The group of waiting Myrmidons clapped their approval, but it was very subdued. Ganesh, Asterion, and Midas, on the other hand were hooting and hollering excitedly.
I’d saved Alex from Fae – a child victim of the Changeling business where the Fae switched out one of their own children to replace a human child on Earth, and vice versa. They had used it as some kind of supernatural battery, the disguised Fae child raised – without the parents’ knowledge – as one of their own, thanks to their nifty illusion spells.
The human child would likewise be raised in Fae, typically under less than ideal circumstances.
I’d brought Alex back to St. Louis to raise him. But something about the time that had passed since his abduction in the real world and his return back, had fast-forwarded his growth. So, he was now a twenty-something, in the prime of his life, muscled as all get-out, and thankfully, no longer aging as fast.
Since he was a Regular, and potentially a target as my friend, I had seen fit to begin his self-defense training. I had come up with this grand plan when he had been an awkward pre-teen…
Just a few months ago.
No one had anticipated him looking like a twenty-five-year-old Captain St. Louis superhero in less than half a year. But seeing all the changes, and how quickly he was learning and adapting to his new life, I was beginning to have my doubts about what I thought I had known.
For example, Pandora had told me his given last name was Arete, just like the word on the Temple Family Crest that meant to become the best possible form of a thing.
In the famous words of Yoda, checked that box, Alex had.
And here he was, kicking Myrmidon ass better than maybe even Achilles could. Leonidas and Achilles both had taken quite a shine to Alex, teaching him private lessons in the arts of war and battle. The boy with no parents now had an army of moms and dads taking care of him, looking out for him, and training him to be…
The best possible form of a thing.
So, it was understandable that my spidey-sense was tingling. Names, I was finding, were the word of the day.
Talon the Devourer – which apparently meant something very specific and important.
Naming my Elder pal Carl – having had no idea his parents were named Carl-os and Carl-a.
And Alex had recently given Pandora his virginity merit badge. Pandora had done so out of the goodness of her heart, telling me her coitus skills would somehow unlock abilities in Alex that I would someday rely upon for my survival. Her… Myth-flix and Chill date nights were obviously helping.
Despite being a Regular – having no magic – Alex hardly hung out with any of them, spending the majority of his time around the most dangerous and powerful people he could find, learning from them. I’d tried hooking him up on a date with Camilla, a chimera friend of the Reds, but I’d found them an hour later sparring in the back yard, with her teaching him how to survive a chimera encounter. She had left without the twinkle of budding romance in her eye, but they had glimmered with a very solid respect for the boy… no, the man.
And seeing that same look from Asterion, Midas, and Ganesh right now made me very uncomfortable. Like having football scouts lurking behind trees, watching your son’s scrimmage game. Alex didn’t just have moms and dads looking after him. He also had three bad uncles, apparently.
“I hope you three arrived discreetly,” I told them.
They murmured that they had, chuckling absently as if to tell me this wasn’t their first time in prison.
I grunted. “How have you been, Midas?” I asked.
“Oh, passing fair.” And then, without any social foreplay, he said, “Alex should come to Fight Night.”
My eyes narrowed, and I shook my head. Three new fighters were squaring off against Alex. He took a calming breath and lowered his hands. Then they rushed him, two fanning out and the other sprinting head on at him. “No, Midas. He’s too young. He’s not entering your Fight Club so you can win a few bets.”
“You big idiot,” Asterion snorted, startling me. He was usually the most rational of the bunch.
I rounded on him, staring incredulously. “Excuse me?”
“It’s quite astonishing to witness, isn’t it?” Ganesh said to Asterion.
I frowned harder. “Alright, King Dong. What are you talking about?” I asked Ganesh, miming stroking my face-trunk like one would stroke a goatee.
He rolled his eyes at my low humor. “Training at the Fight Club is technically less dangerous than him training here. On your property, he could break a leg or crack a rib… But at Fight Club, the Dueling Grounds keep him safe.”
I stared at them for about ten seconds, my face expressionless. I opened my mouth, thinking of the carnage of Fight Nights – the magic, blades, blood, and death, all to the screams of the crowd. I thought about this for another ten whole seconds, because… he was right.
Asterion was nodding. “It makes sense. When you die at Fight Club, your soul is always sent back home, dragging your empty body along with it, and you wake up as good as new. The opposite of Astral Projection, in a way.” I blinked at him, not having thought about it in that way before. It actually made more sense than any of my own theories on how the Dueling Grounds worked. “Alex could practice in a more realistic environment against magic and blades, and he would literally be in less danger than he is here, sparring with his hands.”
“And I would love to see how he handles himself in a real fight,” Midas agreed.
Ganesh piped up, and I realized this was rehearsed. I turned, squaring my shoulders and folding my arms as I stared at him. “Sparring is one thing,” the elephant-headed god began, “but putting an actual blade in a man’s hand… that will bring out a man’s true colors. It’s easy to pretend to stab someone, but can he actually do it? Watch the skin rip and the blood flow?”
I relented, not because of Ganesh’s overly creepy comments, but because they were right.
“Hey, Alex,” I called out.
He didn’t stop his sparring, casually thumping one of the Greeks in the helmet with the hilt of a wooden practice dagger before rolling behind another and dragging his dagger across the back of the Greek’s boot, signifying slicing his tendon. “Yeah?” he grunted, not looking at us.
“Want to take off the training wheels and go to Fight Club?”
He swept another opponent off his feet, hammer-fisting him on his way down to the earth. “Sure. Let me finish up here, first.”
And that’s when he took a punch to the face from the third opponent.
I winced, realizing Ganesh was right. Alex was going to have a broken nose in the morn—
His opponent suddenly cried out, clutching his balls before Alex hip-tossed him to the ground. The Myrmidon let out a manly whimper, clutching his nuts as Alex slowly mimed pressing his blade into the man’s eyeball.
Alex stood, brushed off his shorts, and turned to face us. “Okay. Ready. When can I go?” His face was unmarred. What the hell kind of move was that? He walked over to us, wiping the sweat from his brow, strutting like a peacock.
“Tonight is Fight Night,” Midas suggested, all too-casually.
“Nothing official for the first fight,” I told the three bad uncles. “Just let him train there. He can learn to practice the fatal moves. He doesn’t need an audience.” Because I didn’t want him attracting attention to himself. Freaks held grudges for a long time, and wouldn’t be pleased about a Regular kicking their ass in front of a crowd.
They nodded in unison, accepting the win, and confirming my assumption that it had been premeditated. I wrapped an arm around Alex’s shoulders and motioned Talon to follow us as we headed back to Chateau Falco.
I hadn’t needed to tell Talon to follow us, but it made me feel less pretentious, if that made any sense. Having someone just follow you around all the time, always watching your back, began to grate on your nerves. Made you feel like a target, or like I was overcompensating by shouting to everyone that I was so important I required a c
onstant bodyguard. Telling Talon to follow me made it feel more like hanging out with an antisocial friend.
Chapter 38
I glanced over at Alex. “Other than kicking Myrmidon ass, what have you been up to lately?”
He smiled, shrugging, letting me feel the thick, corded muscle flex under his damp shirt. I lowered my arm because he was a tall bastard. And he was sweaty. And it was a strange position for me. I had taken him under my protection, considering him a child I needed to keep safe. Like a foster son. But… that had all evaporated in the course of a few months, and I now had a calorie dumpster who was his own man, in a way.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Sanctorum. Great books down there,” he said. “I’m sure you’ve read them all, but I’m still a week away from finishing the first few rows. Well, the ones written in English, anyway. Unless I find another secret room full of more books,” he admitted.
I nodded stiffly. “The ones written in English. First few rows…” I repeated numbly. “Right. Those are good books. Good words in there…” I said, rambling on.
I hadn’t even read all the spines of the books on the first few rows of the secret library in Chateau Falco. There were tens of thousands of books in there. Maybe a lot more. And Alex had almost finished off a few full rows?
“You’re not reading any of the magic books, right? Those can be dangerous.” Maybe I needed to restrict his access. I had no idea what he was read—
And that’s when it hit me. I was parenting, considering putting parental controls on his internet. But switch internet with fatally dangerous library that a powerful Maker had locked away from prying eyes.
Alex was shaking his head in denial. “No, nothing like that. Just a lot of philosophy and books on war or ancient heroes from around the globe,” he admitted. “If I see any Latin or squiggly symbols, I close it immediately and put a sticker on the shelf, marking it for you. But you’ve likely perused them all, so would have already taken out the dangerous ones.”
I nodded woodenly. “Yeah. Let’s pretend that I haven’t marked any of them for stuff like that. I didn’t realize you’d been spending so much time down there.”
“Oh,” he said, looking suddenly nervous. “I’m sorry. I just thought…”
I waved off his concern. “Have you found anything about a blue stone in the books?” I asked, feigning casual conversation.
Alex pondered my question, looking down at the grass as we walked. “Doesn’t ring a bell,” he finally admitted, shrugging.
“What about in the Armory? Seen any blue gems lying around?”
Alex frowned thoughtfully before shaking his head.
“Okay. Can you let me know if you do?”
He nodded firmly. “Sure. I’ll check with Pandora…” he trailed off, not bothering to finish.
Maybe he felt awkward bringing her up. “Listen, you and Pandora… I like her a lot, and she’s been a great help, but… you need to be very careful with her. Even though she’s smart, powerful,” I met his eyes, “and ridiculously good looking,” I added in a lower voice, making him grin. “She is very dangerous.”
He nodded seriously. “I know. I’ve been keeping an eye on her. But…” he trailed off, thinking. “There’s just something about her that attracts me.”
I gave him a stern look. “Maybe it has to do with you banging her,” I said drily.
“No. It’s not like that,” Alex argued softly. “It’s like magnetism. And not sexual magnetism. She, um, definitely… well, we did do that other thing. Sometimes still do, but more often than not, we just hang out.”
I arched a brow doubtfully. “Right.”
“No, really,” he said, adamantly. “We just talk about things. The books I read. We go on walks through the Armory. Sometimes we do that other thing, but a lot of times she just talks to me. Like I said, it’s more of a friendship. Like she’s some part of me.”
Alarm bells began ringing in my head at his last comment, but I was careful to keep my face neutral. Pandora being a part of Alex… I scrolled through my memory of legends on Pandora, and found exactly zero situations that even remotely had a tie to what Alex was describing, some kind of shared existence.
Like that sinister mental parasite from my dream with Callie. I shivered. Not now.
Maybe I was overanalyzing Alex’s description of a friendship bond. One forged in the fuzzy handcuffs of inter-pantheon sex in a magic hot tub in an ancient library full of supernatural nuclear bombs. Or… two young pups who felt alienated from everyone else and had each found a person in a similar situation.
I sighed, patting him on the shoulder. “It’s fine. Just be careful. I know you see her as a young woman, but she really is a whole lot more than that. I’ve seen a few different sides to Pandora, and they always caught me by surprise. None of them were bad,” I emphasized, not wanting to turn him against Pandora, “but they were… dangerous. Or had the potential to be very dangerous.”
Alex nodded. “I know. She’s told me all about herself. All about a lot of people, actually.” He turned to look at me. “But you know what?” he asked, face entirely serious.
I hesitated, but tried to cover it up quickly. “What?”
“She loves you more than any other person she has ever met. Maybe even me. Just, you know, differently. Platonically.”
Great. He’d just told me I had a supernatural dad-bod, complete with flabby magic love handles. But as I looked past my own ego a moment later, the comment slowly began to hit me on multiple levels.
I hadn’t really ever known where I stood with Pandora. We had an odd relationship. Technically, I was her Host. Her literal owner, of sorts. So I had always believed her interest in me had been obligatory.
Hearing otherwise felt… really, really nice.
I also hoped this wasn’t Alex’s attempt at Oedipus, figuratively stealing his father’s wife. But as I looked into his eyes, I was certain this wasn’t the case. His interest in Pandora had nothing to do with me. It was entirely genuine. “She’s not in trouble, right? I’ll take the blame,” he said, voice firm.
I chuckled. “No one is in trouble, Alex. I’m trying to prevent trouble. I think she’s been good for you. So has Baby B.” He nodded, grinning suddenly. “And you’ve been good for both of them, too,” I said, patting him on the back. “Thank you for being their friend.”
Alex blushed. “Well, to make this beyond weird, you remember why I agreed to Pandora’s offer in the first place. To help you. That our decision to…” he waved a hand awkwardly, not wanting to spell it out loud, “would help me get stronger, better prepared to help you in the future. I don’t really know how it’s helping, other than the fact that I’m learning a lot, but… she’s been very worried about you lately. She even locked down the Armory, but I’m sure she already told you that.”
I almost tripped in surprise. “Oh. She forgot to tell me that,” I said. “But… it’s actually something I was about to go ask her to do.” I felt Alex’s intelligent eyes watching me. “There is a bad man in town, and he might want to get access to some of her treasures.” The words reminded me of Anubis’ warning, to use every tool in my treasure box to take out Mordred. Had he been talking about the Armory?
Alex’s jaws were clenched, but he maintained control, nodding slowly. “That’s not going to happen,” he promised in a low tone.
“I’ll take care of it. Just keep training,” I told him.
He nodded after a moment, running a hand through his hair. “I told B I would meet him after sparring…”
“Get out of here, punk,” I said, shoving him. “Soon, I’ll show you how to fight a wizard. Maybe you can test out a few toys from Grimm Tech to even the odds.”
Alex grinned. “That sounds awesome. I’ll be ready.” Then he was jogging towards the treehouse, calling out for B.
“Oh, and remember we have guests out front, so don’t do anything weird where they can see!” I called out to him, remembering the reporters. He spun, running
backwards for a moment to give me a thumbs up. Then he spun back around and resumed his jog, making it look effortless.
I watched him thoughtfully. Alex and B had become instant pals, almost always found together, walking, talking, or even watching movies together. I didn’t know what they talked about, but then again, a parent isn’t always supposed to know what their kids talk about.
And I was glad for it. B was a potentially deadly Beast, and he was not bonded to a human, which supposedly made them safer. He was also kind of like my… brother? We both considered Falco to be a surrogate mother, so it kind of fit.
But before B had entered the picture, Alex had been extremely close with Kai – B’s father. Kai had been Alex’s lifeline after I saved him from Fae, helping the young boy overcome his fears, offering a shoulder to cry on, and a firm hand to mold him into something stronger. Kai had been a badass.
I sighed sadly, glancing up at the sky, lifting up a small murmur of thanks to Kai. I wasn’t sure where he had gone when he died, but I’d seen an epic display of magical dust rise up into the stars, and I liked to imagine he was still conscious up there, smiling down on me.
Or tossing back a beer with the other constellations, laughing at the shit-show that was my grip on this precious gift called life. To see Alex do for B what Kai had once done for Alex was… poetically beautiful.
I watched as Alex reached the tree and slapped at the scaled bark. The door to the treehouse high above opened, and down drifted a wisp of a natural-looking cloud to hover beside Alex, quivering animatedly. I hoped the reporters hadn’t noticed it, or had assumed it was just an odd cloud or something – a trick of the light.
I shook my head, turning to find Talon smirking at me. “You haven’t read any of them, have you?” he asked.
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