I walked Chester in a torrential downpour around midnight as lightning flashed and the temperature rose. I barricaded the front door afterward.
According to the books I’d hauled over from Hale Manor, Gaia was also known as Mother Earth. She was the first of the gods and she’d created herself out of chaos. Her fertility was so amazing, or horrifying, she’d created everything else from her womb. I rolled onto my back and hefted a book into view. “Go home, mythology. You’re drunk.”
The pages smelled of mildew and insanity. I flipped to the lineage pages. Gaia was Zeus’s grandmother. “Wow.” I found the story of Zeus and rolled onto my tummy. His mother had had him in secret because his father kept swallowing their babies out of fear one would grow up to be more powerful than him. When Zeus was born, his mom fed his dad a stone wearing a blanket instead of Zeus.
I dropped the book on my bed and let my arms fall to my sides. I’d read this before in fiction form but never dreamed of its accuracy. My favorite middle school series centered on the Olympians. If I’d known then I was reading about my grandpa… Yikes.
My phone buzzed. Liam. I poked the screen harder than necessary. It’d taken him hours to respond to my text. Good thing Zeus showed up at Dad’s house and not a Stian.
“Sorry. With Mason. Come over later?”
Pft! I tossed the phone on my pillow and went back to researching the relationship between Zeus and Gaia. He didn’t deserve a response. Where was he when I needed him? Sadly, it was a literal question. Where the hell was he lately? I gritted my teeth. Even Justin had deserted me. Until three hours ago, I’d never dreamed of a day he’d leave. Hadn’t he sworn the opposite? What was wrong with the men in my life? My chest ached with pent-up emotion. Images of Dad’s lying face came to mind. Justin was as blinded by Nym as Dad had been by Ginger. Maybe I had been blinded by Liam. Maybe my novelty had worn off for him and he’d found better things to do with his time.
I slammed the book shut and reopened it a few times. I suppressed the urge to scream and refocused on my studies, one thing I could control. Where was I? Oh, yeah, Zeus’s dad ate his siblings.
When Zeus grew up, he’d returned to face his father. He made his dad puke up the others, who had apparently grown up, and they’d joined Zeus in a war against their dad’s army of Titans. Zeus won.
I settled against my pillows and rested the book on bent knees. My mind wandered to Liam and his too-late text. Where had he been and what was he up to? He used to respond immediately. I rubbed my temples. It was my fault. Our relationship had developed too fast. Maybe it had to do with my transformation. Maybe the Fates had known I’d die and my change had begun before I met Liam. Whatever the reason, I was still Callie enough to know we’d moved too fast and it was stupid. I’d fallen for someone I barely knew. Maybe I’d learned how to be stupid from Dad.
I repositioned the book on my legs. Dwelling served no one. I needed to stop worrying about Liam and start figuring out what we were facing. If I’d learned anything from mythology, it was that we couldn’t outrun our fate.
Prime example: Zeus’s dad had been right. One of his kids had grown up to take over. Zeus had given his siblings rule over the dominions and created Olympians. Excitement bubbled through me. I knew a little about Olympians.
I traced the golden scroll along the page’s edge and turned the page. The next header sent chills racing down my spine: Gaia’s Revenge. I squinted at the words, hoping to cushion whatever horrific thing came next. Gaia had been enraged by the changes Zeus made, so she gave birth to a race of giants who attacked the Olympians and lost. It made sense that he would hold a grudge. He hadn’t done anything to Gaia. How could he have known she’d be so upset? Then again, what if he had? Would he have chosen not to confront his father for the sake of her feelings?
Nostalgic of her to choose giants again.
There were no stories of frost giants. Good thing I had Google.
I hopped off my bed, ignoring the green glow of numbers on my clock. Sleep had to wait. Wind blustered around my window, rattling the pane and threatening to crack the glass. Sheets of rain filtered the moonlight. I peeked out the window, remembering Liam’s warning. If Tom was ever missing from his post, it was time to worry.
Tom and his brothers stood in the November hurricane dressed like deep sea fishermen. Their plastic coats puffed and beat in the wind as the storm raged against them.
I sighed and stuffed my feet into tube socks. We weren’t the only place in town with Internet. I bundled up, grabbed my shoes and umbrella from the front hall, and dashed out the front door before Chester begged for another walk.
The Mahonings appeared before I cleared the last porch step. “Everything okay, boss?”
“No. Not at all. Can I use your Internet?”
The alarm in their faces faded. “Certainly.”
We traipsed through sodden grass, past the cornfield separating our homes, and into Hale Manor. Puddles formed at our feet as we discarded rubber boots, coats, and ponchos. The yeasty scent of ale mixed with something heavenly and tart. “Is someone making apple cider?”
Mason rushed from the kitchen, wearing an apron and oven mitts. “What’s happened?”
“She’d like to use the Internet.” Mark moved toward a couch near the fireplace.
Mason maintained his stiff posture, blocking the kitchen doorway and staring. “Is everything okay?”
“No.” The Mahonings and I answered in unison.
I stepped toward the kitchen. “What can you tell me about frost giants?”
Mason waved the Mahonings off and stepped aside for me to join him in the kitchen. I followed on a whiff of enchantment and stopped at the shocking sight before me. Every flat surface brimmed with pies, turnovers, and bowls of apples in every color. A cauldron of cider warmed on the stove, complete with floating cinnamon sticks and circles of oranges inside. Liam sat on a stool at the island.
Mason waved at the bounty. “Help yourself. Nike taught me to bake through the stress.”
I averted my gaze from Liam, who reeked of guilt, and hadn’t, apparently, had two available seconds to text me about his return. “Why do you have stress?”
Mason’s gaze flicked to Liam before settling on me. He removed his oven mitts but didn’t answer.
Fine. If I couldn’t find a peaceful conversation with Mason, maybe Liam felt like a talk. “When did you get back?”
“Just now.”
“How’d it go?”
“Well.”
“Why are you feeling so guilty?”
He exchanged a pointed look with Mason. “I should’ve texted you sooner, but I needed a minute to myself. I’m feeling bad that you caught me at home before I had a chance to tell you I was back.” The cadence and tenor of his voice mystified and relaxed me.
“Don’t do that.” I waved a hand in his direction.
“Do what?”
Fire burned in my tummy. “Don’t use your influence on me to try to relax me. I’m pissed off and I have a right to be. You put me to sleep the last time we spent any time together. What is going on? Where do you keep disappearing to and why did you lie to me?”
“When did I lie to you?”
I counted to five before speaking. Pull it together, Ingram. I shook my hands out hard at the wrists. “You said you’d include me in your decisions. You promised you’d talk to me about whatever it is you’re doing. We’re supposed to be partners. To brainstorm. Discuss strategies and possible courses of action. You lied.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You lied by avoiding me after saying you’d include me. How am I supposed to trust you? What am I supposed to think about your constant absence from my life? What does that mean to us.”
Liam pulled the stool beside him away from the island. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s talk. First, tell me why you want to know about frost giants? And what happened to your Internet?”
“My Internet’s
fine and so is my brain. Do you think I didn’t notice you avoiding my questions?” Again.
He lowered his voice and leaned toward me. “Maybe that conversation should be done in private. Can we discuss this at another time?”
My gaze snapped away from Liam. Mason busied himself stirring the cider and rearranging pastries, directing his eyes anywhere but toward us. I had a good idea “another time” meant “never.”
“Fine. I’m here because I hate the Mahonings standing outside in this mess. I figured if I used your Internet, they could watch me from inside, where it’s warm and dry.”
“And the giants?”
I exhaled long and slow. “None of the books I borrowed have any information about them.”
Mason shoveled a puff pastry onto a plate and delivered it to me with a mug of cider. “Frost giants are Norse legends. You only borrowed books on Zeus and Calypso. They’re Greek.”
“I have a book with Ragnarok. That’s Norse, isn’t it?”
He crinkled his brow. “Yes. Did you look in that one?”
I slumped, folding my arms on the table and resting my head atop. “I forgot about that one. I shoved it in my closet after reading a chapter that gave me nightmares.”
Liam nudged me to sit up. “Why the interest in frost giants?”
I stalled, unsure how to deliver the news and irritated he wasn’t with me to know firsthand.
“Just say it.” His sincere green eyes flashed with concern. “You can tell me anything.”
I squelched the urge to point out he told me nothing.
“Zeus showed up at Dad’s girlfriend’s memorial and told me we have to fight the frost giants and win. He made a bet with Gaia or maybe he just wants to piss her off. I don’t know why. We just have to.” And we were going to die.
Stunned silence filled the room. I put my head back down.
Oliver strode into the kitchen, whistling. “What happened in here? You all look like someone died.” He yanked the massive refrigerator door open and froze. “Did someone die?”
“No,” I muttered against my arm, “but we’re all about to.”
Oliver closed the refrigerator.
Mason explained the situation while Oliver cursed for five minutes. “She’s not ready for a battle and we can’t battle without her.” He pulled his hair until his cheeks turned red. “What happens if we refuse?”
I lifted my head and batted tired eyes at Liam. “You aren’t going to like it.” I told the whole story without stopping. Confessed the promise I’d made with Zeus and the repercussions of failure. The humility and shame of knowing they knew what I’d done, how selfish I’d been, and what my choices would cost them was like a vise on my heart. “I am so incredibly sorry.”
An idiotic tear rolled free of one eye. What a strong leader I was. No wonder three men had left in two weeks. When the others heard what I’d promised Zeus, they’d leave in droves. Forget the one-at-a-time method. They’d run for the door, maybe looking up the Stians on their way out.
Liam’s strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me to him and surrounding my heart with protection. He covered my fear with acceptance. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He spoke into my ear. “I am truly sorry about the other thing. You asked what my behavior means to us. It means old habits are hard to break and given the opportunity to spare you a moment of unhappiness, I’m quick to act and slow to think. Can you forgive me?”
I pressed my cheek to his chest, inhaling the peace. “Maybe. Right now I think we need to call a meeting.”
Mason gathered a few key men in the kitchen and caught them up on what we knew. I asked the Mahonings to join us. Maybe Tom’s time spent as a soldier could help us plan a strategy. The group worked like a team, offering and analyzing moves. No one complained about the situation. Everyone was ready to battle.
Mason paced at the head of the table. “If there’s any good news, it’s that the giants are familiar stories. Our books are riddled with information on their race. We know their history and their capabilities. The bad news is frost giants are known for their great intellect. They aren’t overgrown trolls from storybooks. They’re clever and strong, and let’s not forget their control of our weather.”
Tom crossed his arms. “They control the weather? That’s why we faced multiple seasons today?”
Mason nodded. “They have influence over nature. They’re said to move mountains and create lakes. In those ways, they’re much like gods.”
Tom was unfazed. “Can we win?”
“Yes,” I interjected. We had to win. “Zeus told me to get with my partner and set a plan of attack. He said to come at them before they knew he told us they were here.”
Liam glanced at Mason.
Mason raised his hand. “Let’s break into groups and look at some smaller components. I’ve compiled a few lists as we spoke.” He passed the papers around the island.
Tom assigned teams and leaders. He took a head count and sent his brothers, Mark, Paul, and Lars, out to scout for a sign of the giants’ hideout while the others worked on a strategy.
At dawn, the adrenaline and caffeine wore off.
I woke with a red mark on my forehead where I’d fallen asleep at the dining room table going through attack formations with Oliver. Plastic army men on the grid represented giants. Vikings were checkers. Hopefully, the size difference wasn’t to scale.
“Hungry?” Zoe set a tray of steaming breakfast foods on the table.
I rubbed dry, stinging eyes and wiped my mouth free of drool. “When did you get here?”
“Not long ago. We came when we heard. If you aren’t hungry, you’d better move.”
Thunder rolled across the ceiling and the floor trembled beneath my chair. Two dozen Vikings arrived in the dining room looking eager and ravenous. I grabbed a blueberry muffin the size of my head with both hands and jumped away from the table as my men descended upon it, mounding pancakes, eggs, sausages, and breads on serving trays for plates.
A jumble of salutations lifted through the air as they worked their ways around the table. “Morning, princess. Hey, boss. Good morning, Queen.”
“Hey.” I lifted my muffin in acknowledgement and ducked into the kitchen for coffee.
Mason stood at the counter, filling mugs with coffee and lining them on the island behind him. Men moved past the island in cafeteria formation, toting overfilled trays in one hand and grabbing coffees with the other. “Morning, Callie. How’d you sleep?”
I wrenched my body upright. “I think I have a hunchback.” Everything hurt from the waist up, and my feet were asleep.
Mason poured another cup. “Coffee?”
I patted the island, pretending I couldn’t see without it, which wasn’t far from the truth. He bumped a cup against my fingertips. “Thanks.” A few sips later, the haze of sleep cleared and reality set in. “Why’d you let me sleep here? My mom’s going to kill me for being out all night.”
“No.” He waved a batter-coated spatula. “You were better protected here. Liam used your phone to text your mother at five, telling her you were going to swim.”
I checked my phone. No responses. “She and Justin’s mom emptied Dad’s bar of champagne. I guess she might still be asleep.”
Liam appeared in the line, rounding the corner from dining room to kitchen. He inched along with the masses for his coffee. “Good morning.”
“Hey.”
“Sleep well?”
“I would’ve been more comfortable in bed, but that could be my lack of coffee talking.” I pressed the cup to my lips. The line stopped to stare and I cringed. “I didn’t mean his bed. I meant my bed or any bed. Look. I can barely turn my head now.”
A gleam of mischief in Liam’s eyes heated my cheeks. “Something wrong with my bed, love?”
Yes. I wasn’t invited up to it, but whatever. I groaned internally. No. Not whatever. Who left their girlfriend face down on a battle map all night? I opened my
mouth to say so, but his ornery expression had morphed into something sullen and despondent. Something I recognized and hated. “You’re keeping something from me.”
Liam grabbed a coffee and walked away.
Zoe and another nymph, Hayley, entered the kitchen with multiple empty trays. “We’re out of streusel. Can you help?”
I refilled the empty trays from a set of full baking sheets on the counter. “Do you come here every morning to help with breakfast?”
Hayley arranged the hot streusel as I piled them on her empty tray. “Oh, we help with all the meals.”
“Because you want to?”
She nodded quickly, bouncing blond curls off her cheeks. “Helping them is helping you, and we want to be useful to you however we can. We owe you our freedom.” A blush scorched her cheeks.
The nymphs had served the Vikings for millennia. Punishment for the crimes of my mother, Calypso, who’d had the humbleness to name me after herself. Bio Mom had once held a married man captive on her island until Zeus sent Hermes the messenger to free him. Good for the guy. Not so good for Hermes. Nymphs were hard to resist, and Hermes fell in love with her, too. Here I was. The secret love child of a demigod and the mother of all water nymphs.
I smiled at Hayley, who’d lost a bit of zeal. “I wish you didn’t feel indebted to me. I did what anyone would have. Slavery is against the law in my world, and women and men are equal.”
She began to protest, but I raised a hand and she stopped. I dropped my hand. “Sorry. You can talk. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Fine. Then know I really appreciate you. All of you.” I dragged my gaze over each staring face in the crowded room. “As long as you’re here because you want to be and not out of habit or guilt, then I’m good. You really are free.” I hoped the Vikings heard what I didn’t have the guts to say. They could leave, too, and I wouldn’t blame them. I’d understand and cheerfully pack them a lunch. Staying with me to fight giants who influenced nature was nuts. Big, salty nuts.
The coffee line moved again. Why had Liam run away? To avoid me? My tummy churned. We were kind of stuck together forever or until one of us got our head chopped off. If we were breaking up, this was going to be awkward.
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