Chapter Four
Alexander and I were back at the tree where we first met by way of surprise attack.
He took out another small vial. The liquid inside was blue. “Here, you first. Drink half.”
I made no move to take it. “What is it?”
“Another potion. It tastes like boiled banana peels and old shoes, but it’ll let us go through the barrier.”
I hesitated, but only for a second longer. Yes, I just met Alexander. Yes, I didn’t know what to believe or what I was walking into. And yes, I was still wearing my hideous brown uniform and didn’t have so much as a toothbrush to take with me to a new, impossible world, but... this was Mom.
I downed half of it and gagged. Alexander was being kind. That nasty thing wished it tasted like banana peels and old shoes. He accepted the vial and drank the rest.
We stood there staring at each other.
“Uhh. Is something supposed to happen now? Because let me tell you right now, if this was all a prank cooked up between you, Dina, and Kylie to make me stand around stupidly in the park, drinking old vomit, then—”
“What are you talking about, sesza?” Laughing, he stepped in close, making me gulp. “Take my hands.”
“W-why?”
His grin was doing funny things to my head. My vision was blurring and ears ringing.
“So that we don’t get separated of course. I can’t lose you now.”
Heat licked my cheeks, and the rest of me. Did someone turn the city’s temperature up two hundred degrees?
I more fell on Alexander rather than taking his hands. All of a sudden, my legs wouldn’t hold me up.
“The potion,” I slurred.
“It works fast.” Alexander wrapped his arms around me. “Hold on tight.”
I made to say something, and the world disappeared. In all of a blink, the happy scene of toddlers playing, couples picnicking, and joggers jogging vanished.
Darkness spread out from our feet and swallowed us whole—plunging us spinning, twisting, and falling through a black and empty void.
I screamed my head off.
Head over heels, we tumbled through nothing, throwing my already rebellious stomach into my throat. That hideous potion was nearing a comeback. Just when I couldn’t stand it anymore, cold air smacked me in the face.
We pitched forward out of the abyss into a world of white... and fell.
“Ahh!”
We dropped out of the sky and landed on a cushioned blanket of cold, kicking up a white cloud.
I gazed up at twinkling diamonds and a sea of azure blue. “It’s snowing,” I whispered, “and nighttime.”
“Our dominion exists opposite the mundanes’. If it’s warm and day there, it’s cold and night here.” He pushed up. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” I twisted to follow him and saw right away.
We’d landed next to a campsite. A bump in the snow covered a log, a dip revealed where the firepit was, and the tent Alexander ducked into showed who it belonged to.
He climbed back out carrying a coat and boots. “Here. Put these on.”
I had the coat on and my feet shoved inside the boots before I asked, “What about you? Aren’t you cold?”
“Never so cold that I’d let a lady shiver in the snow.”
I pulled my hood low, ducking my head in the coat. Was this an Olympian thing? Even before they locked me up, I never had a guy treat me so chivalrously. Justin walking me home didn’t count. Especially because he grabbed his fifteen minutes of fame by telling RBC News that I was raving and ranting that day, and he took me home to make sure I didn’t hurt myself or others.
The reporter gushed about how brave and selfless he was.
I cleared my throat. “I guess this is where we split up. You have to get back to boiling monsters and pouring poison on rocks, and I have to find my mom. I’ll do what you say and make sure no one knows who I am. You were right that I need to find out what the trap is before I spring it.” I fished in my pocket. “If you discover who the monsters are that took my mom or what they want, will you text me?” I handed him my phone. “I’ll keep you posted on what I find out too.”
“Will I what you?” Alexander cocked his head. “What is that thing, by the way? Every mundane we passed in the wood had one too.”
“That thing?” I gave my phone the same wild look he did. “You don’t know what a cell phone is?”
“Should I?”
Of all the unbelievable things he told me that day, this blew my mind. “Your world has magic but not cell phones? How does that make sense!”
“What is its purpose?”
“It— It—” Never in my life did I think I’d have to explain what a cell phone does. “It lets people send messages and talk to each other even if they’re far apart.”
“Oh, is that it?” He flapped a hand. “That’s what children of Hermes are for. Besides, you and I aren’t going to be far apart. We obviously can’t split up, Aella. You don’t know anything about Olympia or where you’re going. You’d be monster food in less than twenty-four hours.”
“But I can just—” I turned on my phone.
The screen went wild—flashing red, blue, and white. I screamed as sparks shot out of the thing, singeing my hand.
Alexander reacted fast. Grabbing it away, he tossed it in the air. I saw only a flash and glint of metal in the moonlight before my phone fell in two pieces at my feet, cut clean in two.
“Rhea and Cronus,” he cried. “Are you okay?” Alexander took my hand and rubbed it between his, holding our hands to his chest. “Don’t worry, I killed it. It won’t hurt you again.”
I was too surprised to find myself against him and melting in his warm embrace to correct him. Although, yes. He had very much killed my phone and any hope of me using Google Maps to find my way.
“We’re not splitting up, Aella.” Our eyes connected over his shoulder. “I promised to help you, and that’s what I’m going to do.” His fingers curled around mine. “You’re not alone anymore. You have allies.” His smile was slow. His touch was soft. “You have me.”
My voice wavered. “I thought you only used your power for good.”
Alexander chuckled. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
I flicked away, face flaming, and stared out into the dark and cold. Staying with Alexander Damien sounded leagues better than facing whatever was out there alone... with no cell phone... no idea where I was going... no clue... and only a strange whispering bracelet.
“Okay,” I mumbled. “We’re not splitting up. Where to first?”
“Pergamon.” Alexander released me and ducked back into the tent. “I stabled my horse there. We’ll check on her, grab some food in front of a warm fire, then we’ll make a plan, and I’ll tell you more about Olympia.”
“Sounds good, Alexander.”
“Call me Alex. All my friends do.”
He packed the campsite up quickly. Hitching his pack on his shoulder, he wrapped a scarf around his neck and face, covering everything but his eyes.
“I’m too well known,” he explained. “Don’t want people watching and interrupting us.”
I accepted this, then we were off.
We were a silent pair, trekking through the wood and snow. I had no idea where we were going, but I trusted Alex to lead the way. It surprised me just how much I trusted Alex after meeting him a short time ago. He had a confidence in him. The way he walked, talked, didn’t twist words or play games. You met him and you knew he was sincere. If he said he’d slay the monsters... I believed him.
A glow lighted in the distance. I didn’t dare hope until the whistling wind carried its good news—noise, music, voices, and four sturdy walls to keep back the cold.
We picked up the pace, growling bellies and frozen toes spurring us on.
Breaking through the trees, we came upon a rising hill that ended sharply into a cliff.
“Are you ready?” Alex whispered. “To see your father’s home for the first time?”
Excitement filled me even as I held the horror of what brought me to Olympia close to my heart. All I had of my dad was stories and vague descriptions of a life he didn’t truly live. Now, I’d get to know the real him.
“I’m ready.”
Together, we topped the hill, and I gasped.
THE ONLY THING BIGGERthan my gaping mouth was my wide eyes. My head swung back and forth, this way and that, trying to take it all in. I had stepped out of the concrete jungle into an ancient paradise.
So many birthdays ago, Mom took me to a Renaissance festival where everyone was dressed in gowns, tunics, corsets, and leather shoes. I remembered spinning around like a gaping fish then too, asking Mom if we’d really gone back in time.
Right then, I knew I had.
Horse-drawn carts rolled over cobblestone streets, carrying young men and women dressed in tight tunics, breeches, and leather armor, much like Alex’s poking through their coats. So different in how they dressed but so similar with the gaggle of girlfriends walking around in packs, couples strolling past arm in arm, and children shrieking through the streets—laughing as they pelted each other with snow.
So similar... if they weren’t different in every way.
The snowballs zigzagged impossible paths through the air, chasing their target with missile-honing precision.
The gaggle of women stopped in front of a merchant stall keeper. They handed over money, and he flicked his wrists. Fresh pastries appeared in their hands—wafting steam and the heavenly scents of apple and honey.
A woman with her nose in a book broke me and Alex apart, passing through us. Snowflakes veered sharply away from her head and her reading as if she were covered by an invisible umbrella. A young girl skated by with no skates. A man rose into the air on a ladder of growing vines to kiss a giggling lady leaning out of a third-story window.
Everywhere I looked... magic.
“It’s amazing,” I whispered.
“Just wait until I take you to Trono City.” Alex slipped his hand into mine. I wondered if he noticed he kept doing that. I wondered if he noticed that I wasn’t stopping him. “The capital city. You’ll see power so amazing that I can’t even believe it.”
“Like what kind of power?”
Rose Inn and Tavern loomed ahead. Rowdy young men spilled out of it, whistling and catcalling the group of women eating their pastries. Some things were the same in every world.
“Like a daughter of Apollo who can sing songs that give you visions of your true love.”
“What?” I cried. “That can’t be. You’re messing with the newbie.”
He laughed. “No word of a lie. Apollo was the god of music and prophecy. He blessed her with an amazing gift.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “If she came over to my world, she’d be a gazillionaire. People search their whole lives for what she could tell them with one song.” My brows drew together. “Which makes me wonder why our worlds are separate? Why don’t mundanes know about all of you? This place. This world. I don’t understand.”
“Let’s get inside first.” Alex stepped up to the inn door and held it open for me. “Get out of the cold.”
A reasonable offer since his coat didn’t reach past my knees, and my bare legs were two popsicles waiting to snap off my body.
Inside was a cozy little space. Not what I was expecting considering the drunken frat party hanging around outside.
Warm, light wooden floors carried small two-person tables with cushioned, high-backed chairs on either side. A large fireplace dominated the back wall, fed by steady flames pouring from the palms of a tall, freckled woman behind the bar. Hanging wood chandeliers topped with dozens of candles, lighting the dancers with a fiery glow.
A four-piece band played in the corner, playing a jaunty, foot-stomping tune that got half the room on their feet.
Alex went up to the bar and ordered two ales as easy as you like. She handed them over without question.
“And two rooms, please,” he said. “Next to each other.”
“All taken for the festival tomorrow.” She passed us a plate of sliced fresh bread and dipping oil. “Only one room left.”
“We’ll take it.”
Alex passed me my mug and the room key.
Lower drinking age.I accepted my mug quick. That’s one point in this world’s favor.
I downed half of it before we made our way to a booth in the back, tucked away from the music and dancing. My mom was snatched by mythical monsters and I spent two years in a psychiatric hospital being told over and over again that I made it up because I couldn’t handle the truth of what I did to her.
Of course I drank.
“Mundanes can’t handle it.”
I paused midsip. “Excuse me?”
“The answer to your question. Why does no one in their world know that ours exists?” Alex reclined his chair, gazing at the dancers. Half his face was covered, but I could tell he was smiling. “Mundanes deal with enough unbeatable monsters of their own. They want nothing to do with ours.”
I nodded slowly, taking that in. Sexism, racism, classism, poverty, crime, sexual assault. We worry about enough things when we step out the door each morning. I couldn’t imagine if I also had to worry about three-headed dogs tearing me limb from limb on my way to school.
“But it’s for our safety too,” he continued. “So that we can live free and use our power in service of the gods, and not in service of mundanes’ constant bid for dominance and control.”
I opened my mouth to argue but stopped. My world had weapons and chemicals, and we cut bloody swatches through communities and nations to gain control. I could only weep thinking about the devastation that would reign if someone like Alex was captured by a maniac and forced to boil alive everyone that maniac wanted dead.
Kind of like how those monsters stole my mom to control me.I absentmindedly twirled the bracelet. Bad things happen when our worlds collide.
“How did we get here?” I helped myself to some bread. “How did all of this get here and when did we separate? I mean, we all know the stories of the Greek gods and their habit of hooking up with humans.”
“Hooking up?”
I laced my fingers together and smacked my palms over and over. Alex snorted, laughing.
“What the fuck is that?”
“Fucking is what that is.” I giggled too. “Greek gods liked humans a little too much.”
“Actually,” he said, leaning in. “That is how we got here. I’ll tell you the whole story right now, but no guarantee you’ll believe it.”
“I’ll believe just about anything today.”
“All right. Long ago,” he began, “the gods of Olympia ruled the heavens, hell, and everything above, below, and in between. But they were not like other gods, and you just said why.”
My brow rose. “Because they liked humans?”
“They were fascinated by humans,” he said softly. “The way they lived, worked, and died. How they loved, toiled, and strove for more. Instead of staying high above them on Mount Olympus, the gods couldn’t resist interacting with the mortals who shared their shape but not their power.
“The gods bestowed great gifts on the mortals they favored—from wealth and riches to children born of god and man. Entire cities flourished under their patron god’s indulgence, while the enemies of those people suffered under their god’s wrath,” he said.
“The Grecian people believed in the Olympians so fiercely and with such devotion, their faith became an unstoppable force that fed the gods and made them unstoppable in turn. With the gods on their side, the Greek empire stretched wide—conquering many civilizations. Then—”
“—louder! Louder, man!” One of the dancers clapped at the lout player—red-faced and happy on too much ale. “It’s a celebration. My boy’s off to fight for Olympia tomorrow.”
“Then the Roman empire claimed Greece and all in its path,” Alex continued, drawing my attention back. “But the Romans were wise, my friend. They may have changed their names, but still, they too, worshiped the gods of Olympus. They hoped in doing so that the gods would favor them too, granting them a vast kingdom and the power to defend it. And so they did. Everything was perfect until... it wasn’t.”
I leaned in closer and our noses almost bonked. The band heeded demands to play louder, and I didn’t want to miss a word. “What happened? Why wasn’t it perfect anymore?”
“Because, Aella. Zeus, Hera, Athena, and the gods granted the mortals a lot, but they asked for much more in return. Women bore Zeus’s children only to suffer terrible curses and messy, brutal deaths at Hera’s hands. The townspeople gave poor offerings in Poseidon’s temple one day, and the next, their home was washed off the map. Maybe they could’ve lived with all of that if it wasn’t for the monsters.”
“The monsters?”
Lips pressed tight, he nodded. “With the gods’ great capacity for blessings came their great capacity for evil. They birthed humans, fire, the seasons and drove the sun across the sky. They also birthed sirens, cerberi, harpies, and hydras,” he said. “One thing they all had in common—monsters hated the gods. Some used to be mortals who were cursed to become monsters. Some were gods or the children of gods that were banished from Mount Olympus. They weren’t worthy enough to sit on a throne beside Zeus and Hera.”
“Discrimination,” I muttered. “Exclusion. Pushed out and bullied because of how you look or who you are. Because you’re too different. It’s the same story in every world.”
Alex tipped his head, expression grave. “Yes, it is.”
“But how did it lead to our worlds separating and everyone on my side thinking gods and monsters are myths?”
“For one simple reason,” he replied. “Monsters hated the gods. They wanted to punish them. Make them suffer. But, of course, they couldn’t. What match were they against the most powerful beings in the universe? So instead, they went after the next best thing—their favorite pets: the humans.”
“They went after humans to hurt the gods? And that worked?”
“It worked too well, Aella.”
My cheeks warmed. I couldn’t help it. The way he said my name, combined with his nearness and strong ale—my defenses were coming down quickly.
“Endless attacks,” he said. “Constant battles with monsters. Legions lost. Families wiped out. Villages burned down. Innocents slaughtered. Children eaten.”
Did he just say eaten?!
“Humans. Regular, mundane humans were being hunted down and wiped out, and they had no defense. All because they were unfortunate enough to be forced into the middle of a fight that wasn’t theirs. They were at the end of their rope when whispers spread of the Christian god.”
He paused to eat some bread, leaving me hanging off the edge of my seat. “Mmm. This is good. Should I get us some more?” He rose up. “Matter of fact, I should order dinner. Is lamb okay? They do a great lamb and barley stew here.”
“Later!” I tugged him back down. “Keep going. What happened when word spread of the Christian god?”
“Oh, right. Okay, so at first, those in power did their duty to drive out this new god and all talk of him. They teach you that in your schools, right? What the Romans did to Christians?”
I whistled. “Oh, yeah. Tortured, burned alive, thrown to wild animals, and crucified. It was bad.”
“It was all too late. Here was a god who asked nothing of them but their faith. He wouldn’t strike them down for having no temple offerings. He wouldn’t seduce and then abandon them to the punishment of his jealous wife. He wouldn’t turn a blind eye while monsters of his own creation destroyed everything they built.
“Before the gods of Olympus knew it, their temples were torn down and churches were built in their place. Down came their statues and up went the cross. The humans were turning their back on them and soon the gods had no choice but war.”
“War with who? The humans? The monsters making their lives hell?”
“The Christian god.”
I could only stare at him. No, this part was not taught in my schools. “They went to war with God?”
“And they lost.”
I leaned back in my seat, mind blown.
“The Greek gods or the Roman gods,” Alex said. “The mortals stopped worshiping them under any name all throughout the world. And without their faith to sustain them, the gods grew weaker and weaker until they were nothing but pale copies of their former selves. I ask you, Aella, what is a god who has no one to believe in him?”
My fists balled. “The same as the rest of us,” I whispered. “Nothing.”
“That is exactly what they were becoming. Nothing. The gods faded from existence as they did from the hearts and minds of man, so in one last effort to save themselves and live to see the day Mount Olympus was restored, they reduced their forms down to their very essence and scattered into pieces.”
He waved his hand through the air—fingers spreading apart, then softly coming together. “Those pieces spread through the earth, finding the strong and worthy, and burrowed into their souls.” That hand lay over his chest. “Thus creating demigods.”
“Are you saying that’s what I have?” I looked around. “That’s what we all have? A piece of an actual god living in our souls.”
He nodded.
“But that’s...” Words failed me.
“Exactly,” Alex said, understanding what I couldn’t say. “Which brings me to why we had to create our own world. The demigods had great power, but they weren’t safe on their own. Monsters could sense the essence of the gods in the people and attacked them. If they succeeded in killing all the demigods, then the gods would die too. They’d be wiped from this world, and so would all they created. Leaving only the monsters to rule hell on earth. So, from all over the world, demigods came together and created Olympia. Where we can live together and protect each other.”
I frowned. “Hold on, but you said there’re monsters here. The ones that abducted my mom came from here. How did you create a world to protect yourself from all the monsters, if all the monsters live in your world—? Unless,” I said. “Are there not that many monsters? Are they weaker and dying too?”
“If only,” he said softly, eyes unfocused, staring off into the distance. “They are not weak or dying, Aella. And there are very, very many.”
“But then why?”
He made a noise in his throat. “Why didn’t we do the obvious thing? Create a grand, safe dominion, surround it with an impenetrable barrier, then leave all the monsters on the other side—making them the mundanes’ problem?”
“Oh. The very clear and heartless cruelty in that plan answers the question.” I took another slug from my drink.
“It wouldn’t have been that simple anyway. The monsters would’ve continued slaughtering the mundanes unchecked and all but wiped out the human race. That is what Olympia is all about. Demigods coming together to live, protect, and fight for one another. The legend says the gods bound to our souls so that they’d live on in our belief.
“One day, we’d grow strong enough to put the gods back on their throne and reclaim this world in the name of Olympus. Can’t do that if the human race is reduced from millions to the several thousand who live in Olympia. That’s not enough people to believe in them.”
I bobbed my head. I had no trouble believing Alex. Everything he was saying made more than a little sense. “But then that means the ultimate goal is for our worlds to be one again and for everyone—mundanes included—to believe in the Greek gods again and return them to Mount Olympus.”
“Yes.”
“The monsters have the same goal,” I continued, fitting the pieces together. “Kill the demigods, terrorize the mundanes, and make themselves the rulers of the hell left behind. They’ll become gods in place of the gods who rejected them.”
“Exactly.”
“And you think taking my mom and forcing me here is a part of all that? How could it be? I’m no one. Nothing,” I cried. “I don’t have power.”
“You do have power,” he said gently. “You just don’t know what it is yet. I don’t know either, Aella. Don’t know why they took your mom or what they want from you. But we’ll figure it out. Together.”
My gaze drifted down. “Alex, I’m going to ask you something, and your answer will determine whether I make you take me home right now.”
He sat up straight, eyes tightening around the corners. “Okay. What is it?”
“Where is the bathroom, and do you have indoor plumbing with proper toilets?”
Alex cracked up. “I like you. You’re hilarious.”
I refused to let him see what those three words did to me.
“Yes, we have indoor toilets. There’s one through there,” he said, pointing past my shoulder. “When you come back, dinner will be waiting.”
“And another mug of ale, please.”
“No problem.”
We stood up at the same time and went our separate ways. Ducking through a small door at the end of the hall, I closed myself in the bathroom and ripped off the bracelet.
“Who are you and what do you want from me?”
Amusement laced her reply. “Whatever do you mean, girl? You know what I want. To bring you to your mother.”
“Were you a part of the plot to take her in the first place?”
“A part of it? No. Of course not.”
My tension eased.
“I planned and executed the plot to steal your precious mommy. How dare you reduce me to a participatory role. Insolent girl.”
The bracelet slipped through numb fingers. I stared at it on the floor—unable to move. Unable to breathe.
“Don’t stand in your play horror and surprise. How else would I know where your mother is if I wasn’t the one who took her in the first place? All of those mundanes were wrong to call you crazy, but right to call you stupid.”
Rage burned my chest. “Bitch!” I stomped on the ugly thing and kicked it behind the toilet.
Laughter echoed in my ear. “Oooh, so there is some fire in you? Good. You’ll need it to face what’s ahead.”
“To face what? Where is my mom! What do you want with us?”
“Us? There is no us. Your mundane mommy is nothing to me. No more than a means to get you to do exactly what that boy said—spring my trap.”
My head spun. I tipped over, falling heavily against the door. “I don’t understand. Why take her, then? Why didn’t you just take me? Why didn’t you take both of us?”
“Tch.” Irritation crept in her tone. “I asked that question many times, but the prophecy and the person who uttered it was most insistent. Events must be acted out in the right way and right order if I’m to be successful.
“Your power is a tricky one. The goddess who bestowed it on you even trickier. It cannot be forced out of you. It cannot be controlled—even by you. And it cannot be predicted. You were no use to me until your power manifested, and also no use to me until you’ve learned how to wield it.
“Saving your mother will give you the proper motivation to do so, and after the two years of hell you’ve endured, you’re even more determined to do so.”
I balled shaking fists. “That’s why you took her? To—to—to motivate me?!”
“I’d sooner have nothing to do with either of you!” she snapped. “Fate has forced my hand as surely as it’s forced yours. Neither one of us has choices.”
“You don’t have a choice? You can definitely choose not to slaughter the human race so that monsters can rule hell on earth! I don’t give a shit about your the-gods-were-mean-to-me sob story!” Stress turned my pitch up high. “There’s no tragedy, or curse, or jealous goddess wife that makes the slaughter of a billion people worth it!”
“The gods were much more than mean to me, little girl.” Her voice dropped to an icy, chilling hiss. “They imprisoned me. They locked me in the cold and dark for an eternity despite me committing no crime. All because I was different. I didn’t fit their ideal of what a goddess should be, so I was thrown away.
“I do not want to slaughter the human race, my child. I have no quarrel with you humans—demigod or otherwise—so don’t you dare reduce my suffering to the pitiful whining of monsters. Monsters roam Olympia freely. They live, die, mate, and feast to their heart’s content while my only company for three thousand years has been these four walls! I pray to have their struggles!” She sucked in a deep breath. “No, girl. My wish is and has always been to be free. It is my right, as it is the right of all beings.
“That is what you will do for me. Free me, and I will free your mother. You both can return to your little apartment behind the flower shop as if none of this ever happened.”
My jaw worked. “These four walls?” I forced out. “Does that mean you’re not in the bracelet? You’re being kept somewhere else?”
“I am indeed, and you needn’t worry because fate will bring you right to my doorstep soon enough, and mastery of your power will pick the lock.
“That little trinket was created by a child of Hecate to ensure my voice reaches you and keeps you on the right path. Pick it up, girl.” A chill climbed my spine, scurrying away from the threat in her voice. “Your mother is teetering on the edge of sanity, and she’s lived my hell for merely two years. Imagine how determined I am after three thousand. Imagine what I’ll do to her if you don’t obey me absolutely.”
“Stop it,” I shrieked. “Stop threatening me, you asshole. I’ll do it! I’ll do what you want. Just leave my mom alone.”
“Put on the bracelet.”
Jaw clenched tight, I put on the bracelet.
“Good. Now put on a smile, return to the Damien boy, and tell him nothing about me or what I’ve told you. No one is to know about me, and don’t think I don’t have the means to carry out a threat if you test me. My friend of Hecate spelled these bracelets invisible. All of my allies wear them, but you’ll never know if one is nearby to carry out my will. Or my punishment.”
Bile burned my throat. “I told you to stop threatening me. I won’t tell anyone about you. The last thing I need is to be locked in another asylum for running around saying I talk to invisible bracelets.”
Selene chuckled. “Glad we understand each other.”
“You’re forgetting one thing.” I stomped to the sink and splashed cold water on my face. It did nothing to soothe me. “I don’t have any fucking power. Certainly not one that picks the locks on the prisons of evil bitches.”
“I am a goddess, girl. Every woman who fights for what she wants will be called a bitch at some point. Mortal or goddess. If she isn’t, she’s doing something wrong.”
“Ugly, saggy-tit, flabby-bottom, hated-by-everyone, trapped-in-a-hole-and-needs-a-stupid-girl-to-get-her-out bitch.”
“Silence!” That pissed her off. “You will keep a civil tongue when you address me, or I’ll have it cut out.”
“You can do that, but you still haven’t told me how I’m supposed to free you with no power.”
“Enough. You’ve been telling yourself they’re wrong for two years, so why listen to them now? You’re not crazy, Aella Vanda. You see things for what they are. You know exactly what happened this morning.”
My hands shook, gripping the sink.
“But you are right to deny it, for no one but you and I can know your power or the goddess who gave it to you. You are rare, child. You have a gift that the strongest and most powerful in this and every dominion will covet, and if they find out what you can do, they’ll throw you in a hole that’s deeper and darker than mine.”
“You mean if they find out...” I raised my head to the ornate mirror above the sink. My reflection once again clutched her nose. “That I can go back in time.”
“She’s not so stupid after all.”
I forced myself to use the bathroom, then rejoin Alexander for dinner. There wasn’t much more to say. Selene made herself clear enough. I didn’t know how the ability to go back in time would free her from her prison, but I suspected there was quite a lot that could be done with that ability.
Like save my life.
It was a long fall down those stairs. There was never a chance of me getting up again when I hit the bottom, but then of course I never did.
“—sulking in the corner with your face covered.”
My head snapped up.
“If you’ve got nothing to hide, show yourself.” The guy in Alex’s face shoved him. “Tell us how old you are, boy.”
“Back off.” His eyes were two lily pads floating on a milky lake, and right then, that lake was on fire. “We don’t want any trouble. We’re here to enjoy the festival. Same as everyone.”
“Enjoy the festival, is it?” Red nose, paunchy belly, and scraggly gray hair. It was the same man who was cheering the band on, urging them to play louder. Up close, he looked to be pushing the far end of his fifties. “My boy’s off to fight for Olympia while you’re here enjoying yourself.”
The guy said enjoying like most people said shitting on the rug.
“Scum-sucking deserter!” The man seized Alex’s collar, hauling him to his feet.
The music ended with a jarring, screechy note. Everyone in the bar spun on them.
“I should lop your head off myself!”
“Hey!” I ran at them, grabbing the guy’s arm. “Leave him alone. Let him go!”
“Watch yourself, girl, or you’re going the same way as him.”
He shoved me off. My feet tangled and I fell, dropping hard on my hip.
It happened so fast, I missed it. Wincing, I looked up and Alex’s sword was unsheathed. He dug the blade under his chin, tipping it to the ceiling.
“You hurt my friend.” Alex’s tone plunged the muggy room into a frozen tundra. “Apologize. Now.”
“I ain’t apologizing to no deserting scum.” Spittle flew as thick as the sweat soaking his brow. “We get you filthy, cowardly types here every year. Using the festival cover while you stock up on supplies, then escape through the forest. Not this time! Not when my boy is—”
Alex lowered his scarf. The man choked on his words like he swallowed his tongue.
“Apologize,” Alex gritted. “I won’t say it again.”
“I’m sorry,” he cried before Alex finished the sentence. “My deepest apologies, ma’am. I didn’t mean to push you.” I blinked as he fell on me, helping me up and dusting me off. “Forgive me for giving a bad impression of our friendly little town.” He smiled wide in my face. “You’re most welcome here. Please, let me pay for your meal.”
“It’s the least you can do,” Alex replied, putting away his sword. “But no. You’re here to celebrate your son, and we celebrate with you. Your meal and drinks are on me. All night. Same goes for everyone,” he called.
“Yeah!” Claps and cheers diffused the tension.
The man bowed and scraped and apologized his way back to his table. I watched him go, feeling more confused than I ever have in my life.
“What the heck just happened?” I sat down to a plate of lettuce and fennel salad, lentil soup, and chicken with spiced chickpeas. “One minute, he was in your face, and the next, he was licking your boots.”
“It’s nothing.” Alex passed me another mug of ale. “He thought I was deserting and got carried away. Now he knows I’m not.”
“Deserting? Deserting what? Isn’t that something only soldiers do?”
The corner of his mouth curved up. “It’s also something Deucalion Academy novices do. Attendance is mandatory and Olympians take that... very seriously.”
“What’s Deucalion Academy?”
“It’s where young demigods train for the army.”
“Oh.” I started digging in, unable to resist the smell. Everything that touched my lips tasted delicious. “An army to fight the monsters?”
He nodded. “It’s a never-ending battle. They can’t be wiped out and they breed out of control. Some of them even reproduce asexually. Imagine a twelve-foot-tall beast with three rows of teeth, razor-sharp claws, and the ability to make more of itself at will.”
I shuddered. “I don’t want to imagine that.”
“It’s why we need the army. They fight so that we can do this,” he said, gazing around. “Laugh, dance, celebrate, drink. But still, it’s a heavy duty and some run from it. I’m only sorry I had to reveal myself to prove we weren’t one of them.”
I didn’t understand the expression on his face or the tight grip on his fork.
“I really wanted us to have time to talk and plan. There’s still so much I need to tell you about this world.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” I laid my hand over his fist unthinkingly. “We do have time. I’m not going anywhere. You’re not going anywhere. We have all the time we need.”
I meant that because I trusted Alex. Selene wouldn’t have threatened me to not tell him about her if he was one of her minions. She brought us together because she wanted to use him like she was using me, but if we figured out the trap, we’d destroy it and free my mom without ever springing it.
“Tell me something good,” I burst out. “Something fun and wonderful about Olympia.”
His smile came back. “All right, but only if you tell me something fun and wonderful about the mundane world.”
“Ooh, here’s a fun fact. We don’t like being called mundanes.”
Alex barked a laugh. “You’re a we with me now, Aella.”
My mug reflected my reddening face. He didn’t say it suggestively, but that’s how I was taking it. And I was taking it hard.
“That’s fair,” he continued. “But we can’t call them the humans because we’re human too.”
“Hmm. How about... mortals? My mom is a mortal, and she’s the least mundane, dull, boring, humdrum person you’ve ever met.”
“Then I can’t wait to meet your mom.”
My grin melted away. “I wish you didn’t have to wait.”
“Hey, hey,” he whispered. “No frowns. We’re talking about wonderful things right now, like how wonderful it will be when we get her back.”
I more than liked Alex in that moment because he said it like there wasn’t a doubt in his mind.
“My turn,” he continued. “Something fun and wonderful about Olympia. There’s this place called Paradise Isles where the waterfalls flow up.”
“What? No. That’s impossible.”
“It is impossible. Even in Olympia, it’s impossible, but they do, and it’s amazing, Aella.” Excitement made him lean in. “Sunlight reflects through the droplets, so the sky is filled with—
“Rainbows,” we said at the same time and laughed.
“One day, I’ll take you there,” Alex said.
“No, you couldn’t.” I ducked my head. “I bet that’s like a dating or honeymoon spot. Your girlfriend wouldn’t like it if you took me.”
He chuckled. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“No?” I was suddenly very interested in a portrait on the wall. I had no idea about Olympia’s historical figures, so who knew if the bearded man in the toga was important. “That’s hard to believe. Guys like you are snapped up quick. I mean, I bet every woman in a hundred-mile radius would forget about monogamy if it meant they’d get a piece of you.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, cracking up.
Who the hell knew what I was talking about. I had graduated from embarrassing blushing to even more embarrassing rambling. This is what happens when you spend your prime teenage dating years separated from boys by a locked ward. What I wouldn’t give to have that alarmed door between us now.
“I don’t get much time for girlfriends in between training, training, and more training,” Alex said. “Plus, with who my dad is...” He shook his head. “I never know if someone is getting close to me because they want to be with me or because they want to get to my dad through me. Want to know the most amazing thing about you, Aella?”
“What—? Me? No— I—” I snapped my mouth shut on my runaway tongue.
“It’s that you don’t have a clue who I am.” He softened, looking down at our still-touching hands. “I don’t have to wonder with you. Your blushes and smiles really are just for me.”
If someone held a match to my face, it would’ve caught fire and brought the whole inn burning down around our feet. Was this an Olympian thing? Were all the guys here so direct?
“Come on.” Alex was suddenly on his feet. “Dance with me.”
“Dance? But I don’t know this music or how to dance to it.”
“What’s to know?” He tugged me up. “All you got to do is stick and move. Never let your feet land in the same place, and keep your hands above your head.”
“None of that sounds right.”
He winked. “I’ll show you.”
With that, Alex took off like a shot—jumping in the middle of the dance floor. My jaw dropped as he let loose. Stomping, jumping, clapping, and whooping, Alex wasn’t afraid of monsters, sparking cell phones, girls who jump on his head, or public humiliation.
He cleared the dance floor with his hooting and flailing around, and I screamed with laughter.
“Get over here,” he cried, holding out his arms. “Time you learned to dance like an Olympian.”
“You mean an Alexandrian because all the Olympians don’t know what you’re doing!” The shared glances and hanging mouths backed me up.
“Whichever one it is”—he spun in the air and landed on his toes, thrusting his arms in the air—“you still have to dance with me.”
“Yeah,” the harp player called. “Dance with the man.” He nodded at his friends, who quickly picked up their instruments. “Everyone! It’s a celebration.”
I couldn’t resist any longer. Laughing, I took Alex’s hands and we spun—twisting and spinning on the dance floor, the world blurring in a riot of jaunty music, sweet ale, laughter, and dance. I didn’t need to ask myself the last time I danced, partied, laughed, or gazed into the eyes of a cute boy who was smiling back. I already knew it was exactly two years before that day.
Alex was wild and fearless. He shook, wiggled, and twisted like he was being electrocuted, making me laugh so hard I nearly wet myself. Trying to copy him only made me laugh harder.
Any lingering tension or odd glances from the tavern-goers disappeared. Everyone was up and out of their seats—dancing, drinking, clapping, and partying like we were getting ready for the end-of-the-world festival, and this was our last time of fun.
The energy was electric. Pressure I couldn’t describe filled my chest. An emotion I didn’t remember tickled the back of my throat as I held Alex’s hands, laughing while we dove to and back from each other.
Fun. I was having fun, and I felt... happy.
Another jump and I tripped, pitching into Alex. He spun and caught me just before I hit the floor—his arms circling my waist and cupping my neck. My breath hitched when he bent over me, holding me to his chest.
I swam in his eyes, losing myself in crashing sea-foam waves, sky-rending lightning, and a chariot racing across the heavens—towing the sun. Why did the godly spark in his soul scare me before? There was nothing scary about Alexander Damien. With him, I’d never felt safer.
I couldn’t say who dipped or rose first. I only knew as the embers of heavenly fire faded, there was only Alex... and the soft press of his lips against mine.
“Whoo!”
A hard body slammed into us, throwing Alex and me off our feet. We collapsed in a tangle of limbs.
“Savvas, you idiot!” The weight keeping us both down vanished. “Sorry, Kiri Damien.” Two young men helped us up and brushed us off. “He’s a drunk fool. We’ll take care of him, kiri.” I blinked at how much bowing and scraping they were doing to Alex. “Please, it won’t happen again.”
He held up a hand. “It’s fine. Just get some food and water in him.” Alex turned to me. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I should’ve been paying attention.”
I bit my lip. You were paying attention to the girl you were kissing. That’s exactly where your attention should’ve been.
“I’m—” A wild thought crossed my mind, then left my lips. “I’m a bit tired. So much has happened today. Is it okay if we go up to the room?”
“Of course.” Alex placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me past the bar, away from the party.
My skin burned through my jacket, alive at the barest feel of his touch. I had no idea what I planned to do when we got upstairs, but we had one interrupted kiss and a room to ourselves—seemed like that was a good place to start.
We topped the stairs, entering a short, narrow hallway. Alexander led me to the room at the end and opened the door. He cleared his throat as I stepped in and he didn’t.
“Good night, Aella. See you in the morning.”
“Good night? What are you talking about? Where are you going?”
“There was only one room left, so I can’t— I didn’t want to presume— We just met—”
A tiny smile curled my lips. Reddening face. Tripping over his words. This was the first I’d seen the cool and confident Alex look nervous.
“It’s better that I pitch up outside in my tent, and let you have the room.”
“Are you kidding? It’s freezing outside. I’m not making you sleep out in the dirt and snow.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his feet. “I can sleep in the stables with my horse if it gets too bad.”
“Will you stop it?” I laughed. “You’re not sleeping on manure either. We’ve got a perfectly good room. We’ll share.”
“Are you sure?”
“Very sure.”
We stepped inside and shut the door. My very sure hung in the air as we glanced around, looking everywhere but at each other.
The room was modest but cozy. A small fireplace was already lit, spreading warmth over the plush rug, armchair, small table, and the bed pushed against the far wall. I swear the bed was as big as my queen bed at home behind the flower shop, but it might as well have been empress-sized with how big it loomed between us—taunting us to get in together.
“I’ll take the floor,” Alex said, answering her challenge. “I’ll be comfortable on the rug.”
“Okay.” I moved toward the bed, then sharply veered off, sitting down on the armchair instead. “I just remembered I don’t have a toothbrush or change of clothes or anything. I can’t wear your coat forever.”
“You can wear my coat for as long as you like.”
I hid my face behind my sleeve. Again, he didn’t say anything flirty or sexual, but his deep, smooth voice made every word exactly that.
“I have extra supplies in my pack. Clean clothes.” He picked it up from the corner and passed it to me. “Please, take anything you need. In the morning, we’ll go down to the market.”
“Where will we go after?” I flicked down to the bracelet. “Where do we start to look for my mom?”
“That’s tough, Aella,” he said, kneeling down beside me. “An echidna is the worst kind of monster. They give birth to other monsters. The cerberus that she brought to attack you both that night was most likely her offspring.”
My eyes bugged. “A half-snake, half-woman beast gave birth to a three-headed dog? How!” I grimaced. “Who, or what, is that dog’s father?”
“A typhon,” he said easily. “They’re demigods and giants with snakes for legs, many heads—some human, some not—and the ability to spit fire.”
I didn’t have words.
“I’m telling you this because monsters prefer to live and fight with their own species, but that doesn’t apply to their mother—”
“—and that echidna could be the mother of any monster we meet.”
He nodded. “If your mom had been taken by a gorgon, then the first place we’d look would be the Argus Mountains. There’s a web of caves underneath it where gorgons nest. But with an echidna, she’ll have allies everywhere. Helping to hide her and cover her tracks.”
“Then what do we do?”
“I’ve been thinking about that all day,” he replied. “As it happens, my eighteenth birthday was three days ago.”
“Really? Wow,” I said, clapping. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” He said that, but he gently took my hands, ceasing my clapping. “Now that it’s past, there’s somewhere I have to go. There’ll be people there who can help. That can tell me how to track an echidna and maybe even track her down themselves.”
“That’s perfect. I’ll go with y—”
“No.”
I blinked at his tone. “What do you mean no? Why not?”
“Because you can’t hide there, Aella. Walking around Olympia, you’re just another demigod. No one has a reason to look deeper than your eyes. But in that place, they’ll figure out that you know nothing about our world, and they’ll make you tell them why.”
I wondered if he meant to freak me out with that phrasing because it worked.
“Once they discover you were born in the mortal world, it’ll be reported to the council. And that...” He shook his head. “That would be bad, Aella. The last thing we want is the council getting involved.”
“Why?”
He didn’t reply.
“Alex, you can’t just say something like that and not explain why. What would happen if the council got involved?”
Alex looked away, muscle ticcing in his jaw. “Whatever the monsters want from you won’t be good for Olympia. Unfortunately, the council members favor the easiest and simplest solution in the war against the monsters and the simplest way to stop their plot to use you... is to put you to death.”
I shot to my feet. “What did you say!”
“Or imprison you for life,” he added quickly.
“Like that’s any better! Why the fuck would they kill me? That’s insane. Who even are these council people?”
“They rule Olympia.” Alex rose up to face me. “They make and carry out the laws. Their will is absolute.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong. They can’t lock me away because monsters are trying to use me to get their way. I didn’t even know about any of this before today!”
“Aella, no one is going to lock you away.” Alex grasped my shoulders. “I only told you this so you’d understand why we’ll have to split up for a while. You can’t come with me, but I’ll make sure you’re safe while I’m gone. My mother’s family is from Miliadis. It’s one of the smaller cities, but it’s nice. Safe. Well-guarded,” he said. “I’ll tell them you’re a friend who has to relocate because your town was overrun by monsters.
“You’ll love their estate, I promise. They’ll treat you like family, they won’t ask too many questions, and they’d never turn you in to the council.”
“Okay,” I breathed, shaking my head. “Yeah, that sounds okay. How long will you be gone?”
“A while, but I’ll see you as often as I can. I’ll make the excuse that I’m visiting family when I’m really visiting you.”
I ducked my head, chewing my lip again. “You’re doing so much for me. You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.” He curled his finger under my chin, gently lifting me up. “My... My mom is gone too, except I can’t get her back. I know what you’re feeling, Aella. The helplessness. The hopelessness.”
My chin trembled.
“I can’t do anything about mine, but I can get rid of yours. Because it’s past fucking time someone came through for you.”
“Y-y—” I cleared my throat, forcibly rubbing away tears. “You’re a really great guy, Alex. Is it okay for me to say that I wish you didn’t have to go? I don’t want us to be apart... even for a little while... ever.” I flushed with each confession.
He tossed his head, raven locks falling over hooded eyes. “Is it okay for me to say that I’ve worked, waited, and trained harder than anyone has to go to the academy? I’ve wanted nothing but for four years... until today. I hate that I have to go because you won’t be there.”
“It’s definitely okay to say that,” I whispered.
Any mood that was lost by our talk of many-headed monsters and homicidal councils came back with a vengeance. I was suddenly highly aware of the fact that it was just the two of us—alone.
“I’ll go first,” I blurted. “Shower. Take a shower first. Then you can go in—when I’m done! Go in the shower when I’m done, if you want to. You may not want to... shower... I’m sorry. I’ll shut up.”
Alex cracked a grin. “The shower’s all yours. I’ll run out and check on my horse in the meantime. She’s particular and has been known to stomp on a foot and break bones if she doesn’t get the right kind of apple on time. I might as well pay my bribes and give apologies now.”
His joke returned the light mood and covered for my silly babbling.
I wouldn’t lie. Alex leaving the room made it ten times easier for me to strip on the other side of the bathroom wall. Having him so close would’ve made my clammy hands slip and slide off my buttons.
Alex let me borrow a spare, clean toothbrush, a comb, soap, and one of his tunics to wear to sleep. I stood in front of the mirror after my bath, twisting, lifting my arms up and down, and checking myself out in the old-timey clothes.
I wasn’t going for a particular look. Despite getting us both in the same room together, I didn’t have expectations. My last roommate had to be strapped to her bed every night because she knew the best time to get stabby was when my eyes were closed. I wasn’t looking to lose my virginity to my next roommate after knowing him less than a day.
But still, it’s Alex...
I felt drawn to him in the strangest and realest way. I just wanted to be close to him for the short time we had before we were apart.
Taking a deep breath, I combed my hair and brushed my teeth again, then I patted some color on my cheeks and brushed my teeth one more time. I was alone with the hottest guy I’d ever seen, and the way he looked at me made my heart pop out of my chest like a cartoon. At the very least, I planned to leave the room the next morning with sore, puffy lips.
Padding out, Alex knelt on the floor with his back to me, making a bed out of pillows and blankets on the hearth rug. Seemed the clean tunic he gave me was his last because he wore none, gifting me an in-his-glory look at the lean, muscled bare back, ripped shoulders, and the tiny line poking above his waistline that dragged my gaze down his—
“Oh, hey, Aella. You finished?”
“Yep.” I snapped to his face, praying he didn’t catch me staring. “All yours.”
“Thanks.”
Alex ducked into the bathroom and took his shower. When he came out, his floor bed was taken apart and all the pillows and blankets put back where they belonged. He dried his hair with a towel, flicking droplets that ran clinging down his glistening, bronze chest like happy sluts.
Alex took one look at the bare rug and chuckled. “Did you decide to put me out in the manure after all?”
“No.” I patted the mattress. “It’s one night and we’re adults. We can handle sharing a bed.”
He bit his lip, those hooded eyes darkening. “Are we sharing a bed or sharing a bed?”
My heart thumped so loud it roared in my ear. “You’re a super direct guy, aren’t you? If you see a bush, you’re beating through that thing, not around it.”
Alex laughed. Closing the distance, the bed dipped with his weight. “Sorry. I am direct. So direct, I’ll tell you right now that I’d very much like to do both of those things with you and all the things in between.”
I was supposed to call on the Greek gods now to save me, so let one of them hear my cry because I was about to crumble into smoking dust and blow away.
“But I never want to take advantage. It’s important to do these things right.” His fingertips slid across the bed and brushed mine. “Don’t you agree?”
“I do,” I said softly. “Do you think we should go slower?”
“No, we can go fast. We can go warp speed if you like.”
I giggled.
“But there’s something you need to know about demigods and sex. We’re fertile,” he dropped.
“Excuse me?”
“Babies. We pop those out like rabbits. It’s the god’s essence in our souls.” He tapped his chest. “The more demigods there are, the stronger they become. The bigger our population, the easier that is. It’s rare to come across an only child like me and you.”
I had no clue what to say.
“We do have contraceptive potions, of course, but, uh, I don’t have one on me.” He flicked to his pack. “I wasn’t expecting when I crossed to the mortal world... that there’d be you.”
My toes curled on the sheets, riding the goose bumps that rippled down my body. I liked the regret in his voice as much as I loved the longing.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and man did he sound it. “I’m sure mortals have means of preventing pregnancy too, but it won’t work. Not for us. I wanted you to know so that you can decide what we do next.”
I slid my hand closer, lacing our fingers together. “Thank you, Alex. I appreciate you telling me. It’s one of the reasons I feel safe with you. You’re honest with me. I haven’t had that in a while.” I lay down and he did too, stretching out next to me. “Seems like there’s a lot I still need to learn about this world and about myself. I want to do this right too, so if it’s okay...”
“It’s more than okay, Aella.”
We gazed at each other across the pillow—nose brushes and the minty sweetness of our soft pants mingling in the scant distance between us.
Alex pressed our clasped hands to his heart. “Are there things you still want to learn about me too?”
“Everything.”
He grinned in time with me. “That’s good because I want to learn everything about you too. Like why carry around those dangerous dell cones?”
“That is the cutest mispronunciation of cell phones ever, and just so you know, they usually don’t bite.”
“Want to know who does bite? Nymphs. Normally, they like men, but this tree nymph, in particular, didn’t take too well to me turning her down.” He lifted his arm, flashing an angry-looking bite mark on his bicep. “Took five guards to get her off me. She bit all of them too.”
“Oh my gosh,” I cried. “Why does it look like it’s still healing?”
“Because it happened three days ago.”
“A horny tree nymph took a bite out of you on your birthday?” Giggles leaked through my lips. “You have to be kidding.”
“I wish I was. Apparently she’d been waiting for me to come of age. She thought I was waiting for her too.”
I lost it. “An obsessive, violent tree nymph is pretty bad, but it doesn’t beat my birthday monster story. I win for worst birthday of all.”
“Whoa, hold on. You still haven’t heard about my fifth birthday when monsters attacked the city, and I discovered my power for the first time by exploding a Nemean lion... all over me. I cried, and peed myself, and cried some more.”
“Oh no, poor baby,” I cried, clapping my hand over my mouth. “What is with them and birthdays?”
“It’s vindictive, right? I mean, they don’t have to hate us that much. Let us have one day off.”
“All right, tell me about your best birthday now. I bet I’ll have you beat for that too.”
“Oooh, so it’s a challenge you’re after,” he crowed. “How about this? When I was seven, I...”
We talked, laughed, and traded stories all night. I wanted to kiss him so many times but didn’t, not trusting myself to keep control when his lips were on mine. But even though it wasn’t sex, what we shared was just as intimate.
After months of being dismissed, lied to, ignored, and called crazy, I pretty much stopped talking to everyone about anything real. My mandated therapy sessions were spent with me doodling in my dream journal and tuning out another person telling me I was delusional—albeit in a calm, nonjudgmental voice.
Laughing, joking, and talking with a cute guy who didn’t question my sanity was normal. I missed that more than almost anything else. Normal.
I didn’t know what time it was when we finally passed out in an exhausted sleep—throats hoarse and cheeks aching. The next thing I was aware of was the sunlight streaming through the tiny, frosted window above the bed—casting its glow on our tangled feet.
Sitting up, I gazed down at Alex. It should’ve been illegal for a guy who was already sinfully gorgeous to look even more heart-stopping with tousled bed hair and pillow lines on his cheek. It made me want to smooth them away, so I did.
Alex’s eyes fluttered open. He smiled.
“Morning,” I said softly.
“Morn—”
Bang!
I screamed as the door flew open, letting in a stream of uniformed, armored people. “What the hell is going on!”
“Quiet,” a tall, long-haired man with a square, scarred jaw and fixed sneer snapped at me. “We’re here on order of the council.”
Panic seized me. The council had come for me already? How did they know? If they locked me up, what would Selene do to get me out? What would happen to my mom if she didn’t?
“Please, don’t—”
“Master Damien, sir.” The no-nonsense man bowed low... to Alex. All six of the soldiers with him followed. “If you’d accompany us, sir, it is our honor to escort you to the palace.”
Master? Palace?
“What is the meaning of this?” Alex’s expression made pissed seem too small a word. “I’m of age now, Callan. I don’t need or want minders!”
“Yes, sir,” Callan replied. “Your father was simply worried when you didn’t return after your mission yesterday morning. Mundanes are a brutal race and we feared the worst. When word came back that you were spotted in Pergamon, we felt duty bound to follow up. If we’d known you were spending the night with a companion...”
The man said companion like most people say rotten banana peel.
“...there’d have been no need for alarm.”
“There was no need for alarm either way,” Alex gritted. “Your job description isn’t to stalk me any more than it is to follow up on who I spend the night with.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is out of fucking line, Callan. I was expressly clear that the bodyguards and monitoring my movements stops as of four days ago.”
Callan was the picture of deference. “Yes, sir. Understood, sir.”
“As you can see, I’m fine, so all of you, get back on your horses and return to Trono.”
“I’m afraid not, Master Damien,” Callan told the bedpost. “Your father was most insistent that we escort you back immediately. He has something to discuss with you before you leave for Deucalion tonight.”
“I’m not leaving tonight. I have three more days before I’m to report in. I’m taking that time to visit my mother’s family.”
“Yes, sir.”
“When I’ve finished my business in Miliadis, I’ll stop in to see my father before reporting in to Deucalion. On time.”
“Yes, sir.”
No one moved.
“I won’t be needing an escort,” Alex forced through clenched teeth. “You can all go. Now.”
“Impossible, sir.” Callan raised his head, looking Alex in the eye. “Your father was most insistent.”
I ping-ponged between them, eyes huge. Who the heck was Alex’s father? Of course we talked about our families the night before, but all Alex said of the guy was that he was a strict, military man who never had much time for him growing up. Seemed like a sensitive subject, so I didn’t press further.
Alex glanced at me, warring emotions on his face.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll go, but you, you, you, and you.” Alex picked three women and one guy out of the pack. “You’re to escort Miss Vanda to my aunt Sara’s estate. I’ll write a letter explaining everything. Make sure it’s put directly in Aunt Sara’s hands.”
I tried not to shrink at the assessing looks all seven of them gave me. I didn’t need a mind-reading power to know they were all wondering why his companion for the night needed to drop in on his aunt.
“Of course, Master Damien,” Callan said, straightening. “We’ll see her safely to Miliadis.”
Alex hardened, bearing down on them. “Let me be clear. You’re not to question her, talk to her, or stare at her too long. You’ve all already forgotten that she exists. You won’t even remember why you went to Miliadis. Understood?”
“They understand, Master Damien,” Callan replied.
I wondered if Callan’s subordinates weren’t the chatty type or, even more interesting, if they weren’t allowed to address Alexander directly.
Who is this guy?
Callan stepped to the side, holding out his hand. “After you, sir.”
“No, after you. You can wait outside the inn while we get dressed, eat, and I ready my horse.”
Callan’s brows rose—his only sign of emotion. “As you wish, sir, but I should mention that your father isn’t waiting for you in Trono. He’s outside.”
I twisted to the window and got an eyeful of the back alley. Nothing to see there.
“It’d be our pleasure to wait until you’re ready, sir,” Callan continued, “but your father may not be so patient. I’d expect he’d want to come inside and”—he slid a look to me—“see what’s causing the delay.”
The pregnant silence birthed a litter of awkward silences while Alex and Callan stared each other down.
“Very well,” Alex said, voice tight. “I’ll come with you now. Goodbye, Aella.”
“B-bye.” I barely got the word out before he snatched up his things and stormed out—bare-chested, barefoot, and all.
Who was his father that he’d send his half-naked son out of the room with his very presence?
I’m not asking these people.I shrank at the unfriendly glares coming my way. I had no idea what I did wrong, but they were looking at me like I did it all over the floor.
“What do we do with her, sir?” one woman asked. “We don’t have time to play tumbler’s nursemaid. If she has to get to Miliadis, she can take herself.”
“Now, now.” Callan’s voice lost all deference. “Master Damien is known to keep his word, and we won’t be seen to do less in his name. We do as we’re told.
“You, girl,” he barked, making me jump. “What’s your name?”
I resisted the urge to say they weren’t allowed to question me. Refusing to tell them my name made me seem suspicious. Besides, that alone shouldn’t tip them off that I knew nothing about Olympia.
“Aella Vanda.”
“Get dressed, Aella Vanda. It’s a two-week ride to Miliadis, and we don’t have an extra mount or supplies for you. I suggest you do something about that, or you’ll be walking behind our horses and sleeping on the ground.”
“But I don’t have any money,” I blurted. “And I’ve never ridden a horse. How am I supposed to get any of that?”
“You’ve mistaken me for someone who cares about your troubles. Get dressed and be outside in four minutes.”
“Yes, sir,” I muttered, getting up.
I picked Alex’s coat off my school uniform. We hadn’t gotten a chance to buy me new clothes, and this group didn’t look interested in a shopping spree. Would I have to wear the same hideous brown outfit every day for two weeks?
“What is this?”
A hand blurred across my vision and snatched my blazer. My tongue nearly hid down my throat as Callan read my patch aloud.
“Haris Day School. Where is this Haris Day School?” he asked. “I’ve never heard of such an institution.”
I thought fast. “It’s in Miliadis. That’s why Alex was joining me. We were going to the same place.”
“Uh, no it’s not.” A short, freckled man with brown and blond curls poked his head out. “There’s no Harisday School in Miliadis.”
Callan turned back to me. I didn’t like his darkening expression or Alex’s warning ringing in my ear. I couldn’t give anyone a reason to look deeper than my eyes.
“This is not good,” Selene hissed, making me jump. “The boy is quite right that you must stay out of the council’s grip. Once they have hold of you, they’ll squeeze.”
“How would you know?” I snapped at Freckles. “Got a map of the place in your pocket? I think I know where I went to school.”
“I’m from Miliadis,” Freckles replied. “Born and raised. There are four peasant schools. Harisday isn’t one of them.”
“You clearly haven’t been back in a while. Haris Day is new.”
“Uh, well, it has been a few months,” he confessed, “but I’m sure I would’ve heard if there were plans to build another one.”
“Would you? From who? The mother you clearly haven’t spoken to or visited in months? Shame on you,” I said, making him reel back. “She’s probably worried sick. You stop in and see her the minute we arrive.”
He snapped upright. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t call her ma’am,” Callan barked.
“Yes, sir.” I don’t think Freckles had ever been more frazzled.
Callan stepped between me and my victim, his piercing blue eyes stripping me bare. “Where in Miliadis are you from, girl?”
“I didn’t say I was from there.” I lifted my chin, holding his gaze. “I said I go to school there.”
“So you did. Meaning if I ask Stella, daughter of Hermes”—he pointed to one of the women—“to send word to Haris Day’s headmaster that we’ve found one of their truants scrounging for the coin to get home in a tavern bedroom.”
I flushed hot.
“He’ll be most relieved to hear the news you’re returning, yes?”
“There’s no need to disturb the headmistress,” I gritted. “She’s a busy woman.”
“Who are you?”
“You’re not allowed to question me.”
His eyes flashed. That was the wrong thing to say. “I have the right to question any suspicious person who dared to attach themselves to Master Damien in an attempt to manipulate their way into his mother’s sister’s home.” He snapped around, marching off. “Get her ready. We’re taking her to Trono City. We’ll see what the council makes of her.”
No. No, no, no!
“Tell him how old you are,” Selene shouted in my ear. “Do it now!”
“Eighteen,” I cried. Callan stopped in his tracks. “I’m eighteen. My birthday was yesterday.”
“Ahh.” Callan faced me. I didn’t understand the smirk on his lips. “The clouds begin to clear. You’re nothing but an attempted deserter who thought she could seduce Master Damien and use him to make your escape. Such a thing will never happen as long as I draw breath.”
I threw up my hands. “What you think is happening is most definitely not happening.”
“Silence. You will be taken directly to Deucalion Academy to report in, as is your duty. And be thankful this clumsy plan did not work. Only shame, lies, and cowardice awaited you in Miliadis. Your future lies in the academy and with the Olympian army—serving and defending this great land.”
“Army? Did you just say army? You’re taking me to report for military service?”
Callan swept out of the room.
“Hey? Hey!” I ran after him and crashed into a hard wall of bodies. Stella shoved me back hard. “You can’t do this. You can’t force me to join an army. Come back here. Come back! Let me go!”
“Cease your prattling, girl. Attending Deucalion Academy is mandatory for all Olympians once they turn eighteen. Your alternative is ten years hard labor for the crime of desertion.”
My knees gave out, dumping me on the bed. “Hard labor? But what about my mom? What do I do?”
“Oh, didn’t I say?” Selene’s voice was light. “Your mother is at Deucalion Academy, and so am I. Rejoice, for after two years, you will finally be near your mother again, and I... will be free.”