by Gabby Fawkes
“Might as well check these out,” I said, heading over to the temples.
“Um,” Kian said, following behind. “Is no one else worried that the one guy looking out for us is the one everyone seems to think is the antichrist?”
“Ares did get a bad rep in mythology class,” Demi said quietly.
“Thought I remembered that,” I said. “Wasn’t he like… the god of war. The violent, selfish one. The one who… cheated on someone too?”
“Sounds like our guy,” Kian said deadpan.
“No, it doesn’t,” I argued. “Why save us and take us here, when he could’ve just tortured us for the information if he was so sadistic?”
“Dunno,” Kian admitted. “But still. We don’t really know why he brought us here.”
“He didn’t know what else to do,” Demi said.
“And it wasn’t like we had any other options,” I added, “other than some witches we knew nothing about.”
“Whatever,” Kian said. “Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what craziness happens next.”
With that, she stormed off into the nearest mini-temple.
“She’ll come around,” Demi said, with more hope than I felt.
Kian had a point. Lately, everywhere we turned there was new danger. Some helicopter calling the DSA to pick us up. Vampires on horseback come to chop off our heads. An angry queen goddess. What was to say that we were finally out of danger now? Just because some Axel/Ares god guy seemed to be on our side?
Whatever the case, as we walked into the nearest mini-temple, one thing was certain. They were gorgeous. Constructed out of what impossibly appeared to be a single block of marble, they contained a ledge covered with shiny primary-colored pillows (a bed), and a table boasting a fruit bowl.
“Guess they were expecting us,” I said, picking up a peach and sinking my teeth into its juicy goodness.
“Or expecting someone, at any rate,” Kian said, having returned. She prodded a plum with her forefinger nail.
“Yay, food!” Demi trilled, taking a bite out of an apple in one hand, and a pear in the other.
“Least someone’s happy,” Kian said, still glaring suspiciously at her plum as she twisted her nail in it.
“Hey, lay off,” I told her. “After this, we can go to that Methusala witch place if you still want to. Once we’ve found Jer, at least.”
“Maybe the witches could help us find Jer, even,” Kian said.
“Maybe,” I said, then paused. “You guys hear that?”
“The running water?” Kian said. “Maybe there’s a stream nearby.”
“Not just that,” I said, pausing to be sure. “There’s voices.”
“All the more reason to stay inside,” Kian said firmly, plopping her butt on the bed ledge.
“No,” I said, peering my head out the entranceway. “We should talk to them. See what they know.”
“You mean see if they want to kill us too?” Kian asked brightly.
“Don’t be so morbid,” Demi told Kian, setting out past me. “Any place that has bowls of yummy fruit for strangers can’t be so bad.”
Although I wasn’t all that sure about Demi’s logic, I followed her nonetheless. Axel hadn’t said when he’d be back, and I sure wasn’t about to sit around waiting for him all day.
We followed the voices out through the field, until we came to the stream.
“That solves that mystery,” Kian said, “Can we go back now?”
“Did you lose your lipstick somewhere or something?” I asked her. “Because the Kian I know was always up for an adventure.”
Glaring at me, she took out a silver tube, opened it, and, glaring at me all the while, applied its red shade to her lips. “The Kian you knew hadn’t yet had her head nearly chopped off by a vampire demon on horseback.”
“Point taken,” I said. “But Demi and I are still checking it out, right?”
Demi nodded. “Sorry, Kian.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, although she followed alongside us toward what looked like a glen. “Just don’t blame me when we’re injured and/or dead.”
“So, what’s our story?” I asked my friends quietly as we wove our way through the trees, nearing the voices.
“Story?” Demi said with a blank blink.
“Would the truth be so bad?” Kian said.
“If they’re about to stab us, maybe Axel’s threat too,” Demi said, biting into her pear thoughtfully.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.
The glen we’d entered had been a small one, and we were already near its end and what looked to be the source of the voices.
In a clearing, men and women draped in flimsy togas were cavorting about, smiling and laughing. It wasn’t hard to guess why.
A deep red liquid – wine, it looked like – filled a stone-bordered enclave further in.
Several people were crouched around it, drinking with reed straws, while others used oversize leaves to ladle it into each other’s mouths.
“Still want to check this place out?” Kian asked drily, nudging us to show us a waterfall.
Its shimmering waters and pool were filled with more cavorting people – though these were naked.
Before we could respond, the sound of movement had us moving aside. Just in time for a goat-legged boy to gallop to a stop between us.
“Come on!” He galloped ahead a few more paces, then gestured for us to follow. “This way!”
I shrugged to my friends as we hurried after him. I figured he looked too cute to be some kind of evil murderer. I hoped I was right.
As we ventured out of the glen after the boy, we kept a tight grip on each other’s arms. Even though we were nearing the most carefree and happiest people we’d ever seen, after the past few days we’d had, I wasn’t going to let my guard down for anything.
Closer to us, some pretty women were doing a laughing, light-footed sort of jig, as a handsome bare-chested man with a flute set up a prancey tune. At the sight of us, the music stopped.
“Ladies!” the man said. Then, his gaze falling on Kian, “Lips!”
Kian was about to retort, when he continued, “Who invited you here?”
We exchanged a look. Something told me that saying “Ares” would be a party-killer.
Already though, the man was before us, holding out a hand. “No matter – come and join! Dance!”
The other women were eyeballing us oddly, but the man’s energy was inescapable.
The man took Demi’s and my hands – since Kian wouldn’t release ours, we formed a large circle.
As we skipped in a circle, he beamed at us, clearly delighted. “Tell me your names!”
“You first,” Kian said.
The man whipped his auburn curly-haired head her way, then bust out laughing. He laughed so hard that his bronzed chest muscles twitched.
“Why, I am Dionysus, as you well know. Though you can call me Dion.” He winked at Kian.
“I’m Demi,” Demi said. “And this is Tala and Kian.”
“Kian,” he said, teal eyes never leaving her. “Pleasure.”
The music started up again, the goat-legged boy playing the instrument. He wasn’t just goat-legged, either. Two horns sprouted out of his curly bright red locks.
He wasn’t the only goat-person, either. There were several similar creatures jigging about that I hadn’t noticed before.
“I see you’ve met my friends already,” Dion was saying.
“What is this?” I asked him.
He regarded me with a delighted expression, as if I’d told a great joke. “This is a communion of like-minded spirits. A jubilation of souls.”
There is certainly a jubilation of something happening over there, the voice in my head commented, sneaking a look back at the naked-people waterfall.
“Just behind there is my personal grotto,” Dion continued. “I can show you, if you like.” The last part he directed to Kian, who shook her he
ad.
“In your dreams, buddy.”
Another winning smile passed over his face. “But of course!”
Kian exchanged a nervous look with us. Clearly Mr. Dion had the hots for her, but now wasn’t the time.
Feeling eyes on me, I turned. Axel was at the edge of the party. He stood there, watching, patting a black dog at his feet. It was no ordinary one, though - it had three heads.
“Guys.” I squeezed Demi’s cushy hand and motioned to Axel.
Seeing us, Axel said something to the dog, gave it a light smack on the butt, and it ran down a hill out of sight.
We stopped dancing. The music had fallen silent again too.
We could hear the whispers of those around us:
“That isn’t…”
“Not after all this time.”
“Maybe that explains about Zeus.”
Dion, for his part, assembled a smile on his face. “Ares!”
He strode ahead with open arms. “Is it you I have to thank for giving me… these?”
He gestured to us.
“Excuse me, drunkard-” Kian snapped.
“I gave you nothing,” Axel said, his hands fisting as he glanced our way. His gaze lingered on me the longest, almost… possessively. “I told my friends to wait back at the colony.”
The smile on Dion’s face didn’t budge. “And deprive us all, for your selfishness?”
Axel didn’t react. “We both know my good nature was never something I was famous for.”
The change on Dion’s face was hard to pinpoint. Only that, like a mask that had been put up and taken down, from joyous innocence, he switched to amused shrewdness. “So, you really are back.”
“I heard you’ve been investigating the attacks,” Axel said.
“You’ve heard much,” Dion said. “Just how I heard that you had to contend with Hera to get in. How did you pull off getting past her and Hephaestus? A neat trick.”
A flush pricked Axel’s cheeks. “Doesn’t matter. Point is, I went to Chico, to the scene of the dragon massacre myself. I want to help.”
Dion couldn’t seem to tear his gaze off Kian, even as he said, “And these…?”
“Aren’t reggies. They’re a witch, a shifter, and a god.” Beside me, I could see Demi was clearly pleased he’d left it at that. I couldn’t blame her, when every other god seemed to have a different, suspicious reaction to hearing her apparent identity.
“We want to help too,” I spoke up. “Figure out what’s going on – and if it’s linked to our school.”
Dionysus turned to me with amusement, Axel with anger.
“How would you help?” he demanded.
“Just because the DSA are following us, doesn’t mean we can’t,” I protested.
“DSA?” Dion’s both hands went up, as the smile was wiped clean off his face. “What’s this about the DSA?”
Axel’s hands went to his temples. “If you’d only have listened…”
“To what?” Kian snapped. “All the half-truths you’ve been telling us?”
Already Axel’s attention had shifted to Dion, who looked like he’d just swallowed a scorpion. “Brother,” Axel said. “Listen to me. Something is going on with what happened to these girls. We can’t just hand them over.”
“But the DSA…” Dion was saying.
“Hold their own interests foremost, as you and I well know.”
Dionysus said nothing, his gaze flicking to Kian, then Axel. “And Hera?”
“She doesn’t know about the DSA’s involvement. Might not even care. She’s never been one for sharing power.”
Dionysus smiled grimly. “That is true. Very well. I shall not alert them, even if… there would be undeniable benefits.”
“Thank you,” Axel said, his head roving around. “Now where are the others?”
“What, Aphie?” Dionysus said lightly.
“No,” Axel replied shortly. “Artemis, Apollo.”
“You don’t want to run into Apollo,” Dion warned. “Not after he heard about you and Aphie. He was the one who said your sentence should be extended.”
“Apollo always was a sanctimonious bastard.” Axel grunted.
“And you always were a cold-blooded monster,” called a resonant voice.
Dion looked from Axel to the noble-faced newcomer with raised brows. “Isn’t this just a happy family reunion.”
Something told me that the sharp-jawed man before us was Apollo, and, judging by the way he was lifting his gold and silver sword, that this reunion was going to be anything but happy.
19
Apollo dug the tip of his sword into the center of Axel’s chest. “Let’s start with why you are here.”
Axel slapped away the blade with his arm. “I’m here to help with the attacks. And help these girls find out who and what they are.”
Apollo’s glare didn’t budge off Axel. He only lifted his blade again, digging it into the same spot on Axel’s chest as before. “Let’s try this again. Why are you really here?”
“You two,” Dion said in a petulant voice. “Can you not do this elsewhere? You’re ruining the party!”
Sure enough, all around us people were whispering and beginning to edge away.
The air crackled, and the very clouds themselves were going gray. I chewed my lip nervously. Inside me, my voice growled.
“Screw your parties,” Apollo said evenly, giving him the most cursory of glances. “When there is death afoot. Speaking of….”
When his gaze squared off on Axel, Axel let out a jabbed out laugh. “Really – such attacks as that, and you thought me responsible?”
“He didn’t,” Dion said quickly. “Not really.”
“He was there investigating, same as us,” I cut in.
Apollo eyed me. “And you are?”
“A shifter,” I said. “Although I didn’t know I was one until recently.”
Luckily Apollo didn’t seem interested in pressing just what type of shifter I was out of me, and returned his gaze to Axel.
“Come now,” Axel said. “Let’s not solve this the way we both know I’d win.”
With that, he stepped forward, the blade sinking into his flesh. As I goggled at the horrific scene, Axel’s only reaction was his upper lip twitching.
Apollo held his blade firm, sneering. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Things have changed since you’ve been gone. I’ve changed.”
“As have I,” Axel returned. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
Apollo only shook his head. “What you did…”
“Was unforgiveable... monstrous, even.” Axel bobbed his head. “Set off a chain reaction of carnage and loss. All this I can attest to. Just as I can attest that I have suffered for it. Suffered greatly.”
Apollo leaned in so that his navy eyes were boring into Axel’s. “Perhaps. But not enough.”
“Precisely,” Axel said quietly. “Carrying this burden for a thousand lifetimes won’t be enough to atone for what I did. And yet, this is all I know how to do now. Help how I can.”
A few tense moments, where man to man they stared each other down. Like two panthers about to pounce. Then, finally, Apollo released his sword and stood back.
As Axel’s skin sealed itself back together again, it seemed like my friends and I were the only ones gaping.
“Fine,” Apollo said. “I don’t trust you. Nor do I trust these newcomers you’ve brought. But Hera is insistent about keeping our people out of the mainland’s affairs, so the others and I need all the help we can get.”
With that, he turned on his heel and strode off.
“Everyone here is pretty up in themselves, aren’t they?” Kian whispered as we followed him.
From up ahead, Dion bust out laughing, before Axel elbowed him. “They’re not joking. They’re completely ignorant of just about everything – from the reggie world to ours. I suggest you leave them be.”
“And Axel is completely ignorant of just about everything when it comes to ma
nners,” I called back up to them.
For a moment, Dion and Apollo stopped, the latter unsheathing his sword.
My friends and I just blinked at them. “Uh….?”
Apollo’s battle-ready face faltered as he took Axel in. “You really have changed, haven’t you?”
“Why do you say that?” Demi asked.
Apollo regarded us grimly for a moment. Then, continuing on, he said, “Back in the day, if you insulted my brother, that would’ve cost you a limb – or worse.”
I swallowed. Oh. Yeah. Well yes. This was preferable.
I stole a glance at Axel, but just found him looking sad. Guess times really had changed.
Part of me wanted to comfort him, the way he’d comforted me when I’d been freaking out on the walk to Athena. But then he’d gone all Asshole Axel on me. Not to mention that based on how I got all buzzy when he was within a few feet of me… yeah, getting closer was definitely not a good idea.
As we walked through some peony fields, Axel whistled.
Next second, a black dog came galloping up. It was the same three-headed one I’d seen him petting earlier.
“Hey Cerebee,” he said in the nicest voice I’d heard him use since we’d met. “These are my friends.”
“Careful of the last head,” he warned us, “Bee is a grumpy bitch.”
Sure enough, as Demi patted the loll-tongued middle head, the last head growled, showing its razors of teeth.
“Ce just needs to get used to you,” he explained, as I joined in patting the middle head, and the last head strained away, whimpering.
“So only one head is vicious, lovely,” Kian said, keeping her hands to herself.
“Let me guess,” Dion said to her, sidling up beside us. “You’re a cat person?”
“I guess.” Kian smiled. “I was always Cog’s favorite.”
“Cog?” Dion’s brow was furrowed, his eyes lit up. “We have those.”
“Cats that bark? Doubt it.”
“You had a barking cat?” Axel fell back to join us.
“Yeah, he was a little weirdo,” I said, recalling him fondly.
“But you said there was no magic.”
“There wasn’t. At least, not that we knew of.”