by Nicole Thorn
“Oh,” Dad said. “A congratulations is in order. When is the wedding? I’ll bring the food.”
I laughed. “We probably have at least a few months, Dad.”
Juniper smacked my arm. “Hey! We are not dating, let alone getting married.”
“Prefer to live in sin?” I asked. “I’m fine with that. As long as I get to see you naked.”
She turned bright red, but still used me to hide behind.
Dad shrugged. “I’ll tell the guests it’s in December, just in case you have some trouble sealing the deal.”
I gasped with outrage. “How dare you. Of course, I won’t. That doesn’t mean she’ll want to get married in December. Winter in Seattle? Awful. I’d shoot for early Summer.”
“Got it,” Dad said, and then vanished with Cerberus.
Jasmine hurried into the room, just barely missing Cerberus as he went. She looked so sad. “Is he gone?”
I nodded. “I’m sure Dad can bring him by for a visit some time if I ask.”
Her arms crossed and she blew out a puff of air. “That’s okay. I’m sure he misses his bones, and his home, and being all big and stuff. I’ll just have to remember him by the three hundred pictures on my phone . . . ”
I bumped Juniper with my side, making her look up. “You okay?” I asked.
“Sure,” she lied.
“Good. Shall I take you out on a lunch date now? I feel like since I’ve professed my undying love to you, it’s the next step to buy you a meal. Or we can skip right to some naked things. Either is good.”
Jasmine gasped, throwing her arms up into the air. She was about to say something, given how happy she looked, but Zander walked into the kitchen. It took her a split second too long to notice the hard edge to his jaw, and the look in his eyes.
“Zander!” she said with cheer, and then it hit her. “What’s happening?”
He swallowed, and said, “Argus is leaning against my car right now.”
Juniper gripped me, and I held her closer. I felt no fear. Not for her, and not for any of us. I would keep them all safe, because no other option existed.
We all walked into the living room when Jasper and Kizzy hurried in, both covered in clay dust. Kizzy spoke. “We saw him out the window in the garage. Argus. What do we do?”
I took the lead, because I would have done this whole thing alone if I could. “Zander, come with me. Kizzy, stay inside and keep them safe.” I trusted her. She wouldn’t let anything hurt my Juniper.
Zander kissed Jasmine’s forehead, and I did something similar with Juniper before I led us outside.
The man leaned so casually that I wanted to hit him just for that. Coming so close to where my mother lived, and where the rest of my family lived. He was not a god, and that meant he would be killable if I wanted it. Right then, I did.
Argus had been a giant, but he stood a few inches taller than Zander. Turned out giants weren’t always giant. He must have turned a few heads with what looked like tattoos on his skin. Eyes. All of them eyes. He had rolled his sleeves up, so I could only see the ones on his arms, and a few on his neck and throat. None on his head, or under the short hair he had.
“The dog is gone,” I said when I reached him. We didn’t need introductions, because he had to have known whose house he came to. “My father has him, and he knows that you had Hermes take him.” Dad would have been keeping an eye on us while we searched, and that meant he heard what Hermes said. I doubted he would tell Zeus what happened, because Dad would’ve just happy to have Cerberus back. Not my problem either way.
Argus smiled wide. “I’m not all that worried about it,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “Everything is taken care of, and you all can go back to your lives. I just wanted to chat with you.”
“Why?” Zander growled.
I felt just as eager to attack as Zander did. I wanted to be free of this bastard whose very stance let me know he thought he could take me.
“You’re in no danger,” he promised us. “I would just like to have a conversation. With all six of you, if you don’t mind.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Screw the Mess, I’m Killing Him
Juniper
Zander came back into the house with an almost blank expression. He might have pulled it off, if not for the way his eyes practically sparked in fury. His jaw had a tightness that spoke of grinding teeth, but he otherwise seemed in perfect control of himself.
Jasmine and I stood in the living room, next to Nemo, while Kizzy and Jasper stood in the entrance to the kitchen. Neither of them looked particularly happy, either. It started to concern me, how many of these people, gods, and monsters knew where we lived. How did they find us? Why did they keep finding us? We did not matter in the end. We were but three of many, many seers.
Argus waited behind Zander. He looked huge, but within human standards. I didn’t know how the glamour worked, but it couldn’t make him look normal. Not with the tattoos covering his body. He would draw attention to himself walking down the street. The ones on his neck and creeping up on his face looked the strangest of them all.
Verin came in last. He stepped into the house, and closed the door behind him. His eyes never left the back of Argus’ head. Like he waited for a reason to throw something at the other man. An eye probably watched him from that angle, so I hoped that he wouldn’t actually try anything.
When they all got securely in the house, the two demigods stepped to either side of Argus. They stayed just out of touching distance, but close enough that they could lunge at him if the giant did anything weird.
One of Nemo’s heads nudged my hand, like he offered comfort. If his aim had been better, I’d have let him fry the shit out of the intruder.
Argus looked at me and my sister. Then his eyes drifted over to Jasper, standing by the kitchen. “You don’t look like much,” he said, conversationally. My eyes narrowed on him. Burnt walls would freak me out. I had to remember that. No burnt walls. Keep them clean, and neat.
“Sorry to disappoint,” Jasmine said. “I probably should have worn my other shirt, the one with the Pegasus on it. That would have made you feel better, right? Seeing me dressed all badass-like.”
Zander shot her a look that clearly begged her to keep her mouth shut. If he had been smart, he would have realized that never would have worked on Jasmine. She pretended she didn’t see it, crossed her arms, and glared at Argus. Since my sister looked cute as a button, it didn’t work out too well for her.
Argus smirked, and shifted his gaze to me. The smirk dropped as he ran his eyes from my head to my feet. He did the same for Jasper. “Yes . . . not much to any of you. Why is that so many people think you keep getting in the way?”
Kizzy stood close to Jasper, her arm through his. She probably thought he would do something stupid, like attack the giant.
“Stop the grandstanding,” Zander growled, probably trying to get the attention off his sister and onto him. “You wanted to talk to us, so why don’t you start talking?” He slid around Argus so that he stood in front of the man. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, and frowned at him.
Argus cocked his head. “I did want to talk to you. All of you,” he said. “If I wanted to get stared down by a baby demigod, then I would go visit a nursery.”
Zander narrowed his eyes, but I saw the corner of his mouth try to kick up. He moved away, closer to Jasmine. She rolled her eyes at me, but I didn’t pay any attention to her. Verin stayed close to the giant, like he worried that Argus would do something stupid.
“Why did you blackmail Hermes?” I asked, because the posturing got old fast.
Argus shrugged. “I like messing with Hermes.”
“Bitter about the whole turned to stone thing?” Verin asked.
Jasmine perked up. “Does that mean there’s a way to reverse it?! I have this cat—” Zander put a hand over her mouth, and she glared at him over it. He would suffer for his insolence later, but for now, I agreed with him.
“So, you stole the god of the Underworld’s dog, knowing that there would be repercussions, pissed off Hermes, probably Zeus too since he really doesn’t like it when people mess with his favorite side piece, and are now here to . . . what? Tell us that everything is all right?” I asked. My voice pretty much dripped disdain and disbelief.
Argus smiled. “No, of course not.”
“Then why are you here?” I asked for the second time.
“I wanted to see you,” he said. In the next second, Verin stood in front of me, much like Zander did with Jasmine. Kizzy tried to do the same with Jasper. She couldn’t quite pull it off, because of the height difference I sighed, and looked at my sister. She shrugged by way of answer.
I nudged Verin. “Could you move for a sec?” I asked. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”
“Why did you want to meet them?” Verin asked, ignoring my request. Oh, he would hear about that later.
“They’re interesting,” Argus said.
I peeked around Verin’s shoulder so that I could look at the giant more clearly. He crossed his arms over his chest and started rubbing one of his sleeves between two of his fingers. The entirety of my head started to tingle almost instantly, and I felt kind of light and airy. Like I could float away.
Jasmine leaned against Zander, her eyes wide. Fear filled them. Disbelief. My head continued to tingle, and my legs felt wobbly.
Zander looked over his shoulder at Jasmine.
“I heard so much about all of you,” Argus said, still rubbing the piece of fabric between his fingers. “You’ve caused a lot of anger to a lot of people. I thought there’d be more to you.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” Jasmine said.
Argus shrugged. “Don’t be. Sometimes getting disappointed is the best thing that can happen to you.” His fingers continued to work. “I’m sure you won’t be getting into any more trouble, will you?”
“No,” Jasmine said. “No plans for any trouble.”
I shook my head in agreement. I noticed Jasper doing the same. No trouble. We hadn’t even bargained for what we had already gotten into. I had become tired of it already. The constant danger, the way the demigods looked whenever we did something they didn’t approve of, like they had some kind of say in what me and my siblings did. It was frustrating to feel like you were useless, and none of them seemed to care about that. But we wouldn’t have this problem anymore because we would just stay home, and stay out of trouble.
“Good,” Argus said. “I would hate to see something happen to any of you.”
Zander took a dangerous step forward. “Was that a threat?” he asked.
Argus smiled. “Watch it, pup. I’m much older than you are, and I know every trick there is.”
Zander smiled, but it looked more like a bearing of teeth. I took Jasmine’s hand, and she leaned against me. “I think it’s time that you left,” Zander said. “I don’t know what you were really after, but I think it’s best if you drop whatever you’re doing. Forget about it before the gods make you their personal chew toy.”
Argus smiled. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that.” He glanced at me and Jasmine again, and something subtly changed about him. Something so subtle that I couldn’t even explain it, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt us. He had no reason to hurt us. I couldn’t think of why he would, through the buzzing in my head. He just wanted to do what he thought would be best.
Jasmine blinked, and grabbed Zander’s arm. “Be nice,” she said. “He hasn’t done anything to hurt us. He was just playing an incredibly stupid prank. It’ll never happen again. Right?” She looked at Argus.
He nodded. “That’s right. I don’t want Hades to actually get angry with me. Truth be told, Cerberus needs to get out of that place every now and then. He would get so bored otherwise. Nothing new to chew on, or anyone to play with.” He shrugged. “I was doing them a favor.”
The dog hadn’t done any real damage, except to that one guy. He probably had it coming, too. Besides, Cerberus had returned home. Safe and sound. It had all just been one big mistake, and the gods would see it like that.
Argus did a mock bow to Zander. “I can see that you would like me to leave, so I will. As a show of goodwill. I don’t mean any of you any harm.”
I grabbed Verin’s shoulders to steady myself, because something didn’t feel right with me. My head felt like it had been stuffed full of gnats, all moving around in lazy circles. Why did I trust this guy? “Verin,” I whispered. “I need you to hurt him.”
Without hesitation, Verin threw Argus against the wall with all the power that he could muster. A creaking sound had my stomach dropping out from inside me. Still, it took several seconds for me to actually get worried about my wall. I should’ve been having a panic attack already. The buzzing in my head wouldn’t stop.
Argus threw himself against Verin. The smaller man stumbled back. He nearly lost his balance, but managed to catch himself before falling down completely. Argus started rubbing his sleeve again, his fingers working against the fabric. The buzzing in my head increased.
“Pin his arms,” I said. It sounded like my voice came from far away, but I must have spoken quite loudly, because vines appeared, crawling down the walls. They crept across the floor at an impossible to track speed, and wrapped around Argus’ arms. The vines pulled those arms apart, and slammed them against the wall.
The buzzing in my head stopped. I sucked down a breath, and nearly collapsed. Jasmine and Jasper did the same thing. My brother tripped against the wall, holding himself up by his shoulders, while Jasmine went down on her knees, slowly. Her hands landed flat against the floor.
Nemo made a sad sound, and nudged her back with his nose. I felt the heat rising off him. Something had gone wrong, and Nemo would respond the only way he knew how. By setting fire to something.
“Get him out of here!” I shouted, before Nemo could kill us all trying to save us.
Argus ripped his arms downward in such a hard arch that the vines shredded like tissue paper. Kizzy screamed like it hurt her, and fell over Jasper, who she had been checking on. Argus grunted as he broke free from the last of his bonds. Between one blink and next, he had vanished.
Zander wrapped himself around Jasmine, asking her what happened. Kizzy bled from her nose, and hung off Jasper’s shoulders, both giving and seeking comfort.
Verin appeared in front of me, lifting my chin up in his hands. He looked into my eyes. “What happened?” he demanded.
“He was in my head,” I said.
“Mine too,” Jasmine said. “I felt drunk.” I heard a quiet horror in her words. She looked pale, and her eyes were too wide. She had her arms wrapped around her middle. Nemo kept pushing his head against her back, like a cat. I felt something nudge my shoulder, and turned to see his other head doing the same to me. I twisted around so that he could nuzzle underneath my chin, while keeping Verin in my sights.
“What do you mean in your head?” Verin asked.
“He was making himself seem like less of a threat,” Jasper said. “He kept rubbing his sleeve while he did it. Did you notice?”
I nodded.
“Call me dense, but I don’t get it,” Verin said.
“Giants don’t have Charm,” Zander said. Then to Verin and Kizzy. “That’s what it sounds like to me. That he was Charming them into thinking what he wanted them too, but he couldn’t have. That’s a god’s ability. He’s far from being that powerful.” The words came out calm, but I could practically feel the storm inside him. Someone had messed with Jasmine, and he wanted that someone to die.
“Why didn’t we feel anything?” Kizzy asked. “Sure, we’re demigods, but not all demigods are immune to Charm. Shouldn’t one of us have felt something? Unless he was just aiming it at the seers.”
At the weak little humans, she meant. Not that she would ever say that out loud. We all stayed quiet for several seconds. A crash f
rom the kitchen broke the silence, and my insides turned in slow circles.
The day just got better when Hades walked into the room, dusting himself off. Literally. Reddish brown dust covered him head to toe, and it got all over my carpet. I kept my heart palpitations to myself, because we had bigger fish to fry.
“We have a problem,” Hades said.
Verin looked at his father. “You were just here.”
“Observant,” Hades remarked. “I had to get Cerberus settled again, and that got me thinking, wondering why he was taken. So, I went to check on some of my prized treasures that the other gods have dumped on me over the years, and we’ve got a problem.”
“What?” Verin asked, already fed up with the entire conversation.
“The golden fleece is missing,” Hades said.
The demigods all looked put out, but us humans just stared at him some more. The golden fleece came up in a few stories, but it always seemed like the Holy Grail. A myth that people spent years and years searching for, until they had thoroughly ruined their lives and could never recover.
Seeing this, Hades finished dusting himself off, and sniffed the air. “It smells like giant in here. Did Argus just leave?”
“Yes,” Verin said, rubbing his eyes.
Hades sighed, heavily. “Well, damn. I could have solved all our problems if I had been ten minutes faster.”
“Um, golden fleece?” Jasmine asked Zander.
“It has the ability to influence armies,” Zander said. “Which is why it was safely down in Hades, where no one could touch it. Until now. Why would he try to influence any of you, though?”
“He was probably just testing it out,” Hades said.
I rubbed my forehead. So that had been the buzzing? The working of a mystical object that would take away my will. Great. I didn’t have enough nightmares and issues already.
Nemo nuzzled me a little harder. I pat the top of his head, trying to offer what little comfort I could. He made a chirping, purring sound that disturbed me, and put his head in my lap. I should have let him fry Argus when we had the chance.