Blade's Edge || Deception Book II ||

Chapter 18: Convening in Olympus Pt. 1

Now, I was back home for a debrief on the army of the single immortal who was a threat to the gods, with a shredded image of who the Olympians were.

"Go, or you'll be late," Avalanche rumbled, nudging me with her nose softly. "You'll be fine."

"Yeah. I'll be fine," I said, trying to convince myself. "Okay."

I summoned my shadows, feeling them curl around me in joy after being locked down for so long on the ship and, a couple of seconds later, I stood in front of the huge golden gates of the throne room. Taking a deep breath, I pushed them open and walked in.

I felt twelve pairs of eyes following me impassively as my steps sounded softly on the marble tiles of the ginormous room, keenly aware of my heartbeat, which echoed loudly in my ears. My mother wasn't here. I kept my gaze fixed on the two gods sitting like cold marble statues in the centre of the semicircle, one with a lightning bolt in his hand, the other holding a golden staff topped with a white lotus flower.

"My lord, my lady," I murmured, bowing first to Zeus and then to Hera as I halted in front of them. "It's been a while." I wanted to ask where my mother was, but the crackling air gave me a feeling that this was probably not the best time to do so.

"Clarianna," Zeus said, his voice rumbling through the throne room like thunder.

I felt a weird sort of pang of ring through me at the sound of my name, the sound of who I really was after hearing nothing but the name of my lie. I felt like someone had justed dumped a bucket of ice water on me, bringing me back to reality from the haze of the ship. Because, no matter what I thought, the Andromeda had become a new sort of home for me and the demigods aboard it a new family. I shoved down the implication of those thoughts and reminded myself to focus. Here, more than ever, I needed to keep my cool.

A silence fell, no one knowing what to say. The level of awkwardness in the throne room was seriously reaching a new high.

"Wow, this is awkward," I muttered, shifting slightly on my feet. "Why is it so awkward?"

"Maybe because it's been a year?" Apollo suggested, leaning forward, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. "Welcome back, Clari. We've - sorry, I've," he amended at the snort Ares gave, "missed you."

Just like that, the tension in the throne room was shattered. I grinned, pivoting to face him. "I can't say the same, Lord Apollo."

"You're joking, right?" Apollo said, his eyes glinting with both amusement and ire. "Because if you aren't-"

"I'm joking, I'm joking," I said quickly, holding my hands up. "Jeez. The only thing I didn't miss about you was your haiku. Please don't," I added as Apollo grinned and opened his mouth. "We're here for other business."

"Glad of you to finally remember that, Clari," Athena sighed as Apollo slumped back into his seat. "Because it is quite urgent."

"Suffice to say, the events of the past weeks have been concerning," Poseidon rumbled, his hand tightening on his trident. "Notably, the return of my brother's daughter."

Immediately, a clamour rose up, and I winced. This. This was what I had not missed. The nonstop arguing. I rolled my eyes, noting the fact that Artemis did the same, and sighed. "Will you stop yelling at each other for a moment? Please?" I added after a second thought as all the gods instantly turned to glare at me.

"She's right," Artemis chimed in. "It's pointless and gets us nowhere."

"Well, let's have Clari enlighten us then, shall we?" Dionysus yawned, fixing me with his purple gaze. "So? What's the plan?"

Are you kidding me right now? I thought, staring at him in disbelief. How the fuck would I have all the answers? Aren't you guys the gods? I screamed inside my head. Oh, how I wish I could just say that.

I sighed in resignation. "Well, the only thing I'm doing right now is pretty much nothing. And we're pretty much doing nothing except training and scouting for the next few months. However," I added as Zeus sat forward, clearly about to say something, "Luke," I glanced at Hermes unconsciously, noting his flinch, "did say something about something huge going down on the Winter Solstice this year."

"The winter solstice," Hephaestus mused. "The darkest day of the year."

"What exactly did he say?" Athena asked, leaning forwards in her throne.

"Uh, well, not much," I replied, slightly unnerved by the burning intensity in her grey eyes. "Something about . . . San Francisco?"

Silence fell, a new blanket of tension descending among the twelve immortals gathered before me. Zeus and Poseidon exchanged a glance, their faces unreadable, but I knew that it wasn't something good. 

I glanced from Athena to Zeus to Artemis, who was staring at me, her eyes wide. "They're planning to use it as their base, aren't they," I asked quietly. "For Mount Othrys. Like how you use New York for Olympus."

Artemis exhaled, her grip tightening on the arms of her seat. "That's not the only problem. The Garden of the Hesperides is there. And so is their father."

Oh.

OH.

I blinked. "Fuck."