Volcanoes (19 page)

She took a step back and her hair settled back down. "Oh," she said quietly. "Well, is this thing that Grace has contagious? Could you or I get it from being in contact with her?"

His eyes shifted down and to the left. Did that mean he was go
ing to lie? "I don't know," he finally said. "They could have changed it, but I don't think they have the knowledge or technology. They haven't had it long enough to do anything so drastic."

I held out my arm. "You're going to have to look. I've been flit
ting around this place like a bee collecting pollen. Anyone could have been infected at this point if I'm contagious. You have to look
now
. I'll stay quarantined until you find out."

Zeus looked at my mother for permission and breathed a sigh of relief whe
n she nodded her assent.

Diana stood and paced to the window. She swept aside the curtain and stared at something outside for a few minutes before speaking again. "I will seal her up in her room. Take her blood now - before I change my mind and kill you f
or putting my child in danger."

My jaw dropped. Had she just threatened to kill the love of her life for me? Yes she had. I thrust my arm out in front of him again and nodded. "Take it."

He grimaced and pulled a syringe from a pocket. There was no warning
or cleaning or any of the usual prep that went into taking blood. He merely jabbed the needle in my arm and drew out a tube full of blood. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, trying not to faint. Ugh I hated having my blood taken. When I was pregnant w
i
th Dylan they hadn't been able to get me in for lab work until my fifth month of pregnancy. You could say my doctor was pissed.

"You've been stabbed, shot and nearly dismembered but this is what makes you nauseous?" His voice was filled with sarcasm and I
tried to smile but couldn't make the corners of my mouth lift.

"Yeah. Just get it over with."

He finished up, stowed the vial and announced, "I will see you when I have results."

"When will that be?" I asked to dead space. He'd already disappeared.

Dian
a turned from the window and I could see the unshed tears in her eyes. "Don't cry," I implored.

"I'm not going to cry," she replied staunchly. "I need to take you to your rooms. Do you have everything you need in there? Once I seal you in, you can't get i
n or out until we unseal the doors."

I shook my head. "I need my laptop. I may as well write if I'm going to be sequestered. Also, I want to see Dylan."

She then shook her head at me. "I can get your laptop but we don't want to risk you infecting him."

"Bu
llshit. I've spent countless hours with him since I contracted this. He hasn't shown signs yet."

"Yet." That's all she said but the weight of the word hit me square between the eyes and I felt sick.

Could Dylan have this? Would it hinder his growth? I did
n't want to think about it but I closed my eyes and said, "Have Zeus check him too please."

"Of course. We'll be testing everyone in Olympus as quickly as possible. I'll let you know what we find. Go to your rooms and I'll meet you there with some things f
rom your house."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Do you need anything beside the laptop?"

I started to shake my head and then stopped. "See if you can find my phone? I want to at least be able to call my kid if I can't see him."

She nodded once and disappeared. I guess
that was my cue to head out. I stood slowly from the arm of the chair and felt a pop in my hip. Biting my lip to keep from groaning, I stiffly stretched and made my way to the door. I don't know if I felt older because Hypnos said I would or because the
v
irus was starting to affect my mobility.

Honestly, I hoped it was psychosomatic.

It took me fifteen minutes to get to my room at the slow pace I was moving.  Obviously, word had spread. People were avoiding me in the corridors. Super.

Even Scott, who wa
s normally ready to chat my head off, stopped midstride and turned around. Talk about feeling deflated. I went from being a joke to being a pariah. Sweet.

The entrance to my room suddenly seemed impossibly small and the door incredibly thick. I was going
to be trapped behind it for as long as it took Zeus to find a cure or determine if I was a walking test tube of hazardous materials. God only knew how long that would take.

On a positive note, Diana wouldn't let him futz around with it. She'd make sure he
was on the ball.  With every day that passed, having her as a mother didn't seem all that bad.

I took a fortifying breath and walked through the door just as Diana showed up. "It took you this long to get here from my room?" She asked with a frown on her
face.

"Yeah."

"Hmm, not good," she replied.

"Yeah. Did you get my laptop and cell?"

"I sure did. I also brought you a bag of Snickers bars. I don't know when I'll be able to get you another, so ration them appropriately."

I wanted to hug her. I wanted t
o bury my face in her shoulder and sob at this turn of events. I didn't. I smiled and took the items from her gratefully with a well meant, "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

She nodded and stepped back through the door. "Once the room is sealed, you can't
get in or out except by Rifting. I'm hoping you'll be smart enough to not do that. You're being quarantined for a reason, Grace. Food can be passed through that portion of the wall over there by the window. The slot is only big enough for a tray so you wo
n
't be able to squeeze out and there's a type of field around it to keep everything hermetically sealed." She paused a moment. "I think that's everything. I'll send Dylan around after I set the seal so you can talk to him through the door. I will check on
y
ou twice a day to make sure you're doing okay. If something happens that is a complete emergency and you need to get out, Rift. Don't even hesitate. But try to Rift into Zachary's lab. It's going to be the most sterile place to do so."

Her face hardened a
s she studied the door. "I wish I didn't have to do this."

"Diana, I am glad it's you and not anyone else. It will be okay. I've got my writing and some reading to do. I'll be fine."

"You are getting weaker. I can tell. I could see it in your cells. I'm ju
st…
"

I didn't want her to finish. I didn't want to think of the possibility of dying trapped behind this door, never seeing my son again. Never seeing any of my loved ones again.

"Well, light a fire under Zeus' ass," I said with an encouraging smile. "He'
ll get me out of here in no time if you're bitching at him."

Her smile wasn't as bright, but it made me feel better all the same.

"Okay. Here we go," she said before shutting my door. An electric buzz shimmered over the doorway, then faded. I tested the k
nob and found that it was stuck. I couldn't twist it at all. The door didn't even rattle when I pushed at it.

I panicked and yelled, "Can you hear me? Are you still there?"

"Yes," came her quiet response. "I can hear you dear. Don't panic. It's easier to
take if you stay calm."

"Have you ever been trapped in here?" I asked with my forehead pressed against the door.

"Yes," she replied, but didn't give any explanation.

Still, it made me feel better. If she could suffer this and come through the other side s
till sane, so could I.

I didn't say goodbye. I just brought my things over to the bedside, set them down and fell face first into my covers. It felt like a good day to just say "Fuck it." I knew I should write. I knew I had plenty to do but all I
wanted
t
o do was close my eyes and give up.

I did not, in fact, give up. But I did take a much needed long nap. Despite being under for Diana's examination, I felt like I hadn't slept in days. Hell, if I were being honest, I would have said weeks
–
but I didn't want to seem like a drama queen. Days would work just fine.

The sleep was restful and didn't include a visit from anyone other than Santa Claus and Little Red Riding Hood.

Don't ask. I don't want to know about your dreams. You don't need to
know about all of mine.

I would have slept longer but the pounding on my door startled me into an upright position. For a minute I forgot where I was. Whoever was knocking at my door was going to get such an earful for knocking on my door before coffee.

Then it hit me. I wasn't in my own house and I didn't have coffee. I should have asked my mother to send me a coffee pot. I wondered if lack of coffee was considered an emergency.

Actually I could probably Rift home and grab my French Press and be back be
fore anyone missed me.

"WHAT?" I yelled.

"Mom?"

D'oh. Yelling at the kid wasn't a good thing. I jumped out of bed and hobbled to the door. "Bubby?"

"Hey," he said. He sounded miserable - I wanted to pull him through the door so I could hug him.

"Hey kid.
" I slid down the door to the floor and rested my head against the wood. "What are you up to?"

"Well, I'm not talking to your face for one," he answered angrily. Whoa. Why was he pissed off?

I asked.

"When were you going to tell me that you
’
re going to d
ie, Mom?"

"Whaaaat? I'm not going to die. Where did you hear that?"

"Scott told Alton that you have some kind of mutant virus that was going to wipe out our entire race and that's why they locked you up in your rooms so that at least some of us would live.
"

I sent a questioning glance up to the Fates and took a minute before I responded. "Did it occur to you to ask your Grandmother? Hell, even Drew or Heph would have been better options than those two gossiping old biddies."

The snort echoed through the doo
r and I smiled. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Everything," he said sullenly.

"Well, I don't know everything, contrary to what I've told you in the past. How about I give you the details I have and we'll go from there?"

"Jesus, Mom. This isn't a jokin
g matter!"

His anger surprised me and I leaned away from the door just as it rattled from his bang on the other side.

"WHOA!" I yelled, standing up putting my hands on my hips. "Settle down buddy or you're going to get sewer duty!"

"And how are you going
to make me do it while you're trapped on the other side of this door?" His voiced cracked on the last word and I knew he was crying.

I rested my cheek on the door and pressed my hand as hard as I could against the wood. I couldn't feel him but maybe some
of the love would pass through the seal and he'd grasp how much I wished I could hold him.

"Hey, don't be like that. Everything will be just fine. I'm only in here until Zeus can figure out if the virus was manipulated before it got to me. I should be ou
t in a day or two and we'll …
we'll go to Jalisco's for dinner. How does that sound? You can drive."

Was bribing him with dinner at our favorite Mexican food restaurant in the Springs bad? I didn't care. If it worked, I'd take him there once a week for the
rest of his life.

"I don't have a license," he sniffed.

"Yeah, but I can't teleport and you can. So that puts you in the driver
’
s seat right?"

He was silent on the other side so I said, "I can't hear you nodding, dork."

"Yes," was his slightly less sull
en answer.

"Okay cool. So this is the deal-" I told him everything I knew. I didn't leave anything out. I know most parents would have softened the blow or told half-truths so their kids wouldn't worry. 

I'd watched my son almost die and be
abused at the hands of family and a best friend. There were no secrets between us anymore. The Parenting magazines could go fuck themselves in their ears. I would trade a bit of stress for full on knowledge that could help keep him alive.

"Whoa," he final
ly said after I'd finished. "That's heavy, Mom."

"Yeah, no kidding," I replied. "But the good news is Zeus and Grandma have things under control. You've spent quite a bit of time with both of them lately. Do you really think they'll let me stay trapped in
here for longer than they have to?"

"No."

"Well, there you go. You know what you could do for me to make this go more quickly?"

"What?"

"I had Grandma bring my phone to me. See if Drew will go down and get you an upgrade on yours so you have a front facing
camera. That way we can have face time. Also
–
tell him I don't have coffee. He'll figure out a way to get me a supply."

"Holy shit, Mom. You don't have coffee?"

"Did you just say shit?"

"No?"

"Yes you did. I will wash your mouth out with soap, buddy. Don
't think I won't. Shit is not on your approved bad words list. When you turn 13 you can negotiate for it, but right now
–
you don't use it. Got it?"

"Yeeeeees," he groaned.

"Good. Now go get Drew for me."

"Kay. Hey Mom?"

"Yeah baby?"

"I love you." He sou
nded so miserable.  I could relate.

"I love you too, Bubby. I love you so much."

I stayed at the door for fifteen minutes after he left just in case he came back.  I've never been one of those people who have to be around others. I'm perfectly fine on my
own. I've gone a week without showering, eating only cold cuts and pizza rolls when on a deadline. But this felt oppressive. I felt like crawling up the walls to see if I could find a crack to escape through.

Funny that Diana had told me to only Rift unde
r extreme emergency. I couldn't Rift right now if my life depended on it. But the urge to try was unbearably strong.

Finally, I got up and walked to the window. My room overlooked the Field of Bubbles. I hadn't noticed that before. At least I could watch
my gangly kid in action when he was out training. That would help. There was a group of kids out there right now. The little girl I'd noticed before was running laps, but she'd devolved into skipping and waving her arms back and forth. It brought a smile
t
o my face.

I would have skipped too. It was more fun than running laps. She tripped on something and fell to her knees. I started forward before I realized I couldn't go pick her up and make it all better. I was stuck behind these walls.

A giant of a man
strode onto the field, lifted her up and checked out her knees. I could see her nod, lift her knee and smile as he kissed her boo-boo.

The man constantly amazed me. Who could have known Hephaestus was a sucker for a scraped knee?

Oh wait
–
he was consta
ntly taking care of my scrapes and bangs. He
was
a total sucker.

I leaned my head against the glass and watched him. It was liberating to be able to study him without him knowing I was staring. As always he left me confused. On one hand he was telling me
- or alluding to the fact - that he was interested in me. On the other he acted like he couldn't stand me or would be more interested in a slug. It drove me crazy. Why couldn't he just be consistent? Not that I was prepared for any kind of relationship af
t
er the whole Drew fiasco, but damn! What did it take to get a consistent read off of the men around here?

He was so beautiful. His shoulders flexed as he swung her back down to the ground and I am pretty sure I had a hot flash. They were impossibly wide. H
e had such a strong back. Don't even get me started on the width of his chest. Hephaestus was what everyone imagined a demi-god to look like - black hair, piercing blue eyes and a body that showed strength and power. I heard he kept it so short because it
was curly and he didn't want anyone to think him soft.

That made me smile. Of course he did that.

Without realizing it, my fingertips were tracing an outline of his body on the window. They stopped mid-stroke as he turned and looked up at my window. I ne
arly ducked but didn't want to look guilty so I just brought the rest of my fingers up in an awkward wave.

He waved up at me then led the little girl off the field and out of my view. I sighed and turned to the bedside table that held my laptop.

I guess
that while I was fantasizing about a dreamy god, I could continue writing my latest romance. I'd skipped several sex scenes because I hadn't been feeling it. Now was as good of a time as any to bang those out. Heh
–
bang.

Within minutes my fingers were fly
ing across the keyboard as the story unfolded. I almost didn't notice when a tray slid through the hatch in my outer wall. The audible pop and zap of electricity clued me in that it was meal time.

I pushed away from the laptop and got up to see what kind
of gruel they served the prisoners around here.

I picked the tray off of the ledge and brought it over to my table. Lifting the lids I discovered that they fed the prisoners very well here.

They had sent me takeout from Fiesta Jalisco's - my favorite res
taurant. Cheese Enchiladas were in my immediate future and it made this all seem slightly less heinous.

I smiled when I saw the pile of notes on the tray and a small packet of
–
was that instant coffee? Those bastards!! They were trying to pawn instant co
ffee off on me? Who did they think they were? I demanded better treatment!

I didn't even have hot water to brew it. I could have wept.

I shoved the offending packet off the table in a fit of epic childishness and dug into the enchiladas. The melted cheese
filled my mouth and I closed my eyes in bliss. Jalisco's had packed extra salsa and I poured it over the top of the food. Their enchiladas were the best, but they were better with the salsa to finish it off.

It took me less than ten minutes to eat the fo
od. I leaned back satisfied and very sleepy. I shouldn't have been so tired after the nap I'd taken but my eyes felt so heavy that it was all I could do to make my way to the bed before I fell into a nice comfy nap.

Noises in my room startled me, but I co
uldn't open my eyes enough to find out what the commotion was. My limbs felt so heavy. It was then that I realized I'd been drugged.

The first questions that came to mind were who and why. My brain continued to function as if I were awake but I literally
could not move an inch. I would have yelled but my mouth wouldn't work either. I just lay there stewing in my own anger, feeling utterly betrayed.

A hand brushed the hair off of my head. "Shhh. Go to sleep, Grace. You'll understand when you wake up."

‘
Und
erstand my ass,
’
I thought and tried to thrash.

"I can hear you, idiot. I'm serious. Go to sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up."

Oh. My mind started furiously whirling, trying to come up with intelligent questions, but instead it whirled me right b
ack into a void.