I peered into the dimly lit interior of the limo, eyes narrowed. “Lovely to see you too, Jack, but I’m busy.”
Media mogul Jack Wing, Hermes’ public persona, regarded me with his shrewd dark eyes. “I don’t like playing messenger tonight any better than you like having me, kid. Now get in already so I can get home to bed.” He gave a sharp tug on a cuff of his perfectly tailored pinstripe suit, the image of wealth and power.
“What’s the deal?”
“An official summons,” he said steadily.
Great. “Tell Pops he can go screw himself. He gets his chance to kill me next week.” I moved to slam the door, but Jack was surprisingly fast for a middle aged guy. Okay, middle aged looking guy. He caught the door and leaned out toward me, his gaze intense. “A meeting. Not an attempt. Safe passage guaranteed.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I’m waiting.”
Jack gave an exasperated huff. “I swear on the Styx.”
I considered my options. Really, I didn’t have any. If Zeus wanted to see me, he’d see me with or without my say in the matter. Besides, Kai was gone. And my birthday high was dead now. Might as well pick a fight with my father in time-honored teen tradition.
I scrambled into the limo and shut the door.
“Isn’t the outfit a bit much?” Jack asked.
“It’s my birthday. I was celebrating,” I said flatly.
“Without shoes?”
I glanced down at my bare feet. “You try wearing heels.”
Jack laughed.
“What does Pops want with me?”
He shrugged. “Not just your father. Hades too.”
“Come on!” I glared at him.
He smiled. “Happy birthday.”
I turned my head and stared out the tinted window. I could tell we were moving by the sights passing by, but I sure couldn’t feel the road beneath us. This puppy was smooth. And the seats were plush. Might as well enjoy the ride.
We drove for several hours. The long ride must have been the gods’ way of amping up my anxiety, by building my tension around the meet. We could have blinked directly to the location.
Eventually, we came to a small strip mall on the outskirts of some cookie-cutter suburb. It consisted of a discount shoe store, a dry cleaner, and Marina’s Taverna, a Greek restaurant. The limo came to a stop in front of Marina’s and the door on my side opened.
Jack saluted me. “Have fun, kid.”
I got out of the limo. “Give my regards to Aphrodite.” The ditzy bat.
Jack smiled, as if he knew what I was thinking. Then the door swung closed and the limo departed.
I really wished I was wearing shoes. If nothing else, I could grind a heel into my father’s foot if he pissed me off. Well, there was no helping that now. I straightened my shoulders, held my head high, and strode inside.
I expected the worst Greek tackiness with plaster statues of gods, but the place was surprisingly tasteful. Airy with high ceilings. Rectangular blue panels were inset into white walls. The chairs were made of simple varnished wood, while white cloths covered each square table. A fully stocked bar, curved and gleaming took up one side of the interior, with the kitchen visible to the right.
The restaurant was empty except for a kind-looking woman in chef’s whites who smiled at me as I entered. Marina, I presumed. “Come. This way,” she said, with more than a hint of a Greek accent.
My heart stuttered. She sounded exactly like Demeter had when Jack had created an illusion of her to trick me. I’d been royally suckered and heartbroken. “Thank you,” I said quietly, and followed her through the space.
She led me out the back doors onto a large patio, covered by a gazebo of white beams. Flowing white cloth had been woven to make the roof. The fabric also formed curtains, tied back to create half-walls.
A seating area with white leather sofas and tall cacti filled one corner. Large glass lanterns encircled the patio, fat pillar candles blazing brightly in each one. A tall patio heater kept the space toasty.
In the center of the patio, a dark wood table had been laid out, laden with yumtastic Greek tapas like pita wedges, pink creamy taramasalata, triangles of spanakopita, and a heart attack heaven of saganaki—fried cheese.
Zeus and Hades sat there munching in silence. Not even the tense “One wrong move and there’s gonna be a hurting” silence you would have expected from two powerful foes who despised each other. Nah. More like “Eh, it’s family and family is gonna push your buttons, but we’re here now, so let’s eat.”
I took a moment to scope them out before I approached.
Most gods on Earth tended not to appear much taller than six feet. To blend in. But not these two. From the way they both dwarfed their chairs, I could tell they hit seven feet easy. Guess neither could stand to appear too human.
They looked ridiculous. Not just because of their height either. Hades had decided to wear pleated khakis, a plaid button-down shirt and a cardigan. Which sounded very golf dad but came off as bad-touch relative wrong when combined with his bloated alcoholic looks, and all around messed up energy. He wasn’t giving off his usual charming, yet evil, vibes.
Pops, on the other hand, was his regular metrosexual self, all baby smooth skin and buffed mani. While I’d only seen him in linen suits and a fedora, his current outfit could have been taken off one of the club goers I’d just been with.
No girl should ever see her father in a suit that skinny, shiny, or tight. Scouring that image from my memory banks might require therapy.
I slid into an empty chair between the two of them, glancing around to see if maybe Kai was here. “What’s with the family reunion?” I asked. I could smell dad’s citrus cologne, and knew better than to sniff for whatever brimstone Hades wore.
My father handed me a plate and motioned for me to load up. Ordinarily, I would have been happy to, but I was sulky that my dance-fueled peace had dissipated, and I didn’t feel like breaking bread with two people who wanted me dead.
I set the plate down.
My father shot me a puzzled look. “Are you not feeling well? I know how much you like to eat.”
Now I was definitely not eating. Which was a shame because I’d started to waver about the saganaki. “Such a charmer, Pops. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?”
“We thought we’d treat you to a last supper,” Hades laughed. “Since you’ll be dead soon.”
I gave the smug bastard a tight smile. “So sure of that, are you?”
He nodded. “Yes. You’ve been outwitted and outplayed.”
Zeus threw him a sour look. “My progeny. Mine to tell. You got to tell yours.”
Hades muttered something about big babies, but flinched when Zeus sat up sharply.
Zeus smirked then turned to me. “We’ve warded up your ward.” He gave me an assessing glance. “Do you understand what that means?”
“Yeah,” I ground out. It meant that Zeus and Hades had put a ward up around our ward, effectively blocking our access to Eleusis and the ritual location.
Zeus patted me on the head, like a particularly clever puppy.
I jerked my head away.
He smiled as Marina set a plate of steaming moussaka—a kind of Greek eggplant lasagna—in front of him and a lamb dish before Hades. Zeus’ smile was for the food, not Marina. She was dismissed with a lazy wave and no thank you. I doubted my father tipped, so this night had to suck for her.
Hades picked up his lamb and tore into it. I turned away from that grossness and focused on my father’s dainty bites. Which were equally disturbing. It was like there was no middle with these two. Everything in extremes.
“My brother and I have realized that fighting is beneath us. We are not the issue here.” Zeus speared a tiny bit of ground beef and cream sauce, and popped it into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s true,” he insisted. “The issue is humanity failing to worship us as is our due.”
Astounding. I ran my thumb around the rim of my water glass. “Maybe you’re not relevant to humanity, you egotist.”
Zeus shot me a pitying glance.
Right. How could that possibly be the case?
“Thus have we decided that on the equinox, at the moment of our greatest power, Hades and I will wipe out humanity and live in a pure world. A world of only gods.”
“That’s very Aryan of you,” I snarled, trying to ignore the burning tingle along my arms. I’d learned not to show any weakness around these two. Not that they didn’t generally ferret it out.
“We’re housekeeping,” Hades said through greasy lips. “Losing the clutter.”
I smacked my hand against the table. “Are you hearing yourselves? You’re going to wipe out mankind because they don’t love you enough?”
“Worship, not love,” Zeus corrected.
I shook my head. “I don’t buy this for a second. The reason you’ve been fighting isn’t because of people adoring you, it’s because you both want to be top dog. How does this change anything?”
“With no Earth and no humans taking up valuable real estate in the Underworld,” Hades said, pausing to slug back some wine, “we can unite our two realms. Gods and goddess can live freely and we will be rulers of the only two domains left.”
I rose, fed up with the BS they were feeding me. “No. Here’s what’s really going to happen. You’re going to kill all humans out of spite, and then fight it out until one of you is dead. And that second part, I highly support. But you are not harming any more humans on my watch. So thanks for the big reveal, but we’re done.”
I turned to leave but Zeus’ hand snaked out and caught my arm. He yanked me back into my seat. “I wasn’t finished speaking, child,” he said in a mild voice that was totally at odds with his cold eyes.
I stayed put. And kept my mouth shut. This was not the moment to get snotty.
“The reason I shared this with you, is that you are still of my blood.” Pops looked a little put out at having to admit that. “I have tried to guide you and teach you the error of your ways but—”
I straightened up, totally incredulous at that whopper. “By repeatedly trying to kill me?”
He shrugged. “Tough love. Much as Persephone went astray due to Kyrillos’ influence—”
Hades growled at that.
“I hate to see my daughter die.” Zeus leaned forward. “You can be part of this new world. If you stand down and don’t perform the ritual.”
“You and Kyrillos,” Hades added. “He got the same offer.”
Zeus’ lips thinned but he didn’t say anything.
Both gods turned their attention back to the food, giving me, I guess, time to think it over.
I tried to wrap my head around things. I could understand them deciding to kill humans, out of spite or lack of attention. That made sense. But I came up short at how they thought I could go along with this. I may have been a goddess, but I was also most definitely human. Sure, I had a vested interest in the well-being of my god friends, but in the division of these battle lines, I was Team Humanity all the way.
My head throbbed. Were they blithely assuming I’d say “Thanks ever so”? This was possibly the most insulting, condescending interaction I’d ever had with gods. And there had been many.
My arms now itched so madly that if I could have ripped the skin from my bones, I would have happily done that. Instead, I jammed my hands under my butt and shook my head. “Let’s see,” I said. “Uh, no way.”
Hades snorted like he wasn’t surprised, but Zeus actually seemed to be. “Perhaps you don’t understand the choice I’m offering here. The correct decision brings you back into the safety and security of your family. The other … does not.”
That was actually kind of funny. “Secure? Like mob secure? One wrong move and I’m sleeping with the fishes?”
Zeus’ brow creased in confusion. “Why would you sleep in water?”
Hades looked at his brother like he was a moron. “It’s The Godfather … Forget it. She obviously has a death wish.”
“No. She doesn’t.” I said. I pushed away from the table and stood up, bracing my hands on the tabletop as I leaned toward them. “Since I very much want to live, how about this counter offer? Not only am I going to defeat you both, I’m now going to destroy you. I won’t let your selfishness …” I gripped the table, practically trembling in my rage, “your utter self-centeredness hurt humanity. No matter what it takes, I’ll find a way past your ward, unite with Kai, and win.”
I eyed a slender silver olive fork tossed in among the Kalamatas. I wanted to savage someone but its tines wouldn’t inflict the messy, and therefore more painful, ongoing trauma I was after.
Zeus looked amused at my outburst. “You indolent whelp. Who do you think you are?”
I stood tall and steady. “I am the goddess of ushering in a spring in a world free from destruction of gods. A world that allows humans to bloom. But ultimately, Pops? I’m your daughter. And I am about to show you the true meaning of teenage rebellion.”
I would have liked to leave on that high note, but Zeus had to have the last word.
My father toasted me mockingly with his glass. “Then eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die.”
“Next week,” Hades interrupted.
Zeus glowered at him. “Yes, obviously, but I was using a metaphor.”
“No,” his brother replied. “You were paraphrasing. Badly.”
That’s when they lunged for each other, and I left.
Actually, I scurried out shaking with adrenaline, and then just shaking because the edges of my vision had begun to blur. I wanted to be away from the restaurant if I passed out.
What scared me the most was that, for all my talk of humanity, I’d never felt so inhuman as I had back there, so driven by a primal need to destroy blindly. I wanted to kill them and feel the weight of their deaths. Truthfully, I had no idea if they could be killed, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was how I had felt.
I stepped past a planter box, full of cacti. They burst into flame as I went by. Tears spilled down my cheeks. I was drowning in my anger, in my crazy emotions. The sense of not being able to reign myself in, get myself back under control, scared me. My heart sped up and I let out a small whimper, pressing my fists into my eyes.
Solid arms slid around my body.
“Shhh,” Kai whispered into my ear. “You’re safe.” He turned me in his arms, holding me tight.
I buried my head against his chest, and let his steady warmth slowly counteract my insane emotions. I inhaled his spicy scent like a lifeline. Finally, I relaxed and came back to the parking lot, and the night, and him.
But I hadn’t forgotten how things stood between us. Warily, I raised my head to look at him, unsure of how this surprise visit was going to play out.
He tilted my chin up to better study me. “Did they hurt you?”
I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak yet.
I felt his relieved sigh against my chest as I took the sight of him in.
Kai wore a fitted gray sweater that stretched tight across his chest. The denim of his jeans scratched against my bare legs. There was the faintest tinge of dark under his eyes, and his hair was mussed.
I wanted to smooth everything away and make him feel better, but I kept my hands to myself. Touching would not lead to talking. I waited.
Finally, he spoke the words I’d been hoping to hear. “We should talk.”
We didn’t have to have our loaded discussion in a strip mall parking lot. Kai took me back to his house. I’d been there before, but only outside, trying—and failing—to be let in. He hadn’t had this place when he’d been with Persephone. Even if I was imagining everything about her as an active presence in my brain, it was fun to think that my gloating was killing her right now.
I returned my attention to Kai’s home. When I’d first discovered where he lived, I’d been surprised, expecting a flashy hi-rise in some major metropolis. “Why a treehouse?”
We stood on a deck that circled his round wooden pod, built high around the thick, mossy trunk of a massive cypress tree on the bayou. It was designed so that, from a distance, it would be indistinguishable from the rest of the tree. Not that there was anyone around to fool. The area was remote. Uninhabitable without god abilities to blink in and out.
Kai shrugged. “It fits me.”
He spoke in such a low voice that I barely heard him. Morning had broken, and the sound of birdcalls was deafening. It wasn’t peaceful exactly, but it was calming.
Except for the oppressive humidity. Despite the gray overcast sky, my dress felt clammy against my skin. I grasped my hair and twisted it out of the way, using it as a fan on the base of my neck. Talk about pointless. I felt like I was breathing soup.
To distract myself, I eyed the brackish water far below, and a tricky gator doing its best log impersonation amidst tufts of wild grass. In the blink of an eye, the gator lunged forward and snagged a fish. Pure savagery.
And yet, in its wild way, there was no doubt it was beautiful here. Dangerous, lethal even, but with a surprising fragility. A brilliant orange butterfly landed on the rail beside my hand. Hmmm. Maybe this place was perfect for Kai after all. So seemingly fierce, and yes, actually fierce, but still beautiful and vulnerable.
I watched the butterfly flutter a moment, and then fly past Kai’s head, giving me a glimpse of the wistfulness on his face. He caught me looking and smoothed his expression into the poker face that drove me nuts.
Kai turned, opened the door, and stepped inside. Since he left the door open, I followed him.
His place was one big round room, with large, rectangular windows almost floor-to-ceiling all the way around. Underneath them were custom built cedar cabinets, which infused the whole place with a lovely sort of sauna smell.
The cypress’ trunk came up through the center of the room, disappearing again out the top of the sharply pitched ceiling, which was inlayed with slender cedar planks.
To one side of the trunk, Kai had strung a huge hammock bed from an iron grid on the ceiling. The other half of the room was a lounge area, with comfortable seating grouped to take advantage of the view. There was only the most basic of kitchens beside it.
“No bathroom?” I asked as I glanced around.
Kai gave me the ghost of a smirk, making my insides clench in shivery delight. I knew he was remembering the last time we’d found ourselves in a high-end bathroom, and the flirtation that had ensued. He tilted his head. “Over there.”
I looked past him to see a walkway connecting this pod to a much smaller one in a nearby tree. “Ah.”
Awkward small talk out of the way, I sat down on one of the sofas, because no way was I going near the bed. Determined to keep this on a mature, adult level, I let him speak first. Also, he was the one with the explaining to do.
Kai took a seat on a chair beside me. He didn’t speak for a moment, rubbing his thumb over his index finger. “I still love you,” he said, finally.
“I know.”
He nodded as if that was all he needed to say.
My eyes narrowed.
His brows raised.
I shot him a scathing look and drew my legs up to my chest. “You talked to Zeus and Hades? You know what they’re going to do? What they have done with their ward?”
He nodded.
That was the sum total of his response. I snapped. “When we do this love ritual, is it going to work? Or is your Guinness World Record for pissed offness gonna sour the whole thing?”
Kai’s face flashed annoyance. Maybe maximum snark wasn’t the tone to lead with.
“I dunno,” he shot back, equally sarcastic. “How far did Persephone’s betrayal go? She must have known I’d come after her. So what was the plan? Kill me? Use one of Pierce’s arrows to magic herself into being in love with me?”
I flinched at that last bit. At one time, I’d wanted to do the same thing. In my defense, I hadn’t known Kai had loved me then, and it had been a major survival plan for keeping my heart in one still-beating piece.
Still, I didn’t want to answer him either. I knew what she had felt. It wasn’t pretty. “She loved you.” I left it at that.
Problem was, Kai was no idiot. He laughed mirthlessly. “And she was going to kill me anyway,” he said.
I flung up my hands in exasperation, and sat up, my feet slapping onto the floor. “What do you want me to say? Persephone was the universe’s biggest bitch. And I’ve got Bethany—who tormented me for my entire life, tried to steal my boyfriend, stabbed me, and left me for dead—as a contender for second place. I’m sorry about what Persephone was planning, but I can’t change it. So right now I’m telling you to put on your big boy pants because everything is falling apart and we can’t let Zeus and Hades win.”
Persephone and I had made entirely different choices. For better or for worse, I led with my heart. As opposed to letting my messed up goddess-essence-with-a-superiority-complex rule my life with knee jerk reactions. Could he say the same?
Kai didn’t actually say anything for a bit. I hoped laying it on the line had gotten through to him, and was making him rethink his attitude. Then again, gods were notoriously stubborn. And touchy.
I decided to employ the “catch more flies with honey” approach, so I softened my tone and said, “For what it’s worth, I doubt Persephone could have really done it in the end.”
He shot me a sideways glance. “Could you?”
“Screw you, Kai.” I pulled my pendent out from under my dress, bolted to my feet, and headed for the cypress’ trunk. I could be back in Festos’ apartment in a second.
Kai jumped up and grabbed my arm, knocking my pendent out of my fist. “Protest all you want, but you are her. And if she could do it, then the potential is in you.”
I broke his grip. “You’re as crazy as our fathers.” I shoved at his chest. “Your kid self is in you, if you weren’t hatched out of Hades’ ass fully grown, or however you were spawned. So the potential for every stupid thing you’ve ever done is still in you, too. Does that mean you’re going to go out and do endless stupid things? Because if you wanna start making lists, I’m betting I’m the one that needs to be worried here.”
Silence. My chest heaved and Kai would have to be blind to miss my furious glare.
His nostrils flared. His jaw was so tight I worried he might shatter it. His eyes narrowed slightly and then he disappeared.
Days away from the love ritual we had to perform and this was the state of our relationship.
Humanity was screwed.