I pace back and forth, anxious for their dad to arrive. My dad and Cassie haven’t arrived home yet, so it’s just me and the guys. Jaxson pulls me to my feet, his eyes filled with pain. “There’s something else, Valerie. We’ve been wiping your memories. Your dad wanted us to keep you in the dark for a little longer, so every time you witnessed magic, we wiped you.”
“Can you give them back?” I ask, anger in my voice. I know he was doing as he was told, but they wiped my memory! What gives them the right?
Zane looks around the room. “I’ll do it,” he volunteers. When no one moves he raises an eyebrow. “Can we have some privacy?”
Jax grumbles under his breath but leaves the room. Carter and Cooper get to their feet, each offering chaste kisses before leaving.
Once Zane is sure they are gone he beckons me over to the cushion he is seated on. I sit in front of him and wait.
Zane rubs his hands together to warm them before placing them against my temples, a slight zap running through me at his touch.
“Just hold still, Val. It will tingle a bit, but it shouldn’t hurt. If it does, tell me and I’ll stop.”
I nod, letting him caress my face, when I feel what I assume is magic seeping into my mind. It feels like there are doors being opened, doors that I didn’t know were closed. One at a time memories rush back to me.
Images from my childhood, when Mom and Dad were fighting, going so far as throwing fire at each other. I had snuck down the stairs when my mom threw a particularly large blast at my father. I stepped in the way and sent it flying back to her.
My tenth birthday, when my powers caused the electricity to go out around me. My mother looked at me like I was a steak she could devour. That was when my father stopped leaving us alone.
When I found out Dad was leaving. I had cried and cried until my mother came into my room screaming and threw anything she could at me. I created a dome to protect myself before passing out.
When I was sixteen and Mom had a stroke, causing the car to crash. She crashed it on purpose in an attempt to kill me.
When I was eighteen she hovered over my bed with a knife, having drawn symbols over my scarred chest. When she went to plunge it in, my eyes snapped open and magic swelled around me, sending her flying.
The night of Natalie’s death. My mother was standing in the middle of the road and wanted to kill me for my power. I remember Natalie’s sweet voice. “If I survive this, Val, I’ll explain everything. If I don’t — I love you, babe.” Then she proceeded to throw fireballs at my mother. My mother retaliated, flinging stuff as if she only had to think to command the earth around her. Natalie knocked my mother back and I found the energy to rush to my best friend’s side and drag her to the safety of the car.
“Come on, Nat, let’s go!” I begged.
She shook her head sadly. “I can’t, babe. Some things happen because they have to. There’s nothing we can do to change what’s about to happen.”
“What are you talking about? Let’s get out of here!”
Her eyes showed an acceptance I didn’t want to see. She was expecting a fate I wasn’t happy with. Power rose up within me and I stood, summoning as much as I could and spoke the words that sealed my friend’s fate.
“I invoke all the power I hold and call upon the fates. Let my friend live. I offer myself as payment.” On the final word Natalie’s mouth drops open in shock, before a loud pop sounds and she disappears in front of my eyes.
In the next moment another body appears resembling my best friend so much that it frightens me, but I know Natalie is safe. I don’t know where, but she’s safe and that’s all that matters.
My mother stood up and looked over at me with smugness. “I guess I win after all. Now I just need your power.”
She threw a wall of flames at me, but before I even had to think of defending myself, a woman appeared in front of me. Now I know just who she is. Hecate.
She smiled at me before flicking her fingers and making my mother pass out cold on the ground. At first I thought she was dead until I noticed the slight rise and fall of her chest.
“Who are you?” I asked, feeling a sense of familiarity.
Her smile, while seeming genuine, held an edge of cruelty. “I’m your mother, Valerie. I’m extremely sorry about this, but until you meet your guardians, it’s not time for you to know about your power.”
I remember the night I met Justin, what happened in the blank spots. It’s all coming back. When I open my eyes, not realizing I closed them in the first place, tears stream down my face, a mix of happiness and sorrow.
Zane moves his hand to caress my cheek, concerned. “What’s wrong, Valerie? Did I hurt you?”
“No. Sorry, I’m just so happy. Natalie is alive. I saved her.”
“What? That’s great news! What happened?”
I recount what I saw in my memory and the expressions on his face go from excitement, to fear, to shock before finally settling on awe.
“You saved someone who had a prophecy telling them of their death? Holy shit!” he breathes, his thumb still gently caressing my cheek.
My eyes go to his lips and he senses the change in my mood, his eyes turning from concerned to lustful. “Val …”
I don’t let him finish whatever he was going to say, leaning forward and pressing my lips to his. He moans and kisses me back, his tongue diving in to taste me.
We kiss for a few minutes before a cough breaks us from the moment. I pull back, surprised I don’t feel embarrassed to have been caught kissing one of the others aside from Jaxson. At least until the person speaks.
“Now, I know with you being twenty-one and a goddess your hormones are in overdrive, but if you could hold back on pawing my son for a minute, there is much we need to discuss.”
Holy son of a bitch. Sure enough, when I climb off Zane’s lap with as much dignity as I can muster, it’s to see Zeus standing in the doorway, Cassandra and my father behind him.
Oh shit.
They walk in and each taking a seat around the room. Zeus chooses a single chair over in the corner, his back to the wall. Casandra and my father share a love seat on the opposite side of the room.
After they enter the room, the other guys follow and I fight the blush at their knowing smirks. Zane has moved too but I don’t want to be far from him, so I end up sitting in his lap, my legs hanging over him. Jaxson sits down beside him, pulling my feet up into his lap. If they weren’t so huge I could easily fit between them, but something tells me they need to hold me close.
Carter and Cooper sit down on the floor in front of me, pressing their backs against my legs. I feel safe, protected from the people who may hurt me. Sadly, that does include my father right now, because I suspect he knew about my mother all along.
After everyone sits down, I notice in the corner of my eyes a crow sitting on a bookshelf in the corner. Everyone seems to be oblivious to it’s presence so I ignore it in the hopes its not some hallucination.
Zeus, or Coach Daniels, whatever he likes to be called, leans forward in his chair. “Valerie, I just want to apologize if I scared you earlier. I needed you to be aware of your powers because I’m going to need your help, and fear is the easiest way to get you to access your powers.”
Wait, what? Zeus needs my help?
“There has to be a mistake. I only just found out about my powers, and while it feels like I’ve found the missing part of me, I doubt I can be of any help.”
Zane rubs his hand up and down my arm soothingly, encouraging me not to let my emotions take over.
Cassandra watches me with a smile, radiating happiness. “Yes, Valerie. Zeus is asking for your help, but you can say no.”
No sooner does she finish speaking than a loud pop sounds, leaving a ringing in my ears. When I recover enough to look up, it’s to see the goddess Hecate, my mother, standing in the middle of the room with a tall man who seems slightly familiar.
Where do I know him from?
“Hello, Valerie. I take it you are well?”
He meets my eyes. A perfect replica of mine stare back at me and I subconsciously know who he is. I feel the connection and my power feels close to him. “You’re my father, aren’t you?”
Jaxson snorts next to me. “Don’t be silly. That’s Ares, God of War. It’s impossible for two gods to have children,” he explains when I turn to glare back at him.
Zeus rises to his feet, looking between Hecate and Ares before looking back to me. He’s trying to hide his shock, but his eyes scream anger and confusion.
I turn back to Hecate and Ares and I just know, undoubtedly, they are my parents. Zeus is the one to speak from his spot against the wall. “Yes, Jaxson. Valerie is correct. Ares is her father. I can see it now.”
The four guys each look at me, shock and new respect in their eyes, but I don’t miss the fear there as well. If I have two gods as my parents, what does that make me? I can’t be a demigod.
“Yes, my dear, I can see you’re putting the pieces together. You are not a demigod as everyone assumed, but the first minor goddess born in countless centuries.” Hecate smiles at me warmly. “ I know you must still have a million questions. I promise, once our more pressing matters are resolved, your father and I will be back to have a nice long talk.”
Zeus turns his attention to me. “I need you to accompany me to the Realm of Light and train with my top commanders. I want you and your father to lead my army.”
My instincts scream at me to run from him. After the story the guys just told me, I have to wonder if everyone here has lost their mind. Isn’t Zeus the reason for Poseidon being dead? Didn’t he plan to build some army? What if this is that same army?
“Uh, as much as I appreciate your offer to help you lead your army, I think I’m going to decline. I’ve only just found out about my powers and this world. I have no idea what I can do and would like the chance to learn more about them and all of this before committing to anything,” I explain, trying to remain diplomatic.
His expression goes postal at the flip of a switch and I try to remain calm.
“Very well, Valerie. I understand you don’t know much about us yet, so I will leave it to your parents to explain what happens when people deny my requests.”
Zeus grins wickedly at Cassandra as he gets to his feet. “Why, Cassandra, I had forgotten how beautiful you are. I have missed you severely.”
She scoffs and narrows her eyes. “From what I heard, you and Persephone have been doing just fine without me.”
They stare at each other before Zeus walks out the door without another word. I don’t get it. He just left his sons without even talking to them.
What a complete ass!
“Can we have some privacy to talk with Valerie?” Ares asks the room. Silence greets his request and all eyes turn to me, leaving it my choice.
I sigh and nod, knowing that I need to know as much as I can. “Yes, that’s fine.”
Everyone gets to their feet, leaving me alone with my biological parents and my father. It’s not until the sitting room door is closed that I realize the bird is still in the room. He lands down on the back of my chair, clearly warning one of my parents to try something.
“So, why did you give me up?” I ask.
Hecate sighs and her visage changes from a put-together woman who could take on the world to a woman who is defeated.
“I didn’t give you away, Valerie. You were taken. Aphrodite stole you after I gave birth. My body was only just able to handle the pure power you released during your birth. I passed out and when I came to, a child was dead. Aphrodite told me you had died.
“It wasn’t until you were six months old that your father felt your War power calling to his own. He hunted you down and found you in a human home. He took you and brought you back to me. The moment you were in the Realm of Light, though, it alerted Zeus to a new power.”
Ares takes over, his shoulders drooped. “We took you back to the human realm and ran across Hades. We asked for his advice on what to do. We had planned to live in the Earth Realm with you, but if a god spends too much time in the Earth Realm they begin to weaken, eventually dying.
“Instead, Hades advised us to find a family to raise you as human while we watched you from afar. That is what we did,” he explains, turning to my father and waiting for him to continue.
“Melissa and I are witches who were given power by Hecate. Most witches from Hecate’s power are designed to serve her if called upon, but just like all people, some of them have evil so deep in their heart they can’t help but let it control them. That is what happened to Melissa. She was once a white witch, but being in close proximity to your power turned her heart dark. She wanted what you had and it drove her mad that she kept being thwarted,” he explains as a tear runs down the side of my face.
“So. One teeny, tiny problem with that, Dad. Why did you leave me there? Why not bring me here when you moved? You left me alone with that bitch! How could you?” My voice rises with each word when the bird behind me grabs my attention. I reach out and touch his feathers, feeling a wave of calm that emanates from him.
“He didn’t leave you alone. You had your friend,” Hecate says, nodding her head towards the bird.
I laugh abruptly. “Oh yes. Father of the Year Award goes to the man who left a bird to watch over me.”
The bird in question nips my finger and I snatch my hand back and glower at it.
Hecate laughs and walks towards me. “Your bird wasn’t always a bird. Here, let me show you.” I stand up, curious, watching as she waves at the bird and a purple mist covers the bird before clearing, leaving a woman standing in its place. A woman I know.