Rifts (24 page)

"It's important to stay hydrated when you're working with your fire powers. I know that it sounds trite, but really do make sure you're drinking plenty of water each day. You deplete your system of most of its moisture, as well as necessary nutrients, when you detonate like that. I don't expect that you'll have to do it often, but your core temperature was in-line with a nuclear reactor back there." He looked slightly ashamed. Good. "My forge has a shielding around it to help with the heat, but it could probably power several mid-sized towns - even without you in it."

My eyebrows rose. I did not know that. "Why are you being so nice to me," I croaked.

It was his turn to look surprised. "I don't hate you, Grace. Why wouldn't I be nice to you?"

"Because you've been such a dick to date," I responded quietly.

He took a moment to think through his answer and, rather than words, he simply nodded.

"That's it? You're just going to agree?" I asked, astonished.

"Well, you're right. I've been a dick to you since our first meeting. I don't have a good explanation. So, you get a nod."

Getting stuck with a super communicator when you're immobile is frustrating, at best. What could I say to that? I can't demand answers when a person doesn't have them. So, I sighed and went back to sipping water.

"I'll be right back. Are you able to hold the glass on your own?"

I nodded and he disappeared. I imagine he wanted to let Zeus know that we were good-to-go on the teleporting front. Jolly for Grace! Woo! She was finally learning how to do something that all five year old Hunters already do. I took a brief moment to consider what the hell my mother had been thinking when she assumed I could take up the mantle of Huntress.

"You look like shit," a much needed voice said from behind me.

"I look better than you do on your best day, so shut it," I replied weakly.

"So is it true? Are you now mobile? Does this mean that we can't be friends anymore since you won't need a taxi service?" I could hear the humor in Athena's voice as she came around to the front of the chair. I smiled.

"Yeah, your usefulness is over. Since you're not going to be my friend anymore, does this mean I can skip out on testing your crazy inventions?"

"Nope, you still gotta do that," she replied.

"Oh, well…then I guess we can stay friends, so at least you’ll have a reason not to let me get killed."

"Seriously, you look like shit. What did Heph do to you?"

"Threw me in his forge," I responded.

"And you're still alive. Damn. DAMN!"

My eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"Do you know how
hot
his forge is? Do you know what kind of power you had to put out to stay alive in there? Goddess, no wonder you look like shit. What are you drinking?" She picked up my glass and sniffed it. "Hold on, I'll get you something better." She was out and back before I could blink - holding out a bottle of Gatorade, no less.

"At least you brought the grape kind. The other stuff tastes like ass."

"Shut up and drink it. You need the electrolytes. Heph is such a dumbass. I can't believe he did that to you. He's really generally nice to people, even if he is a hermit. What did you do to piss him off so bad?"

I shrugged. Fuck if I knew.

"Can you stand up?"

"I don't think so. Holding this bottle is about as good as it gets right now. Why? What's up?"

"There's been another disaster." Her faced looked grim and it filled me with dread. What now? How many had to die this time?

"How many Hunters do we have on the ground?"

"Most of them." She ran her fingers through her hair, gripping it and giving it a little bit of a yank. It was a habit she had when she was nervous or really upset. Let's be honest, Athena was all that was wise and beautiful in this world but she wasn't really that good at expressing her feelings. She didn't do pain well.

"What got hit this time?"

"Earthquake. Straits of Gibraltar. Spain
and
Morocco caught the worst of it.”

I closed my eyes and asked, "How many dead?"   

"Too many to count," she replied quietly.

"Jesus, how do I get the feeling back in my legs? I need to get down there and help. Where is Dylan?"

"He's in the training fields with the other kids right now. We're keeping them busy and out from underfoot."

I nodded. "Do you have anyone keeping an eye on him?"

"Grace, there is
always
someone keeping an eye on
all
of the children here. They're precious to us."

"I just need to make sure. I hate that we're in the same place and I hardly ever see him. I miss him. The urge to just go home is so damned strong right now. I need to spend some time with my kid that doesn't involve dramatic parental talks, training or shooting him a wave as we pass in the hall.”

She gave me a blank look.

"Yeah, when you have kids you'll get it."

"I cannot have children, Grace."

"Oh," I said softly. Damn, I hadn’t known that. We'd never talked about it. I felt wretched. "I'm sorry Athena. I didn't know. I should have known."

"It's okay. I don't publicize it. I wasn't born the same way the rest of you were. Father kind of forgot about a few things." She smiled but her face was tinged with sadness.

"Do you realize how lucky are to not have to deal with puberty? Seriously. The kid is a giant drama queen right now…and poopy diapers! I was pretty sure I was going to hork every time he crapped himself."

She placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "It's okay. You don't have to try to make me feel better. I've had a few thousand years to come to terms."

"Right, but it's what I do."

"I know it is." She folded me into a gentle hug and the feeling came back into my arms and legs. "There, that should help a little bit."

"It does, thank you. I think maybe I can stand up now…and eat an entire cow. Man, I'm starving."

On cue, Hephaestus entered the room carrying more meat, cheese and fruit. "Eat. Then we'll go back to Zeus with your progress. It should only take you another twenty or thirty minutes to be back up to full strength. Hello, brat." He nodded at Athena, and sat across from me in another comfortable looking chair.

"She's not going to have enough time to report to Zeus. We've got an emergency on the ground. Another earthquake. We’re going to need all bodies for recovery and rescue."

I watched their interaction as they argued and wondered again why they'd never been a couple. They certainly acted like they’d been married for a thousand years. There was enough tension between them to cut with a knife. I shook my head to clear my thoughts - I wasn't going to get anywhere wondering about their sexual chemistry.

"Hey," I said quietly. "Stop arguing. I'm trying to eat here and you're giving me indigestion."

They looked at each other and stopped immediately. "You probably have something to do, Athena," Heph said pointedly.

My head swiveled and I shot him a curious look. Why was he trying to get rid of her? Did she not know? Oh my God! She didn't!

She sniffed dramatically. "Well, I know when I'm not wanted. Grace," she stood and squeezed my leg. "Come and see me when you are feeling better. We'll get you assigned to a group. "

I nodded and then stopped her. "How is Drew?"

She stopped and was quiet for a moment. “He is doing okay. He'll be in Med for a few more days. She cut pieces out of him that need to regenerate.”

Oh God, that made me sick. He stood there and let her remove sections of his flesh. "Wait, I didn't see anything squicky in the area. Could she still have them? What could she do with that?"

"You don't want to know," Athena replied abruptly, then disappeared.

I turned to Hephaestus. "What could she do with them?"

He looked away. "Athena is right. You don't want to know."

"No, I really do. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked."

"Under the right circumstances, she could control him," he started. "That is one of the reasons that he'll be in Med for a few more days. We need to make sure that we cut her off from having that kind of magic over him."

My mouth stood open. He was right. I
didn't
want to know that.

"She could also use his cells to produce a clone. She's always wanted to have his child. Well, she could petri dish one."

"I think I'm going to be sick," I shot out abruptly. My stomach heaved. and I tried to cover my mouth before the vomit had a chance to spew out. I was a little late. What happened would have given the Exorcist a run for its money in special effect awards.

Heph produced a bucket and shoved my head into it while he went about clearing up the mess that now covered the floor and table in front of me. "How many times do I have to get you new clothes, woman?" He was getting grumpy. I guess I would be too, if I'd had someone puke all over my sitting room. "I
told
you that you didn't want to know. Wait a minute, why is this vomit purple? What did you eat?"

"I drank some grape Gatorade that Athena brought," I replied. My voice echoed out of the bucket and the sound struck me as funny. It was a massive effort but I refrained from doing Vader impressions.

"You were supposed to drink what I gave you. Why in the Hell is she giving you that rubbish?"

"She said I needed electrolytes, that they would make me feel better."

"Well," he continued exasperated. "Do you feel better, Grace?"

"No," I replied shortly.

"I can't for the life of me figure out why you don't just trust me and do what I ask you to do!" He was thundering now, very close to yelling. I shrank into myself, thinking that if I were just a little smaller, he wouldn't notice me. No. Of course that didn't make sense. He was bloody pissed at me. That's the reason that he was yelling in the first place. Good point though, why couldn't I just listen to him without being such a pain in the ass? I certainly didn't like it when he yelled.

Oh right, I had that stubborn pride. It got me into more trouble than it was worth most days. I heaved into the bucket a few more times, my body contorting with each retch. An apology seemed like a good idea but I couldn't make my mouth and throat work for anything other than evacuating the contents of my stomach.

"Yes, I know that you're sorry. You're often sorry, Grace. You need to just stop doing stupid shit. The water I gave you was infused with everything you needed to get you back into top running shape." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, gripping the ends in frustration like he'd pull it out at any second. I winced.

"Don't move, and for the love of all that is holy to you, don't ingest anything until I get back. Fucking nursemaid to an idiot is what I've become," he grumbled.