Illusions: A Grace Murphy Novel

by Nicole Hamlett

"Diana said you needed help."

  "Not from you," I said, my voice unnaturally flat.

  "You know you don't need to be a bi—" Medusa cut him off before he could finish the sentence. She grabbed his arm and steered him toward the back of the camp.

  "Come, tell me how the infestation cleanup is going. It looked very hairy in there as I was passing through."

  He threw a scowl at me over his shoulder as he allowed himself to be led away.

  "Dick," I muttered.

  "Well that was surprising," Nemesis drawled, behind me.

  I turned to look at her, suddenly very exhausted. "Not really. It happens more often than you'd think."

  "You bursting into flames or you getting jealous over Hephaestus?" She pulled her tunic over her head and wrung out her hair.

  "Even if he didn't live like a monk, I have no reason to be jealous. We're not an item."

  "Mmhmm."

  "We're not. I made that perfectly clear when I broke the man’s jaw over his inept proposition. If you ask me, he's been pining for you."

  She laughed. "Pining for me? You do realize that I'm the one that gave him that nasty scar."

  "I had not known that before today, no."

  "I utterly doubt he's mooning over me. Even so. That was a moment of weakness. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for him."

  "Yeah, he's got a way about him." I glared in his general direction before continuing. "I think that the best thing to do at this point is to kick him out and get on with our business. I've heard there are supplies. I could certainly use a change of clothing." I wondered if Hephaestus had been the man she’d been talking about earlier. I was also too cowardly to ask. Did I really want to know? No. I didn’t.

  "I smell of boiled fish." She grimaced down at her leggings.

  "I'd apologize, but I'm really not that sorry."

  This made her laugh, and Nemesis patted me on the shoulder as she passed. "I wouldn't be sorry either. The look on his face as he realized that we were standing in a boiling river was amusing. I'd say he's conflicted about you, Grace Murphy."

  "Is this going to be a problem between us?"

  She scoffed. "If I genuinely wanted him, I'd have him."

  I didn't grit my teeth, my hands, make a face or noise at that. I'm proud of that. Besides, I didn't want Heph; therefore, I couldn't be jealous. I'd passed on that relationship.

  "Good. Let's see what he brought us then, shall we?"

  "Ow! Why did you just hit me?" Hephaestus grabbed the back of his head and turned to scowl at me.

  It transformed into a childish staring game after that. I wouldn't look away, nor would I answer. As I'd gotten into the camp, I'd seen him and Drew bent over the two crates and three rucksacks filled with supplies that Diana had sent over. Just looking at his stupid face made me angry all over again. Yes, it was childish. Yes, I probably shouldn't have winged that clump of river clay which I'd just peeled off the back of my arm. But I didn't care. My skin started sizzling as I ruminated on all the reasons I hated him so much. Why'd he have to wreck our relationship? Why was he such a thunderous dick-hole?

  "Oh for the love of Troll Tits! I just put you out. Don't start this shit again," Medusa bellowed.

  "He's got to go," I growled.

  "I thought you needed help, you stupid twit." He shot back at me.

  That was it; I was going to kill him this time. I erupted again and spun up a ball of fire to fling at him. Medusa gripped the back of my neck and shook me like a mangy mutt. My flames sputtered out as my brain rattled around in its box. "I said," she grit out. "Enough."

  My body twitched with leftover aggression, especially when I heard Drew's nasty snicker, but I didn't make a move toward him. "Do we have everything on the list?"

  "No," Medusa answered. "Georgiana is bringing over your melee weapons personally. She just needed a little more time to prepare."

  "Georgie is coming?" And just like that, my ire was gone. You couldn't think of George and be mad at the same time. It was like her and anger couldn't exist in the same space.

  "Much to her father's dismay, yes. She's trained as a medic, and can telepathically track each of us during the mission."

  "Won't her powers short out like mine did?"

  "Mmm, I don't think so. Her telepathy doesn't work on the same frequency as the rest of our powers. Her other abilities will be hindered, but she feels like it's the right time for her to get some field work in."

  "Does she realize that this mission is going to be incredibly dangerous?"

  I liked George. I liked her a lot, and it would destroy me if she were hurt or killed. Georgie was pretty much everything that was good and kind in the world. Her outlook on life was positive, and she saw the best in everyone, despite the fact that their minds were open books to her. Many of the Atlanceans could skim a person's mind. They could hear your thoughts if you were projecting them. Georgie could split your mind open like a watermelon and take a look at the deepest darkest secrets without giving it much thought.

  The fact that Georgiana could peer into my very soul and still be my friend was miraculous to me. I would walk through a lava pit filled with fire-proof piranhas for her.

  "I think that's a terribly bad idea," I finally said. "I'd explode this planet if Georgie got hurt. And," I added. "I wouldn't even feel bad about it."

  Medusa chuckled and shook her head. "We'll keep her safe. But - and this is a huge but - she needs to get some battle practice in if she's going to be ready." She turned her body away from Nemesis, not that it mattered. "You know what's coming. She needs to be prepared because nobody will be safe. Not even if she's stuck in the Ops room of Olympus." She gave me a measured look. "And we need to talk about your destructive personality. That's not going to fly much longer."

  I scowled and then limped over to the boxes so I could search for some clothing. Heph moved out of the way but harrumphed at me. My eyes laser focused on his face, and I growled, "Why are you still here?"

  "I can't open up my own Rifts."

  My eyes squeezed shut. I would have bonked myself on the forehead if everyone hadn't been looking at me. Of course, he couldn't leave without an open Rift. Jesus Christ. Medusa was right. I needed to work on the anger issues. Sending her here was probably the best thing that Diana could have done for me.

  "I need to get dressed; then I'll open a portal for you."

  "No need. Diana will hold George's open for me. I just need to wait for it."

  "Well, wait somewhere else." I snapped. This interaction made me appreciate Drew even more. I couldn't remember why I was ever so mad at him. He was infinitely better on his worst day than Heph was at his best.

  "Just because you're jea— Ow, the fuck?"

  Medusa had a handful of his hair gripped tightly in her fist. "Why don't we take a short walk, again, and you can tell me what you've been up to lately... Again." She led him out of the clearing, with her hand still buried in his hair. I didn't know how she did it because she was about a foot and a half shorter than he was.

  It took me a few minutes to realize that I'd completely overreacted. I had barreled past social gauche into 'Oh my word. Bless her heart'. It wasn't pretty and as the seconds ticked by I was becoming more and more ashamed.

  Hephaestus and I hadn't spoken to each other directly since the incident in California. From his perspective, I had broken his jaw. From mine, it was an embarrassment. Because, well, I'd broken his jaw. In my defense, he'd played me hard. I’d thought we were headed toward relationship-ville, and he'd just wanted a quickie. Adding insult to injury, I'd been hopped up on Medusa rage at the time. Well, I wasn't hopped up on Medusa rage right now. He just flat out pissed me off. Every interaction was a battle of wills with him. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

  Yep, I was insane.

  Drew was standing next to me when I came out of my rumination. "So that happened."

  I sighed. "Yeah."

&n
bsp; "You know, if you talked things out instead of avoiding the problem, you probably wouldn't always be so angry." He bent over and picked up an orange that had toppled out of one of the crates.

  "Et Tu Brutus?"

  "I'm not going to blow sunshine up your ass Grace. You need to get over this. Do it for Dylan. He's still Heph's apprentice, and you make things tense for everyone when you're angry at one of us."

  “Well if he hadn’t— “

  “Grace, it happened long enough ago that you shouldn’t still be holding onto it. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you still had feelings.”

  I scoffed. “I most certainly do n— “

  “Just end that sentence at ‘do,'” He interrupted. Then he gave me a lopsided grin. “It’s okay for you to have feelings for him. You just need to reconcile yourself to them.”

  "Noted,” I muttered. “Let's get back to business. Do we have everything we need here?"

  "I think so, but I'd still like to talk to Diana first before we head out."

  "Yeah, I'd like that as well."

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I pulled the phone from the case and pressed the icon. It rang twice before my mother answered with a breathless, "Grace."

  "Yeah, hi. What's going on over there?"

  "Well almost immediately after you and Drew left, the place exploded with vermin."

  "Isn't that kind of racist? I don't think that the magical creatures would appreciate that, mother."

  "Well then the magical creatures shouldn't have defiled my fountain!" she huffed.

  "Medusa says that you send the kids on a Euro-trip. How are they doing?"

  "They're fine." Her voice sounded strained.

  "What's wrong. What aren't you telling me?"

  "It was as if a magical bomb was detonated here. I'm not even sure how they got to her."

  "Her?" my panic started rising. I didn't need to be ratcheted any further up the meter of stress.

  "Grace, Hope is gone." There was a long pause while she waited for my reaction.

  "She's what?" I screeched. "And you sent my son on a Euro Vacation? What the hell were you thinking? I'm coming home. Someone else can deal with this shit."

  "What's going on?" Drew was standing beside me, trying to get close enough to hear Diana's side of the conversation.

  "Grace, no. Wait. If you're out there and she knows it, she's going to become even more unhinged. Send Drew back."

  She didn't have to tell me twice. Without hanging up, I opened a Rift and shoved Drew through. The last thing I heard from him was a startled grunt.

  "He should be there now. You fix this Diana." There was a sharp intake of breath on her end. Good. She'd noticed that I hadn't called her mother. "You told me that this would be an easy assignment. It's turned into a shit-show, and now you're telling me that Dylan is out there, vulnerable to a psychopath. I am not happy.”

  "Poe is with Dylan. If anyone can keep him safe, it's Poseidon. You need to take a breath and focus on your mission.”

  "How am I supposed to do that when I am so god damned terrified for my son?" I had to take a deep breath to keep from screaming. My heart was racing, and I couldn't get any air into my lungs.

  "You're hyperventilating. Slow. Deep. Breaths."

  "Don't tell me how to breathe!" It was a kneejerk response, but I couldn't stop myself.

  "You've got Medusa. It's going to be okay," she soothed.

  "I've got Medusa and Nemesis actually. But I don't think that between them, George, and myself that we're going to be able to handle this. Did Georgie tell you about the barrier?

  "Diana, I don't even know what I’m doing here. How am I going to find Aliana’s body? I have no idea what Hecate would have done with her. She could have destroyed it for all we know. Jesus."

  "Grace, we would like to put her to rest here, but if you can’t bring her home, that isn’t going to be a catastrophe. Besides, Georgiana knows what she looks like and has a prior mental connection. She should be able to find her. It’s more important now that you stop Hecate. Try to bring her home with you. We can try to fix what is wrong with her."

  That stopped me in my tracks. It was easy to forget that Georgie was a few hundred years older than I was because I thought of her as a little sister. "Oh. Well good. And yeah. Okay. I’ll try. But I’m not making any promises." I drug my hand through the tangled mass that was my hair. “I don’t feel like I have enough information about her to disable her enough to get her back through a Rift.”

  “Medusa does. Trust her and follow her lead. She will know what to do. Now, tell me about Nemesis. I'm worried about that connection."

  "She seems fine. I have my suspicions, of course, but I'm keeping them to myself. Worse, Drew isn’t acting like himself. Hey, take a look at him, will you?"

  There was a pause, and I heard murmuring on the other end. "Yes, you’re right and I will. Keep that phone on you. It should work even with this barrier in place."

  "I'm not so sure of that, but I will. I should get back. We're a man down, and we have a castle to storm."

  "Grace, be careful. I'd send more people if I could spare them, but we're at all-hands-on-deck right now trying to deal with this - mess."

  "Just keep my kid safe. I don't care about the fountain. I care about Dylan."

  "My grandson will not come to harm, Grace. I promise you that."

  "See that he doesn't."

  I didn't give her time to respond. I just pushed the end button and set the phone down. This sounded like a coordinated attack to me. But who could pull that off? I looked around, and my eyes landed on Nemesis. What was she doing here, really? Could I trust her? Part of me wanted to, but there was still a piece that was in doubt.

  Diana does not mess around when she sends supplies. The only thing missing from the loot was a Sherman tank. If she could have fit a Sherman tank through the Rift, I bet she would have. I was re-packing bags and trying to decide what could be left behind because there was absolutely no way we could take all of it. As it was, everyone was expecting an attack. Deciding between bringing the M32A1 (A grenade launcher for the layman) and an RPG7 (rocket-launcher) is where Medusa found me.

  "Go for the M32A1. More versatile and you'll be able to carry more ammo." She picked up the grenade launcher and checked the scope. "And it tickles me pink to think of launching a 40mm incendiary into the middle of a group of those twats."

  "Consider it done. Diana sent along too much. We're going to have to send more than half of it back."

  "Agreed. But at least we have quite a bit to choose from." She plopped herself in front of me and gave me a sharp stare. "So, you wanna talk about your reaction to Hephaestus earlier?"

  "No," I replied shortly, shaking my head.

  "Okay, let me rephrase that. How about you tell me why you had such a powerful reaction, and I won't beat the shit out of you."

  "Well if you're gonna be all reasonable like."

  Medusa chuckled and leaned back, crossing her ankles. "I'm waiting."

  "Have you ever been around someone that you've just known you were meant to be with?"

  She cocked her head to the side and gave me an enigmatic smile. "I'm pretty old. What do you think?"

  "Well, I look at him and know that he's my person."

  "Why does that make you so angry?" She honestly looked baffled.

  "Have you spent any amount of time talking to him?" I asked incredulously. It took me less than five minutes that first meeting to understand that Hephaestus as a Grade-A jerk.

  "Well," she said sheepishly. "Yes. Okay. Yes."

  "He's misogynistic, belligerent, clueless, and an asshole."

  "But he's your asshole."

  "God, I hope not." I ran my hands through my hair and pulled at the ends. "I'd kill myself within six months of being trapped with him. He makes me crazy because he's so confident that he knows everything there is to know in life and that I'm wrong about it. It doesn't even matter what subject it is," I ended with a roar. />
  "So, you hate him, but you love him? I'm kind of confused."

  "I don't think I genuinely love him at all. But I yearn for him sometimes. Because sometimes he's a decent person."

  "Want my advice?"

  "Can I say no?"

  She chuckled. "No. I'm going to give it to you anyway. Just ignore him. Give it a few hundred years, and you'll either grow fond of him, or you'll lose whatever feelings you have. With that said, you know that Drew is too weak for you, right?"

  "I can't believe I'm discussing my relationships or lack thereof with you." I waved my hand around in the air. "This isn't a romance tale, you know."

  "I'm just saying, you're going to get lonely, and you'll see him as an easy option. He is easy. I mean, just looking at him is a pleasure. But he's not the one for you, Grace."

  I sighed heavily and plopped down onto the ground. "I know. Would be really nice if he were, though, right? I mean we've got Dylan in common."

  "Commonalities aside, you'd run right over him and end up hating him for not being able to stand up to you. And that's not even taking into account that his wife is still alive."

  "Grrr. Don't remind me. She's on the loose again, you know?"

  "Yes, I knew. I didn't think it was my place to tell you. Regardless, this -" she waved her hand around. "It's all part of your destiny." She scooted closer to me and patted me on the back.

  "Every time someone mentions my destiny, I expect someone to pop out of the woodwork and shower me with fucking glitter. So stop it already. I get that it's important. I get that I have things to do, but I'm sick and tired of hearing about it."

  "Perhaps if you started treating this seriously, people would stop trying to remind you," she said evenly.

  I rolled my eyes. "I'm more concerned about the anger issues. You injected me, and I've been angry ever since."

  "Maybe it's less that I injected you and more that you're tired of the shit show that's become your life. Have you thought about that?"

  "You know, people seem to think that my life is only about fighting the villains. It's-"

  Medusa held up a hand interrupting me. "Grace, your life is all about fighting the bad guys. That is your purpose here."