Lucas pushed his way through the group and faced what looked like a wet and slightly feral version of himself. “This is not a game for the gods to bet on. These are our lives.”
Poseidon studied Lucas, and laughed. “The Fates would put my face on a moralizing sap. Let me tell you something, boy. I don’t care what the Fates want. In the sea, the big fish eat the little ones. You’re going to have to grow some thicker skin if you’re the one who’s supposed to try and replace me.”
“At least he’s intelligent,” said another familiar voice. A god who looked like Hector’s twin came down the other end of the beach, interrupting Lucas before he could question Poseidon’s last remark. “My would-be replacement is brave, but he’s got to be the dumbest of all the Scion mongrels. He actually wanted to challenge me—still mortal as he is. It’s embarrassing, really.”
Lucas automatically grabbed Hector by the arm. He could feel his cousin itching to jump Apollo, immortal or not, and that would probably get them all killed.
A burst of freezing air from the center of the circle interrupted a fight before it could begin.
“Now, now, Apollo,” said the young, blond man who stood in the patch of newly formed ice. A gust of air passed over Lucas, but it wasn’t sea air. It smelled like the mountains, laden with herbs and smelling faintly of stone. It had to be from another world. “None of us make wise decisions when it comes to women. Hector is no exception. He wants his Andromache for himself. Can you blame him?”
The young blond man was tall but no giant. He wasn’t exceptionally muscular, either, but despite the fact that both Poseidon and Apollo were larger and more physically developed, he radiated power as he walked to Helen and Aphrodite. The goddess nodded at the god respectfully, but it was Helen whom he addressed.
“Well, daughter. You’ve been busy,” Zeus said in a softly scolding tone.
Lucas schooled his face so he didn’t give away his emotions as he thought this through frantically. He had known for a while that the Fates assigned roles, trading out new actors in each new cycle so that everything stayed the same even as it changed. Lucas quickly looked around at the gods and their Scion doubles before his gaze settled on Orion. Orion’s twin was missing.
“What do you want from us?” Helen asked, squaring off with Zeus. Lucas couldn’t help but be proud of her, even though it was insane to talk to a god like that. Zeus had cursed entire generations for lesser offenses, but Helen didn’t show a drop of fear.
“Not us. It’s what I want from you, Helen.” Zeus spoke softly but his voice still seemed to boom.
“What’s that?” Helen asked cautiously, her bravado wearing thin.
Poseidon and Apollo positioned themselves behind Zeus. Aphrodite kissed Helen’s cheek, released her hand, and reluctantly went to stand behind her father. Hector, Lucas, and Jason all reacted in kind and angled themselves behind Helen and Orion.
“I want your shiny new world,” Zeus replied.
More gods joined him. A huge woman in armor came first. Then a boy who moved so fast he seemed to buzz like a hummingbird, a hunchback carrying a hammer, a man with grapevines in his hair, and finally another woman wearing a dress of peacock feathers, all fell in behind Zeus.
Helen looked at Orion. Lucas bit down hard, grinding his teeth to keep himself from yelling. Didn’t she just tell him a few hours ago that he was the one who helped her figure out everything? Lucas watched as an understanding passed between Orion and Helen. He didn’t know what it was because she was withholding information. Again. Helen and Orion made a silent agreement, and she turned to face Zeus.
“You can’t have it,” Helen said deliberately.
Zeus smiled like Helen had just given him keys to the world he really wanted. “Challenge.”
Helen hoped like hell this worked.
“Accepted,” Hector said, barreling forward until he was at Helen’s right hand and glaring at Zeus over a few feet of sand. Voices shouted out, and several challenges were made at once as the crowd of Scions all reacted to Hector’s move against the gods.
“Wait!” Helen held up an arm to stop Hector from starting a mêlée right then and there. Lucas and Jason came to keep Hector in check.
“I haven’t seen such fire in a hundred generations,” Zeus said, laughing. “You’re right, Apollo. He’s brave, even braver than your boy at Troy, but dumber than a block of marble.”
“Easy,” Orion said to Hector. “Trust us.”
Zeus leaned in close to Hector, close enough for Helen to see the lightning bolts that flashed inside his amber eyes. “If he had an ounce of sense, he would remember that no matter how skilled he is, he cannot kill me.”
“Exactly,” Helen said in a controlled voice. “So it’s not a true challenge. The gods aren’t allowed to fight mortals in duels, which is why at Troy only demigods fought demigods. The gods can try to kill Scions with ocean waves and lightning bolts and curses. But they are not allowed to participate in one-on-one combat with us unless they’re mortal as well. Like when Ares tortured me in the portal. He wasn’t immortal there, so he could kill me. But away from a portal, the gods need to find a way to make us fight each other instead. Like they did at Troy.”
“And like they’re doing right now,” Orion continued pointedly, so more Scions could hear and understand that the gods were just trying to kill them all off.
“There are rules to these things. You’re already my chosen champion,” Helen said. “And you’re mortal, so Zeus has to pick a mortal champion, too.”
“How did you learn all this?” Zeus asked Helen with narrowed eyes.
“A little river told me,” she answered, inwardly sighing with relief that her Helen of Troy memories were correct.
Helen saw Hector relax and smile. Lucas and Jason eased back, finally trusting that Helen and Orion knew what they were doing.