“What’s wrong?” His voice lilted, worry flooding him.
“He had a heart attack, Bri.” Brian could hear the faint beginnings of a sniffle in her voice.
“Is he...” Brian could barely bring himself to finish his sentence.
“He’s... okay. He’s in the hospital...”
“Which hospital?” Brian said as he started pacing around Athena’s living room, gathering his clothing.
“LAC + USC,” Tellulah said with a sigh.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said as he jumped into his pants.
“Text me when you get here, I’ll come down to meet you,” she said, shaking off the uncharacteristic sadness in her voice.
“Got it,” he said as he hung up, setting his phone down on the onyx coffee table in front of him. His mind raced with a hundred thoughts as he threw on his shirt, grabbing his phone and rushing out the door.
He was only more surprised when he exited the front door, to see nothing butwoodson all sides of him.
When had they gone to the mountains?
He slid his phone out, bringing up his maps to see if he could get a lead on his location, but there was barely a bar of service, and it did not look like any Uber or Lyft was nearby the nameless town that did not show up on the maps.
So Brian did the only thing he could think of. He set forth one foot at a time and traipsed down the hill, listening to the coos and caws of the birds and the sweet melody of the forest as he followed his cell phone-compass, hoping he would reach civilization and his family soon.
CHAPTER8
Athena glidedthrough the warm LA air with ease, relishing in the feel of the wind against her feathers. From above the city, the view made her feel for a moment as if she was queen. Memories of living on Olympus, of surveying the large colosseums as gladiators fought, mingled with the present day sight of large skyscrapers and arenas that were often packed with famous athletes and musicians.
She’d never truly felt the longing for the old days the way her father had. Many of the gods, including Hades himself, had taken up residence elsewhere when Olympus lost its sparkle, its zest it once held.
The times always changed. It was the blessing and the curse of the immortal. Though her father did not wish for things to change. He did not find the thrill of reinvention quite as alluring as Athena had.
Every decade, every city was a new opportunity, a chance to become whatever she wanted.
A model, a waitress, a kickboxing instructor, a socialite, a martial artist.
The only constant in Athena’s life was truly time itself, and those she called friends.
Though she knew many gods and supernatural beings, she only considered very few individuals her ‘friends’.
Calliope of course, her longest standing friend, and the estranged brothers Orion and Triton.
One of these days, Orion’s bound to find out...
It wasn’t as if Gods and creatures all looked otherwordly, at least on the surface. But many exuded a power, a sort of aura that trained individuals such as herself were keen to notice, and therefore, Athena did not have to search far and wide for her father. The moment she’d gotten close to the hotel, she couldfeelhis magnitude, that magnetic pull that he commanded whether he wanted to or not.
People were always drawn to Zeus. They gravitated toward him wherever he set foot.
Athena casually fluttered in through the window, resting her wings as she sidled to the floor.
She looked up instinctively, feeling the overwhelming presence of the man who somehow made her feel a myriad of emotion despite the fact she’d told herself she was better off without him.
His dark eyes met hers, and he held up some folded clothes. He kept her gaze as he cautiously, slowly set them down on the tile floor of the swanky penthouse kitchen.
“Take your time, sweetheart. I’ll be in the lounge when you are done. I suspect you still wear a large?”
Athena bristled her feathers, cooing as angrily as she could, though as an owl she did not sound as menacing as she would like.
