He smiled slightly and moved toward it, and just before he stepped in, I spoke, “Thank you for warning me about the Titans. I hope it makes a difference.”
He reached back to me, touching my arm as he nodded, “it will.” His words were spoken with more conviction than I could ever muster in my own self-defense; but for a moment, I believed him because he believed in me.
Just like Valentina always believed in me.
Chapter 6
Still reeling from what Lincoln had told me, I stumbled my way back through the spirits to my apartment with effort. I needed to figure out what my plan was going to be, but before that could even happen, I was swept up in
Godly affairs.
Atlas called several more meetings throughout the week to help the Olympians train themselves to their full potential. It was almost as if he was sensing the impending danger, so he doubled the amount of time I was already spending with him in private.
I considered telling him about what Lincoln had said, but wondered if he might be involved in it. At the end of the day, Atlas was a Titan too, and whether his loyalties seemingly lay with us, what if it was a ploy and telling him only endangered me further?
It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take, so I kept to myself. I stayed busy with practices that drained me night after night, until I realized almost a week had gone by since I’d been to check on Persephone and Valentina. Hades hadn’t forgotten though, and he often lamented the absence of his wife in a blatant disregard for the fact he was the cause of her current condition.
When we finally agreed, we were both emotionally and physically alert enough, to face them again, it was too close to the night of Aidan’s ascension to risk going. I also reasoned, there should be a plan in place for the impending attack. If only to protect Valentina, because if I were going to tell anyone about Lincoln’s warning, it would be her.
But, I still didn’t have a plan, and Hades was rapidly proving himself unhelpful. In the true tradition to the selfish God he was, Hades suggested we overthrow the Titans once they ridded the Heavens of Zeus to take it for ourselves. It was after quite a bit of coaxing, and arguments, I finally got through to him to understand that going into a war of our own with absolutely no one on our side, was not just incredibly stupid, but suicidal. And even the God of the Dead couldn’t fight that.
Much to Hades’ chagrin, we needed to come up with a plan that would save Zeus and the other Olympians. It was my hope that if we could come up with something that was enough, we might even sway them to trust us once more. We could stand a small chance of happiness, even if it were just Aidan and Savannah approving of my feelings for Valentina—and hopefully her feelings for me.
As I thought about Valentina, I wondered how she would fit into all this. I knew I owed it to her to go back and see her. She would expect that I free her soon, but the more I considered it, the more I thought that keeping her locked down there until the mutiny happened, would be better. This way, she was safe in case there was a proper fight, since she didn’t know how to use her magic yet—if she even had anything magically useful in a fight.
If she was also out of sight, it meant she would be out of mind for the Titans too. They wouldn’t know she would be there and we could work together to help the Gods regain control. That would help convince the Gods that I wasn’t as bad as my God, and that I did care for Valentina. I hoped.
The trouble was, the plan needed to be believable, not just for everyone else, but for my role within it as well. If I tried to play at some hero archetype, I was sure to fail, as even my own confidence wavered in the face of that idea. No, it needed to be something else, something sneaky and more like the idea belonging to the King of the Underworld.
I exhausted myself in my free time, trying to come up with plans. But I wasn’t a planner, and that was the problem. I needed some way to convincingly stay in Olympus once the other Gods were cast out, I had to give the Titans a reason to keep me here.
I considered using the Underworld as leverage, but Hades, not so gently, reminded me that my realm had also once served as their own personal Hell. If anything, it would probably remind them of that and I’d just find myself stuck in Tartarus until someone found me. Which might turn out to be never with my popularity rating.
The night of the ascension loomed, and I still hadn’t decided on anything concrete. The minutes were turning into hours too quickly for my comfort. If I didn’t come up with a plan soon, and act on it, it might be too late and I would find myself amongst the other Gods on Earth. My mind continued to circle around the idea of using the Underworld somehow. I could suggest that they imprison Zeus in Tartarus the way he had them. It was a type of bittersweet revenge they might like, and with Zeus down in my domain, I would have the ability to free him when it was time to fight back against the Titans.
For the first time in a long time, I found myself smiling back at my reflection in the mirror. It was for all the wrong reasons, but I was sure I had found out the answer to all my problems. I adjusted my bowtie, looking like a buffoon in the reflection, but I had to play along tonight. And that included dressing the part. But the longer I stared at myself, the more I decided I truly did look ridiculous. Tugging the bowtie off again, I tossed it onto the dresser, before undoing the top button of my shirt. I immediately felt better, taking a deep breath, as I relaxed. It was far less formal without the bowtie, but my all black suit still looked nice without the skulls my closet had produced on the fabric of the bowtie. It was the closet of overkill, never letting me forget exactly who I was.
I would pull Coeus aside before anything happened and tell him I was in on the plan. Whatever happened tonight, I had to look like I had sided with the Titans, no matter the cost. Everyone had to believe it, and I was confident that it wouldn’t take much for
Aidan and the others to think that I didn’t want to fight with them.
Surprisingly, I was sensing that Hades agreed with all my plans, including those to do with Valentina. It would go smoother with him on my side, the last thing I needed was for him to suddenly take over and ruin everything. Perhaps, he wasn’t as bad a guy as everyone made him out to be, even myself. Hades was indeed misunderstood. But just when you thought that for sure, he wasn’t anything at all like the stories and myths made him out to be, he would say something, or worse, do something, and make a huge mess out of everything. Then, you found yourself back to square one.
I ran my fingers through my hair one more time, pushing it as far back from my forehead as I could, to look somewhat presentable. It was getting long, I needed a haircut, and for a moment, I imagined Valentina giving me one. Her delicate fingers moving carefully to collect the strands and cut them each with care. I could see her smile and how it lit up her face right to her eyes that gleamed with the knowledge of someone far beyond her years.
I missed her, but my distance was my own fault. For her protection, I insisted to myself. I had to make people forget about her altogether. They had to not look for her, or whisper her name, and that was hard enough with how popular she was with the other Gods. But slowly they forgot, getting lost in their own drama and lives. No one was looking for her this time, not even Demeter.
I sighed and let go of my hair, thinking about an elastic and quickly pulled it back into a small ponytail at the back of my head. Better, I decided. If there was going to be fighting, I didn’t want hair in my face, and it didn’t look that bad pulled back tightly.
I finished fussing with my appearance, knowing I was stalling the inevitable, and left the bedroom with one last cursory glance at the whiskey bottle left out on the table. I could do with a drink, but then again, I might just need Hades tonight, whether I liked it or not.
With one more deep breath I forced my leaded limbs out of the apartment, thinking about the throne room, and stepped out into the hallway that would lead me there. Others were making their way to the festivities too, but no one even looked at me. I supposed, today, that was okay. The less they noticed of me, the better.
The doors into the throne room were illuminated by some magical substance imbued in the frame of the threshold that cast a glow on each person that stepped through. I blinked as my turn came, throwing a hand up to shield my eyes from the golden light, before moving as quickly through it, into the room, as I could. Glancing back, I saw that the light flattered every single person who came through, making them appear more regal and majestic. I had no doubt though, that the light only proved to enhance my sallow features in the most unflattering of ways.
Like the night of the ascension to the thrones, the room was packed with bodies. There almost seemed to be more Gods here than last time. Perhaps there was, and Atlas had been busy collecting new minor Gods all this time as well. It didn’t escape my notice that there were more than just Gods and Titans in the room. Satyrs, Centaurs, and nymphs wandered around the room in their traditional form. It was shocking to see these half beasts and elementals mingling with us, who had only months ago, been mere mortals, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
It had been, once upon a time.
A centaur clomped up to me, bowing lowly, until his human head nearly reached the floor, “my lord.” He said in a deep baritone, one arm stretched across his chest in a gesture of subservience. I nodded my head, unsure of what else I was supposed to do.
“Uh, thank you.” I sounded awkward, which only made me wince as the centaur straightened up and stared down at me. Even at my height, he towered over me. It looked like he was expecting me to say something else, but nothing of use was coming to me. And I could almost feel Hades laughing at me inside my head. “You’re, uh, dismissed?”
The centaur shot me a bemused look and trotted off, leaving me standing there feeling even more awkward about everything, than I had been before. He didn’t even look back at me as he weaved through the crowd and found someone else to confuse. A waiter passed by with a tray of drinks and I thanked them out loud, before even taking one, downing the whole thing in a single gulp. The weak champagne barely registered on my system, so I helped myself to a second, then a third, before I decided the waiter was judging me too much and walked away.
I needed to find Coeus anyways. Instead of reinforcing my nerves. Maybe the centaur knew what I was planning to do tonight, maybe he was on my side? Or maybe, I just needed to stop thinking about the centaur.
I slipped between two groups who had encircled themselves, loudly talking about... well, I didn’t care. I made my way up to the thrones, finding mine amongst the other twelve and lowered myself into it. It was far less magnificent than the one in the Underworld. Zeus retained all the glory in his own, I thought bitterly, before catching myself again and scolding Hades. From my position, I could see out amongst the sea of faces, which made searching for the Titan in charge of the mutiny much easier.
First, my eyes found Aidan and Savannah, wrapped up amongst each other, their bond only strengthened by Cronos’ attempt to kill both. Savannah looked more comfortable than she had when we first met; she’d come into her own and discarded our friendship after Hades’ stupid attempt to claim her as his Queen. I still didn’t fully understand his motivations behind it. Other than the fact that I was upset with how things had turned out with Val, and Savannah was being nice to me, so I started to like her. Maybe, he had simply just read into those feelings far more strongly than they were, especially after she started flirting with us.
The Queen of the Gods looked over at me, like she had known I was thinking of her, and our eyes met. There wasn’t a trace of recognition that we were once friends in
her eyes. She just plain out hated me, not that I entirely blamed her. I just wished she could understand that my actions had been those of my God and not me. I would’ve never forced myself on her like Hades did. He was the one with the complex issues of believing he deserved everything he wanted. I had long ago come to terms with the fact I deserved nothing nice.
She looked away, freeing me from her gaze, to look around the room once more. I knew everyone here, and yet, I knew nothing about any of them. I’d always been something of a wallflower in my previous life, but here, I was literally invisible. I absorbed the information of the people around me, but I wasn’t even a blip on their radar. I was nothing of consequence that they worried themselves with remembering. This was yet another curse of mine.
The doors to the room opened again and I watched as Montgomery came into the room, followed by Hanna; they were Crius and Gaia, respectively. I suspected, if history were any indication, Crius would be working with Coeus to usurp the throne, as they had once done to Cronos as the legends go. My eyes followed them as they made their way through the crowd, weaving between bodies carefully, before crossing toward the back of the room where two others I didn’t recognize were lingering. They formed a tight circle with their bowed heads and kept to themselves. But Soren, Coeus, wasn’t among them.
I didn’t know how much time I had left to spare before something happened. They were looking suspicious as though they were waiting for a sign to act. I couldn’t waste any more time, if I was going to make myself loyal to them, I had to start somewhere.
I rose as casually as I could from my seat and came down the steps, moving slowly toward them. People seemed to instinctively clear the way for me as I crossed toward them. The trouble was, I didn’t want people seeing me go to them; I didn’t mean to draw any attention whatsoever. If they thought that I was trying to make a scene, it would spoil my plan, it just had to appear natural. Right down to my conversation with them.
“Gage has been cozying up with Atlas for the last few weeks, he’s his reincarnated father, so it won’t be strange when he approaches him during the speech. He’ll take the key before Aidan can and give it to Soren.”
Well, there has never been a better entrance than this, “I want to help.” Four pairs of eyes turned to me immediately, suspicion clouding their features. I licked my lips, taking a cue from Hades and continuing: “Cronos told me about the plan before he was killed by that asshole, Zeus. He acted prematurely, which is why he was caught and killed, but I had an idea that will stop the other Gods from fighting back.”
They all stared at me in disbelief, I wasn’t sure if it was because they couldn’t believe that I wanted to help, or if it was because I had a plan. I hoped it was the latter.
“Go on,” Montgomery said, giving me an affirmative nod. The group seemed to let go of the breath they had been collectively holding and opened the circle to let me in. I had to say, I relaxed a little bit too, thankful I had spent so many years mastering the art of lying.
I stepped into the group and they closed themselves tightly around me so no one else around us would hear the conversation.
“This is all, essentially, Zeus’ fault, right? None of us here are happy with him, and since this is our second chance at getting what we want, we’re taking it. But, what about Zeus? Are we just going to kill him, because, to me, that seems too easy? The only ones you’re hurting, are the other Gods. This is all good and fair, but Zeus is the one we really want to suffer... So I was thinking, as King of the Underworld, I have domain over Tartarus, which is precisely where Zeus put the Titans when he overthrew them. It’s sort of like poetic justice to put him in there for all eternity, while no one else can reach him, except me and who I want to see him—like you.”
I looked around my group, trying to read their faces to see where I stood, whether this plan of mine was working. They all seemed deep in thought as they mulled over it, before finally, Montgomery reached over and clapped me on the shoulder with a grin.
“You are a mastermind,” he said, which was probably a bit true if he was buying all this.
“Yes—” Someone interrupted us, each face turning in worry toward the voice, imagining with horror who it could be. Oliver, Prometheus, stood grinning beside Soren, “I like the sounds of poetic justice. I could use some of my own: instead of trapping Aidan in Tartarus why don’t we tie him to a rock and feed his liver
to an eagle? We’ll see how he likes it.”
Soren chuckled darkly and shook his head; “I’ll put that idea on the backburner, if Griffin’s plan fails.” He turned his eyes to me, something reflecting in them that warned me of the danger I was tying myself to. I tried to smile as reassuringly as I could, hoping he wouldn’t see right through me. “So, you’ve joined our merry band of Titans.”
“I have.”
“Good, we’re glad to have you. We should’ve come to you though, I regret that we had to join last minute.” I shook my head, trying to appear unconcerned by the slight.
Before I could answer Atlas’ booming voice filled the room, “brothers, sisters, welcome!” The crowd shuffled closer, squeezing against each other, as they packed toward the front of the room. I watched the other Olympians move toward the thrones and wondered if I should go too.
I cast a quick glance at Soren, who was smirking coolly. He nodded, first at Gage, who began making his way through the crowd toward Atlas, then turned to me, directing me with a jut of his chin to my throne. As I turned and shouldered my way between two girls, I heard him say to the rest of the group, “show time.”
Chapter 7
Gage had reached Atlas, before I reached my throne. There wasn’t much I could do about it, but I didn’t worry too much; no one would suspect anything from my absence. I was, after all, trying to get there, the room was just thick with bodies. Everyone seemed stiff and unwilling to move, enraptured by the growing drama.
Gage casually reached Atlas’ side, as the Titan was engaged in his speech, “through highs and lows, as is the fate of the King, Aidan has succeeded with every challenge that has been presented to him. So now, we must embark, together, on the greatest challenge of them all. Now is the time, when Aidan will step forward and resume his rightful place on the throne, leading us forward into the dawn of a new age.” Atlas conjured the globe from his office from thin air and it appeared before us all. With a wave of his hand, it cracked, its center splintering and opening with the same golden light that had welcomed everyone into the throne room.
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