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4

HERMES

I have kept my head down for the last two days as I tried to keep the progress slow, but things were not exactly on my side. It was hard to throw wrenches into the building of the structure when Harry and Medea were always on site. Harry was all bark and no bite, and he seemed more out of sorts than normal. It was hard to put my finger on why, but I was sure it had something to do with the witch in our midst.

“There’s something about that woman that makes my skin crawl,” Petey whispered as he pulled off his goggles. “I think that will hold. We were lucky that the metal hadn’t bent and become unsafe. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“Magic, Petey. I suppose it’s just magic.”

It was. I could feel the power that the structure was imbued with as it permeated the air around it. It almost had a smell of rotten eggs. In my experience, the grosser the smell, the stronger the magic used. Whatever this thing was supposed to be scared me. I just needed to find out what it was. Without that knowledge, Medea would just finish her plans another way. Her anger made her a very ferocious foe, and it always had. She had been creating havoc for the gods as soon as she became a minor deity herself. Her hate for us fueled her.

Like I said, we did deserve it. We kept fucking with her and all of the other demigods. We made sure to send Jason, one of the greatest of Zeus’ children to her even though we knew what a little shit he was. She helped him steal her father’s golden fleece, and in a moment of stupidity, he married her. Jason was not one to stay faithful, and when she found out about his infidelities, she slayed her children and anyone else she could get her hands on in a moment of madness. Of course, Olympus had our hands all over the drama as my more annoying brothers and sisters egged the situation on. We were bored and needed the gossip.

I liked to think we were better now than we were then. Living amongst humans had been good for most of us. Humanity was no longer our plaything. Now, we understood in a way we never had from up on high. Olympus was a ruin, and we had done nothing to help ourselves. We were reaping what we had sown thousands of years ago, weren’t we? Maybe our time had truly passed?

“This is looking strong again.” Medea’s voice made my skin crawl. I glanced up from my crouch to find her standing above us with Harry in tow. Her black silk dress caught in the breeze. She ran her hands over the new bolts, and I could feel her magic flowing into them. “Our saboteur will not be able to catch us off guard again.”

“Seems like it will hold.” I ran my hands through my stringy hair.

“It will. I’m not pleased that this set back the build for almost two days.”

“We needed to inspect the integrity of the structure. I thought it might be a week. We were lucky.” I shook my head as if I were as annoyed as they were.

“It is strong – trust me.”

“No offense, but this is what I do. The lives of these men are in my hands, and I was not going to restart the project until we were sure it would hold.” I had very little pull at The Truth, but for this project, I was the best that they had. Denny had been a builder, and now I was too.

“I think it’s time that you remember your place. Right, Harry?”

“Yes, of course, madame.” He nodded and stared at the ground.

I stood up and stepped towards them. “If you want me to walk off and find a new place within The Truth, I’ll be happy to turn this over to someone else. But I don’t think there is anyone here with my years of expertise.” That was true. I had thousands of years under my belt. But I needed to stay here so I could learn the truth of what this obscene metal monstrosity was. Hopefully, they wouldn’t call my bluff.

“You know there’s no one else, Denny,” Harry whined. “We’re just in a hurry to finish the project in time.”

“It has to be done by the next full moon. I’m tired of setbacks and the problems that you find. Do you understand me?” Her voice carried the threat quite well enough that if I really were Denny, even that moron would have understood, and he was an idiot.

“Got it. We can only do our best.” I nodded as if she hadn’t just threatened me.

“Oh, I think you can do better than that, don’t you?” Something pushed at me. That’s the only way to describe it. The air hardened around me, and her power crept around my godly skin. She wasn’t here only to inspect the building; she was checking on us, too. Maybe she thought she could find out who was responsible for the sabotage. Maybe it was something more?

I went rigid and smiled at them as I wiped the sweat off my brow. I tried to act like I felt nothing as she explored me and probably Petey, too. I could feel her dark magic as it pushed against me. The top of my head felt like a vice was trying to squeeze my head so hard that it would burst.

“I understand,” Petey said flatly.

Mind control? Was that what was happening? Is that what had been happening all along? I had to play along.

“Understood,” I said, making my voice as boring as possible.

Medea smiled. Her white teeth almost looked like a snarl as her black eyes spun with power.

“Good. I will expect this to be done by the full moon. The cold moon is an important time for The Truth, and we must not miss our opportunity. It only comes once a year.”

The date was important. What was that date? The next full moon? What significance did it have? I was not very smart when it came to magic. I would have to find someone else who could give me what information I needed, but there were few magic users that I could trust. The only one I could trust to not be in league with Medea was someone older than myself, and they were difficult at their best. Egyptian gods were always on edge, but they would have no love for Medea. Of course, they would have to agree to see me. That could be difficult. Nepthys was like a bored millennial who was too stoned to care most of the time.

“Denny, you’re… I find very few humans like you. You’re so hard to read. It doesn’t matter; none of you will remember this when we’re done. I’ll make sure of that. Humans are so… easy to manipulate. I’ve always found it to be the lesser of you that have some kind of natural protection from magic. Your god made you stupid, and with that came some form of self-defense that you don’t even know you have.” She clicked her teeth together.

I felt her magic swirl around me. I stopped my hands from clenching as I stood there, trying to suppress my fear. I was a capital G God, but her power was not something that I could protect myself from if she unleashed it. She was my equal in every way. I could feel the strength of her pushing past all my defenses. If she discovered who I was, I would be doomed, and there would be nothing I could do to stop her except to flee.

Her magic subsided, and I could feel it withdrawing back into her. I stood there stupidly as if I had no knowledge of what had been happening, hoping that it was the right play. It was hard to think on your feet when you were many millenniums old.

“My charms protect this place, but I am sure that one of you is not who you say you are. It’s the only thing that makes sense. A powerful being pulled those bolts out. I’ve foreseen that I shall be tested by the most powerful of you. But the future is hazy… I will know when an elder being comes into this place. But none of you are them. Sad… I was hoping to watch your ichor flow from your body as it powered my machine’s magic.” She flicked her wrist, and Harry and Petey both came back to their senses. I pretended the same thing.

“Like I said,” I puffed my chest out. “We will do our best to meet the deadline, but it’s going to be incredibly difficult. Hell, the materials alone are almost impossible to get this quickly.”

“I am sure you will figure it out.” She sneered.

“It sure would help to know the next steps in advance. This one-level-at-a-time bullshit only makes it harder to plan for. If I could see the entire design instead of level by level, it would help us to plan so we could go faster.”

“I think we could,” Harry started, and Medea put her hand on his shoulder.

How had I never noticed this before? She was in charge – not Harry. He was a mere puppet for what she intended. She was the orchestrator of all that was happening. All of a sudden, it made much more sense. It also made it much scarier.

“I think you forget your place here, Denny. You’re a builder, and I have the plan up here,” Harry pointed to his head. “Just do what I’m telling you, ok? There’s a good reason for all the secrecy, and I…” His eyes went blank.

“Exactly. Your leader is tired. We have to retire so he can get some rest.” Medea grinned, and I felt the cold chill of her power creep up my spine.

“It’s not helping the build to keep the plans from us. All this building layer upon layer is slow and taxing when we have to go back and fix things we should have known in advance. Why all the secrecy over this monstrosity?” I hoped I didn’t overplay my hand, but I didn’t get this chance very often. I had to take it.

“You know what you need to know,” Medea snapped.

“It’s not safe to build this way. Think of your followers, Harry. If we could see the finished plans, we could ensure this structure can support the layers you’ve planned. What if it collapses? What if it can’t support itself because of all the secrecy? It’s dangerous to all of us working on it.” I begged.

“It thrums with the power it’s supposed to. It will keep itself intact. Each layer creates the bridge we need to fulfill our destiny and to unmask our foes,” Medea spat.

Petey gasped.

Medea raised her hand, and I could feel her power trying to grasp into my mind. She had lost herself and spoke things she didn’t mean to speak out loud.

Petey’s eyes went blank, and his face went slack, as did Harry’s. I pretended the same thing.

“I hate this place and everyone in it,” Medea sighed. Her hand lowered, and she smiled at us. “Do we know what we’re doing? Harry is tired. If you need us…”

They turned and started to walk away. Harry seemed unsure of his footing, and Medea steadied him. He was definitely not in charge of The Truth. He was merely the figurehead that Medea had created, and I was unsure how I had never seen it before. Maybe she was slipping? I had more information, at least. She was growing wild and chaotic – which was her normal nature, but now she was showing it in public. Wielding her power in front of us and then making us forget. Whatever it was, I knew that I was in danger, as well as every other magical being in the world.

What was her play? Unmasking the community was unmasking herself unless the end of the world was what she wanted.

“I guess we need to get back to work. To stay on schedule, we’re going to have to work through the night.” Petey turned and walked back to the metal structure.

I was not the god who should be going up against Medea. I wasn’t fit for it. I was a trickster, a fuck up of a God who preferred fun and revelry instead of subterfuge and the end of the world. I liked the world.

I hated magic.

I really hated magic. It was tricky, and yes, I know that I am one of the greatest trickster Gods who ever lived, but this was much more in Loki’s wheelhouse than mine. He was the reason I was here, but I was starting to think I was not the guy for the job. Magic was iffy.

One moment, you’re a man trying to seduce someone at the local pub, and the next thing you know, you’ve been turned into a hamster. People are about to step on you and crush you to death, and all you can do is scurry around in a circle. That was from personal experience, and I didn’t want to get turned into a hamster again.

There were better gods for the job.

Athena was great at this, but she’s not around and is impossible to find. She leaves you on read whenever you message her. She’s always been a bad big sister. Most of my siblings were. Apollo was the only one who was actually present and not an asshole.

Maybe I should get in touch with him or Eros. They knew how to contact me if they found out anything. But for now, I would have to settle with sneaking away somehow and finding Nephtys – the Dark Raven. They were the only one who might understand what was happening.

Medea’s magic didn’t unmask me. It should have. Why was I still here and not dead? She had the ability, but her magic didn’t have any power over me. My disguise was still in place, and I couldn’t figure out why.

This place was imbued with her spells. They were on the lookout and protecting this place from the person who was trying to sabotage their project. That was me. How? How was I immune?

Or was I? Did she know? Was I somehow a part of her long game, and I was being played?

All I had were questions and fears.

Nepthys, the Dark Raven, would hopefully have the answers.