“Oh, fuck me,” I whispered. “This is not good.”
Chapter Seven
When I joined Thor in Bilskinir's dining hall, I found him talking to Morpheus. Morph was the God Squad's newest member. We'd had a rocky start, but he turned out to be a damn good guy. He was a god of dreams in the Greek Pantheon, and even though he'd joined us, his brothers and his parents are still our enemies.
Morpheus and his family had been killing humans in their dreams because Zeus, head of the Greek Pantheon, controlled Ambrosia—the Greek immortality food, and would only distribute it to gods who obeyed him. Morpheus and his family didn't want to be slaves to Zeus, so they found another way to get their immortality. I found out about it after Morpheus mistook me for a regular human and attacked me in a dream. I convinced Morpheus to stop killing and join us, but now, I had to do something about Zeus. Morpheus needed Ambrosia, and the other Greek gods needed to be freed from Zeus' control.
Unfortunately, with Hades drunk half the time and comatose the other half, we couldn't gather enough support with the Greeks to rally them against Zeus. Morpheus had been working with Pan to change that, but they simply didn't have the influence that Hades did.
I figured that Morpheus was here to talk to us about going at Zeus from another angle. I was wrong.
“Hey, V,” Morpheus said in a tired tone. “How's it fanging?”
“How's it what?” I scrunched my face at him.
“You know; fanging, instead of hanging,” he explained. “I thought it would be funny because of the whole vampire thing. Never mind; I'm tired. Sorry.”
“What's going on, Morph?” I asked.
“Hades is neglecting his duties,” Morpheus said.
“Tell me something I don't know,” I said as I accepted a cup of coffee from Thor.
“Zeus is taking advantage of it.” Morpheus clenched his jaw before continuing. “He's calling for a vote from the Twelve Olympians to have Hades cast out of the Underworld.”
“He can't do that,” I huffed. “Hades built that place; his magic is entwined with the territory.”
“It's a collective territory, and Zeus has always wanted to expand his control to Hades,” Morpheus said. “Hades, as in the Underworld, not the man.”
“Yes; we're following,” Thor said gently. “Why don't you sit down, Morpheus?”
“Uh, thanks.” Morpheus fell into a chair and slumped. “I don't know what to do; Hades doesn't even care. He won't listen to me.”
“We were intending on going there today anyway,” Thor said. “We'll talk to him.”
“Thank you,” Morpheus said in relief. “If Zeus gets control of the Underworld, we're all fucked.”
“He won't,” I promised. “Zeus is meant to fall.”
I blinked and looked away from Morpheus' surprised face. Why had I said that?
“I like your confidence, V,” Morpheus said. “But Zeus has most of Olympus under his thumb. It would take a miracle to take him down.”
“Hey, guys!” Ull said merrily as he walked into the dining hall. “Look who's with me.”
Odin walked in after Ull, and I stared at him in shock; he rarely came to Bilskinir. Odin had once been on the opposite side of the God War from Thor and me, but he had given up his position as a wedding present to us and had been trying to repair his family ties. Vali and Vidar, Thor's brothers, had returned to Valaskjalf at Odin's request but things were still awkward among them. Ull, Thor's son by his ex-wife, had been trying to get everyone past that awkwardness.
Seeing Odin when those visions were still fresh in my mind was disturbing. I found myself superimposing images of the old him over the new one, and it was hard to look at my father-in-law without blushing. This was so fucked up. Should I tell Thor? Should I tell Odin? Should I just keep my damn mouth shut? I met Odin's gaze and realized that I didn't have to tell him; Odin already knew. I had a feeling that he'd known for some time.
Past interactions I'd had with Odin replayed in my head; the time he'd given me tarot cards for Yule—cards which had belonged to Sabine, the way he'd stare at me, the way he said my name strangely. As I looked at him now, Odin's single eye widened, and his lips parted. He knew that I knew. Great.
I shifted my gaze to Ull and froze. Ull's eyes suddenly drew me closer, and the next thing I knew, I was hugging him tightly.
“Uh, okay.” Ull laughed as he hugged me back. “It's good to see you too, Mom.”
“Mom?” I blinked as I leaned away from him.
Ull frowned and looked at Thor for help. “Why is Mom acting weird?”
