The Blood of Athens (13 page)

Students
groaned.

“
Would you
rather be dead?” Minnie asked under her breath.

“
Point,”
said Nick.

Lewis had been
sure to grab his backpack from the hotel room. He kept it tucked
under his chair while the police were around. It contained the
shampoo bottles of nectar, which he would split between a few of the
girls' purses before they got on the plane.

Peter, who had
been pacing at the back of the crowd, sat down on the couch next to
Penny.

“
Thank you,”
Penny said, “for getting my mom.”

“
It was a
good thing I did,” Peter said. “She was about ready to charge the
killer to rescue
you.”

They sat in
silence. What else could they say? Three people had died tonight.
Besides, what Peter really wanted to tell her, what Peter wanted to
tell all of The Pantheon, would have to wait. As soon as they got
back stateside, they needed to call a meeting. The Pantheon had to
know that they were all in danger, again.

“
In War.”

-Spartan
Epitaph

xv.

As
the battle between Zeus and Typhon raged,
the earth beneath their
feet trembled and thundered,
and the air crackled with
electricity.
Lord Zeus was winning.

But
then the monster snatched the sickle Zeus held
and sliced out the
sinews from every limb,
leaving Zeus unmoving on the mountain
side.
Then he hid the strings.

“
As a
matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent
enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to
task.”

-Diogenes

XV.

It was nearly
noon when June awoke.
June
Jacobs
was
the first thought that ran through her head. She had doodled it on
notebooks for years and now it was a reality. Well, it was a reality
once she got a chance to take her marriage certificate down to the
social security office. Close enough.

She rolled
over to look at Zach, the sterile white motel sheets tickling her
bare skin as she moved. Zach opened his electric blue eyes and smiled
at her. They had spent their week sleeping in and wandering around
the old city, a place so beautiful that General Sherman had spared it
from burning during the Civil War. The hanging Spanish moss and the
horse-drawn carriages set a perfect scene for newlywed bliss.

“
It’s
about time,” he said. “I’ve been trying not to move and wake
you.”

“
We’ve
slept half the day away,” she said.

Zach reached
across the bed and tucked her hair behind her ear. She scooted closer
and settled into his arms. “Your breath smells horrible,” she
whispered.

“
I love you,
too.”

June played
with the short beard that was already growing on his chin. “Maybe
you should just let it grow and, you know, trim it.”

“
I thought
you said people didn’t trust politicians with beards.”

June shrugged,
“Well, you’ve got four years of undergrad before you get to that
point.”

Zach laughed.
“I’m afraid it might grow into an untamable jungle if I let it
go.”

“
You would
look good with a beard.”

“
Then maybe
I’ll try it.” Zach arched his back and stretched. His stomach
grumbled. “We need to head back today.”

June nodded.
“Let’s make a deal,” she said. “You get up and brush your
teeth, then come back to bed for an hour. Afterward we’ll get lunch
at that adorable tearoom on the square and head home.”

“
Which
square?” Zach asked. “This whole city is a checkerboard of
picturesque squares.”

“
The one
with the griffin on the sign.”

“
Sounds like
a deal,” Zach said, climbing out of bed. He stopped at the bathroom
door. “Wait, did you say an hour?”

June smirked.

“
Then you’d
better come in here and brush your teeth, too,” Zach said with a
grin. He ducked into the bathroom and turned the shower on before
poking his head out the door. “Actually, you know what? You’d
better shower too.”

“
Zach!”

He walked to
the bed and scooped her up, dragging half of the bedding onto the
floor.

“
What are
you doing?”

“
Claiming
my wife.” He carried her into the bathroom and shut the door. They
would eventually have to return to the reality of school,
responsibility, and secret superpowers. Today was their honeymoon;
they could afford to let down their guard, if only for one afternoon.

Zach hadn't
been to a gas station since the death of his Thunderbird this summer;
the green Roadster that his father had bought him was electric. The
only real challenge had been finding a place to plug it in at the
hotel.

Still, breaks
were needed on the drive from Savannah to Miami to buy drinks and use
the restroom. Zach parked at the gas station next to a box truck with
an advertisement for bacon on one side, and June headed for the
bathroom. He bought a pair of energy drinks and paid at the counter.
He walked outside and pulled out his phone to check the time,
stopping at the curb to wait for a long white van to park next to his
car. At that moment, the screen lit up with a call. It had been on
silent all week.

“
Doc,”
Zach said, answering the phone with a smile. “Having a good spring
break?”

“
Having a
terrible spring break,” Jason snapped over the phone. “Where the
hell have you been? I've been calling you and June for days.”

“
Woah now,”
Zach said. “My phone’s been silent and June left her’s at home.
Something happen?”

“
The rest of
The Pantheon got off a plane in Miami and hour ago.”

“
Aren't they
supposed to be there until Saturday?”

“
Things
change. There was a serial killer in their hotel. Celene thinks it
was a Titan. It knew her name.”

Zach rubbed
his jaw. He was taking June's advice and growing a beard. He hadn't
shaved since the wedding-- which was only a few days ago-- but it
looked like two weeks' growth for a normal man. “Which name?”

“
The really
old one.”

Zach set the
canned drinks on the roof of his car. “Is everyone okay?”

“
Yeah,
they're all fine. Evan got the power back on in the hotel. We're
having a meeting in two hours, once everyone can get away from their
doting parents. Where are you? Are you even in town?”

“
I'm forty
minutes out. June and I are just coming back from Savannah. We
eloped.”

“
What?!? I'm
not touching that with a ten foot pole right now,” Jason grumbled.
“We've got a Titan looking for us and someone on the mortal side
here trying to blackmail me.”

“
What?”

“
You heard
me. Get in town and meet at Celene's at nine. I gotta go. Someone's
calling.”

“
Alright.
I'll see you soon, Doc.”

Zach hung up
the phone. June stepped out of the gas station, her red hair fanning
out behind her in the wind. She hadn't put it up in its high ponytail
for days. She looked genuinely relaxed as she smiled at him. Her
smile faltered. “What's wrong?”

“
We have a
meeting in two hours. Something bad went down in Greece and someone
here knows about us.”

Zach went
around to the driver's side of the car. As he passed by the box
truck, June saw someone step out and strike him on the back of the
head. Zach went straight down and June screamed. The man who had
attacked him just smiled. “Does that help? Screaming? Do people
want to get involved?” he asked her.

June tried to
focus on his face, but it was ever-shifting. His nose grew and shrank
and hooked and flattened. His eyes flashed between blue and black and
brown and green. There was no way that he was human.

“
Come on,
Hera,” the attacker said. “I haven't got all night. What is it,
two hours until your friends realize you're missing?”

June put her
fists up, but she glanced behind her. Could she make it back into the
store fast enough? Could she leave Zach, her husband, behind?

He
lunged. She swung her fist and struck him across the eye. His head
jerked back from the blow. She had never hit anyone like that before,
and June was surprised at how much it hurt. Her knuckles throbbed.
She hesitated. He lunged forward and grabbed her, pinning her to the
side of the green Roadster. With one hand pinching her nose and
covering her mouth and his body holding her still, he waited. She
struggled to breathe, watching the skin shift around the split skin
on his cheek. Her lungs ached and she tried to kick her feet, but he
held her down. The edges of her vision darkened and June Herald
Jacobs lost consciousness.

“
Have a
good breakfast men, for tonight we dine in Hades!'”

-King
Leonidas

xvi.

Patrocles
went into battle wearing the
distinctive armor of the great
Achilles.
In doing so he painted a target on
his very own back.

When
the body of his cousin was returned,
the hero Achilles was filled
with anger
and swore vengeance on Hector, who had slain him.
It
was his duty.

But
Odysseus, seeing the hero's rage,
went to him and advised Achilles
to wait.
So he granted his men a full day of rest
to prepare to
fight.

“
A good
decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.”

-Plato

XVI.

Peter Hadley
slid his key into his front door and entered the house. He dragged an
old, beat-up, gray piece of rolling luggage behind him. The bag
thunked as he dragged it up the carpeted stairs. He set it down in
the hall and turned to look into the living room. His father was
asleep in the arm chair, drops of beer clinging to his wild beard.
Peter set his keys on the table. His father started up.

“
What? Why
are you home? It’s not Saturday.”

“
We came
home early,” Peter said.

“
I paid for
a week.”

“
You didn’t
pay for anything, remember?” Peter went into the kitchen and got a
glass of water. He leaned on the door frame and watched his father
rub his eyes and search the chair for the remote to the TV.

Was he going
to ask why they came home early? Didn’t the school call him? Peter
sipped his water and waited for his father to ask questions. No
questions came.

“
Why aren’t
you at work?” Peter asked.

His father’s
face darkened. “Son-of-a-bitch would rather hire illegals than pay
me an honest wage.”

“
You lost
your job?”

“
They say we
should build a fence. Well the fence won’t stop ‘em from coming
on rafts, will it?”

Peter sat down
on the couch. He didn’t think that immigration had anything to do
with his father’s firing. More like inebriation.

“
But it’s
okay. You have a job,” his father said.

Peter set down
his glass of water. “I’m seventeen.”

“
And? A job
is a job. I was feeding myself when I was your age.”

“
I have
school. I don’t work full time.”

Peter watched
his father’s fist tighten and swallowed. Surely he remembered the
tape? He wouldn’t dare hit Peter now.

“
You’ll
need to sober up and look for another job,” Peter said. “I can’t
pay the rent.”

“
You
ungrateful little asshole.”

“
I make
minimum wage.”

“
Then ask
for a raise.”

“
You’re
supposed to be the adult in this house!”

Mr. Hadley
took a swing. He was too drunk and missed, hitting the wooden frame
on the couch. He cursed and took another swing, but Peter had ducked
under his arm. Peter turned invisible, slipping away while his father
shouted and stomped around. He made it out the front door and closed
it behind him just in time for his phone to ring.