"When you have as many secrets to keep as I do, you see how difficult it is to be surrounded by people who can read minds," he replied tersely.
Okay, he had a good point there. If I had tons of secrets to keep and was living in proximity to a particularly talented group of mind readers, it would be pretty hard to keep them.
"One question. Then you can torment and train me 'til your heart is content."
"Okay, I'll hold you to that," he replied with a smirk.
"Why keep it a secret?"
"You got your question, let's get to training."
"Wait! You're not going to answer me?" I kicked the table in frustration. Damn it with this man evading my questions and leaving me in the dark. I should have been more specific.
"You said and I quote, 'One question. Then you can torment and train me 'til your heart is content'. You asked your question, now move your ass over to the forge."
See? I knew that I should have been more specific. I moved toward the forge with a scowl and immediately broke into a sweat. "I didn’t think it could get any hotter," I complained.
"Oh, it's about to get worse. Step into the forge completely, please."
That request stopped me in my tracks and I turned on him - mouth open in surprise and outrage. "What? Freezing me wasn't enough? Now you plan on melting my bones? What the fuck, Heph? You should just kill me and get it over with. That's what this about isn't it?"
He rolled his eyes at me, which just made me angrier. When was this guy going to start taking me seriously and treat me like an adult?
"When you start acting like one," he replied.
I gasped. "You can read my freakin' mind!" I screeched. There's really only so much mental I can take before I just lose it. "When did that happen? Was it before or AFTER you told me that you couldn't?"
He shrugged again. "I've always been able to read your mind. I just don't make a big deal out of it like Captain Awesome does. And even if I couldn't," he was standing very close now and I found it hard to breathe. "I'd read it on your face, Grace Murphy. Like I said, you are very expressive."
"Oh," I replied stupidly, backing up in an attempt to gain a sense of space and sanity. Something started sizzling and it took me a few moments to realize that it was my flesh. I was standing in the forge. "Damn it, Heph," I yelled.
"Okay, start raising your body temperature. You can't leave the forge until either your temp matches the heat within…or you can teleport out."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I hate you."
"Yes, I know."
"If I die, it's on you."
"I know this, too."
"As long as you know, you dickbag." I finished with snark.
Hot, I thought. Hot was easy. I was already pissed off at this entire situation. Well, and other things, but I wasn't going to think about that right now. My body heat rocketed up and my skin caught on fire. I could see my reflection in Heph's eyes. It was a frightening and beautiful thing.
Let's be honest, my vanity was enough that I had been afraid my hair would catch fire and I have a lumpy head. I knew I wouldn’t look good bald. Oddly enough, the hair didn't catch on fire as much as it turned into a living flame surrounding my head in a fiery halo.
It wasn't enough. The heat of the forge was burning me up, even with my body set aflame. Why didn't I just walk out of the forge? The only thing stopping me was Hephaestus. While I was feeling pretty amped up on power right now, I didn't think I could take him in a fight.
But, the back of my mind whispered that if I could ‘port out of here past him, he'd never catch me. It seemed so simple and yet so incredibly hard at the same time. Where would I go? How do you get to that point? How do you materialize your body into another place? My mind frantically grasped at straws and just as I was about to grab one, it burst into flame.
It was so hot and my throat suddenly decided that it was very parched and an icy glass of water would be nice. On cue, the bastard picked up a glass that had beads of sweat rolling down the surface. It looked cold. It looked delicious.
I wanted to scream at him, but my vocal chords refused to work. Breathing was getting hard, too. The scorched air filled my lungs with every breath. I'd have berated him in my mind if I weren't concentrating so damned hard on staying a hairsbreadth hotter than the fire surrounding me.
"What was that, Grace? You're angry at me? It's really unfortunate for you that you're in there and I'm out here…in this cool room with this cold, cold water."
The smirk gave me an extra burst of rage, helping me maintain just a few minutes longer. "Think, damn it!" I yelled at myself. How do you blow apart every single one of your atoms and then pull them back together in the same exact composition? What happened to my soul in the process? Where did it go?
My body bent over, hugging in on itself trying to stop the burning pain from consuming me. I just wanted so desperately to be on the other side of the room. My head rose just long enough to gaze longingly at the spot on the other side of the table. If I could have just gotten there, I could have run away and never had to do this ever again.
Chapter 19
My face met the hardwood floor with a meaty thwack as I collapsed. Blood gushed from my nose, seeping into the cracks. I couldn't actually see much. My eyes were swelling shut and my body was paralyzed with exhaustion.
"I figured that once you got out of your head, you'd be able to do it." His voice was quiet and gentle. He wiped down my face, arms and legs with a warm, wet towel. Steam hissed as the water hit my skin. "You just needed to stop thinking so damn much and let yourself want to be somewhere. Teleporting is a matter of will. You focus on where you want or need to be, and you go there."
I grunted. I couldn't do more. I wanted water in my mouth so badly.
"If I give you water right now it will make you sick. You need to cool down a little bit first."
My body shuddered a few times with heaving breaths. Even breathing was a challenge so I simply lay there, shaking weakly.
He stroked sweaty ropes of hair away from my face. "I know you're mad at me. If I could have thought of any other way to teach you how, I would have. You're so damned stubborn and stuck in your humanity you just won't let go enough to realize that you don't have those limitations."
I wanted to understand, but in the back of my head I was screaming that he'd just made me weak unto the point of death. I couldn't fight right now. If Hope showed up, I wouldn't be able to take her on. I was useless. He made me useless – again.
"You don't always have to be the strong one," he replied to my unspoken thoughts.
But I did. I needed to be strong for Dylan, my mother…all of the people that needed me. The pressure felt huge. I needed to be in my bed back at home, surrounded by familiar pillows and sounds.
"I'm going to pick you up and put you in the sitting room while I fetch more of your clothes. You're safe here. There will be a glass of warm water that you can sip. Don't gulp it. Just sip."
I barely managed a nod. His strong arms reached under me and hefted my dead weight into the air. He carried me - like I weighed nothing - into another room before setting me down in an overstuffed chair. It was cooler in here and I started shivering. I wasn't sure if it was shock or only the cool air hitting my still burning hot skin.
As promised, a glass of water was next to the chair with a bendy straw floating lazily in the liquid. The thought of leaning forward to take that first sip felt like an impossibility. It couldn't have been more than 10 inches away from my mouth, but everything in my body protested the thought of movement.
The urge to be resentful was strong. I get why he did it. Drew had been encouraging, patient and kind while training me. Hephaestus went for brutal efficiency. Guess which one seemed to be getting better results? Damn, that straw was so far away. Fuck. Teleporting had been pretty easy when I'd stopped thinking about it.
Sometimes, you just needed to get out of your head. God only knows I’ve spent way more time there than I
needed to. I analyzed the hell out of everything - down to whether or not my underwear was going to give me a wedgie if worn with a particular pair of pants. Yeah, I was that anal.
For most of my life, I'd been a dominating force - pushing my will around like a heavyweight fighter. I couldn’t remember when it was that my head had taken over and I’d begun fearing instead of doing.
He strode back into the room and stopped about five feet from me, eyeing me warily. Something inside me was pleased that he recognized I had the capacity to wreck him. He brought his hands up to indicate that he was holding another pair of pants and a shirt for me. I mouthed ‘thank you’ and then grimaced. I couldn't even get to the straw, how the hell was I going to get dressed?
"I'll help you. With both," he said at last.
My head nodded imperceptibly and he took that for the permission to help me out that I’d meant it to be. Knowing that I was proud and stubborn was a good survival skill for him to have. Quickly and efficiently, he dressed me. I'd never felt so much like a Barbie doll. I wondered if he'd braid my hair next. I was more grateful for what he actually did do, raising the straw to my lips.
The urge to gulp down the liquid was so strong, but I forced myself to take small, steady sips. Water had never tasted so good. It could have been ambrosia for all that I knew. With each sip, my limbs regained strength.
"It's important to stay hydrated when you're working with your fire powers. I know that it sounds trite, but really do make sure you're drinking plenty of water each day. You deplete your system of most of its moisture, as well as necessary nutrients, when you detonate like that. I don't expect that you'll have to do it often, but your core temperature was in-line with a nuclear reactor back there." He looked slightly ashamed. Good. "My forge has a shielding around it to help with the heat, but it could probably power several mid-sized towns - even without you in it."
My eyebrows rose. I did not know that. "Why are you being so nice to me," I croaked.
It was his turn to look surprised. "I don't hate you, Grace. Why wouldn't I be nice to you?"
"Because you've been such a dick to date," I responded quietly.
He took a moment to think through his answer and, rather than words, he simply nodded.
"That's it? You're just going to agree?" I asked, astonished.
"Well, you're right. I've been a dick to you since our first meeting. I don't have a good explanation. So, you get a nod."
Getting stuck with a super communicator when you're immobile is frustrating, at best. What could I say to that? I can't demand answers when a person doesn't have them. So, I sighed and went back to sipping water.
"I'll be right back. Are you able to hold the glass on your own?"
I nodded and he disappeared. I imagine he wanted to let Zeus know that we were good-to-go on the teleporting front. Jolly for Grace! Woo! She was finally learning how to do something that all five year old Hunters already do. I took a brief moment to consider what the hell my mother had been thinking when she assumed I could take up the mantle of Huntress.
"You look like shit," a much needed voice said from behind me.
"I look better than you do on your best day, so shut it," I replied weakly.
"So is it true? Are you now mobile? Does this mean that we can't be friends anymore since you won't need a taxi service?" I could hear the humor in Athena's voice as she came around to the front of the chair. I smiled.
"Yeah, your usefulness is over. Since you're not going to be my friend anymore, does this mean I can skip out on testing your crazy inventions?"
"Nope, you still gotta do that," she replied.
"Oh, well…then I guess we can stay friends, so at least you’ll have a reason not to let me get killed."
"Seriously, you look like shit. What did Heph do to you?"
"Threw me in his forge," I responded.
"And you're still alive. Damn. DAMN!"
My eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"Do you know how hot his forge is? Do you know what kind of power you had to put out to stay alive in there? Goddess, no wonder you look like shit. What are you drinking?" She picked up my glass and sniffed it. "Hold on, I'll get you something better." She was out and back before I could blink - holding out a bottle of Gatorade, no less.
"At least you brought the grape kind. The other stuff tastes like ass."
"Shut up and drink it. You need the electrolytes. Heph is such a dumbass. I can't believe he did that to you. He's really generally nice to people, even if he is a hermit. What did you do to piss him off so bad?"
I shrugged. Fuck if I knew.
"Can you stand up?"
"I don't think so. Holding this bottle is about as good as it gets right now. Why? What's up?"
"There's been another disaster." Her faced looked grim and it filled me with dread. What now? How many had to die this time?
"How many Hunters do we have on the ground?"
"Most of them." She ran her fingers through her hair, gripping it and giving it a little bit of a yank. It was a habit she had when she was nervous or really upset. Let's be honest, Athena was all that was wise and beautiful in this world but she wasn't really that good at expressing her feelings. She didn't do pain well.
"What got hit this time?"
"Earthquake. Straits of Gibraltar. Spain and Morocco caught the worst of it.”
I closed my eyes and asked, "How many dead?"
"Too many to count," she replied quietly.
"Jesus, how do I get the feeling back in my legs? I need to get down there and help. Where is Dylan?"
"He's in the training fields with the other kids right now. We're keeping them busy and out from underfoot."
I nodded. "Do you have anyone keeping an eye on him?"
"Grace, there is always someone keeping an eye on all of the children here. They're precious to us."
"I just need to make sure. I hate that we're in the same place and I hardly ever see him. I miss him. The urge to just go home is so damned strong right now. I need to spend some time with my kid that doesn't involve dramatic parental talks, training or shooting him a wave as we pass in the hall.”
She gave me a blank look.
"Yeah, when you have kids you'll get it."
"I cannot have children, Grace."
"Oh," I said softly. Damn, I hadn’t known that. We'd never talked about it. I felt wretched. "I'm sorry Athena. I didn't know. I should have known."
"It's okay. I don't publicize it. I wasn't born the same way the rest of you were. Father kind of forgot about a few things." She smiled but her face was tinged with sadness.
"Do you realize how lucky are to not have to deal with puberty? Seriously. The kid is a giant drama queen right now…and poopy diapers! I was pretty sure I was going to hork every time he crapped himself."
She placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "It's okay. You don't have to try to make me feel better. I've had a few thousand years to come to terms."
"Right, but it's what I do."
"I know it is." She folded me into a gentle hug and the feeling came back into my arms and legs. "There, that should help a little bit."
"It does, thank you. I think maybe I can stand up now…and eat an entire cow. Man, I'm starving."
On cue, Hephaestus entered the room carrying more meat, cheese and fruit. "Eat. Then we'll go back to Zeus with your progress. It should only take you another twenty or thirty minutes to be back up to full strength. Hello, brat." He nodded at Athena, and sat across from me in another comfortable looking chair.
"She's not going to have enough time to report to Zeus. We've got an emergency on the ground. Another earthquake. We’re going to need all bodies for recovery and rescue."
I watched their interaction as they argued and wondered again why they'd never been a couple. They certainly acted like they’d been married for a thousand years. There was enough tension between them to cut with a knife. I shook my head to clear my thoughts - I wasn't going to get anywhere wo
ndering about their sexual chemistry.
"Hey," I said quietly. "Stop arguing. I'm trying to eat here and you're giving me indigestion."
They looked at each other and stopped immediately. "You probably have something to do, Athena," Heph said pointedly.
My head swiveled and I shot him a curious look. Why was he trying to get rid of her? Did she not know? Oh my God! She didn't!
She sniffed dramatically. "Well, I know when I'm not wanted. Grace," she stood and squeezed my leg. "Come and see me when you are feeling better. We'll get you assigned to a group. "
I nodded and then stopped her. "How is Drew?"
She stopped and was quiet for a moment. “He is doing okay. He'll be in Med for a few more days. She cut pieces out of him that need to regenerate.”
Oh God, that made me sick. He stood there and let her remove sections of his flesh. "Wait, I didn't see anything squicky in the area. Could she still have them? What could she do with that?"
"You don't want to know," Athena replied abruptly, then disappeared.
I turned to Hephaestus. "What could she do with them?"
He looked away. "Athena is right. You don't want to know."
"No, I really do. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked."
"Under the right circumstances, she could control him," he started. "That is one of the reasons that he'll be in Med for a few more days. We need to make sure that we cut her off from having that kind of magic over him."
My mouth stood open. He was right. I didn't want to know that.
"She could also use his cells to produce a clone. She's always wanted to have his child. Well, she could petri dish one."
"I think I'm going to be sick," I shot out abruptly. My stomach heaved. and I tried to cover my mouth before the vomit had a chance to spew out. I was a little late. What happened would have given the Exorcist a run for its money in special effect awards.
Heph produced a bucket and shoved my head into it while he went about clearing up the mess that now covered the floor and table in front of me. "How many times do I have to get you new clothes, woman?" He was getting grumpy. I guess I would be too, if I'd had someone puke all over my sitting room. "I told you that you didn't want to know. Wait a minute, why is this vomit purple? What did you eat?"
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