by Holly Kelly
All three heads of the creature roared, driving fear into Nicole’s heart.
“Just keep away from the harpies,” he said as he pulled himself out of the water to stand on the sea monster’s back. “They’re sneaky buggers. Megalostas and I will handle the chimera, and then we’ll take care of the harpies as soon as we can.”
Nicole’s eyes widened as fire billowed from the dragon’s mouth—coming straight for Ty. She screamed as he dove into the water. Megalostas rumbled as fire licked his back. He sank down under the rippling water.
Something wrapped around her ankle and pulled her under. She didn’t even have time to take a breath. As she pulled the thing off her leg, she realized it was Megalostas’s tentacle. She looked up to see the sharp claws of a harpy snapping in the water. Megalostas had saved her. With her lungs burning, she swam away and surfaced. She searched the skies to see the two harpies circling her. Ty climbed back onto the leviathan.
“What are you doing? Get back in the water,” she shouted.
“I can’t kill him from down there. Watch out,” he shouted as he glanced above her head.
She took in a breath and plunged her head under water. Pain sliced across her scalp, burning in the seawater. The shadow of a harpy danced across the waves. She swam underneath the surface toward Ty. Maybe the monster trying to burn Ty with his fire will singe the feathers off the harpies. She surfaced next to the leviathan. The three-headed monster landed on Megalostas’s back as it confronted Ty and had to take flight again as the leviathan and Triton submerged. Nicole sank under the water as fire blew across the surface. When the flames retreated, she popped her head up. The three-headed chimera hovered above the surface, its three heads waving around like giant snakes as all six of its eyes searched for Ty. Then one large tentacle launched Ty like a catapult. He flew across the sky, landing on the back of the creature. He nearly slipped off, but caught a fist full of feathers and pulled himself back up.
Nicole was so engrossed by the scene that she failed to realize that a harpy had moved in until it was too late. It clamped down on her, spearing its claws through her shoulders. She screamed at the pain, and then she was airborne. She looked back to see Ty wrestling with the creature midair. In one swift move, he broke the neck of the eagle. Even as a human, he was still really strong.
Nicole wrestled and pulled at the claws of the harpy as she painfully tried to yank them from her shoulders. The more she pulled, the more bloody her hands became—making them slick. Finally, she got one claw out. She tried to bend it and break it. If she could just break a bone, perhaps it would drop her. Finally, a claw broke off—a dagger-like nail in her hand. She immediately swiped at the creature’s claws still embedded in her shoulders. The harpy squealed when she sliced it across its knuckles. She did it again and again, until the harpy’s blood mingled with her own.
After what seemed an eternity, the harpy dropped her. She left her stomach behind as she plummeted, spiraling down. She hadn’t been paying much attention to where she actually was, being so engrossed in her battle with the harpy, but she must have been up pretty high because the ocean surface that kept flashing by her view was a mile below her. The fall seemed to last for an eternity as she screamed, waiting for death. She didn’t remember hitting the water—the only thing she remembered was a blinding flash of light and everything went still.
“Nikoleta.” The voice was calm, soothing and… familiar. “Nikoleta my child.”
A familiar, sweet scent—that she couldn’t quite place—surrounded her in comfort as she opened her eyes. A woman looked down on her. This woman was stunningly beautiful, and haloed in soft light. Nicole looked around. She was in a bright room, with silky curtains, and white marble floors. Nicole found herself lying in a plush bed with colorful pillows. She looked back at the woman who was looking at her like she was a person she treasured.
“Am I dead?” Nicole asked.
“No, my child.”
“How did I get here?”
“I brought you here,” the woman answered.
“Who are you?” Nicole asked.
“I’m your mother.”
“My mother?” Nicole was speechless. What were the odds her mother would find her at that moment? Had she been watching over her? Finally, Nicole spoke. “I don’t remember you.”
“I didn’t remember you either, until a short time ago. Apparently, both of our memories were erased years ago.” A single tear slid down her mother’s cheek. She threw her arms around Nicole and cried. “Oh my child. How could I have forgotten you? How could I not remember my own flesh and blood? You were the brightest light in my life.”
Nicole’s body seemed to remember her mother’s embrace. She felt safe, warm, and protected. Several minutes later, her mother pulled away, wiping her tears.
“Are you a goddess?” Nicole asked.
“Yes, my dear. My name is Tyche, daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite.”
“Tyche?”
“Yes.”
“What… what are you a goddess of?”
She cracked a smile. “Fortune.”
“And who is my father?”
At that question, Tyche’s eyebrows pressed together. “I… I don’t remember yet. I’ve only recently remembered you. I have no idea who erased my memories, but after finding you in the clutches of a harpy, I fear the worst. Harpies are at the command of Zeus. If the king of the gods wishes you ill, I don’t know how I can protect you. My only advice is that you hide among the humans.”
“If I’m the child of a goddess, what powers do I have? Can I use them to protect myself?”
Tyche sighed. “I don’t remember. You’ll have to discover that on your own.”
“I… oh, my gosh! Ty!”
“Ty?”
“Triton. I was with him when you brought me here. He was fighting some hideous thing with three heads.”
Tyche closed her eyes. Triton materialized near the ceiling and fell, slamming to the stone floor in front of them. He groaned as he pushed himself up. “Ouch.” He looked up, his eyes widening. “Tyche?”
“Hello, sea-god.” She narrowed her eyes, and then they widened as she smiled callously. “You’ve lost your powers. I can’t say I’m sorry to see you reduced to a human.”
Nicole was surprised at the venom in her mother’s voice.
“Why did you bring us here?” Ty demanded.
Nicole could see a purple bruise on his left cheek and a spot of blood at the corner of his mouth. She ran to him, threw her arms around him, and then pulled away to run her hands over his body. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
Triton’s eyes narrowed—his focus still on Tyche. “I asked why you brought us here.”
“I saved my daughter, and saved your sorry self too, when I saw how much Nikoleta cared about you.” Standing, she circled him, assessing. She moved with elegance, more graceful than any other woman Nicole had ever seen.
“I must tell you,” Tyche said. “I’m not happy about my daughter having affections for you.”
Ty scowled, looking from Nicole to her mother.
“Tell me,” Tyche said. “How many children did you father before they were destroyed?”
“You’re Nicole’s mother?” Ty looked like this woman was the last person he’d want for a mother-in-law.
“I asked you a question, sea-god.”
“That is none of your business.”
“Oh really? You’re no better than my mother. You and she used to be close, didn’t you? Do you know why?”
“Because she was taken in by my father and raised alongside me,” Ty answered.
“No, because you’re the same. Do you know how many siblings I have?”
Triton didn’t answer.
“Twenty. And that’s just the full gods. She gave birth to many more demigods, dumping them in their human father’s laps. Even the children she kept, she never cared for herself. She made her handmaidens take care of us. The goddess of love…” She turned and spat. “
The goddess of lust is more like it.”
“I have but one daughter, sea-god, and she was ripped from my arms two thousand years ago. Erased from my memories. And then, there’s you. Fathering children left and right. Not caring about the mothers who loved them. The mothers who would have given their lives for them. You erased their memories, too. In my eyes, you are the enemy. Why my daughter has affections for you, I’ll never understand. But I’ll say this. If you ever hurt her, you’d better hope your god powers have been restored, because if they’re not, I will meld you into gold and sink you into the earth’s core—far from the reach of your father. Now, get out of my sight!” At those words, he disappeared.
Nicole’s throat tightened as she looked at her mother—so beautiful in her fury. Nicole remembered Haiki once telling her that she was beautiful when she was angry. Nicole nearly smiled. She was just like her mother.
“You wouldn’t really turn him to gold and sink him into the earth, would you?” Nicole asked.
Tyche raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t answer.
“Now, daughter. As much as I would love to keep you with me, when Zeus figures out his web of deceit is unraveling, he may look for you here. And my power is nothing compared to his. For your safety, I have to send you back to the human world. Try not to use your powers, as they might give you away. Zeus will be searching for you.”
“But I don’t even know what my powers are.”
“It’s better you don’t find out yet, at least not until I can find a way to stop him. And it’s not safe for us to communicate. Zeus could be watching even now. But I had to stop him. I had to save you.”
“How can we stop him?”
“I’m going to work on getting my memories back. Then hopefully I can figure out a way to make things right for you. Just know that I love you and be safe.” She pressed a kiss onto Nicole’s forehead.
Nicole found herself transported to a hill overlooking a little, red-roofed village. Quaint, tan houses dotted the valley, and wildflowers sprung up in patches all around the homes. People were coming and going like ants on unerring paths winding around the town. Children played in the beaming sunlight, and a crowd gathered around a crumbling well. Don’t these people have running water?
The breeze carried the sweet scent of blossoms as it blew through her hair and over her clothes. Clothes? Nicole looked down to see she was wearing a cream-colored blouse, designer jeans, and strappy sandals. Her mother must have given them to her. Nicole was impressed with the goddess’ taste in clothes.
The town below was picturesque, but why did her mother drop her in a place like this? And where was Ty?
A woman ran past her.
“Excuse me,” Nicole said.
The woman didn’t even glance her way, but immediately shouted in a foreign language, ringing Nicole’s ears as she raced past her. What language was it? Where in the world was she?
She stepped around mossy rocks to get to a dirt path that led down toward the village. Men whooshed past her as they ran down the hill, each of them chatting loudly. The crowd around the well swelled in size, concern written on their faces.
Maybe there was a water shortage.
A robust man with a shiny head tossed a coiled rope on the ground beside the well. Another man shouted down it.
“Oh no,” Nicole whispered as her stomach sank. Either a child fell down the well or…
She took off in a sprint and shoved her way through the crowd. “Ty!”
She muscled past several men to get to the center. Peering down into the deep, dark hole, she shouted, “Ty! Is that you?” She couldn’t see anything but blackness.
She heard a frustrated snarl and a faint voice. “By the gods on Olympus, get me out of here!”
Yep. Ty was down a well.
“They’ve got a rope,” she shouted. “They’re getting you out!”
“If she wasn’t your mother, I’d…” He didn’t finish his implied threat. She could only guess how mad he was.
The men dropped the rope down. “Can you see the rope?” a man asked. Looks like someone speaks English in this town.
“No,” he answered.
The man looked around. “It’s not long enough. I need more rope.”
A woman’s voice whispered behind her. “How did he get down there? Did anyone see him fall?”
Nicole turned around and saw a group of women dressed in simple clothes, a couple of them with curlers in their hair. A woman holding a two-year-old girl with a snotty nose answered. “No, and I’ve been here watching my children play for over an hour. I never saw anyone near the well. I didn’t know he was there until a few minutes ago when I heard him shouting.”
“Is there water down there?” another woman asked.
“I don’t think so,” the first woman answered. “Maybe underneath all the trash. I yell at those boys every time they drop their garbage down there, but they never listen to me. And then Iva throws her rancid food down. She says she doesn’t want it stinking up her can.”
“We have a longer rope,” a voice shouted from across the crowd. Nicole looked up to find two young men running, carrying a large cord of rope between them.
“I’ll bet he won’t smell so good when he comes up out of there,” an older woman said.
They dropped the new rope down.
“I’ve got it,” Ty shouted.
“Can you tie it around yourself, so we can pull you up?” said the man with the rope in his hands.
“Yes, give me a minute.”
“Okay, I need all the men to grab some rope,” the man said. “We need all the help we can get to pull him out.” He looked down again and shouted, “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
They yanked and the rope went taut, sliding over the stone.
“Whoa, this man must be big. He’s heavy!” said a young man in horn-rimmed glasses.
Several stones broke off the well, and then the whole side toppled down—thankfully, it fell away from the hole and not down on Ty’s head.
“Don’t stop, keep pulling,” an old man shouted.
It seemed like forever before Nicole could see Ty’s blond head pop up from inside the well. He hefted himself out of the hole and stood—a towering, angry mess. Multicolored sludge coated him from the waist down. His face glowed red in fury. The wind blew gently, carrying the most putrid smell. Nicole gagged.
Oh my.
One brave, old woman shuffled forward. “Excuse me, sir. My name is Hanna. I live just across the way.” She pointed to the smallest house on the street. “Would you like to clean off with my garden hose?”
Shock and disbelief flashed in Ty’s eyes, but softened at the white-haired woman who couldn’t have stood more than four and a half feet tall. He sighed, frowned, and answered, “Yes, thank you.”
Nicole approached. “Ty. Are you alright? You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“I’ll talk about it once I get this filth off my body.”
They walked over together, around to the backyard of the woman’s home. The old woman lugged the hose over to Ty and turned on the water. “You just start rinsing and I’ll get you some soap.”
“Thank you,” he answered simply.
“Do you have some other clothing?” Hanna asked.
“No, I—”
“I’ll bring you some. My husband was about your size.” Hanna shuffled into the house.
Ty stripped off his shirt and sandals, running the hose over his skin. “In my ten thousand years of life, I’ve never been so filthy.”
“Well, you are a sea-god,” Nicole said. “I imagine living under water keeps you pretty clean.”
He looked like he wanted to crack a smile, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and shook his head. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Surprised at what?”
He did chuckle then. “I shouldn’t be surprised that the woman who drives me insane would have a mother who does the same.
”
“You better mean I drive you insane in a good way.”
His hint of a smile cracked into a full one as he shook his head. “Of course. I also shouldn’t be surprised to have your mother drop me in a hole filled with rotting refuse. But what really surprises me is that she dropped us at the base of Mt. Olympus, practically in Zeus’ lap! Why she did that, I have no idea.”
Nicole looked up to the mountains. “Does Zeus really live up there?”
“Ah, you want to know about the king of the gods?” Nicole jumped at Hanna’s voice coming from behind.
Hanna handed Ty some soap, then turned and laid a faded blue shirt and brown trousers on a stump in the yard.
“What do you know about Zeus?” Ty asked Hanna as he lathered his legs.
“I’ve lived in this village for eighty years. I know everything there is to know about the gods. Just don’t tell the Father.” She glanced toward the chapel on the foothills. “He thinks I’m a proper Christian.”
“So who’s your favorite god?” Nicole asked, winking at Ty.
“Oh, now that’s not something I’d be answering out loud. You never know when one might be listening and get offended.”
Ty chucked. “Smart woman.”
Nicole smiled and asked, “Where did you learn to speak English?”
“English? Oh no, I never learned English. The young ones at the school, they learn English. But me, I’m too old.”
“But—” Nicole began. Ty laid his hand on her arm, interrupting her. She turned to him to see him shaking his head. Her eyes widened at a realization. She mouthed the question to him, “Am I speaking Greek?”
He raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly.
“Besides,” the old woman continued, “I’m proud to be Greek. I don’t need to be Americanized like the rest of the world. What’s so great about America anyway? Do they have Olympus? No. Do they have the gods? No. What do they have? They have money, video games, and an arrogant pride that causes them to look down on the rest of the world. I spit on the Americans.” She turned and spat at the ground.
Nicole held back a chuckle. She guessed she should have been offended, but this ancient woman was just too darn funny. Stepping forward, she put her arm around the woman. “So Hanna, what do you know about Zeus?”