“It was either that or My Little Pony,” Luke said, grinning. “We figured you’d appreciate Spider-man more.”
“Plus he’s all wicked cool with the whole climbing buildings stuff,” Deacon added. “Maybe one day, when you decide to Awaken, you’ll be just as cool.”
“I lit the candles,” Solos said, shrugging. “All by myself.”
“I gave them the money.” Marcus folded his arms. “Therefore I was the key part of all of this.”
“And we got grape soda.” Luke gestured at the bottles of soda. “It’s your favorite.”
“This… this is… wow.” My eyes found Lea, sitting behind Solos. Her hair was pulled back from her face, eyes still swollen. She caught my eyes and smiled just a little. “This is great. You guys are awesome. Really.”
Deacon grinned. “You’ve got to blow out the candles and make a wish.”
What to wish for? I smiled. That was easy. As I crept to the table, I blew out the candles and wished that all of us made it out of this alive, including Seth.
“I want the spider web!” Deacon yelled as I stepped back, producing a supersized knife.
“Yikes.” I stepped back into Aiden.
“It’s her birthday,” Luke took the knife from him. “She gets to pick what piece she wants first.”
I laughed. “It’s okay. He can have the spider web. I’ll take the head.”
We set about carving the cake and passing around grape soda. I was overwhelmed by everyone. I hadn’t expected much of anything on my birthday except weird looks, but this was amazing. It was easy to forget about everything and what today symbolized. Here, surrounded by friends, things were sort of… normal.
Normal for a bunch of halfs and pures celebrating a birthday.
Okay. It wasn’t normal at all, but it was just my kind of abnormal.
Huddled around the table, we laughed as we shared cake and grape soda. Lea perked up a little, nibbling on the frosting. The boys continued to give me crap about not Awakening yet, which Aiden tried to put a stop to. It was cute watching him try not to be overly defensive or protective of me. Not like I needed him to, though I think it was just second nature to him. He was the same with Deacon… when Deacon wasn’t wielding a six-inch knife.
Toward the end of the birthday celebration, there was a distinctive pop!from the rec room. We all twisted around. I prayed the rune worked on the house, because there was definitely a god here.
Apollo strolled into the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was that his eyes were blue and not that creepy white. “How is my birthday girl?”
For some reason, I blushed to the roots of my hair. “Doing good, grandpa.”
He smirked as he slid into the seat beside me, easily prying the knife from Deacon’s fingers. “I do not look nearly old enough to be what I am to you.”
That was true. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, which made it all the freakier. “So when were you going to tell me that you spawned me?”
“I did not spawn you. I spawned a demigod centuries ago who eventually spawned your mother.”
“Can you guys stop saying ‘spawn’?” asked Luke.
Apollo shrugged as he carved off an edge of the cake. He handed the knife back to an oddly subdued Deacon. “I did not find it necessary to tell you. It is not like I am going to be bouncing little Alex babies on my knee.”
The soda caught in my throat, and I almost spit it back up. Someone chuckled, and it sounded like Luke. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“My sister should have kept that to herself.” He took a bite of the cake, made a face, and then pushed his plate away. “Our familial tie is not what is important here.”
I frowned.
“You know what, guys?” Solos clapped his hands on Deacon and Luke’s shoulders. “I bet I can take you both at air hockey and make you call me mama.”
Luke snorted. “Not likely.”
Solos dragged the boys from the room, but Lea sat back in the chair and folded her arms. Her eyes dared anyone to tell her to leave. Now that was the Lea I was familiar with.
“Do you remember when you went to Marcus after Grandma Piperi passed on?” Apollo reached for the bottle of soda.
“Yes.” I handed him a cup, wondering where he was going with this. “Kind of hard to forget that day.”
“Humph.” He sniffed the top of the bottle, shrugged and then poured himself a small amount. “Well, then you should also realize that there is another oracle.”
I glanced at Marcus. He arched a brow as he leaned against the counter. “What does this oracle have to do with this?” he asked.
I thought of Kari. “But didn’t she pass on, too?” After a few strange looks, I explained. “I met her in the Underworld. She said she knew what was going to happen.”
Apollo nodded. “She had a few visions before her… departure. Probably had something to do with your own untimely visit to the Underworld. See, the thing about oracles is that they… own their visions. What they see is not seen by others and I can only see what the oracle tells me.” He lifted the plastic cup, took a tentative sip, and immediately made a face. Guess grape soda wasn’t his thing.
“It is part of how it all works—why we need an oracle at all, instead of me just knowing the future,” he continued, looking up at me. “Did she say anything to you while you were there?”
I shook my head. “Just that she knew she would meet me and… and that she knew how it ended. And knowing how it ends doesn’t really tell me what to do.”
Apollo grimaced. “Figures the dead oracle would know. And Hades is not about to let me go down and talk to her now, not after the thing with my sister. Prophecies are always changing. Nothing is set in stone.”
“Artemis said that.” Aiden sat beside Lea. “Has the prophecy changed?”
“Not exactly.”
My patience was running thin. “So what’s going on, Apollo? Artemis said there was still hope and she mentioned something about the prophecy. Can you just, I don’t know, get to the point?”
“The new oracle has not had any visions, so the last is tied to the dead one. So all we have to work off of is what we know.” His lips quirked into a half-smile. “Some of us believe that you will be able to stop Seth. The prophecy—”
“I know what the prophecy says—one to save and one to destroy. I get that, but what I don’t get is why any of you would risk Seth going all Godzilla on you guys. Eliminating me does eliminate the problem.” I ignored Aiden’s dangerous look as I stood. “There’s something more to this. You know something else.”
“And you know the prophecy says there can only be one of you. There is no way around that.” Apollo leaned back, letting his arms drop over the back of his chair. “Do you really think all of this was Lucian’s idea? That he knew about you without anyone telling him? That he has gained as much support as he has based on his charm alone?”
I started pacing. “I wouldn’t give Lucian that much credit.”
“Good. Because he has had help, I am sure of it,” Apollo said. “Which means stopping Seth from becoming the God Killer does not fix the overall problem. The god behind this will just find another way to push Olympus to the brink of all-out war, and if that happens, it will spill into the mortal realm. What you saw Poseidon do? That will be nothing in comparison to what can happen.”
“That’s just great.” I was going to wear a path in the kitchen floor at the rate I was going. “Do you have an idea of who this god is?”
“There are many of us who like to cause discord and chaos for the fun of it.”
“Hermes,” Marcus said. All eyes turned to him. He raised his brows expectantly. “Hermes is known for creating mayhem and mischief—chaos.” No one said anything. Marcus shook his head. “Didn’t any of you pay attention in your Greek Legends class?”
“Getting Lucian to turn on the Council and the gods isn’t mischief,” Aiden said. “And why would Hermes want to do that? Isn’t he putting himself at risk from Seth?”
“Not if Hermes controls Lucian.” I stopped. A sick feeling crawled down my spine. “Lucian controls Seth… completely. He’d be safe.”