44. ZARA
ZARA
Please don’t be Tuesday there, please don’t be Tuesday there, I chanted like a prayer as I stepped into the rainbow tunnel the stone had created when I’d clutched it in my fist and thought of Zeus. The last thing I wanted was to appear in the middle of an orgy.
I stumbled and lost my balance as I stepped out at the other end, landing on my knees as the tunnel closed behind me. Ouch. Way to go, Zara. A pair of soft leather boots appeared in my line of vision, and I slowly raised my eyes to see who I’d landed in front of.
“Well isn’t that a lovely sight. I can’t say I haven’t pictured this in my mind a time or two.” Bright blue eyes sparkling with mirth met my own and I felt my cheeks heat as I realised my face was level with Dionysus’ groin. Oh well, it could have been worse. At least he wasn’t naked.
“Here, let me help you up, little lark.” He gripped my waist to steady me as I scrambled hastily to my feet.
“Put her down, boy, that one’s not for you.” Zeus’s amused baritone boomed through the room and Dionysus let me go with a wink and a murmured ‘too bad’. “Leave us.”
Dionysus disappeared with a respectful nod and Zeus turned his attention to me.
“So, you decided to accept my invitation at last.” He held his open palm out in front of him, where the little black stone was now nestled, and I tried not to think about how I was going to get back home without it. “Come. Let’s make ourselves comfortable.”
I looked around hopefully for my little winged friend from last time, but instead he led me over to a huge round raised dais covered in lush purple, red and gold cushions.
It looked more like a bed than a sofa and was exactly the type of thing you’d expect to find at an orgy.
I perched primly on the edge, resolutely pushing all thoughts of what else it might have been used for other than sitting on from my mind.
“Oh my stars, I didn’t have you pegged for a prude. My grandson must be rubbing off on you.” I tried not to blush when he muttered “and not in the fun way” under his breath. Before I could protest, he grabbed me by the waist and heaved me into the middle before launching himself next to me.
“That’s better,” he said with a satisfied smirk when we’d both finished bouncing.
“Relax will you, your virtue is safe with me. Now, I’m assuming there’s a reason you’ve finally decided to visit me other than for the pleasure of my company?
” He sounded a bit miffed about that, which was the last thing I wanted if I was going to enlist his help.
“I’m sorry. Things have been a bit chaotic recently.” His expression softened into one of sympathy.
“Yes. I heard about what happened. I thought Seth would have had more sense than to put himself in such a vulnerable position but there’s no use dwelling on that now. What’s done is done. We can only hope he’ll find a way to get himself out of it soon.”
“But maybe we can do something before then,” I said eagerly.
“I know where the gateway to the Underworld is now. Seth is your grandson. If you were to go there and demand to see him, just to make sure he’s okay, then maybe…
” I trailed off when I realised my words weren’t having the effect I’d hoped.
“Zara, these Watchers are an unknown quantity right now. Their existence is news to the gods as much as it is to you. We have no way of knowing if or how they would retaliate against us if we involved ourselves in their affairs. It’s bad enough that Morpheus has dragged us into offering the Oracle our protection from them.
Getting involved in this could start a war we may not win. I’m not prepared to take that chance.”
“So what are you saying, that you’re scared of them?”
“You’re skating on thin ice, Zara,” he warned. His eyes darkened and the temperature around us dropped a few degrees. Oh shit. I hoped he wasn’t getting ready to blast me with a lightning bolt. Well, I was in too deep to go back now.
“If that offends you, then I’m sorry, but I’m fighting for my soul mate. I will say whatever needs to be said.” I raised my chin, determined not to back down even though I was quaking inside.
“You really have no concept of how dangerous it is to anger a god, do you?” he said, with a little snort which I hoped was of amusement. “It’s no wonder I like you so much.”
“Does that mean you’ll help me?” I doubted it would be that easy, but don’t ask don’t get.
“I can’t help you, Zara. You’re not looking at the bigger picture here.
I have the ultimate responsibility for protecting everyone in this realm.
And I won’t risk our safety, or perhaps even our very existence, to save one guardian who didn’t have the sense to say no when he should have done. Even if he is my grandson,” he added.
“So yes, to answer your question, there is an element of fear holding me back from getting involved. And I’m not ashamed to admit that because it’s a valid concern.
And besides, even if I was willing to get involved, I know Seth would not want me to put everyone in Olympus at risk to try and rescue him. ”
And there was the kicker. I couldn’t argue with what he’d just said, because it was true.
Seth wouldn’t want Zeus to put himself or anyone else at risk to try and save him, any more than he’d want me to do the same.
I fished a tissue out of my pocket and wiped away a few tears that I hadn’t been able to hold back.
“I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you. That would never be my wish.”
“I understand,” I choked out, “I didn’t really expect you to be able to do anything. But I had to ask.”
“Of course you did. But don’t write Seth off just yet.
He’s nothing if not resourceful. If anyone can extricate himself from a sticky situation it’s him.
He’s had enough practice over the eons,” he added with a chuckle.
“And if I know him, he wouldn’t be at all impressed by us charging in there to rescue him if he’s already got everything under control.
In fact, I think he’d be downright insulted. ”
I couldn’t deny that was a fair point.
“Now, enough talk of things we can’t change. Let’s have some refreshments and then, if you’re not in a hurry to get back to the mortal realm, there’s something here I’d like to show you. It might cheer you up a bit. Would you care to come on a little excursion with me before you leave?”
All I really wanted was for him to send me home now I knew he wasn’t going to help me, but I didn’t want to offend him by making him think I was only here to ask him for a favour.
Even if I was. So I smiled and nodded and let him heave me off the sofa – not a bed, not a bed – the same way he’d helped me onto it.
“What is this place?” It looked like some kind of barracks, with a training ground in front of it, not dissimilar to the one I’d seen in Avalon.
“This is where the guardians trained once they were big enough to hold a weapon. They stayed with their mothers until they’d seen around twelve summers, but after that they moved in to their own quarters here.
” My heart broke a little at the thought of twelve year old children being taken from their mothers’ care and made to live here.
“Don’t look like that. They loved living here, the ten of them together. You couldn’t begin to imagine the high jinks they got up to once they had their freedom from the maternal apron strings. It wasn’t a cruelty bringing them here, it was a kindness.” I had some serious doubts about that.
“Really Zara. You’re looking at in terms of twelve year old mortal children. Ours mature much quicker. They were practically adults by that age. Would you like to see inside?”
I followed him into the building, surprised to find everything looking like it was ready to be lived in rather than the dusty, abandoned wreck I’d been expecting.
A long wooden refectory-style table with leather covered benches on either side filled one half of the main room, while a fireplace and a variety of mismatched chairs and sofas filled the other.
It wasn’t hard to imagine Seth here, sharing meals at the table and relaxing by the fire with his cousins.
I could almost feel the camaraderie and hear the echoes of laughter that would no doubt have filled the air.
An open wooden staircase, barely more than a ladder, led up to the next floor.
“Go on up and see if you can guess which room was Seth’s,” he suggested when he saw me looking at it curiously.
I navigated the staircase carefully, not wanting to end up on my knees for a second time today, and found myself in a hallway with a row of five heavy wooden doors. Pushing open the first one, I opened up my senses, including the sixth, magical one, to see if I could recognise any lingering auras.
“Not this one,” I told him after a few seconds and he nodded his approval.
“No. I don’t believe you’ve met either of the guardians who occupied this space. Try the next one.”
The next room had the same two large beds and basic furnishings as the first one, but it had a decidedly feminine feel to it.
“This one belonged to a woman, didn’t it?” I wondered if it had been Evangelina, the guardian in Italy Seth had sometimes liaised with.
“It did. Two women in fact. I’m impressed. Keep going.”
Seth’s essence barrelled into me the second I opened the third door, and it was all I could do not to throw myself onto the bed I instinctively knew had been his, in the hope that some of his scent might still linger there. It wasn’t just Seth I could sense though.
“Seth and Jed shared this one, didn’t they?”
“Very good. Would you like to spend a few minutes in here?”