Chapter Thirteen
“So, I was thinking that after we finished eating this, we could go up to the big house if you like, and I could show you around.”
Marty, who had been in the middle of taking a mouthful of scone, looked at Ares in shock. “The big house? You mean the one up there?” He pointed in the general direction of where the vegetable gardens were.
Ares laughed. He seemed in a very relaxed mood, even though they’d woken up late. “Mates share everything we have from the moment of claiming. This house is one of four that we have. We’ll go and visit them all over time, if you like, give you a chance to see more of the world.”
“Four houses?” Marty put down his scone. That was shocking enough news to distract him from his food. “Are you telling me I’m rich now?”
Ares grinned at him. “Yep. Anything your little heart desires can be yours, and believe me, I want to spoil you. There has to be some perks to being a god. That’s pretty cool, don’t you think?”
“I actually think it’s a little overwhelming.” Four houses? Who needs that many? Then Marty had a thought. “Ooh, but if I’m rich, just like you, then there are a few things I wouldn’t mind getting for myself.”
“Don’t tell me. You’ve got a list of things that you’ve always dreamed of having.” Ares still had a happy look on his face, so he wasn’t annoyed.
“Not a list,” Marty said in a bit of a huff, and then he chuckled to show he was teasing. “Two things. There’s just two things I would love to buy, and I know you can get them in the town close to here, because I’ve seen them there when I was walking through to make my way out here. I was looking for somewhere quiet where I could camp. But anyway, I did do a bit of window shopping as I went past the shops, and there are two things that really caught my eye.”
“What things?” Ares picked up his coffee cup, taking a big sip. “If you saw them in a shop, they can’t be too expensive.”
“I want an electric scooter and a phone.”
Ares looked at him over the rim of his coffee mug. “What on Earth is an electric scooter?”
Marty’s eyes lit up. “Oh, my goodness, haven’t you seen them? They’re this incredible vehicle but not a car. It’s like…it’s like…you know, like a scooter that kids play on. But these are for grown-ups, and you don’t have to pedal them or push them along with your feet, only to get them started. They’ve got a motor, and they go all by themselves - you just have to hang on, and they go. I’ve never seen anything so incredible.” He sighed. “I stared in that shop window for the longest time when I saw it. It was on a stand all by itself right at the front of the store. It was bright green, and it just looked so awesome.”
Then Marty huffed. “It’s probably sold by now, though, but it was really, really cool. I probably wouldn’t have to have the green one if it was gone. I know they had other colors, which wouldn’t be so bad if I had to have one of them instead. Maybe we could paint it.”
“All right, so we need to get you a scooter.” Ares was nodding, which was a good sign. “Is there a reason you need a phone? Do you have family or friends you miss and want to talk to?”
Marty picked up through their bond that Ares didn’t seem as happy about that idea, but he quickly shook his head. “No one wants to be friends with me – I’m far too weird for regular people.”
“Unique, my mate, not weird.”
“Unique, then.” Marty’s smile split his face so wide his cheeks ached – his facial ones, not his butt this time. “Thank you. But no, what I was thinking is that when you have to go and do your godly things, then I’ll be able to text you and send you cheery messages throughout the day.
“I saw so much of that when I was going through the city and dossing down in the streets, looking for places to set up camp. It seemed that every single person had a phone. They could be walking next to each other, and they didn’t even talk to each other. They would be sitting on their phones, or walking along with their phones, or they’d have those wires going into their ears. So, I assumed they were listening to stuff on their phone.
“It was strange because I didn’t know what they were listening to. They weren’t talking, so they couldn’t have been having a conversation, but they were listening to something, and they had it attached to their phone. So, I figure those phones must be super exciting if they come with music and everything else. It would be so cool, because it means that when you’re off doing your thing and I’m at home, I can text you and say, ‘Hey babe, how you doing?’”
“You want to text me while I’m off doing my godly things?” Ares burst out laughing. “You do realize I’m the God of War? I don’t have any godly things to do because people stopped believing in me centuries ago.”
“Phew. That’s a relief because when I found out you were the God of War, I was a little bit worried you’d be super busy all the time. There’re a lot of wars happening all over the world, and some of it’s just horrible.” Marty thought about what he said and shook his head. “It’s all horrible, and I mean, it’s not like I keep up with the news – oh, maybe I could do that on a phone as well - but you could just hear it in the gossip on the streets, so phew, that’s a good thing.
“But wouldn’t it be fun if we could text each other anyway, even if we’re both in the house. I could be in the bath, and you were out here reading a paper or something, and then I could text you to come in and scrub my back.” Marty wiggled in his seat just thinking about it. His butt cheeks were still aching from the night before. Ares was a very thorough claimer, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t keen to go again.
Ares was nodding. “All right. We can go and get you a phone and a bright green scooter if that’s what you want. Did you say you saw that in town in the shopping center not far from here?”
“Yes, yes,” Marty said. “I had to walk through that place on my way to this place. I don’t know why I wanted to come here, but I just felt that I did. And look what happened when I did.” He smiled to show Ares that he was really happy. He wasn’t a hundred percent certain how good Ares might be at picking up things through the bond. He didn’t have the advantages that Marty had through being a shifter.
“You sound like you were thinking you and I could walk to town?” Ares quirked his eyebrow.
“I don’t think it took that long. A couple of hours, maybe? Probably not even that.” It had been a while ago, and Marty’s timekeeping wasn’t the best.
“You do realize there’s a car in the garage here, don’t you? There’s a garage out the side of the main house.”
“A car?”
“Our car – it’s half yours.”
Marty quickly shook his head. “Ares, babe, I can’t even drive. Do not let me have half of your cars. I thought a scooter would be fun because I’ve seen people whizzing along on them, but I don’t know how to drive or ride a motorbike or do any of those things. I’ve not even been on a horse.”
“Then we have a lot of things you can learn then,” Ares said, “but don’t you think it would be easier if we drove to town instead of walking?”
“It would probably save the soles on these new boots you gave me. I’ve never been in a car before, so that will be exciting, too. Such a happy day.”
A strange look passed over Ares’ face, but Marty didn’t mind because he was just telling his truth. Not everyone understood his way of thinking until they got to know him. He just hoped he didn’t get car sick. He had seen a couple of cases like that on the sides of the road sometimes – cars pulled over and little kids usually bent over, emptying their stomach contents into the nearest ditch.
If Marty had ever stopped, offering any assistance, he’d usually be told something like, “He’s just car sick. Our Jimmy can’t stomach long car trips.” Marty would always take that as the dismissal it was, but he would still wander away thinking, if you knew your little one was going to be sick because of the car, why did you take them on a long trip in the first place? Marty was doubly determined it wasn’t going to happen to him.