Olympian Elemental Trials Series

Chapter 9: What's with the Gods and Caves?

Paige

Dizziness pounded across my head as if I'd gone too fast on the merry-go-round. And I had a taste in my mouth like I'd been licking dirt, spider webs, and old stones. Last thing I remembered was feeling woozy talking with Dion and having a drink. s**t! Had the biker guy drugged me?

Coming out of a fog, the presence of someone holding me came to my awareness. I snapped open my eyes, finding myself in his arms, but he wasn't naked, nor was I. And he wasn't even looking at me, he was staring at something looming over us.

I followed his gaze to find a woman dressed in tight black pants and a sequined top, glaring down at us with red eyes. Next to her was the biggest freaking dog I'd ever seen. As big as a horse with jet black fur. It didn't have the face of a Great Dane but rather a bad mix of a Rottweiler and a Doberman pincher with a side of extra fangs.

"Wha-?" I managed to get past my gummy throat but Dion, the biker holding me, squeezed me tighter. Trepidation coiled in my belly like a snake waiting to strike.

"Last chance, Dionysius," the woman shouted. Her voice was what I imagined a corpse would sound like. "Give me the girl or suffer my wrath."

What the hell was she talking about? Did she think he was hurting me or maybe she was the owner of this bar and thought he'd slipped me something in my drink. Yay girl power. "I-I'm fine, I think. Just passed out for a moment there."

I pushed against Dion to get out of his arms but all he did was stand with me and move in front of me. At that unease inside me raised its head, baring fangs and I shivered as my fear mounted.

Dion shook his head. "Then I guess we'll fight, but I'm not letting you take the woman out of here. Not without telling me why you want her."

"Hey, I'm not some trophy to pass around." What the hell was going on with these two weirdos? "I've had enough excitement for one day but you two can take your roleplaying whatever it is y'all are doing and go. Or better yet, I'll leave."

But when I took a step toward the door, her gigantic dog as big as a horse snapped its teeth at me. My heart thumped in my chest at the thought of it attacking. Was it even legal to have an animal that big with such sharp fangs in a public place? I doubted the can of mace I'd used on the flying whatever it was would even bring a tear to this beast.

"This is my sanctuary," Dion stared at the woman like he wanted to toss her out and lock the door.

She snorted. "And there was a time when I was around before you were even born. The rules of the gods don't apply to me, remember?"

"So you'd condemn all mankind? For what? So that you can throw around your power and make them cower at your feet?" Dion squared his shoulders. "Well, I won't allow it. I'll protect Pandor-Paige with my life."

The tension in the air made the hairs on my arms stand. Yet, I couldn't wrap my mind around what they were actually talking about. Gods...mankind...powers? Ever since I took that damn sleeping pill, I'd entered the Twilight of the Gods' Zone and had no way of waking up to the real world. Way to go Emily! I was so reaming her when I got back to the hotel. Her mom must secretly take drugs and say they were sleeping pills.

"Last chance, Dionysius." The woman waved a hand and a black, swirling vortex appeared in the middle of the bar next to her.

"Cool special effects." But I'd no idea how she'd done the trick. Staring into the swirling darkness gave me a very uneasy feeling like there was more to this than I thought.

"Give me the girl and you may live. Disobey me and I will bring this place crashing down on you. That even your powers of earth won't save you."

"Then you'll have to walk over my corpse before I let you take her, Hecate." He squared his shoulders.

"Listen, I appreciate you both letting me join in on whatever it is you two have going on with the magic stuff and everything, but I'm out."

When I took a step toward the door, a force held me back. Not a wind exactly. But like I was suddenly wrapped in cement and couldn't move my body only my head. Panic welled in my chest, choking me.

"What the hell! Let me go," I yelled.

"Do as Paige asks." Dion marched toward the woman.

I struggled to move a finger or a toe but I couldn't budge except my head to look from Dion or the strange woman with the massive dog. My throat swelled closed. I shook my head trying to calm the raging panic coursing through me. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this. Nothing visibly held me...so had they hypnotized me somehow? I'd seen a stage magician show once and how the people didn't realize they'd been under his persuasion. Everything he said, they believed was happening and true. Was it the same with this craziness? And that all of this was in my head?

"You will lose if you defend her." Hecate sounded bored.

"I'm prepared to protect her with my life."

She tossed up her hand and Dion stiffened as the dog lunged for him with a snarling growl.

"Watch out!" I yelled. But the animal and he tangled in limbs. The dog bit down on Dion's arm. The scent of blood was thick in the air.

Blood coated Dion's arm and the wound looked deep. He punched the dog in the muzzle and it shook its head but then dove for his leg. My heart slammed against my throat.

"Stop it! Call your dog off, please." Terror raced through me and I couldn't breathe. "I'll go with you."

"No!" Dion roared.

"Agreed." The woman nodded, the dog whimpering like it lost a favorite chew toy and backed away. "But no one defies Hecate unscathed."

"Wha-" Before I could finish my sentence, the place exploded around us. Debris fell on top of Dion yet nothing touched me as if I stood inside an invisible bubble. My words choked in my throat as a feeling of great loss slammed into me and I couldn't even breathe. Like a part of me, I didn't have been there was now empty and vacant and the void would never be filled again. How was that possible? How could I have such a strong connection with Dion when I only just met him?

"Come with me before I change my mind and kill him." She snapped her fingers and we were suddenly in a dark, damp cave lit with flickering torches along the walls.

"Y-you killed him!" Without the force holding me here, I stumbled forward onto my hands and knees. I had been worried about being trapped in the bar with Dion and that he'd drugged me. Now I feared that I'd traded a protector for a lunatic woman...a murder. God, why did she want me? s*x trafficking or something? My stomach clenched at that thought as I scrambled up to stand, readying to fight her with everything I had.

And how the hell did she get me here? Wherever the hell I was now. My heart slammed in my chest, the urge to flee itching in my legs.

"Believe me, Dionysus will recover."

I shook my head. "No, you're crazy. The whole goddamn bar just blew up with him inside it. No one recovers from something like that."

"Careful child, I've destroyed mortals for calling me less than that," there was an edge to her voice that gave me chills. Maybe it wasn't wise goading someone that could do- whatever it was she had done. A bomb?

Was she a terrorist? If that was the case, it fit but how had she brought us here? And earlier I hadn't been able to move.

Then her expression softened. "You're worried about Dionysius. That's good. But you should also know who and what you are up against."

"Meaning you?" I asked and congratulated myself on keeping the tremor I felt running through my middle out of my words.

"Heavens no, child. I'm a neutral party. Or will be once I've explained everything to you, unlike the first time when Zeus forbade me to warn you of anything."

Zeus? The image of the guy at Emily's party and outside the bookstore here in Greece flashed in my mind. My head was starting to spin again. "I don't understand."

"Sorry, but we only have a short time before he discovers I've kidnapped you."

"Who? What is going on?" I wrapped my arms around my body feeling like I was gonna hurl.

"I've got to play my part as a neutral party. Act like we are at odds-so the memory of what I tell you will be locked in your brain-but not where it came from. As far as everyone else, including yourself, will believe, I'm aligned with the bad guys."

"And the bad guys are..."

"Zeus, Aphrodite, Hades, and many others." She frowned. "Trust no one or else you could lose your life and all of humanity with you."

"Right." Yup, I was definitely losing it. I still couldn't believe that she'd freaking killed him. A fresh wave of nausea through me. "And what about Dion? Is he a bad guy too?"

"No, he was in-between. On the good guy side but unwilling to do what must be done. I had to sway him to the right path."

"By killing him?" My insides shook in grief and rage. I wanted to scream about his life and how he had fought to protect me. There was an instant connection with Dion that had shocked me when I first spoke with him on the plane, then again in the middle of the road when he saved me and that old man from being run over. The way his arrogant smirk didn't falter even when I had chewed him out for racing in the first place and how he hadn't hesitated to take me to safety when the winged demon-girl had shown up.

How I wanted to know more about him. How I had felt safe in his arms when he faced off against this witch-goddess or whatever the hell she was. And this b***h had killed him. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks.

"Are you ready to begin your studies?"

Anger snapped through my veins and I couldn't think without the image of ripping her to pieces flashing in front of me. "I really don't know what your deal is or why you brought me here or how but I don't want anything to do with you or your scheme or any of this."

When she didn't respond, I marched toward the cave's entrance.

"Dion's not dead."

I stopped in my tracks and spun. "Excuse me? Typically when a bomb goes off and demolishes a building, few survive. I saw the thing collapse on top of him." Yet, I wasn't hurt and was still trying to wrap my mind around that one.

"He lives and will recover soon."

"No way, that's not possible." Inside my heart was going pitter-patter with the excitement of what she said were true. Had it all been an illusion then? "So he didn't get hurt?"

"Oh, no, he's hurt but he'll be fine."

"How do you know that?" I stepped forward. How badly was he hurt...he needed to get to a hospital. "We just left him there. Did you call an ambulance or something?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, he doesn't need human help."

"Human help? What? He just needs help!" A feeling of unease settled over me and I got the feeling that none of this was from the sleeping pill. That somehow, I'd traveled to an alternative universe that I didn't understand or would ever figure out the rules for.

With a sigh, she looked at me like I was a child being told that Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy wasn't real. "No human can help him. He's a god."