Volcanoes (8 page)

"I'm so sorry." I pull
ed him back and grabbed his chin so he'd look me in the eye. "I got overwhelmed and didn't juggle the right things. We're going to be stuck here for a while. Let's see if we can get back on the right track, okay?"

While I was talking to him my mind was whi
rling frantically. What had Drew been telling him? Did he tell him about Brandon's death? I needed to know but I was afraid to ask. The next time I saw that jerk, he was getting an earful. Yes, he was the biological father of my son, but he didn't get to
s
pew out information willy nilly without talking to me about it first.

He nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to stop trying to protect your feelings and you're going to do the same for me and actually tell me when I'm being a shitty parent, okay?"

"Yeah
–
oka
y.  But maybe I won't do it so much because Mom, you're kind of delicate."

I laughed and shook my head. "No, that's exactly when you need to tell me. You have to be honest. How are you doing with your Dad's death?"

"I'm confused," he said quietly, looking
back down at the ground. "I mean I know he wasn't my real father, but he was my Dad, you know? I'm going to miss him. Drew just isn't my Dad. I feel bad."

"No," I said shaking my head. "Drew is never going to be your Dad, baby. Brandon has that spot.  It's
okay to be confused and it's okay to hurt. Let's go hit the road and we'll stop and get some frozen yogurt after I buy some new pants,
‘
kay?"

He seemed to be struggling with some kind of internal debate before he finally nodded begrudgingly and followed m
e into the garage - where my SUV was nowhere in sight.

"Where the fuck is my car?" I yelled.

Dylan cringed and stepped back as if to avoid the fallout that was about to occur.

I swung around and marched past him back into the house - eyes narrowed, chest
heaving. I was about to go into a wicked snit and unfortunately the only people here to see it were my son…
and my mother.

The wind was swept out of my sails pretty quickly but I maintained a mutinous look, just in case she didn't realize from my outburst
that I was pissed off.

"I see that you're pissed off." She gently laid a small package on an entryway table and then faced me with a calm expression. What could I say to that?

"Yes," I said muttered. "My car is gone. I'm stuck here. I'm a little miffed a
bout it."

"Where did you want to go? I can take you," she immediately volunteered.

Well that just made me suspicious. I narrowed my eyes at her and asked, "Where is my car, Diana?"

Her eyes widened in feigned innocence. "Why I have no idea, dear. But I'm
more than happy to pop you to wherever you need to go."

"I don't believe you," I said shortly but grabbed a sweater anyway. "I need to go buy pants. These sweats just aren't cutting it."

"That sounds fantastic," She replied. "Where are we going? New York?
San Francisco? Paris, perhaps?"

Dylan and I looked at each other, eyes squinted in disbelief. "Uh, Chapel Hills mall works. I'm quite happy shopping at Macy's?"

Yes, that was left as a question. Growing up, Macy's was the swanky place to shop. So first off
, I was excited to even be able to shop there instead of the fat girl store and second, I was excited that I could
afford
to shop there.  I couldn't for the life of me imagine jaunting off to the fashion meccas for clothing. It just wasn't Grace Murphy.

"Y
ou don't want to go to the shopping capitals of the world?" She looked confused.

"Diana, do I look like I shop in Paris?" I slowly turned around, ending with a short dramatic bow.

"Not necessarily, no. But wouldn't you like to?" There was hope in her expre
ssion and while I didn't want to dash it, I certainly didn't want to give her the wrong impression of myself.

"Exactly. Like it or not. I'm a t-shirt and jeans girl. Maybe in another life, Mom."

"Oh," she replied shortly. She had the grace to look embarras
sed before grabbing each of our hands and teleporting us outside the door of Macy's where I nearly landed on one of the North End Soccer Moms.

"Pardon me," I said embarrassed as I righted the stunned woman.

"Where the hell did you come from?
Jesus!" she exclaimed before throwing me a dirty look and walking off to her trophy SUV. She looked like a Volvo to me.

I leaned into Dylan, "Volvo."

"Uh uh," he replied with a shake of his head. "She's definitely a Mercedes."

Sure enough, she walked rig
ht to a Mercedes and clicked her key fob, setting off the alarm instead of unlocking the door. I guess I
’
d knocked into her a little harder than I
’
d thought.

I pulled a five dollar bill out of my pocket and handed it over. "Damn, you're getting really goo
d at that."

Diana had stepped back to watch Dylan and I play the game. She shook her head. "I don't want to know what you're doing do I?"

"Nope," I grinned and opened the door, gesturing for her and my son to precede me into the mall.

I giggled as I passed
the duo and headed for the Misses department, ignoring Dylan as he told my mother of our stupid game anyway. I heard her gasp and cluck behind me and briefly I wondered where my sense of humor had come from. It couldn't have been her.

It took me all of t
en minutes to decide I didn't want any of the designer jeans to be had in the store.  I drug them with me instead to the Gap where I bought three pairs of jeans, a few shirts and some underwear for both myself
and
Dylan.

I
’
d been right. He'd grown like a
weed and none of the pants I'd gotten him for Christmas fit anymore. How could he be taller than me at only 12? At the rate he was growing, he'd turn into a freakin' giant and I'd have to start raising cattle just to keep his appetite sated. 

Laden with b
ags, we wandered up to the food court where I convinced the kid that we didn't need frozen yogurt, we needed Orange Julius.

"I knew Emperor Julius Caesar you know," my mother started casually, as she took a sip of her orange drink.

"Shut the front door!"
That was the kid. Unfortunately, this was the first he'd been able to spend time with his grandmother. He was finding out that she was cooler than he
’
d expected.

"A-ha!" I exclaimed. "Looks like you don't have a reason to get bad grades in History anymor
e. You have someone who's lived through it all." I hid a grin behind my straw as he sputtered and she puffed up with the indignity of being called ancient.

Well, she
was
ancient.

There was a part of me that was reveling in this
normalcy. Normal people went to the mall and I hadn't done anything so mundane in what felt like forever. I wanted to browse more, but Diana shook her head with a look that said she understood.

"We need to get back to your house, kiddo. As it is, you've b
een out here exposed too long."

"What do you mean
‘
exposed too long
’
?"

She grabbed my hand firmly and said, "Let's go."

Before I could blink, we were back in my kitchen. Bags dropped to the floor and I spun around, disoriented.

"What? We're not answering
Grace Questions now?"

"Dylan," my mother started, "Did you have teleportation classes today or is that tomorrow?"

"Today, Ma'am."

"Call me Grandma. I'm going to take you to Olympus for that. Either Hephaestus or Adonis will bring you home. All right?"

"Wai
t!" I interrupted. "We haven't eaten lunch. I should feed him before you head out."

"Yes, Grandma." He looked at me, confused, and I widened my eyes letting him know that I had no idea either.

"He can grab food up there. It's probably better than the PB&J
you had planned for him anyway."

"I had planned on feeding him at the mall," I began, but she was gone and back before I could get the rest of my sentence out.

"Sorry about that." She adjusted her shirt and walked over to the fridge to get something to d
rink.

"Okay, spill. First my car is gone and now I can't be out and about too long? What's going on?"

She took a deep breath and led me into the living room. "We have been trying to figure out how they were able to get past the wards Zachary set on your ho
use. No one who wished you harm should have been able to get past your front yard."

She looked grim and the hair on the back of my neck started to tingle. Human beings have built in defenses and warning systems that go back to the dawn of time when they w
ere preyed upon by the nasties that hid in the dark. There is a reason we feel uneasy when we're alone in the dark - there are things in there that are just waiting for us to let our guard down.

She was about to give me some really bad news.  I could lite
rally feel it.

"Zachary was badly hurt in the battle and all of the wards that he's been maintaining have fallen."

I shot off the couch and gaped at her in disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me? Why didn't anyone tell me that Zeus was hurt?" I began looki
ng around for something
–
anything that would get me to his side.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Now," I said shortly.

She shook her head and gently pulled her hand from mine. "Grace there's nothing that you can do that I haven't already done. It
's time to let him rest now. Besides, would you have been able to handle that news, in addition to Brandon
’
s death?"

I hesitated and she continued, "I thought not. Listen," she pushed me back down into the chair again. "He fell trying to save Posy."

I grim
aced. "I take it she didn't come home?"

Diana solemnly shook her head. "I'm afraid she did not. She's still under their control. At least now we know why they took her."

"They needed a water power to get to Nyx?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but Posy isn't strong en
ough to get through the wards and the traps her father set at that depth."

"Well thank goodness for that," I said and sat back in the chair. To me Zeus was an invincible being I found both scary and comforting. The thought of him vulnerable and hurt rocked
my entire being. If he could fall, any of us were fair game. Suddenly I was terrified and grateful that Diana had brought us home and that they'd done away with my car. I wasn't going to step foot outside of the house for as long as I lived.

"Listen," she grabbed my hand and squeezed. "You can't live in fear. We just need to be cautious. I reset your wards so the house is safe, but that's all I can guarantee right now. Until we can hunt down and get rid of Hypnos and Nyx, we're all on alert."

"Understood." I sat down heavily and put my head between my knees. What was the saying?
‘
Put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye.
’
  That was it, right?  It felt entirely appropriate.

"Grace, are you over-reacting?" I could have laughed b
ecause she sounded so much like a mom.

I sat up too quickly, and was left feeling light-headed. "Nope. Not me. Never me."

"Riiiiight," she drawled.

"It's how I deal. I am probably going to be a little dramatic about it until I can get a grasp on how to..
. Shit, I don't know. How to do
something
. Mom, I'm at a complete loss right now."

She gasped and her eyes widened before her smile spread across her face. "Did you just call me Mom?"

She was up and out of her chair folding me into a hug before I could re
spond. I grunted from the pressure of the squeeze. Honestly, I hadn't thought before I spoke. I spent a lot of time resenting her abandonment but she was doing a lot to keep me alive and she
did
love me. It didn't cost me much to call her mom. I made a men
tal note to start using it more often.

"Uh
–
yeah?" I returned the hug and tried to remember what I
’
d been talking about before the squishy mushy emotional moment. Never mind. It didn't matter.

From here on I was going to be a better Hunter, mother and da
ughter. I wouldn't have time to be a drama queen. Right? Yeah, right.

I rolled my eyes at myself and my mother threw me a confused look. "Uh, internal argument," I said.

"Right. Okay, then. I have a few matters to attend to that have been neglected in my
absence.  Also, I need to set up a war room. I'll send Dylan back to you as soon as he's finished." She turned toward the kitchen, deep in thought. Then she muttered, "We gotta get that kid teleporting as soon as possible. We need Drew and Heph in Olymp
—
"

She stopped and turned toward me with a guilty look. "Listen, kid. I need you to come back to Olympus. We don't have the resources to keep Drew and Heph here babysitting you while you pull yourself together."

"N-" I didn't get the full word out before she
cut me off.

"No, you don't tell me no. You don't give me excuses. For once, just do what I ask you to do without arguing or getting stubborn. I need those two and I cannot use them if they are here with you."

Would they ever learn? I was
not
an unselfish
creature. I was
selfish
. I was stubborn.  When backed into a corner I freakin' lashed out. It wasn't a conscious thing, I just reacted. If someone said, 'Hey Grace do you
mean
to be a complete asshole?', surely I would say no. Surely.

This time I would b
e reasonable. I wouldn't be a jerk. "No."

"What do you mean no?" she asked. "Are you saying no to me? People don't say no to me." Her eyes bored into me with a piercing stare that would have scared a smarter woman.

Hey, I never claimed to be smart. "Yes."

"Yes? You're coming back with me?"

"No," I replied.

"
‘
No,
’
what?" She was starting to look confused and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning. I was grateful that Drew or Heph weren't here. They were onto this game.

"No. I'm not coming with
you." I said it as calmly as I could. See, I was reasonable.

She lifted an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Yes, you
are
coming with me. I don't have to give you a choice."

"Yes you do."

"No
–
I don't."

I shrugged. "You can't take me against my will, Dian
a."

She flinched and I felt guilty. But I couldn
’
t allow them to dictate where I lived. Then she smiled and I went from feeling smug to feeling very nervous.

"You're right. However, I
can
keep Dylan in Olympus. As my grandson, I have every right to make sure he's safe."

"Only if he wants to stay there," I responded as coolly as I could, but I was certain she could hear my heart pounding. What if Dylan
wanted
to stay there? What if I lost m
y son?

"Hmm, interesting." She nodded and then disappeared.

"Fuck my life," I whispered.

Did this mean I was now on my own? I thought about what being truly alone would mean. I wasn't completely defenseless, was I? I mean I still had some training that I
could lean back on. Sure I didn
’
t have the ability to teleport to safety, or any extra strength, orrrr powers
–
but damn it, I wasn't going to live in fear.

I stood tall and took a deep breath. Yep. I could do this. Right after I answered my ringing phon
e.

It was Marisol's ringtone and I smiled. Thank God
–
finally some normalcy in my life. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I was actually looking forward to talking to my agent.

"Hello, you gorgeous thing," I chirped.

"Grace?" She sound
ed confused.  I grinned.

"Who else would be answering my phone?"

"Oh, well normally you're not so happy to hear from me. This is odd. You've been damned cheery lately. It's disconcerting. I can't say that I like it," she ended with a snort.

"Did you just
snort at me, Marisol? Your bestest client ever?"

"My bestest client who hasn't written a word for me in three months. What happened to that follow up to your first book? Did you start it? Better yet, darling
–
did you finish it?"