My legs were almost vibrating with pent-up energy, my vision now completely red.
The giant lifted his sword.
A flash of green light filled the room, and I saw a new figure directly in front of me, small and... furry. Shock rocked through me as I blinked, and the giant gave a bark of anger.
“Zeeva?” I stammered.
My cat was sitting between me and the giant.
My short-haired, uptight, tuna-eating Siamese cat. Just sitting there, like it was totally normal.
“What in the name of sweet fuck is going on?” I breathed, blinking hard.
The man I was secretly in love with being murdered by an armored giant was something my violence-addled brain could react to. But my fucking cat appearing out of thin air at the scene of the crime?
Nope. Too much.
My fists dropped to my sides in bewilderment as Zeeva turned to me, her amber eyes as disdainful and aloof as they always were.
“Bella, you are a fool,” a cool woman’s voice sounded in my head. “Next time you are faced with fighting a god, run.”
I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.
I’d lost it. I’d actually lost it. Maybe none of this was happening, and Joshua was fine. Maybe he’d visit me in the lunatic asylum.
Maybe not.
Zeeva began glowing turquoise, and my jaw hung even lower as she began to grow, not stopping until she was the size of a freaking lion. But her head was still that of a Siamese cat, her pointed ears and almond shaped eyes just larger.
“Ares, you may not just take her power from her by killing her. You must earn it.”
The woman’s voice issued from the cat loudly, and I felt my knees wobble.
“You do not understand the seriousness of the situation!” barked Ares.
“I understand perfectly. Hera has informed me. Zeus attacked you and you lost your power. But you may not take Enyo’s without first earning it.”
I felt my mouth opening and closing like a freaking goldfish as I stared between them.
The giant glared at my huge cat, fury in his eyes, then slammed his sword back into its sheath.
“Fine. We go to Olympus then,” he snapped, and the world flashed white around me.
When the light cleared from my eyes for the second time in five minutes, I was absolutely positive I had gone mad.
I was standing on a white marble floor, and instead of walls either side of me, there were giant flames. And they weren’t orange, like normal fire, they were multi-colored – purple and green and red, dancing together mesmerizingly. A cough drew my attention, and my dumbstruck gaze shifted to what was in front of me.
Thrones. Two thrones, with people sitting on them. Well, one person. A beautiful young woman with white hair, a green dress, and a crown made of roses with gold thorns. The other throne, the one apparently made out of freaking skulls, was occupied by a figure made completely of smoke.
“Ares, what have you done now?” a hissing male voice asked, coming from the smoke person.
“How did you flash without your power?” added the woman, then gave me a small smile as she ran her eyes over me. “Don’t panic, it’s all real, and you’ll get used to it,” she said quickly to me.
I opened my mouth wider to answer, but nothing but a small squeak came out. I closed it again. The red mist had abandoned me for the first time in my life and my brain had just frozen, along with my body. Whatever was happening simply couldn’t be happening.
“This is Enyo,” the armored giant grunted, pointing at me. “The power of war was split between us, and then she was... lost to the mortal world.” I blinked at him. “When I am with her, I can access that power, as it is the same as mine.” He ground the words out like they were being forced from his lips.
What the fuck was going on?
“The power was split between you?” asked the woman, and Ares nodded.
“Yes, Queen Persephone.” Persephone? Did that make the smoke guy on the skull throne Hades?
This was fucking crazy. I mean, I love a bit of Greek mythology as much as the next girl, but this couldn’t be real.
“Why was the power split? Are you two related?”
A weird spluttering sound bubbled from my mouth as I looked in horror between them, the absurdity of the idea jolting my reactions back to life. I had no family.
“For the love of sweet fuck, do not tell me that we are related,” I breathed. He glared at me through the eye slits in his helmet, and I noticed the color of his eyes without meaning to. They were the hue of chocolate, rich and dark and... lost.
“We are not related. We could not be further from each other in lineage. I am descended from...” he paused and took a deep breath. “I am descended from Zeus. She is descended from an unknown Titan.”
“I’m what now?” I asked, my eyebrows so high they were making my face hurt. Confusion was making my head swim, and the shot of adrenaline that usually came with my anger and made me rock-steady before a fight just wasn’t coming.
Just treat it as a play, I told myself. They’re actors. Don’t freak out. “You’re talking about Zeus and Titans. And my cat can speak.” I put my hands on my hips, and closed my eyes as I sucked in air, dizziness pricking dangerously at me. “My only friend just got killed, and I’m fairly sure armor-boy did it. Someone, please tell me what the hell is going on.”
When I opened my eyes Persephone was glaring at Ares, a faint green glow around her.
“Did you kill a mortal?” She asked him, her voice laced with steel.
“No! He was already dead. And besides, he wasn’t mortal. There was guardian magic around him. Only his human body was destroyed.”
The word ‘destroyed’ used to describe Joshua made me feel sick, but I clung to his words, trying to make sense of them.
“If he’s not dead, where is he? What the fuck is going on?” I said, louder this time. Frustration was whipping through me like a storm, battering at my disbelief.
“Sorry, Enyo,” Persephone said, with a small nod.
“Bella,” I snapped, correcting her automatically, then regretting interrupting her. “My name is Bella,” I mumbled.
“OK. Bella. Here’s the short version. I, like you, once lived in the mortal world without knowing about Olympus. This is a world run by gods, filled with immortals and magic and creatures we knew as myth and legend. Zeus, the King of the Gods, recently made a very big mistake, and now my husband, Hades, rules in his place, in turn with Poseidon.”
I stared at her until she carried on.
“Zeus is missing now, but before he left he fought with Ares, and took his power away. Zeus is extremely strong, and something like that can’t be reversed.”
“Yes, it can. If I kill her I can take her power,” interrupted Ares. I threw him my best ‘shut the fuck up’ look and turned back to Persephone.
“What happened to Joshua?” I had a hundred other questions, but that one was the most important.
Persephone frowned, and looked at the smoky form next to her. When he spoke again, the hissing sound was gone from his voice.
“This is not the first report I’ve heard of guardians being taken from the mortal realm,” he said.
“Guardians?”
“There are many of them, all making sure that people like you - with power that does not belong in the mortal realm - don’t cause, or attract, any trouble.”