When I opened my eyes, sunlight streamed into the windows on the far side of the bedroom. Beside me, Eli was quietly snoring. I wondered if he missed greeting the dawn or if I simply slept through it. He looked very relaxed and I took a few moments to marvel at his supreme beauty. His chin had a faint trace of stubble that was as red as his hair. His dark red eyelashes lay on his cheeks in a thick, curly ruffle. His nose was straight and narrow, but not unpleasantly so. No blemish or discoloration marred the perfect surface of his skin. Too perfect. It was easy to see why the ancients called him a god. The big vein pulsed in his neck and his breathing was deep and even.

One shoulder peeked out from under the white sheet and it was gently curved and strong with muscles. In ancient Greece, artisans used Helios’s body as the model for the Colossus at Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The colossus was a giant statue of marble and bronze that guarded the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes. I saw the statue when it was new, gleaming in the sun as the light struck it. Helios faced the morning sun and his arm was raised to it in greeting. It was over a hundred feet tall, not including the fifty-foot-tall base. It was so impressive that it became a tourist attraction even after it fell during an earthquake that destroyed most of the city of Rhodes only fifty-six years after the statue’s completion. Seeing that same body, reclining in my bed, sleeping the sleep of the innocent, was almost too much for me. I took in a deep, deep breath and let it out slowly. In the ancient tongue, I whispered to the recumbent figure, “Why did you choose me?” My soft voice was enough to awaken Eli.

His golden, shining eyes stared directly at me and his mouth twisted into a soft smile. “I chose you because you are first among women.” He answered in the ancient Olympian tongue.

I must have given him a look because he added, “You were and are Zeus’s favorite daughter. He favored you above Hera, his wife. You, of all the Olympian or Titan women, were his chosen one.” He traced a finger along my jawline. “Athena, Athena, Athena. You are made even doubly beautiful because you don’t see yourself in that way. You aren’t superficial and vain like so many of our kin.”

I leaned forward to reward his words with a kiss on his soft, soft lips. Eli continued when I raised my head. “Wise enough to not use your beauty to gain what you seek. Truly a goddess.”

He pulled me closer to him to cradle me against his chest and then he said, switching back to English, “We fellows talked long into the night. A busy day awaits us because you can be assured that Phobos won’t be resting. His little demonstration at the mall yesterday was only the overture. The opera has yet to begin. We don’t think we have much time before he tries his next stunt.”

“Oh, Eli, how can he be so... heartless is the only word I can think of.”

“My dearest wife. Don’t you know that is one of the greatest dangers of allowing yourself to be worshiped? You think of yourself as being better, greater than those who worship you. You lose the ability to care for them, as a good leader cares for his charges. Phobos truly doesn’t care about humans. He thinks of them as toys and not even a favorite toy. They are less than insects to him, if he even gives them a thought, at all.”

“I just can’t understand that,” I responded.

“Which is why I love you so dearly.” Eli sat up in bed and playfully slapped my hip with his hand. “Come on, you lazy sloth. Get up and let’s get to work. As Bill would say, ‘There are killers running around the city and we have to catch them.’“ His imitation of Bill’s Brooklyn accent was perfect and brought a smile to my face.

I threw the covers off and hopped out of the bed. “I get the bathroom first.” And I ran into the hallway, leaving his chuckle behind me. When I finished in the bathroom and stepped into the hallway, Bill and Aaron were both standing at the top of the stairs. Bill glanced at me and then turned away, quickly. Belatedly, I realized I was still naked and I had embarrassed him. Aaron was completely unaffected by my nudity. That is the difference between ancient Greeks and Americans. I never learned to be embarrassed by my body or anyone else’s nakedness. In the summer, in ancient Greece, most of us rarely wore clothes at all.

Still... “Sorry, Bill.”

He waved over his shoulder without turning around.

I entered my now-empty bedroom. I assume Eli transported to the bathroom, directly. I opened the bag he had placed on the vanity chair and found clothes, shoes, and toiletries. The hairbrush was a welcome sight and I brushed my hair until it felt silky once again. I pulled my hair into a casual ponytail that trailed down my back. Then I put on a pair of comfortable jeans and a pale blue girly tee shirt. I had my socks and hiking boots on before Eli reappeared in the bedroom.

“Jeans, today?” He asked.

“That’s what you put in the bag, so yes, jeans today.”

“Good. I intended to wear jeans, too.” The pair he pulled on was tight enough to show off his nicely rounded butt and loose enough to be comfortable for him. He selected a green North Face tshirt. He put on hiking boots instead of his athletic shoes and I began to get an inkling of what the guys had in mind.

From somewhere deep in the house, I heard Bill’s voice boom, “Breakfast.”

Eli grabbed my hand and pulled me into an embrace. “Must not keep our host waiting.” In an instant, we stood in the kitchen directly in front of Bill.

“Holy Hannah!” He swore. “Warn a guy before you do that.”

Eli let me go and then said, “I thought you wanted us to hurry.”

“I did, but I thought you would take the stairs like normal people,” Bill said. Then, “As soon as my heart starts beating normally again, I will finish your breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, any style.”

“Morning,” Aaron said, from behind the newspaper. He didn’t look at either of us from his seat at the table in the kitchen. Four places were already set and a platter with bacon and sausage links piled high. Bill flipped a pancake in the air and then left it on the stove to finish cooking. He grabbed a pitcher of orange juice from the fridge and put it on the table before returning to his pancakes. Plus, coffee steamed in large mugs at each of the four places. I slid into a chair beside Aaron and grabbed the coffee as Bill put the platter of pancakes on the table.

“How do you want your eggs, my lady?” he asked me.

“Scrambled is fine,” I told him. And he proceeded to complete the breakfast. An ordinary task. An ordinary setting. Just as if we were ordinary people who did this kind of thing every day. It was an incredibly domestic scene with Aaron reading the paper, Bill cooking, and Eli looking for butter and syrup in the refrigerator.

Finally, Aaron put down the paper and said, “Ok, the official statement about yesterday is, eleven boys from a local high school succumbed to an illness that may or may not be terrorist related.” Bill joined us at the table after spooning eggs onto each plate.

We looked at each other for a few seconds. Bill finally said, “What kind of world do we live in that the officials would rather have the public think this is anthrax gone wild rather than a psychic incident?” He shook his head in disbelief.

“But in their world, terrorists are the worst thing imaginable,” I said.

“But, it’s not the truth,” Bill argued

“Whoever said newspapers print the truth?” Aaron asked.

“He argues more than I do,” Bill said. “And that’s saying something.

“Before the arguing starts in earnest, what are we doing today?” I asked.

The guys looked at each other and I began to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I waited and no one said anything for nearly a minute. Bill finally said, “We gotta tell her.”

The three nodded in unison. Eli took a deep breath and tried three times before he actually said, “We are going to learn how to kill a god.”

“What?” I asked, as my mind tried to process the impossible information.

“It’s the only way. We have to figure out a way to kill Phobos. We know it can be done. We just have to figure out how.” Eli looked helpless.

“Wait a minute!” I said. “I know we have to kill Phobos, but how do you propose we learn how to do it? On whom are you going to practice? Who gets to die?”

“You got it all wrong,” Eli said. “We are going to practice on something else. The principle should be the same, blowing apart a bush or a can of peas and blowing apart a body. We figure if we can blow up something else, we can blow up a person. We want to try it alone and with all of us together. If we can’t do it, we go to Zeus and you make a case for his help.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Me?” I asked.

“Yes,” Eli responded. “You are his favorite out of everyone. You can talk to him, like we can’t.”

“Great. That’s just great. ‘Hi, Dad. I want you to do a little favor for me. I want you to kill your grandson, Phobos. Can do? Yes? Okay. Then, can I have a pony?’“ I said, my voice laced with heavy sarcasm.

“Very funny,” Aaron said, his voice dry. “Our father will listen to you, Athena. That’s all we meant. I mean I am going to approach him to ask him to kill my son. My son! Aphrodite may interfere because Phobos is her son, too. Zeus may not want to do it, and then we are left where we are right now.” He took a deep breath. “Aphrodite is going to be more than a little bit pissed about this. Remember what she did when you simply helped her husband find her in a... delicate position,” Aaron said to Eli. “If you help kill her son, she will be angrier than she was, then. So, it’s not just Phobos we have to deal with. It is the aftermath.”

“Are you going to help us?” Bill asked.

Aaron shot him a look. “Of course, I am going to help. I just want all of you to know what we are up against. It’s not just a bad guy, but it is the backlash that will happen after the bad guy is taken out.”

“Aphrodite is someone to worry about later,” Eli said. His face clouded with the memory of dealing with her before. It was her curse that left him alone until he and I came together a mere six hundred years before. “We need to concentrate on the task at hand instead of worrying about what Aphrodite may do.”

“Is that why the huge breakfast?” I asked Bill.

“Yeah. We are going to be using a lot of energy later and we need to top off the tank,” Bill replied.

Aaron nodded his agreement.

The eggs didn’t go down as well as they should after the bomb the guys dropped in the kitchen. We ate in silence.

Nearly immediately after breakfast, Bill announced it was time to leave because Sally would stop by later to clean up the kitchen. Eli vanished briefly and then returned with a sweater for the pair of us. I pulled on my thick cardigan, assuming I would appreciate its warmth when we arrived at our destination. We gathered in the center of the kitchen and Eli took us all to his valley in the Caucasus Mountains.

“Beam me up, Scotty!” Bill said when the transport was completed. “I am not sure I like that.” He held onto Aaron who was nearly as shaky as he was.

“I know what you mean, Bill,” I told him.

Eli placed us near the stables, thereby giving him an opportunity to visit his horses. He opened each of the stalls in turn and allowed the four to run across the valley.

Bill got his second surprise of the day when he saw the immense size of the four horses. “I’m not a Farm Boy, but I know those horses are bigger than they should be,” Bill said as he watched the four run off at a gallop. “And that red one. He certainly is different. Pretty.”

I nodded. “Their size and their color is one of the reasons Eli hides them from prying eyes.”

“So, you guys live here?” Bill asked, making note of the cabin set into the hill.

“Sometimes. Mostly we live somewhere else,” I told him.

“OK. Let’s get to it,” Eli said, bringing four very old-fashioned green wine bottles out of the barn. He placed the four on the ground and then said, “Aaron, you want to start the show?” After Aaron nodded, Eli continued, “The principle is not too different from transporting, which is simply moving something on a molecular level. Think about blowing the bottle apart and then, it should happen.”

“Show us,” Bill said.

Aaron turned slightly away and stared at one of the wine bottles. His frown deepened. Sweat beads formed on his forehead. He trembled with the effort, but the bottle stayed intact.

Eli gently shook his shoulder to break his concentration. “You’re going to hurt yourself. Allow me.”

“If you think you can do better, then go for it.” I knew Aaron’s irritation wasn’t at Eli, but at his own inability to accomplish what seems like a simple task.

Eli stared at the bottle and nothing happened. There was a tremendous amount of energy floating in the air because the hair on my arms stood upright under the wool of the cozy blue sweater. I began to wonder if what we were trying to accomplish was possible at all. While it would be so much easier to simply bring an object to us, we had always gone to get the object. Transporting an object seemed pointless and our current task was a variation of that talent.

Maybe that was what was wrong. The guys were trying a direct approach. It is difficult to define what I did, but I simply reversed the energy I would use to transport. I know technically that isn’t what happened, but when the wine bottle burst into shards so small they looked like fine powder, I knew I could do it. I mean I knew I could blow apart a wine bottle, but I didn’t know if I could do it to a living thing.

I heard Eli say to the others, “It wasn’t me.” I felt all three pairs of eyes on me.

“How did you do that?” Aaron asked me.

“I don’t know, exactly. I think I channeled the energy I use to transport in a different direction,” I said lamely.

“Try again,” Eli said.

I nodded and glanced toward another wine bottle that suddenly burst into fine green powder. It was almost an effortless endeavor.

“Again,” Eli suggested.

And I exploded the other two wine bottles in rapid succession.

I felt no sense of triumph because I knew the guys weren’t nearly finished that day. Eli pointed to a small straggling late autumn flower and I blew it apart. And a second. Eli plucked the small pink Turkish rose off of the low bush and held it out toward me. “Now, just the flower.”

Panic slammed into my breast. “No. What if I miss? What if I blow apart your hand?”

“You won’t miss,” Eli said to me.

“No. I won’t do it.” I said, forcefully.

“You have to figure this out, Athena,” Aaron said to me. “What happens if Phobos is in the middle of a crowd? Are you going to blow apart the entire crowd to just get to him?”

“Why me? Why can’t one of you do this? Bill hasn’t even tried.” I felt myself backing away from the three men.

“Athena, Bill can’t do it. His energy is much different,” Eli said, his voice calm.

“But, Eli, I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, with the edge of tears in my voice.

“That’s why you won’t hurt me,” He said.

“It just takes confidence,” Aaron said. He reached out and grabbed the flower from Eli’s hand and then said. “Now, blow apart the flower. Blow it into particles smaller than pollen.”

And I did. Aaron was left with just the stem with three leaves left in his hand. Pink powder coated the outside of his brown leather jacket.

“Are you hurt?” I asked him.

“No. It felt a little weird for a moment. Tingling in my hand. But, that was just the edges of the energy.” Aaron turned his hand front to back to show me he was undamaged.

“Now, try something bigger,” Eli suggested.

“Like what?”

“How about that tree?” Eli said, pointing toward the young hornbeam on the slope of the nameless mountain to the right. It was somewhat isolated from the other trees in the forest making it an easy target. I took two steps in that direction and Eli stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Do it from here. We may have to attack Phobos from a great distance.”

I didn’t like the direction this whole exercise was going, but I knew it was necessary. I looked toward the tree that was only about twenty feet tall and pushed the energy in that direction. I felt the tearing when the tree came apart. The hornbeam is a hardwood, but it came apart like it was made of wet paper. The natural cohesion the tree possessed just failed in that fraction of a second allowing gravity and the wind to scatter the parts. There was no sound associated with the removal of the chemical bonds that held the tree together. The tree was simply a tree one moment and then a pile of cellulose dust the next moment.

I felt dizzy and grabbed my head to steady myself. I didn’t realize my eyes were closed until I felt strong hands on my shoulders steadying me. I could still see the tree as it was when my eyes were closed.

“Bloody great job!” Aaron said.

“Holy Hannah!,” Bill said at the same time.

“Athena, do you realize you could have done this all along?” Aaron asked. “You could have killed anybody like this a hundred times... a thousand.” The admiration in his voice was unsettling.

“Why would I want to?” I asked more sharply than I intended. “Besides, I just killed a tree. Not a living, breathing being.” As soon as I said that, I regretted it. I could almost see all three of the men with the same idea at the same time.

“What lives around here?” Aaron asked Eli.

“The ubiquitous red deer,” Eli said.

“No!” I shouted. “I won’t kill a deer.”

“You have before, love,” Eli said reasonably.

“For food. Not for sport,” I said.

“This isn't a sport,” Eli said. “It is necessary.”

“No!” I shouted again. “I won’t do this. I can’t do this. You are forcing me to learn how to kill a person and I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can,” Aaron said. “You know what your problem is, Athena?”

“I can’t even imagine,” I retorted my voice heavy with sarcasm I didn’t bother to disguise.

“You aren’t angry about what happened to you. You shoved all that evil into a box inside your head and forgot about it. You were raped. You were tortured. You were kidnapped and held against your will. Are you angry about that at all?” Aaron said, moving closer to me.

“Of course, I am angry,” I replied.

“You act as if it happened to someone else. Once the initial shock was over, you didn’t respond like someone who was brutally violated. Where is the anger that should be there?” Aaron imprisoned my head in his hands and stared into my eyes. “Where is it, Athena? Do I have to go in there and find it for you?”

“Let go of me,” I said, fearing what he may do in the next moments.

“Have a care, War God,” Eli said from behind me, but he didn’t move to stop Aaron. Was Eli protecting me or Aaron? I didn’t know.

Aaron acted as if he hadn’t heard Eli, at all.

“Show me the anger, Athena. Show it to me,” Aaron said. “Show me the reason you should be angry with Phobos for hurting you. Show me the anger you feel toward Phobos for killing Jessica’s boyfriend. She was holding his hand when he died. You profess to love her, but you aren’t angry at Phobos for hurting her and for nearly stealing her mind away. If you hadn’t been there to find her and guide her back, Phobos would have totally destroyed her. Where is the anger, Athena?”

I felt tears on my face. Yes, I was angry, but at that moment, I was angry at Aaron.

“Let. Go. Of. Me. Right. Now,” I said, my voice low and menacing.

“Show me anger, Athena,” Aaron persisted.

So, I did as he demanded.