I know he’s a manipulator, I know I can’t trust him, but for a second, it seems like a relief to let him take over.
The front door opens, and Wilder stands framed in the doorway, his powerful, muscular body limned by the light spilling through the open door. He calls over his shoulder, “She’s out here! She’s fine!”
Then he runs across the lawn to me. His face is worried as he grips my shoulders. “You’re okay. I was so worried.”
“I was right behind you,” I say. “Mr. Time? Brenda? Van?”
“We got them out of there in time, and the effects are already reversing,” he promises me. “Don’t tell Van this, he’s cocky enough, but he’s going to be a total DILF one day. You’re a lucky woman, Izzy.”
My thoughts were so dark just a moment ago, but Wilder makes me laugh, and he smiles in response, dimples appearing under his chiseled cheekbones when he grins that big, earnest smile.
“Reid?”
“He’s fine. You should come see for yourself.” He frowns. “Why did you teleport out here, anyway? What’re you doing by yourself?”
I shake my head, trying to shake away the question, but Wilder’s so intent and kind that I can’t pretend around him. “I misjudged Thea…I thought we could trust her.”
“She’s your sister,” he says, his voice understanding.
“I put everyone in danger….”
“Izzy,” he says, and he suddenly wraps me up in a tight hug. I wrap my arms around his muscular waist, taking comfort from his body that maybe I don’t deserve. “When are you going to trust us that you don’t have to be perfect? Yes, we know you see the best in everyone, because you saw the best in all of us. Always have. Even when we didn’t deserve it.”
He leans back so he can see my face, cupping his hand on my cheek. His gaze on mine is affectionate. “We all love you just the way you are.”
He’s so sweet that relief floods through me, and I could cry. Being loved like that is the most amazing thing.
“Van will probably have something sarcastic and shitty to say,” he admits, “but he feels the same way.. He just can’t stop…Vanning.”
“We love him anyway,” I finish.
“Yes,” he admits, planting a kiss on the top of my head. “Even though sometimes I do want to kick his ass. Just recreationally, though. I always do love him.”
He puts his arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him as we head toward the house.
The two of us walk inside and I see Van, sitting on the couch looking sullen. His blond hair has widow’s peaks and there are lines around his gorgeous blue eyes, but Wilder is right, he’s still gorgeous.
I might just have a happy lifetime with these handsome men, at every age, ahead of me, if we can keep control of the gods forever.
Reid rubs his hand through his hair absently as he paces. When he sees me, his face brightens with relief.
“Sorry,” I say, realizing that they were all worried for me. “I teleported just outside.”
“We’re going to have to go put an end to this once and for all, you know,” Aiden says, the words seeming to rush out of his mouth.
“We will.” Mr. Time sags against the doorway, and even though he looks so old and tired, my heart leaps when I see him. My grandfather, still alive. He holds out his arm to me, and I rush to him. When he loops his arm over my shoulders, the scent of his aftershave washes over me, warm and comforting. He gives me a squeeze, and I’m not sure if he’s comforting me or I’m holding him up.
Maybe both.
Mr. Time goes on, “Our missing piece should be delivered in the morning.”
“That changes everything,” I say. Then I hesitate, chewing my lip, thinking of how much danger my men were in today. “If you’re willing to try to take their powers and not just kill them. If not, I’ll go alone.”
“Oh, knock it off,” Van grumbles. “You know we’re on your side, Izzy. Even if you’re too damned nice.”
His words light a warm glow in my chest, but I don’t show that.
“You are the cutest grouchy old man,” I tell him.
He cocks a finger at me. “Then come sit on Daddy’s lap.”
I let out a laugh; I can’t help it. No matter how dark things get, these men light up my world.
“Let’s get some rest tonight,” Mr. Time says. “We’ll take turns keeping watch, because they might attack when they think we’re weak. We’ll strike as soon as we can. Without their gods, they’ll just be…twisted people. Maybe they can even be redeemed.”
He doesn’t sound hopeful, but he squeezes my shoulders one more time. As if maybe my hope is contagious.
Chapter Thirty-One
Van
I’m relieved to be back to my old self. I sit beside the fire as the evening grows colder. I was far from being a good cook, but I’d manage to make some hot chocolate for all of us, and now we were gathered in random spots around the living room. All of us quiet.
“I need to…to say something.”
I turn to look at Reid. He sits on the couch next to Izzy, and his expression is thoughtful.
“I wasn’t sure if I should. I didn’t know if it’d make things harder…”
“Spit it out,” I say, sounding irritated, but beneath that I’m actually worried. With all the shit that is going on, what could possibly make Reid seem more nervous?
He stares down at his hands. “So…you guys know Hel and I aren’t like you. She doesn’t necessarily want to be in charge. She isn’t fighting me constantly. She’s more like…a friend…or the voice in the back of my mind that warns me of things she knows more about than I do. But, we also sometimes have dreams together--”
“Dreams?” Aiden laughs. “You share dreams with your god?”
Izzy lightly snaps Aiden’s shoulder. “Let him finish.”
Aiden sighs and leans back on the couch. “Okay, brother, tell us about these shared dreams.”
Reid nods and keeps talking. “Hel showed me the Underworld recently. She told me the creatures are drawn to Hel, so now they’re drawn to me, and that if I don’t return to the Underworld soon, the undead will come to Earth.” He finally looks up, and for some reason he’s looking at me. “If we’re not able to funnel our powers away, I might have to spend the rest of my life in the Underworld. And if I do, I’m never going to be able to see any of you again.”
Izzy gasps and grabs his hand. “What are you talking about? No matter what, we’re always going to be together.”
And I realize why he’s looking at me. He knows I’m the only one who is enough of an asshole to tell everyone what needs to be said.
“The Underworld is a dark and terrible place,” he continues, “if you went there, it’d change you forever. If I go, I won’t have you come down to see me.”
Aiden rolls his eyes, but with how tensely he sits now, he’s not fooling anyone. “We’ve seen a lot of bad things, Reid, we can handle the Underworld. And that’s if we’re willing to just accept this whole, you have to stay in the Underworld thing, which we’re not even going to consider. We’re gods. If we have to fight some undead creatures to keep you here, that’s what we’ll do.”
Reid looks at me, desperation in his eyes.
“He’s right,” I say. “If we can’t get the gods out of us, we can’t risk the whole world just because we want to stay together. Reid will have to go to the Underworld, if that’s the case, and we’ll have to let him go.”
“Van!” Wilder looks at me like I’m an asshole.
“Absolutely not,” says Izzy, glaring at me.
I don’t back down. I know we all love Reid, me included. I could bear the Underworld for him, but I don’t think he could live with himself if Izzy and the others had to leave life behind and go to a terrible place, just for him.
“I guess we make sure we’re able to get the gods out of us. No sense crying about what could happen now.”
Izzy draws her legs to her chest, looking lost.
Aiden speaks, as
if to himself. “It’s weird to know that tomorrow we could be just…normal again.”
“It’d be a relief,” Wilder says, softly. “But it’d also be strange to be powerless again.”
Izzy looks at Wilder. “Honestly, I don’t think we were ever really as powerless before as we thought we were. And now, we don’t have to be at the mercy of the adults in our lives. We can be free. We can be safe and together. Does anything actually matter beyond that?”
She’s absolutely right. I hate the idea of losing the god inside of me in so many ways. Since the moment we’d gotten these powers, it’d been one challenge after another, but it was nice to have the magic to handle them. The idea that we might actually be able to go back to a normal life, with the added benefit of having godly powers, is kind of nice.
But maybe I was foolish to believe that, even for a minute. I think if we keep our powers, there will always be more trouble, more problems, and at this point, all I want is a life with Izzy and my friends.
This woman has done crazy things to me, because instead of wanting to explore the world as some rich asshole, I want to buy us all a house. Even if my parents hadn’t given me another penny, the trust fund my grandparents left would be enough to give us all a normal life. Pay for our colleges. Our living expenses.
These people who had been with me through thick and thin could finally have stability. I could give it to them.
And wasn’t that better than slinging around a sword?
I can’t help but smile. “We don’t need the gods’ powers. We just need each other.”
Izzy actually smiles back at me, some of her worry fading away. “Then now all we need to do is win.”
And we would win. We would win so Reid didn’t have to go to the Underworld. We would win so that the dangers of being gods would fade. And we would win so I could give the people I love everything they deserve and more.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Izzy
Early the next morning, I find that I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about Thea and Oliver. Is Oliver okay? He barely participated in fighting against us; I can’t imagine Viggo and the others appreciated that. Viggo might have lost his powers, but he might still be able to command Connor and Barret.
And my father…the man who killed my mother. I keep seeing his face again, and it makes me sick to think about him.
And I hate thinking of Thea still trapped with him, still his tool.
Dawn hasn’t even broken yet, but I finally climb over the guys and go downstairs, so my tossing and turning won’t ruin their sleep.
I find Mr. Time in the kitchen, tinkering with the coffee maker. I glance out the dark windows at the night outside, then turn to him with a frown. “Are you all right? Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“I’m fine,” he promises. “It was almost intriguing to age, once I realized it wasn’t going to kill me. Thanks to your quick thinking.”
“What are you, anyway?” I ask.
“Complicated,” he says. “Just like you.”
He hands me a cup of coffee fixed just the way I like it, and I take a long sip.
“What are you doing up?” I ask.
He grins and holds up the box--now with a second piece attached to it, one that reminds of a funnel. It looks as if it's made of gold and etched with runes.
“Are you sure it’ll work?”
“Yes,” he says. “Now we can separate the gods from you. Trap them inside.”
Loki’s whispers crawl up the back of my throat; he hates the idea of being locked away.
“What will happen then?”
“These things are indestructible, so we’ll hide them and hope someone like Viggo doesn’t ever find them again.”
“I mean…what happens to us?”
“Are you having second thoughts?” Mr. Time frowns. “I need you--the whole world needs you--to keep your gods until you’ve stopped Barret and Connor and Thea. But then, it would be safest if you gave your gods up too… You’ve come so far in managing them, but if one of you ever slips...”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “No second thoughts. Loki, despite his best intentions, has taught me so much…helped me find who I really am…but I’m ready to live my life without him.”
“You were always amazing, Izzy,” my grandfather assures me. “Now you just know yourself better.”
The two of us trade a look full of love.
And then it seems like the wall that overlooks the sea explodes in. The noise is so loud that it leaves my ears ringing and the ground shakes under my feet.
Mr. Time staggers sideways, both of us trying to catch our balance from the blast. He pushes me ahead of him out of the kitchen, shielding me with his body.
A second blast rattles the house, but this time, the wall cracks open behind us. The kitchen is torn open as water slams into the house like a typhoon.
“Take the box,” Mr. Time says, pressing it into my hands. “You can stop them.”
I nod, intent on doing just that.
The guys are suddenly downstairs too, half-dressed. “What’s going on?” Van demands.
“We’re under attack,” Mr. Time says, and Van’s sword is suddenly in his hand.
“Good,” he says. “Let’s end this.”
The five of us move out to face the other gods, leaving the watery wreckage of the castle behind us.
When we run outside, Connor is waiting right by the door. He grabs Wilder because he’s the first one out, immediately trying to drain him. Van slams his sword into Connor, who staggers back, and the two of them begin to fight instead.
I open up my box with the funnel attached and turn it on Connor. The golden glow that swirls out captures them both, and my heart is instantly in my chest, afraid that I’m going to hurt Van too. The two of them battle furiously and then suddenly--the golden glow fades.
Van’s sword is gone. Connor faces him with a confused look on his face. Connor dives at him, manages to get a hand on his throat--and it does absolutely nothing. Van just looks annoyed. The two of them fight in earnest. Thea was right about all their training. Connor is a good fighter--but no one compares to pissed-off Van.
“Over here!” Reid shouts as he faces off with Barret, who has transformed into some kind of sea monster, although he seems to be struggling on land. I toss the box to him, and Reid catches it smoothly. He turns the box on Barret and a golden glow suffuses him.
“Izzy.” It’s Viggo’s low, smooth voice. My father, back again.
I turn to find him with a knife to my sister’s throat.
“You’ve already tried this trick once before,” I remind him. My gaze locks on hers. Does she look genuinely scared, with her wide eyes? Or is she tricking me again?
Maybe I should be smarter than this by now, but the look on her face still tears at my heart.
“It’s not a trick this time,” he warns me. “I never really loved her, as much as she wanted me to. But Izzy, maybe I could love you.”
“If you’d ever been capable of loving anyone, you would have loved her,” I tell him.
He suddenly throws her away from him, and he strides toward me.
I’ve never killed anyone except when I was fighting for my very life, and I find myself hesitating when he stops a few feet away.
“Izzy,” he says, his voice suddenly almost gentle. “I didn’t want to kill your mother. I just missed you and Thea so much. I was searching for you because I wanted to raise you. Can't you understand that? My own daughters. How was it right for her to take you away?”
“She was trying to protect us,” I say quietly. “And now I understand that, because I’d do whatever it takes to protect Thea.”
Suddenly my knife is in my hand, and I cross the ground between us in a few quick steps and bury it in his gut.
His eyes widen with surprise. As blood slips from his mouth, he rasps, “She would never do the same for you.”
“Maybe,” I say. “But I wish things had been different. This is t
he closest I can come to ever making things different.”
I turn around to see Thea call across the yard, “Reid! I need it!'' She sounds just like me, and suddenly I realize she’s dressed in jeans and a tee, like me, wearing her hair differently. My sister should have been Loki; she’s taken my trick that I played on Oliver and turned it back on us.
And before I can do anything, Reid tosses the box to her, just as smoothly as we’d tossed it between us a moment before when we working as a team.
I scream to Reid, but it’s too late. Thea grips the box. “How do I turn things back?” she demands.
Barret is at her side, and he starts to snarl at her, “You better figure out how to fix this--”
He rips the box out of her hands, tearing off the funnel. “You did this,” he snarls at me. “You can be trapped forever with your asshole gods.”
He aims the box at me and I feel myself start to zap away into nothingness.
Thea slaps the box out of his hands. Even she looks shocked at herself, but that’s nothing compared to the look on Barret’s face. Even before he goes for the box, he hits her.
And that’s his mistake.
Aiden and Reid dive at him in tandem. Reid goes low, gets the box and the funnel, and rolls away with it. Aiden, on the other hand, just takes Barret down. The two of them tumble over and over each other, getting in punches, trying to pin the other.
Thea watches in shock.
I still don’t know what to make of my sister, but I know what I want to believe.
But still, none of us need these powers.
When Reid tosses the box to me, his gaze says, do whatever you think is best. I trust you. And that’s what makes the choice easy for me. His faith in me.
I slam the funnel onto the box and turn to my sister. “I’m sorry,” I tell her, right before the golden glow washes over her.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Izzy
The golden light fades, and Reid shouts for the box. I throw it to him, and Thea falls in front of me. Not in pain. But in shock. I can see it written across her face. She lifts her hands as if to call forth her powers, but nothing happens.
Mayhem for Suckers Page 13