by Jasmine Walt
Loren grabbed her sword. So did Bryn, bloodlust at the corner of her mouth. Tres broke apart a chair, coming away with two sharp stakes that were once chair legs. Zane opted for some steel railing spokes. I grabbed a steak knife from one of the dining tables—it was something. We might be going down, but it wouldn’t be without a fight.
The fire ball landed a few feet in front of us. We each dug our heels into the pavement and waited for the Elohim’s assault.
Out of the fire stepped a small army that matched ours. First came a man in a debonair tailored suit. He was followed by a stylish woman in a couture dress that had me drooling. I didn’t get to see the others, because Demeter, Greek Goddess of the Harvest, ran to me on her designer heels and embraced me.
“Nia, darling,” cried Demi in her dramatic fashion. “Are we in time?”
“In time,” I said as I caught a mouthful of her silky fabric. “In time for what? What are you all doing here?”
The rest of the Olympians had descended from Hades’s fireball and stood before us. In addition to Demi and Desi were the perpetually serious Tia in a prim pantsuit, the golden-god himself, Zuzu, and his sister-bride Hera—just Hera, no nickname.
Bringing up the rear, dark tendrils radiated from Psi’s head. But the God of the Sea wasn’t alone. His hand was entwined with Viviane’s, the Lady of the Lake. Wow, what had I missed while I’d been away?
“Our mother came to us in a dream,” Demi said. “She said to come here on this date to help you. Something about another apocalypse or other.”
“At least it’s on this side of the globe,” said Tia. “I do so hate all the clean-up that comes after floods and plagues.”
I glared at the Greek Goddess of the Hearth. Immortals could be so callous. But Tia didn’t notice my displeasure.
“I’m surprised it’s happening so soon since the last time. When was that? Pompeii?” Tia took in the darkening weather and then focused on a handheld. “I suspected it wouldn’t happen for another fifty to seventy-five years. I don’t like when my calculations are off. I wonder what changed.”
“Where’ve you been,” said Demi. “We were supposed to go shopping two months ago. And it looks like I’m far too late.”
Demi looked in despair at my simple, formless sheath, now covered in dust and debris from my escape from the center of the world. She reached out to the fabric, then pulled away at the last minute as though the material might bite her.
“She was grounded,” said Loren. “You’d know that if you were her best friend. You’d also have come to rescue her from captivity if you were as close as you pretend to be.”
“Listen,” I said, coming between the two before they could engage in this old battle. “We don’t have time to argue now. A hurricane is coming.”
“Oh?” said Demi. “Is that all? We can do something about that. Psi, darling?”
Psi came forward with Viviane. He gave me a wink as he nuzzled his cheek against Viviane’s pale tresses.
“Hi-eee, Dr. Rivers,” trilled Viviane. “What is up, Lady Lo?”
I looked from Viviane to Psi, who shrugged, to Loren, who raised her eyebrows in an admission of guilt.
“We were teaching her slang before she left for Rome on a shopping trip,” said Loren. “Vivi, it looks like you got the shoes you wanted and a boyfriend.”
“Soulmate,” corrected Psi.
“Oh,” I said with a nod of approval. “Congratulations, Viviane.”
“I go by Vivi now.” The Lady of the Lake waved her free hand at me. The other hand was entwined with Psi’s. And the designer shoes on her feet were to die for. Man, I’d been gone that long?
A roil of thunder crackled overhead as the storm moved closer. The screams of people were still ever-present. The television screen showed little to no progress in getting the masses to safety. We needed to buy some more time.
“Zuzu,” said Psi, “do something about that lightning storm, would you? Vivi and I will take care of that little storm out in the ocean.”
Psi wrapped his arms around Vivi. He bent his knees and took off Superman-style. The two sea gods rose into the air on a stream of water, then went out of sight.
Zeus prepared to take off. Then he looked from me and Loren to Hera. Wariness clouded his handsome features. He wrapped his arms around Hera and carried her off into the darkness.
Smart man. We still had a bone to pick with that daddy’s girl. Even more so now that her father had tried to make a meal of us again.
“There,” said Demi. “All solved. So, we can go on that shopping trip now.”
“We’re still in the middle of the apocalypse, Demi. God, her name’s Eden—wait, did you know that?”
Demi nodded. “Mother told us. We’ve never been to the core. So we’ve never met her. She seemed lovely by Mother’s account.”
“I swear, if the beings on this planet would simply communicate with each other, we’d save so much strife.” I huffed. “Eden and the Elohim have decided that humans are more trouble than they’re worth and they’re going to wipe them off the face of the Earth.”
That brought Tia’s attention up from her handheld. “Humans are a life source to us. We can’t survive without them. Not unless we are let down into the core to take sustenance directly from the light there.”
“But I don’t want to go to the core,” said Demi. “They don’t wear clothes down there.”
True, that. I felt her pain. “We have to figure out a way to protect humanity.”
“Against an army of the gods?” said Desi.
“If we want to keep our homes and livelihoods on the surface, then yes,” I said.
“But how?” Demi asked.
“I think we need to do what our parents haven’t,” I said. “Communicate. We need to let the humans know what’s going on.”
“We could use the emergency alert system,” said Tia. “All countries around the world monitor the US’s system. Broadcast to one and you broadcast to all.”
“And tell them what?” said Loren.
“To pray for mercy or a miracle,” I said.
19
Clouds gathered overhead, bunching together like an insomniac was punching them into shape to finally fall asleep. The sky crackled, and streams of light rent the atmosphere in two. The flashes of lightning came every other second, replacing the source of light in the darkened sky.
For a moment, I feared the Elohim had come to the surface. But that was absurd. They could do all their dirty work from the safety of the warm core below.
A flash of lightning struck one of the turrets of the Cinderella Castle. The golden spire toppled, knocking into another turret. Fire burst from the center of the castle. The flames grew, licking up the sides of the castle as though an evil stepmother were taking her revenge.
“I’m on it,” said Desi. His hands glowed ember-bright as he prepared to do battle with the blaze.
“Gives new meaning to the phrase storming the castle,” said Bryn.
Loren gasped, glaring at Bryn. “I was just about to make that joke.”
Bryn smirked. “You snooze, you lose.”
“Now that was a lame cliché,” Loren grumbled.
They both hushed as another current of electricity cracked the sound barrier. This one headed right toward us. The hairs on my arms rose, and sparks raced toward me.
Before impact, something golden streaked before my eyes. Rather, someone golden. Zeus caught the lightning in one palm. With his other hand, he grabbed for another. He gathered the streams of light in his hands and stuffed them into his open mouth.
The air was quiet for a moment. Zuzu looked over his shoulder, eyes flitting to everyone on the ground as though he was counting. He counted me last.
“Thanks,” I said.
He winked, ever the incorrigible rake. Then he took off into the sky to capture more snacks of bolts.
I couldn’t see Psi and Vivi, but I was certain they were doing all they could to get that hurricane in the At
lantic under control. But none of that would be for anything if we didn’t get the greatest danger under control.
On the screens, the newscasters were losing their professional cool. Panic crept into their voices. Fear colored their eyes. The B-roll that flashed over their strained faces was of turbulence and anarchy and chaos as humans sought shelter.
But dotted in amongst the tumult were images of humans helping each other out. The young helped escort the elderly to safety. Mothers handed off their children to strangers so the young would be on higher ground. Emergency personnel risked life and limb to do their duties and protect their fellow citizens.
It warmed my heart. But it wasn’t enough. I knew the Elohim, specifically Michael, wouldn’t stop at a little bit of water to flush their problem down the drain. They could always send something worse.
They could cause famine, making the soil barren. They could introduce more plagues. Or Eden could just yank the life out of every living thing, if she chose. My idea might be a long shot, but I couldn’t think of any other way we could possibly win this fight.
I looked over Hestia’s shoulder as she typed on her handheld. “How’s it going?”
“It would go faster if I were back in Athens at my super computer with my team of hackers,” Tia said. “But I’m making some progress.”
If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what else to do? I stepped back and pressed my face into Zane’s chest.
“If I didn’t know you well, I’d say you were having doubts,” he said.
“I can’t figure out a way to win.”
“That’s never stopped you before. You’ve chased me to the ends of the earth until I heard your side of arguments to try and prove your point.”
“And you didn’t always listen to me.”
“Not at first. But I did eventually.”
Zane pressed a light kiss to my temple. I tilted my head back to accept his kiss on my lips. He was the calm as the storm raged around us.
“I’m in!”
I broke the kiss reluctantly to turn to Tia. Her computer screen held a bunch of code. All that looked familiar to me was the red dot from the video camera that said the feed was live. Great. It was time for my little heart-to-heart with humanity.
“What are you going to say?” asked Loren.
“The truth.”
“I’ve enabled the closed captions to auto translate to all languages,” said Tia.
I sat down in front of the camera. My face came into view on the television screen that was broadcasting the news. The Magic Kingdom burned in the background.
“Cut!” Demi called. She raced forward, a deep frown on her face. “Darling, this simply won’t do.”
First she ran her hands through my hair, but they came away tangled. She gathered my hair in a loose knot at the nape of my neck. Then she produced a small makeup kit and began a touch-up.
“We don’t have time, Demi,” said Tia.
“There’s always time for eyeliner.”
Demi tried her best and in the end I looked somewhat TV ready. Finally, it was time. I faced the camera.
“Hello… humanity,” I began. “My name is…”
I froze as the red light continued its blinking. After centuries of holding close my anonymity, I was still loath to give my identity up. I’d traipsed across the globe, sneaking in and slipping out of tombs, temples, and dig sites. My identity was precious because I lived long, and I didn’t want humans to figure out that I was constantly around. They could only slow me down with their annoying questions or their invasive experiments.
But my secrets were no longer necessary. The world’s clock had struck midnight. I was in rags and shoeless, all the magic washed off. Cinderella’s castle was burning.
“I’m… Nia. Dr. Nia Rivers, archaeologist.”
There, that wasn’t so hard. Though my mouth did feel a bit like I’d swallowed dust. Probably all the smoke in the air.
“But I’m more than that. I’m immortal. And a child of God.”
Whoa. That sounded awfully pretentious. I looked around at my friends. Loren chewed at her lip, avoiding eye contact like she was the stylish friend and I was her dorky best friend making her look bad. Tres looked pained, like my words were nails on a chalkboard. Zane gave me an encouraging nod.
“Technically, we’re all children of God. But I saw her recently and I’m sad to say she is not happy. Oh, yeah, she. God’s a woman—surprise. I know that’s great for women’s liberation and all, but there’s still the problem of her being pretty pissed at you; all of you.”
“Nia, dear,” said Demi. “This is prime time television, likely families watching. Maybe you should watch the language.”
“Oh, right,” I grimaced. “Sorry for saying pissed. Crap, I just said it again. God’s not pleased with your behavior over the last two thousand years and she’s decided to mete out a huge punishment in the form of genocide.”
I looked up for Demi’s approval. Unlike Loren she at least looked at me. She gave me a strained smile.
“That hurricane—which is being taken care of by some of my friends—is one example, but it’s just the beginning. All the plagues in the Bible, that’s about to be rained down on your heads, and I’m not sure we can do anything about it.”
“I really don’t see how this is helping anything,” Bryn stage-whispered. “Tell them to take up arms.”
“Shut up,” hissed Loren.
“You shut up.” Bryn reached for her sword.
Loren reached for hers.
“Ladies.” Tres got between the two, placing his back to Loren to contain her, and holding up placating hands to Bryn. The two women backed down reluctantly. Tres nodded for me to continue.
“I just want you to know the truth. I feel like that’s the only way to get someone to change their behavior, if they have all the facts and know the consequences. You’re all in big trouble. Maybe if you all beg for mercy? She’s pretty forgiving, but you guys have been pulling a lot of crap lately. It’s been hard for us babysitters to vouch for you. We’re trying to buy you some time, but Mom is on her way home and you’ve left a mess. In the meantime, just get somewhere safe while we try to stall. Don’t do anything else to tick her off either. That’s all I got.”
I looked away from the video screen to my friends. No one cheered my speech. No one clapped at my speech. They all looked pretty hopeless. But no one made any moves to step onto the stage.
Well, Loren made a move to grab the spotlight. Tres reached out and brought her back against him. A salacious grin lit her lips, and from the twinkle in her blue eyes, she was quite happy to stay where she was in his arms.
“Okay, then,” I said to the camera. “Good luck, humans.”
I had the absurd inclination to put up my thumb. Luckily, the feed cut first before I could lift my hand. The screen went black. Static filled the silence.
Psi and Vivi, Zuzu and Hera had returned along with Desi.
“Do you think that helped?” I asked.
They all looked from one to the other. Demi picked at the collar of her dress. Zuzu shoved his hands in the pockets of his low-slung jeans. Tia shook her head in the negative. Hera smirked, her eyes glinting with destructive anticipation. I’m sure she was expecting to feast on the souls of damned humans tonight along with her father.
It was unfair. Hera had caused destruction that had cost lives. She clearly hadn’t learned her lesson. Still she would neither be punished nor face any consequences, unlike all of humanity.
Back on the wall of flat screens, one solitary television set crackled back to life. The feed came back on with the newscaster speaking into a headset. “I’m being told that the Emergency Alert System has been hacked along with the weather system. We are getting reports that there is no hurricane. I repeat, there is no hurricane.”
Weather satellites showed a calm sea, thanks to Psi and Vivi. Even the thunderstorm had died down thanks to Zuzu. And Disney was no longer burning thanks to Desi.
&nb
sp; “We are being told that terrorists have taken control over the airwaves. We have pinpointed their location to Disney World. The army has been called in.”
No sooner had the words left the reporter’s lips did black helicopters fly above. They swarmed the sky like large locusts preparing to deliver a biblical plague. Tanks rolled into the parking lots just beyond the gates to the park.
“No,” said Bryn. “I don’t think that helped at all.”
20
Tanks crunched over the asphalt and splashed through the puddles of storm water. Civilians at the far end of the lot tried to get out. The military personnel parted the sea of stalled cars and made their way through to form a protective barrier between the kingdom and the human peasants.
Uniformed men and women spilled out of the vehicles. The sinister gleam of assault rifles further darkened the landscape. Barrels arrowed at the most magical place on earth.
“Now we’re talking.” Bryn drew her sword and braced her feet in the yellow brick of the path we stood upon. Her face tilted up and her nostrils flared. The devilish grin that lifted the corner of her mouth made me question her parentage. “I love the smell of steel and sweat and men. Death is in the air.”
This was not going well. I thought I had bought us some time. I had likely only bought us moments from one side of the offensive from below. However, those I was trying to protect had drawn arms.
Zane had said it took a while for my words to persuade him. But he’d known me for millennia. I’d just introduced myself to humans. They had no clue who I was. All they saw was a threat to their families, their way of life, to their own lives, and they were aiming to neutralize it. And right now, we were the prime target.
“Bryn, we can’t hurt them,” I said.
The corners of the Valkyrie’s lips turned down in confusion. “Why not? They’re going to hurt us.”
“They don’t understand the danger they’re in, the danger that we’re all in. We need to try reason again.”
“Okay, you reason with that big barrel of a gun aimed at us. I’m going to bring some heads home to Daddy.”