Magic and Mayhem: A Collection of 21 Fantasy Novels

by Jasmine Walt

  He laughed. “Hey, I never got to clean my shotgun when my baby brought home some punk.”

  I chuckled at the very thought of it, and then sobered, really wishing I’d had that growing up. “There was one, but we broke up a few months ago,” I said softly.

  Dad reached out and wrapped an arm about my shoulders. “His loss,” he assured me.

  I nodded, although I wasn’t quite sure how big of a loss I actually was. Ben was right, I had been working too much. I had chosen my work over our relationship. Was it worth it?

  “There’s...someone else. Now,” I said haltingly, unsure whether or not I should talk about my growing crush on Plutus. It was stupid, pointless. I could tell myself that. I didn’t need my father telling me that it was hopeless.

  “And?”

  I opted for the easy road out. “I died, well almost anyway. Kind of puts a damper on things, doesn’t it?” It was a bit of a lie, considering that Plutus was actually here in the Underworld with me. I didn't want to elaborate and sound childish about my silly crush.

  “No it doesn’t, Calls,” Dad said.

  “Yes, it does. It’s not going to work out between us.” It was the first time I had stated that fact out loud, which drove it home. My throat closed up.

  I must have looked distraught because Dad offered me a smile. “If he’s worth it, he’ll be waiting for you when you wake up.” He sounded so sure, my one cheerleader in Elysium. “Now speaking of waking up, how’s your case going?”

  I raised an eyebrow, grateful for the change of subject. “How’d you know about that?”

  Dad grinned, his eyes twinkling like they always did when he felt mischievous. “The messenger that told me you were coming mentioned it.”

  “How much do you know?” I asked, knowing that I couldn't discuss too much with him because of all the confidential information.

  “Not a whole lot,” Dad said. He waved absently with his hand. “Now, I remember what it’s like being on the police—you’re not allowed to talk about cases you’re working on. But if you do need help—”

  “I do,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “I’m out of leads.”

  “Ah, yes,” he said with a frown.

  I gave him a brief rundown of everything, of all of the people I had talked to. He knew that it was difficult, even from my brief explanation.

  “Maybe you should cast out your net farther.”

  “Cast it out farther?” That was going to be my next move. It was so daunting; I didn't want to seriously consider it.

  “Yes. Somewhere, someone has a motive. They always do.”

  “Dad, I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Think for a moment, Callie,” he urged.

  I thought about how much further I could take leads. The Olympians were out of the question. Other gods? No. I had a gut feeling they wouldn’t do this to each other. So that meant...

  My mind reeled. Talking to mortals? How would they even know about something like gods and goddesses, let alone know how to kill them? If I were to start interrogating mortals, it would be a huge, Herculean job that I’d have to do in such a short amount of time. A murky memory surfaced in the back of my mind.

  Herculean.

  Like the name Hercules.

  “Demigods,” I mumbled, my jaw going slack.

  “What?”

  I clapped my hands together. That was it. “Demigods,” I repeated. Dad waited patiently for me to elaborate. “Half human, half god. I have to start talking to children of gods.” After weeks of not having any sort of direction, the thought of this made my chest swell up with determination. Demigods. Maybe they were the key.

  I wrapped my arms about Dad, giving him another hug. “Thank you, Dad,” I whispered.

  “No problem, Callie,” he whispered back. “No problem.” He pulled back a look of regret crossing his features. “Our hour is almost up,” he said sadly.

  That sentence cut like a knife through the air.

  “No…” I turned my head. The fog around the pier parted and I saw Charon standing at the boat, leering at us. “Dammit!” I cried. I scrambled to my feet, shaking my head. I was going to take him with me. If they could bring me back to life, then they could bring back my dad. I’d include it in my contract. I found him after seventeen years. I didn’t want to lose him again. “I can get you out of here. You can come with me.”

  He sadly looked up at me and shook his head. “I have to stay here, baby.”

  “No, Dad…”

  He stood up and gave me another hug. “Callie, you’re going to have to let me go.”

  I stood there, millions of thoughts tumbling through my mind. I didn’t realize it was going to be this hard, losing my father for the second time.

  I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. “I love you, Daddy.”

  He squeezed me tighter, just like he did when I was a little girl. “I love you too, baby. And I’m so proud of you.”

  What happened next was a blur. Dad and I separated; I made my way back to the ferry, where Charon was glaring at me. We disembarked from the pier and floated back to Hades' mansion. Charon made some snide remarks, but I was too numb to let it bother me.

  Leaving Dad felt like there was this void, deep inside my chest and nothing could ever fill it.

  The trip back to the palace seemed quicker than the trip to Elysium. I trudged back over the hill to the mansion, having half a mind to run away and disappear.

  I didn't care if I would turn into a ghost. That seemed like a kinder fate.

  Mentally, I was in a dark place. I mean, what had I expected by visiting my father? It would have hurt, regardless. I was glad I saw him, he helped out a lot, even if it wasn’t on purpose. Seeing him had both reinvigorated me and depressed me. I had a new lead, so the detective in me was pumped. Yet the scared girl in me was just as confused and as hurt as ever.

  What was the point? Everyone was going to end up dead, either in Elysium or somewhere far worse. Why fight the inevitable any longer? Being alive felt like such a distant memory.

  “Oohf.”

  The next thing I knew, I was on my back on the ground, three German Shepherd puppy faces licking me all at once.

  “Gah!” I cried, nearly choking on the doggie drool. “Cerberus, gerroff!” They’d nearly knocked the breath out of me and my lungs burned with effort. Cerberus was growing faster than his maturity level and he bowled over anyone he liked, no matter how many times we told him not to.

  I pushed the three-headed dog off me. Cerberus whined unhappily, melancholy that I didn’t want to play. I had taken to going on my morning jogs with the guard-dog-in-training, so he was ecstatic to see me and pressure me for another run. I scratched him behind the ear, waiting for his inevitable companion. Because wherever Cerberus was, his master wasn’t far behind.

  “Cerberus!” a familiar voice yelled, not unkindly. “Get back over here, mutt!” In response, Cerberus backed up, giving me room to breathe. I coughed and straightened myself up. I wasn’t about to let anyone see me distraught, even if he was blind.

  “He’s fine, Plutus,” I assured him.

  “No he’s not, he needs to learn to behave,” Plutus said. Cerberus gave a high bark and put his tail between his legs.

  “Stop being so overprotective of me,” I said. It slipped out before I could stop it.

  Not acknowledging my comment, he extended a hand to help me to my feet. I hesitated, trying to avoid contact with him as much as possible. There was such thing as me being too big of a bitch, and I was tired of feeling that way today. I grabbed his hand, ignoring the electrical jolt between us as I stood up.

  “Really, he’s fine,” I grumbled.

  Plutus blew out an exasperated sigh. “Why must you always be so damned defiant?”

  “I’m not—”

  “See?” A small grin crept across his face. I tried to ignore that too but it wasn’t easy.

  I scratched Cerberus behind the ears of his middle head. The
other two bumped into my hand, demanding that they be scratched as well. I had no idea how the pup ate. The three heads always seemed like they were trying to one-up one another, so I don’t know how he could have been patient enough to let one head eat. A puppy indeed.

  “Did you just come back from seeing your father?” Plutus asked.

  I closed my eyes as the fresh emotional wound was prodded again. “Yes.” It felt like my throat was still burning.

  “Sorry,” he offered. “I know that it is hard for mortals. I promise to put in a good word for you so you can go to Elysium when it is time.” I think he was trying to be funny, but it didn’t come across that way, especially when that time could be so close. Apparently, he realized his mistake, too. “Sorry,” he repeated.

  I smiled weakly and turned to go back to the palace. I wanted to crawl into a hole and fall asleep. That was all. I didn’t want to deal with the Prince of the Underworld at that moment.

  And if I didn’t want to deal with Plutus, I certainly didn’t want to see Tisiphone but she was hard to avoid.

  She had a habit of popping out of nowhere, so of course she was there when I made my first step to dash.

  “Whoa, who died?” she asked when she saw my face. I shoved my way past her. “Seriously, who died?” she called after me.

  “Take a hint, Tisiphone!” I shouted behind me.

  A satyr ridiculously dressed up in a doorman’s uniform let me into the palace. I glared at him for no good reason because I was frazzled, and I stormed to the only place where I could think. I should have asked to see Hades, to get a list of demigods, but I didn't feel like it at the moment. I had to get rid of all this anger, this hurt.

  11

  At the back of the mansion, there was a boxing gym. It seemed like I was the only person who ever used it and that made it even more appealing. I’d discovered it a few days after arriving in the Underworld and I’d begun using it as soon as I was well enough to start training. There were a couple of punching bags, an assortment of dumbbells, a boxing ring, and everything else I needed to blow off some steam.

  And I definitely needed to blow off some steam right now.

  When I was alive, I practiced a combination of martial arts to keep me in shape and to defend myself. I had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and I had dabbled in others, including kickboxing. I was quite good at it. too, my height being an obvious advantage against some of my opponents. It had also gotten me out of several scuffles where, if I hadn’t known how to fight, I would have been seriously hurt. Or worse.

  Even though I was in the Underworld, I kept up with my exercise routine. Some days, I went to the training facility for target practice. I spent at least an hour a day, if not more, in the gym, going from weights, to core, to yoga, to boxing, which was what I was doing when he found me.

  I was so upset and so engrossed in my hits to the punching bag that I didn’t notice the door opening. Nor did I notice when he moved across the gym. But I did notice it when he put a hand on my shoulder.

  I instantly reacted, swinging a left hook to the intruder. He deflected it easily enough. I was prepared for that and threw another punch, then a kick. He kept knocking my blows aside and it was starting to piss me off, especially since he had been the one to interrupt me. I gave him a groin kick and succeeded, thought it felt like my knee had hit a boulder.

  It didn’t even faze him, but it was enough for him to stop. To prove how unimpressed I was, I turned back to the punching bag and continued my warm up.

  “A blow like that was cheap, Callie,” his arrogant voice teasingly rang out.

  “Cheap for mortals, yes,” I said. I landed one last good punch and then finalized sized up my intruder. “But you’re not a mortal.”

  He seemed impressed. He looked like an older version of Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead, except much more muscular and he had the air of a football jock from high school. There was no innocence behind those baby blue eyes, framed by thick eyebrows, with one arched into a quizzical look as he watched me. In any other context, I would have found him attractive. I wasn’t interested at the moment.

  “So you do know who I am.”

  “Of course I do,” I said. “I wouldn’t be a good detective if I didn’t know what everyone looked like.” I allowed a smirk. “Even if I’m not allowed to interrogate them, Ares.”

  He smirked back at me. “You look like you’re trying to blow off some anger,” he remarked.

  “And you’re trying to distract me.” I sighed and put my hands on my hips. “What do you want?” So what if I was picking a fight with the God of War? He wasn’t going to hurt me. Not in Hades’ palace. At least I hoped not. Not that I cared.

  “I’m drawn to a warrior’s spirit,” he said. “And what a warrior’s spirit you have.”

  In a split second, he was right next to me again, this time way too close for comfort. Fine, I’d show him my spirit. Before I thought about it enough to chicken out, I head-butted him.

  Instead of reeling back like I thought he would, he let out a mirthless laugh, reared an arm back, and decked me across the face. Apparently, while I couldn’t feel as much pain in the Afterlife as I did on the surface, I could feel it enough to collapse to the floor and gasp, more in shock than in pain.

  Anger exploded through me. I moved, far quicker than I ever did when I was alive, and I fought back with serious intensity.

  Fighting with a god wasn’t as fun as it sounded. Ares had no qualms about beating up a girl, and I was beyond caring what happened to gods. I was pissed, and Ares was my punching bag.

  Even though I wasn’t a beginner when it came to fighting, I was absolutely schooled by Ares. I’d taken down men who were twice my size during my time as a cop, yet Ares was a lithe, muscular beast of a man who could move faster than lightning. No one moved that fast. Except maybe a god.

  The good thing was, my anger was dissipating. For every one of his teasing kicks to knock me off balance, the hits I managed to land were enough for me to congratulate myself at every little victory. Ares was playing with me; I was fighting the good fight.

  This was how fighting should be—an all-out brawl. I had found a worthy opponent, even if I wasn’t quite up to his standards. It was exhilarating. For the first time in a long while, I felt alive.

  I don’t know how long we fought but it was something that I desperately needed, to get death off my mind, to get the case off my mind. And to get Plutus off my mind.

  At least it was fun, until it stopped. Ares had me pinned against the wall, my arms above my head. Still in a fighting mood, I struggled, growling. He was smiling at me, in an all-knowing way.

  “And that is how a good fight ends,” he announced.

  Suddenly all my anger dissipated. Everything left me, and I felt exhausted. I then realized how close he was to me, how close his lips were to mine. I was breathing heavily. The fight had really taken a lot out of me, so I didn't have the strength to push him away. Ares' smug smile showed that he knew it too.

  An uncomfortable cough broke our staring contest.

  I looked around Ares and saw Plutus standing in the doorway to the gym, frowning uncomfortably. I didn't know how long he had been standing there. I was in a compromising position with Ares so close to me, and even though Plutus couldn't see us, he knew we were standing so close together.

  “Hey, cuz,” he said lazily, egging his cousin on.

  “Ares,” Plutus said with a curt nod. “For once, you've managed not to destroy everything.”

  I glared at Ares and pushed him off me. “Thanks for the spar,” I said gruffly.

  “Any time,” he drawled. He apparently thought that a spar like that would turn me on. Or something. Regardless, I felt sick to my stomach, and it wasn't from the intensive workout I'd just had.

  In response, Plutus turned to leave and shut the door with a slam.

  I watched the door, feeling like my stomach had been scooped out with spoon. “You knew he was th
ere, didn't you?”

  Ares shrugged nonchalantly. “So? Wasn't like he could do anything about it. Being a cripple and all.”

  I turned my head and glared at him. “Why does everyone hold that against him?” I cried, throwing my hands up. “He's a good man, and just because he's a bit different doesn't mean he should be an outcast.”

  Ares watched me with interest. “Huh,” he muttered in amazement. “I didn't think those stories were true.”

  “What stories?”

  “Those stories,” he said with an absent wave. “That you're in love with Plutus.”

  I went from a blank look to one of shock. Ares responded by laughing in my face.

  “Yes, it's true!” he crowed, like it was some huge joke. “You're in love with the cripple.”

  “Ares,” I said through gritted teeth, “shut up.”

  I punched him in the face, surprising him. I didn't even wait to see the damage. I turned to leave, to make some sort of amends with Plutus. For what, I didn't know exactly. I hadn't really done anything wrong, and it wasn't like we were together. I wasn’t even attracted to him. As I reached the door, Ares' voice stopped me momentarily.

  “What's the point, Callie?” he called after me. “Nothing can come out of your infatuation with him!”

  At first, I was surprised that he knew what the word “infatuation” meant.

  “I know,” I said softly. “I know. But that's not the point.” And before he could say any more, I pushed the door and ran down the hallway, hoping to catch Plutus. I wasn't sure what he thought of the whole thing, but I wanted to fix it.

  I turned a corner, jogging to catch up. I found him limping along the hallway, heavily leaning on his cane. I’d learned that his limp was more severe when he was upset and based upon how badly he was walking at the moment, he was really upset.

  “Plutus!” I yelled at him. “Plutus, wait!”

  If he heard me, he didn't make any indication of it and kept pushing on.

  “Plutus!” I said, catching up to him.

  “What?” The coldness in his voice made me stop for a second, while he kept charging on ahead, like he wanted to escape me.