Once Upon A Midnight

by Stephanie Rowe

“I did not anticipate that the child would be protected by a griffin,” Artemis replied, shielding her eyes as she looked up into the tree. “A little more time, and I will get him.”

  Just when I think they can’t possibly get any sleazier, the gods manage to surprise me. “You were planning to use my three-year-old son to blackmail me?” I asked.

  “Yes, of course.” Her blasé expression told me she saw nothing wrong with the concept. “He is your most valuable asset, isn’t he?”

  “He’s not an asset, he’s a person. You can’t use people like that. It’s morally wrong.”

  “You question my morals?” she spat. “You? The stupid girl who valued her own freedom over the life of a god?”

  I shook my head, trying to make sense of her accusation. I’d gained my freedom by blowing on the Harpē, not by killing a god. Unless, of course, those idiots had used it to…

  “Hades and Poseidon attacked Zeus. Now all of creation dangles above the abyss because you aligned yourself with traitorous fools.” Her face scrunched up in disgust. “If I didn’t need you to undo what you’ve done, I would put an end to your pathetic existence right here and now.”

  A chill went up my spine as her words and anger began to make sense. “What do you mean ‘attacked Zeus’?” I asked.

  She took a deep breath. “They ripped his essence from his body and now he can’t regenerate.”

  “How the hell did they manage that?” Demarco asked, sounding both curious and impressed.

  “Let’s just say they got in a lucky blow.” Athena’s glare stayed fixed on me. “The rebels now hold the essence of my sire. You will find out who has them and return them to me so I can restore him to power.”

  “Me?” I choked. “What do you possibly think I can do that you can’t? You’re the goddess of war strategy, for crying out loud. You have a merry little band of Argonauts and Zeus supporters to back you. Can’t you rally the troops and rain Olympian fury down on the rebels?”

  “Do not question me about my strategy!” she shouted, pulling the spear from her skirt. “You remind me of your grandsire. Hermes doesn’t know when to shut his mouth, either. I have a role to play in this, but you need not concern yourself with it, thief. Your job is to use the gifts you have, but don’t deserve, to steal back the essence of Zeus. That is all.”

  Not my war, not my psychos.

  Sure, I’d blown luck onto the magical sword that enabled Hades and Poseidon to off their big and powerful brother, but had I not done it, they would have figured out another way to take him down. Plotting and rebelling was pretty much their thing. As in the past, the gods would rise up and free Zeus and order would be restored. The gods hadn’t needed my help before, and they didn’t need it now.

  I’d bartered for my freedom so I could raise my child in peace, not so I could throw my life away in some war of the sociopaths. Chasing down the essence of a god who was most likely going to squash me for my role in the coup wasn’t on my agenda. And since Artemis hadn’t caught Doreán, I was under no obligation to help them.

  “Thank you for the job offer, but I’m gonna sit this one out,” I said.

  Athena tensed. “What did you just say to me?”

  It was the first time I’d ever been able to refuse an order to steal something, and damn, it felt good. But also a little scary because of the daggers Athena glared at me. Softening my words, I tried again. “I wish you the best in your endeavors and respectfully decline your offer.”

  Anger twisted her features and smoke streamed from her ears.

  I took one giant step back.

  “You haven’t heard what I have to offer,” she ground out.

  “It doesn’t matter. Because of the new contract you can’t enslave me or force me to do your bidding. I’m finally free, and I intend to find myself a nice piece of earth where I can raise my child as far away from the shenanigans of manipulative, callous gods who don’t give a crap about us.”

  So much for diplomacy. But I couldn’t help it. After spending my childhood praying to the gods to rescue me from Shade and the tasks he made me do, I’d realized they didn’t give two shits about me or anyone else. And now here was Athena expecting me to cry over her sire being temporarily out of power? No. I wouldn’t do it.

  “Arrogant, idiotic imíaimos. Do you really believe I need Artemis to secure your child? Do you think I lack the power to do it myself?” Athena snapped her fingers and Doreán appeared beside her, his little hand in hers. “No. As the goddess of reason, I was merely giving you a chance to make amends for your ignorance and pledge your life to restoring my father. But I see now that you are unreasonable and I will need to hold the child hostage until you have completed the task.”

  Time froze and my heart lurched in my chest as I looked from him to the now vacant spot he’d just occupied at the top of the tree, unable to believe my eyes. “How the…”

  Tweety shrieked in outrage. The tree rocked as he took flight.

  “You think you have a choice?” Athena asked, her condescending sneer returning. “You really believe you’re free? That I can’t touch you because of some contract? You think I can’t touch him because of the contract?” She jiggled the hand Doreán held. “Without Zeus, no contracts will be upheld. Hades and Poseidon thrive off anarchy and chaos. Do you plan to run and tattle to them? Do you think they’ll care? My father is the only chance you have at freedom.”

  “Wait. I spoke too soon. I reconsider.” My brain went into overdrive, trying to figure a way out of this. On any other god I’d use flattery, but Athena was all about righteous justice, and no amount of buttering her up would sway her. She wouldn’t accept a bribe or any sort of trade. I’d wronged Zeus, and the only thing that would appease her was my willingness to right that wrong. Grasping at straws, I said, “You have shown me the error of my ways. I was selfish and stupid, and…and I will fix this. I will make restitution and collect Zeus’s essence. Please just let him go. He’s an innocent in all of this, and I know that you are a goddess who protects the innocent.”

  She cackled. Not even kidding, her maniacal laugh could put any evil witch to shame. In answer, goosebumps raised across my flesh.

  Doreán seemed oblivious to the deranged lunatic holding his hand, because all his wide-eyed attention was focused on Demarco. “You’re my dad?” he asked, his voice swelling with hope and pride. “You’re so big! Are you really a superhero?”

  “Time to go,” Athena said, nodding to Artemis as the portal reopened behind her.

  She still had a hold of Doreán’s hand.

  “Wait!” I shouted, lunging forward. “There’s no need to involve the child. I said I’ll do it, and I will. I swear it.”

  “Oh, I know you will.” She turned to Artemis and said, “I told you the bargaining chip would work.”

  Artemis bowed her head in agreement.

  They were talking about my kid like he was a thing, and not a person. He wouldn’t be safe with these maniacs. I couldn’t let them take him. I jumped forward, grabbing Doreán by the waist as I called to the shadows.

  They resisted. The bitch was blocking me.

  Desperate, I resulted to pleading. “Mercy—I beg of you to be merciful, Athena. Please let him stay with me. His presence will…encourage me, like a battle song. With him by my side, I’ll have the essence back to you in no time.”

  “I believe a child will slow you down and hinder your progress. You’re going to war, Romi, and the battlefield is no place for a child. I’m doing you a service by keeping him safe. You’re resourceful, and now you’ll be motivated as well. Return the essence of my sire, and I’ll return your child.”

  Then she pried my arms open and she and Artemis took Doreán through the portal. It winked out of existence behind them.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  DOREÁN WAS GONE.

  Try as I might, I couldn’t come to grips with his absence. I’d been so stupid…so naïve…and this was the price. Athena had ripped him from my grasp, leaving me f
acedown on the grass, with empty hands and a heavy conscience.

  I don’t know how long I laid there, contemplating the day’s choices and wondering what I should have done differently.

  I shouldn’t have made the deal.

  But then I’d still be Shade’s slave.

  Yeah, but at least I’d have Doreán.

  But Doreán needs to be free.

  Well, now he’s gone. How’s that for freedom?

  At some point Tweety must have landed and shifted back into his human form, because he crouched beside me and tapped my shoulder. “They won’t hurt him, Romi. We’ll get him back.”

  Get him back. Yes, we needed to do that, but it entailed getting up, which I couldn’t seem to do. The minute I stood, I’d need to face the fact my son was gone.

  And, I’d need to face Demarco.

  He remained silent. I chanced a peek and found him staring straight ahead and probably in some sort of shock, which just made me feel worse. In the space of ten minutes, he’d learned he had a kid only to have said kid ripped away.

  My fault.

  Shouldn’t have pissed off Athena.

  I knew better than to piss off gods, so why had I done it? I got one little whiff of freedom and completely lost my mind. If anything happened to Doreán as a result, I’d never forgive myself. Desperate to reassure myself that Doreán was alive and well, I extended my consciousness, searching the shadows for any sign of him. Like me and Shade, Doreán’s life force was linked to the realm of Erebus. Or, at least, it had been before he’d gone through Athena’s portal. Now, no matter how far I stretched my awareness, I couldn’t feel his presence. There was only a void where his link used to be.

  “I can’t feel him. I don’t even know…” I slammed my mouth shut before my worst fears went flying past my lips. Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

  “They won’t kill him, Romi,” Tweety assured me. “Remember what you taught me. The gods aren’t stupid. They’ll use him to manipulate you.”

  He sounded so calm, but I could hear the thread of worry underlying his words. He was keeping it together for me. I appreciated his effort, but panic still disabled my ability to think clearly. “I can’t sense him in the shadows. He’s not there anymore.”

  Tweety nodded. “They’re probably afraid of him traveling like you and Shade do, and want to make sure he can’t escape.”

  They’re blocking him.

  It made sense. And after Athena’s recent show of power, I had no doubt she could do it. But it didn’t make me feel any less hollow inside. Doreán’s presence had been like a warm, comforting glow in the darkness of my conscience. Now there was nothing but shadows. I’d made a deal with the gods and in doing so had lost everything. In my search for freedom for me and my kid, I’d managed to enslave him. I couldn’t help but wonder if my mother had made a similar mistake.

  But unlike her, I won’t abandon him.

  I’m coming, Doreán.

  Before I could summon the strength to stand someone broke into a round of applause.

  “Bravo, bravo, I knew this would prove entertaining.”

  Jerking my head up at the unexpected voice, I pushed myself to my knees and looked around, finding Talon, son of Dolos perched on a nearby rock. He hadn’t bothered to disguise himself with glamour, so he looked like a demented elf.

  “What is that?” Demarco asked, coming out of his trance.

  I swore, shaking my head as I realized I’d been ratted out. “That’s a tricky little bastard who, I’m betting, has been following me around and tattling about me to the goddesses. You’re how they knew what I did and found us so quickly, aren’t you?”

  He gave a little bow. “What did you expect? That I’d just let you get away with stealing my shit? I caught you fair and square. You know the rules. You should have handed it over.”

  “Yeah? Well I couldn’t.”

  He chuckled. “So I saw.”

  “Besides, you screwed up. You shouldn’t have released me.”

  He grinned. “Don’t worry, love, I don’t intend to make the same mistake again.”

  Any witty retort I might have come up with quickly died on my lips. I couldn’t afford to piss off anyone else today and needed to keep my mouth shut and think my options through.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Demarco demanded, butting into the conversation.

  Talon slapped his hands over his heart like he’d been mortally wounded. “Doll-face, you didn’t tell your baby-daddy about me? I’m hurt. I thought we shared a real connection.”

  I ignored him and he chuckled and faced Demarco.

  “The name’s Talon, son of Dolos. I’m the guy she stole the Harpē from.”

  “The Harpē?” Demarco asked, his eyes wide as he looked from Talon to me.

  I clamped my mouth shut.

  “As in Chronus’s sword?”

  “The one and only,” Talon replied.

  Demarco turned on me. “You stole the Harpē?” The disbelief in his voice was more than a little insulting.

  “Stealing is kinda my gig.”

  He still didn’t look convinced.

  What the hell? Why did people doubt me? “Well, Athena apparently believes I can do it.”

  “But the Harpē? Regardless of how good you are, stealing the Harpē…that’s like taking the Holy Grail of weapons. It should never be done.”

  “Thank you,” Talon said.

  Oh. He wasn’t questioning my abilities, but my morals. Swell. “A sword? That’s what you’re concerned about?” I asked, propelled to my feet by anger. “Because I stole a sword? It’s a piece of metal.”

  “The Harpē is more than a piece of metal, Romi. Do you know what I’d do to get my hands on it and see how it was made? Does it really sing?”

  “Yes it sings, but who cares?” A strangled laugh escaped my throat. “Have you been paying attention to anything else that’s been said?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. “There’s a little more going on here than a gods-be-damned sword! Here, let me recap so we’re all on the same page. Four years ago, your psychotic mother—my grandmother—orchestrated our hookup.” And the more I thought about what she’d done to me, the more it made my blood boil. “By the way, I have to ask, does she bring you sacrificial virgins every Aphrodisia, or was I the lucky one and only?”

  His eyes bulged and he opened his mouth to respond, but I was pissed. How dare he freak out about a sword when our kid was missing!

  “Never mind. I don’t want to know the answer to that question. It might have been just a fling for you, but I…” What? Did I really think we’d have a Hollywood ending? Take down the bad guy and get the happily ever after? Aphrodite had drugged me for her son, my uncle, and I’d spent the past four years dreaming about the guy. I wanted to throw up. “Forget it. None of that matters now, because Doreán is gone.”

  Emotion slammed into me again. I took a breath and tried to get myself back under control. “I made the deal with Hades and Poseidon to free me and Doreán from my sire, Shade. He wouldn’t let me contact you. No…that’s simplifying it. He held a contract on my life, and issued a magically-enforced gag order that would begin liquefying my insides whenever I tried to disobey him.”

  “That explains your face on my roof,” Talon cut in. “Here I thought you were just constipated.”

  I entertained visions of throat-punching Talon, and it made me feel a little better. “Yes, I stole the Harpē. But I didn’t have a choice. So if we could stop talking about that damn sword and move on, I need to figure out which sociopath is harboring the essence of Zeus.”

  Demarco’s expression was unreadable. He studied me for a few moments before asking, “Are you done?”

  I took a deep breath, trying to regain control of my emotions. “For now.”

  “Good. My turn. I have been paying attention, but this is a lot to take in from someone I haven’t seen in four years. And by the way, you’re wrong. My mom is not your grandmother.”
<
br />   I begged to differ. Even with my memory fragmented all to hell, I was positive the woman in the photograph hanging over his forges was the same woman who’d led me to him that night. I opened my mouth to argue, but he pointed to something beyond the house. I followed his gaze to a rough tombstone sticking out of the grass.

  “My mom was mortal, Romi. I sat by her bed and held her hand as she died, wishing I could get her out of here and to a doctor. I put her body in that grave myself, about two weeks before I found you dancing on my beach. She wasn’t Aphrodite.”

  “But the picture above your forges…”

  He shook his head. “My mother’s name was Julia Barre. She was a famous model who unfortunately held a strong resemblance to the goddess.” He frowned and looked away. “Aphrodite used her. Mom couldn’t tell me much. She said one minute she was having coffee with a reporter who looked like she could be her twin, then the next thing she remembers is waking up in a giant bed next to…a monster.”

  Hephaestus. Where Aphrodite was beauty and grace, her husband was lame and disfigured. My own mother had been a product of Aphrodite hooking up with Hermes, the god of travel, who was far better looking than her husband. Of course, Aphrodite hooked up with pretty much everyone, and the only god she didn’t seem to have a child with was her husband. Would my grandmother really stoop so low as to trick her own husband into date-raping other women?

  Yes. Yes, she would.

  “You’re not the only one the gods screw with, you know?” he said.

  “I don’t doubt that. But if Aphrodite’s not your mom, then…” I let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the gods, we’re not related. I was not looking forward to having that conversation with Doreán.”

  “No relation to Aphrodite whatsoever.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So what do we do now?”

  “We?”

  His shoulders straightened and the look he gave me held power and determination. “Yes, we. I have a son, and three years without him to make up for. I’m helping you get him back, and nobody is going to separate me from him again.”

  I stared at him, honestly a little impressed. My kid’s dad was no pushover. In fact, he was a little intimidating. And, he fiercely wanted to be part of Doreán’s life. That scared me a little, but it was what I’d wanted all along, right?