Chapter 9
Josie
The best OBGYN.
That was what Seth had ordered when Dr. Morales said she was going to make some phones calls to find us an OBGYN. Dr. Morales assured us that would be the case, but at that point, I would have just been happy with any doctor who specialized in the whole birthing babies thing.
Seth and I were the first ever god and demigod to get together and have a child? That was… Wow, that seemed insane to me. Which meant that everything Dr. Morales said, about having difficulty carrying a baby to having more symptoms in the third trimester, could mean nothing.
Like the nurse before her, the one who administered the pregnancy test, Dr. Morales took a blood test just to confirm the necessary hormones were still present.
I didn’t need the blood test to confirm what I already knew. I was still pregnant. Call it instinct or a soon to be mother’s intuition, but I knew.
Seth and I didn’t get the chance to really discuss anything the doctor had spoken to us about, since we went to the cafeteria to grab some bacon and ended up running into Alex and Aiden. They were on their way to see Marcus and that’s where the four of us ended up, in Marcus’s office.
Alexander, Alex’s father, was there, a silent sentry who smiled in such a way that the moment he saw his daughter the skin around his eyes crinkled.
A pang lit up my chest as I watched Alex break away from Aiden, and go right up to her father and hug him. It wasn’t the burning feel of jealousy or envy. But I did envy that, their relationship. I wanted that with my father. Heck, I would have liked to see my father. So, mostly, I just felt…sad.
I looked away as I walked to my chair, catching Seth’s gaze. There was a soft look in his eyes, one that made me wonder if he knew what I was thinking.
His fingers brushed along my arm as I stepped around him. The touch was oddly soothing as I sat in one of the large, wingback chairs across from Marcus.
“Thank you,” Marcus said, sitting down behind his huge, mahogany desk as he eyed Seth. “For not just appearing in my office, but instead walking through my door.”
Aiden smirked from where he stood next to the other empty chair.
“I figured I need the exercise today.” Seth folded his arms across his chest. “But I’ll make sure to pop in when you least expect it later on.”
Marcus shot him a droll look before looking over at Alex. She sat in the chair beside me. “I’m assuming you all are here to discuss what happened yesterday?”
So much had happened yesterday that I wasn’t exactly sure which part they were starting with.
Alex spoke up, taking the lead as usual. “So, we think we have some information on the half-blood that was killed.”
Sitting back, Marcus dropped one leg over the other. “Right now, I would love nothing more than to have the name of the perpetrator.”
“That we don’t have,” Aiden chimed in.
“And what would you do if you had a name?” Seth asked.
Marcus’s gaze slid to where Seth stood beside me. “What I would need to do is turn the person over to the authorities, but that is not what I would want to do.”
Seth inclined his head. “Understood.”
“Okay,” I blew out a long breath. “Now that that’s out of the way… The mask yesterday had Ares’s symbol on it.”
Marcus’s jaw hardened. “It did.”
“And after talking with Seth, we think that whoever this is, if it’s a person or a group, they are following Ares,” I continued. “Well, following some of his beliefs, that is.”
“At the end of the day, Ares hated half-bloods. He viewed them the same way he did mortals. There were a lot of pure-bloods that agreed with him—with the idea that pure-bloods should be ruling the mortal realm and halfs and mortals should be subservient to them.” As Seth spoke, his voice was flat and without emotion, but I knew talking about Ares was probably like stabbing yourself over and over with a hot poker.
Especially considering who was in the room.
“When I was doing Remediations for the gods, I took out a lot of his supporters, but not all of them,” Seth finished.
“I wouldn’t want to believe that was the case, that whoever has been responsible for what’s been happening on campus here has anything to do with Ares,” Aiden jumped in. “But we cannot underestimate what it means for Ares’s symbol to be on that mask.”
“And it makes sense.” Alex leaned forward, her shoulders tense. “There have been a ton of problems here—”
“Not just here,” Marcus cut in. “There’s been similar issues and murders in some of the pure communities and at the Covenants.”
“So, it would have to be somewhat organized,” she went on. “Right?”
“Most hate groups are. Some are more organized than others, I imagine.” Marcus rubbed two fingers along his temple like he was trying to scrub away a headache. A long moment passed and he dropped his hand to the arm of the chair. “One of the last things I ever wanted to hear was Ares’s name.”
“You and me both.” Alex’s voice was soft, and I knew Seth was thinking the same thing. “He may be dead, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him.”
~
Seth
“What’s the plan, then?” Marcus asked, getting down to business like he always did.
“Whether it’s a group of pures who still follow Ares’s beliefs or not, I think we need to start with the obvious. The pures that are here, on campus.”
“Not just the students, but also the staff,” Aiden agreed. We hadn’t talked about this, but we were obviously on the same page. “So, we’ll need a list of every single one.”
Marcus raised a brow. “That is a lot of confidential information.”
“I know it is.” Aiden’s smile was tight. “And I know sharing that info goes against a lot of rules, but we need to be able to check each of these people out.”
“And look for what?”
Josie leaned forward. “It would depend on what you have on the students and staff here. Their backgrounds, where they came from, family information, and what not.” Eagerness filled Josie’s voice, drawing my gaze. “If you have that kind of information, we could build a profile.”
Alexander’s gaze sharpened.
“What do mean by a profile?” Alex twisted in her seat toward Josie.
“It’s a tool the FBI and other law enforcement agencies use to help recognize people who are likely to commit crimes and to also recognize a pattern among crimes that happen,” she explained. “It’s basically built on psychological behaviors and what a profiler previously knows about others who have committed similar crimes.”
Alex stared at her blankly, and my lips twitched.
“Okay. For example, there are already profiles out there for humans who commit hate crimes. You can take that profile and apply it to a pure-blood. I bet you’d find the same red flags—similar childhoods with earlier exposure to prejudice, they typically have no prior crimes, their bias usually isn’t as overt as others, a situation where they felt wronged somehow. I could keep going.” Her cheeks flushed pink. “But what I’m saying is we probably wouldn’t have to talk to every single pure-blood here. With the necessary info, we could probably trim down the pool of possible suspects. I’m sure there are basic profiles out there out on the Internet, or if you had any connection with law enforcement.”
Marcus inclined his head. “Actually, we do have some connections in law enforcement.”
“Well…” Josie sat back. “I would reach out to them and see if they have a profile. Or better yet, if they’re trained, they could possibly look over the info—”
“Wait. Josie, you studied psychology, right?” I spoke up, and Josie’s wide gaze swung toward me. I nodded. “She can get a profile and figure out who we need to talk to.”
Josie faced Marcus. A moment passed. “I studied psychology and I did really well in my class.”
Damn straight she did. My girl was smart.
“But I’ve never built a profile before, and even though I know the basics, with something like this you need someone trained. At the very least, to point you in the right direction.”
I frowned at the back of her head.
Marcus appeared to consider that. “Handing over that kind of information is serious. To be honest, I’m more comfortable with you having access to these records than anyone else in this room.”
Across from Josie, Alex’s mouth dropped. “Well, I’m kind of offended.”
I shrugged. “Meanwhile, I’m not at all surprised that you wouldn’t be comfortable with me having that info.”
“I’m actually surprised that you wouldn’t trust me,” Aiden said, and I rolled my eyes.
A faint smile appeared on Marcus’s face. “Everyone except for Josie has a personal experience with Ares. I feel like this requires someone who wasn’t a part of what he did, but I cannot hand over that kind of personal information.”
Alex opened her mouth, but she was silenced when Marcus raised his hand. “What I can do is reach out to a few people I know who will be able to help us.”
That was better than nothing.
“What are we going to do if we find out whoever is behind this?” Alex asked the moment Marcus lowered his hand. “Stopping it here may not stop it happening elsewhere.”
“Well, if the profile works here and we can find the people responsible for the attacks, then why wouldn’t it work elsewhere?” Aiden asked. “It could be implemented in any of the communities or schools that are facing these problems.”
“But what will happen to them? As a mortal, I was as liberal as they come,” Josie said, sitting back. “But if someone or a group of people is running around killing others because of how much aether is in their blood, then I feel like they’ve forfeited their right to live out their lives in a jail cell somewhere.”
Everyone, including Alexander, turned and stared at Josie.
“What?” she said. “I’m not saying people aren’t capable of changing, but once you murder someone? Yeah. No.”
“That’s bloodthirsty,” I said to her. “And it really turns me on.”
“Gods,” Alex moaned. “We didn’t need to know that, Seth.”
I shrugged, and Josie flushed pink.
“We don’t have the same procedures that the mortal court has,” Marcus interjected. “We’re a lot more…”
“Old school,” Aiden said. “Hand for a hand type of stuff.”
“Oh,” Josie whispered. “Well then, that answers my question.”
Marcus sighed. “As soon as you all get out of my office, I’ll get to work on the personnel files.”
At least that part was discussed and it felt like we were actually doing something about the damn pure-bloods here, but that wasn’t the only thing on the table. “We need to talk about the remaining demigod.”
Alex nodded. “We didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday, but there’s a really good chance that the demigod is…Ares’s son.”
For a moment, I thought Marcus might actually curse. His mouth opened and then closed. Finally, he settled on, “Gods.”
“Exactly,” Aiden muttered. “Ares is just raising his ugly, twisted head all over the place.”
Marcus uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “So it appears.” He let out a disgusted sigh. “Why do we think this?”
As Alex told her uncle, I could feel the mood in the room change. Without having to tell Marcus why it was so important we find that damn demigod yesterday, he got it.
“The Titans could use him in ways we haven’t seen yet.” Marcus’s lips pursed. “His abilities won’t have the same impact on pures and halfs, but in the wrong hands he could create even more problems. The question remains—how will you find him?”
“Deacon is insistent on going over there.” Aiden sighed as he leaned onto the back of Alex’s chair. “I hate the idea, but he and Luke have a knack for finding the demigods. We need to get over there as soon as possible and find him.”
“And I guess if he is Ares’s son, I would recognize him.” Alex started messing with her hair, the same way Josie did. “I know that sounds crazy, but I just…I’d recognize him.”
Her father didn’t look happy about any of that.
But I understood what Alex was saying. “I would recognize him, too.” When she looked over at me, she nodded slightly. We both would know the second we saw the guy. “I can take them over. Save some time and money on a flight.”
Marcus arched a brow. “Would it be wise for so many demigods and a god to be there? The Titans may not have found the location yet, but with so many of you there, it’s bound to draw them.”
“I’m going to hang back here,” Josie spoke up then. “Not that I don’t want to go to Pluckley and possibly see a ghost, but it’s just not smart.”
Aiden nodded. “Agreed.”
“I think that is wise.” Marcus nodded, but he didn’t know the real reason why Josie wasn’t going there.
I looked over at her, and she must’ve seen the question in my eyes, because there was the tiny lift at the corners of her lips and she nodded.
Shifting closer to her, I brought my gaze to Marcus. “You don’t know this yet.” I glanced at Alex’s father. “Neither do you, but sooner or later, you’ll find out.”
Marcus lifted his brows while Alex folded her hand over her mouth, obviously hiding a smile.
Then I said the words I was quickly beginning to realize I really fucking enjoyed saying. Words I was oddly proud of. “Josie and I are expecting a child.”
If I thought Marcus was caught off-guard by the whole Ares bullshit, I hadn’t seen him truly shocked. Hell, I couldn’t remember seeing him so thunderstruck before. Not even when I showed up with Josie the first time or when I popped into his office without warning when I’d been looking for her.
He stared at us like he didn’t even understand how a baby was made.
Alex choked on a giggle.
“Is it that shocking?” I asked, one side of my lips kicking up.
“Yes? No.” Marcus gave a little shake of his head, and I had no idea what that meant, but then he looked at Josie. “A child of a god and a demigod. That’s—”
“Never happened.” Josie grinned. “We know. We just learned that.”
“And that…that will be something amazing.” It was rare to see the Dean smile. It wasn’t something he often did and usually it looked more like a grimace than it did a smile, but this was a real one, warming those usually chilled green eyes. “Now I see why you plan on staying back. I believe that is a mature and wise choice. How far along?”
“She’s at about six weeks.” Leaning over, I gently flicked her ear.
Josie shot me a look, but she was grinning. “I’m guessing I’m not due until around January, but I think we’ll know more once we see a doctor who specializes in babies.”
“Congratulations,” Marcus said, rising from his chair. “I truly mean it.”
Then he did probably the most shocking thing I’d ever seen the man do. He walked up to me and offered his hand.
What felt like an entire minute went by before I snapped out of my stupor. In a daze, I shook his hand. Marcus had never shaken my hand. I was still standing there, staring at him like a dumbass when Marcus bent down, kissing Josie’s cheek.
Aiden raised a brow as he looked over at me. When our gazes locked, he smiled and then looked away, placing a hand on the back of Alex’s neck.
Drawing back, Marcus leaned against his desk. “Well, today has been full of unexpected revelations. A very good one.” He met my gaze briefly, looking at me like he’d never seen me before, and then his gaze flickered over the room. “And some not so good ones.”
“Starting to sound like an ordinary day,” Alex commented. “Or, at least—”
A knock on the office door silenced Alex. I turned just as it opened. A Guard popped his head in. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but this could not wait.”
“It’s okay, Banks. What is going on?”
Banks stepped into the room, spine straight and shoulders stiff. I had a feeling the “not so good” part of the day was about to get worse. “We just received a call from one of our communities in Chicago. They said there’s been an incident and they’ve lost contact with some of the people in different parts of the city.”
I frowned as Alex twisted and looked at Aiden. Marcus became very still. “Do we have any more information?”
Banks nodded. “I think you need to see it. It’s all over the news.”
Marcus reached into a drawer and pulled out a slim remote. With one tap of a button, the upper doors on the mahogany cabinet to the left of the desk silently slid open, revealing a TV I’d never known was there. The TV turned on and a news channel appeared.
“Oh shit,” Alex murmured under her breath the moment she saw the “Breaking News” banner along the bottom of the screen.
Suspected terrorist attack near South Wacker Drive. Multiple injuries and casualties reported.
No one needed to read the banner to see what was happening. The scene on the screen was one of chaos. People flooded the sidewalks, rushing out of the buildings and into the congested traffic that was at a complete standstill. There were glimpses of people covered in dust. As the camera whirled, there were brief glances of others just standing amongst those running, staring up, and then the camera went up.
Dark smoke poured out of several skyscrapers, darkening the sky and blotting out the sun.
Jaw clenching, I shook my head as I stared at the screen. The unseen reporter talked over the video. It was a suspected bomb—possible suicide bomber. Mortals. Sometimes I forgot just how violent they could be all on their own.
“This is terrible,” Alex whispered. “There have to be so many people in those buildings.”
The camera panned out over the crowd again, at the base of one of the burning buildings, lingering for a moment before zooming in on the smoke pouring out of the skyscrapers.
“Oh, my God.” Josie shot from the chair so fast it could’ve toppled over. “Holy crap.”
“What?” I turned to her.
“That man—that man in the crowd.” She rushed toward the TV. “That was Cronus.”