Mixed Worlds

Chapter Thirty - The Armonía

    We sit in silence as we stare at him. “What?” Alex says. “You’re a Demigod?! And you never thought to tell me after I told you I was a hybrid?!” Alex moves my feet off of his lap, and he leans forward on his knees. “How could you not tell me?” He looks hurt, and I feel like I want to tear into Noah for making him feel that way.        

        “Because I couldn’t. I was bound by my fathers word to stay silent until I came across the daughter of Athena.” I sit with my mouth open, and so does Alex. I give Noah, -er, Anthony, a confused look, tilt my head and lean back into the couch.            

        “Prove it.” I stand up and place my hands on my hips. “How do I know you aren’t just saying that because Alex told you I was a Demigod? Ares was a hothead who fed on fighting with others. You don’t seem like the type.”         

        “Alright. As you wish, m’lady.” Anthony stands up and takes off his shirt. His body is covered in runes, some of which I don’t even recognize. He has the rune that represents agility over his heart, a rune for glamour on the side of his stomach, which hides a demigod from human eyes, and so many more that I don’t know the meaning of. I walk around the coffee table and stand in front of him with Alex following closely behind me. I look him up and down, and he holds his arms out as he spins to show me his back. He has two large wings across his shoulder blades, and a healing rune on his hip.         

        “If these are actual runes, and not just tattoos, show me how they work.” I take a step to the side and Alex holds me against him for reassurance. Noah dips into his bedroom, and returns with something the size of a pencil. It’s brown like tree bark, but it has an orange crystal on the tip. He holds it out in front of me and it starts to emit a soft glow.        

        “It’s called a stele. It’s a tool that was created by the Goddess Hecate for her daughter Salem to use to protect or defend herself when she needed it. After seeing how helpful it was, her daughter then asked if the other demigods could have them too once they were able to prove it would be used to help, not hurt. Hecate agreed, as she wishes the children of gods would be loved and not brushed off as an inconvenience by Zeus.”

         He pulls a blade out of his pocket, and hands it out to me. “Cut me, and I’ll show you.” I take the blade in my hand, and look back at Alex. His eyes are wide, but he nods to tell me to continue. I find a blank spot on his chest and drag the blade across his skin making about a three inch cut. Blood starts to fall and he takes a deep breath and turns to the side. He waves his stele over his healing rune, and it glows orange as his chest begins to heal. He holds his arms out again and an ‘I told you so’ look glides across his face. I purse my lips and nod my head as I turn back towards the couch. ‘What. The. Fuck.’  I think as I sink into the couch.             

    “Okay, great. So my life just got even more complicated. I didn’t think it could get anymore complicated, but hey!” I spread my arms out wide and wave them, “Here we are! I found out less than three months ago that my real mom is a f*****g Goddess, I lost my virginity to a f*****g demon blood using psychopath, I’ve got a hybrid as a mate that I kidnapped when we first met, and I just met another Demigod. And there’s probably other Demigods on Earth too!!” I wipe my face hard with my hands and hope that this is all a delusion. “We probably have more, right?” I peek at Anthony through my fingers and let out a deep breath. He nods. “Am I missing anything else?!” I yell out in frustration and I hold my face in my hands as I feel tears getting ready to fall. “I’m sorry. This is all so much.” I feel Alex sit back down next to me, and he pulls me onto his lap and wraps me in a big hug.        

        “You have nothing to be sorry about. By the sounds of it, uh, Anthony, has had quite some time to figure his life out. You’ve been bombarded with so many things all at once. It’s okay to freak out a little.” He rubs circles on my back and I wish so much that we could just say ‘f**k it’ and run away to live a life on our own. I push back a little and wipe my face again.             

        “Okay, now what? Your father said to wait for me, but what does that mean? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t even know where to start. I do think we need to head to the bunker and grab Anna and Lucas. I’m gonna need my moms book.” I give Anthony a soft smile and giggle.  “I know you probably enjoy the life of luxury, but you’re welcome to come back with us.”        

        “Wherever the Armonía goes, I will follow.” He crosses his fist over his heart, and gives a slight bow. “I‘ll start packing.” Anthony heads into his room and pulls out a suitcase.        

        “What’s a... a harmonica? What did he call you?”  Alex asks with a laugh. I stand up and pull him up with me.         

        “Armonía. It’s Greek for harmony.” I pick up my keys from the kitchen counter and shove them in my pocket. “I think he means that I’m the person that will help bring harmony between us and the Gods. I read about her in a book once.” Yep, my life just keeps getting crazier and crazier as the days go by. Anthony comes back out and sets his two suitcases by the door. He goes in to the front closet, and I hear beeping. A moment later he pulls out a black handbag and sets it on the counter. I take a peek while he’s tying his shoes and notice multiple thick stacks of bills. Then I remember: the guy’s loaded.         

        “Okay. I’m ready.” He throws the black bag over his shoulder and Alex takes one of his suitcases. I lead the way down the hall to the elevator. When the door opens to the lobby I take a suitcase from Anthony so he can check out, and Alex and I load up the truck. I get in the drivers seat and wait for the boys to join me. I see in my rear mirror that they are both talking and nodding, and then share a quick hug. Alex gets up in the front and Anthony jumps into the back.  I start the truck and we head on back to our lovely, dingy but homey bunker. 

    ***

    “So, there’s how many Demigods now?” Lucas has such a shocked expression, that I think he’s gonna freak himself out into an aneurism. Alex and I just spent the last half an hour explaining everything to him, Jack, and Anna.       

        “As far as I know, Poseidon, Demeter, Artemis, and Hecate all have children. So in total, there’s six of us. All of us are pretty similar to our parents, with a few exceptions. My father, Ares, loved to fight and cause trouble. My mother is a psychologist, so I prefer to fight with words than with fists. When it comes down to it though, I know how to defend myself.  That is, however, when I don’t have demon blood in my stomach.” He raises an eyebrow at me and I give him a guilty smile in return. “Hecate’s daughter, Salem, is literally the exact opposite of her mom, but she still is able to use dark magic when she feels threatened. We dated for a little bit once upon a time. She told me about her mom, and it wasn’t until Hecate came to meet me that I got called out for who my father is. Pretty messy break-up when your ex-girlfriends mom is the definition of darkness.” We all laugh and eat our dinner at the table, and Jack is sitting in the living room keeping his distance. Anna made a killer lasagna, and we all savour every bite. If food could make you horny, it would be Anna’s cooking.         

        “What about the others? How are we supposed to find them? Is there some kind of map or something that we can use to track them?” Anna asks. I look at my book in the middle of the table and slide it back to me.         

        “Let’s find out.” I push my empty plate aside, and set my hand on the book. I focus on Poseidon’s son, where he lives, a name, or a city. Anything that will help. I open the cover and start to fan through pages until one of them shines a sea-green light and flatten the book to read it. “It looks like Poseidon’s son likes to surf in Miami. He lives in an old beach house and his name is…” I flip a page. “Peter! His name is Peter.” I close the book and look around at the shocked faces around the table. 

        “What? What’s everyone looking at?” I turn my head and my mother is standing behind me. “Athena? What are you doing here?” I stand up and smooth out my clothes and grab a napkin to wipe my face. I take a closer look at my mother and see that her eyes are sunken in from exhaustion, her fighting gear is tattered and dirty, and there’s dried blood on her hands. She drops to her knees and tears fall from her face as her helmet rolls away from her grasp. Everyone jumps up and I get down in front of her.        

        “Mom, what happened?! What’s wrong?” I take her hands in mine and try to think calming thoughts. Her tears subside and her breathing returns to normal.        

        “It’s Olympus. Myself and the other Gods tried to hold council with Zeus to try and make him see that our children are no harm to anyone, and Hera became outraged. Hecate’s daughter, Salem was there.” I look back at Anthony. “Hera was disgusted that a Demigod was in Olympus, and she lunged for Salem. Hecate sacrificed herself to protect her. Demeter and Artemis got her out of there and Poseidon and I stayed to hold off Hera and the other gods that disagree with our opinions. I beat down my own brothers and sisters. I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t.” Her tears are flowing again and it’s getting hard to handle her booming voice. “There was so much blood! So much hate! For the first time in my existence, I don’t know what to do!” She doubles over and cries into my chest. I stroke her hair and begin to try and calm her down. My mother and I both begin to glow, and slowly she begins to fall asleep. She goes limp in my embrace and suddenly I’m crying too.         

        “Here, let us help.” Alex says, as him, Anthony, and Lucas all circle around me to help carry my mother over to the couch. Jack takes off down the hall and returns with a pillow and a blanket. Once Athena is made comfortable, I stand over her and stare at her grief-stricken expression. I run my hands though my hair and hold the back of my neck.         

        ‘I need to find the others. We need to talk to Poseidon.’ I link to Alex.        

        ‘Whatever you need, I’ll do it. I know everyone here will do whatever they can to help.’ I feel his arm wrap around me, and suddenly there are four other hands resting against me.        

        “Where do we start?” Anna asks.        

        “You know we’ve got your back.” Lucas states.        

        “We’re family, and family sticks together.” I smile at Anthony’s words, and then gasp in shock.        

        “Wait, did you guys hear me? Did you all hear what I linked to Alex?” They all look at each other and collectively nod. They all break away and wait for me to speak. I wipe my face and straighten my back. “I seriously need to figure out how I can do that. Anyways, we need to go to Miami. Once we find Peter, we’ll figure out a way to get ahold of Poseidon, and hopefully he can point us in the right direction.” Everyone but Alex leaves the room, and I turn into him and hold him in a tight embrace. “So much for normal, am I right?” I laugh. He gives me a squeeze and lets out a heavy sigh.        

        “So much for normal is right.” He strokes my hair. “But right now, your family needs our help. Normal will have to wait a bit longer.” I can feel his sadness, and I look up to him. “Me becoming human has to wait too. The good thing with that is if I need to use my strength, I can. I’ll just need to make sure I can find a blood bank or something.”        

        “You know I can help with that. Whenever your thirst is getting difficult to handle, just tell me, okay? We’re mates. We’re supposed to keep each other strong.” I stroke his cheek and pull myself up to kiss him. “Let’s go pack. We’ve got some hunting to do.”