Storm climbs into the passenger seat, licking his bloody chops.
I push a live CD from Led Zeppelin into the player and turn up the volume in an attempt to overpower the figments of my own imagination. And then I put the pedal to the metal.
I ignore the signs warning me about the dangerous territory and about entering a forbidden zone, and I start the final leg across the rough terrain.
When I arrive at the iron gate, I know that cameras are zooming in on me. This whole area is a replica of ancient Olympía, but it surely doesn’t lack modern technology—no matter how much they try to camouflage it. I turn off the music, and the gate in front of me opens. I drive up to the water basin and step out to sprinkle myself with the consecrated water. I walk back to the car and sprinkle some on Storm. He pulls up his upper lip and shows his teeth.
“Stop being a wuss, it’s just a few drops. Otherwise they won’t allow you in, buddy. You are now on hallowed ground, so behave yourself.”
I drive inside the sanctuary at a gentle pace, leaving the realm of mortals. Along a twisting path are bowls with large fires and bronze statues of family members on pedestals. Columns of smoke rise and the scent of meat offerings find their way through the cracks of the car. Storm growls.
I park the car in front of the hotel and throw the car keys to a servant. “Get my luggage to my room!”
“Naí, Ypsilótate.”
I head for the Altis, even though I’m not dressed decently—there is a dress-code for formal ceremonies like this—but it seems better to face my parents first.
As I arrive at the wall that surrounds the sacred grove, I am stopped again. Even when you’ve come as far as to penetrate this hermetically sealed-off enclave on the hillside, there is still a final check with a password, regardless of your name. And I have to switch to the old dialect.
“Tois theois mē anthistaso.”
The gatekeeper bends his head, letting me enter the Altis. I follow the path between oaks and planes, passing my grandfather’s impressive temple that is abundantly covered with gold ornaments and votive offerings. I don’t pay it much attention; I only glance at the wild-olive tree—the sacred tree from which our desperately wanted wreaths come—located nearby. The colonnade looms in front of me on the other side of the forest and I jump over the steps of the marble crepidoma.
There are at least a thousand guests present in the stoa, and it’s noisy. The voices echo through the hall, hence the nickname: Echo Stoa. From behind a column, a woman in a white robe appears. A golden bracelet in the form of a coiled snake clasps her upper arm and a large emerald glimmers on one of her fingers. Normally, she may be a tough businesswoman, but right now she reminds me of a Greek high priestess—from whom she obviously descends. She is walking in my direction at a fast pace. For a mortal, she has great senses. She pushes me onto the terrace—out of sight of the guests.
“Hello, darling. How nice of you to find the time to join us,” she opens the conversation sarcastically. She gives me a questioning look, waiting for an explanation for my late arrival. An explanation I am not going to give her.
I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss it. “Phaedra, you look unequaled. As always.”
“Sam, for heaven’s sake… I gave birth to you. And your charm doesn’t work on me. Where have you been?”
I never seem to be able to call my mother by anything other than her first name. It probably has something to do with my Spartan upbringing. I don’t remember her ever comforting me when she left me behind crying on Olympus. And yet I respect her, because I know very well that raising me has been no easy task.
Phaedra glances disapprovingly at my ripped jeans. “And you’re dressed like you’re going bar-hopping instead of participating in an offering to your grandfather. I can see your skin.” She takes a step closer. “Am I smelling alcohol?”
“Yeah, accident. And no, you don’t want to know. I’ll go get changed. I just wanted to let you and George know I’ve arrived.”
“I had to learn from Olivia that you weren’t at the meeting earlier,” she hisses. “You are embarrassing us all. People are already talking.”
“So let them. You can’t control everything.”
I catch a glimpse of Andreas down the walkway. Shaking his head, he taps his index finger on his watch. Unconcerned, I shrug my shoulders.
“You are causing enough trouble as it is lately, Sam. Everyone is waiting for you eagerly, and your father run out of excuses for your absence.” Phaedra narrows her eyes, and I know she’s going to ask. I also know that this is going to end in a fight. “You haven’t answered my question. Why are you so late, while all your friends were able to get here on time? Demigods don’t do late.”
“I was held up. I apologize if I embarrassed you and George.” I leave it at that and turn on my heel, but feel her cold hand on my arm.
“Does it have anything to do with that girl?”
I turn back and return her gaze. Phaedra presses her fingers deeper into my arm, squeezing hard.
“I demand an answer from you, Sampson. You may call me by my first name, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am your mother.”
“That may be true, but you are no longer responsible for me. I no longer have to explain myself to you,” I say calmly. The Altis is not the place to start high drama.
Phaedra is starting to look flushed. “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. I honestly don’t know where I have failed with your education, but every now and again you seem to forget where you come from. From now on, I will make it a point to remind you constantly. It’s over with that insignificant little mortal, you hear me? Your future wife is the daughter of a goddess and moves in circles socially accepted on Olympus. Make sure your focus is on her from now on, because you will marry her. No more chasing after mortal girls like some brainless idiot. You’re humiliating yourself. For God’s sake, you’re a demigod, it is time you start behaving like one. Understood, Sam?”
“Got it,” I say through gritted teeth. “Was that it, Phaedra?”
She looks at me with a feigned smile, but the anger is still smoldering in her eyes. “Get rid of that alcohol smell.”
I nod briefly and hurry down the steps. Storm is waiting obediently on the stereobate.
“And please,” she whispers, knowing I can still hear it, “leave that uncivilized creature back at the Leonidaion, before it starts howling for its friends in the middle of the archway. It’s almost a full moon.”
I toss aside the towel and saunter into the bedroom. Despite the stretching and the hard water pressure of the shower, my body is still tense, and my muscles feel cramped. I could use a massage, but there is no time left to work out the kinks.
I squat and search for a pair of boxers in my bag. Then I unzip one of the garment bags hanging on the closet door, take out a dark, custom-made suit, and put on a white dress shirt. I button up and loop a tie around my neck. As I push a cufflink through the hole of the sleeve, Laurel gets into my head. Laurel, who had driven me to the brink of madness by taking the cufflinks off. I can still smell the tempting scent of her skin, still feel her fingertips carefully exploring my abdomen. I feel myself getting hard when I think of the sensuous way she touched me. I can almost taste her. I almost did taste her.
“Oiphō!”
I run my fingers through my damp hair, grab my jacket, and take the garment bag with the bloodstained tuxedo to the reception.
“I want these clean in my room by tomorrow,” I say without exchanging pleasantries and throw the bag on the reception desk.
“Of course, Ypsilótate.”
Halfway through the clerk’s respectful bow, I’m already outside. I take a detour to the grove—hoping to regain some of my composure—and stroll along the bathing complex. Out of nowhere, someone grabs me in a headlock, proving to me without a doubt that my concentration is way off.
; “Hell, you sure took your time getting here!”
I slide my hands into my pockets. “Back the fuck off, Don. I’m wearing my last set of clean clothes.”
Don loosens his grip on my neck, but can’t resist the temptation to rub his knuckles on my head.
Slightly irritated, I pull away. “What are you doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be at the stoa?”
“Well, you know, polite conversations are not really my thing, and since you fell off the face of the earth—and there’s not much we can do without you—I thought I’d sneak out and treat myself to a well deserved steam bath and oil massage.”
I almost moan. “Oh yeah? And what have you done lately to deserve that?”
A roaring laugh sounds through the temple complex. “Getting you out of trouble with female mortals.”
“Humor.”
“Yeah, unfortunately I’m dead serious. So, speak up! What the hell have you been up to?”
“If I told you I’d have to beat the crap out of you, possibly even strangle you.”
“A risk I’m willing to take.”
I decide to tell him the truth. After all, along with Andreas, Don is my best friend, but I know his reaction won’t be understated. “I’ve had a shitty night, including a lightning bolt and a premonition.” I look at him with my head cocked, trying to gauge his reaction, but he keeps silent for a surprisingly long time.
“Headache?”
“Not anymore.”
When we reach the temple of Hera, Don curses under his breath. “Dammit, Sampson! Did you go see her again after that disastrous ski trip? You told me you ended it.”
“Go ahead, tell me about my responsibilities.”
“This has to stop.”
“Come on, Don, don’t hold back. I need more than that.”
“Okay, let me think.” He rubs his chin. “If you’re arrogant enough to think that you can lead your own life—that the precepts don’t apply to you—you risk ending up somewhere between sleep and death. We need to fulfill our destiny, Sam, no mortal can interfere. If you continue going down this path, there will be consequences. They will take away your life force.”
“They won’t go that far. They need me.”
“True. But if you refuse to follow orders from your grandfather, then you’re not of much use to them. There will be consequences, Sam, one way or the other. They already found you someone to marry. None of us know how far they will go. We’re just an experiment. If it doesn’t go the way they want, they’ll try again in a hundred years or so. By the time they bring you back, Laurel will be long gone. There’s no way you can win this.”
“I know.”
“Really?”
We walk along the treasuries and arrive outside of the Echo Stoa. I want to keep walking but Don stops me.
“What are you doing, man? We have to get inside. We’re already far too late for the sacrifice.”
“Forget it, I’m not letting you go inside like this.”
“Dammit Don, I can’t afford being even later. I’ve already missed the meeting.”
“Not my problem. But if you go inside looking like this, it will be my problem. The Keepers see right through you, and I don’t feel like being called as a witness because of your crappy love life. You can shake hands with the upper class after the sacrifice.”
“I don’t have a love life.”
“Welcome to my world.”
Don pushes me off the hill, toward the running track. “What do you mean looking like this? How do I look?”
“Miserable.”
I heave a sigh and sag onto the stone bench and study the rectangular running track where the first athletes will kick off the Games tomorrow.
Don is sitting next to me. “Let’s start with that premonition.”
I run my hand through my hair and lean forward. “I almost killed someone yesterday.”
“If all is well you can also save someone,” Don notices dryly.
“Exactly, which should be the dominant part. Kill a man, me? Can you believe that?”
“I prefer to keep that opinion to myself. But I suspect that the mortal was asking for it.”
“It’s Julien. He attacked Laurel. I got the vision, but I was too late to prevent it.”
“Too late for what? He raped her?” I immediately hear the menace in Don’s voice.
“No, but that was just a matter of time. I totally flipped out. I swear to the gods, he almost drew his last breath. And then there was this pleading voice… She managed to bring me back. Just the thought of her witnessing what I was about to do…”
“You let that scumbag walk?” Don asks in disbelief.
“He won’t try it again.”
“How is Laurel doing?”
I look back at the track. “I sat by her bedside all night. That’s why I was running late. That bastard knocked her unconscious, and I wanted to make sure she would get through the night okay. She’s strong, she’ll be fine.”
“And what about Renee?” Don asks with bated breath.
“Renee already left before it all happened. Then he loaded up on liquor and at that exact moment Laurel crossed his path.”
“He’s mine.”
“That won’t be necessary, trust me.”
Don growls before being quiet for a long time. He is thinking hard, and I know he’s going to try to convince me that it’s time to let Laurel go. Something I already know. And he knows that I know, so we’re just wasting our time here. Pretty soon there will be no ox sacrificed today, let alone a hundred of them.
“You told me about your urge to protect Laurel. You’ve protected her, Sam. Now let her go.”
“The urge isn’t gone.”
“What kind of urge are we talking about here exactly?”
“The urge to protect, Don. There is something else going on, I can feel it, but it remains cloudy in my head. I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing.” I look at Don. “I’m not going to abandon her now, Don. I would be the worst guardian ever.”
“End this now, Sam, before you get in too deep.”
“I’m afraid it’s already too late for that.”
“Be more specific.”
“Okay. I forgot to pay attention and before I knew it, she had me in a reverse headlock and I have no clue how to get out of it, despite of all my techniques.”
“Let me guess, that night when she was singing on stage?”
“That obvious?”
“You were gazing at her like she was a muse, and then you frantically rushed out of there.”
“All that time I was just trying to get to know her, to find out if she was in any real danger, and then I saw her dancing on that stage and, I don’t know, it suddenly hit me that I wanted to really get to know her, on a deeper level. I had to leave before I was going to do something incredibly stupid. There’s something about her I can’t explain. Not even to myself.”
“Yeah, we saw that coming.”
“Who?”
“Liv and I. When you brought her along on that boat trip. On that little beach, things seemed electric.”
“I just wanted her near me to protect her. If I hadn’t, she would’ve been harassed by Adrian that day.”
Don laughs. “Right, your protective instincts… Sam, who are you trying to fool right now? There’s no need to pin her against a picnic table in order to protect her.”
I cast Don an angry glance. “You don’t have to be so explicit.”
“Well, you get the point. Why do you think we distracted you with that sprint? Philene was about to pitch a fit. It wasn’t fair what you did. Not to Philene, but not to Laurel either. I know you like her, but you have no right to let her fall in love with you.”
I look at him with disdain. “Like her?”
Don narrows his eyes. “Ar
e you saying you’re in love, or are you just listening to your dick these days?”
I am getting annoyed by his remarks and give him a withering look. “Tell me, who were you listening to when you decided to go after Renee last year?”
“Excellent point. I am an expert by experience, so listen up! The gods may think we’re some kind of fighting machines to take out the Titans when the time comes, but we’re partly human, have feelings, human flaws and every now and then we fall for someone. Well, except for Bastian, he does it all the time. Anyway, that’s the reason why we have each other’s back and never betray each other when that happens. But man, this time some one did betray you and the gods have spoken. They want you to back off. And even then, we are too disruptive. We are doomed to fail with mortal women.”
“Tell me about it. We have to go; bulls are on their way.”
“The bulls can wait, this can’t. What do you think will happen when you lose your control around her? She doesn’t stand a chance. You don’t even have to lose control. All you have to do is mindlessly bump into her, and you’ll have broken her spine; press her firmly against yourself in your enthusiasm and you’ll have crushed her; snap your fingers without paying attention, and you’ll have snapped her neck like a twig.”
“Yes, Don! Your first example was more than clear, thank you. Is this supposed to be a talk to make me feel better, because if it is, you’re doing a lousy job.”
“Do you honestly think that Laurel, once she gets to know your destructive nature, wants to be with you? Look, we’ll always be connected with humanity in an intimate way, but just not in the way you, or I, would like to. Intimate contact can only take place within our community, you know that. Outside it’s forbidden; we have to obey the precepts. It’s a dangerous game you’re playing.” He looks me directly in the eye. “You’re eighteen now, Sam, it’s about time you realize that we have no right to love, but the duty to kill.”
“I remember me telling you the same thing last year.”
“And I wish I had listened to you,” Don says quietly. “Because of me, Renee was thrown off of that stupid horse. I ended something that should never have started in the first place.” He pauses. “You were able to save Laurel in the chairlift, but next time it will be a lot nastier.”
House of Guardians Page 21