Battle & Brawl (Mythverse #5)

Chapter 3

3

“Mama?” I ask. She’s in front of me, larger than life. I reach out a hand but can’t make myself touch her. She’s pale and freezer burnt; some of her skin is worn away to reveal pink muscle at her collarbone and elbows. She’s dressed in her favorite dress, the one that’s cut a little low with the skirt that’s a little high. She always loved to show off her assets.

“It’s me, Brandee Jean.”

I shoot to my feet, fury blasting through every bit of my body. Where is that absolute dickhead, Hades? Why did he do this? Just to mess with me?

“Baby,” Mama’s hand rests on my arm. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

Tears well up in my eyes then. Rada’s murder. Sora’s body getting taken by Zeus. And now Mama here in front of me.

It’s all a lot to handle.

Even though Mama was never the cuddly hugging type, I can’t stop myself from throwing my arms around her and squeezing tight, which, I quickly realize I’ve got to be careful about because while Mama always was proud of her squishy bits, it seems all of her bits are squishy now.

“Mama! I missed you so—”

“Brandee Jean!” Mama peels me off and pushes me back so hard that I would’ve fallen on my a*s if Alaric didn’t catch me. “Get yourself under control. First off, you know how I feel about crying.”

“Nobody looks good with puffy eyes,” I automatically reply.

“That’s right.” Mama nods. “Secondly, where was your head when you put me in that freezer? Sure, I’m happy not having dirt under my fingernails. But you knew power was iffy. I defrosted and re-froze so many times, I had to coat my whole self with hairspray after waking up just to get everything tight.” She shakes her head at me and I know this expression well. It’s the disappointed one. I did good, but not quite good enough. “You shoulda hooked that freezer up to a generator. One with a good supply of fuel to keep it going. Maybe then I’d be able to handle a hug without worrying over whether I’ll fall to pieces.”

I gulp. Chastened and look down at my feet. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

Her hand cups my chin, making me meet her eyes. “I did miss you, baby girl.” Her other hand goes to the crown on my head, softly running her fingers over it. “And I’m real proud of this crown you got yourself here. You did real good.”

We’re suddenly interrupted by Artemis’ booming voice making an announcement. “Under terms of our truce all Amazons and zombies must leave the auditorium. Contestants and mentors stay here. Gods will confer in Athena’s temple.”

The zombies begin shuffling out, Amazons alongside them, none too happy. A few zombies are leaving with fewer limbs, truce or not. My mama releases me and takes a step back.

“Wait!” I call.

“I can’t, baby. I’m just another zombie in Hades’ army. He agreed to these terms, so i’ve got to go where he says.,” she explains. “But I won’t leave you again, not this time. I promise.”

She’s under Hades’ control. She can’t make that promise.

“I’ll find you as soon as this is all sorted,” she tells me.

Still up on stage, Sora—no, he’s no longer Sora, he’s Zeus—is making a scene. Shaken from my mama literally coming back from the dead I barely pay attention.

“I am a god!” Zeus is shouting. “I should get voting rights.”

“You are a contestant.” Athena booms. “You stole Sora’s body. You will stay here while your fate is determined!”

“I will represent you, brother,” Hades assures him, giving a double thumbs up on his way out.

Athena is the last god to leave. For the first time sorrow appears on her face as she approaches Rada’s body. She picks up Rada’s remains as if she weighs nothing at all.

“My fine sss,” she says. “You will be joining the honored dead.” Cradling Rada as one would a baby, she walks away and disappears.

“Wait!” I yell at the spot where Athena just stood. “Don’t we get to say goodbye? Or attend the funeral?”

Edie’s arm comes around my shoulder. “I’ll do what I can to allow you to be part of the burial ceremony. You deserve that.”

Zeus stands, his eyes narrowing as they take in Edie and me together. “The two of you are in cahoots, then?”

In an instant Edie shifts into her dragon self. Smoke wafts from her nostrils as she glares down at Zeus. With the twitch of a wing, she pushes me behind her. I probably should push myself forward again. Insist on taking Zeus on together. But I’m tired and Edie looks like she’s got this.

Sophia flexes her back and then flies up into the air. “If we’re gonna have an unofficial rumble to figure this all out, then I’m throwing my hat back into the ring.”

“Me too,” Malik quickly echoes, shifting into his lion form.

Zahara sighs. “BJ isn’t the one fighting. It’s her mentor and Zeus...who obviously are working out some daddy-daughter issues.”

“Ew, no,” Edie quickly says.

“Ungrateful child,” Zeus counters. “You were happy enough to call me father when you wielded the blade that would kill me.”

“My goodness,” Trevor tsks softly. “It must be awkward around the table during the holidays.”

There’s something about the image of Edie in her dragon form sitting at opposite ends of a big holiday table from Zeus that makes me snort with laughter.

“Now, if it’s anything like my family,” Trevor continues, “everything will be completely civil on the surface. One does not make a scene when the two-hundred-year-old crystal is on the table. But every request, even the most banal, like ‘please pass the salt,’ will be understood by all to mean, ‘I hate you and will one day piss on your grave.’”

I glance at Trevor, realizing that he’s purposely trying to release some of the tension here. If he wasn’t a totally despicable person, I’d suspect he was trying to prevent more bloodshed. But Trevor doesn’t do anything that won’t benefit himself in some way, so there must be another angle he’s working.

Before I can figure it out, Zahara chips in. “Harpies believe that no celebration is complete without bloodshed.”

“My family likes only our meal to be b****y,” Malik adds, shifting back to human. “But one year, my Dad tried to convince my mom he should have multiple wives like a real lion.” Laughing, Malik shakes his head. “Oh man, that did not work out for him.”

Zeus’ eyes dart between us, suspicious. “Why is everyone laughing? I thought we were all going to murder one another?”

Sophia’s mentor, Tina, laughs. “I’m a vampire and even I think you need to maybe be a little less bloodthirsty.”

Sophia settles on the ground beside her mentor. As a stuck-up vampire princess, Sophia thinks everyone is below her. Even her mentor. She takes a moment to send some stink-eye Tina’s way before adding, “I don’t think it’s blood he wants. It’s power. I don’t understand why the gods would just leave him here with us.”

“The gods have not left you unprotected. They put up a shield,” someone says. It’s Trevor’s mentor, the one dating—if dating is the word—Zahara. Colin, the fae. “None of you can touch each other until they return.”

We absorb that for a moment. Then, with a snarl, Zeus launches himself at Sophia. She gasps as he freezes only inches away from her. Tina’s fangs flash, but there’s no need for defense. The fae was right. Zeus, after remaining frozen for several long seconds, suddenly goes limp and falls to the ground.

We all stare at him. Then, with a sigh, Trevor goes over and kneels beside Zeus, encouraging him to sit up and shake it off.

I turn away, not wanting to see anymore. Alaric stands to leave.

“Don’t go… I don’t want to be alone, I just...I don’t want to hear how it’s all gonna be okay.”

Alaric sits again. “You want to hear how it’s not going to be okay?”

“No!” I put my face in my hands. “I just want to not think about Zeus at all. Can we just rewind to before he showed up? Actually, let’s rewind all the way back to when Sora was still alive and Trevor wasn’t a total d**k—”

“Trevor was always a total d**k,” Alaric interrupts.

“True. But I didn’t know it yet.” I peek up at Alaric from beneath my eyelashes. “I also still thought that you were an uptight stuffed shirt.”

“I am those things,” Alaric corrects again, although this time with a twinkle in his eye. “You just realized those are my good qualities.”

I laugh despite myself. It feels good to find humor in something even when everything is so bleak.

“See, this is why you need a mentor. They might’ve advised you to not immediately play the snooty aristocrat card.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t realize the mentors were so important. When we were told about the competition Colin actually came with another fae. My father was beside himself. Imagine spending generations trying to get the magic out of your bloodline and suddenly two full blooded faeries are standing in your drawing room, telling you your children need to compete to be a god.” He lets out a hollow laugh.

“Father wanted us to take part...I mean that’s a lot of power on the line. But he didn’t want us to be linked with the fae. Trevor and I agreed that we would decline our mentors. I did.”

“And he didn’t…” I finish.

Alaric shrugs. “That’s my brother.”

I glare at where Trevor and Zeus stand across the auditorium. I wish I could lay hands on them. I’d crush them to a pulp. Zeus catches my eye.

“Hey, pretty princess. Hades brought your mom back for you,” he says.

I glare at him and say nothing. I’m still processing the whole Momzbie thing and don’t really want to discuss it with Zeus.

But he’s not gonna let it go. “If you forfeit the crown now, before the gods make their decision, just say that I’m the winner, I’ll have him bring Rada back too.”

No. They couldn’t. Could they?

I can’t help but imagine Rada back in our dorm room. Her bed across from mine. Really, we were just starting to become friends. She was strong and certain and determined. And also one of those girls who didn’t care for anything frivolous. And she thought I was the most frivolous thing on the entire planet. Until the end. When she called me her sss sister and declared the crown should go to me.

Bringing her back...isn’t that what a sister would do?

“BJ, I know it’s tempting.” Edie’s hand lands on my back. “But you can’t trust Zeus.”

“Hades has been raising the dead left and right. You’ve all seen the zombies. What’s not to trust?” Zeus assures me from Sora’s beautiful face.

I look at Edie. “I know you want me to win, but Rada…”

“Rada would not want to be a zombie,” Hepa says, her voice firm. “She died an sss. She was a warrior. She would not want to be trapped in a chunk of rotting flesh, a pale imitation of what she used to be.” Hepa is right. Rada would hate being a zombie. She would have seen being brought back like that as a betrayal.

“I take offense…” Zeus begins but I don’t let him finish.

My hands ball into fists as I advance on Zeus. “Screw you, you friend killing, body snatching, world destroying bastard. You can have this crown when you pry it from my cold dead hands.”

He smiles in this lazy way that doesn’t reach his dead eyes. “That sounds just fine, missy.”

I’m about to see how strong Athena’s word against us touching each other really is when she appears.

“A decision has been reached,” she tells us. “One which nobody likes, but to which we’ve all agreed.” Athena turns to me and gives a slight shake of her head that tells me the vote didn’t go my way. And then she confirms it. “We have decided the last contest was indeed moot, due to Hades interference.”

Edie sighs heavily and her shoulders sink, but nobody protests or says it’s unfair.

Funny, when I was getting crowned it felt like everyone was behind me. Well, maybe not Sophia, but she wasn’t actively booing or anything. Sure, everything went sideways in that last contest, what with the zombies taking the field, but Rada and I were the last two standing. And she stepped down. Purposely. She wanted me to take the crown.

And now it’s all being undone, and no one’s gonna say a word.

Not even Alaric. His face is carefully neutral as Athena continues.

“We have designed a final test, which will include all current contestants and” —she clears her throat— “Zeus.”

”Yes!” Zeus punches the air. “In your faces!”

Trevor sighs and mutters, “Show some chill, man.”

Alaric laughs, low and cold. “Indeed. Were Father to see your so-called god, he would certainly have to rethink his belief in the natural superiority of old blood.”

“Yeah, Zeus is a classless a*s. Now can we find out what the next test is?” Edie cuts in.

“You will all be brought to an island and stripped of your powers.”

“Survivor?” Malik says. “We got this, bro!” he tells Jordan.

“Only contestants,” Athena clarifies. “No mentors.”

Edie bristles. “But anything could happen.”

“That’s the point,” Zahara says.

“Are we meant to kill each other?” Trevor asks, seeming open to the possibility.

“No.” Athena looks like one more snide comment will put her over the edge. The lady is clearly not used to people talking back. “Similar to capture the flag, you will each attempt to take something from the other contestants. A special item. The goal is to collect all the items and figure out the puzzle. The first person to do so will be crowned King—or Queen—of the gods.”

“But we can kill each other, right?” Zeus asks. “There’s no rule against it?”

“Dude, aren’t you already dead?” Malik asks.

“And without Rada’s healing powers…” Zahara says.

“Ew. Gross,” Sophia wrinkles her nose.

“You’re gonna get real rank, real fast,” I say, trying to get back into the spirit of competition with a little s**t-talking.

The truth is, though, that I’m tired. And I want this to be over. I thought it was done. And now we’re just starting it all up again.

“Mentors, you have five minutes with your mentees.” Everyone else pairs up with their mentors, Sophia with Tina, Zahara with her manticore, and Edie with me. Colin, instead of speaking to Trevor, goes to Alaric, while Trevor and Zeus huddle together and look unhappy.

“Brandee, you have got this,” Edie tells me, but she sounds more desperate than certain.

“I do?”

“Look, you won’t have your physical strength, but you are strong where it counts. Zeus will try to get in your head. He’ll play as dirty as they come. But don’t just watch out for him and Trevor. They all want to win. Even Alaric. Even Zahara. They are not your friends. They are your competition.”

“Rada was my friend.” I feel a wave of grief ready to wash me away. “She should have won.”

Edie shakes her head. “Rada was amazing, but so are you. You are a fighter. You are a winner. You are an Amazon.”

She wraps me in a hug; even her wings sweep around my body.

Athena’s voice booms through the auditorium. “Time is up.”

The lights go out and for a moment I think I’ve passed out but the next moment I’m standing on sand, looking out at a beautiful beach and the blue of the ocean.

My heels sink. I sigh.

“Here we go again,” I say to the endless ocean.