Page 94 of Zeus' Spark
Men are weird.
“Okay, then,” Ares says. “As long as we are clear on that. Follow me. I come bearing gifts.”
He doesn’t give us the option to follow. We are suddenly in a vortex, spinning through time and space and then land.
My stomach roils.
“What the hell?” I groan.
“Sorry, I sometimes forget that god travel isn’t good for mortals.” He shrugs.
Jayden grumbles something, and I realize that he’s beneath me with my elbow in his gut.
“Oof, sorry.” I scramble off of him.
His hands don’t leave me until the last second when I’m standing up. He looks disappointed but lets it go thankfully.
We are in some kind of hotel room with a single king bed that has an Elvis theme. A painting of his guitar hangs on the wall above a plywood dresser.
“What gifts?” Raven says, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.
She wants her weapons. She wants them when she’s excited or anxious or…always, really.
“Enchanted weapons, of course.” He grins. “Hephaestus made these specifically for you all.”
“He did?” I ask, a little shocked.
“Yup, your dad is proud of how far you all have come, but the road is even more dangerous going forward, and we decided that this wasn’t too much interference. The fates agreed.” Ares grins.
His words warm me, but a pang still goes through me because my father didn’t come here himself.
“That’s amazing.” I try to stay upbeat, but the sadness bleeds through my voice.
A warm palm rubs my lower back, offering comfort, and even though it’s Jayden, I don’t move away this time.
I need the comfort.
“Hey, little sis. He would come if he could,” Ares says, patting my shoulder. “Okay, weapons. Wolf boy, you don’t get one because you don’t have god blood in your veins, and it would weaken your wolf.”
Greyson nods, but there’s anger in his eyes, likely at the name wolf boy.
He hates it when people call him that.
“Yes, sir,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Just kidding. Hephaestus made these out of steel, not celestial metals. They go on your knuckles.” Ares tosses two pairs of brass knuckles to Greyson who catches them and puts them on his hands.
“What’s this button do?” Greyson asks, turning his hands over. A gold button shows in the middle of the brass knuckles, and when Greyson pushes the button, metal claws spring out of them. “Fucking cool. It’s like Wolverine.”
“If you have them on when you shift, they are enchanted to grow with your paws, so you will still be able to use them,” Ares tells him, grinning.
“Thank you. These are awesome. I’m never taking them off.” Greyson stares down at the metal claws in wonder.
Boys and their toys.
All you have to do to make them forget you just insulted them is give them shiny weapons.
I shake my head.
