The God's Reign: Book one, The Knowing

chapter 11- Ethan engulfs magical hamburgers

We couldn't fight: we wanted him to know we came on a peace term. We couldn't run either: traveling on Lussafir would have been a waste of time. (Plus, the ballistae would kill us, leaving the flamethrower to cook us like turkeys and the mace used as pepper seasoning.)

Our only option was to talk: to reason with the security guard. And I was pretty good with that. Once in 7th grade, I persuaded a substitute teacher that our normal teacher postponed the end-of-the-year exams for a week. It got me three days of detention, but it was still worth it.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, stalling.

"Because, you four are wanted," the teenage guard swerved his computer screen. Headshots of all four of us showed on the screen. Our rewards were 50 drachmae each (Drachma- the currency of Greece). Our status was Wanted: alive until forced death.

I sighed "Hillary, what did you do this time?"

"I didn't do anything: I'm innocent!" she screeched, and then she paused. "Wow, who knew those words would ever come out of my mouth?"

I turned back to the monitor guy. "Why are we wanted then?"

"Because, you are resisting to follow the orders of the night goddess,"

My eyebrows crept up slowly. "You mean Artemis put you up to this?"

The teenager scoffed. "Artemis! No, of course not! She is the moon goddess; Nyx is the goddess of night: oldest goddess in history. Is any of that ringing a bell, you idiot??"

The name Nyx sent a shiver down my spine and made my nerves cramp up. For some reason, I had a perfect image of her in my head: a woman with dark hair and deathly-pale skin, wearing a dress of blue and black swirled clouds and silver stars. Come to the darkness, she seemed to say in my thoughts. It lives inside all of us.

My emotions started to kick in, my eyes began top burn with tears. I was afraid- afraid of a person I haven't met before (Or at least I think we haven't met.) I made a mental note: do not think about her as much as possible.

Nyx's orders: which are, I'm guessing, to resist the will of the gods. I conducted in my mind. "And why do we have to follow them?"

"Err... I-if you didn't cooperate, you would surely be killed."

"That's not a reason," I retorted. Before he could go on, I tried to make conversation. "Are you a demigod?"

"Y-yes, we are: me and my half-brothers and sisters. We live here, you see, in our father's house: Hermes. We call ourselves the Mercury Clan." He answered hesitantly.

Mercury: The roman form of Hermes- quite a clever name for the clan. "So, do you not believe in your father's heritage, or do just rebel against his purpose?"

"No, we all honor our father with the utmost respect!"

"Then why are you defying him by obeying Nyx like a bunch of cowards?" I snapped, but then I realized my tone was too harsh, so I backed off. "If you have ever loved Hermes, even for the smallest second, then you would let us in and do what needs to be done."

Liam pondered on this. My words actually sank in. Maybe I was cut out for being a leader after all. (That's right: I proved you wrong! Screw you, math team!!) But I didn't celebrate just yet.

Hesitantly, Liam sat up from his office chair and held his finger over a command button below him. Before he pressed it, he stared at me cautiously, as if rethinking his choice. "You sure you can save us?" he asked, as if reading our intentions for the quest.

I nodded. If he did this, then our jobs would be much easier. Hermes stored all sorts of stuff in there. If it kept the Mercury Clan alive for so long, then wouldn't it be useful to the future gods?