“He’ll be lucky if that’s all I put him in,” she said with a snort. “I’m sure he has something to do with all of this, too.”
“Likely,” Zeus said, “but we’ll see.”
“And Aison?”
“The same,” he said. “We’ll give them a chance to prove their innocence.”
“Fine.” Then thankfully for the sake of Alex’s sanity, Aphrodite shot Alex a reassuring look.
“What about Athena?” Aphrodite asked. “What’s she said after all of this? Euryale is, after all, her pet project.”
“Your sister is…indisposed at the moment.”
Aphrodite cocked her head. “Indisposed?”
“Yes. For her own good.”
All went quiet for a few beats. “Good,” Aphrodite huffed. “I wouldn’t be like this if it weren’t for her anyway.”
Zeus chuckled. “Thought you might see it that way. Now do what you need to do to be presentable and join us.”
The call ended, and Alex blew out a huge puff of air. He ran his fingers over his head before balling both of them into fists. “Great,” he said. “He’s got the ax already.”
“Alex—”
“I mean, damn it to hell and back,” he went on. “How am I supposed to get it now?”
“Alex!” she barked. Once she had his undivided attention, she spoke more softly, but no less commanding. “Is it true? Is Euryale looking to raze Olympus?”
“No, of course not.”
“Don’t lie to me, Alex.”
“I’m not,” he said, throwing his hands up. “She’s only after Zeus, I swear.”
Aphrodite raised what used to be her eyebrows and threw him a skeptical look.
“She’s not,” Alex said. He then quickly amended. “Okay, correction, but it’s still the same point. She’s hellbent on destroying Zeus and anyone who stands with him. But Aphrodite, on the souls of my children, she’s not after you or anyone else who helps us. I’m not lying about that, and I’m not lying about Athena and Artemis pledging themselves to her cause, either. They’ve had it with him.”
Aphrodite spent a moment mulling to herself before she started back down the stairs. “Well, come on,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “You’ve got a goddess to find.”
“Athena?”
“The same.”
“Where is she?”
“I’ve got a good idea where Dad is keeping her,” she said. “But you’ll have to go alone. And for Fates’ sake, don’t you dare get caught. Dad will do far, far more than put you in chains if he finds you there.”
“If he only knew the half of it,” Alex muttered.
“Knew half of what?”
Alex shook his head. “Nothing,” he lied. “I only meant that this situation is a total mess.”
“It’s only getting started, Alex,” she said, picking up the pace. “It’s only getting started.”
Chapter The Final Council
A somber mood filled the Great Hall as nine Olympians gathered in a half circle, with Zeus standing in front of them all.
Of the eleven seats in the throne room, Hephaestus’s and Hera’s having been already removed, ten stood intact. Euryale’s throne of stone lay spit in two. A recent casualty of Zeus’s thunderous speech.
Artemis listened quietly as her father heaped curse upon curse, vow after vow, all the while trying to judge who truly sided with Zeus and against the gorgon, and who was only playing along out of necessity. Sadly, to the latter, she suspected she was the only one in that circle. Maybe Aphrodite and Ares, but as she hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to either in private yet, she wasn’t about to stake her life on it.
Still, there were ways, she knew, she could draw out the allegiance of others. Ways her father wouldn’t pick up on if she were subtle enough. So, when there was a distinct lull in what was going on, and no one else dared question any of it, Artemis seized the moment.
“Are you sure she’s traveling to Chaos?” she asked.
“I’m sure,” Zeus harshly replied. “You think Apollo doesn’t know how to scry or I’d lie about such things?”
Artemis, having expected him to be critical at anything that might cast a shadow on what he’d said, didn’t bat an eye. “I think the future is hard to see, Father,” she said. “Even for Apollo. And even if that was her intention before, is it now? And most important of all, are we certain she hasn’t already gone there?”
Zeus grumbled, and while it looked at first as if he were going to argue against her, not only did he not, but the sternness in his face softened ever so slightly. “We aren’t,” he admitted. “But we ignore Apollo’s wisdom at our own peril. Yes, she could be merely going for a flower, but with Nyx and Achlys involved, they might have given her a way to tap into Chaos itself. If that’s the case, she will spell our ruin once she returns. I see no reason not to hunt the gorgon down at the shores of Chaos immediately.”
“Perhaps Athena would have a reason,” Artemis said. “I suggest we consult her.”
The tension in the air grew a hundredfold as the other gods shied away from her—and not without good reason. Zeus had made it clear that Athena was not part of this discussion (as he called it), and they’d be acting without her guidance. End of discussion.
“I thought I already spoke on such things,” Zeus said, tiny sparks of lightning popping from the tips of his fingers.
“Given the stakes, given the importance of this hunt, perhaps we should reconsider,” Artemis replied. “There’s more that we need to take account of than an overly ambitious gorgon.”
“Such as?”
“Such as Typhon,” she said. “Such as Cronus. Such as Nyx and Achlys. Such as any other threat to Olympus we might not have yet considered. If we all chase Euryale, we leave this city defenseless.”
“Chaos is not a land for the fainthearted,” Zeus said. “None of you have been there and for a good cause. I tell you the truth, this is not a place I desire to go, but it is also not a place anyone should travel to alone. We must go. As many of us that are able. And when we find her, we destroy her before Chaos destroys us.”
“Or we wait until she returns,” Artemis calmly replied. “Or we trap her in any number of other places that are less dangerous, something Athena would be adept at planning.”
“I told you, Athena—”
“I don’t care what you said!” Artemis snapped. “You want us all to risk utter destruction by heading into Chaos? Then you better tell us why Athena isn’t here to help with the planning. Because I, for one, have had enough of the secrets amongst us.”
Zeus groaned and spun in frustration, which was precisely the reaction she’d hoped to draw out. In that brief moment when she had him distracted, she made eye contact with Aphrodite, crossed her arms over her chest, and rested her left pinky at a slightly crooked angle against her side.
It was a code the three sisters had developed a long, long time ago, mostly for fun, but it had had its uses in more serious times. Times such as these. It was a simple question the three had sworn to always answer honestly. And the question was this:
Are you with us?
“Athena has sided with Euryale, saying I was wrong to extract a confession from her in the manner that I did,” Zeus growled as he came back around.
“Given the gorgon’s intent, I’d count Euryale lucky that that’s all that befell her,” Poseidon tacked on.
“Agreed,” Zeus replied with a curt nod. “As for my daughter, I have her locked away until we’ve finished the matter.”
Aphrodite snorted and crossed her arms. “She needs to stay there. Part of the blame should lie with her.”
Before the goddess finished, Artemis caught sight of Aphrodite’s pinky, like her own, resting on her side, ever so crooked.
I’m with you.
With that reply, Artemis relaxed and backed off her objection. “That’s regrettable,” she said with a frown. “Then I have to admit, we have nothing left to do but hunt the gorgon down w
hile we can. I can only pray to the Fates that after we do, Athena will come to her senses. Who shall go?”
“As I said, we all go, save Aphrodite and Ares,” he said. “There is wisdom to your words, Artemis. The city should be defended, if for nothing more than defense against Typhon’s spies.”
“We should consider another matter Artemis brought up,” Poseidon interjected.
Zeus dropped his brow and turned. “What would that be?”
“Nyx,” he said. “If seven of us enter her domain, she will notice. More importantly, she won’t tolerate such a blatant trespass. I fear the tempest she’ll bring will be so swift and terrible, none of us will have a hope of surviving.”
Zeus grumbled again as his fingers tapped on the handle to his double-bitted ax. “How many of us do you think she’d tolerate?”
Poseidon thought a moment, leaning against his trident with one hand and toying with his flowing gray beard with the other. “Two if we’re lucky,” he replied. “Three at the very most.”
“Then you and I shall go,” Zeus said with a short nod.
“I’ll go as well,” Artemis said, stepping forward. “You’ll need me to track.”
“No, you stay,” he replied. “My brother is right. We try Nyx’s patience enough with two of us treading on her realm.”
“Father, please—”
“I said no, and I meant it,” he snapped. He then drew in a deep breath and exhaled, his shoulders falling in the process. “My daughters have suffered enough due to my missteps. I’ll not have you risk your very existence in such a reckless fashion.”
“Without my company, how do you plan on tracking her?”
“We won’t,” Zeus replied. “Nor do we need to.”
Artemis tilted her head. “We don’t?”
“We don’t,” Zeus answered. He drew the corner of his mouth back and rested an index finger against his temple. “There is but one pass between Nyx’s world and Chaos, and I know exactly where it is.”
* * *
It felt like cheating.
Not that Alex hadn’t already had lots of practice dodging one-eyed giants who couldn’t see him. He had. And though he’d evaded capture by Polyphemus, stolen his mandrake, and escaped the cyclops’s island intact, he never wanted to try that little stunt again. Blind one-eyed giants, as he’d quickly learned, even the old, decrepit ones, were still plenty strong, plenty fast, and plenty accurate when it came to slinging boulders.
The cloak Alex wore, still on loan to him from Artemis, felt like a godsend, no pun intended. Not only did it shield him from the cyclopes guards Zeus had roaming both in his estate and near the jail where Athena was likely being held, but it apparently did a fantastic job at dampening the sounds he made and hiding any scent he might leave lingering in the air.
Hence, slipping by the guards time after time ended up being simple, as long as Alex had the patience to move at the right time. And after learning a great deal of patience in dealing with Mister Lion a year ago, this was child’s play.
Now he waited next to a stone cherub in Zeus’s garden, his breathing slow and even, waiting for an opportunity to get through the door that led into the jail. Unfortunately for him, a pair of giants stood outside, giant clubs in giant hands. Worse, for the last twenty minutes, they hadn’t said a word to each other, and they didn’t look like they had any plans of being bored, distracted, or relieved of duty in the near future.
Alex was about to skirt around the building for the third time to see if he could find another way in when all that changed. The cyclops on the right cleared his throat and nodded to the wineskin that hung off his cohort’s belt. “That ambrosia?”
The one on the left shied away a few inches. “What makes you think it’s ambrosia?”
“Gar said you got some,” he replied. “Said it was a little something extra from Dionysus.”
The other cyclops soured his face and snarled, showing a mouth filled with broken yellow teeth. “Knew he couldn’t keep his fat lips shut,” he growled.
“What’d you do for it?”
The giant glanced around before dropping his voice to a whisper. “Got him a copy of Zeus’s address book of mortals.”
“What’d he want that for?”
“Wanted to look up a girl he saw Zeus flirting with the other week,” he said. “Right before Hera caught him, that is.”
“He’s probably going to look up more than one,” the first cyclops said with a snicker.
“Probably.”
A few seconds passed between the two, and then the first one spoke again. “Can I have a sip?”
“No.”
“Come on. A sip!”
“No,” he said, harsher this time. “There’s not a lot left, and trust me, if all you take is a sip, you’re going to go crazy when you can’t get more.”
The first dropped his eyebrow. “You just want it for yourself.”
“I do, but believe me, I’m sparing you on this one,” he replied with a snort.
“Fine. Be that way.”
Again, the two went quiet, but this time, not only was the tension between them palpable, but their argument also gave Alex an idea, one he’d need to capitalize on quickly if it was going to work.
Alex slipped from his hiding spot and quietly made his way to the two. As he drew within a few feet, he held his breath, and after making sure neither was looking directly at the other, he reached out and gently lifted the wineskin. Not enough to unhook it from the giant’s belt, but enough that the shift in weight would be noticeable.
He was rewarded with the desired result immediately.
“Hey! Hands off!” Cyclops Number Two yelled, twisting and stepping back.
Cyclops Number One, predictably, looked at his partner like he’d been stricken mad. “What in Hades’s name are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” said Number Two.
“You’re a loon.”
Number Two looked like he was about to say something else when the clear signs of doubt overcame him. Alex could practically hear the giant’s thoughts, wondering if maybe he’d imagined it all.
That was something Alex could fix.
The guard settled back down and eyed his partner a couple of times over the next few minutes. Once he seemed satisfied, or at least, not as paranoid, Alex lifted the wineskin again.
Number Two spun around once more, this time with his club ready to swing. “I’m going to knock your bloody head right off if you try that one more time.”
“Look here, you stupid sod—”
“Sod? You calling me a sod?”
“You don’t even know what a sod is!”
“I don’t care what it is. I’m not warning you again. You even think about my ambrosia from this point on, and I’m going to fump you right through that wall.”
The argument died, and Alex nearly let a groan of frustration slip. Still, he told himself, they weren’t but a hair away from going nuclear on each other. They only needed that final spark to set them off.
One. Last. Spark.
Alex raised the wineskin a half inch. Number Two’s backhanded club was so disgustingly fast, it nearly took Alex’s head, and that was with him even being ready for the swing. Surprisingly, Number One caught the strike with his own club before it could connect.
The resulting melee turned into a brutal contest of who-could-rip-whose-arms-off-first in a matter of seconds. Between the kicks, blows, curses, and gouges, Alex managed to pop the door open and slip inside without them noticing.
Alex trotted down the circular staircase, trying to strike a balance between getting away from the warring cyclopes and being wary about alerting anyone who might be down below. Three hundred yards of descent later, he’d run into no one and found himself in front of a small prison cell, currently being occupied by one Goddess of Wisdom.
“Athena,” Alex said, removing the hood of his cloak and coming into view. “Thank the Fates you’re in here.”
>
Athena, shackled at the ankles and wrists, perked. “Alex? Where did you get that cloak?”
“Artemis,” he said. “She let me borrow it to get to Hera.”
Athena nodded, though it looked reluctant as she eyed him with suspicion. “How do I know it’s you?”
“Who else would I be?”
“Dad, for starters,” she said. “Wouldn’t be the first time, right?”
“Yeah, well, would your dad change into me simply to free you?” Alex asked, trying the door. Sadly, it was locked. It even stayed locked when he tried jiggling it a few times.
“You were saying?”
“Right,” he said with a hefty sigh. “Guess that was stupid of me, huh? How do I get you out?”
“First, tell me something only Alex would say,” she said.
“Um…you don’t know the difference between Monet and Manet?”
Athena rolled her eyes and huffed. “Something everyone else already doesn’t know you said.”
Alex, drumming his fingers on his chest, drew a blank. And the more he tried to come up with such a simple request, the more his brain didn’t want to cooperate. Eventually, he tossed out the only thing that came to him. “Could I maybe say something Zeus wouldn’t say?”
“Such as?”
“Zeus doesn’t know how to satisfy women,” he said.
Athena arched an eyebrow.
“And Hera deserves better,” he said. When Athena cocked her head, he threw in one last thing. “And he has a tiny penis.”
Athena burst into laughter. “Okay, Alex. You can get me out now.”
“I’d love to, but how?”
“Dad will have the key on him, I’m sure,” she said. “Which means I hope you’re a good pickpocket, because I don’t think you’ll get Hermes to help on that one.”
“That’s probably not happening anytime soon,” Alex replied, shaking his head. “He’s getting ready to leave and hunt Euryale down, and he’s dying to put me in chains, too.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
Alex summed up his meeting with Aphrodite, including the phone call he’d overheard at the tail end of it over the next few minutes. When he finished, Athena looked exactly how he felt: at wit’s end.
A Storm of Blood and Stone (Myths of Stone Book 3) Page 23