12. Hermes
12
HERMES
“ B e careful with that,” I ordered, making sure not to touch the metal. This was bad. This was very fucking bad – like cataclysmically bad.
Medea had the precious metal that she needed to finish the tower, and I had to find a way to stop it being built. What could I do when we are all being watched. Cameras surrounded every part of this compound, and if I were caught smiting everyone, it would be just as bad.
Well, not as bad as the end of the world – but if the prophecy still stood, and they always did, it would still usher in the end of the world.
My life sucked.
I found my mate. I understood the true meaning of love. I had one night of pure bliss and now the world was about to implode in a magical rave that no one would enjoy.
Did anyone actually enjoy a rave?
Sorry, that was a bad analogy.
“Watch it?” Petey barked. “We were told that this metal has to be pristine. Don’t scrape it.”
They were safe. Celestial bronze couldn’t hurt a human beyond a normal scrape or stab. I mean, any stab wound could kill a mortal. They were fairly weak. Which made my mind whirl in a blurred kaleidoscope of horrors. Sam was a mortal. He could be stabbed, and he would die.
He was going to die anyway.
We all were.
But an Elemental was a child of the wild magic. When this machine sucked all the magic out of the world, his people would die as they could not live without it.
I had to stop it. I had to do whatever I had to do to put an end to this madness. I could destroy the camp and everyone inside it. But the world would see since they streamed everything to a YouTube channel. I mean, they only had like twenty followers, but they were the kind of people who probably downloaded this shit.
What could I do?
I glanced around as the workers carried the metal to the onsite workshop. There the process would begin of bending it and putting it together. This top piece had to be built and then craned up to be placed on top where the welding would begin to connect it to the rest of the structure.
What if the crane dropped the metal? It was celestial bronze. It would survive and not bend when it hit the ground. The welds, though… they would not hold. Not without magic – which Medea had. I should not put anything past the witch.
Medea – that was the key, wasn’t it? At least, I thought it was. If Medea could be confronted somewhere the world wouldn’t see, we had a chance – a slim chance of stopping her. But how? How could I pull her away in the last hours of her success? I wasn’t strong enough to capture her alone. That would not work out in my favor. I mean, I was the messenger god and could travel through space and time when I needed to. How else do you think all those packages get delivered?
But she was wily. She was… charged with magic in a way I had never seen before. Her powers had grown. But what was she using to feed them? There was something else that I couldn’t, that I hadn’t seen yet. I knew it.
The blood of a god. The power of a god was needed to power her spell through this structure.
“Watch it!” Someone called as they carried a piece of the celestial bronze way too close to me.
I stepped out of the way, and they carried it and placed it on the cloth we had laid down in the workshop. There wasn’t a lot of it. Of course, there wasn’t. This stuff was almost impossible to get. She had to find it on the black market. The Cyclopes had shut down their forges long ago.
Where? That was something we’d have to find out later. For now, Medea and this infernal contraption were the only problems we could deal with.
I had to get her away.
“It’s here!” Her voice assaulted my ears.
I turned and found her and Harry walking down into the camp.
“We saw the helicopter land. How long until we have the top of this pyramid done?” Harry asked.
“The apex will take twenty-four hours to weld together. Tomorrow, it will be placed on top, and then tomorrow night, the cold moon will arise, and this miracle I created will do exactly what it was meant for.” She sounded like she was talking to herself. Her whispery voice held victory.
She almost shuddered with happiness. It was alarming. If I didn’t act soon, it would be too late.
I pulled out my phone to shoot Loki another quick message. Hopefully, he would get back to me, so I…
“Denny!” Medea shouted.
I slid my phone back into my pocket and turned around. She stood a few feet from me, smirking as if she were a cat who had just eaten the canary. “Yes?”
“It’s starting to snow.” She grinned so wide it was terrifying. “Everything has fallen into place. Isn’t that nice?”
“It’s good to have this project almost finished,” I said lowly. My stomach was flipping as she stood there. Seeing her happy was off-putting in every way.
“Yes. I should thank you for all your hard work. You were an instrumental part in making this happen.” She strolled over towards me, and I had to stop myself from taking a step back. “We were lucky to have your expertise.”
“Why… Thank you, I guess. It’s been hard work.” I pulled my hat off and scratched my head. I was trying really hard to stay in character.
She walked closer. “Oh, it’s only going to get harder.” She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me forward. The boys carried a piece of metal behind me. “Be careful. I’d hate for you to cut yourself on that. What would we have done without you on this project? I’m sure you want to see it through to the very, very end, don’t you?”
“Anything I can do for The Truth.” I winced as she held my arm tightly.
“You are such an interesting person, Denny. Such a strange…” She let go and smiled. It made my stomach sink. “I'm sure you need to get back to it. The night of my… our victory is fast approaching.”
She spun and walked back to where Harry was standing. He didn’t even seem to really be watching the men bring the metal into the workshop. He just stared forward as if that was what he was told to do. Maybe he and Medea had a kinky thing going on, but my bet was mind control.
“That woman terrifies me. We only have one more haul from the helicopter. This stuff is very light. But it sure is sturdy. I’ve never seen a piece of bronze like it before.” Petey whistled.
“And you never will again. Apparently, this is very rare. You should ask her all about it,” I snickered.
“No, thank you. That woman terrifies me.” Petey walked back out, and I stared over at the pile of celestial bronze. My grandad had been a fool to create this or to allow the Cyclopes to ever make it. He should have thrown the first piece in the Styx and let it burn.
Burn? The celestial bronze wouldn’t be destroyed by anything man, or I could do. Its only melting point was the river Styx in the underworld. That doorway was not open to anyone and would probably never be again. Hades hated visitors and never had a snack.
But the rest of the structure would. Gold, silver, and bronze had a much lower melting point than the metals of magic, but heat was not my thing. No fire that I could create would be nearly hot enough to melt the bottom of the structure. I didn’t have to truly destroy it – I just needed to buy us some time. But how? It wasn’t like I had a flamethrower.
Wait…
The Truth had a flame thrower. Harry had been stocking up on weapons in case the magical world started to attack us. He even had a large supply of silver bullets. Werewolves were a particular fear of his, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that wolf shifters were not the same thing. In all my life, I had never seen a werewolf. But I had met a vampire or two. The world was strange… Maybe they did exist.
They had grenades… Fuck, I was stupid.
Blow the base.
How did I get them?
I was a fucking trickster god. I could shapeshift into one of the guards. What the fuck was that big lug’s name? Andre? Andy? Angelo? He was large and Italian and had a mouth like a sailor.
Fuck it. I’ll wing it. But when.
I needed to clear this space. I didn’t want any of these guys to get hurt. I mean, sure, they were rabdophobic, and the magical world really needed to develop a better name for magic haters than that. It did not roll off the tongue, and imagine it on a sign during a protest!
It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Mealtime. The boys deserved a quick break and a full belly before we worked through the night to have this finished in time tomorrow before dusk. I glanced outside and saw Medea and Harry walking around the structure. God, it was really coming down. I needed to remember to act cold. Gods never felt the elements.
I walked outside as the guys brought the last shipment inside. I would have to deal with the god killing bronze at another time. For now, I needed to plead my case with the main boss, and I didn’t mean Harry.
“Hey, Harry!” I called as I stared at Medea. “We’ve got the last of the metal inside. I’m gonna give the guys a break so they can all go eat. It’s gonna take all hands on deck tonight if we’re going to accomplish this. If they eat now, I’ll be able to work them harder. I just want to get this project done as soon as possible.”
“Well, I…” Harry turned and looked at Medea.
She smirked.
“I mean… It does make sense. They’re going to be here all night, right?”
“Yes. As always, Denny, you have thought of everything. Like I said, you are the reason that this could all happen. If that’s what you think is best, then I agree. But I do expect to see major progress by morning. This has to be finished on time. The entire project will fail if it’s not. Understand?” She grinned widely. Something was not right in Denmark.
“Yes, ma’am. You know we’ll have it done.” I wrapped my arms around my heavy jacket. “Besides, it looks like the boys need to change clothes, anyway. We don’t want them getting hypothermia. The temperature has dropped, and it’s really coming down.” I glanced up at the sky as the snowdrops fell heavily. “We’re gonna need to keep the metal warm, too. What do you suggest? Heaters? Do we have enough? If we took the time to tent that structure, we’d never even get started on the topper tonight.”
“I’ll send something down for you. I don’t think heaters will do the trick.” Medea laughed. “But, just in case, perhaps you’re right. What do we have, Harry?”
“Oh, we have some large heaters that we have out by the tables. We’ll put them on a truck, and you can drive them down when you come back to the site. Sound good?”
“I think that will work perfectly.”
“Don’t fail us, Denny.” Medea took Harry’s arm, and they started walking back to the main camp.
I told the boys to take a break – get changed for the weather and fill their bellies before coming back. I hoped that would give me enough time.