28. Renegades
Chapter twenty-eight
Renegades
Nicodemus
The following morning, Odysseus and I emerged from the silk sheets we had abused the night before and brushed our faces clear.
His shoulder length hair was sticking straight up from our, activities, and made him look like a chicken.
I giggled and smoothed it down for him, which made his cheeks flush pink with embarrassment.
“We sure caused a ruckus last night,” I commented as I gestured to the state of the room.
“It was worth it,” he replied as he sunk back into the bed and shimmied the covers over his naked body. He got them all the way up under his chin before he blinked and pointed to the sky above us. “Hey, what time is it? It’s still this dark outside?”
I fingered for my phone and unlocked the screen. “Um, it says it’s ten?”
“In the morning?” he scoffed.
“Er… yeah.” I noticed I had a slew of missed messages. “Looks like someone really wanted my attention last night.”
“Who?” he asked as he snuggled into my back, kissing my shoulder that he then peered over. I flicked the screen up and opened the first message thread, which was from a very pissed off set of Gods-to-be.
Sebastian: Um… anyone know what the actual fuck is going on with the sun?
Griffin: That would be a question for the God that rules over it. Squeaks, dude, what the heck is going on for real?
Praxis: It’s eight in the morning and pitch black!
Soren: Thanks for the news report, Praxis.
Praxis: Fuck you, Soren.
Griffin: Hello? Earth to Squeakers?
Praxis: They’re probably fucking. Per usual.
Sebastian: Well, someone go check their damn room, then!
Soren: I already did, but no one was in there.
Praxis: This is a total eclipse!
Griffin: Ash said she hasn’t heard from them all night. She can’t make the moon move, either.
Soren: Greattttt. Gods damnit. Nicodemus, Odysseus! Can someone answer us here?
Praxis: HELLLLLOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I slapped a hand over my mouth. “Oh fuck…”
“What?” he popped worriedly.
I pointed to the sky. “Er, babe? I think we might have caused this.”
“What? No way!”
“Last night? When we were, ya know? I noticed our eyes were in their Elemental form. Do you think that potion of yours, like, triggered our powers or something?”
Odysseus turned three shades of red. He changed so quickly that he teetered from the adrenaline and rush of heat that consumed him. “Crap. We need to go fix this!”
“Let’s go find the others!”
Odysseus and I scrambled to shower and dress before we went back to Odrikius, which was pitch black in the middle of the day.
Most of the Gods were standing out in the main courtyard trying to come up with an explanation for the phenomenon, but they were drawing blanks.
Blaine perked up when he heard our portal materialize and threw his hands up when we stepped through.
“About damn time! Where the Gehenna have you two been?”
“Busy,” we replied in unison.
He gave us the ‘Dad’ look. “I’m sure. Well, anyone want to explain this massive solar eclipse that’s freaking out Humans and Elementals alike?”
Odysseus was too embarrassed to speak, so I conjured a lie I thought would suffice for now. “We tested a serum Odysseus was working on last night and it had some, odd, side effects. We think we did this in our sleep.”
“In your sleep?” Sebastian scoffed, crossing his arms with a sassy eyebrow raise.
“What exactly was this ‘serum’ used for?” Mom smacked a hand over her mouth and wheezed into it loudly, which made us both turn so red that tomatoes were dull in comparison.
Sebastian turned from us to her. “So, you know, do you? Spill the beans!”
“Oh, Gehenna no. Nick is all I have right now, and I am not pissing him off like that.”
“She has chosen wisely,” I confirmed.
Sebastian rolled his eyes heavily. “Whatever. Can you fix this, please, so the world doesn’t implode?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I flashed black eyes and brought my hand up, summoned every ounce of my energy possible, then used my index finger to begin carefully maneuvering the moon.
The Gods watched in awe as the planet rumbled hard before it began to inch away from the sun, which splintered through the dark and brought the courtyard back to life.
Odysseus bit the inside of his collar in shame while I worked, and once I got the moon back to where it should be, I wiped sweat off my forehead and huffed loudly. “Man, she was stubborn today!”
“You two need to be more careful!” Praxis scolded, coming over to slap the back of our heads simultaneously. “You are literally the reason that there is balance in the world. Your fuck ups impact the entire balance of nature, not for nothing!”
“We know, Praxis…” we whined in unison.
“Ok, well, now that that’s over…” Mom wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “We should go find Seraphine. She had some news to share with you, and she wanted to discuss your final picks for your second-in-command.”
“A God’s work is never finished,” I repeated the famous saying before letting Mom turn me towards McBride manor. Before she did, I leaned into Odysseus and whispered, “Might want to dull the effects of that serum a bit.”
“I concur,” he peeped before hightailing it back to the Life Realm, which made me snort a huge laugh and shake my head.
Mom dragged us through the manor to the third floor, where most of the Original Gods were residing.
Each door was marked with a gold plate with their names etched into it and at the end of the hall was one for Seraphine and Erasmus.
Erasmus was pacing back and forth in front of the door, his hands over his face as he did this.
I tapped his arm twice, which scared the shit out of us both when he jumped nearly into the air. “Geez, Nicodemus!”
“You’re the one freaking out!”
He took a settling breath and flashed a hesitant smile. “Sorry, I’m just on edge right.”
“Why?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.
As he went to answer, Seraphine’s deep voice echoed from their room. “You can come in, worrywart,” she teased.
Erasmus nearly took the door off the hinges when he wrenched it open, his golden eyes bugging at his partner. “Well, well?”
Seraphine was in the middle of the bed, sitting crisscross with a thin white object in her hand.
Her long hair was clipped out back, and she wore a very casual pair of sweatpants and a tank top.
I had never seen her outside of exquisite dresses and heels, so this was a surprise, especially because she was just as beautiful in lounge wear as she was when she dressed up.
“Would you relax? You’re freaking everyone out.
” She patted the bed with a loving smile. “Nick, Ash, come sit with me.”
“What’s… going on?” I prompted as I plopped down beside her, scooching closer to her so I could hug her arm and lean over her shoulder.
Mom recognized what she was holding well before I did and gasped happily. “Oh Seraphine, is it true?”
“That’s what I’m waiting to find out,” Seraphine squeaked back. Mom squealed and hugged her other arm with her eyes fixed on the white stick.
“What am I missing?” I popped.
“Men… so clueless to womanly things.” Seraphine giggled at my sour expression before flicking my nose. “You’ll figure it out in a minute.”
“How long do these things take?” Erasmus barked in frustration, folding his arms so he could pout against the doorframe.
“You are acting like a toddler. We don’t need two of those around.”
“Two of?” Reality hit me like a ton of bricks. “Is that a pregnancy test?” I screeched.
“Look who caught on,” Mom laughed.
I threw my hands up innocently. “Hey, I’m gay; Odysseus and I don’t really need to worry about these kind of things.”
“My goodness…” Seraphine tittered.
“What makes you think-…?”
“Well, we figured something was up this morning when…” she lifted her shirt, revealing a prominent bump in her abdomen, “we found this in the mirror.”
“Oh my Gods!” I gushed.
The test beeped, making us all smack our heads together so we could read it.
The screen blinked once, twice, then the word PREGNANT flashed across the screen.
Mom and I let out screams of excitement as Seraphine nodded to Erasmus, who immediately burst into tears at the news. “Oh, my darling… it’s positive!”
“I-It is?” he sobbed out, kneeling on the bed to squeeze her hands. “Thank Gods!”
“Were you two trying?” I asked through my own tears that Seraphine combed away.
“We were casually, so to speak. We’ve both always wanted a biological child, but we didn’t know when the time would be right, so we let the universe guide us-…
. Wait a minute.” Erasmus shot Mom a deep glare that made her giggle immediately.
“Ashlynn Crawford, did you have something to do with this?”
“Who? Me? The God of Life? No, never!” She swished her hand at the couple.
Seraphine gasped loudly and grabbed Mom’s shirt to shake her wildly. “Ashlynn, did you give me a child? Did you do this?”
“I may have had an extra special delivery to make a few weeks ago… that may or may not have been in this manor, to a very deserving couple.”
The two gasped again before snorting and breaking into laughter. Erasmus kissed Seraphine’s hair repeatedly as she hugged his waist, shaking her head to herself. “I can’t believe you kept this to yourself for so long…”
“I wanted you to be surprised,” Mom said with a wink.
“How the heck are you going to train me while you’re pregnant?” I scolded.
Seraphine wiped her eyes repeatedly, though the tears never stopped flowing. “I’ll make you fight Endymion, that’s how.”
“Eww…” Erasmus and I said simultaneously, laughing at our shared response. He ruffled my hair gently. “I’ll substitute myself as much as I can, too, that way you’re not stuck with him all the time.”
“That would be great…” I sighed in relief.
Mom squeezed Seraphine in a huge hug. “Congratulations beautiful; this is so well deserved. I cannot wait to welcome new life to our family, especially with how chaotic things have been. It will be nice to have something positive to focus on.”