Sighing, I strode slowly toward the larger group. I assumed it was the group of more experienced members because the men were slightly older and more buff. They all turned to face me immediately, their gleaming eyes studying me carefully—maybe a little too carefully. Smiling self-consciously, I told them, “Okay, I’m assuming you all know how to fight pretty well, so I’m going to pair everyone up, and you can all practice sparring.” They nodded stiffly, and I walked around the group slowly, pairing people up no matter their size. The most able hero could win any fight.
“Remember not to actually hurt your partner,” I said clearly, and a few reluctant grumbles passed through the group but quickly died out. The feistiest of the men lunged at their sparring partners before I could even finish my instructions, and soon the sound of clanging metal drowned out the sound of my powerful voice. I made my way to each pair of fighters, yelling tips at them over the background noise. They all obeyed my commands beautifully, and by the end of the fights, they looked almost half as good as Alec.
Thinking of Alec, I paused as the Warriors regrouped with new partners and glanced over toward the other group of younger Warriors. They too were paired up, but they were just practicing the most basic stabs and parries, as most of these Knowing members had not had any training because they were still too young, according to their society’s outdated standards. Meanwhile, Alec wandered about between the smaller men and teens, trying to avoid being hit by the occasional swing-and-miss at the same time as shouting orders. Surprisingly, I even saw Brady and his crew, the ones who had fought Alec earlier, obeying the hero with a newfound respect.
Nodding in approval at no one in particular, I returned to inspect the fighting of my own group of Warriors. I continued to give them pointers throughout the sweltering afternoon, and slowly the men improved. Every once in a while, I would take a look back toward the archery range, where it appeared as if they had also listened very well to my advice, since each target was empty of arrows except for large clusters in the red bull’s-eyes. Smiling out of pride, I sat down to watch the Warriors as they finally finished their training for the day with basic group formations. When I decided they looked good enough, I let them leave to shower before dinner.
Then I looked for Alec, who was nowhere to be seen, although I knew that his group’s practice had ended a bit earlier. Sighing, I made my way back over to the tents to clean myself up, but a huge monster of a man—literally, he was one of those guys with tattoos of monsters covering his entire torso—stopped in front of me.
I craned my neck upward to look him in the eye instead of straight at the giant purple and green Hydra on his bare chest. I couldn’t help but notice that the way the man’s chest moved with every breath made it look as if the Hydra were real, and brought back fond memories of the Monster Watch’s early days roaming about the forest.
“Yes?” I asked him politely. “Can I help you with something?”
He cleared his throat and, in perhaps the deepest voice I had ever heard besides that of an angry god, said, “I am Nicholas.” He stopped abruptly, as if waiting for me to say something even though I had absolutely no idea why he was there in front of me. I simply raised my eyebrows, peeling my eyes away from the Hydra again, and he continued, “Jason wanted me to tell you that he is preparing a goodbye party for you.”
“A party?” I clarified, thinking how stupid and irrelevant a party would be at a time of war like this. But then again, maybe it was a good distraction, a good excuse to lighten the mood of the worried Knowing people. It’s a well-known fact that the ancient Greeks loved to party.
“What kind of party?” I mused, narrowing my eyes at him.
The brutish man named Nicholas scratched his head stiffly. “A regular party? You know, with dancing and music and food. You know?” he said awkwardly, not sure how to explain any further. “It’s going to be after dinner, just outside the mess hall, by the stage,” he finished quickly and gave me a bow, then headed off toward the mess hall tent. I followed him with an exasperated sigh.
___________________
Dinner passed slowly. As usual, I sat at the front table with Jason and his council members, and Alec sat alone at a small, round table below. I tried to make eye contact because we hadn’t even really seen each other or been able to talk in private since before lunch, but he was too involved in scarfing down every last bit of chili that was in his bowl. Slightly annoyed, I turned back to the conversation I was having with Jason, but it was nowhere near as interesting as my usual conversations with the Monster Watch and the rest of the gods.
One by one, people left the mess hall to gather at the party outside the canopy. The sound system screeched as someone tried to adjust the volume and start playing some music. Jason, who was sitting next to me, turned and whispered in my ear, “The nurse, Jan, has prepared a dress for you. It is in your tent. The tunic you wore earlier has also been cleaned.” He gave me a short nod before heading outside with his council members, leaving me alone in the mess hall with my thoughts.
A dress? Seriously? Nicholas hadn’t told me it was a formal party! I thought in disgust, pushing myself up out of the chair and whining to myself.
After all, the only reason people dressed up was to show up everyone else and to look as important as possible, when, in reality, the people who actually were important would dress pretty much the same whether it was a formal party or not, because they had to look good to earn the respect of everybody else anyway. Take the president and first lady, for example, or even some of the gods, specifically Aphrodite. But really, the gods didn’t need to dress up to convey their power; their stances and attitudes were more than enough.
Screw it, I thought silently to myself, deciding that I was not going to go to the party in a dress. I was feeling too lazy to change, and the Knowing couldn’t exactly punish me if I didn’t obey their stupid, outdated, unjustified rules.
I walked outside into the warm, cloudless night lit up by the bright moon and stars to find a mass of people both young and old crowded around the small wooden stage, and music blaring from the black speakers set up there. A long snack table was set up along one of the sides of the mess hall, where some adolescents were clustered in tiny groups, appearing too nervous to ask each other for a dance. The youngest children were playing a game of some sort while running in circles, and the older teens were in their usual groups, dancing the night away and singing along to the song quite obnoxiously. Adults were either dancing slowly in pairs or sitting in folding chairs on the sidelines, supervising their children. I was the only female in the vicinity not wearing a dress, and all the males were just wearing jeans and nice collared shirts.
Sighing, I decided that the safest option for avoiding having to dance with someone was to head for the snack table (after all, that is the whole point of having snack tables at parties), even though I had just finished dinner. Jan, who was watching over the snacks, was about to hand me a glass of alarmingly bright red punch when another hand slapped mine away from the cup. I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Alec; he was the only Sighted person I knew who was daring enough to do something of that nature to a god or goddess.
“Dude, just let me have some punch,” I told him, shaking my head.
He grinned at me, his eyes shining with mischief. “I figured you would ignore the dress code,” Alec said while inspecting my skinny jeans, cropped white tank top and black leather combat boots. To be honest, I probably looked more like a cute biker chick ready to hit the road than a party girl ready to dance. But then again, I noticed that Alec’s old blue T-shirt had a few noticeable bloodstains, so he was in the same boat as me. We made quite the pair.
I shrugged, since he wasn’t wearing a collared shirt like the rest of the boys, and answered, “I’m allergic to dresses.” Alec only snorted, looking unsurprised. “So how was your set of Warriors?” I asked him.
He returned my shrug. “Fine. Some are pretty scared, of course. Mostly the younger ones.”
I nodded, because that was to be expected. “And yours?” Alec asked in turn.
“Fine,” I agreed, glancing to my left, where Nicholas stood talking with a few women, his muscles ready to rip open his tight red polo shirt. “Some of those guys are huge.”
Alec grinned knowingly, but then his expression became slightly more serious. “Speaking of Warriors, I was thinking we should take the archer Hannah with us in the first group going back to the Woods. Artemis probably would like her,” he suggested.
“Are you kidding me? Hannah’s female and an archer. Artemis would definitely like her,” I responded with a grin, leaning on the snack table. “Smart plan.”
Alec shrugged nonchalantly but agreed with a wink, “I learned from the best. Plus, everyone knows Artemis hates guys.”
“Well, she tolerates you,” I pointed out as I watched him down a cup full of punch in only one gulp. “I think she was actually warming up to the idea of the A Team.”
“Only because you accepted me as a friend first,” he argued playfully.
“I accepted you as a friend reluctantly,” I reminded him, crossing my arms. “Remember? I still think you’re dangerous. Even more dangerous than before, actually.”
“Athena, you have no one but yourself to blame for that.” He laughed heartily and ate a couple potato chips before brushing off his hands. Knowing that what he said was absolutely true, I sighed forlornly as I reached for a glass of fruit punch again. But again, I was denied.
Alec caught my hand in mid-reach and smirked. “Come on, let’s dance. This is my favorite song.” And when Jan shot Alec a stern glance from behind the table, he quickly added, “My lady.”
My eyes widened in shock as he started pulling me toward the crowded dance area on the grass. “I don’t know how to dance!” I protested, trying weakly to pull away.
Dancing was one of those things that made me feel awkward no matter what. Maybe it was just the compromising positions. I would have rather fought a monster, no offense to Alec. Not even Zeus could get me to dance with him at our eighth-grade graduation dance.
Alec’s handsome smile just grew bigger. “Liar,” he accused me, shouting over the blaring music. “You know everything!”
My face was probably tomato red from blushing as Alec pulled me in closer, placing his hands softly on my hips. I reluctantly laced my hands around his warm neck, and he blushed as well. We slowly swayed to the music, although I wasn’t really paying attention to the song, and I wouldn’t really call it “dancing” because we only took a couple of lazy, half-hearted steps throughout the whole thing. Honestly, we probably looked like idiots just swaying there in the middle of a huge mass of people, but even as a few of them shot us dirty looks, I couldn’t say that I really cared what they thought about us at that moment.
I tried to focus on something other than his hands on my hips to keep myself from completely losing my mind, but I only felt my heartbeat flutter more as we continued to talk. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be doing this with him, feeling this way about him (I wasn’t even sure what that “way” was yet), though there was really nothing I could do. And I absolutely hated not being able to do something about it, hated it more than anything else in the world. I just had to prevent it from happening as much as I could, although slow dancing with Alec was not a good start …
Then again, when did dancing—well, swaying in place—ever hurt anyone? For that one night, I didn’t want to believe in the rules of being a goddess. For that one night, I wanted to feel young and dumb and thus rebel against the order I had followed for so long. But only for that night.
He gave me a small smile as we continued to turn in place, even though some fast-paced song was playing over the speakers now. “Why are you doing this?” I whispered to him, though I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Because …” Alec’s voice trailed off as his gaze dropped to the long grass. I looked at him expectantly, and he finally admitted with a confused and exasperated sigh, “Because I—I think I love you.”
If hearts could shatter to pieces but continue beating, that’s what mine did. I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath, because this was exactly what I had been afraid of. Hearing the words come out of his mouth now only made them seem more powerful, and I didn’t understand why he acted upon those feelings—rarely, yes—but he shouldn’t have been acting upon them at all, and he knew that. Alec fell in love with me even though he knew better than anyone that he couldn’t have me, a virgin goddess.
But why? I thought to myself. Maybe it wasn’t really him. Maybe it was a trick. It had to be a trick, right? There was an explanation for everything, and I was determined to find out what it was.
“No, you can’t … me? No. Wait, did Aphrodite put you up to this?” I muttered angrily. “Because I will kill her.”
Alec interrupted me, shaking his head and running his fingers through his dark hair. “It wasn’t Aphrodite. I swear. I don’t know why this happened. It just did, okay?”
Dubiously, I looked into his deep eyes, but I could tell he was telling the truth. We were confused, hurt, and angry—with each other as well as our individual selves—but unfortunately for both of us, there was nothing we could do about it. “Let’s just forget about it. Who cares, anyway?” he said with a surprisingly positive smile. Slightly confused, I plastered a grin on my face and rolled my eyes as he spun me around, keeping time with the thunderous music. Alec’s ability to leave all of his feelings behind in the blink of an eye amazed me; he was better at it than some of the gods—much better than the jealous Hera, anyway.
___________________
My mind wandered for the rest of the evening, distracted by the lingering thought that I should have left the camp already, that I could leave Alec behind to let us dwell on his confession separately and alone. I had no idea what was going on back in the Woods, but after my dream of the dead Aphrodite, I knew that it could not be very good at all. I also couldn’t help but wonder if there was a specific reason why Aphrodite was the target, and not some other god.
Trying (and failing) to forget our worries, Alec and I were laughing at a dumb joke when I heard a small cough coming from somewhere behind me. It was Jason, trying to get my attention. I felt Alec protectively tighten his grip on me, but Jason did not seem to notice, as his green eyes bore solely into my stormy gray ones. “Excuse me, my lady,” he began, bowing his head and studying me suspiciously. Maybe I looked like I was having too much of a good time with Alec. Oh well. “Can I talk to you in private for a moment?” he asked, though I could tell this was more of an order than a request. I nodded with a sigh as Alec reluctantly let go of me, and the warmth of his arms around mine suddenly vanished.
Remembering that he was supposed to be polite and submissive around me, Alec quickly said, “Thank you for accepting my request for a dance, Lady Athena. It was an honor.”
Playing along, I returned Alec’s wary smile, and he bowed to me while simultaneously keeping one watchful eye on Jason. Once Alec had returned to the snack table, out of earshot, Jason swiveled his head to face me. “How do you like your party?” he asked me politely over the loud music, though I was pretty sure he knew I hadn’t talked to anyone else there besides Alec.
“This is great,” I lied, when in truth, it totally sucked. I didn’t even know these strange Knowing people, and they definitely didn’t know me as well as they thought they did.
“But something tells me there’s another reason you came over to talk to me.”
“I just wanted to say that I now fully understand your decision to make Alec a hero,” Jason started, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. All he knew was that Alec could fight; he wasn’t there when Alec walked straight to Hades with his head held high or trained for hours on end in the middle of the night, and he definitely wasn’t there when Alec went on his journey all the way to Washington to find the gods.
“But unfortunately, some others here are concer
ned, so I came over to inform you that Alec … well, he was always extremely smart, but before he left to find you, he became very rebellious. Ignoring the rules and fighting with other boys, like Brady, for example.” Jason paused and studied me for a moment. “Are you all right? You look troubled.”
Yeah, troubled by you, I thought, but of course, that would have been a very rude thing to say to him out loud. Frowning while thinking about the way the other boys had bullied Alec after his hero ceremony that morning, I demanded, “Did anyone here ever stop to think that maybe Alec wasn’t the instigator of those fights? Because it seems to me that everyone here is determined to tarnish his record.” I paused, and Jason just gulped nervously, knowing he had angered me. “Unlike you people, I don’t care about his bad reputation—only what he does to fix it. And in my book, becoming a hero at such a young age pretty much fixes it.”
Jason bowed his head under my steely glare and apologized. “I am truly sorry.”
“Do I look like I care?” I snarled, but I was suddenly interrupted when my head started spinning out of control. Even though I had been standing firmly in place, I stumbled and tried to regain my balance in vain. My vision blurred while the piercing screams of dozens of people echoed through my brain, but somehow I knew that the mysterious phenomenon was occurring only to me. I winced and rubbed my forehead, trying to get rid of the terrible screams, though I was unsuccessful and fell to my knees hyperventilating. Determined to hold onto reality, I clenched my fists and held on to a few blades of the long grass with a white-knuckled grip.
From somewhere behind me, I heard Alec’s worried voice yell, “Athena!” And I was certain he was racing over to my aid, but a sudden chill overcame me, and I started to shake uncontrollably, like a leaf. Then everything went black as I collapsed on the soft grass, and I could hear and see no more of the colorful world.
The Forest Gods' Reign Page 22