Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“If this isn’t because of you, why are treaties that we’ve had in place for decades deteriorating?” I ask. “These are our allies.”
“Didn’t the errand boy warn you that this could happen?” Ares looks puzzled.
“That’s uncalled for,” Kira snaps and grips Draven’s hand. “He’s more than an errand boy.”
“You misunderstand, daughter of my enemy,” Ares says and glares at Dax. “I’m surprised at you, son.”
“Surprised at me?” Dax asks. “You’re the one who was wrong in that situation. Why do I have to be without the woman I love because of your feud?”
Kira gasps and Dax curses but glares even angrier at his godly parent. He hadn’t meant to say that but his damn father riled him into defending his relationship. Good for him.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that for the first time, like this,” Dax mumbles and it’s the cutest thing in the world.
“Okay, let’s everyone calm down. Hermes said something about possible war because he’s the god of communication. Is that what you’re saying is happening here?” I ask.
“Essentially, the countries that have been allies for decades now can’t see eye to eye on everything to the point it’s almost like they are speaking different languages when they are all speaking English.” Ares nods.
“Okay, so this is because of a breakdown in communication and not because of you or that your shield is missing. Why are there so many gods that influence so many different things? It’s really starting to annoy me to have to prevent a war every time the queen throws a new tantrum,” I say with a growl.
“There are many ways to make mortals quarrel. They are fascinating creatures in their spite and hatred for all they don’t understand.” Ares shrugs.
“That’s really not at all comforting.”
“I didn’t come here to comfort you, little godling. I came as a warning. I’ve never worked so hard to prevent war before. It’s unsettling and against my very nature. I don’t like it.” He clenches a fist at his side.
“What are we supposed to do, Ares? We’re already preparing for the mission to find the caduceus for Hermes.”
Ares narrows his eyes at me and then glances at Raven. She crosses her arms and raises a brow at her father in challenge.
Ares sighs. “I have never understood females.”
He scans the faces of the guys in the room but wisely they don’t make eye contact with the god or acknowledge his claims that women are the weird ones and not megalomaniac men in positions of power.
“Look, Ares, we are working on it. How long do you think you can hold them back?” I ask, placating the war god.
“I don’t know.” He scrubs a hand over his face. “I’ve never tried to stop it before. Time in the millennia I have lived means very little to me.”
“Can you ballpark it?” Raven asks. “Do we have a month? A week? Two? We need a timeframe before the world explodes.”
“I would say a month is too long. The feeling I’m getting is that this is an imminent threat to the world. Two weeks maximum. That’s all I can give you.”
“Shit.” I slump back into Jayden’s chest. “We need to leave as soon as possible. We don’t know what the situation with the roads might be and we could end up anywhere.”
“So, you’ve figured that part out already, then?” Ares asks.
“With some not so subtle hints from Hermes himself. We understand we could end up moving in the wrong direction or transported to a different place entirely.” I nod.
“Anything is possible on the roads right now. You could be lost for days and lose precious time.”
“We got that,” I snap and rub at my temples. “Sorry, this is just a lot and there’s never enough time for all of this bullshit.”
“I’ll leave you young ones to plan your journey, then. Remember what you’re fighting for, godlings. The world will cease to exist.” Ares transports away.
“A world we are no longer a part of,” I mumble. “We need to save it so we can have lives again, safe from the monsters who hunt us.”
“I think we all need the reminder of what we’re fighting for,” Raven says with a sigh.
“Draven?” I call, straightening my shoulders. “How are your brothers and sisters doing with a cure for the mind control?”
“Not great. It’s been slow and now that we know it’s H… the queen.” Draven winces when Kira elbows him in the gut.
“We do not invoke bitchface either,” I warn, pointing at him.
“Noted, though I didn’t need a broken rib for a punishment,” he says.
“Now that you know it’s the queen…” Raven waves her hand for him to continue.
“We can understand more about why they’re not waking up, but we aren’t any closer to making that happen. We can’t get a lock on the mind control until they are awake. It’s like a circle of death.”
“Maybe that’s something Hermes can help with once he’s got his full power back,” I say, relieved that’s one less imminent threat to deal with.
“I’m not so sure I should have my siblings stop their testing.” Draven scratches the back of his neck.
“Why? What aren’t you telling me?” I ask.
“We’ve been given a two-week window, but I don’t think the mind-controlled students have that long. They will deteriorate in that state without food or water.”
“Fuck, why didn’t I think of that sooner? I guess we need to take a trip to the healers’ office,” I say.
“What do we need from the healers?” Raven asks.
“I’m sure they have something that can sustain them in this state, right?” I ask, scanning my friends’ faces.
“We already asked the healers and they are searching for something but so far there is nothing to their knowledge that can sustain them magically and we’re afraid to use the human methods that they could abuse if woken up under the queen’s control again.” Draven shakes his head.
Any relief I felt before quickly evaporates with his words. He’s not wrong that the human medical equipment could be abused by Hera and any minions who try to control them. This isn’t fucking good.
“Okay then, we have even less time than we previously thought. No fucking pressure.”
“Nope, just got to save the world and everyone in it… again,” Raven grumbles.
“I’m taking a year’s vacation after all of this.” Jayden squeezes me tighter to him.
“That sounds amazing. I would love to travel the world and not have to slay monsters while doing it.” I lean back with my head on his chest.
“We gotta get through this war first, B. But yeah, I think we all deserve a vacation after this.”
Greyson grimaces. “I don’t think I’ll be afforded that luxury.”
“Why?” I ask. “Something to do with the packs?”
“Yeah, Tristan’s man. The one who was gods touched. He’s still missing. There are also rumblings of a group of rogues causing trouble within the supernatural world. I have a sinking suspicion that it’s him building an army.”
I straighten my spine. Fuck. This is bad. It’s a thousand percent our fault this happened.
“How did you find this out?” I ask.
“Grant got a message to me. I think he contacted Orpheus because a message was on my desk this morning.” Greyson clenches his hands into fists on the table.
“Why can’t it ever be good news. Just once I want it to be good news.”
“Could this be more of the breakdown in communication?” Jayden asks.
“Not with rogues. They’re practically feral and unpredictable. They usually don’t organize into packs. This is something the shifters haven’t seen before,” Greyson says.
“How soon are we talking with this threat?” I ask.
Greyson is a part of us now. Like he said, he considers us pack and I don’t think we can do this without him. It would feel wrong.
“They don’t know for sure that it’s him. The rogues have been out creating mayhem in an organized fashion that makes them hard to pin down but their leader appears to be lying low.”
“Okay,” Jayden cuts in. “Your brother was smart going to Orpheus to get a message to us. We can talk to my father about the possibility of keeping that line of communication open so Grant can keep us posted on what’s happening with the rogues while we do what needs done here.”
“Perfect,” I say. “One thing at a time but still keep an eye out in case we need to intervene with the gods touched wolf.”
“It may not even be him, but if things escalate too much more, there may be a shifter war not long after we go to war with the queen.” Raven shakes her head.
“No rest for the wicked,” I say.
“We should probably get to training and make sure people aren’t losing their absolute shit over the new mandate.” Raven glances at the door.
“Yeah.” I sigh. “We need to practice our new powers.”
“When are we leaving?” Draven asks.
He glances at Kira with a frown. Does he think we’re going to leave her behind? That’s not happening anymore. The SUV is big enough to fit us all. They may not be the most comfortable but they’ll fit.
“I think we should leave today if possible. The faster we get out of here the better. We have a small idea what the roads are like now but if we wait too long, then we run the risk of them deteriorating more and getting lost forever.” I stand from Jayden’s lap.
He doesn’t let me get far. His hands tighten on my hips as he pulls himself to his feet, pressing his front to my back. The others file out the door as I turn to Jayden.
“You okay?” I ask.
“This feeling is weird. I don’t know how to process what my instincts keep telling me.” He shakes his head.
“What feeling?” I tilt my head to the side, trying to understand what he’s not saying.
“Possessiveness and a need to keep touching you. To stake my claim, I guess. It’s riding me hard.”
“It’s not realistic to be touching all the time.” I giggle but his expression doesn’t change.
“I know, but it’s difficult to rationalize that in my mind.”
“Maybe you should find time to have a chat with Greyson about this. I think it might be that it’s so new and may lessen over time.” I grip his hand in mine. “Let’s get to training.”