“Odin,” Hermes said. He blinked, then growled, “Someone stole my snakes!”
Chapter Four
I snorted tea out of my nose.
“I'm sorry.” Odin cleared his throat. “Did you just say someone stole yoursnakes?”
“Oh, this night just keeps getting better,” Re said as he sat down beside me. He looked to his left and said, “Hello, Horus.”
“Hello.” Horus grimaced at his great-great-whatever-grandfather. He glanced at his wife, Hekate (who happened to be wearing a snake necklace to go with her goth ensemble), and drawled, “Please, don't make jokes about Hermes's snakes.”
Meanwhile, I recovered enough to ask, “What snakes?”
“My snakes!” Hermes repeated and made a very obscene gesture with his hand, moving it up and down. “You know—the snakey thingy.”
“What is happening right now?” I whispered, my tea forgotten.
“I don't know, but I'm here for it,” Viper said. He grabbed a tea cake and popped it into his mouth, his stare locked on Hermes.
“Sorry, he's a little distraught,” Pan said.
Then Odin shocked everyone by saying, “Oh, fuck.”
We all looked at him, jaws dropping. Not that Odin didn't swear, but we all tried to be more creative in our cursing becauseof the children, and it had become such a habit that we did it even when they weren't around. And Odin hadn't been a man to drop a lot of F-bomb even before the children. It was completely unlike him to drop one now, just randomly. It was also unsettling.
“It's the Caduceus, isn't it?” Odin asked Hermes, ignoring the rest of us. “Someone took it?”
“Yes!” Hermes pointed at Odin. “That's what it's called. Son of a bitch! I've been trying to remember that name for hours.” He grimaced at his son. “You've been no help.”
“I'm Pan.” Pan waved at himself. “You can't talk to me about your snakes and expect me to think anything but naughty thoughts.”
“As opposed to happy thoughts,” I said.
“Naughty thoughts are always happy thoughts.” Pan winked at me.
“Caduceus!” Hermes roared. “I need it back.”
We all went silent.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Pan asked. “How did you forget the name of your most prized possession?”
“I don't know!” Hermes shouted.
“The staff is the source of his power,” Odin said. “It gave him speed andwisdom.”
“Are you saying my dad is now a moron?” Pan asked.
“Do I fucking sound like a moron, you little moron?” Hermes snarled.
“No, he's not a moron.” Odin set a hand on Hermes's chest to hold him back. “You're not a moron. You just don't have the wisdom of the Caduceus. And you probably grew reliant on itwithout realizing what you were doing. Also, I'm assuming that because your advanced intellect stemmed from the staff, its name was likely the first to leave you.”
“Fuck,” Hermes huffed and sat down at the table. “I need that staff. My brain feels fuzzy.” He looked over at me. “How do you live like this, Vervain?”
“What the fruit loops does that mean?” I growled. “At least I don't need a snake stick to think.”
Before Hermes could start arguing with me, Odin jumped in. “The Caduceus is a winged staff wreathed in serpents. And we're missing the bigger picture here.”
“The trickster,” Torrent said.
