“Easy, wild man,” Viper said. “You're starting to sound like Re.”
Re stuck his tongue out at Viper.
“Why does that make me feel dirty when you do it?” Viper asked him.
Re licked his shiny lips. “Because I do it right.”
“Can we go now?” Pan asked. “My dad is waiting.”
“Sure, Pan,” I said and waved him inside. “Thank you for watching them,” I said to Sam.
“Hey, that's what you pay me for, remember?” Sam grinned. “No thanks necessary.”
“With these ruffy-ins?” I shot back. “Thanks are definitely necessary.” I waved and went inside with Pan and my husbands. I would have said goodbye to my kids but they were playing andthey knew we were leaving. They'd be fine.
We piled into the tracing chamber, clasped hands to form a god chain, and Pan set his free hand on the tracing wall—the one at the back of the room. Most tracing chambers weren't like this. You didn't have to touch anything beyond standing on the floor. But my chamber had originally been just the wall, and I'd kept it out of habit.
As soon as Pan touched the wall, we were pulled into the Aether and sent shooting into another God territory.
Chapter Seven
It had been years since I'd been to Hermes's territory, but from what I could recall, it hadn't changed much. At least not on first inspection. He, like Pan and a few other Greek gods, didn't live on Olympus but on a private island in the waters around Olympus. Most of the island was enclosed by a massive iron wall with a single gate. We traced outside of that wall, into a building that looked like the entrance to a subway station, and stepped out into a little parking lot before the gate where several cars were parked. With the size of our group, we had to take two of them. I went in the lead vehicle with Pan, Odin, and Re.
Pan started the car, drove up to the gate, and pressed a button on the console. “This is Pan. I have them. Let us in.”
The gates slid open without a sound, and we drove into a modern city of glass and steel skyscrapers that I had once dubbed Hermopolis. The last time I'd been there, I'd been anxious and angry, searching for my abducted daughter. I thought Hermes had taken her. I was wrong. Hermes had a child taken from him once too, and once you know that pain, it's nearly impossible to inflict it upon another. Because of that shared trauma, he had helped me look for Lesya. And because of that kindness, I had come to help him.
I remember those who have done me a good turn. Especially if it involves my children.
Pan drove down paved city streets that would have been right at home in any metropolitan city on Earth. Well, maybe in Europe because this city was spotless. Even the roads. It alsoappeared to be wired for electricity. I mention this because most god territories have light sources that you can't see. It's simply bright or dark, depending on the will of the territory's god. I preferred lamps to god light. I like to see where my light is coming from. It makes things feel more normal while a general illumination makes me feel as if I were in an alien world. Which I kinda was, but I didn't want to feel that way.
Anyway, back to Hermopolis. I liked that Hermes had opted for the same human style that I had. Granted, I was more of a country girl, but it was the human part that I responded well to. There were streetlamps lining the asphalt roads and at night, there would be lights seen in the buildings. We continued past many buildings on the way to the fortress in the center of the city. Yet another iron wall guarded it, but it opened as soon as we approached.
The fortress was more of a compound of buildings. The only one I had been in was the Art déco skyscraper styled after the Daily Star from the Superman comics. That building housed the Hermes Herald. But it wasn't where Pan took us. He parked before a mansion that stood to the left of the Herald—a structure more wood than steel.
“We've gone from Superman to Batman,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Pan asked me.
“Oh, the buildings.” I waved from the sprawling English manor before us, complete with gardens that doubtless continued behind it, to the towering Art déco skyscraper off to the right. “That's straight out of Superman and this is so Bruce Wayne.”
Pan blinked. Stared at his father's house. Cleared his throat. “Actually, I seem to remember him mentioning Wayne Manor when he redesigned this place in the nineties.”
I snorted. “I'm not surprised. Hermes likes superheroes,huh?”
“Yeah. He has a huge collection of comics.” Pan sighed and got out of the car, muttering, “But Batman has lost his suit.”
I got out of the car. “Is that the best comparison? Wouldn't it be more like he's lost his butler? The butler did everything for him. What was that guy's name?”
“Pennyworth!” Viper said as he came over to us with the others.
“Yeah, him.” I pointed at Viper.
“But all of his power came from his suit,” Pan argued as we headed for the front door of Wayne Manor.
I mean Hermes Manor. No, that sounds stupid. Hermanor? No, even worse. Messenger God Manor. There. I like that one.
The door opened before we reached it and an Angel appeared. Leave it to Hermes to have a winged butler. A woman, no less. And she was gorgeous, with long blonde hair, porcelain skin, and bright blue eyes. So very feminine that even the jeans and T-shirt she wore couldn't detract from her delicate looks.
