The god looked a lot more like a regular guy than she’d expected. He was dressed in a wine-colored toga, with a matching headband wrapped around his forehead. It confined curly hair in a rich dark-brown that tumbled to his shoulders. He was handsome, but not model-gorgeous, with bright-blue eyes, a tanned complexion and rosy cheeks.
“Well, this looks like an interesting party,” he drawled. The words that Heidi heard in her mind didn’t quite match what his mouth seemed to be saying and she realized he wasn’t speaking in English. Perhaps since he was a god, his words were automatically translated to anyone who could hear him.
“We have a petition for you, exalted one,” Jake whispered, translating for Heidi as the high priest replied to the deity.
“Big surprise.” Dionysus stifled a yawn. “What do you want?”
“I am Myrrine,” the queen said. She stood, head still bowed. “As the patron of dolphins, the merfolk appeal to you to help save our race from extinction.”
“Merfolk? I thought you people went to Poseidon for favors.”
Heidi almost laughed at the god’s modern expressions and disinterested manner, but she knew this was far too serious for humor. Carefully, Myrrine explained the situation to the god, while the high priestess refilled the golden goblet and presented it to him.
Jake’s running translation made Heidi feel as if she were watching a tape delay, but it did help her follow along.
“I understand,” Dionysus finally said. “But now I need to know. What’s in it for me? Even the gods aren’t supposed to change the natural order of things without receiving something in return.”
Heidi’s research had turned up that tidbit. In many of the myths, the gods were bound by certain rules, and that was a common one. They couldn’t give something for nothing.
“I understand, my lord. I am willing to offer my life as a sacrifice for the good of my people.” Myrrine knelt again at the god’s feet.
Jake choked on that last sentence, then he stepped forward. “No. Our people need their ruler. I would beg you to take me in her place.”
Heidi didn’t know how she knew what Jake had said, but she did. Instantly, she knew what she had to do. She stepped up beside Jake. “I offer myself along with the prince. Just in case the sacrifice of someone not of the merfolk can help outweigh the debt.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Heidi, no!” The cry was wrenched from Jake’s very soul. It was one thing to offer his own life, but not Heidi’s.
“Very touching,” Dionysus said. There was no trace of laughter or sarcasm in the god’s deep tones. “But what use would I have for a queen, a prince, or a human scientist? I’ve never been one to expect this kind of offering.”
“I will be your handmaiden,” Leta said, stepping up. “Serving you in any capacity you desire.”
“Now that is a very fine offer, my dear. But still not the sort of thing I demand. I can get my own…handmaidens just for the asking.”
“Then what can we offer?” Myrrine asked. “Name it, and it is yours.”
“Well…”
Heidi saw a wicked gleam in the god’s vivid blue eyes. “I’m aware of a little adventure these two,” he pointed at Heidi and Jake with a wave of his hand, “just carried out. As it happens, I have need of someone with those sorts of skills. If you were to take care of a small…pest control problem for me, I could definitely find it in me to alter your genetic code a bit, allowing you to change at will, with no compulsion to change back.”
“Done,” Jake said instantly. “I’ll take care of it.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Heidi corrected.
“We will all help,” Niko said from behind them.
“What is the problem?” asked Leta. “Once we know what you need, we can decide how many of us it will take to fix it.”
“Very practical of you, princess,” the god said with a smile. He glanced over at the laden banquet tables on the far side of the beach. “Why don’t we consider the bargain struck? Then we can end the pompous ritual garbage and discuss the situation over food and wine like civilized beings.”
“You have a bargain,” Jake assured him. “Whatever it is, if it will save my people, I’ll do it.”
Dionysus stuck out a hand to Jake. “Done.”
Jake shook the god’s hand and there was another flash of light. A rolled piece of parchment appeared in the god’s other hand, and he passed it to Jake, who turned around and presented it to his mother.
Blankets and carpets had been unrolled on the sand on the far side of the beach, with torches lighting the area. A fine oriental carpet was centered in the area and had been piled with colorful cushions. A low table sat at the center for the god’s repast.
“Join me,” he ordered Jake, Heidi and Myrrine.
Of course they obeyed. Once the god had been seated on the cushions, one of the priestesses carried over a platter of food and a priest carried a selection of wines, some of the bottles rescued from shipwrecks that were hundreds of years old.
“Ah, you’ve prepared well,” he said, pointing to a French burgundy from the nineteenth century. “Now, my children, what would you like to know about the task I have in mind?”
“What is the task?” Jake asked. “The more information we have, the more successful we’re likely to be on your behalf.” He accepted a glass of wine from one of the priestesses who were acting as waitstaff.
“Well, here’s the thing,” the god said, tipping back his glass and swallowing. “Ah, that’s nice. I have an island, you see. Not too far off the southern tip of Baja California. One that some of my followers claimed in the 1600s, when they first came to this part of the world on Spanish ships.”
“And…” Heidi prompted.
“And it has been taken over by a bunch of marauding pirates. So our arrangement is this. You get rid of the pirates without destroying my island, and I grant your request.”
“Why can’t you just go poof, and make them disappear?” Heidi asked. “Isn’t that the kind of thing gods do?”
“Very true, my dear. But there are complications. When the original owners first dedicated the island to me, I offered my protection to its inhabitants. Since the pirates are now the current residents, I cannot attack them.”
“So you’d be obligated to protect them from anyone intent on kicking them out?” Heidi’s blue eyes narrowed. Jake was impressed by her grasp of the god’s nuances. She thought faster than he did, that was certain.
“Not necessarily. If I happened to be busy attending a revel thrown by some of my other followers, then I could easily fail to hear their pleas for help.” He drained his goblet and held it out to the side for one of the priests to fill. “Besides, they aren’t followers of mine. They won’t know about the protection, or that I’m the god they should pray to.”
“How did they take the island in the first place if you were protecting the other inhabitants?”
“There had been none there for a number of years. The place was deserted.”
“We’ll need maps,” Jake said. “If we have the coordinates, we can set up surveillance.”
“Right now these pirates prey on private yachts in the waters between Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan,” Dionysus said. “But their headquarters is protected magically so the U.S. authorities have been unable to find it.”
“So these pirates have magic?” Heidi asked. “Where did they get that?”
“I suspect,” said Dionysus, “that one of their number is a rogue merman.”
“Phaeton.” Myrrine shook her head. “Of course. His involvement is why you chose us for this task.”
“There seemed to be a certain symmetry in it,” the god admitted. He snapped his fingers and a business card appeared in his hand. He held it out to Jake. “There is an email address here. Contact me tomorrow and I will provide you with all the information you require.”
“A god with email?” Heidi giggled, then clasped her hand over her mouth to stifle it.
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“Laugh away, child. Humor never offends me.” Dionysus smiled at Heidi. “And yes, even on Olympus we take advantage of modern ingenuity. Eros loves messing with those computer dating sites and Apollo is a bitch on Twitter.”
* * * * *
That was the end of serious conversation, but to nobody’s surprise the party lasted most of the night. Heidi hung back for the most part, observing the festivities with fascination but feeling nowhere near a part of it. She perched on a rock on the hillside, watching two of the priestesses snuggle up to the god. One was feeding him tidbits and the other had a hand up inside his toga.
“Your people throw this kind of party often?” she asked Jake, who sat beside her. She tried to keep her eyes off the party itself. Even though she wasn’t a voyeur, she couldn’t help but be aroused a little by all the touching and open eroticism going on.
“Not at all. But you’ll notice this is a fairly small group. Other than my mother, Marcos, Aella, the high priest and high priestess—who are married to each other by the way—most of the crowd is definitely of the young, single variety. Not many couples, no prudes, no kids at all. I suspect they were chosen specifically for their compatibility with a true bacchanalia.” She heard a strain in Jake’s voice, knew he was feeling the same reluctant sexual pull. It would have been hard not to, even if she hadn’t been sitting so close she could smell his skin.
“Reasonable, I suppose.” Many of the merfolk had already ditched their togas or shorts. There was a set of pan pipes and someone playing a guitar on the end of the beach away from the food, and maybe a dozen people were dancing, including Leta. Niko stood just off to the side, glowering, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Poor guy’s got it bad,” Heidi said. “I hope she comes to her senses before he gives up on her.”
“So do I,” Jake agreed. “Hard to believe the guy who used to kick the shit out of me in our training matches fell for my baby sister.”
“She loves him too,” Heidi told him. “She just feels confined. If she had the chance to spread her wings for a little while, I think she’d end up running back to Niko.”
“That’s why we’re doing all this,” Jake reminded her. His arm was wrapped snugly about her waist and she leaned her head on his shoulder. “So they have a choice.”
“It’s a good reason,” Heidi replied. “I’m sorry your homecoming had to be mixed up in all this crap.”
“It’s okay,” he said slowly, and she could actually feel the acceptance that filled him. “I’ve got responsibilities here that I’ve ducked long enough. I can’t live in the colony, or contact them directly for another twenty-two years, but I can let them know where I am, and be available if they need me.”
“True.”
One couple separated out of the crowd on the beach and wandered up the hillside. Their eyes were so completely on each other, Heidi thought it amazing that they didn’t trip and kill themselves, but they obviously didn’t see Jake and Heidi until they stumbled over them.
“Sorry,” the merman mumbled to Jake—at least she thought that’s what he said. Since it was in Greek, she really had no idea. Too bad she’d spent all her time in science classes and had skipped classical languages.
“Do you speak modern Greek or ancient?” she asked as the giggling, half-naked couple stumbled on past.
“Somewhere in between,” he answered. “Sixteenth century, maybe, modified by what little contact we’ve had with other races.”
“Did you have to learn English after you left?” That would have been hard, to find himself stranded in a strange world, without knowing even the language.
“No. English sailors have been pretty common in the Pacific for several hundred years. More than one of them was brought into the clan. One of the jobs they took on was teaching languages to the children. My father taught us all Spanish.”
“So the war council is tomorrow,” she said with a sigh a few minutes later. “Are we meeting on the boat?” She’d been chatting with Leta when Jake had set things up with Niko and Marcos.
“Yeah. Niko, Marcos, my mother, and a few other warriors will be there. Hopefully we’ll have the information from Dionysus before then.”
“This may sound like a stupid question,” she began, “but do your people have…guns? I can’t imagine trying to take out a group of modern pirates without some pretty heavy firepower.”
“We have some, according to Niko. I’m not the only mer who managed to make military contacts. Marcos somehow obtained a good pile of the munitions that were once stored here on this island, for example. But I was figuring I’d have to ask Wen for some help.”
“Can he get here in time?”
Jake barked out a short laugh. “Whatever Wen is, I’m pretty sure he can get where he needs to be, when he needs to be there. The problem would be bringing in a trained team. That I’m not sure he can do.”
“Bummer. Though at least if we’re operating in Mexico, we know he has all the connections we could ever need with the proper authorities.”
Jake nodded. “And we may even be able to get Miguel and his men involved, if the fates are really with us.”
Fates. She’d have laughed that off a few days ago, but if the Greek gods were real and walking around, then that meant the rest of their mythology probably was as well. Heidi blinked twice and forced her focus back on the issue at hand. “What about Steve?”
“Again, no idea. He’s in a situation where he has to report in a little more often than Wen does. He might or might not be able to get free.”
“So you, me, Wen, and a bunch of mers who might know which end of a gun to use. And no idea how many pirates.”
“What you mean, you?” Jake argued. “This isn’t your fight, Heidi. I’ll take you back to San Diego, then we’ll do this.”
“Like hell you will.” She didn’t even raise her voice, just stated it as a matter of fact. She was in on this. Period. “I’m a trained diver and a damn good shot. As long as I can get hold of tanks or a rebreather, I can do anything you can do, bucko.”
“Heidi, I’ve already had to feel you get shot once. I can’t go through that again.”
“Then I won’t get shot,” she retorted. Then his actual words clicked into her brain. “And what do you mean you had to feel me get hurt?” All of a sudden, her weird sense that she was experiencing Jake’s emotions started to seem like more than her imagination.
“Shit. Forget I said that, will you?” He scrubbed his hands across his face. “It’s been a hell of a long day, and I think our friendly neighborhood god down there made the wine stronger than it started out.”
“You could drink a barrelful and not get drunk,” Heidi said. “Now explain.” No way was he getting out of this one.
“It happens sometimes, among my people,” he began. “When a couple—”
Another drunken group—a trio this time—stumbled up the hill. One of the women jostled Jake’s shoulder, and the shrill, giggling apology apparently made him lose track of what he’d been about to say. He just winced and shook his head as they continued past.
“Can we have this conversation later? Maybe in privacy, back on the boat?”
Heidi almost laughed at Jake’s plaintive expression. “How about now? Do they need us here anymore, or will the party take care of itself if we disappear?”
“I think the party will be just fine if we go out to the boat,” he said with a small smile. His shoulders sagged a bit in relief. “It’s not like any of them are liable to drown.”
“And the healer’s here if they fall and clunk their heads,” Heidi added.
They made their way to where Myrrine and Aella sat on their folding chairs, Marcos still hovering behind them.
“We’re going to head out to the boat,” Jake said. “If that’s all right with you.”
“That’s fine. We’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Myrrine lifted her eyes to where Jake held Heidi’s hand clasped in his. Her lips tightened as she looked up into her son’s
face. “Che, are you sure…” She drifted off at a nudge from Aella, then shook her head. “Never mind. You’re a grown merman—far too old for me to meddle in your life. Thank you both for everything tonight.”
“Good night, Mother.” Jake leaned down and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “We’ll talk more in the morning.” Then he gave Aella a quick peck too. “So good to see you again, Aunt. Sleep well.”
Tugging Heidi by the hand, he smiled tiredly. “Come on, Freya. Let’s go home.”
They didn’t speak on the trip out to the Siren. The gibbous moon was bright, hanging low in the sky to the west, and the stars reflected silver sparkles off the water. The inflatable tender was a little smaller than her research Zodiac, but it was still a familiar feeling, buzzing through the waves in a tiny craft, feeling the salt spray on her face. She’d loved the sea from the moment she’d first seen the coastline as a kid on vacation, and that love had never abated, not even after her near drowning. Maybe she was just a throwback to her Viking ancestors. Even though she’d grown up a thousand miles from the coast, the sea still felt like home.
Home. When Jake had absently said, “Let’s go home,” she’d damn near burst into tears. Already the Siren felt more like a home than any place she’d lived since her parents were alive. Lord, but she was in trouble. She’d given up trying to fool herself—she was in love with Jake. One hundred percent, head-over-heels, happy-ever-after in love with a man who would outlive her by centuries. She’d completely quit caring about the not-quite-human part. That had dropped to the category of marrying someone of a different religion or ethnic background. While it might have mattered to her parents or grandparents if she’d had any living, it didn’t make a bit of difference to her.
“Let’s sit out here,” she said when Jake moved toward the cabin after they’d stowed the inflatable. She plopped down on a bench and patted the spot next to her. “It’s a beautiful night.”
“Almost as beautiful as you,” he murmured huskily.
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