THE ORACLE AND I EXPLAIN
Where are you, Hades?
That was the question begging to be answered. My head was pounding with a thousand thoughts and theories at once, the world seeming to spin faster and faster around me . . .
Hades had the helm of invisibility. He had the helm and I should have seen it coming. At that exact moment, he could have been in a million places, even in my dark and lonely room, but he was only in one. I tried to tell myself that Hades wouldn’t be in my room, waiting to kill me, that it was illogical. Today he’d approached me alone for the first time and there had to be a reason for that, yet he never tried to harm me—only rubbing it in my face that he was one step ahead of me, that he didn’t have a human persona to maintain. Furthermore, why would he be there in my room when he could be stalking around in the forest, listening to the troops’ conversations to gain even the slightest knowledge of our battle plans?
The troops. That thought alone sent me bolting upright in my bed to face the alarm clock and check the time. 12:05 a.m. Alec and the Knowing should be here by now, I thought to myself. But they obviously weren’t. Before I had gone to bed, I put my walkie-talkie volume on the loudest setting possible so, just in case something happened, the sound of the announcement would wake me up. I had not foreseen that I would be getting so little sleep in the first place.
Rubbing my forehead in anguish, I rolled out of bed. The first thing I did was grab my walkie-talkie and pocketknife from the nightstand as well as the rock/ sword that I had apparently knocked to the floor in my restless sleep. Holding onto them tightly, I opened my balcony doors and took a quick glance at Zeus and Poseidon’s house, silently hoping one of them would be awake to talk to (preferably Zeus). But I was disappointed to find it dark and cold. I knew that Artemis, being the goddess of the moon and stars, would probably be up and about at her house, though her company wasn’t what I was truly looking for. I just wanted the second opinion of someone who had known the forest for as long as I had, someone more likely to run into battle right now than wait for morning to come and Hades to make the first move. I wasn’t stupid enough to sneak into the forest alone.
Sighing, I climbed up to my roof where I sat on the rough surface to stare out at the night sky alone, wishing Alec was there like he used to be. For hours on end, I glared at the twinkling stars that shined through the silent night air as if nothing was wrong, as if there were no wars going on. It was a peaceful sky, but only because Zeus was sleeping and I wondered if Hades was too . . . .
“This is Pan calling in a happy situation. Wake up. Repeat: wake up,” Pan’s gravelly voice floated its way to my brain and I opened my eyes abruptly, only slightly surprised to find that I had fallen asleep on the roof. I blinked my eyes against the dim light of the morning sun shining through the thick cloud cover and knew that it had to be very early, since everything was covered with a fine layer of dew. Reluctantly, I sat up with a groan and rubbed my eyes.
“Happy situation, people. Wake up!” Pan demanded in Greek yet again and still it received no response via walkie-talkie. I just frowned, wondering what in the world a “happy situation” was. We had no protocol for happiness, only emergencies.
“WAKE UP, I tell you! Alec is here with the troops.” I almost fell off the roof, knowing that last bit had probably woken everyone else up too. Finally.
Sure enough, Zeus ordered right away, “Everyone meet at my house in thirty minutes. Pan, we’ll be at the camp soon.”
I wasted no time in sliding down to my balcony and leaping into my bedroom to change out of my pajamas. I carefully slipped on my black leather jacket as I glanced at the clock, which read 5:30 a.m. Even though I knew I didn’t have to rush, I didn’t even bother to change the old bandage on my wounded shoulder. Zeus was right next door, after all.
A few minutes later, the other gods (except for Hephaestus, whose broken leg was still healing) and I were just inside the forest, pulling all of our armor and weapons out of the hollow logs. We took our time to make sure that every leather strap was tight and that each bronze breastplate, backplate, bracer, and greave was on correctly, because we all knew the real battles would most likely start within the next few days. I decided to use my small spear to fight with and grabbed my shield as well, although I had not often used it before. But today was different so we also took all of the extra weapons with us, realizing we would need some more for the troops.
Another half hour later, we were tearing west through the forest. Low-hanging branches slapped our faces and our ankles rolled every time we took a misstep over a tree root, but we didn’t care. We sprinted like cheetahs down the steep hill by the small waterfall toward our army’s base camp. As we burst breathlessly onto the scene, every single person, nymph, and satyr knelt on the grass in unison out of respect for us. Except for Pan, who just stood under a tent by the table with the map of the woods, his brown eyes shining as he grinned at us like an idiot.
I had to take deep breaths to slow my heartbeat as my eyes rested on the dark-haired boy in the center of the circle of camouflaged tents, the boy who was gripping the hilt of his sword as if his life depended on it. “Lord Zeus, I have brought you twelve sword fighters and two archers, plus a healer. More troops are on the way and they will be here soon,” Alec said loudly and formally in Greek as he stood up, his blue eyes meeting Zeus’s.
Our king just grinned, pulling Alec into one of those man-hugs as the rest of the Knowing warriors stood up behind Alec—the ones who were conscious, anyway. Some of the Knowing had been so blown away at meeting their gods and at how good-looking we all were that they had passed out cold (pathetic, I know). Perhaps our auras alone, probably much stronger and heavier than the air to which they were accustomed, were powerful enough to knock them out.
And I couldn’t help but wonder what monsters they had been fighting, since all of them had scars and bandages of some sort on their fit bodies. Looking more closely, I even recognized a few faces among the Warriors, like Nicholas, the muscular brute with a Hydra tattoo on his chest, Jan, the middle-aged healer, and Hannah, the freckled young archer with sleek black hair whose little brother, Ben, must have been with the other group of Knowing members.
“Good to see you, Alec. Or should I say hero, yes? Well done, well done. What weapons have you managed to bring?” Zeus exclaimed a little too enthusiastically for me to take him seriously. He even gave Alec a pat on the back.
“Only a few swords, sir. Excuse my language, but airport security can be a real bitch,” Alec responded, and everyone in the small clearing laughed.
“Certainly. It’s quite alright,” Zeus assured Alec then turned to face the rest of the gods and me. “Set the extra weapons by the table over there and we’ll have Hephaestus make some more, if needed.” We nodded and did as we were told then returned to greet Alec as the crowd of Knowing members, nymphs, and satyrs disbanded.
Laughing and joking around together, Apollo, Poseidon, Hermes, Dionysus, and even the angry Ares each gave Alec a man-hug similar to Zeus’s. Then an eager Aphrodite interrupted the guys and pounced on Alec, planting a kiss right on his cheek and pressing her body into his. Such provocative gestures were normal to Aphrodite, since everyone—males and females—wanted her. I had honestly never seen someone able to resist her for very long so you can imagine my panic when Alec blushed but did not look my way. I just swallowed down a pang of jealousy and nervously fingered the rock/sword in my pocket, waiting for Alec to reach me, the fear that he was still mad at me growing stronger and stronger inside my chest.
Alec then moved on to talk to Hera, Demeter, Artemis, and Hestia, but he still had yet to meet my gaze. Frustrated with both Alec for ignoring me and myself for going on the date with Cole, I walked over to the mahogany table with the map and stood there glaring at it. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the Oracle was having a heated argument with Nicholas, whom she had never even met before, and I silently wondered what it was about. Shrugging it off and anxiously tapping my fingers on the table to no particular rhythm, I studied the map and tried to ignore all the shouting that was going on.
Suddenly, a soft whisper drifted to my ears from out of the chaos behind me, one hopeful word, one name, that sent shivers down my spine: “Athena.” I knew then that he was not as mad as I had feared.
I whipped around to face Alec but smacked right into him, not realizing that he was standing so close to me. Slightly embarrassed, my breath caught in my throat as I looked up from his chest to meet his eyes. “Hi,” I said stupidly.
“Hi,” Alec replied with a grin, his eyebrows arched. “What, no hug? After all of this? I’m not dead, you know. I did what you asked.” He opened his arms for me, but I was determined to keep a safe distance so our relationship wouldn’t get too close, or rather, so it wouldn’t cross into physicality. I was stronger without him.
I smiled up at him before I accused, “It seems you’ve forgotten your first lesson.” Alec smirked in remembrance and we finished in unison, “Don’t mess with Athena.”
After a moment of peaceful silence, Alec sighed and scratched his head before asking quietly, “How’s . . . life?”
I knew the question was really about Cole so I just shook my head and got straight to the point. “Alec, I already told you, I didn’t even want to go on that date with Cole. So just shut up and get over it.”
Alec grinned in relief, but then his eyes narrowed again when he caught sight of the white bandage peeking out from under my leather jacket. “Oh my gods, I did this to you,” he whispered, inferring that it was, indeed, the wound I had received while he was on the phone with me.
I quickly shook my head as he reached for my wounded shoulder. “Alec,” I said to him, but he was still staring at my bandage with a mildly horrified expression. I gave him a soft slap on the cheek to get his attention then started again, “Alec, it wasn’t your fault. I would’ve been fine if I hadn’t tripped on that dang tree root. See? Like I’ve said before, we gods heal fast.” I ripped off the remaining pieces of the bandage to show him that there was barely even a scar left, that there was nothing for him to be sorry about. I was just a little sore.
Immediately, Alec raised his eyebrows, a smile creeping back onto his handsome face. “Who knew the goddess of wisdom and war was such a klutz?” Nothing could bring him down in this moment, not even the terrible war. He was about to say something else to me (another attempt at a joke, I was certain) when he was interrupted by a call from the center of camp.
“The Oracle of Delphi is requesting an audience with the Olympian Council, plus Alec,” Hermes shouted and the entire camp went quiet. Alec and I exchanged curious glances then reluctantly followed Hermes and the rest of the gods into the largest enclosed tent to talk with the secretive Oracle.
When we opened the flap, the Oracle was at the other end of the long tent facing us, her thick black braid cascading elegantly over her shoulder. With her bright green eyes locked on the thirteen of us, she started to weave her way through the many cots that the majority of soldiers would be sleeping on that night. “We need to discuss some things,” the Oracle stated blandly, smoothing out her purple robes.
“So I figured,” Zeus said hotly, his muscles bulging under his gray T-shirt as he crossed his arms. “What do you want?”
“Don’t you want to know what happens when you die?” she asked, getting to the point so quickly that we were taken by surprise.
“Wait,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air and avoiding her gaze. “We need to make sure that Hades isn’t hiding here somewhere and listening in.” The others nodded in agreement, eager for the chance to calm our growing paranoia, at least temporarily. Then we all karate-chopped and kicked at the air in the tent for the next few minutes until we were sure that an invisible Hades wasn’t with us.
When everyone had settled down and taken a seat on a cot, Zeus looked back to the Oracle and slowly ran his fingers through his dark blond hair, already deep in thought. “All right, you have our attention. Now, what do you mean? I thought we just go to the Underworld like everyone else.”
“Yeah, we know we aren’t immortal,” Poseidon added from beside Zeus.
The Oracle tilted her head sideways, as if trying to figure out how to best explain it to us. “Well, have you ever thought about what being a reincarnation truly means? I was just talking to a couple of the Knowing about it. Nicholas, actually,” she started and I finally understood why she had been having a yelling match with him earlier. “He came along specifically to deliver some information about past generations of the gods. Unfortunately, it seems that in each generation, all the gods went just as quickly as they came, so to speak.”
I sighed, realizing exactly what she meant. “Wait,” Aphrodite cut in, crossing her arms over her chest. “You just said ‘all.’ As in every single one of them?”
“We all die at the same time, don’t we?” Ares whispered gruffly, picking up right where Aphrodite left off. When the Oracle didn’t answer, Ares started to get angry. “Don’t we?” he shouted at her with his fists clenched and a vein popping out on his forehead. “We all die at the same time and you never told us!”
The Oracle held up her hands to fend off Ares. “I wasn’t certain until now!” she hissed back at him. “I grew up in this forest, in the dark, just like you did.”
Aphrodite took hold of Ares and pulled him away from the Oracle, trying to calm him down by stroking his chest and whispering in his ear. Then Hera spoke up as she slowly tied up her reddish-brown hair in a ponytail, “But why? Even though we’re all the same age, we weren’t born on the same day. So why should we die at the same time?”
At first, the Oracle stayed quiet then glanced at me. “I think Athena can answer that one for you,” she whispered, and all of the other gods and Alec turned to face me, confusion in their eyes.
Still avoiding eye contact with the prophet, I pushed myself off the small green cot I had been sitting on. “You’re partly correct, Hera,” I started and the queen of the gods just frowned at me ungratefully. “But even though we weren’t physically born at the same time, we were somehow metaphorically born at the same time. If I had to guess, I’d say our finding each other within twenty-four hours was part of it.”
“When I was little, I was always told stories of how the gods’ souls emitted their powers and the souls just needed human hosts to thrive,” Pan offered helpfully. “There’s also a slightly different myth that says the gods’ powers needed to latch on to human souls in order to be used.”
“Okay,” I began again, scratching my head. “It sounds like no matter what, the souls inside of us are what make us Greek gods. Therefore, we became gods long before we even knew it, when we were just babies; our powers grew stronger as we did. Maybe there was a moment back then when we were all in the same place—in the hospital or the Fire Pit or somewhere—and the previous generation of gods just happened to die and their souls, their powers, for whatever reason chose us to be their hosts. That scenario still implies we die simultaneously, however.”
A couple of the gods groaned, placing their heads in their hands. I could tell they were feeling lost and defeated, but a few were still hopeful. “Say the myth that states a god’s soul intertwines with a human one is actually correct. What happens to our human parts?” Apollo piped up. “If we die as gods, our human parts would still live on, right?”
The Oracle only gave a small cough and again motioned for me to explain. “Wrong,” I answered Apollo solemnly, my mouth suddenly feeling dry. “As our blood started to change from red to gold when we were younger, it symbolized us discovering our powers and becoming true gods. In other words, we never had two parts—we just thought of it that way. Think of our ‘human parts’ as facades that crumbled as we grew older.”
“So we only have one chance,” Apollo confirmed as the tension built up in the tent and both the Oracle and I nodded. “How long have you known about this? And why didn’t you tell us before?” Apollo asked me sadly. I felt like I had betrayed him and the rest of them, but I just clenched my jaw and tried not to let it show.
I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, though it all pretty much came together right now.”
Zeus sighed and tried to get the others to calm down as they shifted nervously in their seats. “Everybody relax. This new information doesn’t have to change anything. We can’t let fear get to us and we will still fight as hard as we can. We’ve survived this long so who’s to say we won’t survive until we’re eighty? We have powers and it’s all of us against one. The monsters are just a side dish, so to speak. Now, we need to focus on convincing Hades not to take over the world.”
“And how are we going to do that, exactly?” Artemis wondered aloud with an exasperated sigh. “You have to admit the monsters are a pretty big side dish.”
“Wait a minute,” Alec interrupted, running his fingers through his dark hair. “You all aren’t the only gods. There were tons of minor gods of rivers and seas and such. What about them?”
“You just said it yourself,” I told him. “Those gods would be spiritually attached to whichever river or sea they control so they would probably be reborn near the same spot in every generation. I doubt we’ll be able to get any help from them. They might even be far enough away that they aren’t affected by the war at all and won’t have dozens of monsters prowling around.”
The Oracle nodded before adding, “And they will all die with you as well. That includes Pan and Persephone, but probably not me. The other nymphs and satyrs will also be spared, since they have no direct spiritual connection with any of the gods.”
“Okay, back to the plan.” Poseidon switched topics, eager to talk about something a bit lighter. “We need more soldiers to fight the monsters while we find Hades. The Knowing Warriors aren’t going to be enough, especially since half the group is blinded by fear already, and we haven’t even done anything.”
Several of the gods nodded their heads in agreement, but Zeus was already on the same page I was. “The centaurs,” we said simultaneously and exchanged a high five. The other gods’ faces lit up immediately, their hope renewed.
“Huh? What centaurs?” Alec asked in confusion. “I lived here with Pan and Persephone by the river in these woods for weeks and I never saw a centaur.”
I smirked at him. “Have you ever wondered what’s on the other side of the river?”
“That’s where the centaurs live,” Alec realized as he stood up next to me. I nodded.
“This one catches on quick, doesn’t he?” Hestia stopped combing her long, light brown hair with her fingers and motioned to Alec with a small smile. “I like him.” A short chuckle passed through the gods, and Alec blushed.
“Then it’s decided. The Monster Watch will travel to the big meadow tomorrow to get the centaurs to help us,” Zeus proclaimed, and Apollo, Poseidon, and I nodded. “Now we have to figure out how to convince Hades that being ruler of the Underworld already comes with enough power to satisfy him. Who can we get to do that, assuming we can actually find Hades?”
After we all thought quietly for a second, I cleared my throat and mused, “We need someone with whom Hades can relate. Someone who has a little bit of power but realizes that it’s more than enough.”
Suddenly, a growl sounded from the corner of the tent behind us and we all spun around to face the origin of the noise. Demeter stood scowling and glaring at the rest of us, her brown eyes peeking out from under a stray piece of blonde hair. When she clenched her fists, a few leaves of poison oak sprouted from the soil under her dirty, yellow Converse sneakers and I wondered if it was intentional or by accident. She snarled menacingly, “Have you all forgotten about my daughter? Persephone is still trapped down in the Underworld with Hades and we’ve done absolutely nothing about it since Alec went down there to confront him a few weeks ago.”
It was eerily silent for a moment as we glanced nervously at each other, waiting for someone else to speak up. Finally, Alec stated, “Persephone’s smart. I think she’ll be okay on her own until we solve our problem with Hades, and besides, Hades loves her too much to even think about hurting her.”
Demeter growled again, her eyes flashing. “I understand that you know her pretty well, Alec, but you don’t quite understand. Every night, I hear her voice screaming in my head. Every night, she prays to me, begging to be saved from his wrath. Every single night. So if none of you want to help, I’ll go rescue Persephone by myself.”
As Demeter turned on her heel and stalked out of the tent, her long hair flowing out behind her, Alec gulped nervously and looked to Zeus, who appeared equally baffled. “She’ll get over it sooner or later.” He waved her off, but I wasn’t so sure he was right. Leaving that problem for another time, however, Zeus continued, “It’s past lunchtime so I’m going to head back to the Fire Pit. I think we’ll stay off the battlefield for the rest of the day. That way we can reorganize ourselves and the Knowing can get settled in.”
Everyone else in the tent nodded and left the Oracle alone. Deciding I could use some fresh lemonade, I bid Alec farewell for the time being and followed the rest of the gods back east toward Main Street. We took our time, pausing a couple of times to kill a few monsters and arrived at the edge of the trees about an hour later. Then the Monster Watch, along with Josh, headed to the Fire Pit for lunch while the other gods walked southwest toward their respective houses.
A few minutes later, the four guys and I sat down at our booth in the back of the room and waited while Zach and Luke’s mother brought us some fresh lemonade and grilled cheese sandwiches. I didn’t ask him, but I assumed Josh was there with us because he was waiting for Cole. Sure enough, the caramel-haired boy walked up to the table halfway into our meal.
He sat down next to me with a nervous smile, and I had to hold back a groan as Zach, Luke, and Connor exchanged uncomfortable glances. They understood as well as I did that my parents had no idea how much trouble they had caused me when they set me up on that date. I knew that, all too soon, Cole would ask me out on another date and then I would have to leave a battle or something like that just to keep my promise to him. Needless to say, that was a promise worth breaking.
“Hey, Cole,” Josh greeted his friend and smiled. “What have you been up to?”
Quickly, I shoved the last piece of sandwich into my mouth and said, “Excuse me, but my college homework is begging to be finished.” I left the table before Cole could even get in a word, and the other boys just snickered behind me.
When I got home, relieved to find that neither of my parents was there, I ran straight up to my room and started my physics and art history homework. After I had finished working, I decided that I would save my energy and not run around town trying to find the rest of the Monster Watch so I just sat on the couch to watch the news instead. Around five o’clock, my father came home looking as drunk as usual. Without even acknowledging him, I retreated back into my room until dinner. The fact that my father and I had reached an understanding about my mother still didn’t mean I would tolerate his grumpy alcoholic presence.
Much later, I climbed onto my roof and sat down, hugging my knees, to watch the stars, but instead, I ended up scanning the black treetops of the forest for signs of trouble. My mind continued to whirl as I thought about the conversation with the Oracle earlier that day. I knew that even if we did win the war and manage to survive, our problems with Hades would not be solved unless his desires were completely satisfied. I sighed, running through a list of people in my brain who might be able to capture the attention of Hades, but came up with nothing.
Just then, I noticed Zach open his own balcony door across the grass lawn, light pouring out from his room and into the dark night. He saw me lying alone on my roof and waved and I waved back, permitting him to come over. I was humbly reminded of a time when he did that more often, when he felt too cocky, excited, or invincible to even think about sleep, rather than feeling nervous or stressed. I missed that time. I missed not having to think about battle plans, and I missed not feeling guilty about what only I knew would come out of this goddamn war, about what I’d known for years.
Zeus pulled me from the shadow of my flashback when, not two minutes later, he solemnly sat next to me and rested his handsome head in his rough hands. Just that one simple gesture caused the sky to darken and the clouds to build up above us. He was silent for a long time, but eventually he lifted his head to speak. “The townsfolk should be worried. They should be preparing to protect themselves, but they have no idea Hades is about to take over. They have no idea about any of this,” he whispered slowly, and I was only somewhat surprised to see his philosophical side coming out of hiding. “And if they knew, I suppose they would wish that they didn’t. So . . . we’re stuck.”
I nodded glumly, not quite sure how to respond, and followed his gaze to our right to see scattered lights from quiet houses glowing in the blackness of the evening. I was certain that Zeus and I were sharing the same thought: We gods were here to stay and protect our beloved home, but for how much longer? How long could we possibly keep such a big secret from the tight-knit families in our tiny town? To be honest, what worried me the most about the prophecy was that it foretold a war, but no end to it.
“Is something bothering you?” Zeus asked in Greek, glancing back at me.
I shrugged and responded truthfully, “Pretty much everything. But that’s normal for me.”
“You’re such a control freak,” he laughed. “You don’t have to carry the burden of knowledge alone, you know. We’re all in this war together, and it’s not the end of the world. Yet.”
At once, a muffled noise sounded from down below and both Zeus and I froze. I gripped the rock/sword, which was still in my jeans pocket from this morning, and a wave of worry washed over me. “Who’s there?” we said loudly in unison, hoping the sound hadn’t been made by Hades himself.
“I am,” Alec’s pained voice reached our ears as he struggled to pull himself onto the roof. I gasped when I realized that one arm was dripping with red blood and that he wasn’t even wearing armor.
“You’re such an idiot!” I exclaimed breathlessly as I rushed to his side and helped him carefully sit down. “What were you thinking, coming here without armor during a war? I guess I must have trained you pretty damn well, since you actually managed to survive. Did you do everything I taught you? Was your stance okay? You didn’t let yourself get distracted, did you?”
Alec just smiled weakly at me, not even bothering to answer my barrage of questions, and I grunted in annoyance. Leaving him with the bewildered Zeus for a moment, I raced back into my room and returned with my full supply of bandages.
I then knelt down next to Alec with an exasperated sigh, inspecting his entire body as a tiny pool of dark blood collected on the rough, black surface of the roof. “It was an undead warrior,” Alec croaked out the answer to the question I was about to ask, sheepishly picking at the soles of his worn-out sneakers. I wordlessly raised my eyebrows and pulled out a damp rag to wipe a bit of blood off his cheek, but then Alec said softly, “I think the wounds from my whipping are bleeding again. My armor was irritating them.”
I turned Alec’s back toward me to see his blood just starting to seep through his dark gray T-shirt. Somberly, I helped him lift it over his head, revealing a lot of smeared blood and, rather shockingly, a black owl imprinted on his skin, its wingspan stretching all the way between his shoulder blades. The detailed feathers, coupled with the way Alec’s back muscles moved, made the owl seem even more real.
“You got a new tattoo,” I observed dryly, certain he had gotten it in honor of me. Other people would see it as a simple tribute to his patron goddess, but I knew it was there because he also had feelings for me, unfortunately for both of us.
Alec only nodded silently as I started to gently wipe off the blood from his skin. As I did this, I also noticed that his wild, dark hair had grown a bit longer and as a result was now able to cover his other tattoo, the small black sword imprinted on the back of his neck which signified his membership in the Knowing Warriors. I sighed again, tracing the tiny circle with my index finger and thinking about how Alec could never go back to live with the Knowing and truly be a part of them; he had changed far too much since he first arrived in the Woods.
“I wanted to cover up my Warrior identification with a different tattoo, but I figured I was in too much trouble already,” Alec explained, reading my exact thoughts. Another bout of whipping would not have been good for my little hero.
“How many monsters did you run into on your way here?” Zeus asked Alec, finally breaking his silence as he stroked his chin in thought.
“More than you want to hear about,” Alec muttered, wincing again as I dabbed at one of the reopened scars on his back. “But I’m perfectly fine. Anyway, I was wondering if I could tag along with you to go talk to the centaurs tomorrow.”
Zeus just laughed again and shot me a look that read, This guy is crazier than you! and I joined in.
“Sorry, but there’s a reason I said that only the Monster Watch could come; we’re familiar faces,” he told Alec with a short chuckle before beginning the backstory, telling it like he would a funny story. “We were seven, didn’t even know we were gods yet, and we were exploring the other side of the river for the first time. We ran into a group of centaurs late in the day and they would have killed us, but Ashley convinced them that we were valuable assets. Centaurs definitely aren’t the friendliest of creatures, and we’ve only seen a couple since that day, but I guess it’s finally time to join forces . . . if they agree to it, of course.”
Although he frowned, Alec nodded in understanding and yawned as the three of us stared off into the night sky. A shadow at the corner of my eye caught my attention and I turned to watch the figure shaped like a human walk down the street toward us. “If that’s Cole, kill me,” I hissed, furrowing my brow slightly.
Both boys smirked, and as Alec moved his hand over mine for just a split second, I felt my heart start to race involuntarily before the warmth slipped away again. “This guy is just like that one harpy—or Hades, actually. Reappearing at the worst times, haunting you like a ghost,” Alec complained bitterly, and I rolled my eyes. What a wonderful thought.
“We should just go somewhere else before he gets up here,” Zeus grumbled.
“You’re the king,” Alec agreed all too eagerly and obediently as he started to get up. “Back to the army camp?”
Zeus nodded in agreement and the three of us carefully climbed to the ground after I returned the extra, unused bandages to my room. While we stopped briefly at the edge of the forest to put on our bronze armor, I checked behind me one last time for that shadowy person. Sure enough, Cole stood patiently at my front door, probably waiting for me to answer, but I just peeled my gaze away and followed the guys deeper into the woods without saying another word.
We slowly made our way single file through the misty forest, careful to be as quiet as possible so we had a better chance of avoiding any monsters. For once, the woods actually seemed calm and peaceful, like they used to be before the war. However, the three of us were about halfway to the camp when we heard a rustle in the thick bushes directly in front of us. Simultaneously, Zeus’s hand crackled with bright electricity and Alec and I squeezed our small rocks, causing the shiny sword blades to pop out.
Zeus, who was currently in the rear, stepped in front of Alec. “If that’s a monster, let us handle it. You’ve taken down enough of them for one night,” he whispered to Alec then rambled on, giving himself a pep talk. “And if that’s an entire troop of monsters, no matter how many, just prepare to be blinded by a flurry of lightning flashes because we are not going to run. Yep. That’s all there is to it.”
Although I didn’t argue, Alec opened his mouth to protest. He thought better of it, however, as a dark red spot on his arm bandage started to grow bigger in size. I heard him hold back a gasp of pain and he tried to quickly cover it up with a bored yawn. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.
The anxious Zeus was just about to chuck his lightning bolt into the bush when out flew a toddler, clutching a miniature bow and arrow with his tiny hands. Flapping almost as rapidly as a hummingbird’s, his little white wings poked out of his long Grecian tunic. With a small huff, he blew a golden curl out of his baby face and looked directly at me with his big, blue eyes. I supposed he could have taken any form, but I thought this deceitful, stereotypical, infant like one suited his trickery and immaturity quite well. As if to confirm my observation, while aiming his mischievous grin straight at me, he said brightly, in a deep voice that so didn’t match his appearance, “Why, fancy meeting you here, Athena!”
As you can probably infer, this was not the first time I had met Eros (who is more commonly known by his Roman name, Cupid). No, the first time we ran into each other happened six years earlier, a couple of weeks after we had all found out that we were gods . . . .
Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, and I had been playing a round of reverse hide-and-seek, and I was searching high and low for the god of the skies. I was walking near the meadow when Eros suddenly appeared out of nowhere, aiming a magic arrow straight at my heart. My eyebrows shot up in surprise and, just as Eros let the arrow fly, I dove into a nearby bush for cover. Even back then, I knew that all hell would break loose if the goddess of wisdom fell in love. As Plato once said, “Love is a serious mental disease.”
Letting out a sigh of relief and ignoring the leaves that were now tangled in my hair, I bravely faced my attacker. “One of my favorite pastimes: messing with fellow gods!” Eros exclaimed as he loaded another arrow into his bow. “Love triangles can be so much fun!”
I glared at him menacingly. “Lucky for me, I’m not an easy target,” I told him.
He smiled and his other arrow whizzed by my head. “That’s okay. I love a challenge,” he said and the chase was on. I sprinted through the trees, diving right and left as the arrows kept coming. Every couple of seconds, I would stop to catch my breath behind a tree or in the bushes as thorns scraped my skin, but Eros was quite persistent at continuing our twisted game.
This went on for a couple long minutes, until I accidentally tripped on a tree root and fell hard to my knees. Wishing I had my shield with me, I whipped my head around and held up one arm desperately, as if it would somehow stop his arrow from hitting me. I squeezed my eyes shut, but nothing happened because just then a voice from behind me shouted, “Eros, stop!”
I slowly opened one eye to see the Oracle standing next to me, glaring up at Eros with her bright green eyes. Then her body began to shake violently and mist started to build up into silver clouds around her. I had seen this spectacle once before and knew that she was about to tell a prophecy. She began:
“In six years’ time will come one god’s prime,
And he will be tired of being under fire.
He will fight for what he thinks is his right,
But it could tear apart the balance that’s fair,
And the duty will fall upon you all
In order to save the world.”
I was certain that she would stop there, like she had the first time, but no; my jaw dropped as the Oracle kept speaking. This was the part of the prophecy no one else had heard before:
“Still you must listen, for the goddess of wisdom
Will no longer be free of that blasted curse called love.
Her beloved hero is great, but he is only bait
For the man who will decide this mighty one’s tragic fate.”
Eros simply raised his eyebrows at me as the mist around the Oracle started to clear and then he flew away without another word. We had reached an understanding at that point; if he interfered with my love life in any way, Eros would disrupt the prophecy and possibly cause the end of the world—a risk not even he was willing to take. I never saw him again after that first day and had no desire to seek him out.
Until now, six years later, when we were fulfilling the prophecy.
Back when Alec had first arrived in the forest, he mentioned that the Oracle told him he would be needed to help us save the world. The other gods were confused because as far as they knew, he wasn’t part of the prophecy. Still, I knew better, and even though I had originally contemplated sending him off on his own to be killed and thus to prevent the war, some tiny part of my conscience (which, perhaps, had even been influenced by the Fates or the Oracle herself) had gotten the better of me, to my dismay. I was trying as hard as I could just to be good friends with Alec to prevent whoever’s “tragic fate” was coming and to keep Athena’s loveless legacy alive. After all, it was still anyone’s guess as to what would happen if one of the virgin goddesses broke a rule, since it had obviously never happened before. My pessimistic prediction was that our entire generation of gods would die or at least be stripped of our godliness somehow. In the absolute worst-case scenario, we would die and a new generation of gods would not be born at all.
Yet even considering all of the consequences, Alec still wanted something more from me and, deep inside, I knew—though I really hated to admit it to myself—there was an uncontrollable part of me that liked him a little more than a friend as well. But it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t let him change me.
Now Eros glanced over at Alec, a knowing smirk on the god’s face. “I don’t need to shoot this one. He is already truly, deeply in love. With you, Athena,” Eros stated firmly as he turned back around in midair to face me. “You have chosen well, unsurprisingly.” With one last smirk, the never-aging toddler flitted up into the treetops and out of view. I didn’t have the chance to point out to him that I really hadn’t had a choice in the matter at all.
“What on earth was that about?” Zeus wondered aloud, exchanging confused glances with a blushing Alec.
“Nothing,” I lied, quickly deciding that if the Oracle hadn’t told them about the last part of the prophecy, they didn’t need to know. Plus, I had been keeping the big secret for six years already, so why stop now? They didn’t need yet another thing to worry about, anyway. Even though the Oracle’s prophecy wasn’t clear about whose fate would actually be deadly, I was already 98 percent sure. Many years earlier, I had chosen not to reveal my theories to anyone, not even to these pages, for the certainty that my speculations were, indeed, correct would have caused even more chaos than there already was at that point. I will readily admit, however, that sometimes, carrying the great burden of knowledge alone really sucked, even if I knew it was for the best.
“Let’s keep going.”