Page 87 of Zeus' Spark
I grab the box out of my bag and hand it to the goddess.
“What is it? If you don’t mind me asking.” I blush, embarrassed that I have been a bit rude to a fucking goddess, but I’m so tired.
“It’s a moon stone. It’s a very powerful artifact that I have been unable to find these last few months.” She blinks, and the box vanishes into thin air. “Where did you get it?”
“In Hesperia. It’s where the Hesperides are now. Do you know how these places from ancient Greece have just popped up in America?” I ask hopefully.
“I don’t, no. My brother might have more insight, but I think you would be better off avoiding him. He is on a poetry kick lately and only speaks in rhyme.” She shudders, and we all grimace.
I groan. “We have already been on the wrong end of his poetry games.”
“Why are the animals not reacting to my presence anymore?” Greyson asks thoughtfully, looking around at all the cats watching us warily.
“I have calmed them so we can have a chat. I am the goddess of the hunt, after all, and big cats are some of my favorite hunters.” She pats the lion on his head, and he purrs.
Seriously? What the fuck.
“Do you know where we’re supposed to go to find the students?” I ask.
Adrian said I would find someone who could tell us where to go.
“You are on the right track, but I need your help before I give you a definitive answer.” Her eyes light up with mischief.
Dread fills my gut at her words, and I shuffle my feet anxiously. I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever she needs help with has to do with the lion nuzzling her palm.
“What do you need help with?” I hope she isn’t going to do what I think she is and put every human here in danger.
“Humans are such strange creatures,” she muses. “These beautiful beasts don’t belong in cages. They belong on the hunt with me.”
She shrugs nonchalantly.
“You want us to help you free all the animals?” I groan, looking at the others.
Jayden’s eyes widen, a denial on his lips.
Raven has an excited gleam in her eyes.
“Not all the animals, just my hunters.” Artemis rolls her eyes like I’m ridiculous, but this whole situation is ridiculous. “I just need a little tiny bit of electricity to short out the enclosures in the big cats’ area, and then you can go on your way, and I can get my babies out of these disgusting cages.”
“What about Greyson?” I ask. “His wolf makes them anxious, and they were trying to attack us when we first came through.”
The last thing we want to do is get chased by lions and other big cats in the crowded zoo and possibly hurt a ton of humans in the process.
Jayden grimaces, crossing his arms over his chest. “This is absolutely insane, Beth. You’re not really thinking about this, right?”
“We don’t have much choice,” Raven reminds him. “She knows where we need to go.”
She’s absolutely right, and I don’t want to get struck down for denying a fucking goddess.
Artemis’s eyes glimmer with something, but I can’t quite tell what it is.
Then she drops another bomb on us. “I’ll make sure they don’t hurt Greyson. He is one of my creations, after all.”
Greyson balks, taking a step forward. “You created shifters?”
“If you did, then why aren’t there any shifters in Greek history?” I ask.
“Millennia is such a long time to be alive. You clearly see that we are very much real. I have taken other names over the centuries and created all kinds of hunters in that time. Shifters are not a part of ancient Greek history because I created them after our time in Greece.”
