Hunger: Goddesses of Delphi

by Gemma Brocato

  What all had they seen? The kisses she and Ben had shared? Oh, goddess, had her dad seen those? And why the heck did she even care? Zeus had materialized into her bedroom at Richmond Palace when she’d been having sex with Henry the Eighth’s Fool. Tudor’s man had been as energetic and highly creative as his king. Heat flashed into her face with the memory.

  “Scrutiny on you increased as of this morning.” Mars’s knee bounced like what they might have observed made him uncomfortable. The intensity of his stare at the screens magnified and he jabbed his own control panel. The display ahead of them froze as he spoke. “Until we get your partisans into place, it’s the best solution we have.”

  “Let’s talk about them. Do I really need three?” Lia asked.

  “Until your challenge is won—” He squinted at the screen, lips compressed into a tight line. “Show me panel fourteen,” he commanded.

  The central video array changed to a larger view of one of the quadrants, zeroing in on the portion of the tree where the magpie sisters had perched. The eyes of the bird in the center glowed brilliant blue, while the other birds’ remained brownish red. This first close up view of Hunger made the hairs on the back of Lia’s neck prickle.

  “Freeze that!” Mars bounded from his chair and stalked to the video wall. “Zoom to the area above Hunger’s head and isolate.”

  The image flickered then telescoped in on itself.

  The discussion forgotten about her partisans and when video surveillance of her had occurred, Lia followed her uncle to the display. “What are we looking at, Mars?”

  He pointed to the spot above Hunger’s pointy beak. “There is another deity in that tree. But cloaked, so you wouldn’t discover its presence. Did you notice it at the time?” He ordered the tech to play the tape in slow motion.

  A rippled circle appeared. It was like looking through a raindrop. “I was a bit busy, you know, saving the mortals.”

  The air compressed around them and Zeus materialized into the control room, his purple aura glowing around his form. A thin dark edge circled the pulsing red core that denoted his life energy. Although it wasn’t the first time she’d witnessed her father’s recent frailty, Lia hated seeing the black line. Immortals didn’t get sick, but the black rim represented the toll this challenge took on her father.

  Mars stepped closer to the display, studying the image with narrowed eyes. As Zeus finished his transition from the Hollow, he maintained his holding position, floating six inches above the ground. He glided to Lia’s side and greeted her with a distracted kiss on the cheek.

  “Daughter. You did well this morning.”

  Lia nodded, but continued watching Mars, trying to see what he was seeing.

  “Switch to supra-red,” Mars barked.

  The image on the screen morphed again, glowing bluish-green as the camera display switched to the supernatural version of infrared technology. On the limb above the garish glow of Hunger and her sisters, a large red orb hovered. Without waiting for the command, the technician magnified the image until it was the only bit displayed on the central array.

  The orb was crosshatched with curved lines and tasseled tops, almost looking like wheat or oats. Pinpricks of yellow dotted the sphere.

  “Who is that?” Zeus demanded.

  “Unidentifiable at the moment, sir.” The man at the main panel fiddled with an electronic slide mechanism, altering the image to attempt a positive ID.

  “Send a video clip to Demeter immediately. See if she can identify.”

  “Mars, could that be Pierus’s silent partner?” she asked.

  The god of war crossed his mighty arms over his chest and widened his stance. “It is my theory. Demeter might be able to provide insight by the time we meet in—” he consulted the clock, “—twenty minutes.” Clapping his hand on the tech’s shoulder, he bowed his head.

  Lia recognized the posture as a side-bar conversation her immortal godfather held with one of his staff. Mars was a funny man. He’d tip his chin down to talk to his employees, but whenever he communed with Zeus or any of the other first tier gods, his head tipped back.

  He spun to face Lia. “Your partisans are prepared. We must go meet them.”

  “Come, daughter. I do believe you are going to like your child minders.”

  “Not a child, Zeus,” she reminded him.

  “Believe me, I know. I saw that kiss with your mortal.” His laugh came out embarrassed.

  Of course he’d seen the interlude in Ben’s office. Heat burst in her cheeks as he pulled Lia’s hand around his elbow, levitating her up six inches.

  “Zeus, we could just walk.”

  “I need to stretch my abilities. Use them or lose them, I’m told.” He steered them toward the recessed door at the side of the room.

  As they approached, the door slid sideways into the wall with a jingly little whoosh. When they’d remodeled the former employee gym into the SecCom suite, Mars had insisted on that feature. Claimed the noise reminded him of portals opening on the Starship Enterprise. At one point, he’d been a consultant on one of the episodes. In fact, Mars had been the inspiration behind the being called Q.

  Once they were behind the closed doors of the SecCom control room, another door opened and three people marched through. Leading the pack was Stewart McGreavy, one of her regulars at The Greek Chorus.

  “I should have known you were one of us.” Lia play-punched him on the shoulder when he drew even with her. “Dude, you’ve been drinking on the job.”

  A broad grin stretched his lips, popping out the apples of his ruddy cheeks. “Did you ever see me actually consume those drinks you mixed?”

  “Come to think of it, no.” She cocked her head to one side and scrutinized his lower extremities. “Got a hollow leg?”

  Hearty laughter spilled out of Stewart. “Not in this lifetime, although I did when Zeus sent me back as a pirate in the Spanish Armada. This evolution, I just carry the drinks with me to the bathroom and pour them down the drain.”

  “Tragic waste of great whiskey.”

  Stew grimaced. “Pains me every time. But I take my job seriously, so no rule breaking.”

  “Hang on. You froze when I cast a thrall over the audience at the Chorus.”

  Dull red flushed into his cheeks. “As mortals might say, I was playing possum.” Lia circled her hand, inviting him to explain. Stewart shifted his feet and shot a glance toward Mars. “I hadn’t been cleared to reveal myself to you at that point. See, not a rule breaker.”

  “Got it.” Lia and her sisters believed they should all be introduced to their partisans before their challenge began. Mars and Zeus were of a different mind.

  He gestured to the man and woman halted behind him. “Simon and Shelly, this is our charge, Thalia Thanos.”

  Lia immediately recognized them as children of Gemini. Their features were similar enough to be twins. Her white blond hair was a longer, more feminine version of his, eyes the color of lapis lazuli, and a matching cleft in their chins. Simon had a snaggle-tooth on the left and Shelly had a matching crooked canine on the right. The similarity to the commonalities she and Mel shared was uncanny.

  Both nodded their heads but said nothing.

  Lia faced Stewart. “Do they speak?”

  A shock of Stewart’s hair flopped over his forehead as he responded in the negative. “They are still acclimating to Zeus giving them the gift of thrall. It’s a lot to process when you’ve just been called up from the rank and file and given an important assignment like guarding a Muse.”

  “Gotcha. Well, hopefully, they are bringing their senses of humor. That’s mandatory. If they don’t have one, I’ll send them back and have all their abilities stripped.”

  Shelly’s already pale complexion blanched with Lia’s words. Stewart snapped his fingers, drawing her attention. “She’s kidding. You’ll get used to it.”

  Shooting Stew a mega-watt grin, Lia arched an eyebrow. “Am I?”

  The door opened again and a ti
ny woman with curly brown hair scuttled in. Demeter’s iridescent green toga glowed and she carried a bouquet of black-eyed sunflowers and a bright yellow file folder. The goddess of the harvest had always preferred the traditional immortal style clothing, and since she rarely ventured outside the corporate office, or the true realm of Olympus, she hadn’t updated her wardrobe in centuries. She bowed low to Zeus. As she slipped onto a seat at the massive marble-topped table, she nodded a greeting to Mars.

  Mars returned the acknowledgement with a slight inclination of his head then gestured to the rest of the available seats at the fifteen-person conference table. “Be seated.”

  Lia sat on Zeus’s right, near the head of the table. Her new partisans took up positions crowding around her. For the love of— two minutes in and they were already annoying. She sent them a nudge, directing them to the plush bench seating that ran around the perimeter of the room. As soon as they’d complied, she focused on Demeter and the report the woman delivered.

  “The orb is occupied by Abu.” Demeter opened the folder and spread several sheets of paper before her, then picked up the remote and activated the display screen on the wall opposite Lia. An image appeared of a deity with gigantic eyes and a braided, wavy beard that reached the center of his chest. “He is the Sumerian god of agriculture. He’s one of the Mesopotamian dying and returning deities.”

  “So he has a life cycle similar to Muses or partisans?” Lia asked.

  The genealogy of the foreign gods had always fascinated her. She and Persephone had attended a harvest celebration in the third century where Abu and his crazy-ass patient, Enki, the water god, had started a bit of a riot with their antics. As a result, Zeus had banished them. This was the first time she’d heard about him in eons.

  “Exactly.” Demeter beamed at her. “What we don’t know is why he is in cahoots with Pierus. Or whether Enki is working with them.”

  “It stands to reason that Enki is involved.” Mars went on to explain, “With the breaking of immortal laws regarding discovery, the minor god of mischief must be lurking somewhere. Abu isn’t smart enough to enter into a partnership with Pierus.”

  Zeus grunted. “Pierus digs his hole deeper each day. When this is over, I swear I will sacrifice him to the kraken and let that beast rip him to shreds.”

  The door opened again and Lia’s best friend in the universe rushed in. Persephone’s blond hair was artfully arranged, and she wore the virginal white robes Hades preferred for her yearly arrival in the underworld. The Goddess of Spring was stunning.

  She dipped a fast, unnecessary curtsy toward Zeus, and then slid onto the chair next to Lia. Under cover of the table, she gripped Lia’s hand and leaned over to whisper. “Damn, I wish Pierus had waited until next March for your challenge. I hate that I won’t be here to help.”

  “’s okay, Sephie,” Lia whispered back. “What color did you pick this year?”

  Persephone smirked. “Silvery green. After six long months, that will get his motor running.”

  Lia didn’t bother to restrain her smile. Each year, as dictated by an agreement with Hades, Sephie arrived in his home in sacrificial white robes, trimmed in ermine. But, in a show of defiance for her yearly imprisonment, the cocky woman picked the sluttiest lingerie she could find. The year she’d picked lacy red crotchless panties from LaPerla, Mt. Saint Helen had erupted. Yeah, her friend had some serious cojones.

  “What is that?” Stewart’s sharp question drew Lia’s attention back to the present. Stew pointed to the secondary monitor. “On screen ten.”

  The display in question seethed with unusual movement. Mars raced from his position by Zeus’s shoulder to the screen. Tapping it twice in rapid succession, he then swept his thumb and index finger apart. When he shoved his hand to the left, the image enlarged and took over the main viewer.

  The camera was trained on a section of the corporate office grounds that included a small pond and picnic area for employees. A bird swooped close to the water, soared straight up again. It rode thermals down in a spiral until just above the surface and then started the process over. Mars hovered a finger over the bird, tracking it, until it paused at the top of its arc. The god jabbed the image and suspended the playback. He enlarged it enough to see the white tips on its black wings. The magpie’s legs were jointed backward, instead of the normal forward bend.

  Hunger was already morphing to her more humanoid form.

  “How the fuck did she slip past the security perimeter?” Mars thundered. He slapped his hand on the panel next to the display.

  Instantly, an ear-piercing alarm sounded. Lia jammed her hands over the sides of her head to cut the shrill noise. Sephie did the same. When Mars snapped his fingers, the screeching ceased in the room, but the wail continued out in the SecCom control room.

  Lia lowered her hands, knowing guards had been dispatched to the park area. Heavily booted footsteps approached the other side of the sliding door. Above the commotion a solid clang notified Lia they were on lock down. Stew, Simon and Shelly had already clustered around her in a protective semi-circle.

  The atmosphere in the conference room condensed, pressing on her shoulders as a contingent of Zeus’s personal guards arrived. Rapidly, they deployed in a protective phalanx around their king and CEO.

  Zeus growled low in his throat and threw his hand into the air, palm up and fingers split apart wide. On the screen, a flash of jagged light pierced the sky above the bird. Zeus had hurled a thunderbolt of energy at Hunger. It was a direct hit. The bird tumbled, tail feathers smoking, rolling end over end, until finally the bitch spread her wings. She ascended straight up in a frantic trajectory and, in the blink of Lia’s eyes, had disappeared from sight.

  A squad of security guards ran into sight on the monitor and spread out, eyes searching the sky, arms extended with palms up. Only three of the seven protectors had mortal weapons, and all were trained on the thin trail of vapor Hunger had left in her wake as she’d disappeared.

  Strained silence ruled in the conference room, tense enough to cut with a double-edged sabre. Zeus’s protection detail took up defensive position.

  “Shit just got real,” Lia quipped, using her hallmark humor to ease the trepidation climbing her spine with ice-gripping crampons.

  “Daughter.” The warning in Zeus’s tone was unmistakable. Now was not the time for joking.

  A spritely, recognizable tune rang out of Lia’s purse. She rummaged through to the bottom and located her phone. “Hello, Gaia,” she answered her mother’s call. She pressed the button to put her mother on speaker.

  “Please tell Mars that if he doesn’t ease the security restriction enough for me to enter the conference room, I will tell Rhea Silva about his affair with Flora.”

  “Old news, Gaia.” Mars circled his arm over his head.

  An instant later, Gaia popped into the room without the normal concussive effect. One second she wasn’t there; the next, she’d shoved past Zeus’s guardians, a wicked looking dagger in her hand.

  “Mother goddess! Gaia, where did you get that?” Lia demanded.

  Zeus smiled gently at his consort and eased the blade from her grip. The knife clattered on the marble when he tossed it down. He pulled Gaia onto his lap and pressed his forehead to hers, as if quietly nudging calm into her frantic soul.

  “Commander, report.” Mars voiced his order into all their minds.

  Even though the commander wasn’t anywhere near the room, his reply came instantly. “The threat is gone. I’ve dispatched my captains to determine how she was able to breach our defenses.”

  Mars nodded. “Carry on.” He spoke out loud to the occupants of the room. “Everyone is on alert from now on. We’ll be doubling the guards and surveillance on the Muses and at the Athenian.” He trained his gaze on Lia. “This is moving with unusual speed. Is your mortal willing to assist?”

  Lia nodded.

  “Good.”

  She consulted the digital time display on the bank of video screen.
“I have to get back to the club. I’ll be taking my partisans with me, I guess.”

  Easing back as she stood, Stewart gave a report of his own. “Shelly will go to your house and put safeguards into place. Your home will be warded against intruders. She will also lay in food to feed you and the partisans. You will always have one guard present in your house, and at least one with you.”

  “They can thrall?” Lia asked. When Zeus nodded, she weighed her options. “Simon, can you cook or mix drinks?”

  “Both, my lady.”

  “Nope. No my lady bullshit. That doesn’t fly in the mortal world. Just boss. Since Stew is already a regular, you’ll be an employee at the club as a cover. Shelly will just be my houseguest.” Now, if she could figure out a way to endow Ben with a couple of supernatural gifts of his own. She eyed her father. “I’d like you to give the power of communicating and transport to Ben. It will be safer for him and for Emma.” It would be really safe if they’d agree to move in with her for the duration of the challenge. She did some fast mental rearranging of her three bedrooms. Her house wasn’t huge, but if Ben slept in her bed, there’d be plenty of room for everyone.

  Zeus nodded, closed his eyes and lowered his brow. Gaia stroked his cheek as he worked. His eyes glowed brilliant blue when he opened them. “Done.”

  “Fine. I’ll explain it to him and teach him how to use it when I see him tonight.” She turned to Demeter, then back to Mars. “Oh, and the master bedroom and bathroom are off limits as far as surveillance is concerned. Am I clear?”

  Still studying the display screen, Mars nodded.

  It was the best she was going to get. Lia returned her attention to Demeter. “Auntie, please send any agriculture updates to me as soon as they arrive.”

  Demeter nodded, and then without a goodbye, misted and blinked out of the room.