by Amie Gibbons
My face froze. I’m not scary usually, at five foot one, I’m far from it, but Henry quickly looked away.
“Don’t threaten me, Henry.”
“I’m not. I’m still your friend even if you aren’t mine. I’m trying to protect you. Don’t shoot the messenger.” At least his smarmy smile faded. “You have the message. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you in Olympus soon. Always a pleasure, Cassandra.” He turned on a heel and walked to the street where his limo waited, blocking the lane.
Yeah, like I was going to just let him go without telling me what was really going on.
“Get back here.” I rushed after him.
An eye appeared in front of me and I slammed on the brakes. Damn good thing I was wearing wide-heeled black ankle boots instead of heels today. It was hard to slam to a stop in stilettos.
The eye was a foot across and nearly as tall. The iris was dark purple, with a midnight blue six pointed star around the pupil; the skin on the eyelid a sun kissed gold and lashes that long, curled, blackest black women spent a fortune at Sephora to get.
I looked around. Not one of the suited, briefcased masses swarming over the steps looked at the eye or gave me a second glance.
I shook my head and slashed my hand through the eye. It went straight through.
Illusion.
The gods could make things out of thin air, but it took energy. Mostly they just did illusions. Usually just as effective.
And more energy efficient.
Henry’s limo pulled away and I walked through the eye.
The gods could contact “their people” mentally. I wasn’t one of Apollo’s people so he couldn’t invade my mind like that, but any of them could pick on anyone in their territory they wanted. For some reason, Apollo wanted me.
Why me?
Good freaking question!
Psychics weren’t a dime a dozen, but it wasn’t like I was the only one in the country. I wasn’t even the only one in Nashville, not that that mattered. Sure, it was the city Apollo chose as “his,” (the whole Music City thing, I guess) but he could go all over the country. The Greek Gods had all of the U.S. Hades claimed Atlanta but hired Henry, who kept his office in Nashville.
And why did the Greeks have the U.S. anyway? Didn’t the Native American gods have something to say about that when the gods were carving up the world like a birthday cake?
Yet another unanswered question about the gods. The list just got longer and longer the more I learned about magic and the gods.
My mind whirled as I walked to the office. Why would the gods care about an assault case? Henry said they didn’t want accusing them to become common. I could see how that could make some bad press. And get annoying. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.
Huh. Idea. Probably even a good idea.
If I didn’t mind a little risk of my sanity, life and soul.
The eye appeared in front of me three more times on the way to the office. I didn’t tell it to go away. I didn’t swipe at it again.
Ignore it, tell it it doesn’t exist, and maybe, just maybe, you can believe it away.
It worked on illusions.
Too bad it didn’t work on the gods themselves.
The Evie Jones Shorts Series
EVIE JONES AND THE CRAZY EXES
EVIE JONES AND THE GOOD LUCK FUNDRAISER
EVIE JONES AND THE MAGIC MELTDOWN
EVIE JONES AND THE SPIRIT STALKER
EVIE JONES AND THE SHADOW OF CHAOS
EVIE JONES AND THE ROCKY ROULETTE
The Laws of Magic Series
PATENTABILITY PENDING (A MILLIE LEHMAN SHORT STORY)
THE TREETOPS EXPERIMENTATION (A MILLIE LEHMAN SHORT STORY)
MELTING ICE (A TYLER CARMICHAEL NOVELLA)
THE GODS DEFENSE (BOOK 1 COMING APRIL 2016)
The Order of the Sphinx Series
SPHINX ORIGINS (A SPHINX SHORT)
PARATA’S SHADOWS (BOOK 1 COMING 2017)
ONE IN INFINITY (A REALITY CROSSING NOVELETTE)
The SDF Series
WE INVESTIGATE ZEBRAS (AN ARIANA RYDER SHORT)
PSYCHIC SEEKS (AN ARIANA RYDER SHORT)
ARIANA UNDERCOVER - WITH THE UNDEAD (BOOK 1 COMING FALL 2016)
VIRGIN VOYAGE (A SPACE ROMANCE NOVELLA)