“Please make him listen. Let him understand,” she muttered to herself as she sent a nudge toward his forehead.
Thomas flicked a gaze toward the closed front door, then to the street before facing her again. “Who are you talking to?”
Of course he’d have heard that even though she’d barely whispered it. Thomas was clairaudient. The fact he’d heard her thoughts in the past convinced her to believe he was the man to face this challenge with her.
Holding his gaze, she pursed her lips and silently sent him her thoughts. Nod your head if you hear this.
Raising his brow to just below a what-the-fuck level, Thomas gave a terse nod of his head.
You can hear me even when I’m not speaking. It’s like you have a dog’s auditory capacity. Do you hear other people’s thoughts?
He squinted his eyes and an intense frown puckered his brow. He waited a moment then huffed out a breath. “No, just your thoughts. But you can’t hear mine.”
“Was that what you were trying to do just now? Speak to me without vocalizing?”
“Uh-huh.” He closed his eyes and leaned toward her.
“If you’re trying again, I’m getting nothing.”
“I was telling you I’d listen.” His glance slid sideways, then back. “I won’t guarantee I’ll believe. But I’ll try.”
Gesturing to a bench in the moonlit yard, she invited him to join her there. She moved past him and settled on the decorative seat. The semi-circle of concrete was cool beneath her bare legs. Looking expectantly up at him, she waited until he joined her. The bench was small, and his thigh brushed hers, igniting the familiar slow burn in her belly. Thomas cleared his throat as he scooted to his right, breaking the physical contact.
Yesterday, he’d have pulled her onto his lap. This morning, he would have rolled her onto her back and lifted her skirt above her hips. Now, it was as if he couldn’t bear the slightest touch.
Doing her best to ignore the hurtful sting zipping through her chest, she began. “Thomas.” She paused as she considered the best way to tell him of her past.
All of her pasts.
Fast and nothing but the facts was the best way to unload on a doubting Thomas. She blurted out, “I am Urania, the Muse of Astronomy, protector of celestial objects and stars.” Sharing that secret lightened her heart by half.
A skeptical frown spread over his face, his eyes remained hard. “Nice ice breaker.”
Maybe this would be harder than she thought. God, the statement sounded outrageous to her ears—it had to sound freaking insane to a man who doubted for a living.
She twined her fingers tightly together. “Not an ice breaker. Just the start to a story I know you’ll find hard to believe. But I’m telling you up front that every word, every detail, is the truth.”
He searched her face for a moment and must have seen sincerity in her expression. His shoulders dipped as he rocked forward and back a few times, deep in thought. His expression made it clear he thought her completely crazy.
Emptying his face of emotion, he asked, “A Muse, like a fictional being who inspired people to create art or music or literature?”
“We all have different spheres of influence. Mine is the heavens.”
“All? How many are you?”
“Nine. My sisters are Muses as well.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and fingers. “Are you immortal?”
“Yes and no.” She dug her nails into her thighs as she sought to explain. “We, my sisters and I, follow the age span of mortals. We share the same life cycle. We’re born, we live…we die. But we’re reborn with all of our memories intact.”
“Like reincarnation?”
“A little different. Reincarnation is something reserved for mortals. Only in rare cases does a mortal come back with memories of previous lives. When they surface, it’s what you’d call déjà vu.” She shifted in her seat, twisting to face him without closing the distance between them. “When a man dies, he can come back, but it won’t necessarily be as a man. Could be a bird, a woman, a horse, a dog…you get the idea.”
He nodded. “Is that why you told Ken he’d come back as a Doberman?”
“I told him that because he was being a jerk. Ken is my partisan. He comes back as a man in each life. His existence mirrors mine. Heck, I didn’t even know I had a protector until recently. Zeus has kept them hidden from us throughout the millennium.”
“Is Ken immortal as well?”
“Not exactly.” She heaved an exasperated sigh. She offered him details he might not need to know. “He’s mortal, but with special powers and abilities. He can funnel his energy into another being, or step into the Hollow and travel to a new location in the blink of an eye. He’s only around when I need a security force. We’ve actually just traveled with Mars to Belarus.”
“The God of War?”
It didn’t occur to him to question that since he’d done delicious things to her body this morning, she’d traveled to a country thousands of miles away and back. Nia understood. Men had long had a fascination with Mars and war. “We’ve evolved. Now, he’s vice-president of security for Olympus.”
He laughed. “So Olympus is run like a corporation? Staffed by gods and goddesses.”
“And the Titans we’ve kept on the payroll. There’s also one primordial deity, Gaia, and several minor deities on the board. Zeus is the CEO.”
“I’m guessing this isn’t a publicly held operation.”
If he chose to joke about it, maybe he was buying her story. “No, it’s held strictly by family. Kind of the Publix Supermarkets of the gods.”
That earned her a laugh. “Check on the corporate structure.” He looked toward the house again, a frown creasing his forehead. “If Ken is your bodyguard, why is he here now?”
Now they were getting to the meat of the story. “How much Greek mythology do you know? Have you ever tried to bust a myth about the gods?”
He leaned his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together, and studied them. “I’ve tried.” He twisted his head to look at her. “Honestly, I’ve never been successful.”
“Because we’re mythical, but we aren’t myths. We’ve always existed. Gods as a whole are extremely private, though. It’s rare for us to reveal our existence to mortals. Hence the ridiculous legends.” Nervousness claimed her and Nia jumped up from the bench. She paced in front of him as she explained. “Thousands of years ago, a god named Pierus had nine daughters whom he believed were superior beings to the Muses. Zeus got pissed off and had words with Pierus. Well, they had a lightning sword fight. Pretty spectacular. The battle ended in a draw and that’s when Pierus and his skanky daughters first challenged us. When we defeated them, Zeus turned Pierus’s kids into magpies forever.”
Thomas tracked her path as she moved side-to-side. “That seems harsh.”
She stopped in front of him, but agitated energy kept her swaying from foot to foot. “If you’d met his daughters, you wouldn’t think so. They represent all the bad things in the world. Tyranny, strife, greed, hunger. My challenger is Mayhem.” Nia resumed pacing.
He shot upright on the bench. “Wait a minute. Is?”
“Yes, is. Pierus re-emerged recently and is up to his old tricks. He’s challenged us once again. But this time, he’s brought along some new friends. What he’s attempting is akin to a hostile takeover of Olympus.” She paused in front of the maple tree. The rough bark abraded her arm as she leaned against it. “He’s challenging the Muses individually to defeat his daughters. If one of us fails, we all lose. Humans—mortals—will suffer the most.”
Rising from the bench, he strode to her. Uncertainty deepened his eyes to the color of the sea where the bottom dropped off. He lifted his hand toward her elbow, but stopped short of touching her.
Instead, he flicked his thumbnail against a knot in the trunk. “What will happen if he wins?”
“My sisters and I forfeit our existence as goddesses and become magpies
for the rest of time. I don’t want that, because I hated the whole feathers as dresses trend in the twenties. Not a great look on me.” Her attempt at levity fell flat. She sighed. “But worse, all of the horrible things Pierus’s daughters represent will come to pass. Mortals have stood on the brink of wars and famine before, but this time, they won’t be able to step back. Without the Muses around to inspire humans, all light and beauty will fade from the world.”
He was silent for a long time. Dread rose with icy tendrils up Nia’s spine as she waited for his response. She hadn’t been kidding about not looking great in feathers. But that truly was the least of her worries. She’d been watching over and inspiring humans for so long, her biggest fear was the black and white planet they faced without the gifts of the Muses. If Thomas turned away from her now, all would be lost.
He shifted until his back rested against the tree, facing away from her. Looking toward the sky, he folded his arms again. “How exactly am I involved?”
Chapter 18
Unbelievable. Undeniably crazy.
But mostly, it was uncharacteristic for Thomas to want to believe Nia’s claim to be a Muse. More outrageous was that he might have some kind of role in saving mankind from a brutal future.
This must be a crazy nightmare, brought on by the events he’d witnessed in the square the other night. Or maybe it was a hallucination. He’d had them before when he’d run a high fever and been severely dehydrated. Those images had seemed ultra-real as well.
Thomas pinched his bicep hard then wracked his brain to try to remember if he’d ever felt pain in a dream before. His logical brain said he must have, but his heart told a different story. As did his muscle, which twinged painfully as he increased the tension between his thumb and forefinger.
“This is insane.” He groaned and rolled his head back, looking up through the canopy of the maple’s branches, searching for reason. A warm breeze stirred the leaves overhead as his mind trembled and raced. A hint of Nia’s citrusy perfume teased his nose.
There was no denying he’d been frozen in place when that dickhead, Ken, had raised his fist. Although Thomas’s heart had continued its somewhat escalated beat, he hadn’t been able to suck oxygen into his lungs. But the sensation hadn’t been suffocating. He didn’t lose consciousness, and when Ken had entered the house, he didn’t need to gasp, as if surfacing after a long time underwater.
Think, Thomas!
This was what he did. His livelihood was based on poking holes in myths and legends. He exposed charlatans and fraud. As she’d spoken, Nia’s tone held only sincerity and truth. The bullshit meter that seemed as much a part of him as his heartbeat hadn’t pinged even once as she’d woven her fantastic story.
He wanted to believe her. But he shouldn’t. He might as well hop aboard the express train to the asylum.
Groaning again, he bent and braced his hands on his knees. His T-shirt snagged on rough bark as he slid to his haunches. Beside him, Nia pushed away from the tree and paced three feet to the left. Lifting his head, he waited for her answer.
Before she could speak, a large, cackling magpie alighted on the bench where they’d been sitting. From a crouched position, he studied the unusual bird. Something was off—like it didn’t have enough feathers to cover its body. The eyes, which should have been dark as ebony, gleamed electric blue in the bird’s jet-black head.
“Is that your magpie?”
Nia twisted to look, a scowl marring her smooth brow. “That’s Mayhem.” She smacked her hands together, a thunderous clap which had no effect. The bird chattered and squawked on, as if scolding them. “You are not welcome here.” Nia’s guttural voice grated over his senses.
She lifted her arms, palms out and squinted at the bird. As clear as a summer sky, he heard her order the bird away. But her lips never moved. The conversation occurred all in his head.
When the bird didn’t fly off, Nia slumped. Thomas hated the defeated set of her shoulders. He spied a long, stout stick two feet from him. The bird’s unnerving eyes followed his movement as he reached to retrieve the branch.
He lunged forward and grabbed the limb. Grasping it like a baseball bat, he swung at the foul beast. The creature took to the sky in a screeching, feather-shedding frenzy, and disappeared from view.
Frustrated, Thomas shouted and heaved the stick through the air, following the path the monstrous thing had flown. He rounded on Nia. “Did that fucking thing have human eyes?”
“She’s molting. It happened with Tyranny as well. Clio said it freaked the Hades out of her.” Nia shuddered. “It’s a display of confidence from their side. They fully expect to win this contest.”
She turned her back on him and ruffled shaking fingers through her hair. Her posture was straight and rigid, as though she had a rod of steel where her spine should be. Swaying side-to-side, she ignored his presence.
Low, whispery sounds reached his ears, but this time, he didn’t understand the words. “Why can’t I hear your thoughts right now?”
“What?” She spun around. The lively blue eyes he’d found so intriguing were flat and lifeless.
“I heard you order Mayhem to leave. When you sent your thoughts to me, the words echoed in my mind. But just now, I know you were saying something, but I didn’t understand.”
“I was talking to myself, not projecting a thought toward a specific target.”
She rubbed a hand over her neck, as though in pain. It reminded him of finding her with Ken’s hands on her. He trounced down a sudden surge of jealousy. Nia had assured him they were only friends. He took a step toward her. “Is that how it works? You have to target a thought outward?” Oh hell, what was he saying?
“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms over her belly. “None of us have ever encountered a clairaudient before.”
“Clairaudient? Like a clairvoyant?”
Her head bobbed and she shrugged.
He took another step nearer. Wariness filled her eyes, like she thought he was going to restrain her until the men with the white coats arrived. To keep from reaching for her, he tucked his hands in his back pockets.
He drew a breath, released it in a long hiss, and then drew another. “For the sake of argument, let’s say I believe you. What do I have to do to help save the world?”
Coppery curls brushed her cheeks as she shook her head. “It will never work. You’ll never believe. It isn’t in your nature. Figures the man who’s supposed to help me is a professional skeptic. It’s never going to work.”
“Hey, don’t discount my nature. What’s it going to take?”
“You have to believe in magic.” The bare skin of her thighs thwacked dully against the concrete bench as she plopped down.
“I can believe,” he said defensively.
Cynical laughter ripped through her tight lips. “Don’t you think that’s a bit unlikely?”
He sank onto the seat next to her. “I’d like to try.”
“There’s a Yoda moment in here somewhere.” She bounced off the bench as if she didn’t want to be near him. She stepped into the patch of moonlight painted across the lawn. “Thomas, we’re running out of time. I’m supposed to lead you back to the magic. To make you ask what if? And help you accept the answer, regardless of what it is.”
“What if what?”
“What if magic does exist?” She paced from one edge of the moonlight to the other, and then back. “But I’ve heard you tell Hailey more than once magic isn’t real. Right now, you’ve seen things normal mortals never have access to. I’ve confided my biggest secret to you. I’m magic. I’m a goddamn Muse and you won’t accept it.”
Leaping from his seat, Thomas scrubbed a hand down his face. “It’s a lot to take in.” He began to pace alongside her. “You can’t unload a bunch of hooey like that and think I’ll fall for it hook, line and sinker.”
Stopping abruptly she wheeled toward him and squinted. The word asshat pierced his mind.
“I heard that.”
&nbs
p; “You were meant to.” Jamming her hands on her hips, she glared at him. “This isn’t hooey, Thomas. This is about the fate of the world. And dammit, that sounded overly dramatic. I—”
Nia splayed her fingers on each side of her head, her mouth open, eyes squeezed shut and her expression pained.
Concern conquered the doubt tainting his imagination. He moved to her side, laying a hand on her arm. Her skin was chilled despite the warmth of the evening. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer immediately. Her mouth formed words, but he couldn’t hear them and he sucked at lip reading, so he had no idea what she might be saying.
“Nia?”
“It’s always a bit uncomfortable when Zeus contacts me.” Her eyelids bolted open, her eyes flashing an unnatural blue. She chuckled, the sound escalating quickly to a full-on belly laugh. “Thomas, you’ve been frozen in place, heard my thoughts, and faced down a supernatural magpie, and still, you don’t believe.” She smoothed a hand over her belly. “But you’re about to experience something that will have to convince you of the truth of my story.”
Behind her, the front door burst open and Ken rushed through it. “Ready?”
Suspicion flared explosively behind Thomas’s eyes. “For what?” He glared at the behemoth of a man as Ken loped to Nia’s side. He’d better not fucking touch her. The dude’s size wouldn’t matter…Thomas would find a way to take him down.
Nia laid her hand on his arm, warmth from her palm seeped into him firing all his senses. Her eyes held an apology. “We’ve been summoned to Olympus.”
“You can’t just go and leave me here with hundreds of questions. You’ll stay to explain if you want my help.”
“You’ve been summoned as well.” Nia searched his face, her eyes lingering on his lips.
“The purpose of the trip is to provide you with answers.” Ken’s shoulder bumped Thomas as the hulky man brushed past. He stopped right behind Thomas.
“Well, then, let’s go. How long will it take to drive to the office?” He moved toward Nia’s car, but a large hand descended on his shoulder, holding him in place. “What the fuck, man?”
Mayhem: Goddesses Of Delphi Page 14