“What do you want me to do while you’re gone, my lord.”
“Make sure Griffin sobers up and showers, keep an eye on Savannah, make sure she does not do anything inappropriate. I will let you know we are expecting and she might get a funny idea to abort the child with her magic, see to it that does not happen. Make sure you gather everyone back here for when I return the portal to Olympus will open again and I want to be sure everyone returns to where they belong. Also, spread the word about what I am doing – that is, risking my life to ensure we do not succumb to this Demi-god.” I smiled winningly at him although he did not return the expression. Unimpressed with his lack of response, I carried on, “Also, when Zane returns, be sure to work alongside him. I mean, I cannot have you thinking you have all the power.”
“You’re a dick.”
“I think you meant to say thank you.” I turned and left him in his shop, as there was nothing left for me to say to him. Everything was falling into place and all I had left to do was go back in time, kill Asher’s chance of ever being born and come back here to fix everything.
No small feat but I was Zeus, King of the Gods. I could do anything.
I found Hecate at the first crossroads I came to. She seemed to know I was coming and was standing in wait for me. Rising from her stance against the wall, she ran her hands along the silk of her robes and her fingers crackled with magic.
“Where are we off to?”
“We? You must stay here and convince Griffin you are Valentina. That is the whole point.”
“And how do you suppose you’re going to come back to the future without me?” Perhaps Aidan had been onto something after all, with Hecate in the past with me for who knows how long it would take to complete my mission. Griffin would come to his senses and possibly think Valentina had been a figment of his drunken imagination. No one else saw her and with Royce looking after him, he would only correct Griffin’s delusions.
“Damnit.”
“Now, now, my lord.” She patted my arm with a smirk, “I’m a good travel companion.”
“Do not get in my way. And no tricks. You know what I am there to do, you will not do anything to disrupt that.” She held up her hands and smiled at me as if to say she was just coming along for the ride.
“Where are we going, my lord?”
“Virginia, 1657.”
“How puritanical of you.” She smiled, waving her hands once more only this time the wall did not emerge from under the ground but the whole hallway began to shift and change. The world around us moving in fast motion as if in reverse. When it finally slowed, we were no longer standing underground but on a dirt road surrounded by forest. Hecate dropped her hands at her side and smiled at me again, “We are here.”
“I guessed.”
“We will not fit in, you look like that and me like this.” She waved her hands and I found myself standing there in breeches, a coat and a cravat with the most pretentious hat on my head with a massive feather swinging in the wind. Not to mention she had changed my hair and instead of the shorter look Aidan preferred I could now feel the itchiness of a wig rubbing against my scalp. “Dashing, my lord.”
“Ridiculous,” I said, longing already for the simplicity of my toga.
“Now we’re here, do you know where we are going?”
“Not in the slightest, although we are looking for a daughter of a tobacco merchant.”
“Perhaps getting to a town first is in our best interests. From there, we can decide where to go and what to do.”
Hecate lifted her skirts and walked along the road, leading the way. It took me only a second or two to follow her, swallowing my pride of not being in charge. Quietly in the back of my head, Aidan whispered he would know what to do but I ignored him for now as I followed her down the road. It was not like he was from this time or this place, what would he know about it? He would be as lost as I was.
And anyways, this was my plan and not his. I would not have him taking my glory because he did not like the way I did things. He was too soft, afraid to stand up and take what he wanted. Instead, he wasted time waiting for it to come to him. This was the direct result, I was sure, of a lifetime of receiving everything he ever wanted and rarely having to work for it. Women came willingly to him and while I could relate to that, I had possessed my fair share of unwilling women as well.
We were only a mile or two on the road when the sound of hooves reached our ears, the strain of a wooden carriage as it bumped along the road echoing through the trees. The carriage in question pulled up beside us as the driver yielded the horses.
“Madam,” a gentleman pushed open the curtain of his carriage and peered out, “whatever are you doing walking along this road?” He looked me over as if this was my fault, “without any kind of protection.”
“I’m perfectly capable of protecting her,” I said indignantly, stepping closer to this man who was sizing up Hecate in a not too subtle way.
“We were robbed, thrown out of our carriage and the robbers took off with everything.” He looked me over before his eyes jumped back to Hecate, his face softening with regret.
“Madam, how unfortunate those circumstances are. Might I offer you… both… a ride into town?”
“Yes, that would be wonderful.” Hecate stepped up beside me as he pushed the door open and held out his hand to help her. I moved forward to do it too but Hecate ignored me, climbing into the carriage leaving me to climb in behind her.
“What business did you have in town?” The gentleman closed the door again, banging it with his hand to signal the driver to move again.
A horse whinnied as the carriage lurched forward into motion, rocking and bumping against the rockiness of the road. In my time participating in Aidan’s life prior to our arrival at Olympus, I grew accustomed to the ease with which modern humans travelled in those fascinating metal boxes called cars. It was different to the roughness horse carriage travel provided. Bracing one hand on the side of the compartment, I held myself steady as the horses got into a gallop.
“My brother was seeking employment with a tobacco trader,” she nodded in my direction and I arched an eyebrow. Brother, as if.
“Oh? Who?”
“I’m afraid we only had the name written on a letter with our things, it seems we are left to seek out employment in other ways.” Hecate lied fluidly, barely batting an eyelash as she drew information from the mind of her vessel. It never occurred to me to ask about her vessel, but again, I did not care.
“Well, lucky for you, I have many business connections with the traders. I am sure I can find the man you were looking for.”
“He would-”
“There was discussion of a daughter and a possible betrothal. She would be about my age.”
“Hm.” Our companion looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the options. “You must mean Klaus Bouwman. He has a daughter who is beautiful no doubt, but not as beautiful as you.”
“Bouwman. Dutch, yes?”
“Yes, one of the old families live here.”
“Sounds about right,” I interrupted, shooting Hecate a glare to tell her this was not helping with our mission. “My uncle provides him with supplies and knew without a son and heir, he would be looking to marry his daughter to someone who would be able to take over the business.”
“Ah, yes,” he continued to ignore me, opening his mouth to say something else to Hecate but I cut him off. I was not going to have her get distracted by some man with a bone, literally.
“I went to university back home and my uncle felt education might be one of the things Mister Bouwman would be looking for in a son-in-law, after name of course.”
“Back home, hm? And where is that, I cannot place your accent.”
“Greece.” Aidan scratched at the back of my mind, his strength growing out of his frustration with me. I bent over slightly, gripping the edge of my seat as we bounced through a particularly rough section and I gritted my teeth but my control was slippi
ng. Never would I have imagined a mortal capable of overpowering me. Letting out a low groan, I sat back up, blinking a few times before shaking myself out as shivers ran up my spine.
“Greece, really?” The gentleman seemed to not have noticed my strange display. But Hecate was watching with interest, a smirk on her face.
“Welcome back, Aidan,” she said softly. I glared before turning to look back at our patron.
“Yes, although I attended Oxford in England.” I held out my hand, “Aidan, Aidan Rockefeller.” I pulled the first Richie-Rich name I could think of out my head and hoped he didn’t question it.
“Mr. Rockefeller,” he took my hand and shook it, “Edward Hart.”
“Pleasure, and thank you for picking my sister and I up. She was already beginning to complain on the state of her feet, as women are want to do.” I smirked and Mr. Hart chuckled, nodding in agreement. The bumpiness of our ride began to smooth out as we made our way into town where the roads were more flattened. Mr. Hart leaned out, pulling aside the curtain to look out at the town. He looked back at us before letting it go.
“Where should I drop you both? A pub?”
“I would rather not have my sister spending the night in such an establishment, I had liked to see Mr. Bouwman as soon as possible and perhaps with a letter of employment, I may be able to rent a room for a few weeks before securing a mortgage from the bank.” Mr. Hart nodded at my sensible choice and I couldn’t help but feel I had passed test I knew without a doubt Zeus would have failed.
“Well, I shall drop you off at Mr. Bouwman’s offices.” He leaned out the window and shouted orders to his driver before leaning back into the carriage. “Is it too forward of me to ask if I may request your company at dinner tonight?” He was looking at me but I had no doubt his forwardness was directed to my ‘sister’.
“That would be lovely,” she spoke for me, making me turn my head to look at her. We had no money and no intention of getting employment. Staying more than one day here was asking for trouble. My plan was to deal with alternative-Zeus as quickly as possible and return to the future.
“Wonderful, I’ll give you my address and I shall see you tonight around say – five o’clock?”
“Perfect.” Mr. Hart rummaged in his bag for parchment and a quill before scribbling an address neither of us could read, after all it was in Latin. Hecate smiled nonetheless and took the sheet from him before folding it and making a show of tucking it in her bosom. It took effort not to roll my eyes and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to.
Chapter 14
The carriage stopped outside of a large brick building that towered at the edge of the water. Men milled around in shirts that looked too hot to be working under the setting sun at the effort they were. Sweat poured down their faces, staining the white cotton with yellow sweat as they hauled large wooden crates no doubt full of tobacco towards several carriages with waiting horses.
“This is Mr. Bouwman’s factory.” Mr. Hart grabbed the latch of the door, pushing it open before stepping out. He extended his hand for Hecate’s as she gathered her skirts and daintily stepped out. She was playing up to the scene and it was working as far as Hart was concerned. She looked around taking in the scene as I had while I climbed out of the carriage with no help.
“Think you’re up for the hard work, mate?” Hart clapped me on the shoulder jovially as though we were friends now. I leveled him with a disinterested look before glancing back at the building.
“I expect I’m built more for office work than hard labor.” I stepped away, surveying the scene letting my eyes sweep from left to right as I searched for… well, myself, I suppose. The trouble was I was not looking for my double, I was looking for Zeus and Zeus could appear in anyone. The only way I could know if his soul was in any of these men would be to talk to them. But with Hart watching, I could not begin my interrogations and risk him getting interested in what I was doing.
“Thank you for the ride Mr. Hart, we look forward to seeing you tonight for supper.” I held the piece of paper up as I turned around to face him again. Hecate smiled, the glint of something else in her eye as she swept into a little curtsy.
“Yes, thank you for rescuing us. I am indebted to you.” He caught her hand in his and kissed the back of it, his eyes never leaving her face and I felt my annoyance rise again. This guy needed to stop thinking with his lower brain and get on his way before I leveled him with something more striking than a look.
“It was my pleasure, Miss Rockefeller.” He took a few more seconds, longer than necessary in my opinion, before letting her hand go and stepping back to his carriage. Once he was seated inside, he did not leave right away. I offered Hecate my arm for show, hoping if it looked like we were leaving he would go too and sure enough his driver cracked the reins and the horses steered the carriage away heading for who knows where.
“Finally.” I bristled, dropping her arm before rolling my eyes in disdain. “That man…”
“He was handsome.”
“Not the reason we’re here.”
“That’s your mission, Aidan, I am here to make portals for you. If I choose to amuse myself while you’re off looking for Zeus.”
“And here I thought you would help me find him.”
“My magic doesn’t work like that. While you’re off looking for your other half, I think I’m going to go and explore this world.” She gathered her skirts once more and began walking away.
“Hey! How do I find you once I have him?”
“I’ll find you!” She shouted over her shoulder before carrying on. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the warehouse, looking it over. There were many men milling around. I didn’t know where to look for him. If I started asking them weird questions, it would draw way more attention to myself than I wanted. There had to be an easier way to narrow my options.
I remembered Atlas said something about how the vessels had to match the Gods. I was looking for a guy who thought he had the world in the palm of his hand, with daddy issues and had a way with the ladies. With those criteria in mind, I knew none of these men working their asses off were going to be my picks. I needed to look to a richer crowd than a working-class man.
Standing there like a moron I felt more and more foolish. I had no idea how I was going to manage this or how I was going to succeed. I came from a world where women outnumbered men but looking around me now I saw fewer women than men. Maybe I was going about this in all the wrong ways by looking for the Zeus-incarnate. Maybe instead I should be looking for Asher’s mother. Now it became a question of where the hell to find all the women and my history lessons from high school were rapidly failing me.
Salons were popular in France now, something that would have made its way over here as the French influence made its way across the sea. Maybe if I could find one of those, or the shopping section, I would be able to find some women. Narrowing it to the option of who could be his mother would be easy, Zeus had a type. Virginal, innocent, easy to fall in love. Surely there wouldn’t be an abundance of women like that in Puritan Virginia.
Turning away from the warehouse, I made my way along the street, wondering if I had been here in my own time and it only appeared unfamiliar because of its lack of modernity. Something no one knew about me was I grew up in Virginia. For all I knew, I could be in my hometown and it would look nothing like it did now. I only ended up in New York after high school when I attended NYU’s business school, interning at a marketing firm that I was now a creative manager at.
I searched for street names, hoping to place myself, but in the 17th century street names were not a priority for colonists. It was surreal, none the less, to be placed right inside what once was an image in a history textbook for me. I was never a big guy into history, or school, but I couldn’t help but be thankful for a moment my father had stressed the importance of good grades in turn forcing me to pay attention to all lessons, however boring I found them.
It felt strange being grateful for so
mething my father did when I felt nothing but disdain for him most days. Once I was old enough to be self-sufficient I all but cut him out of my life, an act that wasn’t all that difficult since he was usually out screwing around instead of being with his family. He never wanted a family, he only wanted an heir to a throne I was never going to accept.
I could still remember the smell of the orange-scented cleaner the janitor had used in the elevator that morning. The brass shone like it had only been installed and the mirrors reflected a bright image of a father and son that looked like it had come straight out of a picture frame. I was nine years old and it was take your son to work day.
“If you’re going to be working at an office Aidan, you have to dress the part.” Excited by the prospect of being treated like a man I did exactly as he asked, donning my blue plaid and a blazer, finishing it off with a yellow bowtie Grandfather had given me for Christmas three years ago. Mummy had pleated the front of my slacks with an iron and I shined my shoes before breakfast. My father couldn’t have looked prouder of my outfit once he saw me and he treated me to a hot chocolate when we stopped at Starbucks for his coffee, he even asked the barista to put a shot of espresso in mine to make it an adult drink he called a “mocha”.
We got to the floor where Dad’s office was located and the secretary stood, smiling at me: “Aidan! Aren’t you looking sharp!” Kaye was Daddy’s assistant, which meant she did all the things he didn’t like to do. I had known her for as long as I could remember which wasn’t very long to be honest. Whenever I came to the office to meet Daddy I would get to sit on Kaye’s lap and play the bomb game on her computer. Of course, I was too old for that now. I was a man, and I was here to work.
Instinctively straightening, I nodded at her, “Thank you. I am here to work today.”
Grace of Gods Boxset: Reincarnated Greek Gods YA/NA Series Page 82