“As long as he doesn’t roam onto Hestia’s land without us,” Apollo said. “She may not take too kindly to having a strange werewolf rampaging across her property.”
“I hardly think he’s going to ‘rampage’ anywhere,” I said. “He just wants to stretch his legs. Besides, you said Hestia was friendly.”
“She is.” But he frowned as he scanned the trees for signs of our missing werewolf.
“I’ll keep an eye on him.”
Syl gave me a startled glance; I hadn’t told her that I’d let Apollo in on my secrets. But then, we hadn’t had much time to chat lately. She’d been too engrossed with her werewolf chew toy.
He was currently barrelling through the undergrowth at top speed. Not hunting—he wasn’t bothering to move stealthily. As I’d thought, he was just enjoying the chance to stretch his legs. I didn’t link with him, just watched through the eyes of the forest as he soared over a fallen tree, his tongue lolling happily from his mouth. Birds flew up in alarm as he passed, but he paid them no mind, his long legs eating up the ground.
Twenty minutes later, he rejoined us, puffing like a steam train. The wolf emerged from the shadows beneath the trees, and two steps later, the man was walking towards us, a huge grin on his stubbled face.
“Better?” I asked.
“Much. I smelled smoke up ahead a ways. Would that be Hestia’s place?”
“Probably,” Apollo said. “I don’t think there’s anything else out here.”
He quickened his step, eager to get there, but it was still a good half hour before we arrived at a track that branched off from the main road, barely wide enough to take a car.
“This is it,” he said. “Another five minutes and we’ll be there.”
“I hope she’s home,” Syl grumbled. Her cheeks were flushed with the unaccustomed exercise. Usually, if she was travelling any distance on foot, she preferred to do it in her cat shape.
I shrugged back into my jacket, despite the growing warmth of the morning. Better to have my hands free and my weapons close. Just in case. I let my mind range out on either side as we followed the track up a gentle incline. I didn’t like surprises.
I could smell the smoke that Lucas had mentioned now, though I couldn’t see it. The trees pressed in closely on each side, leaning over the track and meeting in the middle so that we walked through a cool, green tunnel. A flight of white cockatoos screeched overhead, hidden by the foliage above us. I soared with them, enjoying the bird’s eye view.
From up there, Hestia’s house was apparent, nested in its own little ring of trees, with a large vegetable garden out the back. Smoke curled from two chimneys, one at either end of the building. It was a long, low house, and its black-tiled roof glinted in the morning sun like a snake’s skin. A woman bent over the vegetable garden, a large straw hat shading her face. She was pulling out weeds from among the thriving plants.
I swooped away, borrowing the eyes of a lorikeet feeding on blossoms, then skipping to a small, grey bird that rested on a low branch beside the trail we followed. Uh-oh.
I drew closer to Apollo and spoke in a low voice. “There’s a man hiding behind that big gum on the left.”
“Alone?”
Reaching out to all the birds in the vicinity, I checked the cover on either side of the track all the way to the house. “There’s another one closer to the house. He hasn’t seen us yet.”
They held no weapons, but they were probably guards. Shapers’ weapons were their hands; they didn’t need anything else. Both men wore the same uniform: a dark green shirt and pants in a heavy fabric, and sturdy black boots. Just doing their jobs. So far, they hadn’t made a move towards us, only watched. There was no need to get twitchy.
And yet I was. I did not like being spied on; it made me feel vulnerable. The cockatoos had settled on an open patch of lawn in front of the house. I guided one to pick up the biggest pebble it could carry and brought it looping over the hidden guard’s head. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the pebble hit his dark green cap. As the cockatoo flew back to rejoin its flock, I caught a glimpse of his puzzled face upturned to the sky.
Apollo stopped before we reached the big gum tree. “You there, behind the tree! Tell Hestia that Apollo is here to see her.”
The guard didn’t reply.
“He’s fading back into the bushes,” I said, watching as the man lifted a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “He’s talking to someone, but I can’t hear what he’s saying.”
“Good. Then let us proceed.”
Lucas and Syl exchanged glances, then they both looked at me. I could tell they were uneasy, too. Walking head-on into possible danger wasn’t my preferred option; sneaky was safer. But Apollo trusted Hestia, so we were stuck with trusting his judgement, though it made my skin crawl. I shrugged. “The coast is clear so far, guys. Let’s go.”
We fell into single file behind Apollo, Lucas bringing up the rear. His eyes flicked constantly from side to side and behind us, checking for threats. No one said a word, the air thick with tension. I watched from above, my viewpoint whirling through the trees like a dervish as I skipped from bird to bird, trying to see everything at once, until I felt dizzy.
“Our guy has joined up with his mate at the house,” I said. Another man, dressed in the same uniform, came out to join them. They stood in a neat row, barring the way to the house, their arms hanging loosely at their sides. “There’s three of them now.”
“Weapons?” asked Lucas.
“Not that I can see.”
At the head of the track, we stopped and faced the welcoming committee. The man in the centre stepped forward and flames sprang to life in his hands, which still hung by his sides. I almost laughed. It would take more than that to intimidate the god of the fireshapers.
“You’re the man who claims to be Apollo?” he asked.
“No,” said Apollo. “I am Apollo.”
“Plenty of folk these days claiming to be gods that aren’t,” the man said conversationally. “Plenty of gods disappearing, too.”
“Is he threatening you?” I muttered. “Are we still sure visiting Hestia is a good idea?”
“He’s just doing his job, protecting Hestia,” he whispered. Aloud, he said to the man, “Nevertheless, I am the real deal.”
“And who are these others?”
“My companions,” Apollo said unhelpfully. Maybe he could understand the man’s barely veiled hostility, but he sure didn’t like it.
The man raised an eyebrow. “Let’s see some proof.”
Apollo’s lips compressed into a hard line, but he let his light shine forth. His body glowed so brightly I had to turn my head and blink away the after-image. “Proof enough for you?”
The man inclined his head in the barest of bows. “Thank you, my lord. You may enter.”
We all stepped forward. Abruptly, the man raised his arms. “Lord Apollo only. Companions can wait here.” He put a slight stress on the word “companions”. Snarky bastard.
“Don’t go in there alone,” Lucas whispered urgently to Apollo.
“It’s all right,” Apollo said. “I’ll be perfectly safe. It’s only Hestia.”
“Then why don’t they want us to go in?” Lucas raised his voice and spoke to Hestia’s guard. “Not acceptable. All of us, or none.”
“Then it will be none,” said the man.
Apollo folded his arms. “I assure you, little shaper, I could fry you where you stand. Only the fact that doing so would be disrespectful to Hestia is keeping you alive. Go and tell her Apollo wishes to see her right now, or I will decide to become disrespectful.”
In response, the man’s flames leapt higher, and flames appeared in the hands of his companion. Apollo’s face went white with anger. Were they crazy, or did they have a death wish?
I stepped back, ready to duck behind Apollo when the char-grilling began, as a woman came around the side of the house. She wore jeans with dirt on the knees, an old shirt with the sleeves rolled up to th
e elbows, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. The men all released their flames and bowed as she approached. She took off her hat and fanned herself with it. This was the woman I’d seen weeding the vegetable garden—and also, apparently, Hestia.
“Apollo! How wonderful to see you!” She stepped forward and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, then wiped her forehead, leaving a smear of dirt behind. Her brown hair, streaked with grey, had been squashed flat by the hat. She looked to be in her forties, maybe early fifties. “I heard you had been captured.”
“I was,” he replied. “But now I’m free again.”
“What a relief! Please forgive my boys. They get a little over-zealous in protecting me sometimes. As if I needed protection from you!” She laughed, and turned warm, brown eyes on us. “But who are your friends?”
“This is Lucas, Syl, and Lexi. Good to see you, too.”
“Welcome.” Her eyes lingered on me for a moment. “Well, you must all come inside and have a drink. It’s already feeling warm—I think it’s going to be another hot day.”
Clearly hot was a relative term. There was still quite a chill in the air here in the mountains, compared to Berkley’s Bay.
Apollo fell into step beside her as she led the way inside. She kicked off her work boots just inside the door. “Only because they’re covered in mud,” she said. “No need for the rest of you to take off your shoes.”
The polished wooden floors were a warm honey hue, as were the exposed wooden beams. The colour lent a cosy glow to the white walls.
“Have you heard from Zeus?” Apollo asked.
She turned away to hang her hat on a peg beside the door. “No. Have you?”
“Yes. He told me to come to see you.”
“Really?” She frowned. “What exactly did he say?”
“‘Hestia lightning’.”
There was a long pause, then she seemed to come to a decision. “Well, now. In that case, you’d better come this way. I have something to show you.”
***
Hestia stomped back into her shoes and led us outside again. Her fireshaper guards had disappeared. We trailed after her as she went around the house and through the vegetable garden, past beds of dark green spinach and leafy carrot tops. At the back of the garden stood a small prefabricated shed. It looked ridiculously tiny compared to the much bigger barn behind it.
I wondered why they’d built a shed right next to the barn. Surely such a big building couldn’t be full? But the shed was our destination. The door squeaked on its runners as Hestia slid it open.
I blinked, and held up a hand to shade my eyes. The inside of the shed was so brightly lit it was like staring into the sun—worse even than when Apollo did his light bulb impression. It took a moment of squinting before I could make out what was inside.
Hestia stood back as we all crowded around the doorway, staring at the impossible thing inside the shed.
“Zeus’s balls,” I breathed.
“Close,” said Hestia. “Not his balls, but something almost as dear to him.”
“It looks like a … is that—?” Syl faltered.
“A lightning bolt,” said Apollo. “How in the name of heaven did a lightning bolt get into your back shed?”
The jagged white streak sizzled and popped, throwing sparks at the metal walls. It was embedded into the scorched earth floor of the shed.
“It didn’t, actually,” Hestia said. “We built the shed around it after it landed. Once I realised that I couldn’t move it, I thought it prudent to hide it. I don’t want anyone knowing it’s here. But if Zeus told you, I figured it was safe to share my little secret with you.”
“But the door wasn’t locked,” I pointed out, bemused.
“No one can steal it,” she assured me. “You can’t even get close enough to touch it. Try it, and see what happens.”
No, thanks. Maybe I looked stupid, but that was an offer I had no trouble refusing. Apollo, on the other hand, stepped into the shed.
“Be careful,” Syl said.
“I’m his son. Perhaps it will recognise me.”
He stepped closer, and the shower of sparks increased. That didn’t bother the god of fireshaping, of course. He took another step, and his hair stood straight up like a straw broom. “I can feel resistance,” he said, “like trying to walk into a gale.”
The lightning vibrated as he stretched his hand toward it, filling the shed with a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. Abruptly, the two shifters moved away, identical expressions of pain on their faces, but Apollo forced himself another step closer.
That was it—the lightning bolt had had enough. Light burst from it as Apollo flew through the air, landing on his back in the middle of the carrots and spinach. Lucas offered him a hand up as Hestia slammed the door closed.
Apollo clambered to his feet, brushing dirt and leaves from his clothes. “I see what you mean.”
“It’s like that with everyone,” Hestia said. “I nearly lost a man building the damn shed. Shall we go inside? Cup of tea, anyone?”
We trooped inside, through the back door this time, into a large, cheerful kitchen whose folding glass doors looked out over the vegetable patch, and beyond to the surrounding forest. A fire burned in a large grate—it looked as though it might have been used for cooking in the past, though the kitchen was equipped with modern appliances. We took seats at the kitchen table while Hestia put the kettle on. Apollo refused the offer of tea, staring out at the shed with a distracted frown on his face.
“Why is the bolt so small?” he asked.
Small? It hadn’t seemed that small to me—it was the height of a man, even with part of it buried in the ground.
“You mean why is it only one branch?” Hestia asked, laying out biscuits on a pretty floral plate.
“Yes. Where is the rest of it?”
“That is the question, isn’t it?” Hestia brought the tea tray to the table and poured for Syl and Lucas. “Zeus’s lightning bolt is renowned as being three-pronged, yet here we appear to have only one prong.” She shook her head. “One-third of the power of the father of the gods is sitting in my garden shed. I can hardly believe it. I’ve thought about it a lot, as you can imagine, and I believe I know what has happened.”
She sat down next to Lucas, who offered her the plate of biscuits. She waved it away, all her attention on Apollo.
“We know how the shadow shapers work, how they steal our power by gaining possession of our avatars. I believe Zeus knew this, too. I think, somehow, they’ve attacked him and weakened him enough that he couldn’t fight back. To save himself, he fled into the electrical system, and split his avatar into three.”
Apollo shifted; an involuntary movement of protest. “I find it difficult to believe that Zeus’s power wasn’t enough to prevail against a bunch of second-rate shapers wielding stolen magic.”
“I do, too,” she said. “And yet they did it with you. If they could bring the sun god down, why not the father of the gods? How were you captured?”
Apollo scowled. “I don’t know. They did something to me so that I wouldn’t remember.”
“Then let’s assume for the moment that my theory is correct. Zeus, in peril, and knowing that his power will be stolen if the shadow shapers manage to capture his avatar as well as himself, uses the last of his strength to split his avatar and send the three parts of it in different directions.”
Lucas frowned. “And this happened a year ago, when Zeus disappeared? Why haven’t the shadow shapers found the three parts in that time? They must be scouring the world for them.”
“Because I don’t think he just randomly flung them out into the universe. I believe he sent them to three people he trusted to take care of them.”
“Maybe they have found the other two,” I said. “This could be the only one left. Or maybe it was always the only one and they’ve had the other two all along.”
“Maybe.” Hestia gave me an impatient look. “But I prefer to think positively.”
/> “Why did you never tell me you had this?” Apollo was doing his best not to look wounded, but I could tell he was hurt. After all his talk of how much he trusted Hestia, it must be galling to now realise that she hadn’t trusted him to the same degree.
“I didn’t dare tell anyone,” she said. “Zeus’s life is at stake, and I couldn’t afford to get it wrong.”
“Hmm.” He stared out at the shed, frowning. “Who has the others, then?”
“I don’t know. I think that’s what Zeus wants you to find out. That’s why he’s given you this message, Hestia lightning. It must mean that he wants you to find the other two parts and bring them here to me.”
That seemed like it would just create a magnet for shadow shapers. “What good would that do?”
“If we reunite them here, in a safe place, Zeus will be able to come back.”
I pictured silver sparkles emerging from a power point, reforming in the air into the shape of an old, bearded guy. Or maybe pixels on a computer screen, merging into a likeness, which then stepped out of the screen into reality. The whole idea was bizarre. What had happened to Zeus’s body, and what was he now? People kept talking about him hiding in the grid as if that made sense, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it at all. Was he just currents running through the wires?
“If the other two parts are as unfriendly as the one you’ve got here,” Syl said, “how are we ever going to move them?”
“We can worry about that when we find them,” Apollo replied. “If we find them.”
“So who would he send them to?” I asked. “Who does he trust?”
“Poseidon,” Apollo said immediately. “My father is closer to the sea god than to any of the rest of us.”
Lucas nodded. “Makes sense. They’re brothers.”
I barely managed to restrain a snort. Not all brothers were as close as Lucas was to Joe. Hades was Zeus’s brother, too, but the dismissive way he talked about him made me think he didn’t much care for him. He’d never mentioned being in possession of a lightning bolt. But maybe he wouldn’t; Hades liked his secrets.
“Have you spoken to Poseidon about it?” Apollo asked.
Hidden Goddess (Shadows of the Immortals Book 4) Page 8