We Will Bleed

by Nicole Thorn

  “No,” another familiar voice said. I looked beyond Demeter, to a girl who looked about thirteen. She sat next to a boy with blond hair, who looked about seventeen. They shared many of their features and coloring, which made me think he had to be Apollo. Artemis, the one who looked like a girl, stood up. “No, you could not have done anything, I’m afraid. If Jasmine’s visions had vanished, that means that the fates had already decided. If there had been any hope for her, then her visions would not have stopped.”

  “They still could’ve told her,” the teenaged looking god said. “I mean, it wouldn’t have stopped me from warning my children.”

  “Yes, I know,” Artemis said, rolling her eyes. She looked at us. “Apollo doesn’t think the rules apply to him.”

  “Fuck that,” Apollo said. “Why should I let my children die just because you guys like being dicks?”

  “Enough!” a big voice boomed, echoing all around the room. “We are here for a reason. It’s time to act like it.”

  Demeter turned to Kezia and reached for her. My girlfriend pulled away a second time. “Please, let me talk to you after this is over. I’m sure that I can make you see why I had to do all of this. you’ll understand, I promise.”

  “I don’t want to understand this,” Kezia whispered. “And I don’t think I want to talk to you.”

  “You will, one day.”

  Aphrodite came up to Zander, but the look on his face stopped her in her tracks. She sighed, lifting her head high. “I will be having a talk with you later, as well. I am still your mother and expect to be treated as such.”

  Zander sneered. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want you gods to feel like you’ve been disrespected, would we?”

  Jasmine pinched his ear. “Hush up,” she said. “Let’s not piss off the gods until after the meeting, honey.”

  He calmed down immediately, like my sister held the key to his rage. Zander tightened his arms around her, as if he would protect her from the people in the room. Thirteen gods in one place, and all of them kept taking glances at us. Each one felt like a punch to the stomach.

  The man with the booming voice shouted again, “I said we should take this matter seriously!”

  “We heard you!” Aphrodite said. “You want serious? Fine!” She snapped her fingers, and my vision went white again. When everything came back, I found myself standing in an actual room, as opposed to the strange whiteness I had been standing in before. A boardroom, to be specific. The kind with one large wooden table, in a room so high in a building that we could almost see the clouds. All the gods wore suits.

  “How’s that?” Aphrodite asked. “I’ve made your tie with lightning bolt patterns, just the way you like, Zeus.”

  The man glowered at her, his jaw clenched. He looked . . . nothing like I would’ve thought. For one thing, he had no hair. His head looked completely smooth. Of course, they chose their appearances, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that some of the gods didn’t look the way one would expect. Zeus had dark skin, stood at least three inches taller than everyone else in the room, and had eyes such a light blue, they almost looked white. “Everyone sit,” he growled.

  “You’ve done such a wonderful job, Aphrodite, but you’ve missed something,” another man said. This one had come wearing a suit, and still wore the same one he had on. His black hair had been brushed into submission, and he had reddish brown eyes. He waved his hands, and goblets appeared in front of every seat. I could smell the wine from where I stood. “Much better. This will make the meeting bearable.”

  “Sit!” Zeus boomed again, making the floors rattle.

  Hades rolled his eyes. “If you would please?” he said.

  The six of us took our seats on one side of the table. Hades sat in the middle of us, between Verin and Juniper. His son scowled at him, but the god pretended not to notice. Pretended, because I didn’t think the gods ever went unware of something.

  The twelve Olympians all sat across from us. Some of them I knew. Obviously, the guy with wine had to be Dionysus. Kezia told me she had met him once, when he sent her and Zander off to find a minotaur. I didn’t ask questions, because I thought it best to let that one go.

  I had met Aphrodite and Demeter several times. I’d also met Hephaestus once. He sat down next to his wife and leaned back. The scars on his face didn’t seem to bother anyone, and he looked happy to be there. I’d also met Artemis and Athena. The former had given us our weapons, and the latter had been running a training camp that she refused to talk about.

  And, of course, Hermes.

  A woman with soft brown hair sat next to Zeus. She had piercing eyes and a soft smile that she offered him. Zeus stared down at her like she spoke a language he didn’t quite understand.

  Hades clapped his hands. “Well, in the interest of not leaving the kids confused, I’ll do the introductions. From left to right, kids. This is Zeus and Hera.” He gestured to the woman sitting beside Zeus. She didn’t look all that angry, for a woman who had tried to kill so many children in her time.

  “Ares,” Hades said, gesturing to another god. He had blond hair and fierce eyes. “Poseidon,” he said, moving on. This man had white hair, cropped so close to his head that one wouldn’t have been able to grab it, and sea green eyes. He looked so cold, that I had the absurd urge to get my family out of there, as if that would’ve saved us from anything. “And you know everyone else.”

  “All right,” Verin said, putting his hands on the table. “I’m sure that you all know what we’re doing here.”

  Hades laughed and pulled his son back. “Forgive him. He’s got his mother’s mouth.”

  “Funny, she always said I had yours,” Verin muttered.

  “Yes, we do know why you’re here, but I don’t know why we haven’t sent you on your way already,” Athena said. “We shouldn’t even be entertaining you, with your childish wants.”

  “I don’t think wanting the love of my life back is childish,” Verin growled.

  “It is when you’re only in your twenties,” Athena said, smiling. “You are a child, a baby. You can’t say that you love her more than you’ll love the next one to come around.”

  “Hey, I’ve put a lot of effort into finding them all matches,” Aphrodite said. “And because I am involved, I can say that he’ll love Juniper more than anyone else. My matches are made to last.”

  “Yes, yes, you’re very good at what you do,” Poseidon said, waving his hand. “But that doesn’t change the facts. They died, and they belong in Hades’ realm now. We can’t bring people back just because our children wish we could.”

  “I disagree,” Apollo said.

  “You don’t count,” Artemis said. “No offense. You know that I love my nieces and nephews, but you spoil them rotten.”

  Apollo sniffed. “How dare I?”

  “Yes, how dare you,” Dionysus said. “Do you realize what kind of precedent you set for the rest of our children, when you do this kind of thing. Every time my daughter asks for something and I have to say no, she points out that you give your son whatever he wants, when he wants it.”

  “Shut up,” Hades barked, rolling his eyes. “Can we not have this argument again? I don’t need to get drawn into another spat between you two.”

  Hera slammed her hands down on the table, getting everyone’s attention. “We can squabble about your children all day and come up with a thousand excuses to grant the seers another life, and thousand reasons to let them stay dead. The demigods already on earth can’t factor into this.”

  Poseidon opened his mouth, and Hera glared. “I will boot you out of this room if you say a single word in argument with this.”

  The god decided to close his mouth and sit back. His jaw worked, but I didn’t think he realized that.

  “Then how do we make this decision?” Athena asked. “We can’t leave it to a vote, because Aphrodite and Demeter are biased. Which means that Hephaestus and Ares will blindly follow along.”

  “I would not,” Ares said.
/>
  “I would,” Hephaestus agreed. “Besides, I like Zander. He makes the best burgers that I’ve ever tasted, and he wouldn’t make those for me if I didn’t give him his girlfriend back. I can’t risk that.”

  I didn’t know what to make of any of this. My eyes darted around the room while everyone talked, much like my family. I felt . . . stunned that the gods acted like this, but also not surprised at all. In many ways, they could be like spoiled teenagers.

  Aphrodite pet Hephaestus’ hair, and said, “You’re a doll, aren’t you?”

  He smiled at his wife.

  Hades leaned forward, “What are your arguments against fixing the seers?”

  “They are mortal,” Zeus said. “We cannot interfere in mortal deaths. It effects the balance of things, and if we brought them back, just to have them die again, then we’ll be right back here.”

  Hera cocked her head, and said, “But there are ways around that.”

  He glared at his wife. “You are just angry about the waitress and are trying to frustrate me.”

  Hera smiled.

  “If we help them, then the rest of the demigods will want special treatment. I don’t want to bother with such things,” Athena said.

  Poseidon nodded. “Plus, it will send a ripple throughout the world. Everyone will know what we did within weeks. Do you want to deal with that as well?”

  “However,” Hera said. “They have proven helpful thus far, and can we really afford to lose that many people?”

  I could almost feel my ears perking up. The gods had been up to something. They kept it close to their chest, so we didn’t know what. However, if they left enough clues, then we might eventually figure out why so many creatures seemed to be in one place, and why training camps had popped up. Not to mention all the other weird things that had been happening.

  “Three demigods and three humans?” Dionysus said. “I think we can manage without them.”

  “No,” Ares said. “We would lose much more than that. The Oracle might turn against us. She is listening, even now.”

  “We can find a new one.”

  “Medusa,” Artemis said. “She has half the gorgons on her side, and they are valuable allies. Are you telling me that we can afford to lose that many people?”

  “Surely, she wouldn’t turn against us,” Hera said.

  “Of course, she would,” Poseidon rolled his eyes. “She has been looking for an excuse to kill me, and this would be the perfect one. She has taken a shine to these six, for whatever reason.”

  “She has the right to kill you,” Artemis said.

  “I’d help,” Apollo agreed. “If she wanted my help, which I don’t think she does, sadly. I would make wonderful backup.”

  “This would also be handing a win to Argus,” Ares cut in. “A victory that they would all revel in. They would get bolder, and then we would find ourselves having to deal with that. We’ve already had to dismantle our camps, because they wanted to have some fun by telling the humans.”

  Athena rolled her eyes. “I hate to say this, but he is right on that. One win can rally the rest into thinking themselves capable of other things.”

  “And you cannot deny that what these three can do is helpful,” Apollo offered. “They are strong allies, and we shouldn’t discount them because there are so few.”

  “Fine, I say we do it,” Dionysus said.

  “No,” Athena barked, putting her hands on the table.

  “Erebus,” Hera said, and everyone fell silent. “He has also taken a shine to them, for reasons that I can’t name. If we don’t want him to turn fully against us, I don’t suggest we take his playthings away. We cannot kill him, either.”

  “You can’t?” Jasmine asked, before she could stop herself. She slammed her hands over her mouth and stared at everyone with wide eyes.

  “No,” Hera said, gently. “We cannot. He is not a god. He is as primordial being. You cannot kill darkness, no more than you can kill the air. And if he wanted to make our lives difficult, then it would not be all that hard for him. He is probably listening right now, through the shadows in this room, trying to find out what we plan on doing.”

  “So, you suggest that we kowtow to Erebus?” Athena asked. “We’ve never done that, I refuse to start now. We can’t just give them back their lives.”

  “Stop!” Zeus boomed, rising to his feet. Outside the windows, I saw lightning crack across the sky, and thunder followed only a second later.

  The gods subsided, all sitting down in silence.

  Zeus looked at the six of us. “You will owe us.”

  “What?” Verin asked.

  “If we fix your seers, then you will owe us, and when we come to collect, you are not allowed to say no. One favor.”

  We didn’t even get the chance to discuss it, because Verin immediately said, “Then we will owe you. Fix them.”

  The gods all looked at us at the same time, and I felt their power. It sliced through my body, and felt like an explosion underneath my skin, sending me to the floor with my sisters. As if every molecule inside me burst, and then came back together again, reknitting itself. My sisters both screamed, but I couldn’t focus enough to do that, though I wanted to. I wanted to release the pain that I felt in some way.

  Then it ended, and I fell flat on my back, staring at the ceiling . . . with my heart racing, and my breath panting in and out.

  Distantly, I heard Aphrodite speak. “They are gods now, and you won’t have to lose them again.”

  Zeus spoke next. “We’ll need new mortal seers now. As their gods, you’ll have to pick them. You have a week to decide who will take on your burden.”

  I started to sit up as Kezia dropped to the ground next to me. She started to reach for me, but stopped, as if afraid this wouldn’t be real. All the gods but Hades vanished as one. The remaining god sighed. “Well, this is going to be interesting.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

  Take Up Your Arms

  Kezia

  I STARED AT Jasper as we sat on the ground of a room that didn’t really exist. He looked the same, but everything was different. Everything. My eyes watered.

  “You’re a god,” I said to Jasper in a whisper.

  His chest pumped as he watched me right back. “That’s what they said.”

  “Do you even understand what that means? You’re . . . ” I went for him, and I put my hand over his chest. I felt his heart beating again, and it might have been the most amazing thing I had ever felt. “This is it,” I said. “You’re going to be like this forever. Look like this. Be strong. You won’t leave me again.”

  Hades smiled. “This is beautiful and all, but I have to get back home now, which means you do too.”

  My family and I all stood, clutching each other. Zander had Jasmine against his chest, and he pressed his lips to her hair. Then I saw Verin and Juniper, who looked relieved. It still needed to settle for me.

  Hades grinned at his son. “I’m very happy this worked out for you. It would have been difficult to work something out with no approval from the morons upstairs.”

  “Thank you,” Verin said to his father.

  “You’re welcome. Now go kill Argus for me. Make it painful.”

  The room flashed again, and I felt like I fell through the air. That couldn’t have been, because that sounded crazy. Then I landed hard with a grunt. I had been lined up with my family, and I felt grass on my back. I looked up at a blue sky, remembering it had been pouring last time we had been there.

  The three of us rolled over, aiming our eyes on the cage I’d made. Nemo lifted his head, making a sad sound as my cage burned away to nothing. At the same time, our gods sat up gasping. Juniper’s hands went to her throat, and the other two did the same in succession. I whimpered quietly, thinking about how different damage to the same part of them had been their ends. But I didn’t want to think about that anymore. They’d become nearly unbreakable now.

  We all got up, and Nemo dipped his head to Jasmine. She pe
t him, speaking quietly. Zander bolted from us and went right to her. He picked her up and held the girl to his chest again.

  I hadn’t stopped crying, and I still didn’t when I found Jasper again. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but it hadn’t been all that bad. I mostly panted, touching him all over.

  “You get to live forever,” I said. “Like this. And our kids, they’ll all be immortal. Stronger than even me.” I laughed, and it sounded crazy. “Our kids are going to be stronger than me. I’ll be the weak one!” The concept sounded so strange, and I loved it.

  “Is that exciting?” Jasper asked with a smile.

  I jumped up and down. “Obviously! Oh! You’re so much stronger than me now. You could totally kick my ass if you wanted! I could die!”

  He frowned. “Let’s not talk about you dying.”

  I stopped jumping. “Sorry, I got excited. You have a point. Let me put it like this . . . ” I thought for a second. “You could totally pin me to a wall and just screw the hell out of me, no problem.”

  Zander took a deep breath. “Why . . . ”

  “Because I can!” Because Jasper wasn’t dead anymore. Because more than that, he had been made a god. I didn’t have to spend every moment thinking about how he was getting older. I didn’t have to think about the day his life ended, because it already happened. The worst days of my life were over, and the best had yet to come. And I was so damn happy.

  “Be nice,” Jasmine warned my brother.

  All of his focus went back to her, and I saw him smile. “I don’t know how it’s possible, but you’re somehow even more beautiful than you were before.”

  Jasmine cocked her hip, grinning widely. “Because I’m a motherfucking god, honey. And it feels pretty awesome.”

  Zander laughed, and another couple tears left me. I thought I wouldn’t get to hear that again.

  Verin held Juniper’s hands to his chest, and he smiled weakly. “I did it.”

  “You did do it,” Juniper said. “And I never doubted you for a moment.”