The Modern Gods

by C M Thorne

  Voices hushed as Trix’s little family walked across the lacquered wooden ballroom floor. Albin sat back against his deep purple chair in a crisp white suit, one leg crossed over the other. One long finger lazily trailed over the stitching of his shiny white and black leather shoes as they approached. His short hair and trimmed beard seemed grayer than Trix had remembered, but his eyes were just as dark, near black and assessing all without emotion.

  Aurelia wore a flowing dress of white, accented with pale blue open sleeves stuck to the dress with bronze pins. Her long curly dark hair was twisted into braids and piled on top of her head. A white and blue head scarf wound around her tresses and helped keep her hair up, save for the ends, which spilled over the side of her head and were ornamented with bronze clips and beads. Her warm brown skin glowed softly gold and she was adorned with bracelets, rings, and necklaces of gold and bronze.

  Trix and her family bowed to the royal pair. She rose first, stepping forward, head still lowered, and offering the rum. “A white rum for you, Sky Father,” Trix stepped back after he took the bottle from her.

  Bastien stepped forward, taking out a white shawl from inside his suit. “And for you, Our Lady, the finest spun cotton from our holdings, made into a shawl for you.” He bowed his head as the shawl fell open, a design of her symbols around the border with a winding serpent, dyed rainbow, coiled around the inside.

  Aurelia leaned forward, her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she took the shawl and nodded to Trix’s husband. She ran her hands over the soft fabric and a smile twitched at her lips. He had been smart to think to entreat her with a gift. Ceremonial things like this usually paid most respect to Albin, but Bastien had thought to ply the man through his wife as well. She sat back, hands mindlessly fiddling with the shawl in her small and surprising show of happiness.

  An attendant had taken the rum from Albin and poured him a glass. He knocked the glass back, sucking in a satisfied breath and placing the glass on the small side table next to his seat. “I know what happened in your shop, Maman,” Albin spoke to her directly, eyes moving between her and Bastien slowly. “You come asking for help.” The air rippled with quiet whispers from the other families, but Albin paid them no mind.

  “For protection,” he scoffed a little and waved his hand at the man who moved to refill his drink, “from our long lost brothers. Family.” He said the word slowly and almost with spite, if Trix was not mistaken.

  “Father,” Bastien bowed his head, “please, let us-”

  “I care not what you have to say,” Albin barked. “You made a foolish error.”

  The room erupted with whispers and murmuring once more. Albin sat up straighter and glared out over the room, who all fell silent, even the music. “But, it was they who attacked!” His deep voice boomed, filling the ballroom with his power. “Family or no, they do not attack our home, our family here!” He turned his dark eyes to Trix, “We stand with you, mon chère. They will have to fight us all if they want revenge for the consequences of their mistake.”

  Trix bowed deeply, bending at the knee as she looked downward. She could feel her family do the same behind her. She cautioned a look up at Albin, who allowed the man to refill his rum. He knocked the drink back and waved his hand at the musicians, who started up the music again. “Stay, family Garneau. Drink and be merry tonight.”

  “Thank you, father,” Bastien replied, bowing once more before turning the family away from the Master and his wife.

  Trix bristled with excitement at having Albin offer her safety. That meant he did truly accept her as family, like one of his own children. She could not help herself from smiling as they moved into the adjoining dining room, where the long table was laden with food and drinks. She would let herself have fun tonight, and resume her plans for protecting her home and shop tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 15: BROTHERS AND SISTERS

  THEA CHECKED HERSELF in her closet mirror one more time. Dressing formally for dinner as a practice was new, and kind of foreign, but fun. She was wearing a silky crepe-satin emerald dress that she and Diane had bought earlier that day. It had an asymmetric neckline with a thick strap on one side draped around the shoulder and two slim straps on the other, nearly leaving it bare. It was completely backless and the hem was slightly asymmetric as well, the front hanging lower as it wrapped from right to left to drape flatteringly across her body. After much debate, she had her hair loose, perfectly curly as it twisted back around her face and pinned to the left side of her head.

  She had picked out a pair of strappy white heels from the closet, and she had slipped on a white leather and golden bangle on her right wrist, that Diane had insisted pulled the look together. As her ears were exposed, she wore dangling golden earrings, which had small gleaming diamonds at the ends of shimmery golden chains. Thea didn’t typically chose green for herself, but she loved this dress. She looked good, she had to admit.

  Diane was checking her deep plum lipstick in the mirror in the hallway, righting herself and smiling at Thea as she stepped out of her room. She had also chosen to wear a green dress, though hers was short and velvet with long sleeves, which plumed and pooled on her arms from the tight cuffs. It wrapped around her, leaving a plunging neckline that she had created from the way she tied the jewel-like silver tassel around her waist. Her black leather ankle boots and silver jewelry, which included a host of rings of her fingers, hoop earrings, and a long necklace, with a downward facing crescent moon lying just below her bust, all made her look slightly bohemian, but more modern and edgy. It was not a look she had seen yet on her sister and she liked it.

  “You look amazing,” Thea breathed out as she looked Diane over.

  She breathed out a low laugh as a brilliant smile spread across her lips, “Oh, thank you, love.” She covered her mouth before looping her arm through Thea’s. “I think you look brilliant!”

  “Ha! Thank you,” Thea replied sheepishly, cheeks flushing.

  Diane pulled her down the hall and the stairs in a blur. They caught Evelyn, breezing down the hallway in sleeveless satin dress in a deep blood-orange color. It had a fluted hem, shorter in the front than the back, with slashed up to her mid-thigh skirt. The bodice was softly cinched and moved with a liquid-like quality, even as she paused misstep and it billowed out around her.

  “You two look a picture,” Evelyn beamed at them as they stepped down off the stairs. Her wavy, gleaming hair was piled up atop her head to show off her long, slender neck and the dangling gold earrings, which each held a fat, dazzling topaz.

  “You’re radiant as ever,” Diane bowed her head to Evelyn and grinned. They walked down to the library, where Adella was waiting with drinks.

  Adella stood as Thea entered the room. She wore a navy blue A-line dress with a thin silver accented black belt. Her thick auburn hair was pulled back against her head elegantly and she wore only two large diamond earrings and a silver pleated high, round necklace set with a dusting of small diamonds. It was very professional and elegant, reminding Thea of some of the pictures of British nobility and royalty. All that was missing was the small hat and matching jacket.

  “Come sisters, cousin,” Adella nodded to them, greeting the trio coolly as they walked in. “Have a drink,” she motioned to the drink cart off to her side where a servant in a clean black and white suit waited.

  On the sofa, a wall of a man sat wearing a navy dinner coat over a white shirt and tan pants. His hair was a soft, curly auburn, matching his scruffy facial hair. Next to him, a willowy woman clung to his side, flaxen tresses falling to her waist. She was wearing a rich blue, strapless dress with a metallic sheen, and sheer panels on the bodice. It was fitted, cinched at the waist and fell elegantly through a tiered, floor dusting skirt. It looked stunning on her, but it was a piece Thea would have never dared to even take off the rack. The woman and the man both had grey eyes mirroring Thea’s and Adella’s, and they lounged comfortably with drinks in their hands.

  Adella cleared her throat, drawi
ng Thea’s attention back to her, as Diane and Evelyn moved to get drinks. “Thea, this is our brother, Herman,” Adella waved a hand as she spoke, “and our sister, Hazel.” Thea blinked, feeling like she’d missed something. Had she known they were expecting company for dinner? Adella continued without pause, “And their sons, Andrew and Alec.” She gestured to the two men sitting on the opposite sofa.

  They both appeared nearly as tall as Herman, and almost as wide. The one on the right was dressed in a dark cobalt blue suit with a pale blue button-up. He had a shock of wavy dark red hair, and grey eyes. His skin was a golden tanned olive tone, similar to his parents’, but deeper. The man to the left looked like the other only his hair was longer and he wore a dark grey suit with a midnight blue button-up.

  “A pleasure to meet you, sister,” Hazel spoke first, voice soft and possessing a surprising childlike lilt. Her accent held some of the English intonation of the other Panagos family members in the house, but there was something else. “It has been many years since we have come down from the gate, but one such as you warranted a visit.”

  They had come to see her? Herman grunted in agreement. “Ah, yes. Another child of Zeus. Hasn’t been one of us in an age.” His eyes were a darker shade of grey, Thea realized as his gaze flicked over Thea quickly, sizing her up. “You are making quite the fuss amongst the family, sister.”

  Thea sucked at her teeth, not knowing what to say, exactly, but she met Herman’s eyes nonetheless. Diane set her drink down as she moved up beside Thea, drawing Thea’s attention. “Indeed,” she broke the uneasy silence, “our family is quite good at working themselves up.”

  Adella held up a hand and sighed, “Yes, let us not forget why we are here.”

  “Yes, sister.” Herman cleared his throat. “Why we are here, indeed.” His voice possessed even more of a foreign quality than Hazel’s. It bore the intonation of English, but something else Thea did not know how to place. “You want our support,” he added, his dark stormy eyes flicking between Adella and Thea. “Do you think this new sister will somehow sway us?”

  Hazel clucked her tongue and put a small pale hand on her husband’s chest. “Come now. No need for all this. Enough posturing. Our sister calls for aid.”

  “To avoid war,” Adella tacked on, holding herself rigid and tall. “Thea is a symbol.” She glanced to Thea as she spoke.

  Thea resisted the urge to sigh or visibly roll her eyes. She felt less like a symbol, and more like she were under a microscope. There to be observed, to be lauded. Why was she even there? What the hell did that even mean to be a symbol? Was it really important that they were family, sisters, or was it just that she was supposed to represent something for Adella? Thea drew in a long breath, listening to Adella as she continued her little speech for Herman and Hazel. There was no sense in becoming upset until she heard everything. Until she had all the facts, not that that meant that she truly had any understanding of it all. She needed clarity.

  “Immortal life flourishes in her,” Adella continued, “a new source of divinity in the wake of our family’s loss. I see her, and I am reminded of how important it is to unify our family and avoid the civil war Nigel would have us engage in. Death, no matter how much or how great, seems to be of no thought to him.”

  Silence fell over the room, and finally, Thea cleared her throat. She was too curious now to resist posing her questions. They all looked to her, and she resisted the urge to look downward. “I have been meaning to ask,” she paused and took a gulp of a breath, “is Nigel Hades? He seems so bent on death,” she trailed off. “I was just wondering.”

  Herman burst out into a deep belly laugh, face reddening as he let go of the formal rigidness. The twins laughed as well and soon, even Adella cracked a smile. Thea had made a mistake, face burning in embarrassment. “Why did I choose now to blurt that out?” she thought to herself, trying to calm the embarrassment smattered across her face.

  “Hades?!” Herman boomed. “Not Hades, dear sister. Nigel is Poseidon, lord of the seas! He who vies for power and conquest!” He laughed more, unable to contain the genuine mirth that had changed his previously hard-set face.

  “A thirst our father sated long ago for the sake of creation,” Adella spoke firmly, humor draining from her own face. “Nigel will not care who stays neutral, you know this. War will blur those lines for him,” Adella looked to Hazel, lowering her voice, “they always have. Our father had to clean up so many messes caused by Nigel’s carelessness and cruelty.”

  Diane chimed in, “We cannot allow our legacy to be tarnished. If war is allowed to happen, the others will move in and pick off whoever is left. Our mighty family will fall.”

  “Even if we do join you, who is say that Nigel will not wage his war anyway?” Herman’s voice stayed low, deep and gravely. “He will not cede because you have a larger number, or,” he glanced to Thea, “more powerful pieces on the board.”

  “We could halt such war a lot sooner if more were not beyond the gates, sitting idly by in the guise of neutrality,” Evelyn spoke for the first time.

  Her words were certainly inflammatory as Herman drew an angry breath, nostrils flaring as he glared at Evelyn.

  Their cousin seemed unfazed, however. She continued, “The action of more of our family with power, like you cousin, would serve to more quickly restrain Nigel and his followers before they can do serious harm.”

  “So you want to throw them in the pit for defying you?” Herman scoffed.

  Adella shook her head, “I said no such thing, brother. Nigel would have to be dealt with, it’s true.” She dismissed the woman who came to the doorway, probably to inform them of dinner. “The fact is, someone killed father and Apollo. A play for power is being made by someone. Either we can unite and put Nigel in his place, or we can let him first devastate our numbers and then throw us into oblivion. He is not objective enough to keep us safe, to honor the laws and wishes of our father.”

  Hazel nodded slowly and rubbed her husband’s arm. “Athena speaks words that hold truth, husband,” she spoke up at Herman. “Our uncle is not the path towards greatness,” she met eyes with Adella, “nor the safety of all members of our family.”

  Herman looked back at his sons, who were standing along the wall, near the open doors. They both nodded in response to their father’s silent question. He looked back to Adella and the others. “I agree with you, sister,” he finally spoke. “Your path and your rule would only serve us all.” He nodded to her and offered his large, tanned hand.

  Adella extended her own and they shook, once and firmly, before he knelt his head and brought Adella’s hand to his lips to kiss it. “Thank you, athelfos,” Adella breathed out.

  She turned to Thea and the others in turn, asking, “Shall we eat now, brothers and sisters?”

  CHAPTER 16: PEERING THROUGH THE WELL

  OSKAR HAD TRAVELED to Iceland, teleporting to the rocky island out in the cold waters of the sea. He walked along the dark, rocky ground, slowly, letting his memory move him to where he needed to go. He had come here to seek an answer or path to solve his current predicament. The girl that the Greeks had was his blood, most likely the granddaughter of Thomas, his living son. She had a right to her history, to her family.

  Though, Oskar did realize that many families held a right over her. If she was in fact the daughter of Deirdre, then the Celts would also be trying to reach her as well. That was the reason he came to the Well of Knowledge. Iceland was a place of power, though the people of the land did not know it. He had come here before and given his eye as a price for the knowledge in the well. It had been eons, but his feet remembered the path toward the concealed cave.

  He crested the ridge that blocked the view of the cave. Icy silver water fell over black rock and plunged into the dark depths with a dull roar. The spirit of his uncle waited for him below, Oskar could feel it in his bones. The god had long left his life, killed during a now ancient war, fading to time, but his power lingered on. It was bound to the wel
l.

  Now that he was closer, Oskar let his form go, disappearing in the wind. He reformed down in the cave, at the pool of dark water that formed from the cascading water from above. He waved a hand over the water and it glowed faintly, blue and silvery.

  A voice echoed off the rocks behind him, “You summoned me, cousin.”

  Oskar glanced over his shoulder to Henrik, the ever stoic. “Yes, Henrik,” Oskar nodded and lifted a finger toward the pool. “I need you to come with me to the well. My uncle permits you a look into the water to increase your foreknowledge.”

  “Oh?” his voice echoed back, closer this time and filled with as much curiosity as the even, levelheaded man ever allowed. “Whatever for?”

  “I need an answer as to how to bring someone into the fold,” Oskar answered frankly.

  Henrik came up to his side, icy blue eyes glowing faintly and searching Oskar’s eyes. “Someone?”

  He nodded, “Yes, my son’s blood has flowed forth. We have a new family member.” He knew his own eyes twinkled as he looked back to the water, “Not a babe, but a full grown goddess, ready for war.” Before Henrik could question him further, he clapped his hand on his cousin’s arm and stepped into the deep water, pulling the god along with him. They stepped out on the other side, on another plane of existence, bone dry.

  The cave around them was like a dark, underground cathedral with towering, dark heights and fantastic, twisting formations flanking the walls. A glowing silver pool of water lay on the far side, with great snaking, wet roots wider than Oskar was tall. They wove together and parted around the water. “The roots of the Great Tree,” Henrik breathed our in awe.