by Unknown
“Nonsense,” she said. “Come here, young man.” She enveloped him in a hug and Torr got his face mushed into Titan grandma boobs. We all giggled. “Now, let me get a good look at you,” she pushed him back but held onto his upper arms and stared intensely into his face. I went still, feeling the tickle of magic along my skin. She wasn't just looking at him, she was seeing him. “Yes,” she whispered and then nodded. “You're a good match.” She let him go and looked over to Artemis. “A very good choice for you, Artie.”
I breathed out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and Torrent looked over to me with a wide grin. I grinned back and nodded an I told you so nod. I knew Torrent was a good man but it was nice to have a stranger confirm it.
“Thanks, Grandma,” Artemis said and proudly linked her arm through Torr's.
“Now, let's go take care of the nasty git who you call Father,” Phoebe smiled sweetly.
“Oh, she's lovely,” I whispered to Odin on our way out of Cronus' house. “Can we keep her?”
Chapter Forty-Two
The trip back to Hades' palace was uneventful besides us picking up the Lamiai, Campe, Tisiphone and Tisiphone's sisters; Alecto and Megaera, who'd she'd invited along for the fun. Hekate told me the were called the Erinyes but most people knew them as the Furies. She was thrilled they were all coming with us, something about them being the perfect women to bring to war.
I did have a long conversation with Pan over why the Titans weren't giants. I'd totally expected people bigger than the Jotuns but Rind was taller than that Cronus dude. Pan had explained that they'd been super big to begin with but life is difficult when you're that size and part of the reason they'd withdrawn into Tartarus was to cut themselves off from human belief. The severance had worked out as they'd planned and shrunk them back to a more convenient size. So they stayed put behind the bronze gates, only opening them for their doses of ambrosia to be delivered.
I wondered what Zeus asked them for in exchange for the ambrosia. I wouldn't think they could do too much for him locked away like they'd been. Pan had said he didn't think Zeus asked anything from them, he was just happy to have them shrunk and stuck in Tartarus. Evidently, even with their reduced size and their lack of human energy to empower them, the Titans were still pretty titanic. They'd been some of the greatest magic wielders of Atlantis and Pan said they had more power than Zeus did.
I pondered the Titans as we reached Hades' palace. With them beside us, the battle against Zeus would be a slaughter. Right? I frowned and looked back at them again. If they were so powerful and they obviously hated Zeus so much, why hadn't they kicked his ass sooner?
I voiced my question to Pan and he said one word, the obvious one. The one that this whole war had been started for. Ambrosia. It all came back to the ambrosia.
Hades must have given the word for the gods to get ready while we were gone because when we stepped inside, we found them all ready to go. We were marching across the bridges spanning the river Styx in less than thirty minutes.
“I thought Hekate was going to open a path for us?” I asked Pan. Hekate herself was busy at the front of the line with and Hades.
“She is,” Pan assured me, “but we have to meet Donnie and his ocean people first. You know, the Nereids, the Ichthyocentaurs, and the Tritons, all those guys.”
“Oh, yeah sure, all those guys,” I nodded and then I saw all of those gods rising from Oceanus. “Oh!”
They were impressive, more impressive coming out of the water than they had been dry on land. On land, when I'd seen the Tritons at the first meeting, they seemed almost normal. A little moist, with gills and bluish skin, but other than that, normal. Watching them leave the water, I was able to catch a glimpse of what they looked like before they got on land.
I'd met real mermaids before but they were very different from these human imagined concepts. Real mermaids didn't have hair for one thing. They had ridge crests down the center of their skulls which produced sonar. They had huge eyes, huge webbed hands, and huge dolphin like tails. Also, they stayed in that form.
These Tritons did have tails very similar to the mermaids I'd met, thick dolphin tails, though they shimmered blue-green in the sunlight. They didn't have the large hands, though their hands were webbed, and they didn't have the large eyes. They looked like normal people as far as their faces were concerned. Men and women both. They swam into the shallows, huge tails flapping out of the water behind them, and then shifted those tails into legs. How convenient.
Behind the Tritons came about fifty women, laughing and splashing through the waves like little girls. They didn't have tails. They didn't have gills. They didn't have webbed hands. If they hadn't walked out of the water like they did, I wouldn't have known they were ocean goddesses at all.
“The Nereids,” Pan nodded in their direction. “Daughters of Nereus. They-”
“My children!” One of the Titans boomed and rushed toward the giggling girls. The girls shouted in glee and rushed the man back. “I've missed you. You look beautiful, all of you. Where's your sister?”
“I'm here, Father,” a woman called out and I felt my jaw drop.
She was riding in a chariot with Poseidon. Just like the other Nereids, there was nothing really unusual about her and it wasn't her I was gaping at. It was the mermaid-horse-things pulling her chariot. She jumped out and ran to the Titan while Donnie followed at a more sedate pace. He said something to the horses, which had the back-ends of fish, and they turned about and went back into the water.
“Seahorses,” I whispered.
“Hippocampi,” Azrael corrected. “Unfortunately, they don't do well on land.”
“Damn. Wait...” I fell silent again as two men came out of the water. They had lobster claws growing out of their heads like horns and from the waist down they were horses. “I didn't know centaurs were a part of Poseidon's gang.”
“They aren't,” Trevor chuckled. “Wait for it.”
The men continued forward, revealing even more of themselves. The horse body ended in a fish tail, just like the hippocampi. I shook my head. I really shouldn't have made that comment to Donnie about nothing surprising me anymore. Damn, the Greeks were making a liar out of me.
Then three bird women swooped down out of the sky and landed beside Donnie. I frowned and started forward, thinking Donnie might need some help with the harpies.
“What are you doing?” Azrael caught my arm.
“The harpies,” I waved to the women. “I'm not sure if Donnie's safe with them.”
“Those aren't harpies,” Azrael insisted. “Those are sirens.”
“No way. I thought sirens lived in the ocean,” I looked them over. Now that I was focusing, I saw the slight differences. They were more feminine than the harpies, their upper bodies covered with flowing dresses, and their wings were lighter colored and more graceful. Their legs even looked different, with pale brown feathers covering them and golden talons.
“Common misconception,” Trevor nodded. “Because they lure sailors to their deaths and all that. Actually, they're bird women who hang out around the water.”
“Like seagulls,” I whispered. “Greeks are weird.”
Donnie came over and introduced us to some of the various ocean gods, including the twin brothers Bythos and Aphros who were those sea-centaur thingys. It took all of my self control to not stare at their lobster claw horns. Who the hell thought to give these poor guys lobster claws on their heads? They clacked together every so often. It was just bizarre.
Donnie also introduced us to his wife, Amphitrite, Amy for short, and their son Triton who head of the Tritons(I know, the Greeks had so many gods that sometimes they lost their creativity). Triton, not to be mistaken with trident, which was the weapon both he and his father carried, seemed like a nice enough guy but he had barnacles stuck to his shoulders like epaulets and all I could think about was scraping them off. I kept wondering if he just woke up looking like that or if he'd cultivated the barnacles. Maybe
they grew all over him and he cleared away all but those on his shoulders because he thought they looked cool. I had horrible images of his grooming routine going through my head.
“Are we ready?” Hades got everyone's attention. “Yes? Alright. Hekate, if you will. People, form a line three wide. We'll need to walk through the path as quickly as possible. Also, remember to leave Zeus for Vervain. Defend yourself by all means but Vervain must be the one to bring him down.”
Great, no pressure there. I rolled my eyes and Azrael elbowed me in the side. I gave him an pained look and he just shook his head at me like it was my own damn fault. Men.
We all fell into line, the Titans at the front, with me, my Intare, and the God Squad behind them. Then the rest of the rebel Greek gods lined up behind us. Hekate stood before us all with her Lamiai and held up a hand. I didn't expect much of a show after her last demonstration but I was wrong.
She moved her finger in the outline of a door and wherever she pointed, the air lit up with blue sparks. Blue, like the Aether when I used to have to open tracing points on my own. Then the space inside the outline faded away and turned black but not an empty black. There were images floating through the darkness. Moving images of things and people. It was the Aether.
“Crap,” I grumbled. I hated traveling through the Aether like this. Tracing was one thing. You zipped through without seeing all the stuff people left behind. When you walked the Aether though, you got to see all of what the Aether was.
“Hey,” I heard Torrent exclaim. “I can do that.”
“Really?” Artemis sounded impressed and I couldn't help grinning.
“Yeah, sure,” he tried to sound casual. “I have to use the Internet paths to travel but a few of them go through the Aether.”
“Let's go!” Hekate cut off anything else Torr might have said. She put a hand on one edge of the doorway and spoke a few words under her breath. Then she went right into the darkness. The Titans followed without pause and we followed them.
I felt Trevor and Azrael's hands slide into mine as we stepped forward and Kirill was with Odin right behind us. Their presence was comforting and I squared my shoulders as I stepped into the Aether.
I admit I kept my eyes on my feet, where they tread on a condensed path of black fog. Once was enough for me. I didn't need to see inside the Aether again. The trip was short though and we were soon stepping out onto the top of Mount Olympus.
The first thing I noticed was how serenely beautiful it was. We'd come out onto a lower plateau this time. Right in the middle of an open courtyard surrounded by huge palaces. Then it lost its serene quality. Sirens started blaring and I don't mean the bird-women who looked like harpies. Gods were rushing out of the palaces to stare at us in shock.
“Don't just stand there and gawk!” A thunderous voice came from above us. “Attack them!”
I looked up and saw Zeus. Our eyes met and we shared a moment of mutual hatred before I leapt into action, running toward the cliff he was standing on. All around me the world became chaos, gods fighting each other in ways that were both frightening and fascinating.
The Titans were knocking gods over with just a wave of their hands. Campe was stinging people with her tail as she picked up others to tear at with her claws. Tisiphone and her sisters were shrieking as they launched themselves onto any enemy they could find, while even more crazy looking women, with wild dark hair and red eyes, went screeching by me, making me pull up short.
“Maenads,” Dionysus shrugged as he sauntered up in their wake. “Gotta love em'.”
He held up a wand with a pine cone on its tip, of all things. There were vines wrapped around it and it dripped something thick and golden. Kinda gross. His eyes narrowed on his chosen opponent and the pine cone wand got leveled in their direction. Golden light shot out of it and I followed its path to see a man on the ground, shaking vigorously and screaming. Dionysus gave me a broad grin and continued on.
The sounds of battle made me dizzy for a second, calling up my war magic, and I had to take a deep breath and let the shivers of excitement pass through me. Strength filled my limbs, adrenaline rushing through my blood with the magic, clearing my head and giving me a sharp focus. I started forward again, taking the battle scenes in much more calmly.
I passed by the Moirai. Lachesis had her pair of giant scissors in hand and was using them as a weapon to great effect. Her sisters stayed close to her, forming a little circle with their backs to each other. Smart. My war magic approved of their strategy. Clotho threw what I think was a spindle into the battle. It unwound as it went, releasing a long thread that wrapped around her chosen target and strangled him. Then there was Atropos, her red hair lifting about her in the currents of her magic. She had her tape measure out, flinging it at her enemies. The yellow of its metal length would flash as its sharp edge sliced through gods like butter.
Cerebus was in full, three-headed dog form, chomping on anyone who crossed his path. Apollo was hurling the plague like snowballs, striking down gods who writhed on the ground as they struggled to heal themselves. The sirens were singing, falling upon their prey from the sky and the Lamiai were gleefully gorging themselves on the blood of anyone they could catch.
Donnie was creating water out of thin air, sending huge waves of the stuff crashing into gods as he laughed like it was all just good, clean fun. His wife led the Nereids in tactical maneuvers, surrounding a few gods at a time and falling upon them with knives made of coral. There were goddesses shining likes stars and burning all they could touch, gods who aged other gods with a look, and a lot of strange looking gods and goddesses who simply fell upon their enemies with murderous fury.
I ran by Hekate as shifted into a large, shaggy, black dog and went for some poor guy's throat. That made me pause and stare for a second, which was all the time my stalker needed to catch up with me.
“Godhunter,” a feminine voice called from behind me. “I've been looking forward to this.”
I turned to see a lovely looking woman; graceful long limbs, pale skin, pink cheeks, long dark hair in fat curls down to her hips, and eyes of blue mist. I knew her immediately. The eyes gave her away.
“Pasithea,” I said and firmed my resolve. Why did I always end up fighting my friend's mothers? “Got a bone to pick, do you?”
“Oh, I'll be picking your bones alright,” she grinned and her face shifted, her mouth opening, widening, until it was a cavern. Her teeth became rock formations. Her tongue, a river. The sun disappeared and night fell around me, cutting me off from the battle entirely. I sank into a battle stance, claws sprouting from my hands as I stared around me warily. What the hell was this?
Laughter carried to me from the depths of the cave and then I saw Pasithea, walking towards me. That really blew my mind. I mean, wasn't I already standing inside her mouth? Wait. What? I couldn't think clearly, my war magic was numb, as numb as my mind. I blinked rapidly and shook my head to try and clear it.
“Are you lost, dear?” She looked so sweet. Who was she? She came toward me, holding a flower. “Here, a gift for you.”
I frowned at the deep red bloom. Something wasn't right about this. What was it? Then an arrow flew out of the darkness, impaling the woman right through the heart. She gasped and sputtered as blood spread through the white fabric of her dress, mimicking the flower she still held out to me. She looked down at the arrowhead peaking out of her chest with horror and then slowly fell to the floor.
As she fell, the hallucination fell away as well and the battle returned. I blinked away the haze of whatever she'd done to me and saw a woman standing a little ways off. She was in a doorway, as if she'd just made the decision to join the battle. She looked frail, delicate. Blonde hair was artfully arranged on her head in complicated braids, looking almost too heavy for her thin neck to carry, and in her hands she held a bow. For all her frail beauty, the eyes she focused on me were strong and steady. She nodded once and I nodded back.
“Well done, Mother!” Artemis shou
ted from somewhere on my left and I saw the woman raise a hand to her daughter and then run into the fray.
Leto. At least I knew the name of the goddess who'd just saved my life. I'd be sure to thank her later. For now, I had to get to Zeus. I looked back at the cliff where he was still standing, frowning down at me. He must have been enjoying the show until his ex-mistress had messed it up for him. Well, things were about to get even messier.
I started forward again but once more, I was stalled. A man stepped into my path, leveling his bow at me. Actually, he didn't even look like a man, he looked maybe seventeen at the most. Smooth jaw, slim build, golden curls, and blue eyes filled with hatred. I knew that look. Why was he so familiar?
“You killed my mother,” the boy announced. “And my father.”
“Prepare to die?” I offered. I couldn't help it. It had to be said.
“Yes!” The boy shouted and pulled back the arrow.
“Who the hell are you, kid?”
“Kid?” He lowered his bow in shock. “Did you just call me a child?”
“Well if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck,” I shrugged.
“What do ducks have to do with it?”
“Who are you?” I snarled.
“Himeros.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I lifted up my hands in the universal WTF gesture.
“Shred it, Tritons!” Donnie's shout carried over to us and distracted us both for a second.
When I looked back at Himeros, Nemesis was standing behind him. She winked at me and bashed him over the head with the hilt of her sword. He fell like a rock.
“Himeros is the son of Aphrodite and Ares,” she explained.
“Damn, I thought I got all of them,” I huffed. Would I never stop paying for killing Aphrodite?
“Not quite,” she chuckled.
“Thanks for the save.”
“No prob,” she glanced back up at Zeus and he glowered down at her. “Now go get him.”
She didn't have to tell me twice. I sprinted for the cliff and when I finally made it, I didn't have to search for a way up. Zeus did me the courtesy of leaping down and landing in front of me amidst a spray of shattered stone.