by Nicole Thorn
“I’m sure you could,” Zander said, hauling me up into his arms with a smile. “They would probably do anything for the goddess that nailed her first trial.”
I kicked one leg out dramatically. “They sure as shit would,” I said, grinning. “And I most certainly did nail my trial. Everyone should gawk in amazement for what I’m capable of.”
Zander’s smile just got wider as we reached the elevator. Once inside, he set me down on my feet. I felt like dancing around. Now that the worst of it had finally come to an end, I felt an overwhelming joy at having beaten my trial so spectacularly. No one had doubted me, sure, but I still felt like shoving my victory in everyone’s face. Luckily, I held back. I didn’t want to annoy people too much.
Once we got back to our room, I flopped down on the bed while Zander went to order me more celebratory food. When he’d finished that, he went to shower. Since his trial, he kept thinking that he still smelled smoke on his skin. I assured him several times that he didn’t have anything to worry about, but that didn’t seem to help him any. I stretched my legs out, kicking them lightly in the air.
It would be fun to jump into the shower and pounce on him. Maybe if we had a dirty shower, he’d stop thinking about getting clean.
I grinned to myself.
The smile faded quickly as I started thinking about the events of the day. I couldn’t really be upset with Zander for thinking he had to fix the fight I had with my brother. I understood that Jasper had never meant to hurt Zander, but I still thought that he should have apologized. Or at least showed more remorse than he had thus far. I loved my brother, but I felt like he didn’t quite understand. No one ever meant to hurt someone they loved. They always wanted to sweep things under the rug and pretend like it never happened, but no one healed by doing that either.
Apologies would fix the problem. Apologies and admitting when you were wrong. Pretending it never happened didn’t fix anything.
Someone knocked on the door. I jumped up and flitted over. A demigod stood on the other side, though I’d never met this one before. I didn’t know how I knew they were a demigod, but I did. They had a cart full of delicious smelling food, and I grinned, stepping aside so he could bring it in. He set the cart at the end of the bed, and I frowned at him.
“Are you another of Hermes’ kids? Something about you feels familiar.”
The guy turned to smile at me. He had light blond hair and blue eyes, and he just looked huge. I felt dwarfed standing next to him, and I didn’t feel dwarfed next to Zander. He also looked like he spent a lot of his time working out, which also made me uncomfortable.
“I should hope so, you’ve been spending a lot of time with my dad lately,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Something about the smile clued me in, even though I hadn’t seen his dad smile a lot. “Heracles’ kid?” I asked, leaning forward.
The guy nodded, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Yep. One of his newer kids, actually. I’m only one hundred and two years old.”
My eyes widened. “Whoa. And you’re one of his newer kids?”
The demigod shrugged. “Dad doesn’t like to get out too much. There are only two sisters younger than me. They’re both over fifty. I haven’t talked to them in years, though, so I suppose they might be dead.”
He said that so casually that it hurt my heart. I shifted around, chewing on the corner of my lip. “Why haven’t you talked to them?”
“Eh, that’s not important,” the kid said. “The point is that I work with Dad when he lets me. Most gods ignore their children, but Dad’s different from all the others.”
I knew that the gods didn’t do much for their children already. Hard for me not to with Zander in my life. His mother had screwed him over so many times. I’d seen so much pain in Zander’s eyes over the last few months, so much confusion. Every time his mother had a chance to help him out, to make sure that he didn’t get hurt, Aphrodite left him out to dry. Luckily, our children wouldn’t have to worry about that.
“Well, I’m happy that Heracles is a better person than most of the gods,” I said.
The kid laughed, then gestured to the tray of food. “Well, I think you’ve got everything. The kitchen staff added a little celebration for you, too. Kind of like a pat on the back, but without hands.” He flashed his hands at me, wiggling his fingers back and forth.
“Ooh, thanks,” I said, grinning.
He nodded, did a half bow, and took off. I closed the door behind him, pulled the tray over to the bed, and started going through everything. My steak looked amazing and smelled even better. I found a plate full of fries and three different desserts as well, all of them looking positively divine.
The last cloche seemed to be taller than the rest. It must’ve been hiding my present from the kitchen staff. I pulled the metal up and felt my face go tight. A bottle sat in a bucket of ice. It didn’t look like champagne or wine, but I couldn’t tell what it was. My hand shook when I reached for it, pulling it out of the icy water. The liquid inside sloshed around.
I turned the bottle to read the label. I had been wrong. It was wine, from Dionysus’ special collection. Which meant that it probably had some ambrosia in it, so that the gods could feel the effects of the alcohol.
My mouth watered and then went dry within two seconds. I felt so thirsty all of a sudden. I’d never really developed a taste for wine back when I had been drinking all the time. It felt too pungent for me. I liked beer and tequila. The tequila barely had a taste to me, but I liked the burn of it, the way it could sear away every thought in my head. The beer had been a slower burn when I wanted to pace myself.
But I’d been willing to drink anything if it would do what I needed it to do.
Since I’d become a goddess, I knew that I could drink again. Tequila wouldn’t affect me. Beer wouldn’t affect me. The only reason I hadn’t gotten anything to drink was because of Zander. Even knowing that I couldn’t get drunk, I knew he’d be sad to see me drinking. I liked to think he’d trust me to know my limits now since I’d become a goddess. He wouldn’t, though. He didn’t trust any of us to take care of ourselves. Jasper hadn’t been wrong about that. But unlike Jasper, I knew that Zander had been trying to get better with that. He had been trying to prove he trusted the rest of us.
But he would never trust me with this bottle.
I wondered if it could even get me drunk. Ambrosia worked on the gods, sure, but how well did it work? Did it just make them feel good? Did it actually get them a little drunk?
I didn’t think so, because Dionysus never actually acted drunk. I’d only met him the one time, but I’d listened to Callie’s stories. She always made him seem sober. I didn’t think she’d lie to make a god look better, especially now that they had forced her into this position.
The wine felt cold.
One sip couldn’t hurt, right? Just to test it out and see if it worked on me. No one cared about a single sip. Then I could put the bottle back into the bucket and tell Zander that I never touched it. It had a screw top and everything so that I could hide what I’d done. One small sip and then everything would be fine. One tiny sip…
The moment passed, and I took a deep breath. It would hurt Zander if I took this sip. I knew that it would, and I couldn’t hurt him. Not after going off on Jasper for doing the same thing. Not after playing around with him in the green room. He’d never believe that I could handle the drink.
Even if I gave him the evidence.
The shower door in the bathroom closed. Panicked, I jumped up and shoved the bottle into the back of the closet, behind my clothes. Then I grabbed two water bottles from the minifridge and stuffed them into the ice bucket, so he wouldn’t wonder why it existed. Then I sat down and pulled my steak over to me.
A minute later, Zander stepped out of the bathroom, fully clothed and smelling like steam. I smiled at him, taking a huge bite of steak. “You look almost as good as this steak tastes,” I said. “I’ll be sure to show you what I
mean later.” I winked.
Zander laughed, shaking his head. He laid down on the bed, stretching out. “Thank you. But I’m not sure you’ll get the chance. I’m going to pass out long before you finish the feast before you.”
I looked at all the food, frowning. “Is that a challenge?”
Zander laughed again. “No, it’s not. Please don’t hurt yourself.”
“Challenge accepted!” I said, shoving another piece of perfectly cooked steak into my mouth. Zander laughed and tried to talk me out of doing something stupid, but I ignored him. About halfway through the meal, I grabbed a bottle of water from the ice bucket.
Zander didn’t say anything about it, so I felt safe. I cracked the top and took a hearty gulp. The cold water rushed into my body, and I felt… disappointed. It tasted refreshing and pure, it took away my thirst, and yet my throat still felt dry. My stomach still felt hollow. My body still craved something that it couldn’t have.
I thought about the bottle in the closet and how it would feel to drink it.
Shaking my head, I pushed the cart away. “All right, are you ready for me?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You’ve got two cakes that haven’t been touched.”
“Cake will hold,” I said, jumping on him and straddling him. Some voice in the back of my mind whispered that I couldn’t hide through sex. Zander would catch on eventually. I shoved that voice way down, where it wouldn’t bother me anymore. I wasn’t trying to hide from Zander. I had nothing to hide from Zander.
I wiggled my hips when he said something more about cake. His eyes closed, and he smiled. “You’re right. The cake will hold.”
He grabbed me by the hips and flipped us over, landing on top of me. I giggled, wrapping one of my legs around his waist. As his lips started to work their way down my neck, my thoughts kept straying. I’d eaten so much food, I’d talked and played with Zander, I’d drunk an entire thing of water, but I still felt hungry. I still felt like I had space to fill.
Callie had her arms crossed, shifting from one foot to another. “We’re going to be starting in a few minutes,” she said, looking back at us. “I don’t know who’s going next, but I’d assume Juniper or Verin.”
Verin stretched his neck one way, then the other. “Bring it.”
Juniper frowned at him, shifting her feet.
“Everyone, take their seats!” some man with a clipboard shouted, holding it straight up in the air.
Aster and Micha, who had been hovering around Callie, reluctantly went back to their seats. Callie took a deep breath, turned to us and whispered, “Good luck!” and dashed off. She stood in the middle of the stage, her face blank as she listened to instructions from the gods.
Then we went live, and I had to plaster a stupid smile on my face. I loved that the gods recognized us for what we were capable of, but I hated how the crowd only cheered when we played up to the gods.
Callie turned to the camera, smiling grandly. “Hello and welcome back to the Trials! As you all hopefully know, we’ve successfully worked our way through four of the contestants. Four successful trials. And today’s trial is for…” She paused, either for dramatic effect or because she didn’t want to say who. “Juniper Nelson!”
My sister paled as all the cameras whipped around to face her, and the people in the crowd started to cheer. I noticed that the cheers didn’t sound as enthusiastic as they had for Zander the other day.
Juniper stayed frozen for a second before I gave her a nudge. My stomach had plummeted to the floor when I realized she was panicking. Juniper had been doing so good at pretending like everything was all right, but now? If she failed this trial, then we would have to get through seven more without screwing up. That would put so much pressure on the rest of us.
My stomach twisted in knots.
Juniper glanced at Verin, who gave her an encouraging nod. She stepped away from the rest of us and went over to Callie. The Oracle grabbed my sister’s hand and squeezed it as tightly as she could. “How are you feeling?”
Juniper glanced around. Anyone looking at her would know that she felt sick to her stomach and nervous. But she took in a deep breath and said, “Good.”
Some people in the crowd laughed until Verin leveled his gaze at them. The others cheered and clapped for her.
Callie pulled the microphone away from her mouth so that she could whisper something to Juniper. I didn’t catch what she said, but Juniper’s shoulders relaxed some.
Turning back to the camera, Callie said, “Juniper, do you think you will successfully complete your trial?”
My sister’s tight voice didn’t change when she said, “Yes.”
Callie nodded, wrinkled her nose and said, “Well, let’s cut all this useless bullshit and get down to the nitty-gritty.”
Several people laughed, but I could see the annoyance on Callie’s face. She turned to the same doors that the rest of us had gone through for our trials, Jasper excluded. Juniper turned around to look through the doors, frowning. She stood perfectly straight, like every muscle in her back had tightened until she couldn’t loosen up.
“Go on,” Callie whispered, quietly.
Juniper glanced over her shoulder at us one last time before walking through the doors. I prepared myself for disappointment.
The doors closed behind her. Callie stepped out of the way of the cameras so that the screens could easily show what happened with Juniper.
My sister had stepped out by a lake. Not like the one that I had been in. This one looked like it had more rocks and mud than grass and trees. She looked around at everything as if confused. Then a noise interrupted the otherwise quiet of the lake. Juniper turned toward the sound and started walking to it. My heart tripped as she walked between some rocks and ledges.
I realized the noise sounded familiar and foreign at the same time. A trilling sound, like the ones that Nemo made. Only instead of happy little chirps and clicks, this sounded panicked and scared.
The image paused on my sister’s pale face for a second as she saw something we couldn’t. Her face tightened, and she rubbed her hands down her pants, swallowing hard. Then the view panned to the side slowly, showing us what she had seen.
A hydra, bigger than Nemo, but not by much, had gotten stuck in what looked like a mud pit. This hydra had three heads, and they kept grabbing onto the branches of nearby trees, trying to pull their body free. Several tree corpses already laid around it.
The hydra had gotten stuck in several feet of mud, and I just couldn’t see a way for Juniper to get to her without stepping into the same mess.
Verin cursed quietly under his breath, crossing his arms. “She can do it,” he said, but he didn’t sound happy about it.
The words had barely left his mouth before the hydra turned one head to Juniper and let out a puff of fire and smoke that nearly lit her up. Juniper leaped back, barely dodging the flames.
She closed her eyes for a brief second, and I thought she’d walk away. I thought she wouldn’t even try to beat this trial.
Then Juniper opened her eyes and, shaking, took her first step into the mud.
Zander
J uniper would need ten baths after this trial, but at least I was positive they would be victory baths. Sad, sad victory baths.
I watched my almost sister-in-law as she slipped nearly neck deep into the mud. Jasmine stood tense at my side, her thumbnail in her mouth as she chewed on it. I put my arm around her, trying to give her some assurance it would be all right. Juniper had already gotten in the mud, and I doubted she would get out before the job was done. The worst was over.
One of the hydra heads made a hissing/howling sound at the sky, causing Juniper to flinch and fall deeper into the mud. She grabbed hold of a massive branch, using it to pull herself up. Kizzy watched through her hands, pressed close to Jasper.
I worried that Juniper could have drowned in the mud if she slipped and couldn’t get herself out again. She kept using that branch for support, making me think s
he worried about it too. I had every belief she would get this done, I just worried about what it might do to her head.
Verin cheered for her when she pulled the hydra another bit closer to freedom. He grinned, watching his girlfriend with a focus that I’d never seen before. I could feel everything coursing through him at the moment. Pride and confidence and hope all mixed together.
We were all dead silent as Juniper got that hydra even closer to her freedom. One of the heads cried out in what sounded like pain or fear, but Juniper didn’t stop getting her legs free of the sludge. She scooped it out of the way, clearing a small path to help them both. Her godlike strength and speed might have been her saving grace for this challenge because I didn’t know if even I could have kept this up without getting tired. At least a half hour had passed so far, and I couldn’t tell how much more Juniper needed.
When the hydra pulled a leg from the mud, the crowd behind us started to cheer. We weren’t out of the woods yet, but Juniper got herself a good way there. In the process, barely an inch of her had escaped a muddy fate. I wouldn’t have been able to tell that she even noticed, given her focus on the situation at hand. If anyone knew how to make mud her bitch, it would have been Juniper.
Verin cheered again, looking more pleased than I’d ever seen him. “Look at her go. She has no idea how hard I’m going to marry her after this.”
I patted his shoulder. “She’s killing it.”
“Understatement,” he scoffed. “Juniper is the goddess to end all goddesses. It’s a joke that they even thought they had to challenge her.”
“And another leg free!” Callie called out into her mic. “Juniper Nelson only has to coax the hydra out now.”
We all looked back to the screen, watching in anticipation. Juniper got to the other side of the hydra, avoiding a terrifying swipe of her claws. It caught me off guard when she laid a hand on the hydra, just for the purpose of touching her.
“You’re safe,” she said to the monster. She hushed it when she hissed again. “You’re okay. I know you’re scared. Just come with me and you’ll be fine.”
