by Nicole Thorn
“You.”
“I didn’t do anything to deserve this kind of treatment,” he informed me. “Unless checking my mail at the wrong time counts.”
“If I’m so annoying, then why are you still here?” I asked. “Go on. Scamper away.”
His face tightened. I got the feeling he would yell at me. Really yell at me until I felt small and wanted to curl into a ball so that he would stop. I would have it coming. I should have stopped, but I had never been good at that. He embarrassed me, and the way my phone shattered had angered me. All of that came out hostilely, and now he’d scream at me, and I’d start to cry, and he’d think I was pathetic, and then I’d always have to check out the window before getting the mail, because he could be there, and I wouldn’t want to see him ever again, and—
“Juniper!” my sister shouted from our porch, already running over. Her cheerful call had derailed my spinning thoughts, and I slammed into my body again, instead of reeling out of control.
Jasmine didn’t care about the rain. She let her bright clothes get soaked through as she ran towards us. She also didn’t think about the shoes she wore, and how slick they would be on the pavement. She skidded along the concrete, and crashed right into me. I barely managed to keep her upright and not drop the mail.
“So, running into things is a family trait?” the bastard asked.
I glared at him, but Jasmine turned to look at him with her big eyes shining. She already had a huge smile plastered on her face, and it threw him. He probably thought she’d be like me, since we were clearly sisters. “Hi! Who are you? Are you the new neighbor? I love your accent! I’m Jasmine.” She stuck her hand out for a shake.
The man blinked, but took her hand. “Verin,” he said.
“Ooh. Has Juniper been treating you well?” she asked, giving my hip a bump with hers.
“No, she has not,” Verin said. “I dare say, she’s been quite rude the entire time we’ve been talking.”
“Juni,” Jasmine said.
I glowered at her.
Verin leaned in, so close that my personal bubble practically didn’t exist anymore. I leaned away from him. “What?” I demanded, a growl in my voice. Jasmine pat my shoulder, but it did nothing to make me feel better.
“Your eyes,” Verin said. His attention switched from me to Jasmine. I watched his face fill with understanding at the same time that my chest constricted with foreboding. “You’re the seers?”
Jasmine blinked at him. “Okay, how the fuck did you know that? Are you something super special too?”
He snorted. “Obviously. Look at me. Can’t you tell?” He looked down at himself, and seemed to realize that he had gotten soaked to the bone for the first time. It must not have bothered him too much, because he looked back at my sister, who had gotten drenched as well, because she refused to take shelter under my umbrella.
“What are you?” Jasmine asked, suspiciously.
He raised his eyebrows.
“We’ve had some troubles lately,” Jasmine explained. “If you aren’t something out to kill us, then awesome. If you are, then my boyfriend has this really awesome sword, and he’s not afraid to use it. If it were up to me, he’d also be shirtless, but sadly, I doubt he’ll listen to my wishes.”
Verin blinked again. “I’m a demigod,” he said.
“Oh! Who’s your parent?!” Jasmine demanded. “Is it someone I’ve met? I’ve met Aphrodite, Demeter, Hephaestus, Athena, and Eros. Wait! Before you answer!” She took off towards our house, screaming for Kizzy.
The newest demigod looked at me, and I looked back at him, making sure my eyes remained as narrow as they could while still allowing me to see him. “How is that sweet, bubbly thing related to you?” he asked.
“Just lucky, I guess,” I said, voice as dry as could be. Maybe I could get Kizzy to wrap him up in vines and stuff, so that he would stop bothering me. She did with my brother’s ex-girlfriend. That hell-bitch hadn’t been around for months, so it clearly worked.
He shook his head. “Why couldn’t she have run into me? She would have apologized profusely, instead of attacking me like I had done something wrong, when I was clearly the one who was accosted.”
“You’re so full of it,” I said.
“Charm? Yes, I know. It’s hard going about life like this, but I find that it opens a lot of doors, unlike screaming at someone like a banshee.”
I took in a deep breath, preparing to scream at him some more like a so-called banshee, but I never got the chance. Jasmine appeared, hauling Kizzy from around the side of the house. Today, she looked even more goddess-like than normal. She wore a bright yellow dress that fell almost to her knees, and her hair hung loose. The only thing that marred the image was the fact she wore my brother’s most stained shirt. The sleeves completely covered her fingers. Much like my sister, the rain didn’t seem to bother her as they crossed the street.
When she got close, she looked Verin up and down critically. Cocking her head this way and that. “Hello,” Kizzy said, not offering her hand to the stranger.
“Hey,” Verin said. “Are you another demigod?”
She nodded. “I am. Are you the new neighbor?”
“I am.”
Kizzy’s eyebrows raised. “So, we just happen to all live in the same neighborhood. The only seers in existence and three demigods?” Her eyes narrowed with some thought or another. I had had those same thoughts. “In the house that Eros sold . . . ”
“Eros? Really?” Verin asked. “Well, that’s interesting. My father is the one that sent us here. I wonder why . . . ”
“We?” Jasmine asked, perking up.
“My mum,” he said. “She’s back at the house. Baking something or other. If she ever offers it to you, I don’t suggest you eat it, fragile human that you are.” He looked at Kizzy. “You might be able to survive. Who’s your god parent?” he asked.
Kizzy shifted her feet. “Demeter,” she said. “Yours?”
He grinned so wide that I could practically see all his teeth, and didn’t that terrify me. “No shit? Ha! So, my stepmum is your sister. You’re kinda like my aunt.”
Kizzy’s scowl looked much cuter than mine ever did. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t call me that. Hades is your father?”
“Yup.”
The second he revealed that, I wanted to go hurl in the grass. Hades. The man who kidnapped his wife and kept her prisoner half the year until she decided she loved him, fathered the man I had been rude to. I’m gonna pass out. It would probably be all right. The grass stains would come out of my clothes after he threw me around, if I worked at it hard enough, and then he’d never want to do anything with me again, so that helped as well. Oh, hey, I did remember how to breathe.
Yeah, this felt like just too much for me. Without saying anything, or explaining why, I started walking away. Damp mail clutched in one hand, and broken phone in the other. I didn’t have to deal with Verin anymore, I hoped. If I did, I made sure that he hated me. He wouldn’t want to actually be in the same room with me.
Inside the house, I went straight into my bedroom, removed my wet clothes, and changed into something dry. Then I sat on the edge of my bed, and put my head between my knees. Whatever game the gods had started playing, I had grown weary of already.
CHAPTER FOUR:
We All Need a Pet Hydra
Verin
“Two other demigods and the seers?” Mum asked, bustling about the kitchen, getting breakfast ready. “What in the world would so many of you lot be gathered up here for?”
I shrugged. “Dunno. Very curious though. You think Dad would know?”
“Of course,” Mum said with a smile. She stopped and started pouring a glass of milk. “Not sure I like that Eros was the one selling this house. So many magical creatures runnin’ ‘round . . . ”
She handed me the glass, and forcing me to drink it. She knew I didn’t like milk, but she insisted it would be good for me. I was immortal and could lift up thirty
stone without blinking. Yet I had to choke down a glass of cow juice.
I did as Mum told me to.
After I met everyone the day before, I had to tell Mum about it. Not only was she the only person I had to tell, but I felt like she should know that we had a few seers and demigods running around the street. She hadn’t met many of our kind in her life, but she took it well when I told her. In fact, . . .
“You should say sorry to that girl as well,” she said, pointing at me. “Best not anger those who know where you live.”
“And what do you suggest I do?” I set the glass down. “She told me to sod off. I doubt she’d think my apology was sincere. Oh, and—” I stopped and held a hand up. “I did nothing wrong.”
“Verin,” she sighed, narrowing her eyes. “You must treat ladies with respect, or you’ll never make friends. You want to make grandkids for me one day, don’t you?”
Well what a shock that this would come up. Flabbergasted. Simply flabbergasted. “Mum,” I said gently. “There’s plenty of time for me to find some girl and have kids. I don’t need to work on my ‘people skills’ for a while.”
She shook her head. “I’m half to the grave, luv. I need to be drowning in babies I can spoil.”
No, I did not want to think of when she wouldn’t be there. I had been stuck with this damn immortality, and she didn’t have that. Dad wouldn’t budge on making her immortal. He said that some people just couldn’t handle it, and Mum wouldn’t want that anyway. I knew that from her own mouth. She wanted to age naturally, because she enjoyed being human.
“You will,” I promised. “Do ya mind terribly if I wait until I want children to make them?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “If you insist.” As she started walking away, I heard her mumbling, and she knew I would hear. “Fine, don’t make babies. Break your mother’s heart. Just play your drums while I read all day . . . Don’t need to buy little fluffies for babies. Or get them those little socks . . . ”
I shook my head, sighing again.
I didn’t have babies to make Mum feel better, so I guess I would have to go with the next thing down on the list. Saying sorry to that rude little seer. Her sister seemed so kind, and my aunt as well. So why did the other one have an attitude problem? Probably needed a good snogging.
I dressed in my boots and leather jacket before I headed outside. The rain had started of course, because this state seemed to be made of it.
“Are you leaving?” Mum called.
“Yeah, do you need something?”
“Grandchildren!”
I gave myself a moment. “Mum . . . ”
“Fine! Bring that angry girl some sweets. She might not hit you if you do.”
I chuckled. That girl didn’t have it in her to throw a punch.
My mother probably had a better understanding of the fairer sex than I did, so I ran into the kitchen to find some kind of gift for the girl who would most likely throw it in my face. She slammed into me, and she started yelling at me. I had been as innocent as I could get. And now I had to know that squirrels ended their furry lives in my home, but never understand why.
I found a box of chocolates in our freezer, and that would do just fine. If the girl didn’t at least appreciate that I tried . . . then she could fuck right off.
I started the long, long walk several doors down, letting the rain hit me as it saw fit. Just water after all. I looked better wet anyway.
I hurried up to their door and knocked ever so gingerly. I stayed a patient boy, waiting an entire five seconds before I started ringing the bell to a tune in my head.
Amazing how fast a smile could fade when met with the right face. Kizzy opened the door up for me, and the moment I pleasantly greeted her with a, “Hello, auntie,” she frowned at me.
“Come. On!” she huffed. “Don’t call me that. It’s weird. We’re cousins.”
I shrugged it off. “I prefer aunt.”
The ginger rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “What are you doing here? Come just to remind me that your dad kidnapped my sister?”
I stepped into her home, and she glared at me as she moved aside. “Persephone loves my dad very much, thank you. And he loves her.”
She eyed me up and down as she slammed the door. “Is that why you exist? He loved her so much that he went off and got someone pregnant?”
The comment didn’t upset me. “Your sister does that same thing, luv. You know the gods don’t have loyalty.”
She didn’t argue.
“Bloody hell,” I said, eyebrows darting up when I turned. “That’s a fuckin’ hydra.”
The two-headed bugger looked so happy in his little pool right in the main room. He swam in circles, and I waved at him as I approached.
“He can kill you,” Kizzy said lazily.
“Eh, have at me,” I told the thing.
“Nemo,” Kizzy said.
Ha, well that’s lovely.
I approached the hydra and he stopped swimming to stare at me. I knelt, popped open the box of chocolates, and presented him with one. Flat on my palm, I put it in front of one of his heads. He sniffed and then licked it up and into his mouth. When he seemed to enjoy it, I gave another to his other head, because I didn’t want to leave him out.
“Oh, there’s a good boy,” I said with a smile. I pet him under his chins and at the top of his heads. He seemed sweet. The creature seemed quite loving and happy to get some attention.
“What is he doing here?” I heard Juniper say from behind me.
Well, I guess the fun is over. The meanie is back.
I stood up straight and turned. All three girls now stood in a line across from me, like an army ready to take my head off. Though Jasmine smiled at the hydra, hardly paying attention to me.
Huh . . . Not that I had a sharp memory, but Juniper appeared to be wearing similar clothes to the ones she had on the day before. White and tan. Perhaps she just preferred that, but it still stuck out a little bit for me. At least Kizzy had a completely different colored dress on. Purple and white today, with black stockings and a sweater that could only belong to a man, because she swam in it.
“A gift,” I said, handing Juniper the chocolates. “I am sorry,” I added flatly. “That I put you off.”
She took the sweets and stared at it. “I don’t eat chocolate.”
What? Who the hell doesn’t eat chocolate. “Allergic?”
She shook her head and handed the box to her sister. “No, I just don’t eat it.”
I guess she didn’t accept my apology, and she didn’t seem grateful that I tried to make good on how I acted the day before. This, this was why I didn’t talk to that many people. I couldn’t understand them, and I really didn’t do anything wrong this time. I gave up chocolate for her. I might as well have given her a kidney.
“Galaxy,” Jasmine mumbled, opening the box. She shoved a piece into her mouth without a moment to wonder if I poisoned it or anything. Either trusting or hungry. It only took a few seconds before her eyes bugged out. “OH, MY FUCKING GODS! ZAAAAANDER!”
Kizzy stared at her. “You okay?” Jasmine didn’t say anything. She just handed Kizzy a piece to try. When she did . . . “Holy fuck. This is magic.”
Two men came barreling into the room. One from the upstairs, and the other from this floor. One, clearly had to have been the other seer. The other . . .
“Are you okay?” the big man from the stairs said, rushing to Jasmine. He grabbed her arms and started checking her over. “You look fine. Are you fine?!”
Christ, he panicked like an old lady.
Jasmine handed him a piece of the chocolate, and another to her brother.
The big man with blond hair tasted it, and then made a happy sound. “Ah, I know what this is. English chocolate. Puts ours to shame.”
Damn right. I tried some of the American chocolate, and it’s laughable.
The man pointed at me. “Verin, right? The son of Hades?”
I bowed. “Pleased to meet
you.”
Juniper rolled her eyes.
The man walked forward and shook my hand. “Zander, son of Aphrodite. Maker of breakfast. Winner of wooing contests.”
Jasmine scoffed behind him. “You wish, buddy. I’m gonna woo your pants off.”
The other man flinched and the ginger tried soothing him with an arm rub. Ah, so those two were an item, and Jasmine seemed to be with Zander. I thought I heard some reference to him the other day. That just left out the lucky, lucky man that Juniper snagged up. Clearly a man with the patience of an angel, if he could deal with her attitude for longer than ten minutes at a time.
“Not a chance,” Zander said to his girlfriend. “I’m gonna buy you a bunch of this candy, and leave it all in my bedroom so that you have to stay in there.”
She lightly smacked his shoulder.
“Verin,” I said to the other man in the room, extending my hand.
He took it. “Jasper. I guess we all know what we are, huh?”
“Guess so,” I said.
“Three demigods and three seers,” Zander said, looking at Kizzy.
She sighed. “Don’t start.”
He ignored her. “Come on, sissy. Six. We should call up Callie.”
“Stop,” Juniper said, holding her hands up. “We’re not calling her, because she barely knows her own name. Let’s not bug her when she’s already having issues.”
I didn’t like being left out, so I made my presence known again. I clapped and said, “Oh, a new friend! Who is she?”
My grin remained even when Juniper glowered at me. “She’s the Oracle.”
Okay . . . that did it. “The . . . Oracle lives nearby?” I asked.
“A few minutes away,” Kizzy said.
I ran my tongue over my teeth. “I am starting to think that Dad didn’t send us here on a whim. How long have you all been here?”
Zander put his hands in his pockets and looked to Kizzy “Me and Kiz were in the system until we turned eighteen in October. Then my mom sent us here, but we weren’t that far away. And they—” He gestured to the seers. “—lived here for their whole lives.”
Hmm. I didn’t like this one bit. If this turned out to be some kind of magic hub, then Mum shouldn’t be in Seattle. I wanted somewhere safe for her, like home had been. I had been the only demigod for towns and towns over. The only creatures had been the ones that lived in the woods. Nymphs and satyrs didn’t cause harm.
