by Nicole Thorn
No weapons, not a lot of room to move and a very pissed off Fury. Why couldn’t Zeus be my parent? I could have just hit her with a lightning bolt.
Her wings may have been broken, but she was still fast. The Fury launched herself at us. She got her claws in my stomach, shoving me back and into a wall. She then had Zander. He was on the ground, looking up at the monster.
I was knocked down into the glass by Nemo’s fish tank. Blood was soaking into my shirt. I was covered in fish water, blood and glass. The one that was buried in my thigh was the most upsetting. Blood and water mixed when they met on the floor.
My arms and legs were carved up as I moved my body. I ached all over, but that wasn’t enough to make me stop. I’d killed with my body in pieces. Parts sticking out of me. A few more cuts were nothing at all. Plus, I think I was just a bit cocky when I fought. God side effect. I didn’t mind it so much. I liked to think it turned Jasper on a little bit. After he got past thinking I was dumb.
I looked back to Zander as I was yanking the glass out of me. I caught sight of his foot shooting up and clipping Tisiphone under her chin. It was hard enough to make her stumble backwards.
When the glass was out, I stood up and ran. I jumped, latching onto the Fury’s back like I had before. I was smarter this time. When she tried to kick, I remembered to dodge. I went for a try at snapping her neck, but she was too quick. She got her claws in me again, shredding my arms and picking them off of her. She turned and I sent a bloody fist into her temple.
Zander was getting onto his feet behind her and she couldn’t see him. There was a very nice lamp on the floor beside him. He grabbed it and wrapped the cord around Tisiphone’s neck.
It looked like it was working for a moment, but the cord snapped with one scratch from her talon. She whipped around again, shoving her hands at Zander. She hit him in the chest and he went backwards, slamming his body into the counter and sinking to the floor. His eyes were wide with pain I don’t think I’d ever seen him with. He wasn’t breathing, but he was coughing up blood. Chunks flew out of him and I heard Jasmine call out.
Zander was facing the sharp ground. His forearms covered in glass while his body revolted, trying to heal as it fought him on the basics, like breathing.
I could see it all from where I was. I was staring down everything that was and is. The destroyed house that wasn’t even mine, but the people who kept me safe when I didn’t earn it from them. I could see the humans, scared and worried in their backyard, probably thinking they were about to see us die. I could see my brother, who was only in this because of me, losing parts of him as he lay in broken glass. All this was caused because of me. It may not be my fault, but that mattered so little to me now.
I was done. Done being broken and breaking the things around me. I wanted it to be over now. This was the beginning and the end all at once.
Tisiphone was looking back at Jasmine and the others like they were targets, not people. Not the humans that stepped up to a plate they had no business or obligation to step to. Jasper had his sisters behind him, like I knew he would.
Before the bitch got a chance to look back, I ended it. With every ounce of god in me, I sent her backwards. My foot hit her stomach and she flew. Her body soared through the kitchen and her arms extended out as she tried catching something to stop the momentum. Her claws gouged at the kitchen wall as she went through the door.
The Seers were just behind her, but they were safe, thanks to the trap I was building. Vines caught the Fury in midair. They tightened around her as she thrashed, trying to break them. She even managed to get a few, but I overwhelmed her with them.
Her eyes were wild as she tried extending her arms, just for my plants to wrap around them and snap the bones. I grew them and grew them until I could hardly see the monster inside of them. Then, when she knew it was over, I sent them inside of her.
She screamed when the vines broke through her skin, wrapping around her body inside and out, destroying everything I told them to. Her throat was being crushed as I tightened a single vine around, so close to breaking her neck. It took her a long time to die, but that final shriek rang out just before an explosion of burning ash rained down in the backyard.
I got Zander up off of the floor as I made the vines turn back into potential against the wall. He was on his feet, finally getting back the ability to breathe without blood leaving his body.
“You good, honey?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
We gathered up our people as gently as we could. Zander got Jasmine in his arms and Juniper’s arm around his shoulder. I had Jasper much the same. Juniper’s face was pure horror as we went back inside of the house she loved. She was almost shaking as we sat her on the stairs with her brother.
“Don’t worry,” Zander told her. “We’ll get this place fixed up in no time. I know a guy.”
She looked at him with sad eyes. “Who do you know? Who do you know that can fix this?” She flailed her arms around, gesturing to everything that happened.
Zander was still calm. “Trust me, sweetheart. I can have someone down here in no ti—”
“NEMO!” Jasmine screamed out of nowhere. Then I saw what she was seeing. It was a smashed fish tank. One the Fury landed in and then the one I fell on. And there was a little beta fish, lying on the ground in blood, glass and water. And his head was about a foot from the rest of his body.
“It’s okay, baby,” Zander tried to soothe her.
She shook her head with the wide eyes of a child. “Bring me to him!”
I could tell Zander didn’t want to, but he obeyed. They walked over and he was ordered to put her on the ground. She was hurt, but she didn’t seem to notice as she looked at her fish.
She sobbed at him, then looked up at the ceiling. “NEEEEMOOO! WHY!?” She saw the little guy do a fishy death rattle and then her arms flailed. “HE’S ALIVE! ZANDER,” her head went sideways, looking up him. “WATER! NOW!”
“Jasmine…”
“HURRY!”
Zander took a step backwards before going off to the kitchen. I heard glass break under his feet before he turned the faucet on. He returned with a cup of water that he handed to Jasmine.
She scooped up Nemo’s body and dropped it in. Then his head… “You’re going to be fine, Nemo. Mommy is gonna take care of you. You’ll get a brand new tank and some new pebbles. How does that sound?”
He didn’t say anything. Because he was a fish. And his head was unattached to his body. And he was dead.
I looked at Jasper and I think we had the same sad expression on our faces. But we all just let Jasmine mourn in her own way.
Ψ
After we were all changed and the Seers were patched up, they sat at the table in the kitchen. Zander and I were getting all the glass swept up. Juniper had her head on the table, eyes distant as she tried to not die. Zander was waiting for his promise to be made good. It was supposed to happen any time now.
Jasper’s hands were bandaged and it was breaking my heart. He wouldn’t be able to make anything for a few days without risking getting clay into his cuts. I wished I could make him heal like I could.
Zander was the same with Jasmine. Her leg popped a bunch of stitches and he had to fix them up for her. He adjusted her pills so that she would be without pain, but not high out of her ever-loving mind. It did nothing for her fish problem.
Jasmine had Nemo in her cup and she kept waiting for him to wake up, as she put it. Jasper was just too worn out to pay much attention. His eyes were on the floor that I was sweeping. His blood on the ground was reigniting my rage every few moments.
I stopped sweeping to check on him. I kissed his lips and carefully put my hands on his shoulders. “How are you doing, sweetheart?”
He sighed and that summed it up pretty well. “I am very tired.”
I nodded. “Sounds about right. After I finished up here, I’ll put you right to bed.” I smiled and hoped it would have the affect I was goin
g for. “How does that sound?”
He smiled back at me. “Wonderful.”
There was a terrifying knock on the door that made me jump half a mile. We all froze, but Zander walked with a grin to answer it. I may have cursed a whole bunch when he opened the door.
Massive wasn’t the right word to describe the man at the door. He probably almost cleared seven feet tall and probably as fucking wide. It was muscle, I think. What else could it be? He had long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and a big bushy beard of the same color. His skin was tan, like he spent all of his time outside. I knew he wasn’t human. He had that god like quality that you just couldn’t deny. His face was what gave away who he was. That and the huge box of tools in his hand.
“Hey, Hephaestus,” Zander said to the man.
Zander was scooped up into a hug and pulled off of his feet. “Aw, that’s no way to greet your stepfather. You know that.”
When Zander was set back down, we were all staring at the man. His face wasn’t nearly as deformed as you’d expect, but anything less than perfection was frowned upon by the gods. Hephaestus’s nose was crooked, like he’d been in a dozen fights growing up. But that could have been being thrown off Mount Olympus. The side of his head was a little… lumpy was the wrong word. It was like meat that had been pulverized with the pointy side of a tenderizer. There were little tweaks here and there, but it wouldn’t make him be considered unattractive by human standards.
He marched into the house, looking around. “Sheesh, Fury did a number on this place.”
Juniper whimpered.
The man walked into the kitchen and patted me on the head. “Hello, Kezia. And how did we fair today?”
I wasn’t too thrown that he knew who I was. I was Demeter’s only topside daughter. Though his wife had many topside children. “Got our asses kicked,” I told him. “But we’re all good.”
Hephaestus looked down at Jasmine’s cup. “What do ya got there, kiddo?” His broken face was studying the little body in the cup. He seemed like he was trying to figure it out.
“My fish, Nemo,” she said, craning her head up to see the god.
“He uh… his head’s not attached…” the man scratched at his temple with his head cocked.
Jasmine’s eyes welled with tears and Hephaestus backpedaled. His hands went up defensively. “I’m sure he’s all right. Funny lookin’ thing. Just make sure you feed him and get him lots of water.” He looked to Zander, almost annoyed for not getting a warning. “All right, buddy. Your mom says I gotta fix this place up real nice for ya.”
Jasper scooted his chair back as I was putting my arm around his shoulders. “Now, I understand that what I’m saying may get me hit,” he started, “but why are you so keen on doing a favor for one of the kids Aphrodite has without you?”
The god shrugged. “I knew what I was getting into when I was set up with her. We’re not dumb, we know what goes on with our spouses and humans. It would be exhausting if we held grudges against every child and human, so we leave that all up to Hera.” He laughed and it was booming. I thought the house would shake. “Okay, what first?”
Juniper was still frowning. “So… much… damage… just start wherever you want to. Please, just start.”
He nodded. “Okay. Which of you is gonna feed me? I was promised food.”
I smiled. “Anything you want, name it.”
And he did… and I regretted asking. I was given a long, long list of things to make. It reminded me that gods eat a whole lot more than people do. Mostly because they didn’t need to eat human food. It did nothing for them but taste good. I figured that he would be here for a while, so I might as well make enough for him and for dinner. Zander offered to go and pick up what I needed while Hephaestus shuffled off to work on some things.
All the glass and miscellaneous broken things were done away with and the god began to work. I was sure that he could fix this all with a wave of his hand, or a blink, but I liked that he preferred to do it by hand. Like it was fun for him. Not so much for Juniper, who would rather the instant fix.
I was sitting with Jasper at the table, looking at his cut up hands and wishing I could kill the Fury all over again. “How bad does it all hurt?” I asked.
“I’ll heal,” he said.
“I’m aware. That’s not what I asked.”
Jasper pulled my head forward, kissing my forehead. “It’s not that bad.”
I think he was lying, but I wouldn’t force the truth out of him. I would just take care of him until he was all better. Like Zander would do with the girls. I couldn’t imagine Jasmine was leaving his sight any time soon. That might be the best thing that’s ever happened to her.
I smiled and kissed Jasper properly. “Tonight, I will make sure that you forget all about how much it hurts.”
“How?” he smirked back at me.
His sisters were still in the room, but not paying attention to us. Jasmine was talking to Nemo and Juniper was calling out suggestions to Hephaestus. So I pulled Jasper in very close and whispered something that was probably tame for normal people, but a rather big deal and new thing for me. It seemed to do the trick when Jasper’s eyes got a little unfocused.
When Juniper wouldn’t stop talking, Hephaestus started singing. Singing loudly… as if that was a normal thing to be doing. And it was from the Aladdin soundtrack. I let that go.
Zander got back home and he helped me put everything away. He even picked up some brand new mugs that matched some of the ones his body broke. Juniper was somewhat numb at the moment, but she might care tomorrow.
While I started cooking, Zander went back to taking care of Jasmine and the fish formerly known as Nemo. He was still very much dead and Zander managed to get the cup away from her, promising that he would keep it safe.
How long could you keep a dead fish around before it was a health hazard?
Hephaestus wandered in a couple times to check up on the food I was cooking. He asked for fried chicken and I had a batch ready when he stormed in. He took it and walked off back into the living room. I got back to making more for when the family decided they needed nourishment too.
The Furies were all dead, but I felt on edge anyway. Like I was just waiting for something big and bad to come crashing into the house. In theory, we were all okay now. We were down a fish, but we were all living and with all limbs intact. That was more than I thought we’d get when this started.
We were through the bad and all I could see in front of me was good. I felt better, like a different person than I was before. I wanted to get better now, I was starting to see the ways I could do that. I had someone I trusted. Three other people in my life. It wasn’t all on Zander now. He could find out who he was without me at his hip and I could do the same. Scary, but it felt like the right thing to do.
None of this felt like an accident. Not coming to this place, finding the Seers. It felt like a word I didn’t want to use, but couldn’t avoid. Fate. I had a picture in my mind of the three women weaving together this story. Going far past this day and into the decades that were before us. That was a tapestry I was frightened to see. Zander and I were timeless. Our loves weren’t.
I’d see now what I was without Zander, but it would be a while before I saw what I was without Jasper. I didn’t want to see that day at all, but you can’t fight fate. We all knew that now. A black day would come and I would lose him. Zander would lose Jasmine, whatever she was to him at that point. It was so cruel. We started out broken, only to start mending before we were broken again. Zander was strong, but this was his Achilles’ heel. This would be what turned him into what I used to be.
Nothing.
Hands on my hips made me jump and a quick apology was issued to me. “I’m sorry,” Jasper said, seeming weighed down with guilt. “I shouldn’t have snuck up on you.”
I turned from the stove and hugged him without saying anything for almost a minute. “It wasn’t you. I was just thinking about something.”
; When I didn’t let go, his arms tightened on me. “Something bad?”
I was terrified and I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t. Zander must be too. There was no changing this and I knew we would agree that we needed to hold on and not let go until this was ripped from our fingers. We clawed through hell and we would enjoy this temporary reward we got from it.
“Yeah. Something very bad.”
His voice was at my ear. “Don’t worry. I have you now. I won’t let anything hurt you.”
Oh, he didn’t even see yet, did he? This one, beautiful person that I used to not think could ever hurt me… he could and would hurt me. Worse than anyone else ever could. That was only because I handed that power to him. I gave him all of me.
But I wouldn’t ever regret. Even after that hateful day comes and goes. No. This was pain I wanted, because I could only get it after a lifetime with him. I would take it, every moment and I wouldn’t look back.
I smiled and loosened my grip. “I know,” I said. “You’ll keep all the monsters away.”
He nodded, laughing. “I’ll try my hardest.”
So this was the threshold I was looking into. This life with him. His sisters. These were the times I had with them. The ones I’d look back on when I had nothing else. These days I was going into, they were the good old days. And I was lucky enough to know at the very genesis of them. That way I wouldn’t waste any of it. We could make it all count.
31: A House, a Fish and a Fury
Jasper
The house was put together in a thankfully timely manner. Even if he didn’t snap his fingers and make everything better, Hephaestus managed to get everything in order without a break, except to eat the food that Kezia and Zander slaved over. While us Seers sat quietly at the table. Sure, Jasmine and I couldn’t walk without limping, but Juniper had no excuse, other than utter panic. Which worked as a pretty good excuse, in my opinion.