Page 46 of Dark Gods
The ruins disappeared, leaving behind the fractured pieces of what had once been the grid. Kore was lying on her back, groaning in some half-conscious state, and the only vines left were the ones rooted in the floor. I gathered her into my arms and her eyes fluttered. They were her usual green, not the hellfire of before, and I couldn’t believe I was actually relieved to see them.
“You drugged me,” she accused, her voice slurred.
“And you tried to strangle me. So the little spats between lovers go.”
Her head lolled to one side and I readjusted her in my arms to carry her out of the training room. I realized when I saw the vine wrapped around the door why we’d gone uninterrupted. I burned the enchanted vine away, realizing there was more to it than its physical form. I very much doubted even she knew the full extent of that aspect of her power, let alone whatever it was that had surfaced today.
It looked like the goddess of spring had a bit of duality to her, after all.
As soon as the door released, Thor flung the door open and I saw the throng of people gathered behind him.
“What the hell was that?” he growled, looking down at the sleeping girl in my arms. “What happened to her?”
“If you can tell me, please do,” I said dryly as he took her from my arms.
“Is she alright?” Dionysus asked, pressing through the crowd. The worry in his gaze confirmed my suspicion that he was more than just a concerned bystander, but I’d deal with him later. My body was covered in cuts, most of them relatively shallow, but I needed a shower in the worst way.
“Alright, clear out,” Thor growled. The onlookers gathered around him parted to make a clear path through the hall. “I need to get her to the infirmary.”
I watched as they left and raised a circle of flame around where Dionysus was standing. He started to step over it, but when the flame singed the hem of his pants, he yanked his foot back and turned to face me. His eyes narrowed when he saw me, but he was far too reserved to speak out of turn.
“We need to talk,” I informed him. “In private.”
23
Kore
When I finally opened my eyes, I was back in the infirmary room that was becoming so familiar. My head felt like someone had pieced it back together after a particularly nasty fall off a high wall, and whatever they had in my IV, I could barely move my limbs. This time, at least nothing felt broken.
“She lives.”
I turned toward the unfamiliar voice, finding myself staring at a tall, lean man in a bold white suit. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses and his eyes were a pale blue. A striking shade, yes, but not the same wall-to-wall color of a Stone. He had curly golden hair and an impish look about him. Even though his features were those of a man in his thirties, that gleam in his eyes gave him a boyish air.
“Who are you?”
“Hermes Trismegistus, at your service,” he said, flipping a card up in his palm. I was learning to be wary of men who fancied sleight of hand, but when I took the card and turned it over, the golden wings surrounding the name he’d given and a phone number warned me that he wasn’t at all joking.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, wincing. “Sorry. Whatever they gave me dislodged my filter.”
He chuckled his amusement, sitting down in a chair next to the bed. “I’ve been called many things, but ‘stuffy’ was never one of them.”
“Forgive me if this should be obvious, but my mind’s a little foggy,” I said, looking around. “Whyareyou here, exactly?”
“You had quite an ordeal in the training room, from what I’ve heard,” he mused. “Fortunately young Hades stepped in.”
“So fortunate,” I mumbled.
“The truth is, I’m here because of you,” said Hermes. “My position within the Council of Gods is as something of an intermediary.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, thinking it had something to do with the fact that my head was still aching. “What does the Council want with me?”
“Oh, we’ve been watching you for quite some time,” he mused. “As a matter of fact, I was the one who suggested that your mother enroll you in the Academy in the first place.”
“You were?” I asked, even more confused now than when I’d first woken up. “Why?”
“Because you require training if you’re going to fulfill your purpose in this world,” he answered, his eyes lit up with mischief and schemes. “And before you ask, no, I can’t tell you what that is just yet, but all in good time. After today’s events, I came to make sure you were alright. The Council has a very vested interest in you.”
“Because of who my father is?” I asked carefully, afraid to tell him anything he didn’t already know. It just seemed unlikely that even Odin knew anything the Council didn’t.
