Page 37 of Lovesick Gods

“Whoa! Watch out, man,” Joey said as he barreled down the stairs, nearly running into Danny.

Blinking back to awareness, Danny realized he was blocking the young man’s path. “Sorry.” He smiled and took a step back. “Long day.”

Joey hopped down from the landing, swinging around into the living room with one hand still on the banister. “Sure,” he said, typical stunted teenage response. He paused to look at Danny like he was expecting something from him, some action or further words, but like many times before, Danny’s tongue fumbled to say anything when he looked into the deep black of Joey’s eyes.

Dark leaning.Dark—just like Thanatos.

Like millions of other people, dozens of which Danny saw on the streets every day. But with Joey it was an awful reminder of the darkness in Thanatos that had made Danny discover the deepest darkness in himself. Joey was so stark in appearance; a skinny, fourteen-year-old kid, with pale skin, black hair, and even blacker eyes, like endless pits.

Thanatos’s eyes had been the only thing Danny could see clearly through his costume—all purple and black, a cowl covering his face like Danny’s, but with the eyes visible so everyone could see the way they turned from black irises to black all the way through to the whites when he used his powers.

Dark didn’t mean evil any more than Light meant good. After all, Camo was Light and it hadn’t prevented him from becoming a criminal. But Joey’s eyes still made Danny shudder as he remembered the way a similar pair had looked taunting him over the death of his mother, and then afterward…

“Uhh…what?” Joey asked, backing up into the living room.

Danny sucked in a breath as the present caught up to him. He was home and that night was six months in the past. “Nothing. Sorry. Just a long—”

“Long day. Right.” Joey rolled his eyes and pivoted on his heels to head into the kitchen. His white T-shirt had a yellow lightning bolt emblazoned on the back. Joey had acquired every piece of ‘not official but obviously meant to be’ Zeus paraphernalia he could get his hands on.

Once, when Danny had asked Joey how he could still like Zeus after everything—after he’d failed to save Joey’s mother, Danny’s mother, and so many others—the kid merely shrugged and said, “At least he tried.”

Danny chucked his bag against the back of the couch. His childhood home was a simple two-story farmhouse style with a wraparound porch. Built not long before Danny was born and well loved, the living room spread to his left as he stood in the entryway, sporting a fireplace and warm, earth-tone colored furniture. The staircase in front of him led to the second floor bedrooms.

There weren’t any paintings or expensive photographs on the walls like in Cho’s apartment. Every possible surface, including the mantel and various end tables, was covered with framed picture after picture of their family. Even a few included Joey. Most had Stella in them. And some were from long enough ago that it was just Danny and his parents.

One particular photograph from when Danny must have been only three years old—laughing as his parents huggedhim around the waist—was his favorite, positioned just off the landing of the staircase to his right.

His mother had been so beautiful…

“Danny?”

Head jolting forward, Danny saw Stella leaning out of the kitchen doorway. “Hey,” he said, realizing he hadn’t moved and starting to toe off his shoes. “Need help with dinner? I’ll be right there.”

Stella nodded, though a concerned expression flitted through her eyes. She let the door fall shut behind her, and the brief swing in and out revealed John and Joey already helping, being a family without Danny having to participate at all.

They didn’t need him, not as he was now. He had to get better. He had to find his way back to the Danny in those photographs who knew how to be happy without faking it. And the only way he knew how to do that was to focus all of the anger and resentment and wrongness in his life on someone who deserved to be targeted.

Pulling out his cell phone, Danny thumbed through his contacts until he found Cho’s number.Hey. You free this weekend?

Chapter10

“You’re so big!” Lucy exclaimed as she pressed both hands to Carla’s swollen belly. Their favorite day-waitress at Haven only had a couple months left before she popped.

“Just what every girl wants to hear,” Carla laughed, one hand occupied with the pot of coffee she’d been interrupted from offering Mal when Lucy squealed at the sight of her. Carla was Earth leaning, with brown eyes like Lucy, dark skin, and tightly coiled black hair that framed her face.

“Oh please, you’re pregnant,” Lucy said dismissively. “And gorgeous.” Her eyes widened and a fresh smile brightened her face at presumably feeling something beneath her palms. “Baby Mai’s rambunctious today.”

“She’s rambunctious every day.”

“Mai?” Mal questioned Lucy’s apparent insider knowledge.

“Carla’s been throwing around M names as far from Irish-sounding as possible,” Lucy said as she sat back. “Mai’s my favorite so far.”

Finished filling Mal’s coffee, Carla said, “Wouldn’t change Michael’s name for nothing,” concerning her ten-year-old son, “but this little girl’s gonna get a fresh start.”

Considering Carla’s ex wasSean Dunkirk, Mal understood the sentiment.

They ordered a late lunch and Lucy inquired after Carla’s current boyfriend

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