Servants to the Pantheon worked hard to clean up the blood that ran like a river through the streets. There were dead bodies everywhere and the stench of it made me want to gag.
A huge funeral pyre had been made off to the side. The dead were collected and delivered unceremoniously onto the pile. The fire roared so loudly I couldn’t hear anything above the sound of it, not even my own thoughts.
I kept my eyes locked on the columns, anxious to get inside the untouched building.
Hermes seemed just as determined. We walked quickly through the chaos and ran up the long sets of stairs.
Inside the temple, the remaining Greeks were gathered around Zeus and Hera. Their robes had been switched to black, a sign of mourning.
They lifted their heads to find us walking toward them with a mixture of relief and animosity. Most of the gods had survived the battle. There were a few noticeably absent that I had watched die and a few more that could be dead or just not here. I didn’t know enough about them to make that call.
“Poseidon is dead?” Hera asked in her usual demanding tone.
I tried not to look cocky when I answered, “Yes.”
“How?”
“Chained to the bottom of the sea as requested.”
Hera lifted her articulate eyebrow. “What do you meanas requested?”
The Fates appeared just then. They popped into view parallel to Ryder and me, but they left several yards between us. My mother lay unconscious at their feet.
“Our part of the deal,” Isadora explained coldly.
I wanted to run to Ava. I wanted to pick up her frail body in my arms and hold her to me until she forgot any of this happened. Ryder’s hand on my wrist kept me from moving.
“You had something to do with this?” Hera asked the Fates.
Isadora lifted her chin haughtily. “My dear, we had everything to do with this.”
I choked on my outrage and took long strides to stand before them. “If you mean you stirred the pot to begin with, then sure, take the credit. But you had nothing to do with Poseidon’s death. That was me. That wasallme.”
“She’s says it so proudly,” Enid sneered. “She brags about the death of your brother, my queen. Something needs to be done. She cannot be allowed to roam this world freely. She’ll kill you all before she’s finished. She’ll take down Olympus one god at a time until the throne is hers alone.”
Hera stood up from her powerful seat and put a hand to her throat. “You’ve seen it?”
In her creepy child-like voice, Veda said, “We see all.”
Hera turned to her husband, “Zeus, we have to do something. She is responsible for the death of two of your brothers and the musician killed two more. You cannot let this behavior go unpunished.”
“I told you, wife, I would banish them from the mountain.” His voice was hard and unrelenting. His starling eyes met mine across the distance and held something I couldn’t decipher.
“Not good enough!” Hera screamed.
Echoes of agreement shouted through the Parthenon, filling the open space with anger and resentment. They hated me. All of them.
Lucky for me, the feeling was more than mutual.
“She’s a child,” Zeus argued. “What would you have me do?”
Isadora waited until the room fell silent before suggesting sagely, “Give her to us. We are strong enough to keep her from harming anyone else. She would be safe with us.”
Hera looked at the three witches thoughtfully. “They could keep her safe. They could keep us appraised of her power, of her comings and goings. It’s wise, my husband. We should think on this.”
Zeus looked at Hera like she was out of her damn mind and I tried not to smile.
Hermes stepped forward and threw his hands out. “Do you not see what they’re doing? They wish to control everything. They wish to turn Olympus-”
