“Anthony! You can’t just avoid the issue. Someone is after you. You need to survive thischallenge!”
“I know. I guess I never examined why I can’t access my powers. I’m nervous,” heconfessed.
“Aboutwhat?”
“If I can turn someone to ash with my lightning, what could I do with the magic of a god?” He threw his hands in theair.
Zeus gripped Anthony’s shoulder. “I would never have given you the power if I thought you couldn’t handle it. Of all of my mortal descendants, you were the only one I found worthy. That doesn’t mean my children haven’t graced theirs with abilities above other mortals, but you were the first one I knew would be able to handle the responsibility with the proper respect it deserves. I’ve seen the people you turned to ash, and they had all deserved their fate. I told you when you accepted your power that there was no going back. Just as with your wolf, you are committed. Now I expect less whining and more working.Understand?”
“Yes, grandfather.” Anthony bowed his head. The disappointment in Zeus’s voice twisted him upinside.
“Good. Now go and get somepractice.”
“I’ll do it after my meeting withOliver.”
Zeus nodded his approval. “Make sure to take those uppity wizards down a peg. They are becoming too confident of theirsuperiority.”
“I’ll be sure to do that.” He bit his lip to stop from commenting on Zeus’s belief in his superiority. He knew the god would just affirm he was better. It never paid to argue with agod.
“Work on your powers. They are more important than any pettyjob.”
“Yes,grandfather.”
With a final nod, Zeus vanished as quietly as he hadappeared.
Deciding to push his god training to the side for now, Anthony had his own paperwork todo.
Two hours later,Oliver arrived and joined them in Silver’s office. His red hair had the look of fingers having been run through it, and his usual dimpled smile showed no signs ofappearing.
“Bad news then?” Anthony asked after the standard greetings were out of theway.
Oliver pulled a packet of papers out of the leather satchel draped over his right shoulder. “I found the money trail. On the plus side, it appears that Quain was the only shifter they hadcaptive.”
“And the bad news?” Anthony could tell from Oliver’s expression that more wascoming.
“I uncovered plans to kidnap several other shifters with enhanced abilities,” Oliversaid.
“Explain,” Silverdemanded.
“And sit.” Anthony waved to the chair in front of the desk while he perched on a clear corner that Silver kept empty forhim.
“The Ilves are only one family of seers. There are others that have magical abilities. Whether it is because they are descendants of a god or mixed with other paranormal creatures, I don’tknow.”
“Like whom?” Silverasked.
“There is a family of mountain lions in Colorado that can make it snow. I found a group of coyotes who can turn invisible and several others with minor powers. I think the wizards are going to breed these shifters with wizards to create powerfuloffspring.”
Anthony rubbed his churning stomach. “That’s disgusting. That’s almost worse than themutants.”
“What are they going to do once they have all these super babies?” Silverasked.
“Well, they are going to do what most psychotically driven people do. They are going to try to take control of the world,” Oliver said with no trace of amusement on hisface.
“Then we’ll have to be the classic heroes and stop them,” Anthonyreplied.
“Yes, we will,” Silveragreed.
“We’ll have to be careful. If it is a large-scale organization, we’ll have to cover our tracks. I advise that we crush the local wizards who kidnapped the seer. While they are protesting our actions, we sneak in and take out their other operations,” Oliversaid.
