by Brey Willows
Dani’s body responded the way it always did when Meg gave her that wicked grin, and she tried to ignore it. Puberty for sure. “Explain, please?”
“You’ve been around. You’ve seen things, done stuff. But now things are changing. Your body is even changing. So you have to grow up, change into something new. The problem, though, is that puberty takes time, right? I mean, it’s not just a twenty-four-hour thing. You have to learn and figure things out.” She smiled and fluffed her wings slightly. “Fortunately, you’ve got the most amazing friends ever to help you through it.”
Dani laughed, feeling a million times lighter than she had been lately. “Seen things and done stuff, huh? That’s probably the most delicate description of what I do that I’ve ever heard. And I’m not sure that Death goes through puberty, but I get what you’re saying.”
Meg laughed and flicked condensation at her. “No need to get all deep. You’ll figure out the prayer thing. But you can’t do it alone. You’re going to have to talk to other gods and see how they do it.”
The light feeling disappeared. “It just feels so presumptuous, you know? I didn’t ask for this.”
Meg rolled her eyes. “Please. Who the hell is asking for anything these days? I say ride the wave and see where it takes you.”
Dani grinned. “Nice analogy.”
“See what I did there? Totally paying attention.” Meg stretched. “In fact, I have an idea. I’m craving poi. Know where I can get any?”
Dani laughed and followed Meg to the car. “Sure. Which island? And what kind of poi?”
“Hawaiian poi. And the island with no name.”
Dani hesitated and looked at Meg over the top of the Mustang. “No one has been there in a long time. I’m not even sure I can properly open a road to it. Can I ask why we’re headed there?”
Meg pointed at her. “Because you need to learn how to be a goddess, and I had some crazy fun times there when I was young.” She got in the car, clearly marking the conversation as over.
Learn how to be a goddess. That’s not something I ever thought I’d do. She concentrated on the ancient island, on the beautiful thick canopies and the calls of birds found nowhere else on earth. It was only when she focused on the warm, crystal clear waters around it that she felt the road open to it. She’d thought the gods there had faded long ago, but maybe Meg knew something she didn’t. Even if it didn’t work, it meant time with Meg.
Chapter Fifteen
The sunrise was surprisingly lovely. Granted, it was only because of the sunlight bouncing off the smog Rome was known for, but still, Dis enjoyed the strong reds and oranges puncturing the pale blue sky like blood from a wound. Ancient writers had said it was “rosy fingered dawn,” but to Dis it was always a violent time, when the dark was forced to give over to the light as the planet spun on a needle tip in the vastness of space. It reminded her, to a small degree, of her home in the cosmos, and she was looking forward to getting back soon. She sat on the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica and looked out over the packed city. She couldn’t for a moment imagine living the way these humans did. Surrounded by noise, by crowds, by cars, by fumes…it was no wonder they turned on each other so easily.
Do they truly not see how they’re hardly more than a beehive? The government is their queen bee, and all they do is for her. They even live in buildings that look like tall hives. It was truly baffling how they’d managed to pack themselves into massive centers this way. When she’d gone to visit Horus to see how he was moving forward in Cairo, it had been the same. Right in front of the ancient pyramids spread a massive city with more than six million people crammed into under two hundred square miles. Horus was happy with the crowding, as it made it easier for him and his siblings to slowly retake the city from the predominant Sunni Muslims. Those who didn’t want to convert were being encouraged to leave. Horus would return Egypt to the ancient ways and make it beautiful once more. Dis had been happy to sow the seeds of confusion among the people while she was there, which would serve to drive people back to the old ways.
Just as she would rip Rome from the Catholics and bring back the old ways to Italy. Dis laughed softly. In truth, she didn’t care who took over once she was done having her fun. Humanity First, the old Roman gods, or even no one at all. She just wanted to be the one to make it happen. A rumble of thunder announced her visitor before he appeared beside her, but she didn’t bother to move. She was comfortable, and he was intruding on her quiet.
“May I join you?”
She looked up at Zeus and shrugged. “If you must.”
He lowered himself onto the dome beside her. “No one else knows I’m here.”
“What an odd thing to say.” She watched with interest as a group of children threw rocks at a cat until it found refuge in an old building. “Why should I care about that?”
His voice rumbled when he spoke, and he was glowing like the god he was. “Because I wanted to have a private conversation with you, and I didn’t want the others to hear it.”
She slid her hand up his leg. “Oh, a clandestine meeting with an all-powerful god. I do like the sound of that.”
He stopped her hand and moved away from her. “I’ve come to ask you what you want. What do we need to do to send you back where you belong?”
Dis thought about his words. “What do I want…” She closed her eyes and felt him beside her. Godly fear. How lovely. “What is the first thing you remember, Zeus? Or should I call you Jupiter?”
“Rome is Catholic. It belongs to the Christian god. We lost it a long, long time ago. A few still worship the old ways, but it’s not ours. I won’t go by Jupiter ever again, and I’m okay with that.” He stared out at the city much like Dis had been doing. “My first memory is of my mother hiding me so my father wouldn’t eat me.”
She laughed, delighted at the morbidity of such a first memory. “Do you know what I remember?”
He shook his head.
“I remember the birth of this planet. I remember the rocks crashing together in space and the way this big chunk fell away on its own. I remember the asteroids hitting it, making craters and mountains. I remember watching it calm and grow. Volcanoes and earthquakes, storms that blocked its new sun for years. I remember when the first animal crawled from the water.” She turned to him. “I remember the day the furies were born. Do you?”
He nodded, his brow furrowed as he clearly tried to figure out where she was going with her story. “I wasn’t born yet. But I know their mother raised them to be as free as the wind and as fierce as fire.”
“She did. What I couldn’t have foreseen was that the day the furies were born, my existence changed. I lived among the stars, riding comets and exploring infant planets. But I’d come to Earth sometimes, just to see how the planet was evolving. It called to me constantly as it shifted and groaned under the weight of the evolution. It was doing so faster than any other planet I’d visited, and a particular type of ape began to walk on two legs. And then those less primitive apes eventually needed more than the chaotic, entropic world around them. More than me. They had questions, and they wanted answers. They developed societies. And then defined morals. Right and wrong, good and bad.” She drifted off, thinking of the changes she’d seen since the little planet had been born.
“And?”
She glanced at him and then back at the people of Rome, making their way like ants through an ancient anthill. “And so, the furies came to be. Born of the human need to package the vast beauty of their world into bite-sized morsels of action and consequence. When the furies began delivering justice, when humans saw bad things happen to bad people who had hurt them…the maelstrom of their lives calmed. Chaos became order, and I was no longer a regular part of this world. It’s their fault I was cast off this planet. Sure, the universe is vast and I get to play in all of it. But this planet is special, and they took it away from me as surely as though I’d been banished.”
She thought about the dark beauty of the world she’d lived
in and what that meant. “I was alone. There are no other gods beyond this planet. They either haven’t developed them yet or have never had the need. I’ve been alone, and that’s all because the damned furies took control.”
“So, what? You’re lonely and you want to be part of the world again? You’ve certainly succeeded.”
She restrained the desire to turn him to smoke. This wasn’t the right time. “Thanks to you and the other godlings of this superstitious planet I was called back, and yes, I’ve enjoyed being here. But no, I have no intention of overstaying my welcome. I’ll come back in a hundred years, or three hundred, to bathe in the ruins of humanity and to see what comes after. Something will certainly come after. It’s a tenacious planet, after all.”
He was quiet, and she waited for his next question.
“You’re leaving?”
He sounded hopeful, and she enjoyed being able to crush that. “Not yet. Not until I’ve done what I need to do here. After the eclipse, certainly.” She motioned at the population below them. “They called me, yes. But your own kind has called me too. Did you know that? Many of your gods are scared because they no longer know how to be gods, and that’s what you’ve asked them to be. But they’re like declawed house cats. Fat and content to lie in the sun and be worshipped, but you’ve thrown them into the savannah. Now you have to deal with the consequence of that.” She smiled at him. “Me? I’m going to help them see how to behave as gods again, but no planet can be reborn without an element of annihilation.”
“Can you have an element of annihilation? That seems like an oxymoron.” Zeus sighed. “I know you have very little respect for this world and its creatures—”
She held up her hand to stop him. “On the contrary. They’re a fascinating species. They’ve only been walking upright for the blink of an eye, and yet, they’ve managed to almost entirely eradicate several other species and to do irreparable damage to the planet itself. I think they’re extraordinary. Fortunately, it also means they’re particularly open to my charms.”
“And you’d watch them all die for your amusement?”
Thunder rumbled in the darkening sky above them and lightning cracked in web-like streaks around them. “Yes. I would. And because if they’re let off this planet to live on others, they’ll simply do the same elsewhere. They’ll become a universal virus, and that can’t be allowed to happen.” She placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked deeply sad, as though already seeing the death of his precious humans. She’d forgotten what it meant to be among other immortals, and she almost felt bad for him. “I come when called, and I’m here to do what I do. When it’s done, I’ll leave. There’s nothing I want that you can give.”
He stood and stared down at her. “We’ll try to stop you. Or at least, stop people from needing to call you. And I believe in my staff. They’ll learn and grow the way they need to in order to be what the humans need them to be. We’ll fight.”
“As you should. You’re their pet gods, their hope in an empty sky, and their love in an uncaring universe. Good luck. In fact, let’s make it official, shall we? We’ll meet back here in two days, on the morning of the eclipse. Just to add a bit of the dramatic. Who knows, maybe there will even be room to negotiate.” She smiled sweetly and shaded her eyes as he disappeared into a bolt of lightning.
How absurdly benevolent of him to come to me to defend his little planet. He embodied the good side of humans these days, the part that sacrificed for others, though once he’d exemplified far more of the vices than the virtues. If he knew she’d be taking one of the furies with her when she left, he probably wouldn’t have been quite so docile. He had a special affinity for the sisters. She wanted them to taste a morsel of the loss and loneliness she’d felt when she’d been cast away, and taking one of their sisters away from them would start that process. Taking the gods they worked with away from them, leaving them alone among the humans, would finish the job.
A group of people emerged from the underground station below, and she saw the iconic Humanity First T-shirts even from her perch on high. We’ll see just how misplaced his belief in the beings around him really is.
She transported herself to the group on the ground, laughing out loud as they scattered like cockroaches when she appeared among them.
“I really wish you’d knock that shit off,” Angie said, wiping her palms on her jeans. “It’s really irritating.”
Dis smiled at her favorite human. “That’s why I do it.” She studied the group Angie had brought with her. “Is this all?”
Angie crossed her arms. “No. More are coming tomorrow and the next day. We can’t just pop up places, scaring the hell out of people. We have to make plans, travel. But yeah, more are coming. They know this is something big, and something that will probably get us killed. It wasn’t exactly a reward-heavy offer, you know?”
“If you want rewards, go to the gods.” Dis moved among them and felt their wariness, as well as their simmering rage. She stopped in front of one and listened to his deeply hidden emotions. “This one needs to go away.”
He glared at her. “I don’t have to do anything you say. You’re no better than the others, ordering people around and waiting for them to do what you tell them to. You’re probably just as weak too—”
His voice was high-pitched and irritating, much like that of the Christian god. Dis touched his forehead and turned away.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did you do that?” Angie stood her ground but looked distinctly freaked out as she stared at the pile of speckled dust that used to be one of her team.
“I dislike being insulted, and his voice was nauseating. He wasn’t one of you, either.”
“What does that mean? One of us? And what gives you the right to take someone’s life like that?”
Dis made eye contact with the followers directly behind Angie and smiled when they didn’t back down. Better. “He was a believer. He didn’t want to admit that deep down, he desperately wanted to believe in a god, any god. And he feared death. When the crucial moment came, he would have let you down. I simply returned him to his natural state.” She was bored with the conversation now. Humans and their petty concern for life. “Go to your hotel. I’ve got some work to do here, and I’ll meet you there later.”
Angie motioned her group to head out and everyone steered clear of the mound of glittering ash that had once been a person. No one said a word as they headed to the Hotel Metropolis. Dis had suggested it would be large enough for a group but not far from where they needed to be once everything kicked off. She turned away from them and concentrated on the emotions throughout the Borgo area. The Vatican’s shadow fell heavily over the surrounding cobbled streets and multi-floor housing. Graffiti ran the length of garden walls and broken bottles littered the curbs across from the Vatican’s entrance. She felt the depth of belief surrounding her, but she also felt the seething turmoil of buried resentment. The people who lived here accepted the Pope as God’s messenger, and many made a living off the tourists who flocked to the grand building to see the opulence of God’s most devout. That didn’t mean they weren’t frustrated with having to live hand to mouth. It didn’t mean the young people weren’t bored and disillusioned.
Dis opened her hands and called the chaos of the universe to her. She fed on the energy created by the eclipse, felt her powers grow as she drank the cold moon getting ready to push itself between the little blue planet and the sun. She concentrated on the jaded feelings around her, the resentments, and the confusion, and she sent her special brand of being into the air, toward all those who were calling to her, even if they didn’t know it. The cosmic dust would settle like the white plumed seeds of a dandelion, spreading like a weed until it brought forth every latent worry the believers had. The ecstasy of it was like a fire blooming in her soul, and she wanted to share it.
That meant her next stop would serve a dual purpose. She thought of Horus and was transported to Egypt, which was even hotter than Rome, though the cool t
ile under her bare feet was delicious. He was sitting on a throne beside Isis, but he rose when she appeared.
“Welcome, ancient one.” He embraced her and bowed his head respectfully.
“Hello, love.” She looked over his shoulder and nodded at Isis, who inclined her head but looked less than welcoming. Jealousy in gods is far less interesting than it is in humans. “Isis.”
“I wasn’t expecting you.” Horus tucked Dis’s hand into the crook of his arm and led her onto the balcony.
“I’ve come with an idea, and I’d like your assistance.” Dis had known from the moment she’d reconnected with Horus he’d be part of the change to come but hadn’t been certain how. Now she knew exactly what she wanted from him. “But first, take me to bed. I’m in need of release.”
He looked over his shoulder at Isis.
“Bring her too. We’ll enjoy her together.” Sex was the only thing this planet really had going for it. She’d enjoy it while she could and then bring the world to its knees.
Chapter Sixteen
The road to the lost islands wasn’t like Dani’s other roads. It was like driving in a glass tunnel, and sea life moved all around them. Meg buzzed with anticipation as she watched Dani concentrate. She had no idea why she knew this was where Dani would find answers, but just the same, she knew the old island gods could help. Dani braked, and the road ahead of the Mustang simply stopped.
“Problem?” Meg tried to see what was beyond the car, but it was just…wasn’t. There was nothing; no drop-off, no cliff or wall. It was almost like a still, grayish-blue fog. “What’s out there?”
Dani looked to where Meg was pointing. “It’s the area between. It only takes shape when it’s created to do so. I haven’t needed this area, so I’ve never bothered. I can’t get a proper read on the island. I think they may have faded.” She closed her eyes again, and her brow furrowed. “Got it.” She waved and a road appeared to the left.
