"Yes, we are," Cody agreed, placing the Armani sunglasses he had just bought on his face. Thor did the same and was surprised at how they blocked out the harsh light of the morning sun but did not hinder his vision. "And now to find that woman. What's her name, anyway?"
Thor looked at his friend. "Athena," he answered.
Cody pulled his sunglasses down low on his nose. "Athena," he repeated, staring at Thor over the rim of his shades. "Seriously?"
"I know," Thor said, taking off at a brisk walk. "She is not the sort of woman I would usually consort with. I do not like Olympians. However, I must find her so that she may lead me to that brother of hers, Ares. I owe that god an ass kicking that he won't soon forget."
Cody shoved his glasses back on his face. "Riiiight," he agreed. "Why not Olympians?" It was crazy. No, it was insane, yet Cody found himself strutting alongside Thor on Fifth Street in the heart of New York City, looking for the Goddess Athena. Who didn't do something completely insane for a friend, right? And really, who cared? They were dressed in Armani and strutting like a couple of peacocks with their plumes on display.
"Where would a woman go when she is frightened?" Thor asked him.
"Why’s she frightened?" Cody asked. "I think most would go to their parents or someone they trusted. Did you do something to this woman?"
Thor shrugged. "I told her of my intention to kill her brother and pillage her sky mountain. Anyone would fear that."
Cody knew there were all kinds of red flags in that statement, all of which he chose to ignore. "I bet she’s gone to see her brother already. A sister would warn her brother of danger."
"Even if she detests the very ground he stands upon?" Thor asked.
"Yep. It's the nature of siblings. I can kick my sister's ass but no one else better touch her." Cody waved at a young man who was checking them out. "It's the same with my sister. She wouldn't let anyone hurt me. She's actually kind of scary."
"Then how do I find that filthy pig brother of hers?" Thor asked, slowing down to admire a fountain with children playing around it.
"Well, what's his name?" Cody asked him.
"Ares."
"I'm not sure he would use that name on his property managements. Do you know of any other name he might use?" Cody already had his phone out, Google at the ready.
"Emma," Thor said. "I heard he married and moved into the suburbs."
"And Emma is his wife?" Cody asked as he was typing.
"I believe that is her name. That is all I know."
Cody decided to go about this another way. He pulled up public marriage records first. "Come on, I need to sit to do this," he said, taking a seat on a bench. Thor sat next to him, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. Cody refrained from giggling when Thor leaned back and then had to adjust for Mjolnir behind him. Sure enough, there was one Emma who got married in the last year. Her husband's name was Aaron. "Got it," he announced.
"Yes, we do," Thor said, rising to his feet. "She is here. I can smell her."
"I'm not sure that’s a good thing," Cody said, standing with his friend.
"Of course it's a good thing. Do you not smell that incredible aroma?" Thor breathed in deeply through his nose as if to prove his point.
"I smell the coffee shop down the street," Cody admitted.
"Come. We must go," Thor told him as he took off at a run.
Cody had to sprint to keep up with the man. He moved incredibly fast for someone his size. Soon, he saw the woman that Thor was referring to. She was standing at a vendor truck, ordering her breakfast, with her back to the men. Her long blonde hair reached the small of her back, and under her red dress, her legs went on forever.
"You there!" Thor shouted, pointing at her. "Woman!"
The woman's back stiffened and she turned around just as Cody and Thor caught up to her. "What have I told you about calling me—" she stopped to stare at Thor, her mouth still open. "That," she continued.
Cody got a real look at her and whistled. Her features were fine, high cheek bones and a petite nose—her eyes, dark blue, glared at Thor with unbridled hate. Her breasts were barely contained in the heart shaped bodice of her dress that only skated over the tops of her thighs. At the bottom, pointed red fuck-me heels completed her ensemble. "If I were a straight man," Cody breathed.
"You're off your mountain," Thor stated.
"You get smarter all the time," she retorted.
"You will take me to your brother," Thor insisted.
"No," she said. "And who is this?"
"Cody," Cody said, holding his hand out to her.
"This insufferable woman is Athena," Thor told him.
"My god," Cody said in awe.
"Goddess," Athena corrected him.
"I feel like I should bow. Should I bow?"
"No," Thor told him.
"Yes," Athena said.
Cody bowed at the waist, crossing his arm over his stomach.
"Stop that," Thor told him, grabbing his arm and yanking him back up.
"On your knees, human," Athena commanded.
Cody was helpless to stop himself from sinking to his knees in front of her.
"Woman!" Thor shouted, lifting Cody back to his feet.
"Stop calling me that!" Athena shouted.
"Stop forcing my friend to bow to you!" Thor shouted back.
"What are you gonna do? Threaten me with your mallet again?" She asked, cocking her hip to the side. "Where is that thing, anyway? Leave it on Asgard? Or did you drop it off the rainbow? Tell me you dropped it."
"Mjolnir is at my side, as always," Thor told her, retrieving the hammer from his belt. He held it up to show her.
"Guys," Cody finally spoke up. "Stop it. People are starting to stare." He was unsure how he managed to do it, but he had just walked himself into a whole world of crazy. Thing was, he wasn't so sure that it was crazy. "Are you really gods?"
"Goddess," Athena corrected him again. "And you are a hairless ape."
"Yes," Thor told him. "I have told you this several times. I think you may need to drink less mead."
Cody scratched his head. "This is insane," he muttered. "Come on guys, let's get somewhere else that has fewer people." He took off walking, hoping they followed him but not waiting around to see.
Thor watched his new friend walk away. He should follow him. He looked back at Athena. "We should go with him."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," she replied. "I just want to eat a pastry and drink my coffee in peace."
"But we have much to discuss," Thor told her. "I have to find your brother."
"Good luck with that," she retorted. She took off in the opposite direction, her high heels clacking against the sidewalk. Each step she took accented the fact that she was walking away from him. Again. Thor watched her go, enjoying the way her hips swayed from one side to the other. If it was a chase she wanted, then a chase she would get. He watched the goddess until she was out of sight before turning to find Cody.
He found him sitting on a stone bench at the entrance to a park. He was leaning over, his elbows on his knees. The sunglasses were tossed aside carelessly and Cody was shaking his head.
"I am sorry you had to witness that," Thor told him. "You are trying to help me and you didn’t deserve to be verbally accosted by that woman."
Cody didn't look at him, just stared at his feet. "Whoever wields this hammer shall possess the power of Thor," he said softly.
"Yes, that is the inscription on Mjolnir," Thor agreed, sitting down beside him. "What is going on?" He could tell something was wrong with his new friend.
"You're real," Cody said, lifting his head and looking at Thor with new eyes. "Amazing..."
"Yes, I am very amazing," Thor said, "But there is something wrong with you."
"So many things," Cody laughed, "But right now, I am sitting in a park with the God of Thunder!"
"Is that wrong?" Thor asked.
"You really don't understand any of this, do you?" Cody asked
. "Earth, I mean. You really don't know what a suit is, or was, and you really never rode in a cab before?"
"I thought we already established this," Thor told him. "Have you been spelled? Hit your head?"
"Nope," Cody said, jumping to his feet. He picked up his sunglasses and placed them back on his face. "I’m perfect. My new suit makes me look amazing, the sun is shining, and my new friend is the mother fucking God of Thunder!"
"I am not fucking a mother at this time," Thor told him. Cody looked at him and laughed. This time it was different, though. Before, Thor thought that Cody was laughing at him. Now, it was as if they shared a private joke and Thor laughed along with him. "Did you find something on your light box?" He asked.
"My what?" Cody asked, confused. "Oh this," he said when Thor pointed at his phone. "This is my phone. I can use it to call people or I can surf the web." When Thor looked confused, he continued. "It uses a signal to transmit information back and forth. Anyhow, I did find something. Where did Athena go?"
"She is playing hard to get," Thor told him. "She requires a chase."
"Then a chase you shall give her!" Cody agreed, using Thor's accent.
"I think you are making fun of me," Thor warned him.
"No way, man. This is the best day ever," Cody said. "Come on, we’ve got some more digging to do."
Thor rode on a subway train next. It was terrifying, but with his new friend to assure him that it was indeed safe, they made it to the public library. Thor had never seen so many books. "This is incredible," he said in awe. Bookshelves lined the walls on not one but three floors, towering into the sky, offering a wealth of knowledge unlike anything he had ever witnessed in his long life.
Cody went straight to the box shaped screens and began touching keys with his fingers. The box lit up and then the letters he typed appeared on the screen. Thor watched, soaking in all the information about this new Midgard that he could. Athena was obviously very comfortable there, and he needed to be as well.
"What are you doing?" Thor asked, watching over Cody's shoulder.
"You see, you can't just look up someone's private address," he said. "However, property sales are public. So, I am looking for someone named Emma who bought a house in the last year."
"Why would Ares not provide a suitable home for his woman?" Thor asked, disgusted.
"In this day and age, no one can buy something without a proper ID. Several, probably. With identity theft on the rise and credit fraud, it would be damn near impossible for Ares to buy it. He probably gave her the money and she signed all the legal documents." Cody scrolled through one screen after another. "By the way, why do you want to fight Ares?"
"He is a pig, a godless son of a whore," Thor told him.
"Okay, but what did he do to you? Personally, I mean?"
"It has always been war," Thor told him.
"But why are you so dead set on hurting him?" Cody asked.
"The God of War laid with our Goddess, Freya, many centuries ago," Thor explained. "For longer than I can remember, our tribes have been at war. And then, the One God cursed the Olympians for their petty ways. They were trapped in their own realm, unable to leave to interfere with humans or Asgard again. With the Olympians contained, there was no need for war. Now, it would seem that several gods of Olympus have managed to escape and Ares broke his curse. He has insulted and challenged me, and for that, he will pay."
"He raped your goddess?" Cody screeched. "Oh man."
"He did not rape her," Thor corrected him.
"So, she slept with him willingly," Cody mused, "but you still want to kick his ass."
"Yes," Thor said with a nod.
"Well, that's stupid."
"I am not!"
"Not you, but the idea of rekindling a war over something that happened with consent centuries ago is. Let it go man," Cody said. "It's not worth it."
"He has challenged me," Thor reminded him.
"How?" Cody asked. "By getting married?"
"No," Thor shook his head. "He told my brother that I was weak and spineless."
Cody raised a brow at him. "But you're Thor."
"Exactly!" he boomed.
"In my opinion," Cody told him, "That's not a good enough reason."
"Well, in my opinion you are a human who has been very helpful but on this, I'm afraid, I will not budge." Thor raised his head higher and looked around. "I will find Ares on my own."
"I'm truly sorry," Cody said, tucking his phone into his pocket. "I won't help you with that. I can't condone war."
Thor's face fell for a moment but then he resumed his signature look of determination. "I understand, my friend. We shall meet again." He held out his hand and when Cody would have taken it, Thor pulled him into a tight bear hug. He set him back and then turned to leave.
When Thor was out of sight, Cody sighed. He had to know. He pulled his phone back out and reminded himself of the address he needed to go to. Then, he stepped to the street and hailed a cab.
Chapter Ten
Loki moved under the cover of darkness into Freya’s chambers. The magical goddess was sleeping soundly, no doubt from the dram of sleeping potion he had slipped into her mead with dinner. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful as she slumbered. Moving closer to her, Loki noticed that her eyes danced behind her lids in a dream. It was now or never.
Keeping his feet silent, Loki walked quickly to her altar room where her seeing pond rested. The water was flat, calm and unmoving until Freya called for it to do so. With her gift of sight and Odin’s eye at the bottom of the pool, there was nothing the goddess couldn’t see—past, present, or future. It would not play well to his plans for her to see the truth. Not now.
Using a net made from the skin of a faery, Loki searched the bottom of the pool, being careful to move slowly and not to disturb the water more than necessary. Even though Freya slept, any sound could wake her. When the eye was safely in the net, Loki pulled it from the water and gently placed it into the box he had purchased from the dwarves. When he closed the lid, he said the only word that would lock or unlock it. “Fenrir,” he whispered. A glow enveloped the box for only a second, displaying the magic that would seal it.
As silently as he entered, Loki took leave of Freya’s chambers lest to wake her. Treasure in tow, he placed it in his pants pocket, and walked leisurely to the bridge.
Athena waited until she was far enough away so that Thor couldn't see her and then ghosted herself back to Ares's house. Instead of waiting for someone to let her in, she just ghosted into the living room. The house was quiet and for a moment, she thought it might be empty.
It was just as well. The second she saw him standing there in that Armani suit, her body reacted and lit up like a Christmas tree. Stupid dream. She was going to have to do something, anything, to distract herself from that man.
"What are you doing here?" Thanatos growled, appearing beside her. "Leave. Now."
"I can't," Athena said, jerking her head to the side to see him. "I need to speak to my brother."
"He isn't here," Thanatos told her.
"I can see that," Athena replied. "But I can't get to Olympus. You can."
"I promised him that I would protect Emma and that's what I intend to do."
"What the hell is going on now?" Emma asked coming out of the kitchen carrying a pint of ice cream and dropping to the sofa. She put her feet up on the coffee table. "Because really, I'm too tired to kick anybody's ass today."
"I must speak with my brother," Athena repeated. "It's not for my own benefit, trust me."
Emma lifted a spoon of double chocolate into her mouth. "Why would I ever trust you? I'm just not worried about you being here because the God of Death and his wife are here."
"You're married too?" Athena gaped at him. "How? And Who? And how?"
"You said that already," Thanatos told her. "My Sharalyn is out back right now."
Athena shook her head. "I don't understand how you guys are getting free."
"Ju
st go," Emma said from the sofa. "Get Ares back down here. I'll be fine."
"But," Thanatos started to argue.
"No. I'm not afraid of her and I want my husband back here." Emma said matter of factly.
"Are you sure?" Thanatos asked.
"Yes," Emma said again.
"Sharalyn is here if you need her," the God of Death reminded her before disappearing.
"I swear, I can't stop eating!" Emma exclaimed.
"That's because you're carrying the child of a god," Athena told her.
"Shut up," Emma grumbled. "I just can't believe how crazy I am. I'm sorry if I was a bitch to you." She began to tear up and sniffle. "I'm so damn emotional lately!"
The sniffles turned into a full-on water works session and Athena didn't know what to do. She hated it when women cried. It felt like she should do something. Anything. Athena shifted from one foot to the other and back again. Emma was bawling by that point. And did she just apologize? What a human thing to do!
"And my feet are huge and my belly's huge and my ass is huge..." Emma continued through her sobs. "I just want to feel normal again!"
Athena couldn’t handle it. She walked over to Emma and held out her hand. To do what? What was she supposed to do? She laid her hand on Emma's shoulder and patted her gently. "There, there," she said. Why did people say that? It sounded stupid.
Emma burst out laughing. "Thanks. You don't have to pretend to care. I'm just a wreck is all."
Athena found that she was offended. Of course she cared! Why would this human think any different? "I care," she said defensively. "I may not like you, but I care."
"Awesome," Emma said, getting her emotions together. "I don't like you either.
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