“Quiet, Messenger!” Enid screamed. “Quiet before I cut out your tongue, you stupid fool!”
“Enough!” Zeus bellowed. “You’re giving me a headache.”
The murmuring that rippled through the crowd was aggressive and pointed mostly at me. No matter whose side they’d been on during the battle, it seemed the majority of their animosity was pointed towards me.
“Let’s vote,” one of the gods I couldn’t remember suggested. “In favor of not having my remains chained to the bottom of the ocean, I vote we hand the Siren over to the Fates.”
That suggestion met a round of applause from the rest of the crowd.
This was a witch hunt. Unfortunately I was the witch.
“You just saved most of their lives,” Ryder growled next to me. “I think you should chain themallto the bottom of the ocean. What a bunch of assholes.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “They’re more concerned with their own lives than the good I did for them. I have an idea though.”
Ryder’s amused look made me laugh.
“It’s a good idea,” I whispered. “I promise.”
“So it’s settled,” Isadora called out. “We’ll take the girl.”
“Yes,” Hera declared.
“Wait!” Zeus growled. “There has to be another way that will satisfy you.”
“It’s not like we can drop her off on an island and feed her sailors, Zeus!” Hera whined. “Times have changed. This is the simplest solution.”
“And how do you know that we can trust the Fates with her?” Zeus asked.
Before anyone else could say another stupid thing, I spoke up. “You can’t.”
Every head in the room swiveled toward me. The rustling of robes seemed to scream through the tight tension.
“What was that?” Hera screeched.
I cleared my throat and tried again. “You can’t trust the Fates. They want exactly what Nix wanted. And what Hades wanted.” I cocked my head for dramatic effect. “And… what Ares wanted. They want to use me to take Olympus. And probably… eventually the world. You can’t trust them, just like you can’t trust me.”
Zeus narrowed his eyes at me. “We can’t trust you?”
“Not at all. I’m feeling very bloodthirsty after all of these deaths. It’s probably only a matter of days, er, hours before I need to kill again.” I leaned in with a stage-whispered, “I’m a monster. Or hadn’t you heard yet?”
The room exploded with accusations and suggestions, most of which ended with my head detaching from my body or my body being locked away in the Fate’s cave.
Thanks, but no thanks.
“Quiet!” Zeus hollered. When at last it died down, he looked to me with more patience than I knew he felt and said, “Then what is your solution, Siren. Since you’re so willing to fess up to your impending crimes, why don’t you tell us what you think we should do?”
I took a deep breath and said, “I think you should strip me of my powers.”
Unlike before when I incited a riot with my words, this latest confession met complete, stone-cold silence. I think I shocked an entire Pantheon of gods, which was quite a feat.
Zeus spoke first, “You want me to strip your powers?”
“All of them. Don’t stop until I’m mortal and completely human.”
“Do you understand what you’re asking?” He didn’t seem convinced. For as wise as Zeus was, it was incomprehensible to him that someone wouldn’t want to be all-powerful. Actually, by the silence of the room, it was incomprehensible to all of them.
“I do,” I answered honestly. “You told me before that you couldn’t forcefully strip the Sirens of the past because they would have put you under their control. Well, I’m not going to do that. I don’t want anything to do with these powers or what they’re capable of. I had my taste and I can truthfully say, it was more than enough. Take them from me. Destroy them. Strip me completely of anything supernatural and Greek. I just want to be normal. I just want to have a normal life away from all of this. And it’s a win for you. If you take my powers, then you have nothing to worry about. You can restore order and none of you has to worry about me taking your heads while you sleep.”
