The Goddess Legacy: The Goddess Queen\The Lovestruck Goddess\Goddess of the Underworld\God of Thieves\God of Darkness (Harlequin Teen) (28 page)

So I kept walking. The forest grew dim as the sun dipped below
the horizon, and owls began to call to one another. Most mortals feared night,
but I loved it. Quiet, dark, gave me time to think, and nothing seemed as bad as
it did when the sun was out. I relaxed soon enough, letting my anger drain away,
replaced by determination. I would figure this out, my family would accept me
again and no one else would fade. I’d be a hero, and not even Hades would be
able to treat me like the villain anymore. Everything would go back to normal,
and that’s all I wanted. To act like none of this Persephone drama had ever
happened.

Soon enough, I stumbled onto a trail. It wasn’t much—mostly a
path that looked wide enough to fit a horse, but that was about it. It looked
well traveled though, and that tug in my stomach grew stronger with each step.
Maybe all of this self-loathing had thrown my powers out of whack. I didn’t see
how the secret to our immortal existence could possibly be hidden here.

But I had to find whatever it was that pulled me in this
direction. Whether or not my inner compass was broken, something was going on in
these trees, and I needed a bit of fun right about now.

I’d been on the trail for five minutes when I heard it—a faint
crackle, as if someone with loads of experience sneaking up on people was
walking on dead leaves. Excellent. Things were about to get interesting.

The first one appeared seconds later. He couldn’t have been
older than nine, and he cried out at the top of his lungs as he ran toward me,
brandishing a stick like a sword. I stopped, bemused. Did he really think he
could hurt me?

To my surprise, he skidded to a stop a few feet away, his eyes
wide. “What’re you gonna do, just stand there and stare?”

“Was there something else you wanted me to do?” I said. Another
set of footsteps behind me; a third pair to my left, and a fourth to my right.
It didn’t take an idiot to figure out I was being ambushed. By children,
apparently.

“Yeah,” he said, puffing out his chest. “Hand over your
things.”

“What things?” I held out my arms. I wore a simple tunic, not
unlike the one he had on, and a pair of trousers. Judging by the style, I was
in…England. Probably. “My clothes?”

“Your valuables,” said a second voice to my left, deeper than
the first. “Jewelry. Food.”

“Does it look like I have any on me?”

“Then where did you set up camp?”

“Nowhere.” At least that was the truth, even if the look on the
first boy’s face told me he didn’t believe it. “I’m just walking.”

“Where?” said the same deep voice.

“Well, that’s none of your business, isn’t it?”

“We just made it our business.”

The thief behind me shoved me hard, and I landed at the first
boy’s feet. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I said calmly, making no move to
stand. They’d just push me down again anyway.

The second boy’s answer was a swift kick to my ribs. Perfect.
Now I was going to have to either fight or run like hell, and I wasn’t in the
mood to take off like that.

Instead I fell over as any mortal would, clutching my ribs
halfheartedly. It wasn’t much of a ruse, but the second boy continued to kick
me, while the first screeched, “Your gold or your life!”

Good grief. Talk about overkill. “Since—I don’t have any
gold—guess it’ll be my life,” I said between kicks. Wasn’t doing that great of a
job imitating wheezing, but I didn’t care too much right now.

Behind the second boy, a third joined, this one much bigger
than the other two. He had a baby face though, and he held his weight awkwardly,
as if he wasn’t used to being so large. Even though he had to be the strongest,
he didn’t join in, and I liked him instantly. Unless he was the brains of the
operation, but he didn’t hold himself like an authority figure, either.

The second boy knelt down in the dirt and began to pummel me,
and I sighed inwardly. They really weren’t going to give it up, were they?

“Stop.”

A fourth person, and a voice that was definitely not male. I
raised an eyebrow, and despite the beating I was supposedly enduring, I lifted
my head. A girl around seventeen stepped onto the trail, wearing the same tunic
as the boys. But unlike them, her bright blue eyes sparkled with intelligence
and cunning, and as the second boy reluctantly stopped hitting me, she began to
circle us.

“Notice anything unusual, Sprout?” she said, and the hitter
pulled back enough to eye me.

“He’s not bleedin’. They always bleed when I get to ’em.”

“The small ones, anyway,” said the leader, and she bent down.
“Why aren’t you bleeding?”

I sat up. She was pretty for a mortal, even with dirt smudged
on her cheek and her black hair pulled back into a braid. But pretty didn’t mean
much when she was the sort to sic her goons on unsuspecting travelers,
especially when they weren’t carrying anything of value.

Then again, she had stopped him, so there was that. Though had
I been mortal, I would’ve been unconscious for sure by now.

“My secret,” I said. “Mind if I go?”

“Not yet.” She leaned toward me, scrunching her nose. “You
don’t smell bad, either. And you’re clean.”

“Is that a crime?” I said.

“No, but it means you’re not what you look like,” she said.
“Where are you going? Tell me, or I’ll let Mac have a go at you.”

The big guy with the baby face cracked his knuckles. Mac, then.
“I don’t know where I’m going,” I said. “That’s the truth. I don’t even know
where this path leads.”

“So you’re a drifter,” she said. “Fair enough. But where are
your things?”

“I live off the land. I figure if humans did it for ages before
us, I can, too.”

“But no tools? No water pouches?”

I shrugged. “I have good luck.”

The girl leaned toward me, her face an inch from mine. The tug
in the pit of my stomach urged me forward, almost painfully insistent. I had to
get going before anyone else disappeared.

Before I could move, however, the girl touched my chin. A
familiar sizzle jolted through me, and as it always did when I found what I was
looking for, that tug instantly vanished.

She
was the answer? Now I was damn
sure my powers were messed up. She probably couldn’t even read—had likely never
held a book in her life. And she certainly didn’t have the secret to our
eternity locked in her head. That just wasn’t something a single mortal could
know.

But I stayed put, allowing her to tilt my head from one side to
the other as she examined me. She was entrancing. No surprise that she’d managed
to rope three boys into doing her bidding. And not everything was what it
seemed. Maybe there was something special about her. Maybe she was one of Zeus’s
many bastards. The possibilities were endless, and as I stared at her, I gave
her a grin. Whatever it was I was looking for could wait a little while
longer.

“You really aren’t hurt at all,” she said, stunned, and she
stood abruptly, exchanging looks with the three boys. I expected amusement or
curiosity, but all I saw was fear. “All right, so—you can go, then,”

I stood, brushing off my tunic. “Finally decided I don’t have
anything worth stealing, did you?”

“Just go,” she said, paling as she took a step away from me.
“Before I change my mind.”

That was a new one. Usually mortals didn’t try to push me away.
Even when I didn’t admit who I was, there was a natural connection between gods
and mortals. Sort of like the food chain. We’re dependent on them, they’re
dependent on us—

So why were we dying off when they were still here?

As the girl started down the trail, flanked by her three
henchmen, my stomach grew hollow. I’d known her for all of two minutes, and
seeing her walk away made me ache. So maybe my powers weren’t completely out of
whack. Maybe she did know something.

“Wait,” I called, trotting toward them. “Could I join you?”

“No,” she said flatly without turning around. “We have trouble
finding enough food for all of us as it is.”

“I can get my own,” I said. “Hell, I can get yours, too.”

Her steps grew uneven, as if something was holding her back. “I
don’t believe you.”

“Then let me prove it.” I nodded to the trail. “Meet me back
here in ten minutes.”

“You can get enough food to feed all five of us in ten
minutes?” She turned to face me, smirking now, though there was still a hint of
fear in her eyes. “All right, we’ll wait. And if you don’t show up with enough
to feed us, then we’re leaving, and you’re on your own. And we take whatever
food you do bring.”

“Deal.” I gave her a slight bow. “Don’t move.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

She sounded confident enough, but one wrong move, and I knew
she’d be gone. So I walked into the woods with as much purpose as I could
muster. If robbery was a matter of survival for them, then no wonder they were
practically drooling at the thought of a full meal. From the looks of the
youngest kid, they’d probably been hungry for most of their lives.

Once I was completely out of sight and earshot, I created five
dead rabbits and three quail, along with a pouch full of berries. She already
knew something wasn’t right about me, so no harm in exacerbating it. With luck
she’d be willing to excuse it if it meant her belly was full.

“Dinner,” I called as I stepped back onto the trail. “Couldn’t
find any greens, but I figured you’ve all had enough of…”

I trailed off. The path was empty. Was this the right spot? Of
course it was. I never got lost. Where the hell were they?

I sighed. I could take off. Figure out another way to find this
solution. The universe had a sense of humor sometimes, sure, but that didn’t
mean I had to put up with it. There had to be a better way.

As soon as I closed my eyes, however, a bolt of lightning lit
up the sky, followed by the dangerous clash of thunder. Perfect. If Zeus knew I
was here, it’d only be a matter of time before he found me. He didn’t have my
abilities, but he
was
Zeus.

I took off as fast as I could without dropping the game. No
idea where I was going—I just ran. The deeper into the woods I was, the less
chance Zeus would have of spotting me, and right now I really did not want to go
back to Olympus.

I stumbled across their camp without realizing that’s where I’d
been heading the whole time. The four of them sat around a pitiful fire, and
though they’d been talking in low voices before, the moment I appeared, they all
fell silent. The little kid—the one who’d stopped me on the trail—fell off his
stump.

“Devil be gone!” he cried, while the girl stood abruptly.

“What are you doing here? How did you find us? And what—” Her
eyes narrowed. “What is all that?”

“This?” I held up the game. “Your dinner. Or it would’ve been
if you hadn’t ditched me.”

Her eyes went huge, and she moved toward me, holding out her
hand. I stepped back.

“Nope,” I said. “Not until you let me join you.”

“We’re full up, sorry,” she said, making another grab for the
food, but I shifted away from her.

“Then it looks like I’m going to be gorging on rabbit and quail
tonight.”

“C’mon, Tuck,” said the boy. “Just for tonight. I’m really
hungry.”

“Please, Tuck,” said Sprout, whose hands were wrapped in cloth.
Apparently someone had been injured in our little fight, after all. “We’re
starving.”

The girl—Tuck, I assumed—scowled. “Fine. One night.”

The two boys erupted in cheers, while Mac grinned on the other
side of the fire. I offered her the string of rabbits, and she snatched it from
me. “Thank you,” I said.

“Don’t thank me. You’re gone by morning.”

“And what if I don’t want to leave?”

“Then we’ll just ditch you again. Mac, here.” She handed the
rabbits to him, and Sprout leaped forward to take the quail from me, too.
“Perry, do something about this fire. It’s pathetic.”

The little boy darted forward to tend to the flames, and I made
myself comfortable on a log. After Perry spent a few minutes unsuccessfully
poking the embers with a stick, I
encouraged
the
fire to burn a little warmer. No harm in helping out. They didn’t need to
know.

When the flames grew without any real help from Perry, however,
Tuck gave me a look. I returned it with a vague smile. She might’ve suspected,
but after the way she’d run away, I wasn’t about to give up my secrets. Not
until she gave up hers.

Soon enough, a delicious scent wafted through the air, and even
my mouth started to water. I’d used my powers too much today—I needed food, and
I needed sleep. Desperately. Rabbit and quail weren’t usually my thing, but
they’d have to do tonight.

Mac offered the first rabbit to Tuck, who waited until we all
had one before she started to eat. Polite to her own, at least, even if she
couldn’t spare some of that grace for me.

“So how do you all know each other?” I said. They were all so
engrossed in eating their rabbits that for a moment, no one spoke. At last Tuck
stuck a bone in her mouth, sucking off the juices.

“Luck,” she said. “Our parents were killed in the war, so we
all banded together. Only way we can survive.”

“Doesn’t seem like you’re doing a great job of it,” I said, and
the moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. Stupid, stupid, stupid
thing to say, insulting her like that in front of everyone, and I quickly added,
“I mean—can’t be that easy, living in the woods by yourself.”

Tuck’s expression hardened, and she threw the bone into the
fire. “We can’t all be a hunting prodigy like you,” she muttered, refusing to
look at me. Didn’t blame her. Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut for once?

“Tuck’s brilliant,” said Perry through a mouthful of rabbit.
“She’s the smartest person I know.”

“That’s because the only other people you know are Sprout and
Mac,” said Tuck, but she blushed at the compliment anyway.