The Forest Gods' Fight Read online

  “The poor kid’s in summer school,” I explained as I shook my head solemnly and Josh quickly nodded in agreement. “And would you stop glaring at me like that? Most people consider it rude.”

  Cole frowned but didn’t press the issue about Alec any more. “Fine,” he muttered, crossing his arms. “It’s just that if you didn’t want to hang out, you should have come right out and said it in the first place.”

  I shook my head. “I do want to hang out, but like I said, there’s been a lot of stuff going on—”

  Cole interrupted me by abruptly slamming his fist down on the table in frustration. “See, that’s the problem. It seems like everyone around here is suddenly ‘busy’ and in on some huge secret. Sure, ever since we were six and that reporter came up with the Monster Watch label, you and the guys have been tight-lipped. That’s normal, I guess. But it’s not just the Monster Watch anymore. You all are leaving me out of it.” Cole’s voice cracked with stress, forcing him to take a pause. “We used to be friends, Ash. Good friends, and I kind of wanted to be more.”

  I gulped, feeling very guilty as I glanced over at Josh who was still sitting awkwardly across from Cole and listening to the entire conversation. Josh’s dark pupils moved upward, peeking out from under a stray piece of his brown hair, and he gave me a shrug, obviously as bewildered as I was in the tense moment.

  So, instead, I just stood there like an idiot with my breath caught in my throat as I waited for Cole to say something else. “Well, are you going to say anything?” he asked hopefully, his brown eyes suddenly seeming much more kind and caring. After all, he did just confess that he had a crush on me.

  “There’s no secret, Cole,” I lied again quietly, realizing I was in so deep that there was no going back. I then glanced back to the other table where Becca was leaning into Zach like she had been during the movie two nights before and figured it was much better to tell a little bit of the truth than to lie about everything, so I added, “Except for the fact that Zach might be cheating on Alicia with Becca. And we just didn’t want to let you in that night because we were in the middle of a movie.”

  When Cole raised his eyebrows, I knew I had said the right thing. “Really?” he whispered slowly and I nodded. “Then I’m sorry I was being a jerk. Forgive me?” I nodded again, though I wasn’t exactly sure why he was apologizing. I was the one lying to his face without a second thought, even if it was only to protect our secret.

  I had bid Cole farewell and was turning around when Becca caught my eye again. Her arms were crossed defiantly and her eyebrows rose pointedly as she waited for me to add something else. “Oh, right. Do you want to come?” I asked the two boys hesitantly. Josh and Cole just exchanged grateful glances before nodding eagerly. “Thought you’d never ask,” Josh said, grinning.

  Chapter 4

  DISTRACTIONS

  The next morning, the entire Olympian Council had a meeting near the edge of the forest to discuss the plans for the day. After a few minutes, we all went our separate ways to accomplish various tasks. To be specific, Connor, Camille, and I headed back to my house to hang out while all of the other gods (except for Haley and Shane, our smith) headed into the woods. The A Team had been given yet another morning off and we planned on going back into the forest later on.

  Once inside my empty house, Camille, Connor, and I collapsed on the old lumpy couch in my living room and turned on the news, setting it on mute. I took my walkie-talkie off my belt loop and set it on the coffee table in front of us before turning the volume all the way up. This way, we could at least stay informed.

  Currently, Hermes was hanging out back at the army base camp, helping Pan teach the younger nymphs and satyrs some more advanced defense skills than the ones they already knew. Somewhere near the meadow, Ares and Aphrodite had just taken out the Minotaur and an undead warrior with their signature moves— Aphrodite using her beauty as a distraction, leaving room for Ares to suddenly attack from behind. Poseidon and Zeus also seemed unstoppable as they drenched the Python in seawater and then electrocuted it to death, killing it in record time. Meanwhile, Hera, Demeter, and Dionysus were using guerrilla warfare and ambush techniques against a small troop of undead warriors.

  Feeling restless, I shifted in my seat for about the fifth time in five minutes. Artemis just snickered next to me and asked in Greek, “Is something bothering you?” Since neither of my parents was at home, it was safe to be our godly selves.

  “Yes. I have a disease called pinus ponderosa deprivation,” I answered her blandly, using scientific names just to sound even more intelligent than usual as I fixed my long, wavy hair into my signature ponytail.

  When the blonde twins only exchanged confused glances and Apollo raised one eyebrow, I laughed. “Basically, it means I’m feeling deprived of our wonderful forest out there,” I replied with a shrug. “But then again, I’m pretty sure I’ve already spread the disease to you guys so it doesn’t really matter.” They nodded in agreement, sharing an identical smirk.

  “Want to go out back? I have an empty soda can begging to be shot at,” I suggested after a few dull moments of idle silence. Apollo nodded eagerly and grabbed the black BB gun sitting by my back door. He ran out into the yard without another word as Artemis just rolled her eyes.

  A few minutes later, Apollo and I were taking turns shooting at the can, sending it flying back a few more feet each time with a small pinging noise. Artemis was watching us from the porch as she munched on a red apple she had stolen from the fruit basket on my kitchen table, guessing as to which one of us would be able to hit the soda can the most times. But Artemis was probably the second smartest out of all the gods (at least intellectually) so she picked the goddess of wisdom, war, and skills and won the bet against herself. Apollo didn’t seem to care about the loss, since he knew he could have beaten me in a shooting competition with a bow and a few arrows at any time or place.

  After about an hour, Apollo and I had shot the poor aluminum can to smithereens, and it was now lying under the big tree where the Monster Watch used to meet to discuss the day’s events in the week after we had first gone into the forest, back when we didn’t have other ways of communicating and life was simpler. He and I joined Artemis in the antique rocking chairs on the porch to take a break and stared blankly out into the thick fog. The skies were cloudy and gray due to Zeus’s involvement in the war, but there wasn’t much besides houses to look at anyway.

  We were still listening to the radio, but not much was happening in the mysterious forest. To be honest, I had a feeling that the so-called “battles” would be more like random skirmishes between one or two monsters and a god, at least until Alec arrived with the reinforcements. I kept checking my watch, waiting for his call to come, but it never did. Meanwhile, I was silently mulling over recent events in the forest when something suddenly occurred to me.

  “Hey!” I exclaimed, bolting upright in my chair. Artemis and Apollo just looked at me with their hazel eyes, eagerly waiting for me to explain. It’s safe to say they were used to me having these random moments of realization. In fact, the pieces of the puzzle were still putting themselves together in my brain when Apollo broke in impatiently, “Well, are you going to tell us or not?”

  “The helm of invisibility,” I whispered, lifting my chin. Because, really, it changed the whole freaking equation. Artemis and Apollo apparently agreed, since they both smacked their foreheads at the exact same time, as if they too should have thought of the helm earlier.

  In a war against the Titans, a cyclops had given the original and most famous Olympian brothers tools to defeat their enemies—Zeus received the master bolt, Poseidon his golden trident, and Hades the helm of invisibility or darkness. Until now, we had ignored the helm. Hell, until earlier in the spring, we’d ignored Hades himself—our biggest failure in our duties as gods.

  So, assuming that the Hades of our current generation had the helm, the rest of us were in an enormous amount of trouble. An invisible and undetectable
Hades could be anywhere at any time, listening to anything we were saying or killing anyone with valuable information. With the helm, Hades was the ultimate spy. Forget all of our planned surprise attacks and secret weapons; we were back to square one.

  “But how do we know for sure that he has the helm?” Artemis mused, tapping her chin, her brow furrowed just the slightest bit.

  “That’s exactly it. We don’t know if he has the helm, but we have to assume he does, just in case. We don’t want any more soldiers dying than necessary over this ludicrous argument,” I replied and the twins nodded in understanding.

  “But the thing I don’t get is why Hades would have let us almost capture him in the forest a few days ago if he does, in fact, have the helm in his possession . . . unless he wanted us to see him for some reason,” I continued aloud, though Artemis and Apollo just sat back and waited silently while I reasoned it out for myself. “But then again, there’s no way of knowing for sure.”

  “Maybe Hades was out looking for the helm when we almost captured him,” Apollo offered, running his fingers through his short, sandy blond hair in anguish.

  Artemis frowned and shook her head. “It can’t be that simple, can it? I mean, that’s probably what Hades wants us to believe, if he actually has the helm.”

  “There’s that ‘if’ again. Everything we do is going to revolve around this helm from now on, so we have to determine whether or not Hades actually has it. And fast,” I added before the three of us lapsed into a short state of silence and deep thought as we tried to think of how to find the helm of invisibility.

  “I’ve got it! The antique shop!” I exclaimed and Artemis and Apollo returned their attention to me.

  “Of course,” Apollo breathed, beginning to count off on his fingers. “That’s where we found the other major weapons—the master bolt in its metal form, the trident, your shield, bows and arrows, a few swords. Where did your mom even find those things in the first place?”

  But Apollo’s question went unanswered when Artemis yelped, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” And ignoring lunch, the three of us took off down the empty road, racing toward Main Street as if our lives depended on making it to the shop alive. While that might have been true, it wasn’t something to dwell on. By the time we had reached the door of the antique shop, I had filled in all of the other gods via walkie-talkie and they were on high alert, wary of an invisible Hades.

  I slowly opened the door, and the tiny bell rang as we stepped over the threshold. Surveying the room, I ordered in English, “You two search that side and I’ll search this side.” Camille and Connor just nodded and split up while I started to sort out the piles of old junk on the right side of the room. Ancient tables and chairs with intricate patterns carved into the legs made the room into one big maze, but I wasn’t taking any chances by skipping over stuff. We had to find Hades’s helm; the outcome of the war depended on it.

  Just then, my mother walked out of the back storage room and her brown eyes lit up when she saw the three of us. She clasped her hands together and said enthusiastically, “Are you looking for something in particular?”

  “Yes, actually,” I told her, thinking that she might be able to help me for once. “A helmet. Probably bronze or iron and really old.”

  “Really, really, really old,” Connor added, as if I hadn’t been clear enough.

  My mother immediately raised her eyebrows as if suddenly remembering something then pushed her way through the clutter toward her half-moon-shaped desk. The three of us waited patiently and exchanged curious glances while she rummaged through some old documents for a minute.

  “Ah, yes, here it is,” she rasped as she held a few papers up to the light so she could read them better. “A boy about your age came in here—a few months ago, according to my records—and bought it off me. Didn’t give me much money for it, but oh well. I didn’t recognize him so I thought he might be from a neighboring town. Pine Grove, maybe?”

  “Yeah, maybe.” I gulped, already knowing the answer to my own question, and tried to keep my voice from shaking with worry when I asked, “Mom, what did he look like?”

  “Oh, dear me,” she exclaimed, covering her mouth with one frail hand. “I hope you don’t go around trying to make friends with him. He was a bad sort, you know, looked a bit Goth to me. Handsome, but Goth. Not that I’m against Goth people . . . it’s just hard to describe.”

  I know exactly what you mean, I thought to myself with a sigh.

  Realizing she was getting a bit off-topic, my mother put her hands on her hips and looked directly at me as she said, “Please, sweetie, just stay away from him. I’ll find you another helmet exactly like that one and you can use it for whatever crazy games you want to play.”

  But there is no other helmet like that one, I thought angrily as I gritted my teeth and turned around, sending worried glances to my friends across the room. I waved my mother a quick good-bye and wove through the antiques toward the door, Camille and Connor following close behind.

  As soon as we were outside and out of anyone else’s earshot, I whipped out my walkie-talkie. “This is Athena calling in an emergency situation,” I rapidly spoke in Greek, the urgency in my voice unmistakable. “Hades has the helm. Repeat: Hades has the helm.”

  At once, the walkie-talkie erupted with the voices of almost all of the other gods. “What? Wait, when? What the hell? How? Why?”

  I only sighed in defeat, rubbing my forehead as Artemis took the time to explain what we now knew. But even once she had finished speaking, none of the gods had calmed down. They were even more wound up now that they knew the details and rightly so. After all, this meant that Hades could have seen or heard anything we had done or spoken of in the past months and might know about our usual routes, fighting styles, and most importantly, the arrival of Alec and the troops. This also meant that Hades already had the helm in his possession when we had surrounded him in the forest that day, so he’d definitely wanted us to see him there. We just had to figure out why.

  “Athena, can I meet you and your team in your room? I want to discuss some things and I’ve been throwing around so much lightning my hands are killing me,” Zeus asked.

  “Of course, Father Zeus,” I answered promptly. “But if it’s not too much trouble, climb up to my balcony. My human father should be home any minute and I don’t want him getting suspicious.”

  About half an hour later, the rest of my team and I were holed up in my room, waiting for Zeus to arrive. Just as Apollo was about to ask what time it was for the twenty-third time in the last forty minutes, I heard a muffled noise come from outside. I immediately opened the glass doors to my balcony to see a frowning Zeus, his golden hair messy and dark with sweat and rainwater, his hands rough and covered in golden blood. Breathing heavily, he lowered himself into the leather seat at my desk and I quickly rushed over, yanking out a drawer to reveal a pile of various medical supplies.

  “You keep all of this in your room?” Apollo wondered aloud as he grabbed some heavy-duty bandages and alcohol to clean Zeus’s wounds.

  I shrugged. “It’s not like anyone else in this house ever needs bandages.”

  Just then, I heard the sputtering of an old car engine outside, so I knew my human father was home. Ignoring his arrival for the time being, I reluctantly turned back to watch Zeus wince in pain as Apollo wrapped up his hands.

  When Zeus’s eyes finally looked up to meet mine, he whispered solemnly, “This is crazy. Everyone out there is paranoid about Hades and, for once in my life, I don’t know how to calm them down. I mean, he could be in this room right now for all we know.”

  Artemis just nodded in agreement, tying her hair in a bun before she started wandering about the room, waving her arms this way and that to make sure there wasn’t an invisible person hiding behind the furniture. “I don’t think Hades is here, but you’re right; if we’re going to win this war, we all need to be a little bit paranoid about Hades in order to keep our plans a secret,”
Artemis proclaimed. “We just can’t become so paranoid that we all start turning on each other.”

  Zeus opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the loud ringing of my house phone. The four of us quickly fell into silence, wondering who could possibly be calling and trying to listen for the start of a conversation. You see, in a town as small as the Woods, people often made unannounced house calls, not telephone calls. For a fraction of a second, I wondered if my cousin Katie was calling, but I couldn’t think of a good reason why she would. Frowning, I was about to open my bedroom door and race downstairs to answer the phone, but I stayed in the room when I heard my human father pick up the line. He kept his voice strangely low, however, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  No longer seeming fazed, Zeus asked us three, “How are your own injuries?”

  Apollo leaned over to inspect the gash on his leg and I quickly slid the sleeve of my purple T-shirt over my left shoulder, revealing my bra strap and the bandages he had put on for me yesterday. I carefully ripped back a small piece of the gauze so I could see the damage and was relieved to find that the wound was almost healed already. There was a bit of dried golden blood on the skin surrounding the dark brown puncture, which was now almost nothing but a scar, but other than that, I was fine.

  “Looks good,” I told Zeus. “I expect the scar to be completely gone by tomorrow or the day after.” Most likely, a stab wound like mine would have taken weeks, maybe even months, to completely heal on a normal human and then there would probably always be a scar left as a reminder of the pain. But being reincarnations of the gods, we had found out early on that as well as being stronger than regular people, our wounds healed five times as fast and our skin always appeared unscathed afterward. Such natural gifts were proving to come in quite handy for this war.

  Next, I looked at Apollo and Artemis for their own reports and, luckily, they were healing as well as I was. Suddenly, a gruff yell sounded from the kitchen below, “Ashley, get down here right now!” I groaned, giving the others in the room a quick look that meant I’ll be back in a minute. Then I slammed my white bedroom door behind me as I reluctantly headed down the stairs to face my father.