interested in it than I knew Jed would be. He’d have all the answers I needed.
“Eh! Kiddo! Where you been?” I walked right into a room full of people, but all eyes turned on me as Jed welcomed me.
I smiled softly and shrugged, “keeping busy.”
He smirked like my secret was far more nefarious than it was studying and resisting the urge to become a narcoleptic, “ah, busy is always good.” He winked, which only made me blush and shake my head furiously.
“Not like that Jed,” I said, my voice going small. He laughed boisterously, wrapping an arm around my shoulders in camaraderie before guiding me away from the group.
“Then like what? Everything okay Kiddo?” “Yeah, I’ve been wrapped up with figuring out who my Goddess was. Night after night of people introducing their two selves to me and then asking me who I was can be a little depressing. I thought maybe if I dedicated myself to the task it would work.”
“I guess it didn’t?”
I shook my head sadly and shrugged, “Whatever, she’ll come to me in time. Even if she’s trying to do everything, she can to not.”
“Hm, wonder why?”
“I ask myself that all the time but I get back radio silence in return.”
Jed laughed and gave my shoulders a squeeze, “well, even if she doesn’t want to come around I’m glad you did because we missed you. And you’re back in time for the biggest party of the year.”
“I heard.”
“The Olympians are going to ascend their throne.” “You must be heartbroken you don’t get one.” I smiled knowingly, Jed was probably the easiest going guy here and he had taken nicely to the idea of being a God. He would’ve liked it even more if it had turned out he was a powerful one. Still, even if his domain was nothing more than parties and drink that seemed to be important enough to the ancient Greeks that they had named cities after him and a massive festival. Jed was totally on board with that idea.
“Well yes, I wouldn’t mind the idea of having a nice cushy throne to sit my ass down in while I command the life of the party.”
“Aren’t you the life of the party?” I smiled, but he only shook his head.
“No, you are now my little protégé.” We both laughed, I wasn’t sure that he was laughing for the same reasons I was.
“Then who are the other Olympians? I know Nicola, Charlotte, Zane...” Three out of twelve, a lot must’ve happened in the last week. I still found it hard to believe that much time had passed without causing a blip on my internal clock’s radar.
“Well, the only important thing you need to know is who is going to end up being the Queen of the Gods.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, Charlotte is vying for the position since she started hooking up with Aidan that’s Zeus, whose party you bailed on last week. But then Savannah showed up and everyone knew she was Hera and the two girls have gotten into some pretty heated arguments in front of everyone. Tonight, they’re saying Aidan is going to choose Charlotte we’re all expecting Savannah to lose it.” His eyes were bright with the prospect of drama. I couldn’t help but laugh that our lives had gotten carefree that drama, that could put soap operas to shame was the most exciting thing to us.
“Well, whoever gets that throne should be the deserving one. Not the one who is doing it for superficial reasons.” I didn’t know exactly whom my advice would rule out, but I was sure one of them was after it for nothing more than the title. That was almost always the case for other things, no less the title of Queen.
“Well, I think Savannah should get it. She’s hotter.” I laughed and shook my head at Jed.
“You’re secretly such a conceited jerk.” I teased with a grin as I patted him on the chest and started to walk away.
“It’s why the girls love me!” He called after me, but I could hear the laughter in his voice. I was mostly convinced he put on that act to seem like the rest of the guys here when in fact he was probably one of the decent ones... If only he had the ability to settle down a bit.
I said hello to a few other people and got several more rundowns of the Savannah-Charlotte feud. Apparently, I had missed some of the juiciest drama Olympus had seen this side of the century. Once my head was swimming with facts, I finally excused myself to go and get ready for tonight. If I were going to show up after a week of absence, I should probably not go in a sundress, not that the occasion sounded like anything less than semiformal.
But as soon as I emerged into the hallway I realized I hadn’t been taken to my apartment, instead appearing in the middle of a door less hallway. Steps away from me and curled in a ball on the grou
nd, crying was a blonde girl only a few years older than me.
“Are you okay?” She looked up at me but didn’t immediately answer, she sat there staring at me like she expected me to laugh or say something else. I obliged, asking my question again as I held out my hand to help her up. This seemed to jolt her from her state of reverie as she nodded, taking my hand and climbing to her feet.
“Yeah... Well, no.” Which was it? “I’ve been better, but I’ve been worse I suppose.” That I could relate to.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I let go of her hand and smiled again, hoping to ease her discomfort.
“Boy problems you know.”
I didn’t know. I’d never even had a boyfriend, not that I was sure I was ready to have one yet with everything in my past. But this wasn’t about me, “sure… I’m Valentina.” I held out my hand to her, still smiling as I waited for her name.
“Savannah.” Oh, the one everyone was talking about. Jed was right. She was a tad prettier than Charlotte, perhaps because she had an air of not realizing she was pretty whereas Charlotte sort of rubbed it in your face. Of course, Charlotte was naturally beautiful which she used to justify her personality disorder.
“Yeah, I know. You’re the Queen.”
“I guess… But it’s unlikely that I’ll maintain that title.” she knew what might happen tonight, she’d almost accepted it. It didn’t seem fair for her to be deflated, especially when by right the throne was supposed to be hers. She was Hera, after all.
“Boy trouble… I guess you mean Aidan then?” She nodded, “Yeah. But it’s always Aidan around here, right?” From the gossip I’d received at Jed’s, I was inclined to agree.
“I wouldn’t let him get you down, Hera wasn’t Queen of the Heavens because she was married to the King of the Skies. She was Queen in her own right and you shouldn’t forget that.”
“I guess …”
Grace of Gods Boxset: Reincarnated Greek Gods YA/NA Series Page 31
