Rifts (12 page)

As the population of Hunters grew - and more of them decided to make Olympus their permanent home - structures had crept closer to his sanctuary. I can't imagine that he was happy about it. On the other hand, these people could port wherever they wanted. Maybe he just had an inkling of the growth and set the boundary. Who was I to try and figure out his motives?

Soon I was passing fields lush with vegetation. Olive groves, grape vines, fruits and vegetables marched in tidy rows as far as the eye could see. If the world ended and Olympus was all that survived, the people here could live forever on the bounty of this land. It gave me a sense of peace and longevity simply looking at what my family had created.

Maybe it was time for me to give up my hold on my former reality and raise Dylan here in this paradise. We could build a small house with a kitchen garden and be close to the people that I loved.

It was a wonderful fantasy. One that I'd consider if I survived this whole ordeal with Hope. Frankly, I didn't think that this was going to have a fairy tale ending. One of us was going to die. Getting my life in order was probably a good idea, I thought despondently.

"Mom?"

"Dylan? What are you doing here?" I leaned against a pillar, only a little out of breath. I'd been more active today than usual and my body was starting to feel the lure of a nice nap.

"Heph is teaching me metalworking."

"Oh Christ, you haven't developed fire powers too, have you?"

He looked a little sheepish and not at all pleased to have me here 'criticizing' him.

"No. I was making sculptures out of ice and ‘Thena thought I should make better use of my hands. She wants me to apprentice with Heph in making gadgets for her."

"Really?"

"Okay, maybe they weren't sculptures," he admitted sulkily.

"What were you doing with these ‘maybe not sculptures?’" There it was – the Mom Voice. I’d been wondering where it had gone these last few weeks.

"I may have been hurtling them at Scott."

"Did Scott provoke this attack?"

"Kiiiinda?"

My face lost all emotion and I stared him down. He began to fidget under my scrutiny. His shoulders developed an itch, hair needed to be pushed around and a spot behind my feet had suddenly become fascinating.

"Dylan Thomas Murphy - if you don't spill it
right now
, your apprenticeship with Hephaestus is going to seem like Paradise. Do you understand me?"

The air rushed out of his body with defeat. "Alton said I couldn't hit Scott when he was running through the bubble field at full speed with my ice darts."

I had to agree with Alton, Scott was pretty damned fast.

"Well, did you hit him?"

He grimaced. "Yeahhh. I'm sorry Mom. I know it was stupid and someone could have gotten hurt."

Ohhhh. Squashing down motherly pride while in the middle of a serious lecture was HARD. I pushed it down for another time when I could whoop and cheer over a good deed instead of a dumbass one and continued on my tirade. I couldn't believe he'd actually nailed Scott. Not that Scott had deserved it, but the kid was
fast
. He was Mercury's son for cripes sakes. I mean, quadruple how fast you imagine the Flash is and you've got this family of speedsters.

"If I ever hear of you endangering another person's life again in a stupid stunt, you're grounded. And I don't mean no video games or tv. I mean I will put your ass
in the ground
and let the ants eat your brains."

I hoped that I had sounded vicious. My face was a mask of anger. I knew because I practiced the look in the mirror for times like this.

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good."

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Would you really let ants eat my brains?" The question was filled with trepidation.

It took all of the strength I had to look him square in the eye and reply, "Try me. All life is precious."

"Yes, ma'am," was the dejected response.

"Zeus sent me here to talk to Heph. Go back and tell ‘Thena that you will need something else to keep you busy for a couple of hours. I'll ask Heph to schedule you in."

He nodded and started walking away, head low. "Hey kid?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I love you."

There was the smile that I lived for. His step picked up a little and he called over his shoulder, "Love you too."

I shook my head and headed into Heph's compound. The area was comprised of living quarters and his famous forge. It was hard to tell where one started and the other area ended. It was all encompassed by the same sultry heat.

My body broke out into a sweat within five seconds. I had to coil my hair up to keep it off of my neck. Ugh, how could he stand it in here? Three steps into the forge a gravelly voice broke into my thoughts.

"Intentions?"

"Generally good. Nice place you have here."

"Nay, what is it you want with me?"

"Oh, Zeus sent me."

My eyes squinted as I peered into the darkness, looking for the carrier of the voice. He was in a corner further into the stifling room. If I didn't know better, I'd think that Zeus was punishing me for something.
Fuck
, it was hot in here. Like, Florida in July hot. My light clothes were sticking to me in uncomfortable places and I battled the urge to pull my pants out of the crack of my ass.

"Jesus, how do you stand it in here?"

"It's just the way I like it," the voice responded. "Comfortable…and it keeps people out."

"Hermit much?"

"You're welcome to leave."

"And have Zeus kick my ass? No thanks. I'm here for fire training."

"Ahh, you must be the wunderkind, Grace Murphy."

"Or something like that, yeah."

"Are you, or are you not Grace Murphy?" His voice took on a warning tone that immediately made my shoulders straighten.

"Yes, sir."

"Was that hard?"

"Possibly."

"I see that we're going to have our work cut out for us. I'm not going to be your best friend like Athena, or some kind of fatherly figure like Zeus. If you want to survive your training with me, you need to be obedient and on the ball. Or, you will simply die."

Whoah. What the hell was Zeus thinking when he sent me here? Surely there were other fire masters I could train with.

"I'm also not going to play house with you like the boy you wrapped around your finger."

Calm, Grace. Be calm. Letting my temper get the best of me with this man probably wouldn't serve me well, and it was telling that he'd hit upon my twitchy spots right away. There were no secrets in Olympus. That or I'd mucked the hell out of things and went Drama Queen. It was most likely the latter.

Why do I even bother trying to warn my mouth against what it was about to say? My mouth didn't listen to my brain. Ever. "Unfortunate. I hear that being wrapped around my finger is simply delightful."

A low growl sent shivers up my spine. Oops.

"Message received. Is there anything we can do about the heat in here? I feel like I'm suffocating." Had the temperature increased since I'd stepped in the door?

"First lesson – you increase your body temp to make this comfortable. Once you've done that, we'll continue forward."

The darkened shape turned its hulking back to me and continued what he’d been working on before. Had I just been dismissed? Really? I'd hiked all the way across the city for this? C'mooooooon!

"So that's it? I have to learn how to raise my body temperature and then you'll teach me? You're not going to…I don't know…teach me how to accomplish this?"

"Self soothe, Grace. I believe in it. Also, while you're here, you are not in charge of your son. If Athena sends him to me to apprentice, he comes to me to apprentice. If you send him away again, I'll take it out on your ass and you'll not like it."

"Whoah, buddy. Wherever my son is, I'm in charge until he reaches his majority. You remember that and I won't take it out on
YOUR
ass."

The heat in the room increased to a screaming hot temperature. Waves of it were rolling off my skin, which had started steaming. My forearms were starting to resemble a boiled lobster. I bit my lip to keep from crying out at the sudden pain.

"Until you learn to use your power, I don't see how that's possible."

And with that, I was dismissed.

Well, that was an auspicious start to our relationship. Yay me! Making frenemies everywhere I turned.

"Is there a book I could read on how to do this?" I called out.

The response I got was a barking laugh. I guessed not and left the building. Was it my mouth? Probably. I had a tendency to rub people the wrong way right off the bat. They either accepted it or they didn't. I fought hard to obtain this personality. I wasn't changing it now.

The hot walk back to my quarters was interrupted by the chirp of my cell phone. Whaaaat?! I got cell reception here? It said a lot that the phone had even made its way into my pocket in the first place. Old habits die hard, and whatnot. Since buying Dylan his first cell phone at the age of nine, mine hadn't left my sight.

A quick glance at the screen popped everything into clear focus. Of course. If anyone was going to catch me in the one spot on Earth that should have left me un-findable, it would be Marisol.

I suspected my determined agent would dog me into the bowels of Hell, if necessary.

"Hello gorgeous!" My chipper voice broke through the silence of my surroundings as I answered the phone.

"Grace?" her voice sounded uncertain. Aha! I threw her off with cheer. Normally she expected me warily answer the phone…or dodge the call entirely.

I would have to remember this for future reference. "The last time I checked in the mirror, it was. What's up?"

"I did it. I sold that book."

"Shut the fuck up! Are you serious?"

For the first time in the history of my writing career, I'd finished a book within a month - and it hadn't been a romance. Part of my acceptance of what had happened to me last year was writing it down. By the time I'd finished, I'd realized that I'd had a decent story on paper.

Changing the names had been easy. Convincing my agent that this was a potential new series? Not so much.