by S. E. Babin
She slapped my hand away. “Focus. God is going to figure out very soon we aren’t his puppets anymore. And when he does, all Hell is going to rain down upon us.”
“Don’t you mean Heaven?” I asked with a snigger.
Clotho’s death glare made me press my lips together. I was glad she considered herself my friend because I didn’t think I would be long for this world if I didn’t shut up.
“Semantics,” she snapped. “So he can’t figure it out.” She stared at me meaningfully and I stared back at her blankly, not sure where she was going with it.
Clotho sighed and snarled something ugly about my parentage. “He can’t figure it out,” she said between clenched teeth, “so he won’t figure it out. Do you understand?”
I wrinkled my brow. “So you’re going to pretend to still be under his spell?”
Clotho threw her hands in the air. “There’s the brain! A sputter and a groan, but it’s finally firing on all cylinders!”
“Har,” I said deadpan. “Won’t he see right through that?”
Clotho gave me a wide grin. “We’re The Fates, Abs. There are no better actresses than us.”
I sat back and gave her a considering stare. “Tell me your plan, oh wise one.”
When she finished, I realized I needed to tell her what had transpired between Hermes and me. But I wasn’t sure if I should or if doing so would require her to interfere. Having a friendship with someone as powerful and entwined with destiny was difficult. Like should I put this hot dog on the bun or what if I drop it? Would dropping something upset the balance of the universe?
Of course, Hermes wasn’t a hot dog, but you get the point. Would telling her about Hermes force her to do something she never would have done or cause her to make a decision that would ultimately ruin us all?
I blinked a few times as I struggled to decide whether or not telling her would be right or….just catastrophic. When it involved me, you never knew which way the ball was going to bounce.
Her gaze narrowed as she saw my face going through the gamut of emotions.
“Abby?”
I gave her a weird smile and toyed with a strand of hair. “Mmmm?”
“Anything you want to tell me?” One eyebrow quirked up which told me she was getting annoyed with me but she wasn’t ready to eviscerate me. Yet.
“So...if I told you something that was going to change the course of Olympian history, would you be required to interfere?”
I didn’t think immortals could turn green, but that’s exactly what happened. A sick look overtook her face, she sucked in a breath, and then held up a hand. Before I could blurt anything out, she stood, shook her head violently and walked out. Just before the door slammed shut behind her, she squeaked out, “For the love of everything that is good and holy, please don’t tell me, especially since God isn’t off of our back yet. But please...please know what you’re doing, Abby.” She gave me one last look, sighed, and said, “I’m going to see Artemis. Don’t come after me, for the love of the gods. I don’t want to know.”
I didn’t have the chance to respond before she blinked into thin air.
“Well...crap,” I muttered.
Chapter 11
Hermes was shuffling outside of my door. I could feel his power seeping through the walls. I flung a pillow over my face and screamed into it before I got up to talk with him.
"I can hear you, you know," he said through the walls.
"I know. You're making life very hard on me."
His shout of laughter grated on my nerves only because I knew exactly what he was going to say next.
"I'm making life hard on you?" he hooted. "Shall we go back and examine the last year of my life?"
I sighed. "I really hate you today!"
"Open the damned door, Abby."
I snorted and slid my feet over the side of the bed. I padded over, clicked the door open and walked back to the bed. Flopping down, I slung an arm over my face.
"Please don't tell me anything dramatic or world ending. I'm not sure I or Baby Draco can handle it."
"I find it very disturbing you're still calling your baby Draco."
I rubbed my tummy. "Baby Draco is going to eat your face when he comes out."
Hermes sighed in annoyance. "The only thing dramatic here is you, Abby."
"'Tis true," I moaned. "Speak your peace and leave me be."
Hermes cursed under his breath and I heard him shuffling around. I took the arm off my face and studied him. He looked...unkempt. Which wasn't something I normally associated with my friend. Normally he was put together way better than I ever was. He hadn't bothered to shave or even send a wave of magic over his face. Sleep deprivation was evident by his rumpled clothes and slightly jittery hands. We might have been immortal, but stress could catch up to us. "Hermes?" I said softly.
He held a hand up as he slowly lowered himself into one of the plush armchairs by the door. Pulling my fuzzy blanket off of the corner, he covered himself up and leaned his head against the back of the chair.
Damn. He looked miserable. "You don't have to do this, you know."
"I do," he murmured. "I have to for Olympus. For myself. For...everything."
I sighed. "I think regardless of our personal decisions, the world is going to continue to turn with or without us."
"I feel this in my bones. I know it's the right step."
That godforsaken prophecy burned through my bones. Was my friend sacrificing himself in order to move it along? Or was he being genuinely moved by the hands of Fate? "Do you want some more time?"
He let out a ragged laugh. "Do we have some extra lying around here that we haven't already used yet?"
I changed the subject. "Clotho was here earlier."
He sat up straighter and stared at me through bloodshot eyes. "Clotho or demonspawn from Heaven Clotho?"
I smirked. "Not sure demonspawn come from Heaven, but okay. It was really Clotho."
His eyes widened. "Did you tell her?"
I took a breath.
"Oh God," he breathed out. "You did, didn't you? For the love of -"
"Hey!" I glared at him. "Do you really think I can't keep a secret like that?"
One golden brow rose.
I harrumphed and threw a pillow at him. "So what if I did tell her?"
Hermes scrubbed his hands over his face. "Then it's over."
I drew out the moment. That's what he got for doubting me.
"Gods, Abby. Of all the things I've ever told you, that's the one you leak to the Fates?" His face was ashen and his hands shook, and suddenly I felt very, very guilty.
"I didn't tell her," I blurted.
He blinked. "You..."
"Didn't," I said.
His lips pressed together for a moment and his nostrils flared in annoyance. "You let me believe -"
I laughed. "That's what you get for assuming I'm such a horrible friend."
Hermes stared at me. "Well gosh. Horrible friends would never do what you just did, would they?"
"Har har. You deserved it."
Hermes pulled the blanket tighter around him. "Thank you," he said.
"For being a horrible friend?"
A small smile peeked out at the corner of his mouth. "For not telling Clotho."
I frowned. "I don't know that I made the right decision."
"Neither do I," he said.
We sat there in companionable silence for awhile. When I looked back over at him, his head was slumped over and his mouth was slightly open. The Messenger god was fast asleep. In my bedroom.
Only me.
I slipped quietly out the door and padded down the hall only to run into Hades. "Hermes is asleep in the bedroom."
He blinked at me a couple of times. A frown slid over his features.
I held up a hand. "Relax. He's in the chair."
"Still odd he's in our room."
"Yes, but it's me. Are you surprised?"
He pulled me in for a hug and kissed the top of
my head. "Eventually I'll get used to the weirdness that is your life."
"Bet you won't," I muttered against his shirt.
His chuckle rumbled against my face. "Do we have a plan for the next couple of days?"
"Mmmm," I murmured.
"I take it that means no?"
I sighed. "This is going to be a disaster."
"Yep," he agreed.
I pinched his side.
We walked hand in hand down the hall until we reached the kitchen. Clotho, Artie, and Atlas were all sitting at the table drinking coffee. Artie raised her mug up at me and smiled.
I narrowed my gaze. She looked...different. Better. She waggled her eyebrows at me and pointed to Clotho, who said nothing and only gave me an enigmatic smile.
"Whatever," I muttered and wandered over to the cabinets to dig through them for two mugs. I made myself a cup and made Hades a cup of tea.
He turned his nose up at it because it wasn't fresh brewed. I made it with one of those handy instant cups and while I knew he hated it when I made him tea like that, sometimes time was of the essence...and sometimes I didn't feel like brewing tea.
Wife of the Year. That was me.
He took a sip and grimaced.
I shrugged a sorry and made room for both of us at the table.
"Two days," I started. I gave Clotho a long look. "You might want to leave."
"Crap," she said with feeling.
Artie gave me a strange look. "You aren't going to tell her?"
Clotho vanished without saying another word.
"Nope." I took a sip of my coffee. "Hermes is set on his course. Nothing I said to him dissuaded him."
Atlas took in all of our expressions. Even though I hadn't included him in my deal with Hermes, I told him anyway.
When I was finished, he sat back in his chair, his face thoughtful. "All of you people are a hot damned mess. You do realize this will mean war?"
Every single one of us, including Hades nodded.
He snorted in amusement, his handsome face struck in an expression of awe. "Crazy. The lot of you." He took us all in. "Count me in. I swear I've never had this much fun just observing before."
"You won't be observing anymore," Hades remarked. "This one is going to be all hands on deck. Are you ready?"
Atlas cracked his knuckles. "Are you kidding? I've been ready for a brawl for years."
I shook my head. "This will be more than a...brawl," I said.
He shrugged a powerful shoulder. "I've been imprisoned to the gods for centuries, and even though being indentured to you hasn't been bad at all, I'd rather have the chance to do something. Anything."
Pity roared through me. "I will set you free as soon as I can," I said as my gaze slid to Hermes. He nodded.
Atlas didn't miss the exchange, but I wasn't sure if he understood the significance of it. Soon I would be the one making the decisions. Soon I would hold all of the burdens.
Soon...my life was going to super suck.
Chapter 12
It was the day of the coronation. Or...the second coronation. The one where Hermes was required to suck up to everyone and try to unite them. But...it wasn't quite going to go that way thanks to Hermes and his late night mental crisis a few days ago.
I was currently inside of my bathroom throwing up vital organs. At least it seemed that way. I wasn't sure if it was just the baby or nerves, or a combination of both. Today would be the day Hades and I would make a decision that would forever change our world. But not just ours. It would change everyone's, and I was ill prepared for it.
Normally when involved in something like this, I was nervous but usually stayed pretty positive.
This one, though...it was making me ill. Very ill. As in I wasn't sure if this decision was going to work out in our favor. At all. But what else could we do? We could either choose to support our friend or we could let him fall horribly. If we chose the second one, it would be even worse, and I would never forgive myself for it.
Hades was holding my hair back and rubbing soothing circles around my back because he was the best hubby ever.
But he was also trying to talk me out of this whole thing.
"We still have time to back out. We can have Baby Draco. We can hole up here for the rest of eternity -"
"It's dark down here," I groaned before I got right back to the business of hurling.
I couldn't see him frown, but I knew him well enough to know it was thunderous. "I can make it sunny."
"It still wouldn't be the sun. What about Vitamin D?"
"Vitamin D..." A long deep sigh came out of my husband. "Have your forgotten that Olympians don't need Vitamin D?"
"No," I said grumpily, my hands clasping both sides of the toilet bowl. "But the sun is nice."
He snorted in frustration. "Then I'll steal the sun."
"And kill all the humans?"
Hades growled. "For God's sake, woman..."
"I'm scared," I said suddenly.
The circles on my back stopped. My husband sat stone still. "Me too."
"Are you really? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?" I said into the toilet.
"Both," he answered.
"This is insane," I whispered.
"Yes."
"Completely certifiable. We are about to make a decision we can never, ever take back."
"Yes," he said again.
"Is it worth it?" I asked, my hair soaking wet and lying against my scalp.
"Maybe," my stoic husband said. "Maybe not."
"You aren't helping," I groaned.
"Any decision that will cause such a drastic change cannot be predicted. Chaos will reign because it's abrupt and unexpected." Hades pulled an errant strand of hair that had escaped back into his hands. "If Hermes believes he is acting as a force of good, then we have to act as friends and allies do."
"I don't know if I can go through with this," I murmured.
"Darling, you have to. We're committed up to our eyeballs."
"I hate Hermes right now."
"Considering I'm listening to my wife wretch up her guts over this, I have to agree with you."
The spasms finally subsided and I laid my head against the cool bowl. Thank goodness everything was clean. "I'll be ready to go in about an hour."
Hades released my hair and gave me a final pat on the back. "I'll let everyone know."
I nodded and listened as he left me in the bathroom alone with my misery.
"Baby Draco," I whispered as I struggled to sit up, "do you think this is the right thing?"
The dragon baby did not respond or even so much as flutter.
Super.
Even my kid wasn't sure.
I slowly raised myself up, my hand resting on my stomach. Despite being super freaked out about my sudden illness because hellooo immortality, I didn't have time to do much contemplation over it.
We were two hours away from screwing up everyone's world in an insane effort to rebuild it.
I was newly married, newly pregnant, and possibly about to make myself thousands of new enemies.
So my day was going just super awesome. How 'bout yours?
I made it downstairs half an hour past the time I said I would. Normally I would have been subjected to groans and frowns, but today the atmosphere was one of tense concern. Artie came right up to me, held my face in her hands and peeled up one of my eyelids to look at my eyeball.
"Are you dying?" she asked, her purple eyes wide.
I snorted. "Pretty sure I'm not. Just feels like it."
I felt the weight of Hermes' stare upon me. My gaze turned to his. So many things in his eyes that I couldn't deal with. I set my shoulders, extricated myself from my friend's death grip and headed straight over to him.
I pulled him in for a hug and, to my surprise, he gripped me tightly. His shoulders shook a little. I wound my hand through his hair and whispered in his ear. "It will be fine. You will be fine. I promise."
His sigh stirred the hair ar
ound my ears. "I don't know that anyone is going to be fine."
I stepped back and squeezed his arms. "We will. Let's go screw some shit up."
My husband snorted and stood. "Eloquent as always. One of the many things I love about you." He stared at all of us. "Where's Hera?"
Hera had been absent for awhile, but I hadn't had too much time to worry about her. I had my own crap to worry about it.
A noise from the back of the room made us all turn. The person in question stood there, her normally pale face even more white, her lips bloodless. She nodded once at me. There was no anger anymore. Just deep resignation.
Hermes and Hera locked gazes and a whole world of silent communication took place between them. Eventually, she stepped over and took his arm. They disappeared seconds later.
Atlas gripped Artie's arm, I took Hades' and with a deep breath, we were out of the safety of the Underworld and into the unknown of Olympus.
Chapter 13
The sky wasn't falling when we blinked in, much to my surprise. We were a few hours early. Hermes had been in communication with the palace's staff, so there was much commotion when we arrived. In the great hall, massive tables were set up and overflowing with appetizers and drinks. I didn't have the heart to tell anyone that most of this would go to waste. Hermes couldn't even trust his kitchen staff right now, but he had to play it business as usual to keep from arousing suspicion.
I wasn't sure anyone was going to have an appetite after all was said and done.
"Goodness," Artie breathed. "May I?" she asked Hermes as she was already stretching out her hand.
"Might as well. Not sure how much will actually get eaten."
I still felt pretty green after my marathon vomiting session, so I stayed downwind of everything. I did, however, reach out and snag a glass of seltzer water to calm my stomach. Baby Draco wasn't moving around much today. Perhaps he was smart enough to be wary.
"You will stay behind me," Hades whispered in my ear.
"I will do no such thing," I whispered back.
My husband's sigh was one for the ages.