with my rage."
"I see."
"I'm not pissed that they were a couple. I'm pissed because he just happened to knock me up one night and didn't bother to say 'oh hey, by the way, I'm your baby daddy.’ That is what I'm pissed about. "
I dumped the bag out next to her and threw it under the bed. Now I had to find a new one. I had luggage - but packing luggage meant that this wasn't just some overnight stay. Luggage meant that I would be there for a while. Luggage showed intent. I wasn't ready to admit that I may be in Olympus for an extended period.
Athena's hand caught me as I was pacing around, looking for a replacement. "Grace, you need to pull your shit together and admit two things to yourself. One – you're going to be in Olympus indefinitely. You not only need to get Dylan's stuff addressed, but you need more training. I don't like that Hope knocked you around like a rag doll. It means that I wasn't training you right. And two — you need to recognize that you have some pretty strong feelings for your sister's husband and it's not just him lying to you about Dylan. There are other emotions running around in that crazy head of yours. The sooner you come to grips, the better."
"Sister's husband… Aww crap." I slumped against the bed in defeat. She was right. I hated how she was always right. But she wasn't the Goddess of Wisdom for nothing. "I've been trying to ignore those."
"Riiiiight. That's why you've let him play house with you for three months longer than was necessary."
I threw her a sidelong glance. Athena's humor was always fairly hard to decipher but it had been harder to figure out if she was being helpful or just a bitch lately. "Shut up and help me find my suitcases," I groused.
In forty-five minutes, the suitcases, the kid and the dog were packed and ready for the trip. We stood in the living room and I looked around at my home. The fact that I was running away from my home made me angrier than anything else could have. I'd worked hard for this. I'd fought tooth and nail for this patch of dirt and timber.
We'd been to Olympus a few times over the last three months but no longer than a night or two at a time. This felt more permanent. I was pretty sure I disliked that thought.
"Why does this shit happen to me?" It wasn't a question to anyone in particular but two voices piped in.
"Because you lead a complicated life?" Athena quipped.
"Because the Universe hates me?"
The last voice was my son's. Another twinge of guilt shot through me. One thing after another was changing his perfectly ordinary life.
While packing in a rage, I'd called his school and left a voicemail. I used a dying member in the family as an excuse and said I wasn't certain when Dylan would be back. It was possible that I'd home school him for the rest of the semester. Did they teach kids geography and science in Olympus? I hoped so. This kid was going to college if it killed me.
"Let's go."
Scooter popped out of view first and I just stared with my jaw on the floor. " He can teleport?"
"Grace, you're the only one who can't at this point," was the dry response.
"Shut up and take me to Olympus," I replied.
Chapter 4
Bodies were in motion, setting a frenetic pace through the halls of the living quarters of Olympus. I shot a questioning look at Athena and she just shrugged. "Things were quiet when I left."
"Well something is obviously up." I looked at Dylan and nodded toward his rooms. "Hey kid, go get unpacked and hunker down. I want you to read for an hour and then we'll talk."
"Or, we could talk now? I'm kind of in the Land of Clueless here, Mom, and it doesn't feel so great."
A pained sigh left my body. "Yeah, I know. It's…complicated. I want to talk to you about it, but right now, I want to find out what's got everyone so butt hurt, ‘kay?"
He slumped and gave me a look that clearly stated that he thought I was an asshole. He wasn't entirely wrong. So I was chickening out. This was a surprise? Whoever said I was