Ode to the Queen (4 page)

Sighing I ran a hand through my hair, fixing the curls I’d worked so hard in such a short amount of time to perfect as my eyes surveyed the room.

As I had figured, everyone in the room was absolutely stunning. Some of them had to be models or celebrities because I could hardly believe these were just normal average people. Everyone looked like they had been chiseled specifically for the purpose of being Greek Gods and there I was: feeling like I was sticking out like a sore thumb.

Unable to bear the embarrassment that I had convinced myself to feel with my insecurity, I made my way over to a table laid out with food and drink for everyone. I sought out something alcoholic in order to simply curb my nerves and picked at a tray of apple slices before wandering away with my cocktail in hand.

Atlas had been right. Everyone did seem at ease as though they’d been here before and they certainly seemed to know each other, which left me feeling like the odd man out. I didn’t want to be anti-social but something about this gathering was different from my usual mixers. I almost got a sense of being unwanted in this room of perfect strangers.

I was sure it had to be paranoia based on the fact I didn’t know anyone and they all seemed to know each other. But I could’ve sworn that there was a very distinct energy that just didn’t want me there in the room with us.

Sipping from my glass I sighed softly, watching as the heat of my breath turned the rim white before fading quickly.

That’s how my life felt. A rapid appearance for no particular reason and before it even had the chance to do something substantial it faded away without another thought.

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I focused on my glass. Slowly I pulled my eyes away from the orange-pink drink in my hands and looked around. People were still congregated in groups but they were all looking at me, as if they expected something.

Conversation continued and my paranoia peaked, convincing me that they were talking about me. I turned away, shaking my head. One voice in the back of my mind was trying to tell me they weren’t talking about me while the other made a good case for why all these people could possibly, mysteriously, hate me at first glance. Any confidence I had in my ability to enter this room and meet people had been absolutely shattered now. I just wanted to go back to my apartment and finish off that carton of chocolate milk.

“Hey.” A boy approached me in my peripherals, coming to a standstill by my side with his own drink in his hand but from the smell of him I was sure it wasn’t his first drink.

“Dionysus?” I wondered out loud, musing whether if commenting on his smell would be offensive but he just laughed and seemed to brush it off. Although there was amusement lacking in his eyes as he did.

“No, just Griffin.” He extended his hand and I took it, pleased that although he smelt like a brewery he was being nice to me. Unlike everyone else who seemed to not want to approach me.

“Do you not know your God yet?” I smiled, hoping to make conversation but from his expression I realised I might have said the wrong thing.

“Uhh… yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and then smiled, “he hasn’t made an appearance yet as far as I know.” I nodded, happy with this answer.

“Mine either… Makes it a bit hard to believe this whole thing, huh?”

“For sure… But this place is better than home.” He said quietly to himself as he took a sip. As curious as I was, that sort of statement was not an entrance for prying into his personal life. So I just nodded even if I didn’t necessarily agree. Nice as my apartment was, I would’ve preferred my home where I knew my mum would be coming back to eventually.

“If not for Atlas I’d probably be in jail.” He joked, laughing slightly and then from my expression he quickly corrected himself. “Kidding, sort of.”

His drink appeared to be a social crutch for him. Every time the alcohol made him say something more than he meant to he drank from it. I wanted to point out that wasn’t going to help his loose tongue, but who was he to me?

“So, you’re new.” He said, turning to look at me again.

“Yeah, just got here a couple hours ago.”

“Ah yes… We’ve been waiting for you…” he said ominously before finishing off the rest of the drink. I wanted to press him to elaborate on what he meant but the door of the throne room suddenly swung open. A loud bang resonated through the hall, serving as a call for attention.

Every head in the room turned to look as a swaggering man walked in, a cocky smirk pressed to his face. The girls seemed to flock to him in response thanks to the massive amount of charisma he seemed to ooze.

And even though I didn’t move he seemed to get closer to me allowing me to take in his features. I suddenly understood why the girls were all drooling and all the other men were rolling their eyes.

He was easily the most handsome man I’d ever seen. His face perfectly carved with every curve and every angle necessary for perfection. His bright blue eyes seemed to burn through every soul in the room and that smirk on those perfect full, rosy lips never left. His hair was slicked back at the top and he dressed like he’d just walked off a fashion set. My stomach coiled with desire yet the rest of me was screaming to stay away because a man who looked like that and commanded a room like this was danger with a capital D.

All recollection of my earlier chastity vow seemed to evaporate in my mind and all I could think of was –

“Zeus.” Griffin muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes and collecting the whiskey bottle straight from the table. Not even bothering to have the decency to fill up his cup, he simply swigged from the bottle.

Zeus? I turned back to the immaculate model of a man, watching Charlotte appear out of nowhere – the other man completely gone from her mind as her arm draped over his and she leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek. He didn’t seem to mind, if anything he seemed to welcome it and I wondered if they were dating. Then again, I couldn’t imagine that much arrogance in one relationship, they might just end up combusting.

“That’s Zeus?” Well, it sort of made sense why he walked like he owned the place. Technically he did – right?

“Yeah, the King of the Gods himself. Couldn’t you tell?” There was certainly no love lost between this sad boy and the jaw-dropping flawless specimen before us.

“Mhmmm…” I said absently as I flashed an uncertain grin in Zeus’ direction as he turned to notice me finally.

He held my gaze, recognition flashing through his Mediterranean blue eyes as a small genuine smile crossed his lips. It was absorbed quickly thereafter by his trademark smirk but it was enough to leave me shaken.

Then he took a step toward me and the world seemed to stop. No one else in the room mattered. Hell, I didn’t even notice Griffin shrink away to avoid him because in this fraction of a second it was just he and I, and everything was perfect – even me.

“Hey.” He said as he stopped in front of me, Charlotte jumping to the forefront in order to maintain his attention.

“This is Savannah. She’s the last one.” Zeus’ eyebrow raised slightly and he stared at me pensively all of the sudden. His eyes made me feel like he was stripping me bare in front of everyone and laying out the pieces of my soul for their personal scrutiny.

I was terrified and excited but I didn’t know whether I should run or kiss him. My head said run while my heart said kiss, and yet I remained steadfast until he spoke. His dark sultry voice felt like it wrapped me up in a velvet cloak and whisked me away to a cold, winter forest where it was just us and the moonlight.

“So you’re in the penthouse with me.” I nodded dumbly, all ability to speak having left me and he just smirked. I waited with bated breath for his next words to come, clinging to the seconds in desperation to know what else he would say but there was nothing. He simply turned, wrapped an arm around Charlotte and the two of them walked away. Once more I was the fleeting condensation on the cold glass: all at once there and then, instantly insignificant.

The room grew cold the moment he walked away from me. If not for the flood of people that appeared now that Zeus had given me the stamp of approval, I might have gone unnoticed for the rest of the night.

The next few hours blurred together and though I met everyone, some knowing their Gods and others still waiting, I couldn’t get Zeus off my mind. Worse still, was the fact that I didn’t even know his name. But maybe he wanted that. Maybe he liked being King of the Gods and like me, would rather wear that mask than be who he was before he got here.

My head was buzzing with names, facts and Gods by the time I got the chance to be by myself and process it all. I searched the room for Zeus but he seemed to have left again and the atmosphere had returned to normal once more. Well, as normal as it could be for a bunch of young adults who had recently been told they were Gods… Which, retrospectively probably isn’t all that normal.

They partied like it was a frat party: drinking, laughing and I watched several pairs leave the room together discreetly. What was the point to being brought back as Gods and Goddesses if all we were doing was being carefree humans? I know Atlas spoke about being “normal” as this was what the Gods were but the story said that the Gods would be brought back when it was time. Time for what? Were we in danger or was Earth in danger and we had to save it?

Gathering a plate of fruit and vegetables along with another cocktail I made my way over to one of the thrones and sat down, balancing the plate in my lap.

From what I could tell there was a mixed reception about the news with this group of people. Some wholeheartedly accepted the idea they were Gods and embraced the future Atlas offered them, while others were reluctant and disbelieving because of the lack of real proof. But no one seemed to wonder why this was happening to us
right now
.

I had also learned that there weren’t just Olympians here. In fact, when Zeus’ spell had put the souls of the major Gods in the Earth and the lesser Gods into the sky, the retrieval spell for the Gods in Earth worked for the lesser Gods as well.

Some people here were muses, handmaidens to the Gods. Others were lesser deities like Nike and Hermes. Atlas had even released Titans like Cronos himself, and Prometheus. I suspected that his ‘accidental’ releasing of Titans hadn’t in fact been an accident and merely his way of freeing some of his brethren. And as far as I could tell, they seemed harmless enough. Then again, I didn’t know Titans as a species particularly well, for obvious reasons.

As I picked at the grapes on my plate I mentally tracked all the supposed Gods I had met, if only to narrow down the pool of suspects for my own identity crisis.

There were six females and I knew of three: Athena, Aphrodite (who had turned out, no shock, to be a real model and about as beautiful as I found the throne room to be) and Hestia (who was a sweet, unassuming type that gave me the impression she was born in the wrong era because she would have made a perfect 50s housewife). This left me with three options: Hera, Artemis and Demeter.

Hera was Queen of the Gods and the consort of Zeus. This much I knew. I couldn’t recall her having a specific domain that she oversaw and so I stole a glance at her frieze, which offered me a scene of two people being hand fasted together.

Marriage, women… She was the poster girl for post-modern feminism. Another depiction at the bottom told me she was also a patron God of childbirth and I frowned slightly to myself. While I had been studying nursing with the intention of becoming a midwife there was no way I was Queen of the Gods. I couldn’t command a room like Zeus had and I definitely didn’t have the beauty to compete with Aphrodite like Hera had in the battle of Troy.

Then there was Artemis. Twin sister to Apollo and the Goddess of animals, the moon and hunting. I liked animals but I definitely was a day-type of person. And hunting was not something I would willingly engage in. Animals were okay as food as long as I wasn’t the one doing the killing. So that pretty much scrapped Artemis for me, we had nothing in common.

Demeter was insignificant and only made an appearance in mythology because her daughter was kidnapped and raped by Hades. I was sure she must have had a domain she oversaw but I doubted it was anything interesting. The more I thought about it the more Demeter made sense as my Goddess. I was insignificant. There was nothing special about me, and my penchant for midwifery could be stemmed from my Goddess’ love for her daughter. I studied her frieze, taking in the grains and plants in the image. I helped my mum garden in the springtime that could count too.

Maybe that’s why everyone had stared at me. They thought I was Demeter, the worthless Goddess. They probably wanted to know what point there was in bringing me back. Zeus was probably only interested in me because they had a thing one time… Well, good luck with that King of the Gods.

“Hey.” I looked up in surprise at Charlotte who had reappeared in front of me. I was surprised more by the fact that she hadn’t left earlier with Zeus but then again maybe my first impression of them was wrong. Maybe she liked him but he didn’t reciprocate.

“Hi.” I smiled and she smiled back with that unnerving, strange smile of hers.

“I’m having a pool party tomorrow for the girls. So we can all get to know each other and maybe help the ones who don’t know who they are figure it out – like you! So, I just wanted to extend the invitation.” I smiled, hoping she genuinely meant well despite how uncomfortable that smile of hers made me.

“Sounds fun. There’s a pool here?” Atlas had definitely overlooked that in our initial tour. Not that he had actually shown me around the facilities in great detail. Actually, now that I thought about it, he hadn’t shown me anything but this room and my apartment. How was I supposed to know anything or was that sort of knowledge bestowed upon me when my Goddess appeared?

“Yeah, there’s a hot water spring in the underbelly of the mountain. Sort of like a Jacuzzi but Hunter turns it cool for us.”

“Hunter…” I repeated trying to recall if I had met him.

“He’s Poseidon. I heard he ran off with a nymph before we got here.” She spoke so casually about all these things as though Greek Gods and nymphs were the norm. I suppose they were now but she had adjusted so easily to all this change, so I envied her.

“Right. That makes sense. I guess I’ll meet him tomorrow then?” I smiled, suggestively implying my acceptance.

Charlotte grinned and nodded, “perfect! Don’t forget your swim suit or we’ll expect you to strip down and come in anyways.” My eyes widened slightly before I nodded in accord.

“See you then…” She didn’t bother to say goodbye back as she flounced off heading right for the door. I tore my eyes away from her retreating form to see that the party was more or less wrapping up. I had expected it to go on later than this. But the only ones left were stragglers who were invested in someone as a hookup, no doubt attempting to get them to go away with them.

Sighing to myself I stood up and set the half empty plate and cup down on the throne before adjusting my dress. It would probably take me a while to find my way back to my room without an escort, so I might as well start now.

I made my way toward the door and as expected no one even noticed me slinking off to find my way to bed. I was starting to get the impression these people were exactly like the people I’d known in high school who I had secretly hated all the while trying to be just like them: the vapid and self-obsessed. But anyone who was a God was no doubt going to be arrogant.

This was yet another crucial piece of evidence in favour of me
not
being a God despite everyone’s insistence. I didn’t think I was that self-absorbed… But then again I didn’t often scrutinise my personality as much as I did my appearance.

As I considered everyone’s waning attention tonight my mind drifted back to Zeus and I remembered how he said I was in the penthouse with him. This would’ve been helpful information if he had still been at the party. I could’ve asked him for directions but now he was long gone and I was very lost.

I didn’t know if I was thrilled or not at the idea of being Zeus’ neighbour. No doubt he’d have a lot of female companions by and I hoped that the walls weren’t paper-thin. It was one thing to imagine what it would be like to be with him and totally different to hear someone else’s perspective while I tried to sleep.

Not to mention being so close to him was practically playing with fire when I was trying to reduce my chances of having a quick hook up with some guy just because he was hot and mysterious. No matter how intrigued I was by Zeus and no matter how hot I thought he was, maybe it was just best to stay away as much as I could.