Lia firmed her resolve the way Zeus had firmed his spine. “I need to find Ben and make sure he is on board. As a botanist, he seems well suited to a challenge with Hunger. He even mentioned a couple of problems with crops when we spoke last night. The only sign I’ve seen of Hunger was a single feather. Inside the club. I haven’t seen the bitch, but I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time.”
Mars consulted the information screen, drawing Lia’s eyes back toward the image of Ben. After a brief pause, Mars grunted. “He is at the Farmer’s Market at the moment.”
Lia transferred her gaze to the nonsensical words on the info screen. The security people communicated in a private language, something mortals in the world couldn’t understand. Like the Navajo Windtalkers in World War Two. Lia knew Jax tried occasionally to break the code, but had come up frustrated each time. He swore once he finally mastered the syntax, he was going to develop a video game using the language.
Lia had no doubt he’d keep trying, despite Mars’s orders for him to stop, and Clio’s attempts to distract him from the project.
“Does you secret decoder ring tell you how long he’ll be there? Will I have time to run home and make myself presentable?” she asked. Provoking Mars’s exasperated scowl was worth it.
“The market hours are six to noon. My guess is that he’ll be there until at least closing time.”
She couldn’t resist. “Guess? You mean you don’t know for sure? What kind of information technology have you got here?”
Mars finally lifted his hand from her dad’s shoulder and jammed his clenched fist onto his hip. “Thalia, you have just cemented your place at the bottom of my favorites list.”
“No place I’d rather be, Uncle.” Sending the deity a saucy smile, Lia vacated her chair. “By the way, do I get to know who my partisan is?”
“Partisans. You will now have three.” Mars pulled his phone from his front pocket. “I will email their dossiers to you as soon as they receive the power of thrall. At least one will be moving into your home by the end of the day.”
“Is that necessary?” Despite understanding the reason, Lia hated the idea of having a permanent shadow.
Zeus rose and faced her. He laid a gentle hand on her arm, infusing the gesture with warmth and love. “For the duration of your challenge, consider it mandatory, Daughter.”
Lia pressed her forehead against his. The touch communicated her love back to him in the manner he preferred. “I’ll do it for you, Father.”
“You may be at the bottom of Mars’s favorites list, but you are at the top of mine.” His thoughts filtered into her head, peaceful, welcomed.
“Love you, Zeus,” she replied with a smile directly to his mind.
She straightened away from him. With a wave at her sisters she summoned energy from her core and prepared for a trip through the Hollow. Although her vintage Jaguar was her preferred method of transportation, she’d traversed the path of the gods through the ether to journey to Olympus for the meeting. As soon as she grabbed a shower, she was planning to put the top down on her fire-engine red convertible and enjoy the fine fall weather on her way to cement her new partnership with Ben.
Chapter 4
By the time she cleaned up and made her way to Ben’s market, it was pushing ten in the morning.
As she walked from the parking lot, she inhaled the scents of fall and held them deep within her. Throughout the ages, this had been her favorite season. The colors, the aromas, the tastes. Cool crispness floated on the light breeze. For her, every sense was maximized during the third quarter of the year. In this lifetime, she’d discovered scented candles. She had a stockpile of paraffin cylinders so she could smell fall all year long.
While Lia made a purchase at one vendor’s booth, she stifled a yawn and released the curls she’d restrained in a ponytail for her trip in the convertible. The vendor plucked money from her fingers and put a piping hot funnel cake into her hands. The bottom of the plate steamed against her palm. Fresh doughy, sugary fried smell wafted into her sinuses and made her mouth water.
She broke off a section and popped it into her mouth. Savoring the taste, she wandered toward the heart of the market amid booths of fresh produce, flowers and beeswax and organic honey displays.
The crowds were thin today. Lia had been to the weekend markets before and truly preferred today’s quiet versus that jumbled crazy madhouse. If forced to go on a Saturday, she chose the satellite operation at Delphi Square. It was always calmer.
During Nia’s challenge, that location had been the site of one of the battles against Mayhem. It had taken every one of her sisters working together to quell erupting chaos when Pierus had seized control of the atmosphere. The slimy dick with ears had tried to incite a riot.
As Lia strolled along, she searched for Ben among the visitors. She stopped at a pumpkin and gourd booth to inquire where to find him and was directed to a tiny cinderblock building in the far corner of the market.
The door was cracked open when she approached. Goddess, give her strength. Lifting her hand to knock was an exercise in intestinal fortitude. Her purpose today seemed simple enough—she had to confirm Ben’s commitment to help. He might refuse and then where would she be?
She bulldozed the terrifying thought to the back of her mind and tapped her knuckles on the frosted glass door.
“Yeah?” His husky voice rang from the interior. “Come on in.”
She pushed through the entry. The office was small, made tighter by the presence of two desks jammed against each other in the center of the room. Ben sat with his back to the door, hunched at one desk, studying a computer screen. Whatever information was on display kept him from turning to investigate whom he’d just invited in.
At the other desk, a pretty blond woman had her head bent over a clipboard. With one finger poised under a line on the paper, she moved her pencil to the end of the line and drew a check. As Lia moved farther into the room, the woman jerked up her head. Lia recognized the girl as Ben’s sister, Emma. She sent a tentative smile and waved her fingers.
The girl slapped her palm on the desk, drawing Ben’s attention.
Ben whipped his head up. “What?”
When she pointed a long, elegant finger toward Lia, he swiveled his chair around. Deep lines creased between his eyebrows at the sight of her. A muscle popped in his jaw, and then he sighed.
“I was sort of hoping it was all a dream.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. The girl frowned and shifted her gaze back toward Lia.
His words and tone crashed like doom in Lia’s soul. Any chance for them to become a team was starting to look like roadkill. Offering a tentative smile, she quipped, “Do you mean nightmare?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t be here, but it seems you’ve been hand-picked to help.”
“Why doesn’t that sound like an opportunity paved in gold?” He rolled his chair back from the desk. As he rose, he flipped a pen through his fingers, the movement tense and restless.
Today his jeans had holes at the knees, and rode low on his narrow hips. He wore another plaid shirt over a thermal T-shirt that hugged his broad chest, emphasizing his lean waist. On his feet, he wore a pair of battered, lace-up work boots. His hair was mussed, like he’d scrubbed his hands through it. Lia’s breath shortened as she imagined slipping the shirts off to touch bare skin. Again, she shoved the image away. The fate of the world rested in her hands. And she needed his help.
“More like paved with shit.” Or death and destruction. But she kept those thoughts to herself.
Emma slapped her hand on the desk again, drawing Ben’s attention. Hands flying, she signed to him. With equal speed, Ben signed something back, pointed to Lia, and then signed some more.
“Lia, this is my sister, Emma.” He frowned as he introduced them.
Emma lifted her arm in greeting. Depositing her half-full plate on the corner of Ben’s desk, Lia smiled and extended her hand. She clenched her teeth a
t the last minute and braced for a potential premonition right before Emma touched her. It had happened with Ben—no reason not to expect it from the sister.
But she got nothing. Except a curious gaze, accompanied by an arched brow, and a flicker of hurt that quickly disappeared from the woman’s eyes. When she released her grip on Lia, she signed something to her brother.
Ben translated for her. “She wants to know why you didn’t want to shake her hand.”
She turned her head toward Emma and annunciated slowly. “What makes her think I didn’t want to shake her hand?”
Emma signed some more.
With a sigh, Ben relayed his sister’s words. “You tensed before you touched her.”
Lia spoke directly to Emma again. “My apologies. As crazy as this is going to sound, last night when your brother grasped my wrist, I had a vision of the future. I’ve found the sensitivity runs along family lines. I meant no offense.”
Emma smiled, shrugged and signed once again to Ben.
“She said none taken.” Ben’s expression remained dour.
“Ben, I really need to speak to you about last night.”
Ben’s hands flew and he spoke aloud for Lia’s benefit. “Emma, will you give us a minute alone?”
Emma’s hands fluttered in response. Ben grimaced and slid a glance toward Lia. She wished she understood what the gestures meant. Over the ages, she’d learned nearly thirty languages, but signing wasn’t one of them.
“What did she say?” Lia asked as Emma departed with a huge smirk.
“You don’t want to know.” He gestured to the chair Emma had vacated then plopped back into his own seat. Before Lia sat, he’d swept the last of her funnel cake into the trash.
“Hey! That was my breakfast.”
“Not in my office. That crap is so bad for you. For anyone.”
“But I like it.”
“It will kill you before your time.”
“One of the benefits of being an immortal. I’m scheduled for re-birth within a year of my demise. Even if it is due to junk food. I suppose you only eat healthy vegetables and crap like kale and quinoa.” She suppressed a shudder.
Ben grunted as he picked up a green drink from the coaster by his keyboard. He tipped it toward her, then gulped from the straw. He licked his lips before he spoke, the gesture provoking a spate of tingles between her legs. “I run an organic farm stand. Surely you could have found something healthier to snack on.”
“If you didn’t want people eating crap, you shouldn’t have leased space to a guy who makes fried nirvana,” she argued. “I bet he’s one of your best performing tenants. I wasn’t the only person in line.”
Ben lifted his chin. “You didn’t come here to talk about sales and junk food.”
“You’re right. I came because I know you must be wondering about everything you saw and heard last night. So, ready, aim…fire away.” She wiggled her fingers toward him, inviting his questions.
He hesitated a moment. After a quick frown at his computer monitor, he leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “So all of that last night was real?” He kept his gaze on her face, his brows raised, almost begging her to deny the new reality.
Goddess, she didn’t want to dash his hopes, but it was inevitable. She nodded. “One hundred percent…straight from the you-can’t-make-this-shit-up files.”
Humor flickered in his eyes, but was quickly buried in favor of a more skeptical expression. “Better start at the beginning. Tell me about being a Muse.”
“I first came into existence in the sixth century. BC that is.” At the moment she felt every one of those years. And totally weirded out that she was revealing so much that she’d kept secret throughout every existence. “I am one of nine sisters endowed with the ability to inspire mortals. We each have our own specialty. Mine is comedy. I have a twin, Melpomene, who inspires drama.” She shifted in her seat to get more comfortable. “I have some sub-specialties, like architecture and agriculture. Most of the great advancements in any of those fields are a result of my influence.”
“Example?”
Her stomach rumbled and she eyed the waste bin holding the last of her funnel cake. “Without my guidance, Jerry Seinfeld would still be working as a waiter in Brooklyn.” The episode where George dug a bear claw from the trash had been her idea, and one she was seriously contemplating re-enacting right now. “Also, Gregor Mendel would never have begun experimenting with plant genetics without a push from me.” Her belly growled again and she pressed her hand to it.
Ben reached into a small refrigerator next to his desk, pulled out a piece of fruit, and tossed it to her.
She snagged it mid-air. “Thanks.” Sweet flavor exploded in her mouth as she bit into the flesh of the apple.
While she chewed, he watched with a heated gaze. Very deliberately, she lapped her tongue over the juice on her lips. He cleared his throat before he spoke. “So you’ve been alive for what—eight thousand years?” His husky tone belied his direct, uncompromising stare.
“Um…” She swallowed. “Not exactly. My sisters and I live mortal life spans. We’re born, we live, and then we die. Just like everyone else. But when we are re-born, we come back with every memory, every previous life experience, intact.”
“So, you’re reincarnated?”
“Again, not exactly. It’s different than that. Mortals can, on rare occasion, be reincarnated. They have memories of a previous lifetime, but those experiences are buried very, very deeply. Their recollections resurface as déjà vu.” She took another bite, just to see him watch her chew. A small throb pulsed heavily between her legs as he stared at her with stark intensity. “From the minute of my rebirth, I know exactly what has happened in my previous existences. But we don’t come back with the ability to inspire automatically. We each have a period of dormancy, when we can’t nudge people.”
Ben dropped his hands to his lap and stared at them. “What happens to humans while you’re in a fallow stage?”
“Nothing good. For example, while we were dormant the Holocaust happened. The Great Potato Famine in Ireland occurred while I was powerless. If I’d had my abilities, I’d have inspired farmers to plant different strains of potatoes.”
That piqued his interest. He lifted his gorgeous eyes to hers. “Would have saved a million souls.” He slid down onto his tailbone, knees spread and hands folded low on his pelvis. “Was that one of the challenges this guy, um…what’s his name?”
“Pierus,” she supplied.
“Right. Pierus. Was the famine a challenge in a previous lifetime?”
“No. It’s been nearly a thousand years, the Dark Ages, really, since he last tried to restore his children to immortal form. They’ve been magpies for close to eight millennia. By the way, that era is called the Dark Ages because of the challenge. It was brutal. Honestly, Vikings are the worst, despite how Hollywood depicts them now. Smelly bastards with absolutely no sense of humor.”
She thought for sure that would evoke at least a tight-lipped smile, but damn, Ben Jordan appeared to have been born without a funny bone.
“Tough crowd,” she muttered. She aimed a nudge his direction, but held back from releasing it. Truly, the challenge was no laughing matter. “So, let’s fast forward to this era. Olympus Enterprises is our family firm. It’s run just like any other multinational corporation, except some of our employees are immortals. Pierus challenged the Muses as part of an evil strategy to take over the company.” To call it hostile was an understatement. “Each Muse must face one of his magpie daughters. He’s already indicated my opponent is Hunger. If she wins, I trade places with her and spend the rest of eternity cloaked in feathers. My sisters also forfeit their human forms. If even one of us loses, we all lose. But worse, food will become scarce for humans. Starvation will be a widespread killer of mortals. It will be the potato famine times thirty billion.” She grimaced at her exaggeration.
Ben studied her a moment, and then turned his face toward
his monitor. Tapping a finger on his taut abdomen, he sank into thoughtful silence. His shoulders stretched impossibly wide against the chair he was slouched in.
After a moment, he rubbed his eyes. “Are you aware that crops around the world are failing?”
“Already?” Damnation.
His default scowl returned. “There are reports from farmers across the globe about wilts and mildew. Cankers have been found in the citrus groves in Spain. Unprecedented cold temps have decimated fruit trees in the Southern Hemisphere. Individually these things aren’t insurmountable. But all at the same time will make feeding the masses nearly impossible.”
Nerves gobbled up Lia’s calm. She bounced out of her chair. Her back to the wall, she tossed her apple core into the trash, then wiped her palms on her jeans. “This challenge is happening much faster than the previous three.”
“How so?”
“Before, it took a couple of weeks to get the challenge rolling, allowing us time to prepare. There has always been a month between contests.” For the stakes to be so high already, the power-mad deity had to have been laying the groundwork before Polly had faced Greed. “And none of the other mortal men were hand-picked by Pierus to face the challenge.”
“None?”
She shook her head. “I’ll have to report this back to Zeus.” Fear mushroomed through her gut. She was already losing the challenge, almost before she’d become aware that it was her turn.
Pacing might have helped calm her, but the room was so cluttered and crowded, there wasn’t enough space to get a good head of steam going. Her heart clutched in her chest and she rested her back against the bulletin board on the wall. “Ben, I know it’s a lot to ask, but are you willing to help defeat Hunger?”
Chapter 5
Ben stood and moved to Lia’s side, leaning a shoulder on the wall, right next to hers. “I guess I’m ideally suited and trained to tackle crop failure and defeat hunger before it gains too strong of a foothold.”
The heat from her body seeped into his, melting the block of ice that had formed in his chest last night. Chilling reports of various blights and diseases had surfaced in the past week. He’d read more each day, the numbers of crops affected rising exponentially. He’d closely followed the stories and had beefed up inspections in his market to make sure no contaminated produce was stocked in the booths.
Hunger: Goddesses of Delphi Page 4