Little Gods Read Online Free PDF Page A

follow them."
    “I wish I understood what you were talking about sometimes,” she complained.
    “Don't you recognize the name?” Madisen said, walking slowly through the darkened street. Jazz music played somewhere nearby, a trumpet wailing over the distant crowd-sounds. “Thalia? Didn't you study the other pantheons?"
    “Not really. I saw Gomorrah before it burned and went swimming during the Deluge. You always studied too much.” She snapped her fingers along with the music. She got the rhythm all wrong.
    “I'll give you a hint. That girl, Thalia, has a few sisters. Urania, Calliope, Polymnia, five others. I can't remember their names."
    “Not ringing any bells,” Samaelle said. She held a cup in each hand. She'd insisted on stopping for drinks, and now they'd probably never find Thalia. Madisen didn't blame her, though. Wearing human flesh meant being able to get drunk, a pleasure they seldom experienced.
    “She's a Muse. Thalia is usually associated with comedy, but the Muses dabble in everything. In the beginning, they weren't even differentiated. Their individual personalities only developed over time."
    “Muse.” Samaelle spat, then drained one of her drinks, throwing her cup into the gutter. “Silly Greek posers. Our job's more fun."
    “Agreed.” Madisen put his arm around her. “But Thalia isn't allowed to inspire any more. Zeus has forbidden her to practice."
    “What'd she do?"
    He laughed. “She inspired performers. She inspired some of them to death. There was this television show—"
    “What's television?"
    Madisen gestured helplessly. “It shows pictures ... like a play in a little box."
    “I never liked plays. Never saw the point."
    “Me either. Anyway, there was a television show, with an ensemble cast, some of the best comedians around, I understand. Thalia inspired a few of the actors, but she drove them too hard. They died of drug overdoses, in car crashes, maybe some suicides, I don't really remember. That wasn't all of it. She worked with stand-up comics, and authors ... Many of them came to bad ends, burned out, killed by success. Even the ones who didn't actually die fell apart in other ways, lost their gifts, became like ghosts of themselves."
    Samaelle laughed. “Sounds like she was doing our job."
    “Exactly. Zeus reprimanded Thalia for driving humans to destruction. She said it wasn't her fault, that she wasn't responsible, but Zeus had just come off a bad love affair and he wasn't willing to listen. He forbade her to inspire humans any more, and she ran away."
    Samaelle finished her other drink. “So she kept on inspiring humans. But why would she get a guy to make jewelry if she's the Muse of comedy?"
    Madisen shrugged. “Maybe because no one would expect it. A jeweler isn't likely to become famous, so Zeus won't ever notice. I bet she's still dealing with performers, though, just not famous ones."
    Samaelle stopped walking. “All very fascinating, but why are we following her? She's not even part of our pantheon. If she's disobeying authority and misbehaving, shouldn't we support her, just on principle?"
    “Well ... If we threaten to report her to Zeus, we'll have some leverage if we ever need anything from her..."
    Samaelle put her arms around his neck and looked at him. “Oh, Maddie, more blackmail? You've got dirt on half the immortal beings in the universe, and you never use any of it. What could you possibly need from a Muse?"
    “You never know,” he said, embarrassed. “Don't you believe in insurance?"
    “I'm the reason people need insurance.” She drew a fingernail down his chest. “I've got an idea. Instead of chasing Thalia, let's find a room, and a bed, and enjoy having human bodies. We are on vacation."
    “That sounds good,” Madisen admitted. “But I hate to pass this up. How often do two fallen angels meet a Muse? It seems like we should do something. "
    “We can. Tomorrow morning we'll look for Thalia."
    “Why, if not to blackmail