by Gabby Fawkes
Two: That there was a reason that the gods had made the human entrance to Olympus on top of a freaking mountain.
Three: I hated mountains.
By the time the three of us had dragged ourselves up the mountain – hours of grueling trudging, with even my psycho voice so exhausted it could only groan every so often –we fell to the ground at the summit, half-wheezing with delight.
I hadn’t been sure I’d make it, even with the periodic breaks we’d taken. Only I’d been too proud to let on to Axel. I wouldn’t have put it past him to use that as an excuse to pick me up.
“We…” Demi trailed off, too tired to speak, sinking to her knees.
“Hallelujah,” Kian said, sitting smack down on the grass too.
As I joined them laying down, Axel’s head blocked out the sun. “We’re so close and you’re taking another break now?” His smile was obnoxiously amused. That leg-murdering trek clearly hadn’t tired him in the slightest.
“Yeah,” I said, glaring at him, then waving my hand. “Now, if you don’t mind…”
Axel took a step away. His face was now an expressionless mask. “I won’t wait long.”
We ignored him as we lay there, getting our breath. The scratchy grass underneath my bare arms didn’t bother me, nor did the buzzing of nearby crickets. Not with this blessed, glorious rest.
You see that? my psycho voice whispered.
-No, I said in my head.
You’re going to want to see this.
-Nope, I’m good.
Seriously.
Realizing that there was no getting out of this, with a moody sigh I sat up and looked to where Axel was now. As soon as I saw it, I nudged my friends.
“Uh, guys?”
“Yeah,” Kian said, propping herself up and looking where I was indicating. “What… the hell?”
Gingerly, I got to my feet, squinting at the sight. But it didn’t change. Axel was standing on thin air.
Okay, not completely thin air – a freaking cloud.
“You coming?” he said nonchalantly.
“I hate it when he says that,” Kian huffed, stalking ahead.
Demi was looking around uncertainly. “They just have the entrance here, out in the open?”
“The stairs aren’t here for just reggies,” Axel said, ascending onto another invisible cloud step, then pausing. “You aren’t following me.”
“So what,” I said, having arrived where he’d been. I gingerly raised my foot and placed it where I’d seen his was, which happened to be off the cliff and onto a cloud. “We just go where you went? Are you able to see the staircase?”
“Yes,” Axel said. “And no.”
Great, that just gave me the warm fuzzies.
“Tala…” Demi was saying nervously, but I ignored her. After all we’d seen, invisible stairs were far from the craziest.
My foot found purchase on something and I pressed my weight onto it.
Don’t look down, I told myself, as I put all my weight onto it and stepped out. There I was. Standing on a cloud and a load of big fat nothing.
Kian let out a whistle, while Demi’s relieved sigh was audible.
“Here,” I said, turning back to them and holding out my arm. “Take my hand.”
Demi was the next up, followed by Kian.
“You two are loco,” she hissed, grabbing onto me as soon as she scampered onto the step.
“Easy there,” I said. “You trying to take me down with you?”
Kian’s glare at me was grim. “If I’m going down…”
Demi had already advanced several steps and looked to be quite enjoying herself. “This is fun.”
“Seriously?” I said, then directed my attention to Axel, who was further ahead but still visible. “Hey – there’s no, like, missing steps, is there?”
He made a face. “How would I know?”
“Because you’ve been here before?”
“Who said I’ve been here before?”
I just stared at him. “You’re not actually saying…”
“I’d only heard about these steps,” he said. “They aren’t commonly used, though.”
“No…I’m shocked,” I said sarcastically. “They’re so user-friendly.”
“And you can’t tell us why we couldn’t enter Olympus the normal godly way, I assume,” Kian griped.
“No,” he said. “Now hurry up.”
“Charmer, that one,” I said drily, though only Demi smiled.
“Hurry up,” Kian seethed. “On steps we can see nada of.”
And yet, slowly and carefully, we made our way up them. Step after invisible step we ascended. As we passed through clouds, the hill we’d come from faded out of view below another cover of clouds.
Above, Axel disappeared through the last puff of clouds and a breeze flung a sweetly familiar smell to us.
“Pomegranate,” Demi said serenely.
“Pomegranate?” I said. “How did you…”
She shrugged.
Next second, making it through the clouds, we had bigger things to contend with.
We were now on a cloud-formed platform, spread before a mighty golden gate. Its doors were so high that I craned my head as far back as I could and I still couldn’t see the top.
“Something tells me we aren’t scaling that,” Kian said.
Axel was still ahead of us, talking to a man on the other side.
“She is not going to want to see you.” The man’s cardboard-colored haired bowl-cut swayed as he shook his head firmly. “No one is.”
Kian elbowed me. “What did I say?”
“What ever do you mean?” I said deadpan. “Clearly, we’re with the most popular god ever.”
“It’s not about me,” Axel was saying impatiently, gesturing our way. “I’ve found things out – about the attack. Then came across these girls claiming they’re from some school I’ve never heard of. The DSA might be involved.”
The man’s head jolted our way. Next second, sky-high and continent-wide golden gates be damned, he was right in front of us. Hovering.
He only took a second to look at us before flashing back behind the door.
“Look like reggies.”
“Yeah, well they’re not, Hermes,” Axel said. “You can ask Athena if you want. One’s a witch, one’s a… shifter.” Thank God, I said silently to myself. Something told me our cold welcome would get even colder if Hermes found out I was supposedly the most vicious shifter type of all. “And one’s Demeter.”
Another flash and Hermes was back in front of us again. He had honey-colored eyes that seemed to be open a tad too wide, and a mouth drawn together in a clearly unimpressed expression. The only visible reason for his hovering was that, on both his gladiators were two unmistakably fluttering wings.
“Which one…”
He stopped in front of Demi, prodding her with his thumb.
“Hey,” she said, lifting both hands. Hermes settled on the ground with a wispish sound. He gaped at the two sprouts that had appeared there for a moment, then drew nearer, peering into her face way too close for comfort. “Why’d you… without even telling anyone?”
“Uh, excuse you,” I said, stepping in front of Demi. “Ever heard of a personal bubble?”
Hermes peered over my shoulder to gawk at poor Demi some more. “But don’t you want to see your daughter? Your fields?”
At the sound of fields, Demi perked up, but Kian moved to block our friend too. “That sounds great. Just let us in and we’ll be on our way.”
Hermes’ eager expression evaporated and he shook his head just as firmly as he had the first time. “That’s not up to me. That’s up to… her.”
His gaze flitted to Demi. “Although…”
“She’s staying with us,” I said, taking Demi’s hand.
“I wouldn’t piss that one off,” Axel said with a chuckle.
I glared at him. Why, then, had he been consistently pissing me off since we’d met?
“Very
well.” Hermes flitted away, appearing on the other side of the fence. “I’ll ask. But I’ll warn you, the chances of you being permitted entry are… unlikely. At best.”
And with that, he was gone.
Kian stared after him, her head far out from her neck. “How does he do that… and why can’t Axel?”
“I am right here, you know,” Axel said. “And the answer is, that just like humans and animals, not all gods are the same. Hermes can hardly lift a cast-iron skillet without getting a wrist-cramp, for instance.”
“Guess that’s fair,” I commented. “But who is ‘she’? Your stepmom?”
Axel’s gaze was still on the golden gates Hermes had disappeared from. “Unfortunately, my dad was the more fair ruler, but…” He trailed off.
“But what?” Demi asked.
Axel just shook his head. “Not now.”
I frowned. So many secrets and holes in what we knew and didn’t. I tried nosing around my head for my voice, to see what it thought of this, but all I got was some whistling noise… was the voice actually sleeping?
Trying to, came a sleepy growl.
-Why don’t you sleep when I do?
And miss the chance to trifle with your dreams?
A groan spilled out of my throat as last night’s dream returned to me. In it, I had been on the plane and – surprise, surprise, burning things.
Now that you’ve seen the usefulness of my might, perhaps you might hold me in better esteem, the voice said primly.
-Thought you were supposed to be trying to sleep…
A final flash of painful sensation went through my arms, but the voice finally shut up.
“It just me or does anyone else hear wings flapping?” Kian said.
“It’s just you… oh dayum,” I said.
Because I heard wings flapping now, all right. Hell, I saw wings flapping, for John’s sake.
A peach-sheened and opaleine carriage pulled by two massive white winged horses hurtled toward us. As it rumbled to a halt, I saw it wasn’t a carriage at all. No, it was a throne, and on it was the queen.
Even without the gleaming golden crown on her head and the scepter clasped in her hand, it was obvious. There were her golden-tinged mahogany curls; there was how her sharp chestnut eyes took in the scene with a sweeping glance; most of all, there was how stately her head’s very bearing was.
I swallowed back a fluttery feeling in my chest… all that gold, on one person.
“Hera.” Axel got down on a knee and lowered his head. “My Queen.”
Demi nudged me and I followed her lead, doing the same. If even violent Asshole Axel was bowing in front of this woman, that meant we sure as hell should be. And that now definitely wasn’t the time for indulging in some gold lust.
As the winged horses pawed the ground and snorted uneasily, a paranoid part of me wondered if she’d just trample us here and now if she didn’t like what she saw.
Instead, she let out a ‘tch’ sound that was unmistakably displeased.
“Get up. All of you.”
As we did, I saw that her face was just as angry as her melodious voice had sounded.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I come with findings about the dragon shifter attack,” Axel said. “With magical girls I found, who-”
“For what purpose?”
That seemed to stop Axel for a minute. He blinked. “To help.”
A pause, then, again that ‘tch’ sound. She lifted a golden whip. “Come, my steeds, convey me away from here.”
“Wait!” Axel said, rushing so he was blocking her path. “I speak truly. I mean Olympus no harm. I come as a new man.”
“A new man,” Hera said derisively.
“Weren’t you there when my father chose to smite me how he did?” Axel said quietly. “Didn’t you see the punishment he saw fit?”
Hera said nothing, her eagle-eyed gaze having moved on to us now. “And what are these you have brought with you?”
“Athena said one is a witch, another a shifter, another Demeter.”
“Demeter.” Hera’s wide hips rose from her throne with a great swishing of skirts. Her eyes were scalpels on Demi, her wrist flick decisive. “That is no sister of mine.”
Her gaze fell to Demi’s hands, where the buds still lay. Hera started back.
“No, it cannot be. Demeter said… she wanted to help, she was going to go and come back when-” Hera’s mouth became a gash. “It was time.”
When none of us said anything, her voice boomed out, loud and angrier than before. “Well! Can she not speak?”
“I can,” Demi said quietly. “And I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
I opened my palm, finding nail marks in it.
“Leave her alone,” I snapped. “None of this is her fault. We just bumped into Axel and then met Athena-”
“How dare you?” she said, raising her hands. “Silence!”
Both horses reared up as Axel rushed in front of me. “Hera – don’t. Forgive them. They do not know our ways – nor your stature.”
Let her try – goddesses are no match for the flames I shall smite her with! the voice was roaring inside me.
I focused on gripping my own hands into fists. I just had to stay calm for a bit longer. Stay. Calm.
Hera’s laugh was ugly, her snarl more so. “They do not know that to insult a queen is treason? And that the penalty for treason is death?”
“Listen, lady-” Kian began, but I elbowed her.
Thanks to Axel and me, we were in enough shit already without her telling off some god-lady who’d probably turn us into burnt toast if it suited her.
Sure, we had our ‘powers’ – but unfortunately we only had the foggiest idea of how to actually use them. Now wasn’t the time to test them.
Besides, putting myself in danger was one thing, but no way did I want Kian making the same mistake I had.
A braying sound made us whirl around. A man was coming from the same way Hera had. As the donkey he was seated on advanced, his contorted legs knocked against its gray-brown sides while his thick, matted gray-brown beard shifted.
As he came to a stop before us and his kind eyes regarded us, I had the odd impression that he knew exactly what was going on.
“Mother, please,” he said. “Do not punish the girls for what Zeus’s son has done.”
Looked like I was spot on – this guy knew what was up. Though, why hadn’t he called Axel by his name? Now that I thought of it, neither Hermes or Hera had either.
Apparently slightly mollified, Hera slunk back to her seat, placing both arms on her armrests as she regarded us.
“Pretty sure that’s Hera’s son. Hephaestus,” Demi whispered in my ear.
Which explained his calming influence at least. Pretty sure if I was a godly powerful queen mama, I wouldn’t exactly be jonesing to kill in front of my kid. Then again, now that I was thinking about it, hadn’t Hera thrown Hephaestus off Mt Olympus in one of the myths?
I swallowed nervously.
“And what would you have me do – grant them entry?” Hera was saying now, gesturing to us with her shiny lip puckered with disdain. “This… monster and the girls he brings along with him? You, of all men, would allow this?”
Axel was having a hard time looking the bearded newcomer straight in the face. Was that shame I saw in the hard cut of his features?
The man stopped his donkey beside Hera’s throne. “Yes, I would,” he said.
“And you believe his claims, then, of being changed? Of being here to help?”
A rumbling cough took over the man, and, when he lifted his head again, his expression was unchanged.
“I do not know,” he said simply. “Only that it has been many years – and I have heard – many lifetimes. And if the girl truly is Demeter…”
“Very well.” Hera gave another dismissive wave to no one in particular. She lifted her golden whip and let it snap on the horses’
flanks, although she addressed Axel. “But know this – leave your nose out of the attacks. And if you cause any trouble again, this time, we won’t spare you, Ares.”
18
We could only watch blankly as both donkey and winged horses took off. Even the horizontal opening of the golden gates seemed anticlimactic compared to what we’d just heard.
“Ares?” I said. “But wasn’t that the god of….”
“You coming?” he snapped from ahead of us. “Or waiting for them to close it again?”
He didn’t have to tell us twice. We hurried after him.
Behind the golden gates lay a tranquil field with lush vegetation, which Axel cut through savagely. There seemed to be a village of sorts up ahead, but he didn’t head that way.
“If the structures are where I remember them to be, then that is where you’ll stay,” he said, still bulldozing ahead at a breakneck pace.
We said nothing. Clearly, Axel – or Ares, whatever his name was – was not in a talking mood.
But still. Virtually everyone we’d encountered, other than the Flying Narwhale bartender, had been frightened, if not disgusted by Ares. Had he really been as bad as the god of war we’d learned about in class?
Whatever. There was no point in obsessing over it now. We could probably do that once we got to our ‘structures,’ wherever they were.
Still cutting through the field, we passed more flowers than I’d ever seen in my life, and Demi murmured their names to herself happily, “Crocus… cliff rose… poppy… ooo and hyacinth… Barley?.. Bougainvillea!”
Although our enjoyment of the scenery was short-lived.
“Here we are,” Axel said, swinging his arm out to what looked like several tiny temples. “Just as I remembered them.”
He started walking off another direction. “You three stay here. I’ve got things to attend to.”
“Hey,” I called after him.
He wasn’t actually going to just leave us here, in this strange world where no one knew who or what we were, was he?
“You’ll be fine,” he called behind him. “There’s fig trees around if you get hungry. And if anyone asks, just tell them I’ll kill them if they lay a hand on you.”
“Magnificente,” Kian said, glaring after him. “We’ll just threaten anyone who tries talking to us – that’ll make us friends for sure.”