If I thought I would find peace in the marble halls of Olympus, I was sorely mistaken.

The moment my feet touched the tiles, my brother was shouting for me.

“Ares!” I smothered a groan as Hermes bounded towards me with a grin plastered over his smug face. A small child clung to his tunic, a boy with a sticky face and my uncle Poseidon’s stoic look about him. “You have been away too long, Brother,” he said. Just the sound of his voice made me want to punch a hole in the column beside me.

“Have I,” I grumbled. It wasn’t a question. I didn’t care. I hadn’t come here to trade pleasantries.

     “You have indeed. You have missed so much it seems almost a crime not to tell you everything.”

       I grimaced and set my eyes upon the child. “A new god of the sea?” I was assuming, but the shifting colors of the oceans that reflected in the child’s eyes told me I was right.

      “The Maelstrom, actually,” Hermes replied casually. “Apollo is never wrong when he makes these decisions. Hali looks quiet, but he can throw a tantrum like no other.”

      This was already growing tiresome. “I need to see Hades,” I said stiffly.

“Ares, these children want to know you. And if our father were here you know he would insist.”

I could feel my lip curling into the signature sneer that was so often depicted in artwork and had even been carved into a colossal statue that had been lost to the ages. I turned my eyes on the child in my brother’s arms. It wasn’t his fault he was here, no more than it was Cayden’s fault that every time I looked at him my heart ached for his father. “Of course he would.” The child reached for me and snagged the edge of my tunic with his little fingers. I gently brushed them away and felt a little of my edge begin to soften. “Perhaps later,” I said reluctantly.

“Hades isn’t here, Brother. He and Gideon have disappeared somewhere together. Their child is due to be born soon…”

Anger flared in my chest. I needed Hades to open the Asphodel for me. No Hades, no Julio… and if I couldn’t see him, there was no reason for me to be here. “Is everyone going to neglect their duties now?” I snapped.   

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hermes asked with a raised eyebrow. He shifted the child in his arms and stared at me meaningfully.

“It means exactly what you think it means. Everyone is playing house on Olympus while the world moves on without you. Are you the divine nursemaid now, Brother?” I asked snidely. I wanted to hurt his feelings, but Hermes, insufferable as ever, just smiled at me and tickled the baby in his arms. The boy squealed happily and I suddenly remembered how Cayden had been at that age.

“Hermes, Brooke is asking for Hali.” A voice I didn’t recognize echoed through the room and by the change in my brother’s expression I could only guess that his own spark had emerged from the nursery. The tall young man was lean and athletic, and his skin glowed with his health and divinity. Another conquest for Olympus. The mortal’s pregnancy was far advanced, and I could imagine how pleased my brother must be with himself.

“Noah, this is my brother Ares, God of War,” he said as he handed the child into the mortal’s outstretched arms.

Noah’s eyes flickered over me, and I felt a smile creep over my lips as I remembered how wanton Julio had been at the later stage of his pregnancy, but that memory quickly turned into a bolt of pain as I remembered how quickly he had faded away from me. I gritted my teeth as Noah smiled at me.

“My brother doesn’t say much,” Hermes said quickly, as though he could explain away the awkwardness of the interaction so easily. How could he know how much it pained me to be on Olympus? I’d never tell him, either. The last thing I wanted from any of my brothers, my uncles, and especially my father, was pity. And that was all I would get if they knew the truth.

“God of war?” Noah said thoughtfully, “You’ve been busy.”

I shrugged.

Hermes was quick to interject, “Don’t blame him, he hasn’t taken responsibility for a battle since Teutoberger, and even that was a hard sell because there were some other deities involved. Did you lose a bet, Brother? I can’t remember how that all worked out in the end.”

My hands clenched into fists as I glared at the Messenger of the Gods. I remembered that day, and that battle, and that argument, very well. Thor had won the bet, and the Germanic armies, the battle.

“Look, I’d love to stay and reminisce,” Noah interrupted, “But your children are heavy, and I have to take Hali back to Brooke.” He shifted the boy in his arms and balanced him on the firm roundness of his belly. “It was, interesting, to meet you Ares,” he said.

“Twins,” Hermes said proudly as Noah half-walked, half-waddled away down the corridor. Little Hali was draped over his shoulder, and the boy waved to us as they went. “I know you hate this question, Brother, but when will it be your turn? I daresay Olympus will crack in two out of sheer surprise to see you with a child on your hip. Let’s just hope he doesn’t inherit your sour expressions. I don’t know what I’d do if there were two of you on Olympus,” he laughed. I was aware that my brother was teasing me, but being here, and listening to him talk had turned my mood for the worst.

“Do you ever stop talking?” I snapped.

“No one’s ever asked.”

I fixed my brother with a white-hot glare and willed myself back to Samothrace. I was tired of this bullshit. Of this never-ending harassment about my spark and the prophecy… I’d had enough of everything.

Meeting Niko had spun everything out of control, and I didn’t know how to manage anything that was going on in my head, or in my heart.

The warm, green grass materialized beneath my feet and the salt-laden breeze stung my nostrils as my heart began to beat normally again. I was home, and my son would run out from the trees to greet me and Thero would shake her head and sigh, knowing I’d been to the Underworld to see Julio… but none of those things happened.

The grass was the same, and the breeze was fresh and cool, but the oak trees were silent and I could hear the crashing of the waves on the shore.

“Thero!” My voice echoed through the clearing, but there was no answering shout or reply from her or my son. It wasn’t like them not to be here. This was their safe haven, where they could stay hidden from mortal eyes and interruption. No mortal could cross the boundary magic that Thero had laid. Except Niko. That should have been my first clue that there was something different about him. Thero had tried to tell me…

“Thero!”

The only answer was the rustling of the wind through the oak trees.

An unnamable panic began to rise in my throat as I jogged through the oak grove and into the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. Perhaps they were here—Cayden jumping between fallen columns and chunks of granite as he pretended to be an ancient warrior or a hero from one of Thero’s stories. Maybe he would be Hercules this time, firing invisible arrows at the Stymfalian birds…

But under the baking midday sun, the Sanctuary of the Great Gods was as silent as the oak forest.   

“Cayden!”

My shout echoed off the stone and a cold trickle of terror wound its way down my spine. The gentle breeze that had been blowing since I arrived surged suddenly and then calmed and a shiver rushed through my body.  

“Who are you calling for, Brother?”

I whirled in place unprepared for the voice that responded to my shout. Hermes. He’d followed me from Olympus.

“No one,” I snapped. This couldn’t be happening. My child was gone. Thero was gone. I couldn’t sense them anywhere nearby… and now Hermes was here to berate me? It was more than I could bear. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you,” he replied as he approached.  

“I have nothing to say to you,” I said grimly. “I thought I made that clear by leaving.” He was wasting my time. I needed to find my son and he was standing in my way.

“Look, I know we haven’t always gotten along—”

“And you’re the only one who gives a shit about it,” I snapped. “I don’t have time to listen to you wax philosophical about why our father has always treated you better or how I should learn to listen.”

“In a hurry, Brother? Where are you going? I didn’t think you would find much interest in the mortal world…” Hermes looked around at the Sanctuary. “I don’t recall you mentioning this place before. Is this where you come when you’re not on Olympus?”

“I told you, I don’t have time for this.”

Maybe Cayden and Thero were in the museum. Cayden might have wanted to see Niko, maybe he had seen them. My skin tingled at the thought of seeing Niko again and I shook the feeling away. There were more important things to worry about than whatever that was, or what it meant.

I turned away from my brother and his insufferably calm face and focused on the smooth stones of the path that led to the museum.

“Ares!”

I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to turn around and hurl a boulder at my brother’s golden head.

“What?” I snarled over my shoulder.

“What is this?”

I groaned in frustration and finally turned. “It is the ruins of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. I should think you, of all people, would know what it is.”

Hermes shook his head and bent over the remains of the Arsinoëion to examine something. Curious now, I waited.

When he finally straightened, his usually calm and jovial expression had changed. His cheeks were pale beneath his immortal glow and a hunted look had appeared in his eyes.

“What?” The word came out sharper than I’d intended, but the tension I was under had wound me to the breaking point. Hermes didn’t reply, and I let out a groan of frustration as I stomped towards him. “I told you, I don’t have time—”

My words died in my throat as my brother held up a shining feather. The green and gold sparkled in the midday sunlight and seemed to shimmer wickedly. It must have been my eyes playing a trick on me. “A peacock feather,” I said flatly.

Hermes nodded. We both knew what that meant, but the fear that had been brewing in my chest became a whirling firestorm as the realization broke over me. “Brother, what’s wrong?”

I ran to the Arsinoëion and pushed Hermes out of the way. Where the feather had lain was a small piece of parchment, weighted by a stone. A heart-shaped piece of marble—the one that Cayden carried as a good luck charm—the one that matched the stone I carried. I picked up the piece carefully and clutched it tightly in my palm as I read the note.

“What is it?”

“My son is in Argos…” I said. There was no use in hiding any longer.

“Your what?” Hermes shouted incredulously.

“My son. Hera has taken him.”

There was no questioning it. The peacock feather, Argos, she may as well have left behind a billboard with the GPS coordinates.

“Your what?” I turned a hot glare in Hermes’ direction and he closed his mouth. But only for a moment. “How long have you been keeping this secret from us? From Father? What have you done?”

“I’ve done what I needed to,” I said through gritted teeth. “Are you going to help me, or not?”

“I…”

I crumpled the piece of parchment into the palm of my hand with Cayden’s talisman and brushed past my brother, jostling his shoulder with mine as I strode towards the path that led to the museum. Maybe Niko had seen something. He was fond of Cayden, perhaps he could give me a clue as to what had happened.

---

The door to the museum was closed, but if I knew Stelios Kelyfos, the man was a creature of habit, and even when the museum was closed during the worst heat of the day, he would be in his office poring over his ledgers or cataloging a new treasure that had been sent from Athens.

I hammered on the door and didn’t stop until I heard the older man’s grumbled cursing as he unlocked the door.

“Sygnómi, we are closed… please come ba—”

“Xéro,” I said quickly. I leaned on the door to prevent him from closing it. “I’m looking for Niko, your son… is he here?”

“Nikolos?” The man looked angry for the briefest of moments and then shook his head before looking at me strangely. He recognized me in some small way, but I could tell that he wasn’t sure. “No, no. My son isn’t here.”

“But he’s always here,” I blurted out.

“He should be here,” Stelios said grimly. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday when he went out fishing. I assume he fell asleep on the beach. He’ll turn up for dinner like he always does.”

“You haven’t seen him since yesterday?” That seemed odd to me. Niko might not have liked his job at the museum, but he didn’t seem like the type who would just not show up.

Stelios had the good grace to look guilty for just a moment and I wondered what had passed between father and son since I’d last seen them.

“Ar—” Hermes appeared over my shoulder and I pushed him back to shut him up.

“Can I help you with something?” Stelios asked, one bushy eyebrow raised.

“No, no. I’m sorry to have disturbed you,” I said. Stelios only nodded and closed the door on my brother and me. As soon as the latch clicked I grabbed my brother by the shoulder of his tunic and pushed my face close to his.

“My mother has taken my son to Argos. I’m going to put an end to this once and for all,” I said quietly. “Are you going to come with me, or will you stand by and watch like you always do?”

Hermes looked nervous for a split second and I watched as his he imagined himself in my position—if Hera had taken his children, or his spark, how would he feel?

“I’m coming with you,” he said. “This has gone on long enough.”