Out of Sorts Aphrodite (The Goddess Chronicles Book 2)

by S. E. Babin

  “We’ll get this figured out. In the meantime, Typhon needs to stay hidden. Artie and the others will be out for blood if they even get a hint of him being close. I need to go home and tell them about this. Their reaction will probably not be as calm as mine.”

  He reached out and placed his hand on top of my arm. “I have many children, Abby. But Typhon is special. He could be fit to rule this kingdom once I leave it behind.”

  I tried to keep my face blank. “Well, I’m not counting you out anytime soon. Let’s worry about secession at a later time.”

  He smiled, sadness etched in the crinkles of his eyes. “I have a good idea for a queen, too.”

  My stomach fell to my feet. He couldn’t possibly be saying what I thought he was saying. I smiled brightly. “I’m sure she’ll be an extraordinarily lucky woman, whoever she is, right?”

  Zeus chuckled. “Right,” he said and winked at me.

  Why oh why did I keep getting myself involved in these situations?

  I tried to keep my smile from wobbling and slipping off my face. “Farewell, Zeus,” I finally said.

  He raised a hand in farewell. “The crown would look good atop your golden curls.”

  I tried to not to scream as I blinked out of the gardens.

  26

  Chapter Twenty Six

  I arrived back home to find four angry immortals staring at me. Even though Zeus had just shaken me to my core, I slapped another smile on my face.

  “Hiya! Did I miss dinner?” I walked over to the stove to see what was cooking.

  Hermes cleared his throat. “Where were you?”

  “I – ah – erm…I was with Zeus.” I kept my back to them as I grabbed a plate from the cabinet and busied myself with filling it. “This looks delicious,” I chirped. I helped myself to a large serving of the white chicken chili and cornbread.

  “Father?” Hermes asked quizzically. “Why did you go there? Unescorted, I might add.”

  “I needed clarification on something.” I poured myself a healthy glass of red wine and turned and walked to the table. I squeezed in between Hermes and Keto and quietly tried to avoid their eyes and eat my dinner.

  “We aren’t leaving until you spill.”

  I glanced up to find Artemis glaring at me from over the top of her glasses. I sighed. “Fine. Just let me finish my dinner please. I’m starving.”

  Mollified, everyone got up and left me in peace. I tried to drag out dinner as long as humanly possible, but I could feel my friends staring a hole in my back as I ate. I finally gave up, sopped up the rest of my chili with a slice of cornbread and got up to face the music.

  I’d never been all that eloquent. Instead of being tactful, I tended to blurt out the truth in a messy manner. “Typhon is innocent,” I said once I had sat down in my recliner.

  If there were crickets in that room you would have heard them chirping.

  “Reeeeeally?” Artie drawled. “And you know this how?”

  I chewed on my lip. Telling them I’d had what probably equated to a date in the real world wouldn’t be wise. A girl had to keep some secrets. Even from her BFF. I decided to give as little information as possible. “We talked.”

  Hermes snorted. “You…talked? Did you guys share a nice bottle of wine and reminisce about old times? Like, oh I don’t know, the time he tried to kill us all?

  It was more like several shots of whiskey and enough ambrosia to take down a Special Forces Squad. “You make it sound so sordid,” I said.

  Keto choked in disbelief. “Sordid? Consorting with Olympus’ oldest enemy isn’t sordid? I’ve known you for years, Abs, but right now I’m confounded. Even you have to be smarter than that.”

  I bristled. “What the hell does that mean?” I knew Keto didn’t think I was all that smart, and sometimes I wondered myself, but with everything I’d been through over the last few months, I had to wonder if maybe I was smart in a different way. And not so quick to judge like the yahoos sitting in front of me.

  Hermes held up a placating hand. “He’s worried for your safety. Or have you forgotten Typhon kidnapped and drugged you a few days ago?”

  I raised my hands in frustration. “Of course I haven’t forgotten! Look. Typhon is innocent. I am one hundred percent sure of this.”

  Artemis rolled her eyes and groaned. “You were also sure about Romeo and Juliet.”

  I couldn’t help it. Anger roiled through my body. I felt power shimmer through my veins and the gift Gaia had given me came to life. Earth magic combined within me fusing my and Eris’ magic into something new. And different. Wind picked up in the room. My hair flung about my face. I watched impassively as the eyes of my friends widened. Hermes stood cautiously and moved a couple of steps toward me.

  “Doubt me at your peril,” I boomed. What the hell was wrong with me? The magic poured through my body at an alarming rate. My feet left the ground and I floated above everyone. “Artemis, insult me one more time and I will destroy you. I will burn every cell in your body. Your own father will not recognize you.”

  Fear turned Artie’s face white. She stood and slowly backed away from me.

  I turned to Keto, impassively noticing my magic floating around the haze in a vivid green, irrevocably changed. “You lived with me for thousands of years, never revealing your true nature, and you expect me to sit idly by and deal with your lies?”

  Keto’s mouth thinned, but he didn’t look nearly as fearful of me as he should have. I turned to Hermes. “To love me is to know me. But do you really know me, Messenger?”

  He nodded, and a small knowing smile played upon his lips. “I know you more than you know yourself, goddess.”

  I nodded in satisfaction, the normal me screaming inside. “Typhon is not the problem. Someone is here to destroy everything. And it’s someone we know.” My vision had a thin green haze over it. I could smell everything. For the moment, floating above everyone, I could see everything. I took in a few calming breaths because I felt so out of control and felt my feet slowly connect with the earth again.

  The wind died down, and the magic slowly receded back into my body. I should have been frightened at what had happened, or at least exhausted with the sheer amount of power I had expended. Instead I felt deliciously free.

  Artie stood behind the couch, eyeing me like a rabbit about to flee from a hungry fox. Once she realized I was back to normal, she straightened her mussed clothes, adjusted her glasses, and walked toward me. Her eyes were apologetic.

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I should know better than to doubt you.”

  I nodded once, not trusting myself to speak because the anger was still simmering beneath the surface. She touched my hand. “You are powerful in your own right. More powerful than I’ve ever seen you. If there should be a leader in this motley group, it should be you.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. A few months ago I would have laughed in her face and ignored her. It was different today. We faced an elusive, deadly threat. Clotho’s prophecies and words swam in my head. We were not prepared for this battle because our enemy was faceless.

  As much as I wanted to go screaming into battle and kick some ass, we needed more time to figure out what the hell was going on. “Let’s go into the kitchen and discuss some things,” I said once I trusted myself to speak.

  My friends followed behind as we gathered in the kitchen. I told them the story about my meeting with Typhon, leaving out our bump and grind routine. Although their faces were disapproving, they quickly got on board with my thinking once I outlined my visit with Zeus.

  Hermes whistled low. “Father has hidden this secret well.”

  I felt so much sympathy for Zeus that I couldn’t acknowledge his comment. Imagine loving someone so much you felt you had to leave them to save them, and then do it again when they tried to destroy you.

  “We’ve had multiple new people introduced. Dionysus has come into the picture. Hestia was here stirring up trouble, and then we have Athena. Any one of them cou
ld be here to spy on our plans.”

  Keto shook his head and frowned. “Hestia is just a troublemaker.” His eyes flicked to Artemis. “She’s out of the picture now anyway.”

  Artie stiffened but didn’t look at Keto. “I agree. I think it’s safe to scratch Hestia off. What about Dionysus?”

  It was time to let them know about my conversation with Hera.

  “Ariadne…hmmm.” A thoughtful look passed over Hermes’ face. “He could still be unwillingly tangled up in this thing. Now that we know someone is trying to pass as Typhon, Ariadne could be anywhere.”

  “If we find Ariadne, we might find our sneaky little culprit,” Keto said.

  I stared at them. “Okay, guys. We’re magical, but we aren’t Gandalf. How the hell are we supposed to find her without a single clue to go on?”

  Artemis chuckled. “Gandalf is pretty cool, but we’ve got better than him! We have Gaia!”

  She was right. Gaia’s head was like a weird magical GPS locator. At any given time she knew where everyone in the world was. If she could locate Ariadne for us, we could get this entire thing over with. But something was bothering me.

  “This plan sounds suspiciously easy,” I said.

  Artemis, pumped up with thoughts of Gandalf, witches, and possibly even delusional visions of grandeur courtesy of watching too much buddy cop shows grinned widely. “That’s why it’s the best plan!”

  “I wish I could share in your enthusiasm. But we’re dealing with someone obviously smarter than the average bear here. Everyone knows Typhon and Gaia are related. If the same person was involved with trying to pass as Typhon and taking Ariadne, I would hope he or she would have the snap to cover their tracks.”

  “I think you’re giving some of the immortals too much credit,” Hermes said.

  I shrugged. “We’ll play it your way for now. If it works, our jobs just got a lot easier. If not, we’re back to the drawing board.”

  All around nods were exchanged. “Call her, Abs,” Keto said.

  I concentrated on that swirling mass of magic in my chest and called for Gaia. Seconds later she appeared in the kitchen, a frown marring her otherwise perfect face. “This had better be good. I was teaching some developers in Asia a hard lesson about screwing with my lands.”

  “A torrential landslide?” Artie asked hopefully.

  Gaia grinned fiercely. “Not quite. Let’s say some men got closely acquainted with the Ghost Leopard.”

  Artie’s eyes sparkled. “Cool,” she breathed.

  “Quite,” Gaia said.

  I cleared my throat. “Gaia, we think we have something for you. I know we haven’t talked in a bit, but first I want to let you know that Typhon is not responsible for what’s going on right now.”

  She straightened and a blank look came over her face. “Says who?” she asked, her voice trembling with what I thought might be hope.

  I smiled softly. “Me,” I said. Mentioning Zeus would be too much right now. “Some information has come to light that leads us to believe someone is using your son in order to frame him.”

  A wrinkle appeared in her brow. “That does not explain why my son is awake, Aphrodite.”

  Goosebumps flickered over my skin. I needed to tread carefully. If she found out Zeus had woken Typhon up, we wouldn’t have to worry about the other guy. We’d have to worry about Mother Earth going kamikaze on dear old Zeus. I decided to be as vague as possible, something I was afraid I was getting very adept at.

  “All will be revealed soon,” I said. “We don’t know specifics yet. I’ve had dealings with your son, Gaia, and I am confident he is not behind the recent unrest.”

  She stared at me, worlds swimming in her eyes. Gaia knew I wasn’t giving her all the information I had, but for the moment she allowed it. “Get on with it then,” she said. “I need to get back.”

  Artie stepped forward. “We believe Ariadne could be the key to finding out who is responsible for all of this, but she’s missing. We require your assistance. Finding her could blow this wide open.”

  I coughed to cover up a snort. At her glare, I pasted an innocent expression on my face.

  “What does Ariadne have to do with this?” Gaia was losing patience with us.

  “Dionysus is in love with her. She was kidnapped as a tool to force his cooperation.” Hermes stopped talking and watched Gaia carefully.

  “Interesting,” she breathed. “Although I’d be hard pressed to believe someone wouldn’t cover their tracks, especially when trying to involve my son. Immortals are aware of my gift.”

  Ha. I wanted to crow about being right. Instead I winked at Artemis, who merely rolled her eyes at me.

  “Give me a moment,” Gaia said abruptly and vanished from the room.

  “Wait!” I screeched, but she was gone. A moment in Gaia’s time could mean anything. Time wasn’t concrete to her any longer.

  I sighed and looked at my friends. Keto shrugged. “She knows how important this is. She will be back soon.”

  Hermes chuckled. “Do not be so sure. Gaia might be the weirdest of us all.”

  “You know what would be awesome? Manners class for immortals.” I shoved a hand through my curls. The day had been long, and my patience was shot. “I’m going to bed,” I mumbled and started walking up the stairs.

  “Need any company?” Hermes called out.

  I sent a thin tendril of my newfangled power and hit him right in the shoulder. The girly screech that followed me up the stairs had me laughing all the way up until I collapsed into bed.

  27

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  The smell of Freesias woke me the next morning. I opened my eyes and screamed like the nubile naked girl in a horror movie. Gaia loomed over me, floating in the air. Her red hair floated down and tickled my face. She looked like a hippie vampire about to sink her teeth into my juicy carotid.

  “Gaia! What the Hades?” I pulled the covers up over my neck in case she really was some type of hybrid hippie vampire and glared at her.

  “What?” she asked innocently. “I was waiting for you to wake up.”

  “Most people get a cup of coffee and wait politely. Gods.” I stared at her willing her to move. “Gaia,” I said after a long awkward pause.

  “What?” she asked, still hovering over me.

  “Mind moving? You are seriously creeping me out.”

  She sighed, rolled her eyes, and moved to the other side of the room. “For a badass, you are awfully easy to spook.”

  I eyed her from my position in the bed. “You’ve been awfully lucid lately,” I said, then cringed as I realized my tactless ways were best not used when speaking to Mother Earth. I watched her warily for an attack that didn’t come. Instead she laughed gaily.

  “Typhon is awake.” She shrugged as if that explained everything. “He holds his human form now. I don’t understand it, but my magic is not fueling his transformation. For the first time in millennia, my magic has been set free. It feels like…a gift.” Gaia frowned. “A gift I don’t understand, but I’m willing to take if only for a short time.”

  I knew who was responsible for that gift. It wasn’t my place to tell, though. I merely smiled politely. “Have you seen Typhon?”

  She shook her head, a sharp gesture that told me I’d overstepped my bounds. I apologized, but she waved me off. “Typhon is still angry,” she said. “He has every right to be. My actions were reprehensible.”

  Sympathy flooded me. “You were merely trying to make amends for your son.”

  Fire flashed in her eyes. “By turning him into a killing monster?” She closed her eyes. “I had no right to use him as a tool for revenge.”

  I came out from underneath the covers and adjusted my pajamas. “That may be, Gaia, but you are a mother first.” I met her eyes. “I would probably have made the same decision.”

  Her eyes softened. “Sometimes I forget how wise you are, Goddess of the Sea.”

  I snorted. “You and everyone else around here. I th
ink I’m mostly good for entertainment value sometimes.” I twisted my hair up. “Anything on Ariadne?” I asked as I stood and slipped on a pair of flip flops.

  She shook her head. “I can’t pinpoint her location. Whoever it is that you’re up against has hidden their tracks well.”

  I nodded. Just as I suspected. I sighed. “It was a long shot anyway. We’ll have to come up with another way.”

  Gaia raised a finger. “I’m not finished. Just because I couldn’t pin her exact location down, doesn’t mean I failed entirely.”

  Hope bloomed in my chest. “Where?” I asked excitedly.

  Sympathy flared in her eyes. “Ariadne is somewhere close to the castle on Mount Olympus. I cannot tell you where.”

  I wished I could say I was surprised or shocked. The only thing I felt was numbness. Mount Olympus was vast, but I knew it like the back of my hand. It felt like a stone had settled into the bottom of my stomach. Whoever this was, we knew them. As much as I didn’t want my thoughts traveling down that path, I was beginning to think we might know the person well.

  I thanked Gaia for her visit. She nodded and gave me a shrewd look. “I can tell you’ve flexed your new power recently. How does it feel?”

  I reddened. How could I explain how omnipotent I felt? How could I tell her I felt like I could compete with and take down any of my enemies?

  Gaia’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t have to say anything,” she said. “Imagine that feeling amplified three hundred percent. You would feel what I feel. Use my gift wisely. For good, Aphrodite. Your destiny right now is an open book, but the decisions you make will shape and mold who you become.”

  “I’m thousands of years old,” I said, confused.