by Paul Neuhaus
“Huh,” Elijah said. “That’s not like him. He likes everybody.” He went toward the gate and started to unfasten it. “Come on. He’s just skittish. Let’s give him a chance to make friends with you.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like Dora’s stink,” Keri said.
I don’t think that was it, though. Supposedly, animals can smell fear and I gotta be honest: I don’t care for horses. I know they’re supposed to be man’s second-best friend, but they’re big and they’re scary and, sometimes, they bite. I can take them or leave them, and maybe Pegasus was picking up on that. “I’m good,” I said. “I can appreciate his beauty from here.”
“Don’t be silly,” my old flame said. “Becoming intimate with this horse has been one of the great joys of my life.”
Everyone snickered. “You’ve been intimate with this horse?” Keri said.
El flushed. “You know what I mean.”
Seeing he wasn’t going to back down, I went to him. We entered the corral and El shut the door behind us.
Pegasus’ standoffishness persisted. He did not like the fact I was inside his living space. He wasn’t aggressive, but he also wasn’t coming anywhere near us. “Man, that’s weird,” the elder Wiener reiterated. “This is the friendliest horse in the world, and he doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“It’s no big deal,” I replied. “It shows he’s an excellent judge of character.”
“Now, now. Don’t take it so hard.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was being sarcastic. If the pretty horse doesn’t like me, I’m not gonna lose any sleep.” I didn’t waste any time going back out through the gate. I climbed over the fence, so I was between Petey and Ty. I noticed right off Petey was looking back toward the entrance.
“What’s that?” the rapper said.
I looked where he was looking and saw a pickup truck. The kind of pickup truck cowboys have in TV commercials. It was pulling a trailer. A horse trailer. “They’re here,” I said. “That was hella fast.” I thought I’d have more time to get everyone organized and concoct a plan. I was wrong. Then, to make matters worse, I heard a buzzing by my ear and swatted around my head. I turned in time to see my stowaway fly pop and release a cloud of gray gas. Gray gas with an animating spirit inside. “Everyone!” I shouted. “Bunch around Pegasus! Don’t let anything get near him!” Even as I said it, I doubted my new friends would be able to help me. They were all untrained in battle and none of them had any special powers. In their favor, however, all of them processed what I said and did as I said. I drew the gladius and undid the straps holding the pithos to my back. Right away, I was in my standard fighting pose and I was spinning in place, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the Kraken. Unfortunately, I found him after one spin. He was entering Tiresias through his ears. In half a second, Ty went from a kindly old oracle to a crazed, flailing Tasmanian Devil. He threw himself at his fellow bronies, all of whom recoiled in horror. Who could blame them? None of them wanted to fight one of their own. I didn’t wanna fight Ty either. Anything I did to him with the gladius would be permanent, so I opted for the sensible thing and popped the top on the pithos. The moment I did, I had my feet pulled out from underneath me and I was drug backward along the ground—as if a gaucho had snared me with his lariat and pulled me behind his horse. During the drag, I lost my grip on both the sword and the jug which—at that particular moment—was fine. I was more worried about being pulled over the rocky ground than I was fighting back. Pain can be very distracting. Even as I slid, I managed to roll over onto my back, so I could see where I was headed. I was headed for the now-parked pickup truck and Hermes and Adrestia who were standing next to it. Even though I was being buffeted like crazy, I could see Adrestia was the one doing the dragging. She’d snared me with a glowing rope which she was pulling toward herself. The expression she wore was one of pure hate. The expression Hermes wore was one of deep inner conflict. The dynamic between them hadn’t changed since I’d seen them talking in the catacombs.
When I was within a couple of body lengths of the touchy demigoddess, she stopped pulling and dropped the glowing rope. With surprising fluidity, her hands went to her hips and drew twin machetes from leather scabbards. I could tell by the way she moved she was no stranger to combat. Surprising since I wouldn’t have thought she’d expend the effort getting good at anything. She was always way too busy bitching and moaning. She leapt through the air and stabbed down with both blades. I was fast enough to register the movement and roll out of the way. I knew my luck couldn’t hold out forever, though. I was born of two humans and she was born of two supernatural creatures, one of whom was a deity. As Adrestia pulled the machetes out of the wet earth, I kicked off the noose around my ankles and regained my feet. She grinned at me like a feral dog and said, “I saw what you did to my Kraken. I can throw too.”
If she hadn’t telegraphed her intent, she would’ve hit me with the machete she threw. The throw was expert. I barely twisted my body out of the way in time. The blade landed somewhere behind me.
Hermes took a step forward. His tone was menacing. He was speaking to his daughter. “Adrestia...”
She ignored him, flicking her eyes to indicate the ground behind me. “Pick it up,” she said. “Pick it up.”
I turned my head and saw the big knife she’d thrown. As quick as I could, I picked it up. She wasn’t kidding with this. I’d gone from prowling the sewers under Santa Monica to a machete fight with a madwoman in a little less than an hour.
I heard the commotion over in the paddock. Whatever was going on by Pegasus would have to go on without me. I couldn’t even spare a glance over there to see whether Ty (AKA the Kraken) had torn my friends apart. Based on the general hubbub and raised voices, it sounded like they were holding their own. I regretted not keeping a tighter grip on the pithos. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind Adrestia now qualified for imprisonment. If I couldn’t get the Kraken, I’d be happy with her. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like I was getting either.
Hermes spoke again and this time, he raised his voice to a shout. “Adrestia, we came for the horse. Nothing else.”
His words barely registered and the demigoddess kept her eyes on me. To show she had no intention of following his request, her machete blade burst into blue flame. Both of us were lit up azure under the overcast sky. Then she came at me, her teeth gritted and her eyes bugging out. I was reduced to a defensive posture right off. Fortunately, I’d been in similar situations many times before, so I held my own despite her supernatural reflexes and strength. She was better equipped physically, but I was more skilled.
As our machetes clanged together, I heard Pegasus neighing and the shouts of Keri and the others to my left. If I’d spared a glance in that direction, I would’ve wound up a lump of deli meat, so I had to trust that my friends would manage somehow. I was worried for Ty. Would the Kraken leave his body without destroying it? That seemed unlikely given Tiresias’ importance to Mythnik history—and the fact the Kraken was an insufferable dick.
Since there was no way I could help my cohorts, I decided to focus on the machete fight. Specifically, how, if Adrestia was the same person she’d always been, I might have an in. “Is this about Calesius?” I said, conjuring a memory thousands of years old. “The stable boy. Were you sweet on him? Did you fuck him?” Based on the demigoddess’ expression, I could see I’d hit a nerve. She hadn’t fucked him, but she’d wanted to. “You didn’t, did you? Well, I did. Over, and over, and over again.” I hadn’t really fucked him, but that’s not what this was about. This was about getting Adrestia so worked up she’d make a mistake. Give me an opening. Every time our knives clanged together, blue sparks shot in all directions. I was starting to lose what little endurance I had left. I needed her off-balance and I needed it quick.
“I didn’t want to fuck him,” Hermes’ daughter hissed. “I loved him!” She leaned in with an even more aggressive series of attacks.
I barely kept her away from landing a se
rious blow. “You didn’t love him. You couldn’t’ve love him. That’s not how your mind works. You’re a narcissist. A psychopath. Your entire life consists of petty grudges and petty revenges.” Both her effort and her anger redoubled, so I was able to cut her. A long gash on her left side. She screamed, one hand going to the wound.
Hermes took a step forward then, looking as though he wanted to intervene—but on what side? On behalf of his own flesh and blood, or of his longtime friend and, unless I missed my guess, surrogate daughter?
Adrestia shook off her rage and took her bloody hand away from her flank. She circled me, looking for the best angle.
“Come on,” I said. “Now I’ve given you a real reason for revenge.”
She spit on the ground between us. “You dare speak ill of me? Look at you, you misbegotten slut. Wasn’t it you who released all the Evil into the world? Wasn’t it you who gave mankind suffering?”
The battle rejoined. The clashing of knives again rang out.
I laughed. “Believe me, Man had plenty of suffering before I came along. Mostly of his own making. But, yes, I increased that suffering a thousand-fold. And I’ve taken responsibility for my actions. Tried to make things right. That’s your exact problem, though, isn’t it? You’ve never taken responsibility for anything. You never had the chance since your whole world was wrapped up in your own fragile ego.” Then I decided to push my earlier strategy into a new direction. A potentially risky direction. I looked over at Hermes as best I could while still watching his daughter’s blade. “It’s been tough, hasn’t it, Hermes? Having a child who’s not well? Having a child who’s not a proper child at all, but rather a force of nature? An unpredictable wind of spite and entitlement?” Maybe angering an Olympian wasn’t one of my better ideas, but Hermes should’ve stepped in sooner and at least kept us from killing each another.
The switch was flipped. Hermes took two steps forward, brought his arms together in front of his chest and then spread them wide. When he did, Adrestia and I flew in opposite directions. And when I say flew, I mean flew. Both of us landed fifteen feet from where we started. Both of us had the wind knocked from our bodies, and neither of us maintained our grip on our machetes.
I couldn’t do much of anything in the moments after I hit the ground. I was dazed and breathless. Fortunately, so was my opponent or she’d have jumped up and seized the advantage. My first thought (when I was able to have thoughts again) was, Will Hermes remain the peacemaker? He was more conflicted than I wanted him to be. I knew he was unusually fond of me, but I also knew he was pressed down by the weight of thousands of years of guilt. Guilt for the daughter he could neither control nor satisfy.
These deep thoughts were banished by a sudden high-pitched scream from the direction of the paddock. I turned my head toward where Pegasus and the others were, but my sight was immediately obscured by an advancing white cloud. No mere puff of dust was this. It was like being near the bottom of a mushroom cloud when it detonates. I had to roll my body away from the corral to shield myself from the force and from the flying particles that buffeted me. After the sound of rushing wind dissipated, I opened my eyes. Roughly fifteen feet from me diagonally was Hermes only now he was no longer standing, he was, like me, in a bunch on the ground. I raised my chin and looked down the length of my own form. Roughly thirty feet from me was Adrestia and she too was recovering from the strange blast. I came to a standing position and looked toward the paddock. There was no more paddock. The fencing had all been blown down. The epicenter of the blast had been the middle of the space. The men—Elijah, Chad, Petey and Tiresias—had all been shot in different directions. All of them were battered but alive. The only creature still standing was Pegasus and he was extremely anxious. He was standing on his rear hooves and kicking at the air with his front feet. His neighing made him sound like a panicked girl.
Above the horse, floating about ten feet off the ground was Keri.
She was barely recognizable. Her clothes were in tatters, her hair was windblown (despite there being no wind), and her eyes were glowing white.
No one moved despite there being many grudges in play. All of us waited to see what the girl would do next. What she did was descend. She descended, dropped her hands to her sides and walked toward Adrestia. I could see the men stirring behind her, wondering what the hell had happened. Keri spoke. “I can see you now,” she said to Adrestia. “I can see you now that I have the right kind of eyes.”
Hermes’ daughter stood up and backed away from the teenager, angling herself toward her dad.
“Why don’t you show us your other face?” Keri said with a menacing smile. “Show us.”
Adrestia shook her head, frightened of whatever it was Keri had become.
“No?” Keri said, her smile still in place. “Here: let me help you...” She flung up her right hand and from it moved a wave of visible force. When it hit, Adrestia vibrated in place and changed. It was like a mask had been knocked off of her to reveal another face beneath. That face belonged to the woman I’d seen in the entryway of Keri’s house.
It belonged to Addie.
Keri’s mother.
Elijah’s wife.
Adrestia.
Addie.
Of course.
My eyes flicked over to Elijah, on the ground several yards away. His jaw hung open. I looked back toward Keri and Addie. “I can... explain,” Addie said.
“Be quiet,” Keri said with a soft volume that belied the menace underneath.
“Keri, I’m still your mother.”
Without warning, Keri screamed at Addie, and it wasn’t just a sound but another wave of force. A wave of force that knocked the demigoddess off her feet again. “Be quiet!”
I watched Addie as she stood and scrambled like a frightened child toward Hermes. By then Hermes was standing and he was looking goggle-eyed at the scene in front of him. He was Adrestia’s father. He was apparently connected in some way to her plans. He must’ve known that Addie had stolen Elijah from me and that Keri was his granddaughter. He’d known, but he hadn’t seen Keri’s new manifestation coming.
Keri stood her ground, amused as Addie pulled Hermes toward the pickup truck. Hermes resisted her but went along. As she walked, she took on her old form, that of Adrestia.
I was distracted by a sudden scream from the corral. It was Tiresias, crying out in pain as the Kraken left his body. The monster was distracted enough by recent events that he forgot to kill the ancient seer. He flew past me and entered the pickup as Hermes shut the door. Once the truck had turned around and gone back out the way it came, the burning light left Keri’s eyes and the wind from nowhere ceased.
5
Acadine
I tried to take stock of our situation. One thing I didn’t like was we were all out in the open and Pegasus wasn’t even corralled anymore. On the upside, the horse had calmed down and showed no interest in running away (I’d’ve said “flying”, but he still had one bum wing). There were so many things in need of discussion. Addie’s apparent fifteen-year subterfuge against Elijah, Keri and myself. What we were gonna do next vis a vis the vengeful demigoddess and her Evil with a taste for horseflesh. Then, of course, there was the matter of me desperately needing a breather. Again, I didn’t get it. As Elijah and the others walked toward us, I turned toward Keri and opened my mouth to speak. She interrupted. “Who’s that guy?” she said.
I heard who she was referring to before I saw him. “You need to get Pegasus to the safest place you can.” It was Sebastian Squire, Elijah’s New World Order venture capitalist.
“Squire,” my ex- said. “What’re you doing here?”
“I thought I just told you. I’m offering my services. I wanna board your horse. Keep him safe.”
The elder Wiener cocked his head. “But I thought you were with The Consortium and you were on some kind of take-over-the-world kick...”
Squire smiled. “That’s one of my cover stories. I’m actually a Neo-Olympian, and I want
to bring Greek mythology—which it turns out isn’t mythology—back into the mainstream.”
Elijah looked confused. “But the Consortium story was underneath the Neo-Olympian story.”
The V.C. shrugged. “What can I say? You dug too far. For the time being, what my people and I are doing is underground. We don’t wanna make it easy for certain interested and highly-unpleasant parties to sniff us out.”
I’d been looking back and forth between the new arrival and El. “Christ,” I could use a belt.”
Sebastian smiled kindly. “I know the feeling. That’s why there’s a fully-stocked bar in the limo.” He cocked a thumb over his shoulder and we all saw a long, black limo with a horse trailer attached.
“How’d you pull up here without us hearing you?” I asked.
“It’s a hybrid,” Squire replied.
“You have a stretch limo that’s a hybrid?”
He nodded.
“Okay, points for that. What makes you think you can waltz right up and say, ‘Hey I wanna help you guys with your Pegasus’, and we’ll all say, ‘Super! Thanks, mega-rich dude!’ Why should we trust you?”
Sebastian smiled again. “You’ve got me there. Look, I can show you why you should trust me, but it’s gonna involve a short ride. Here’s why I think it’ll be okay: There’s six of you and only two of us—me and my driver. Also, just so you know, I am not a Bond villain, so my limo doesn’t have ejector seats or clever jets of knockout gas.”
I nodded, trying to get all of that together in my head. “Alright,” I said. “Give us a minute.” I turned to the others and said, “Huddle-up.” We gathered into a cluster and moved as one body several feet away from Squire. I looked at Elijah. “What do you think? You’re the only one who knows anything at all about this dude.”
Elijah Wiener winced. “Yeah, but as we discovered, I’ve been married to a woman for fifteen years who not only wasn’t who she claimed to be, she was the Greek goddess of shoulder chips. Maybe I should sit this one out.”