X. The Conference

The ballroom of Hades's palace was even more decadent than I could have imagined, which honestly wasn't really a surprise. I was used to being a bit blown away at this point. Apollo and Artemis had been the first to arrive—they had travelled together—but now almost the entire pantheon of Olympians was present, and it was quite a spectacle. My head whipped around as I tried to take everything in all at once, as I walked towards the center of the ballroom. I couldn't decide what to look at first. Luckily, that decision was soon made for me.

"Careful, lovely."

The goddess who stopped me was tall and lithe, with strawberry blonde locks that hung almost to her knees. The hair didn't look weighed down, of course, like it would on a mortal. It almost seemed to be floating around her. Her skin was radiant and bright and had an unearthly glow, similar to Apollo's. Her face was the most stunning thing about her, however, and that was saying something. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her features were beyond perfection. Her eyes were soft and kind, but had a deep, almost seductive quality to them at the same time, somehow. There was no one thing that I could pinpoint that made her so attractive—it was just that all of her features were flawless and smooth and gorgeous. She already had a hand on my arm to stop me from spinning around in the center of the ballroom, so it was easy for her to catch me and ease me back onto my feet when I almost collapsed just staring at her.

"You won't see anything that way," she said, kindly.

"I—" I continued to stare at her, eyes wide, probably looking incredibly stupid. "You must be Aphrodite."

She laughed and I thought it must have been the loveliest sound I had ever heard.

"I am," she said, reaching forward and touching my cheek. I leaned in to her hand almost involuntarily. Instinctually.

"I know I'm entranced, I know it, I just don't care."

I found myself babbling, and was blessed to hear Aphrodite's beautiful laugh once again. I could feel the silly, saccharine smile stretching across my cheeks. Somewhere, buried, I knew how ridiculous I must have looked. But I couldn't drum up the motivation to do anything about it. I was mesmerized and I didn't care until I felt a strong grip on my elbow and was abruptly jerked back into reality. I scowled as I turned to see what the interruption was—and of course, it was Laurie who was bringing me to my senses. When I looked at him, the spell was immediately broken and I realized how absurd I was once again being. I shook my head at myself and Laurie smiled.

"Ah, young love," Aphrodite purred, and I was angry until I looked at her again.

Looking at her, I couldn't be upset with her. But at least I had gotten over the initial completely enraptured feeling I had had moments before. I blinked, squinting at the bright vision of a woman in front of me.

"We're not—" I struggled to remember what I was trying to say, and groaned. "We're not in—"

"We're not lovers, is what she's trying to say," Laurie volunteered.

"That's not… exactly…" I said. "Yeah."

Aphrodite just smiled and glided away. As soon as she was no longer in front of me, I just felt pissed off. I let out a loud sigh and Laurie put a friendly hand on my shoulder. Definitely a strictly platonic gesture, I told myself.

"She has that effect on most people," he said. "You'll get used to it."

"Not you?" I asked, surprised and perplexed at the hold that Aphrodite had over me, but apparently not over Laurie.

"I had a crush on her when I was a boy," Laurie said. "But that's all it was, of course—I've learned to see through the feelings she projects. They're quite superficial. Once you get used to them, it's not hard to block them out."

"Sounds like it's easier said than done," I mumbled, rubbing my temples.

"Sophie!" a loud, boisterous voice came from behind and I turned to meet its owner, a god draped in ill-fitting clothes with laurels and grapes crowning his long, curly brown locks. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"

The youthful, soft-featured man embraced me informally and kissed my cheek. His cheeks were flush and his eyes cheerful. He produced a glass of red wine seemingly from nowhere.

"How are you enjoying your party?" he asked, handing me the glass.

"My— well, I wouldn't quite call it…"

"Nonsense, look at all of us gathered together!" he said, gesturing at the crowd. "It's been decades—centuries, perhaps—since we've all been together like this! Such an occasion must be a joyous party, no matter the circumstances. Forgive me, forgive me… I am Dionysus. It really is so nice to finally see you, in the flesh. Have you tried the wine? Drink, drink up!"

He gently prodded the bottom of the wine glass, pushing it up towards my face. I happened to glance into the crowd and lock eyes with Hades, who was watching intently.

"It's not that I don't appreciate this," I said, weighing my words as I held the glass out towards Dionysus. "It's just—I can't drink it here."

"Oh!" Dionysus shook his head at himself. "Silly, silly me. Good thing you know the rules—that could have been quite a disaster. Some other day. I'll have to come find you when you're on earth. You've never really experienced wine until you've tasted my wine."

I squinted, wondering if that was intended to be a double entendre, but not wanting to explore the idea too fully. I looked around at the crowd for an escape. I spotted a tall, muscular man wearing an armored breastplate and a tall helmet with plumed red feathers atop it. Ares seemed pretty dangerous, but so was this conversation, and perhaps he could give me some tips on the art of war.

"It was so very nice to meet you, Dionysus," I said, hamming it up as much as possible. "I'll see you later, okay?"

I slipped away, feeling Laurie following close behind me. Before I could make it to Ares, however, I was swept up by Apollo, who hooked his arm with mine and led me towards the front of the room.

"It's time to get down to business," he whispered to me. "Now that everyone has arrived."

"I thought it would just be Olympians here," I said quietly back. "This is more than just the Olympians."

"The Olympians are not the only gods invested in keeping this world safe," Apollo said. "Lucky for us, we have many allies."

"Yes—lucky," I smiled faintly.

Apollo cleared his throat quite loudly when we reached the front of the room, and most of the crowd turned to attention. Most of the chattering was silenced.

"Thank you," Apollo said.

"Please, have a seat, everyone." Hades was standing a few feet away from us, and with a wave of his arm the ballroom became littered with cushioned chairs, enough for each god and goddess to have a seat. Conveniently, there weren't enough seats for Laurie, and he leaned against a wall off to the side.

Apollo looked annoyed at Hades for interrupting and showing off, but quickly masked this and continued on, clearing his throat again.

"We have much to discuss about this enemy we are facing, because we know so little about him—them—whatever this is," Apollo said, more ineloquent than I had yet seen him. "All we know about our enemy is that they are dangerous, and this young lady is our only hope at stopping them. Luckily, she may have more knowledge about what we're facing than she even knows."

Apollo turned to me, and I gaped at him, quickly shaking my head.

"I—no, no no, I don't know anything, I—" I frantically whispered to him, and he put his warm hands on my arms and rubbed up and down.

"Relax," he commanded, and I did, or at least my body did, and my mouth stopped moving. "There may be something—something small, something you might have noticed, a clue that can help us. Or maybe there isn't. But we have to think through it together first. Okay?"

"Okay," I said meekly.

Apollo presented the facts to the crowd, telling them just exactly what was known about Thom so far up to this point. I half-listened, fixating very carefully on the gold bird-like creature carved into the foot of one of the chairs nearest me. I knew this story quite well already. I may not have had very much sleep in which to have nightmares, but I had plenty daydreams that were basically the same thing.

"So, the most obvious question seems to be: is he working alone?" Apollo said, beginning the discussion which was the reason they had all come here. "I think the obvious answer to this is: no. Do you have any opinion on that, Sophie?"

"Um… not really," I said. "He's not… stupid, exactly. I'd love to say he is, of course, but he's not. But then I don't think he's bright enough or powerful enough to do anything on his own. And he…"

I frowned at the memory, trying to remember, trying to piece together what had happened.

"Go on, it's okay," Apollo said, placing a light hand on my back that was supposed to be encouraging.

"Don't," I said firmly, not looking at him, and he recoiled quickly, shocked that his touch had been rejected. "It was… He wants my powers. He's not as powerful as I am. I mean, maybe he's powerful, I don't know, but he wants my powers. Enough to risk jeopardizing his whole mission."

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked eagerly. "What did he say?"

"He said…" I tried to remember his exact words. "'If I kill you, your power dies with you.' He said he was too greedy. He's a maniac."

"It seems likely that some deity is sponsoring him, helping him… Or maybe he's helping them, maybe he's just a pawn," Apollo said. "Do we know anything about him, where he's from?"

"He didn't tell me much about himself, but I'm sure most of it was lies," I shrugged.

"I haven't been able to trace his origin," Athena said, stepping forward from the crowd. "I've exhausted all of my resources, it seems… which is a first for me. Something or someone is protecting him, I think. Something powerful."

"It could be someone in this room!" a shrill, anonymous voice announced from the crowd, and the room erupted into panicky chatter.

"Silence!" Hades boomed after only a few seconds of the chaos, and the room went quiet again. I smiled at him gratefully. His response was a solemn nod.

"That is, of course, a possibility," Apollo nodded. "But I don't think that's extremely likely. Sophie—I know this is difficult, but think back. Think hard. Is there any clue we might have missed? Any small thing that seemed insignificant at the time?"

I searched my memory for the missing puzzle piece, thinking back to everything I remembered about Thom, all the little details. I was infatuated, of course, so there were plenty of insignificant little things that I noticed here and there. I thought back to the first time I was in his apartment.

"There is one thing," I bit my lip, squinting as I imagined the flat standing before me. "It might be nothing."

"Yes?" Apollo said quietly, and I could feel the entire room hanging on my every word.

"His apartment… All the furniture…" I tilted my head as I remembered. "Everything looked to be handmade. It was unusual. It was all very nice, but it was all… natural. Carved from wood. Perhaps… Could it be some kind of nature-related deity is behind this?"

"Control your pet, Apollo!"

I looked up and saw that it was Demeter that I had offended. It wasn't my intention. I wasn't thinking of her—I wasn't thinking of any particular deity, the words had just spilled out. It wasn't a fully formed idea. I didn't know what to say now that wouldn't potentially get me killed or permanently disfigured. Or turned into a tree.

"Calm, Demeter," Apollo said, his voice soothing. "She wasn't talking about you. I pushed her to speculate, and she did as she was asked. There are many gods and goddesses of the natural world, and no one here is questioning your loyalty. Remember that Sophie is our only hope to solve this problem."

She still looked displeased. Persephone gripped her mother's hand tightly and shot a look at Hades. I wanted her to like me. This was not going well. I looked to Hades and saw he was looking right back at her with a stone cold expression. Suddenly, the doors in the back of the room burst open and there were loud gasps from the guests on that side of the hall. Before I had any idea what was happening, Hades was in front of me, draping his robes around me.

"Hades, what the fu—"

"A Gorgon!" someone screeched, and I realized that he had instinctively leapt to protect me before I even knew I was in any danger. I might have never known if his reflexes hadn't been so quick. But of course they were quick. I had no business to keep being so impressed by his god-like skills. He was, after all, a god, one of the oldest and most powerful who were still around. Yeah. I needed to keep reminding myself that: despite all appearances, he was really freaking old.

"I'm here to deliver a message on behalf of my master," I heard a woman's voice—presumably the Gorgon's—and everyone in the ground hushed each other to listen. "I am Euryale. My visit is but a warning. A warning of the horrible fate that is to befall Sophie and all of her species. My master's power is great and once he has taken the power that is rightfully his, he will be unstoppable."

"Who the hell is Thom working for?" I shouted, and Hades shushed me, clasping a hand over my mouth gently.

"My master works for no one," the Gorgon said. "But his allies are all-powerful. His mother is the mighty Gaea, the earth herself, and his monstrous cousins and siblings are innumerable. You can't stop him now and you won't ever be able to stop him. Never! There's nothing you can do, you pitiful, puny, feeble girl!"

At this point, the Gorgon just started shouting abuse at me until she was forced out of the palace. My head was reeling from this epiphany—Thom was a demigod, Gaea was his mother—and Hades was trying to steady me, not having let go of me since the Gorgon entered the room. Before I could even balance myself or my head out, another visitor burst into the room. This one was invited. It was Hermes, running quite late for the meeting and seeming frantic.

"A Cyclops appeared in Athens this morning!" he said breathlessly. "The local police were able to disarm it… I mean, no surprise, really, they're not the brightest of creatures, but… Just an hour later a Gorgon appeared in New York City and began turning people to stone. She's still at large, and I can't imagine how she can be caught. We know she's not Medusa, which means… Well…"

"She's immortal," I murmured.

As the court chattered quickly, discussing the issues at hand, I realized these gods didn't really care about the people—not really. Not the individual people who were being terrorized by creatures they had thought they were mythological for hundreds of years in major cities on earth. That wasn't a concern to them. They cared about the big picture only—what was Gaea planning and why was she plotting against them? These were the only things that mattered. What was most concerning was that I found that I didn't really think about the people either. It occurred to me that I should probably be frightened about this apathy taking over my mind. But all I could feel was… apathy.

Author's Note: Hey! Remember me? I know it's been ages since I uploaded a chapter, but this story does mean a lot to me and I'll probably continue to write it until it's finished, despite the fact that I don't have much time for it. The problem is, I'm struggling to stay motivated to upload it here since I get relatively little feedback, if any. Despite the fact that over fifty people have this story on alerts, and I see that the new chapters get views, no one cares enough to review. Even if it's just one line, I'd love to just know that people are actually enjoying the story and want to see it continue.