Chapter Three
“Idon’t understand.”
I circled the tree for a fourth time. “It’s just a tree. What am I supposed to do? Climb it?”
“Be patient, girl,” my bracelet snapped. “As I have told you, your passage into Olympia will arrive at any moment. You are to intercept him and not let him get away, whatever you do. Only he can get you where you need to go.”
“He?” That was the first she mentioned a he.
I studied the band around my wrist. It was quite plain, to be honest. A simple gold band that met where two snake heads kissed. No one would look at the tarnished thing and imagine it had a secret.
Because the thing was all secrets. I’d been asking questions of the voice since it told me the first step was to go to Central Park. Who are you? How did you get trapped in a bracelet? What’s Olympia? Where’s my mother? How do you know where she is? Are you working with the monsters who kidnapped her?
Her response to every question was to silence my impertinent mouth. She would tell me what I needed to know when I needed to know it.
Half an hour with her on my wrist, I understand why someone would trap her in a gaudy old bracelet and stick her in a box—if that is indeed what happened.
“Who is this guy?” I asked. “Is he with the dog beast and the snake woman?”
“A cerberus and echidna,” she corrected, surprising me. “You wear the uniform for a house of learning but are woefully ignorant. What have you been doing for the last eighteen years?” She scoffed. “Ignoring your studies and lifting your skirt at every boy, I suspect.”
My cheeks heated.
“Typical. You young girls. Just as empty-headed as back in my day.”
“You know what? Let’s go back to silence,” I snapped.
“Touchy, touchy. I must’ve hit a nerve.”
I flipped the rude thing off. If it could see my uniform, it could see that.
I most definitely had not been spending my time lifting my skirts at every guy. No chance of that in Sunny Breeze. They kept the boys and girls in separate, locked wards. The last thing they wanted to tell their rich, paying clients was that one of their charges was pregnant.
We only mingled at mealtimes, and I didn’t fancy losing my virginity amid stab-safe sporks and an audience.
“So this guy, whoever he is, will show up here?” I looked it up and down, but it was still just an oak tree. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?”
“Cease your yammering and pay attention! You’d give me a headache if I had one.”
Biting my lip, I resisted the urge to rip the bracelet off and toss it in the dirt. All that mattered was finding Mom. I could put up with the headache she was giving me.
“Will you at least tell me your name?” I asked. “I can’t keep calling you the bracelet.”
“I go by many names. The one you choose will make no difference.”
“Oh, okay.” I thought it over. “How about Willow? That’s what I was going to name my pet dog if I ever got one.”
“Impertinent girl! You will not name me after a dog.”
“What? But you said—”
“Silence. You will call me Selene. End of discussion.”
Rolling my eyes, I drew closer to the tree—eyes darting from branch to branch. Selene swore my ticket to Olympia would be here any moment. I couldn’t miss my chance when it came.
Grabbing the nearest branch, I heaved myself up. I spent my childhood climbing trees in the park. Mom’s favorite place to take me was to the place where she met my dad and then had many dates with him after.
I heaved myself onto a good, sturdy branch and surveyed the area, sweeping the verdant grass, swaying trees, and staring at passersby in every direction. This guy wouldn’t get past me. I was getting my mom back. No matter what I had to do.
Nodding to myself, I rocked back against the bark—trying to find a comfortable position with a branch half up my ass.
Thud.
I flicked down at the guy kneeling at the base of the tree. Brows blowing up my head, I gaped at the tall, impressive figure that rose to his feet. My position only allowed me a good look at his tousled, raven locks, but there was no hiding the hard, ropey muscles beneath his strange clothes.
It looked like leather... armor? A little like footballers wore with the way it covered his shoulders and pecs, but it was less bulky and more fitted to his body. Either way, the armor wasn’t nearly as out of place as the sword on his hip.
Another man who appears in the park in armor and carrying a sword?
“Dad...”
This guy was from the same place as my father. He had to be. He was from the place where the monsters took my mother. This was he.
“Why are you just sitting here?” Selene trumpeted in my ear. “Don’t let him get away.”
I didn’t think. I didn’t hesitate. Leaping off the branch, I attacked.
“Ahh!”
I dropped heavy on his head, bringing us both down in a tangle of limbs.
“Oomphf!”
“Give me back my mom!” I punched, hit, and kicked every body part I connected with. “Give her back!”
“What the fuck!” He tried crawling out from under me.
I snaked my arm around his neck and struck my palm on his head and face. “Tell me where my mom is, asshole, or I’ll do worse! I’ll—”
The world spun.
The next thing I knew, I was flat on my back with a sword’s edge pressed to my throat and a very pissed-off man straddling me. My lips parted to yell at him some more, then our eyes connected. Words stuck on my tongue.
Thick raven locks swept back from his temple, leaving the world to sink inside and drown in swirling, flinty green eyes. A cute round tip topped the end of his nose, but no one would mistakenly think this softened him. Or, I dare say, mistakenly call his nose cute.
Hard lines molded his square jaw and a ruthlessly trimmed beard dusted it in shadows. He flicked his hair from his eyes and, just for a moment, I glimpsed where it curled around his ears. I blushed like he’d let me in on a secret—just between him and me.
This oddly dressed stranger was without a doubt the most gorgeous man I would ever meet in this lifetime or the next.
His glare suddenly smoothed out, and I had a wild, panicked thought that he heard my thoughts. He snapped his forehead to mine, ripping an “eep!” out of me. I held still as his eyes probed mine. He seemed to be counting the flecks of blue in my green pools.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snapped, making me start. “Is this some kind of game? A test? Why didn’t someone tell me you were coming too?”
I gaped at him. “Umm...”
“You realize I could’ve killed you.” Inexplicably, the sword at my throat vanished. He got to his feet and reached down a hand to help me up. I blinked at it like I didn’t know what it was for. “You can’t go around dropping on people’s heads, sesza. Not even for a joke, and definitely not around here,” he said, looking around. “Mundanes aren’t like us. They kill for less.”
“Who are you?” I blurted. I smacked his hand away and scrambled up, putting distance between us quick. “Where’s my mother?”
“Your mother? Who’s your mother?” He looked at me with the same confused look I was giving him.
My face hardened. I wasn’t playing around anymore. For months, I screamed at everyone I could that my mom was out there and in trouble and needed my help. They laughed, ignored me, or called me crazy. I wasn’t going to be this close to getting her back and let another person treat me like I was nuts.
I threw my fists up. “Don’t give me that shit. Take me to my mom, now.”
He cocked his head, eyeing my fight stance with raised brows. “Again. Who the hell is your mom?”
“Ah!” I attacked, running at him.
He threw up his hand and bonked me on the forehead, popping me off my feet. I landed smack on my ass—wincing.
“Gods, you’re strange. You going to stop trying to jump on me and explain what’s going on?” To my surprise, he picked me up around the middle, pulling me close as he set me on my feet and dusted me off.
Heady scents of cedar and pine filled my nose, granting me visions of him riding horseback through the woods—even more eye-wateringly handsome.
“Did the council send you to watch me or something? Make sure I come back.” He snorted. “No chance of me deserting. Last thing I want is to live in the mundane world. I mean... look at this place.”
I couldn’t stop myself sweeping the landscape as he did. All I saw were happy people strolling, running, or picnicking on a nice city day. But what he saw disgusted him if his grimace was anything to go by.
“All right,” he said, fixing his holster. “Let’s go.”
“No!” I ran out in front of him, pulling him up short. “You’re not going anywhere. I’ve waited this long and come this far. You’re taking me to Olympia!”
“Okay.”
The wind whooshed out of my sails. “What?”
“What?”
“You’re taking me to Olympia? Just like that.”
If it was possible, the look he gave me was even crazier. “Of course we’re going back to Olympia. It’s not like we can stay here. Are you feeling all right?”
He was speaking English, but not a damn thing he said made sense. “Why are you making this so easy—? Hold on.” My eyes narrowed to slits. “You want me to go back with you?”
“That’s what I just said.”
“Because it’s a trap!” I cried, making him jump. “You’re working with the monsters. The— The— The echidna and the cerberus!”
“An echidna and cerberus?” He whipped out his sword, spinning around. “Where!?”
“No, not here! Two years ago.”
“They were here two years ago?” he asked, standing down. “How do you know?”
I forced the words through clenched teeth. “Two years ago, two monsters broke into my house and kidnapped my mom. You’re working with them, and you’re going to bring me to her. Now.”
His eyes bugged. “I’m working with—?! I’m not working with any fucking monsters! Who the fuck is spreading those lies?” He cursed. “It’s Georgios, isn’t it. No, I bet it was Michail. He thinks undermining my father’s trust in me is key to him getting the council seat over me.” He thrust a finger at me, making my eyes cross. “You can tell that schemer nothing he does—not even making up treasonous lies—will get him my seat.”
“Your seat? What seat?” I cried. “We’re talking about my mom. Where is my mom!”
He threw his hands up. “How should I know? I don’t know who your mom is!”
“This is a very frustrating conversation!”
“Not just for you!”
We glared at each other, chests heaving.
This was going nowhere. Either he put on the best clueless act I’d ever seen... or he really didn’t know what I was talking about.
“Fine,” I snapped, folding my arms. “Let’s start at the beginning. Who are you?”
He cocked a brow. “We don’t need to go that far in the beginning. You already know who I am. Everyone does.”
“Someone’s conceited,” I muttered. “Humor me.”
The guy heaved a sigh like I was being difficult. “If you insist. I’m Alexander Damien. Who are you?”
“I’m Aella Vanda. Daughter of Irida Vanda.” I latched on to his face for the barest hint of recognition.
Nothing.
“Hello, Aella Vanda.” He tipped his head and his raven curls fell over his eyes. I almost brushed them away from the crime of hiding those lily pad pools. “I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but seeing as you jumped on my head, attacked me, and accused me of treason... I won’t.”
With my brain no longer bathing in adrenaline, sense began to filter through. There was one unique thing this Alexander Damien did that set him apart from everyone else.
“When I said there was an echidna and cerberus, you didn’t look at me like I’m insane,” I said. “You spun around like they could be right behind you. You know those monsters exist.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Of course they exist,” he replied, saying the one thing I’d waited seven hundred and thirty days to hear. “Once again, are you feeling all right? You’re talking like a mundane.”
“What’s a mundane?”
“They’re mundanes.” He pointed over my shoulder.
I looked, but all I saw was the same pleasant scene of families and joggers enjoying the park. “You mean the people?” I asked. “But if they’re mundanes, why are you saying it like I’m not one of them?”
“Because you’re not.”
My brows crumpled. “Why would you say that? You just met me. What makes me not like them?”
Alexander didn’t reply right away. Eyes narrowing, his hand slowly moved toward his hilt. “How about this? I ask the questions from now on. Why are you acting like you’re hearing all of this for the first time?”
I backed up and hit the tree. Alexander had proven he knew how to use that weapon. I had no doubt he could skewer me before I got out a scream for help. “Because I am,” I said slowly. “I don’t know you, or what you’re saying, or anything about this. I’m just looking for my mom.”
If anything, his eyes narrowed further. “Of course you know who I am. There isn’t a single person in Olympia who doesn’t know me and my father.”
“I’m not from Olympia.”
Shock loosened his grip on the sword.
“But my dad is,” I said quickly. I couldn’t risk changing his mind about taking me there. “My mom told me he was before... Well, that’s what she said.”
He was still staring.
“I looked it up,” I blurted. “Dozens of times. It’s in Greece, which doesn’t make sense because she also said my dad isn’t from Greece.” I shook my head. “The doctors had a lot of fun with that one. From a place in Greece but not from Greece. It was just more proof that I’m delusion—”
“You’re not from Olympia?” he sliced in.
“No.”
He erased the distance, flattening me against the bark. “You’ve never been there?” he demanded.
“No,” I cried. “Why?”
“Do you even know what I’m talking about when I say Olympia? Do you know anything about it?”
I just shook my head, widening his eyes further.
“Then where are you from?”
“From here, of course.” I swept out my hand. “New York.”
“You were born here?”
I nodded.
“What about your mother? Irida Vanda. Born here too?”
Another nod.
“And your father? You said he’s from Olympia. What’s his name?”
“Crisanto Vanda.” Hope lit in my chest. “Have you heard of him?”
Alexander tossed his head, extinguishing that hope like water dumped on a candle flame. “But that’s definitely an Olympian name and— Hold on. I may have heard the Vanda family name somewhere. Possibly when I was studying the noble lineages.”
My ears quirked up. “Did you say noble—?”
“But you,” he whispered, talking to himself. “Mundane mother. Olympian father. How can you be? There’s no question you’re one of us, but you’re out here.” Alexander once again looked around like he was standing in a trash heap instead of one of the most amazing cities in the world. “What are you doing out here? Why don’t you know who you are?”
“I know who I am,” I replied—mildly offended.
“Where’s your father?” Authority laced his voice. Alexander spoke like someone used to being obeyed, even though I was fairly sure we were the same age, or at least very close in age.
I never sounded like that when I made demands. People easily ignored me as they walked past my locked-from-the-outside cell in the psychiatric hospital.
“Is he here?” Alexander continued, reaching for his sword again. “He’s going to have a shitload of questions to answer before the council.”
I dropped my gaze. “He’s not here. My dad died when I was two.”
“Oh.” Goose bumps rippled up my arm as he took my hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry. That’s terrible. I lost my mom when I was young too.” Alexander brought my knuckles to his lips. My cheeks exploded with heat when he kissed them. “Okay, the story is becoming clearer to me and seems to be a sad one. How about I stop accusing and listen?” He jerked his chin at the bench basking in the tree’s shade. “Shall we sit?”
“Th-at would be nice,” I croaked, voice cracking.
I wasn’t used to handsome men kissing my hand or flipping a switch and suddenly behaving like a gentleman. In my experience, they kept that switch taped down on asshole.
We sat down—just another pair enjoying a summer’s day in the park. I suddenly felt awkward.
“What did you mean the story is clear to you now?” I asked my shoes. “Do you understand all of this, because I don’t?”
He hummed. “Can I ask how your parents met?”
I didn’t know why he was asking, but I answered anyway. “They met here in the park. Mom was on her way to a concert, and they ran into each other.”
I peeked at him. He was nodding like the answer was what he suspected.
“Your dad must’ve been chosen like me,” he explained. “To cross into the mundane world and renew the barrier. Then, he meets your mom, falls in love, and continues coming back to see her. Comes back so often that”—he smiled at me—“one day there’s you.
“It’s not strictly against the law for an Olympian to be with a mundane, but it definitely is for one to live outside of Olympia. That he didn’t bring you across the border the day you were born put him in violation of our most sacred laws.”
I fixed on him—rapt.
“But I can see why that would’ve been impossible,” he admitted, almost grudgingly. “It’s also against the law for a mundane to live in Olympia. He couldn’t bring your mom, he couldn’t rip a babe out of her mother’s arms, and he couldn’t stay. There was no choice but for it all—your family—to remain a secret.
“Then one day he passes and it’s all left to your mom, whose choices are even worse. Even if she found a way to get you across the border, that would’ve been the last time she ever saw you. To lose you both forever, of course that would’ve been unthinkable. So she raised you in the home you knew and didn’t tell you the truth. Why tell someone of a world they would never know?”
My jaw worked. “How?” I rasped. “How do you know all of this?”
Alexander met my eyes. “Because that’s the only possible explanation for why you don’t know who you are.”
“Wha—? I— Who do you think I am?”
“I don’t think,” he said clearly. “I know. Aella, you’re a demigod.”
A roaring sounded in my ears.
“I’m a demigod. Your father was a demigod. And this is not your home—no matter that you were born here. You’re an Olympian—chosen by a god or goddess to house their essence in your soul. As such, you’re filled with amazing, terrible power.
“These people you see are human. Mundane. Ordinary. You,” he said, taking my hand again, “are a goddess.”
Tugging my hand free, I stood up and walked away.
“No. No, no, no, no, no.”
“What are you doing?” Selene hissed. “Return to that boy’s side at once. You need him. Without him, you’ll never cross the barrier.”
Her words couldn’t penetrate any more than his. This was insane. And not the insanity everyone had been accusing me of for two years, but actual insanity. My mom had tried to tell me something about my dad that night, but never in a million years were the words “demigod” and “amazing, terrible power” about to come out of her mouth.
That’s not something you keep from your kid. It also wasn’t real!
A noise made me look to my right. Alexander fell in step with me, smile jovial even while his eyes were alert and flicking side to side. He was ready at any time for attack. Wondered who he thought was more threatening, the group of nannies walking past us or their infant and toddler charges.
“Stop following me.”
“I’m not following you,” he lofted, tone light. “You just happen to be going in the same direction I am.”
I picked up the pace, and so did he. He may not be following me, but he also wasn’t letting me get away.
“It’s not true,” I spoke up. “My mom wouldn’t keep something like that from me. She just wouldn’t.”
“I’m pretty sure you know it’s true. You told me about an echidna and cerberus when you were jumping on my head and flailing around,” he said to my red cheeks. “They don’t exist in this world. They exist in mine.”
I was quiet for a minute, fighting to dispute that. How could I believe there was a world with monsters but not one with magic?
I don’t know, but it’s still not true!
“What are they?” I asked softly. “Why did they take my mom?”
“I’m going to need you to explain that.” A gentle hand on my shoulder stayed me. Alexander turned me to face him. “Because it still doesn’t make sense. What happened to you, Aella?”
I swallowed hard. I’ve told my story to so many people so many times—and all of them laughed, scoffed, or dismissed me. No one believed, and now here this guy is. Selene brought me to him. Promised he’d take me to Olympia, and less than twenty minutes after meeting him, he told me more about my parents than I knew for eighteen years.
Was it really this simple? Was my lonely nightmare over? Had I finally met someone who would help me?
Alexander took my hand again. “I’ll believe you.”
I broke. It all came spilling out in one rushed, teary mess.
“—then it said if I wanted my mom back, I knew where to find them,” I cried. “That was two years ago. Two years! Who knows what they’ve done to my mom in all that time.”
“Rhea and Cronus,” he breathed. At some point, we ended up on another bench. “This is— This is just—”
“Don’t say crazy.”
“I’m trying not to.” He tossed his head. “Aella, I believe everything happened exactly as you say it did, but I also can’t believe it happened. The spell to open a hole in the barrier between our worlds is a closely guarded secret. For two monsters to not only know the spell but for them to use it to kidnap a mundane woman...” Looking around, he dropped his voice. “That’s not just a disaster. It’s an act of war.”
“It is?”
“Oh, yes,” he said roughly. “It’s why the barrier exists in the first place. To keep them in. But I don’t understand; if they’ve known for two years or more how to get out, why haven’t they done it?”
Alexander was talking to himself again. Part of me thought it was cute that he talked out loud when he was figuring things out. The other part of me barked at the first part to shut up. I was on a mission to find my mom, not swoon over strange men who claim to be a god from another world.
Even if he is handsome. And nice. And believes in me. And holds my hand with warm, calloused fingers to comfort me. And—
Stop!
“Unless the monsters don’t know it,” Alexander said softly. “Not the whole of them, at least. It was just those two who were sent into this dominion with a specific purpose... to kidnap a specific woman.” His eyes flicked up, gazing at me with a new expression. “Who from my world knows about you, Aella? Why did they go through these extremes to get you to cross the barrier?”
“No one knows about me.” My reply was instant, then I looked down. My fingers traced the bracelet. “But someone has to, don’t they?”
“Tell him nothing of me, girl,” Selene whispered in my ear. “He cannot hear me. He can’t see the bracelet upon your wrist. Not even in Olympia does invisible jewelry speak. Wouldn’t do for him also to believe you’re delusional.”
My throat tightened. I shoved my arm with the bracelet behind my back. “I can’t know who or how many people know I exist,” I said clearly. “My dad had family, right? He had friends. Maybe he didn’t keep me a secret from everyone.”
Alexander inclined his head, accepting that easily. “True. But family or friends wouldn’t send monsters. Matter of fact, if it’s you they wanted, why didn’t they take you? Why take your mom?”
“I’ve been asking myself that question every day for two years.”
“Fuck,” he breathed, wrapping his arms around my waist. I squeaked to find myself pulled into a hug. “You’ve been through such a nightmare all by yourself. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Wide eyes and slack jaw fell under the curtain of his sweet-smelling hair as my chin fell on his sturdy shoulder. It was only then I realized that was the first time anyone hugged me in two years. Not even Mom’s parents did when they picked me up from the police station—broken and crying.
Slowly, my hands came up as if trying to remember what to do. I wrapped around him, goose bumps popping at his strong, muscled body. How could someone so tough also be so soft and warm?
Alexander drew back, but I didn’t. It was a full five seconds with his hands back by his side that I realized it was time to let go.
“Oh, sorry.” I flew back, ducking my head.
“It’s fine.” Amusement laced his voice. “Well, first things first. We’re getting your mom back. That’s a given. Then we’re going to find the bastard who sent those creatures after you two—monster or demigod—and we’re sending them to hades with a sword up their ass. Sound good to you?”
There it was again. Filling my chest to bursting—hope.
“You... You’re really going to help me?” My voice wavered. “You’ll help me find my mom.”
“Of course I will.” A smile so sweet and radiant stretched his lips and about knocked me on my back. “You’ll see when I take you home, Aella. Demigods are family. All of us. We take care of our own.”
“Okay, okay.” My mind was spinning so fast, I couldn’t keep up with my thoughts. But the one thing they were shouting over and over... was that I was getting my mom back. “Let’s go, then. Let’s go now.” I took off.
Alexander stopped me. “We can’t go now. I have to renew the barrier, remember?”
“Oh, right.” I trapped a groan behind my teeth as we left the tree farther behind. I waited all this time and was now walking away from where I needed to go.
“How far away is it?” We walked into a tunnel, blanketing in gloom and losing sight of the tree.
“Not far, but while we walk, you can tell me who your god or goddess is.”
“My what?”
“Your power, Aella. What is it?”
He got another blank stare.
“Come on,” he said, laughing. “You don’t need to know you’re a demigod for your power to manifest. I bet anything you’ve been doing things or making things happen for years that you can’t explain.”
“I—”
“Say nothing. No one can know your gift, girl. No one!”
I jumped at the sudden shout. Entirely unnecessary since I didn’t even know what I could do.
“I don’t know,” I said. “It must be something that I could easily explain away. Or maybe I don’t have a power.”
“Maybe,” he replied, though he didn’t look convinced. “To the first thing, not the second. You definitely have power. There’s no question you were chosen.”
“Why is there no question?”
“You can always tell a demigod by their eyes. They say it’s the window to the soul, and in our soul is a god.”
I blew a raspberry. “Bullshit. I’ve been looking at my eyes in the mirror every day for my whole life. There’s a big fat load of nothing in there.”
“Let me prove it.” All at once, Alexander was in front of me, bouncing me off his chest when I failed to stop in time. My breath caught in my throat when he grasped my elbows, holding me still. “Look, Aella.” His soft and soothing whisper was nothing like Selene’s. It slipped into my ears and heated me from the inside out. “Really look. Deep in my eyes.”
I looked, blushed, and flicked away. “See? Nothing.”
“You didn’t even try, sesza.” Catching my chin between two fingers, he turned me back. “Look.”
We were so close his exhales ghosted over my lips. My chest molded to his. Only the armor between us kept it from being scandalous. I could count every one of his long lashes and trace a design on his chiseled, sharp cheekbones. But what I wasn’t doing was looking in his eyes. Surely, if I did, he’d use his supposed demigod power to glimpse more of my thoughts than he should.
Forcing my gaze up, I latched on to his swirling green whirlpools.
Nothing.
The most gorgeous damn eyes there ever were, but was nothing special about—
I fell. Tipping into the abyss, I fell into another world. Grass rose up all around me—dipping and rising—bright, verdant hills spread out beneath my feet and topped with magnificent palaces and white stone structures. In a blink, it all disappeared and a ferocious battle fought and bled before me.
Swords flew. Shields clanged. Warriors laid down their lives. A crack of lightning struck the earth and they were gone. Nothing but the heavens spread before me—angry and roaring its might with every burst of thunder and lightning.
The storm threw me out of the sky into the sea. I tossed and drowned within the mighty fury of the ocean—a small speck in its vastness.
“Ahh!” I wrenched away, stumbling out of his grip. In a blink, I was in Central Park again—safe on dry land. “That was— What was that!”
“I told you, Aella. We were chosen by the gods. That can’t be hidden.”
I breathed fast—chest rolling like I’d really been fished out of the sea. “Are you saying you saw that in my eyes?”
He nodded.
“How?” I clutched my head. “Why have I never seen it?”
“You weren’t looking for it. Just like you weren’t looking for a godly explanation when you accidentally used your power, but think back.” He squeezed my shoulders, steadying me. “When you were scared, frightened, or in trouble. Did anything ever happen? Did you blink and your enemies were suddenly on the ground? Or turned into butterflies? Or breaking into song and dance when two seconds before they were angry and yelling in your face?”
“No, nothing like...” I trailed off.
Visions flashed through my head. Dina, Kylie, Justin, and the popular crowd. Shoving me. Punching me. Breaking my nose. Pushing me down the stairs. Everything crunching, breaking, agony, and knowing I was about to die... then it was over and I was back on the sidewalk, about to be pelted with paint balloons.
But that didn’t really happen. I was freaking out about returning to school, so my mind spun out on worst-case scenarios. It only seemed so real because I’m still shaking off the effects of the unneeded meds they’ve been shoving down my throat for the last two years.
“Yes?” Alexander prompted, ripping me back to my reality. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” I dropped my hand. I hadn’t realized it was stroking my unbroken nose. “Nothing like that has happened. Or maybe it’s like you said. I wasn’t looking for a godly explanation, so I dismissed it. Now I don’t know.”
“Ah, fair enough.” He said that, but he looked faintly disappointed. “You’ll figure it out when I bring you home.”
I didn’t correct him on where my home was. Truthfully, New York hadn’t felt like home in a long time—two years exactly. My home was wherever Mom was, which I guess made me... lost.
We continued on, lapsing into silence. I felt awkward again. Alexander was being so nice to me after I attacked and accused him of being an abductor, but could I trust him? What did I know about this guy and the world he was about to bring me to, except that he had no love for mundanes and his world had monsters that liked to snatch them?
“What about you?” I spoke up—eyeing him up and down, lingering too long on his sculpted backside, and snatching my gaze back up. “What’s your power or gift?”
“I’m a son of Zeus,” he said easily. “I bet you want proof of that after everything I’ve thrown at you.”
I was nodding before he finished the sentence.
“But my power only works on living beings,” he finished, “and I’d never put an innocent person or animal through that for a demonstration. I only use my power in self-defense.” Alexander met my eyes. “There’s electricity in the body. I excite that electricity. Heat it up. Turn it to maximum until they boil from the inside out and explode.”
I gaped at him, jaw hanging. “Are you kidding?”
“I am not.”
“But that’s—” I reeled in my tongue before I said something insulting. “That’s intense. Are all of your powers—all of you Olympians—so deadly?”
He shook his head. “Everyone and every power is different, just as the god who gave it to them. Zeus was ruler of the heavens. He was fair and just, but he was also jealous and vengeful. So, while one son of Zeus could have the power to always know when someone’s telling the truth. The other could have a gift that embodies Zeus’s fury.” Alexander held his hands. “Like me.
“But as with every ability, it only matters what you do with it. Like I said, I only use my power on monsters.” Alexander bared his teeth. “When we find the monsters who dared cross the barrier and steal your mom, they’re top of the list for experiencing my gift.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. What would it have been like if Alexander had been there the night they took my mom? Being exploded from the inside out would’ve stopped them a lot better than me being thrown around the room with a dagger I didn’t know how to use.
This is why Selene led me to him.I rubbed the bracelet. Because he’s powerful enough to stop those massive beasts. She really is trying to help me, and so will he. Together, we’ll save my mom.
“Flowers,” I blurted.
“What?” Alexander stepped off the path and climbed a mound, crossing into a thick copse of trees.
“My dad. Flowers. That night, my mom tried to tell me something about my dad and the flowers we used to sell.” I bounded up after him. “Our shop was famous. We were hired for celebrity weddings, and we had at least three break-ins a year from rival flower sellers because ours didn’t wilt.
“Months and years later, our flowers were still as fresh and lovely as the day they were picked from the bush. Mom told everyone it was because of a special solution she and Dad invented. They put it in the water. But that wasn’t it,” I breathed. “It was my dad. He could do something special with flowers, couldn’t he?”
He stopped beside a rock and knelt down. I blinked at the smile he gave me.
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just... Ten minutes ago, you were walking away saying none of this could be true, and now you’re wondering what kind of demigod your dad was. Feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked. “To know the truth. To know you were right all along.”
I blushed stupidly. Alexander had an absurdly beautiful smile that brightened his face and dimpled his right cheek. It was the kind of smile you were blessed to see and desperate to see again. “It’s still hard to believe, but you stop thinking you know everything about the world when a three-headed dog and half a woman glued onto a snake break into your home.
“As crazy as all this is, it’s also the only thing that’s made sense in two years, so... yeah.” I dropped down next to him, smiling back. “It does feel good.”
“Son of Chloris,” he said, crumpling my brow. “The goddess of flowers and spring. She gave your father his gift.”
I took that in. The truth always was there for me to see. Cut flowers that never wilted or died. Of course a thing wasn’t possible by science or serums, or so many rival sellers wouldn’t have tried to steal our plants and seeds. But then, they and I weren’t looking for a godly explanation.
“Does that mean I’m a daughter of Chloris?” I asked. “Like my dad?”
Alexander shook his head. “I mean, you could be, but it doesn’t work like that. The god or goddess chooses the vessel for their essence, not genetics.”
“Chooses the vessel for their essence? What does that mean?”
“There’s a lot I have to tell you.” Reaching into his pocket, Alexander withdrew a small vial of green liquid. I watched, transfixed, as he poured the contents on a small boulder. “But don’t worry, I will. Everything.”
He smiled at me again, and I blushed like an idiot again.
I cleared my throat. “Is this what you came here for? To pour juice on a rock?”
He laughed. “It’s a potion created by a daughter of Hecate. Goddess of magic. And this is a founding stone.” Alexander was so patient and kind, explaining things to me. It was hard to remember the last time someone had been either of those things with me—kind or patient. “A founding stone anchors a magical barrier.”
“Are you saying there’s magic in your world?”
“There’s everything in my world, Aella.” Rising up, he held out a hand for me. I gasped, liking the feel of his calluses against my soft and dry hands more than I’d admit. “Let me show you.”
“Now? We’re going right now? To Olympia... now?” My eyes darted around. “We can’t go right now. I don’t have clothes packed or—or—underwear.” Why in the hell are you talking about your underwear! “I don’t even have a toothbrush.”
“What are you wittering on about, ridiculous child! Your mother has waited two years for you, and you delay her for a toothbrush? Go with him now.”
Alexander cracked a grin. “I’m sorry, but I have to return. If I’m gone any longer, they’ll think I deserted. Besides, you couldn’t bring your clothes or anything from the mundane dominion. We don’t dress like them in Olympia, and you’d stick out for all the wrong reasons.”
“What’s wrong with me sticking out?” I asked, frowning. “You guys aren’t prejudiced against mundanes, are you?”
“It’s not that, Aella.” His expression changed, growing serious. “I realized this, so I’m sure you did too. The reason those monsters took your mom wasn’t because they thought it was time you took a little vacation to your homeland. They have plans for you that include holding your mother hostage to get their way.”
My expression melted away.
“We have to find out who is behind this, where they are, and what they want from you before they know you’re in Olympia,” he said. “That’s the only way we can make a plan that gets both of you out without springing the trap they want you to spring.”
“How are you so sure of this?” My voice was a thin rasp.
“Because they got out, Aella. Those monsters got free of the barrier, and instead of making their escape and wreaking havoc on the dominions, they voluntarily walked back into their prison. They also didn’t spread whatever method they used to get out with the other monsters.” He waved his hand. “I know because this city isn’t a smoldering pile of corpses right now. That they returned to Olympia and kept their escape a secret can only mean one thing. There’s something they want more than their freedom, and there’s only one thing someone could ever want more than that.”
“What?”
Alexander trapped my gaze. “Revenge.”
A chill climbed my spine—as sudden and overwhelming as my twisting gut.
“I’m on your side,” he said. “I will help you save your mom, but we’ve got to be more careful than we’ve ever been. Olympian monsters aren’t mindless animals. They’re quick, clever, ruthless, and some are children of gods too. If they’re planning something, it’ll mean disaster for not just my world but all of them. It’ll mean death.
“I may not know exactly what they plan to do, but I do know this. They want demigods—each and every one—dead.” I gazed into impossible eyes—swirling with lightning, storms, and crashing waves. “And if we die, the gods die. And if the gods of all that is or ever was die... well then, so does everything else.”
If there was something to say in response to that, I didn’t know what it was.
Alexander was wrong. I did not realize what he did.
My gaze drifted down to the bracelet.
I didn’t know what I was walking into at all.