The Forest Gods' Reign

by Alexandria Hook

  All of a sudden, he leaned in to kiss me, gently placing his warm hands on my hips, the skin on which suddenly felt like it was burning. He closed his eyes and slipped his fingers through the belt loops on my jeans, pulling me closer. This cannot be happening, I thought. I am so not ready for this. As fast as I could, I pushed back before he got the chance to kiss me, turning my head away from him. I was hyperventilating and my mind was reeling.

  “I’m sorry, Cole. I shouldn’t have brought you here,” I said quickly, eager to get him out of my second home.

  Cole opened his mouth to speak, but he never got the chance. The sound of rustling branches distracted him, and he turned to face whatever had made the sound. Then Alec, who happened to be wearing his armor and holding a sword covered in monster blood, stumbled out from behind a large pine tree. His piercing blue eyes widened as they met mine, and it was as if we were tied together in a single moment of fear. Alec, a person unknown to the town, had been seen in the forbidden forest, a place where dozens of people were rumored to have been murdered, and there was no taking it back now. Needless to say, this meeting was not good for anyone in the little clearing. So, acting on the spur of the moment, I did the only thing I could think of.

  I punched Cole. Hard enough to knock him out. His black pupils dilated as his eyes rolled back in his head, and then he slowly fell backward, crashing to the ground with a loud thump. “Sorry again,” I muttered to an unconscious Cole before I looked up to see Alec’s jaw drop in shock.

  “That was so awesome,” Alec said, his eyes full of wonder, but he didn’t mention anything he had told me via walkie-talkie. I only hoped Cole wouldn’t remember any of this when he awoke. After all, I guessed that the only reason Alec appeared so happy was because he now knew that I didn’t really have any romantic feelings toward Cole. It was becoming plainly obvious that Alec was interested in me as well.

  “What happened here?” Zeus asked in Greek as he walked up behind us. Alec just smirked at me, and with enthusiasm, he filled Zeus in as the three of us dragged Cole’s limp body back to the edge of the forest.

  “He’s heavier than he looks,” Zeus grumbled as we dropped Cole on the ground, and I nodded in agreement. Although the scrawny, Sightless boy was still unconscious, none of us—especially not Alec—was willing to wait for him to wake up. Yes, it was probably kind of cruel, but Zeus and I left him sleeping peacefully next to Main Street and immediately headed back into the forest. Even though the entire town had almost been flooded by Zeus’s storm, the gods still had battle practice scheduled for that day. So to the meadow we went, leaving Alec to wander back toward Pan’s hideout alone, as he didn’t particularly want to be killed by our superhuman powers.

  ___________________

  The ground shook hard beneath me, knocking me off balance, and I fell into the long grass before I could even take another step forward. I got up just in time to see Poseidon raise his golden trident again, ready to bring it down and cause another earthquake. So I dropped to the ground once more, using the grass as a cover while I surveyed the entire situation. Then Aphrodite, who was wearing a bright pink-and-black workout outfit, suddenly dove down to rest beside me. “Hey,” she whispered. I simply rolled my eyes at her, thinking she was about to give away my position.

  But just then, a piercing scream cut through the air like a knife. All of the gods immediately stopped what they were doing and instinctively looked toward where the sound had come from. At the edge of the meadow, Hera was still screaming, hanging from a tree, wrapped in thick vines that looked as if they were squeezing her to death. Panic emanated from her like heat from a heater. Zeus did not hesitate to run toward her, ignoring everything that had happened between them the night before. Demeter, however, was standing right next to the suffocating Hera, with hers fists balled and a bloodthirsty look in her usually calm brown eyes.

  “Let her go!” Zeus demanded at the top of his voice, but Demeter didn’t even cast a glance in our direction. She was too busy torturing Hera.

  I waited for Zeus to tackle Demeter, to do something, but he only stopped in his tracks, seemingly hypnotized. I was preparing to throw my spear at the goddess of the harvest, but then Hera seemed to regain her senses, realizing she was about to die. I saw her face suddenly relax, and she closed her eyes, her muscles rippling. The next thing I knew, I was blinded by a flash of purple light, and I felt as if I were being blown to bits. I couldn’t even walk, let alone see straight.

  Struggling to remain standing and trying to regain my vision, I blinked furiously, but there was only endless purple light. Seconds passed, seeming like ages, and I was beginning to worry that none of us would ever be able to see again, that this had been Hera’s plan all along—to make sure we couldn’t fight back against whatever she was going to do to us. But soon, I could make out blurs, which eventually became shapes that looked like the rest of the gods again.

  Rubbing my eyes in disbelief, I stomped over to join the rest of the gods standing over Demeter and Hera, who was now free of the vines and just beginning to breathe regularly again. Demeter’s face was equally red, and she began sobbing, which confused me even more. The other gods, too, exchanged wary glances.

  “I’m sorry. I—I don’t know what came over me,” Demeter gasped between sobs, with her head in her hands and strands of blonde hair sticking to her wet face. “I’m so, so sorry. Will you forgive me?” She looked to Hera for an answer.

  And after debating with herself for a while, Hera answered cryptically, “Yes. Eventually.”

  I decided that “eventually” was better than “never” in my book. Trust didn’t come easily to us.

  ___________________

  Unsurprisingly, Zeus ended battle practice right after that terrifying ordeal, and all of us gods split up for the rest of the afternoon. The rest of the Monster Watch and I headed deeper into the forest to see if Alec wanted to join us in a round of reverse hide-and-seek, while the other gods headed back to Main Street. Certain things looked as if they were starting to get back to normal again.

  Poseidon, Zeus, and Apollo took off in different directions, ready to start our game. I was given the job of picking up Alec, who had been introduced to reverse hide-and-seek during the days I had spent with Katie. The Monster Watch had made the executive decision that Alec, as the newest player in the game, would be hiding first that day.

  After walking for a while, I finally reached Pan’s hideout, where I patiently waited for Alec to put on his armor. We then strode away, leaving Pan to swim with some water nymphs in bikinis and Persephone and Artemis’s huntresses to collect berries for a daytime snack.

  “It’s kind of hard to believe a cheating scandal almost caused the end of the world last night,” Alec chuckled to himself as he took one last look over his shoulder at Pan’s hideout before it disappeared from view.

  I smirked. “I think you’re exaggerating a little bit about the end of the world, but I definitely agree with you,” I told him, absentmindedly fingering the walkie-talkie on my hip. “Some of the gods take these things a little too personally.”

  Alec laughed again. “If Aphrodite and Hera were here, I bet they would be complaining about how painfully obvious it is that I’ve never had a girlfriend, and that you’ve never had a boyfriend.”

  “And I don’t plan on getting one,” I retorted seriously, hoping that Alec was getting the message. I didn’t need to cause any more trouble among the gods, and I definitely didn’t need those wretched feelings of non-familial love seeping into my mind like poison, interrupting my train of thought and slowly killing me.

  “Really? You could’ve fooled me,” Alec scoffed, his voice tight as he glared down at the lush ferns his shoes were crushing. “I don’t know why else you would have brought Cole in here.”

  “Because Cole’s my friend,” I hissed defensively. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

  “You’re right. I don’t understand. And I don’t believe that’s the real reason you brought
him in here. I don’t even think you know why you brought him in here.”

  “If you felt so strongly about this, why didn’t you try harder to stop me?” I argued, raising my voice, crossing my arms, and stepping in front of him to block his path.

  “Because I’m not a god,” Alec reminded me, his voice equally cold and unforgiving. “And you’re the goddess of wisdom. It’s nearly impossible to convince you not to do something you’ve set your mind to.”

  I shut my eyes, taking deep breaths in and out, in and out. “My mind was never made up, Alec,” I whispered, opening my eyes but avoiding eye contact. “You were right. But still, you shouldn’t have given up on me. I would have listened to you. I don’t care that you’re not a god.”

  Alec didn’t say anything more. He only looked down at the uneven ground, mulling over what I had just said and lazily kicking at a small rock. I wasn’t sure what he expected me to say, but it definitely wasn’t something so radical.

  Suddenly, Alec surprised me by placing a hand on my left shoulder, his face now mere inches from mine. I was having a hard time trying to predict what he was thinking, what his next move would be, and that was perturbing to me. He carefully reached out to touch the huge, ugly bruise on the side of my face before he asked in a worried whisper, “Is your jaw okay?”

  Maybe it was crazy, but I felt my jaw immediately stop throbbing at his warm touch. Half of my body was telling me to slap his hand away from my face, but the other half wanted Alec to stay right where he was. I could do nothing but force myself to stand firmly in place and to ignore the fact that my muscles were beginning to cramp up with stress.

  Finally, I managed to raise my shoulders in a shrug. “I’ve been hit harder.”

  “I’m not surprised,” he said, his face still close to mine. “You are Athena, after all.”

  He was grinning now, actually grinning. I assumed he was trying to cover up how he was really feeling after our first argument, but I didn’t want to confront him about it again because I knew it would probably lead to another fight. Two could play at this treacherous game.

  “Yes, I am,” I stated simply, unsure of what else there was to say on the matter. After pausing for a moment, I continued, flashing back to when I knocked out Cole for trying to kiss me, “And you obviously didn’t learn anything from what happened with Cole earlier.”

  While slowly, romantically slipping one of his strong arms around my shoulders, Alec smirked and said, “Oh yes, I did. I learned that I shouldn’t flirt with you unless I want some serious damage to various parts of my body.”

  I played along with his outrageous antics, permitting myself to lean into him for just a second, and raised my eyebrows at him as I asked, “Then why are you flirting with me now?” He only grinned, still tightly holding onto me, and I hated myself for thinking that being with him felt so natural.

  “Babe, I’ve been flirting with you ever since last night, and I’m lucky I’m not dead yet. But I just realized that I’m okay with earning a few more permanent scars, if it means I get to spend more time with you.” He laughed lightly as he said this, but at the same time he somehow sounded much more serious than before—too serious, if there was such a thing.

  Eager to change the subject, I pushed Alec away. “It’s your turn to hide,” I informed him matter-of-factly. This time he did not argue, and I smiled to myself when I heard the crackling of branches behind me, meaning that Alec was running away. Finally.

  Chapter 10:

  MISSING

  After I found Alec hiding up in a tall tree, I radioed Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo so we could meet up. The five of us headed over to Pan’s hideout to drop Alec off after finishing our round of reverse hide-and-seek. We were about a few yards away when we heard Pan and Persephone bickering, and Alec groaned, looking annoyed. He probably wished he were somewhere else, but he didn’t have any other place to be and knew that he should take advantage of spending as much time with the gods as possible, especially because Persephone had to go back to the Underworld at the end of the summer. That was only a short time away, and we still had to save the world at sometime or another.

  Stepping out next to the river pool, we saw Pan sitting on his rock throne, brushing moss off his furry goat legs, and Persephone sitting on a blanket with some nymphs. The nymphs were urging Persephone to divulge information about her relationship with Hades, but the brunette was blushing, shaking her head no. I knew he was a sore subject for her, since she didn’t even like talking to Demeter about him, so I wondered how much she had told them already.

  Finally, she admitted, her voice hushed, “We were just friends, really. Then puberty came along, and things got really bad between us. Bad and awkward. I needed a girl to talk with down there, but he couldn’t give me that. So things fell apart. Honestly, there’s not much to tell.”

  Here, Persephone turned her head and noticed us standing behind her. Suddenly embarrassed in the presence of Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, and Alec, she shut her mouth and blushed an even deeper red. The nymphs had enough sense to refrain from pressing her any further, and Persephone quickly shooed us away so she could make some dinner alone. The rest of the Monster Watch and I only exchanged confused shrugs and made our way back to our homes, as it was already getting dark. Where had the day gone?

  We were passing through the meadow when Zeus, who was leading our single-file line, pointed out something on the other side of the meadow. It was a hooded figure dressed all in black, riding on the back of a huge, well-muscled black horse. The person, whoever it was, was heading our way, and I was pretty sure that he hadn’t noticed us yet. When he looked up, however, we caught a glimpse of his pale face, and I immediately knew who it was. One fleeting moment was all it took to recognize the lord of the dead.

  “What the hell is he doing here?” Poseidon muttered angrily in Greek, and I frowned, knowing full well that Hades was supposed to be in the Underworld. Technically, he was allowed into our realm only if he had an invitation from Zeus, or if he was delivering Persephone.

  “Let’s find out,” Apollo whispered back to us. He followed Zeus and took another few steps toward Hades, who sat frozen on his horse. His dark, creepy eyes narrowed and locked on us.

  “Hello,” Zeus said, raising his voice so Hades could hear. “What are you doing up here on this lovely evening?” I could tell that Zeus was trying to sound as friendly as possible, so he wouldn’t send Hades running in the other direction.

  But it didn’t work.

  Hades slammed his heels into the horse’s belly, and it turned around on a dime, quickly bolting in the other direction, back under the trees. Without stopping to think about what we were doing, the rest of the Monster Watch and I started racing across the meadow after him. He was obviously avoiding us for a good reason, and we had to know what it was.

  Sprinting as fast as we could, we jumped over logs and large tree roots and ducked to avoid low-hanging branches, but even when you’re a god in the best shape you could ever be in, you can’t quite outrun a galloping horse (especially when you’re wearing heavy armor). Unless you’re Hermes.

  Still running, I yanked the walkie-talkie off one of my belt loops and yelled into it. “Hermes! If you’re listening, we spotted Hades in the woods. He’s on horseback, heading east toward Main Street. You need to cut him off now before he gets away!”

  After almost falling on my face from tripping, I heard a reply from the walkie-talkie: “On it.”

  The four of us ran through the dark forest, following the trail of broken branches left by Hades’s horse. Branches whipped our reddening faces as we carried on, unsure when Hades would stop. The Monster Watch and I could only hope that Hermes could find Hades and cut him off in time … and that we weren’t running through poison oak. We were following the trail uphill as fast as we could, but by now the four of us had fallen far behind Hades and his horse, and we still hadn’t heard another word from Hermes.

  Eventually we rounded a bend and came up at the top of
the small hill, where the trail ended at a small cave just large enough for one person to fit into. The Greek symbol cut into the stone marked the cave as an entrance to Hades’s realm. Unfortunately, Hermes and Persephone were the only other gods besides Hades allowed into the Underworld.

  I sat on the grass, defeated, tugging at my ponytail and trying to catch my breath. Poseidon, clutching at a stitch in his side, slammed his golden trident into the ground in frustration, creating a slight tremor in the earth, and Zeus just frowned at him.

  “Now what?” Apollo asked once he had caught his breath. Sighing, he used his dirty red shirt to wipe the beaded sweat off his brow.

  Zeus ruffled his dirty-blond hair and continued to pace in a small circle as he answered, “Well, Hades is obviously not allowed to be up here on Earth, so we have to know what he was doing.” He paused for a moment to think, but he must not have come up with anything because he looked to me almost right away. “Any ideas, Athena?”

  I stopped tugging at my hair and leaned back against a tree. “Before we do anything else, we need to talk to Herm—”

  I stopped mid-sentence, as I heard a loud noise that sounded like rock grinding against rock come from the tiny cave, and the boys and I turned around to see Hermes appear in front of us, as if on cue. He was barely even breaking out in sweat, even though we knew he had just sprinted all the way from his house to the Underworld and back.

  “Give me a full report,” Zeus ordered immediately.

  Hermes nodded. “I got here just in time to see Hades enter the Underworld through the cave, so I followed him,” he explained. “I tried to get him to tell me why he was up here in our realm, but he didn’t answer. Basically, Hades told me to buzz off and then threw me out of there, except he was cursing a lot more.”

  The five of us stood in silence while Zeus tried to figure out what to do about our new dilemma. For all we knew, this could be a random event that wasn’t significant at all, or it could lead to the start of a huge war, which could then lead to the end of the world. We really had no idea, but due to the voicing of the prophecy, I guessed the latter was more likely.