I struggled to remove the hands imprisoning my head, but Aaron’s grip was iron. I felt his mind bore into mine like a mechanized mining drill. He shoved aside the protective barriers I had put up to protect myself from any violent emotion. I fought him because I didn’t want to feel what he was forcing me to feel. I didn’t want the anger unleashed because I wasn’t sure where it would go or what it would do. It was a war of wills and I struggled to keep his mind away from mine. Somewhere in there, I felt Eli. He was actually helping Aaron break down my walls. And so was Bill. The three had ganged up on me and I felt even more violated than I did when Phobos was raping me. This was their plan. Not to learn how to blow up flowers and trees. They decided to force me into a rage.

I saw the memory of their conversation while I slept. My beloved Eli was saying, “She has to face what happened to her. She likes to hide from her feelings and herself. It is a very dangerous thing to do because I am afraid one day it will all explode and I would hate to be around to see it when it happens.”

“So, what do we do?” Aaron asked. “How can we crush that iron will of hers?”

Bill asked, “More importantly, do we want to? Do we want her broken?”

Eli responded, “Not broken, but certainly better...”

The anger oozed closer to the surface. As I listened, I stopped fighting them. Aaron cast the fences down and it was there... the anger that I dreaded so much was unleashed in my brain. It needed a place to go and the closest place was Aaron.

I screamed loud and long. I screamed as if I were a caged animal and ripped Aaron’s hands away from my head. I screamed for the rape and the pain I still felt down inside my body from the penises and hands that forced their way inside me. I screamed for the deep ache in my wrists where I was manacled for too long. I screamed for the treachery I was shown by Tychon and my sisters, Eris and Enyo. I screamed for Jessica’s anguished heart and brain that I struggled so valiantly to repair. I screamed for the CEO whose negligence almost cost his daughter her life. I screamed for the eleven dead boys who were ripped asunder without knowing the pleasures and pain of living. I screamed for Cap who felt castrated by his inability to stop Phobos years before and again, yesterday. I screamed for Bill who was a weak human who couldn’t complete the task he had set before himself without help. Help from us. I screamed because Eli allowed Aaron to probe my brain. That was the greatest anger of all. It was a long, loud, and piercing thing, my scream.

“Do you want to know why I keep the anger hidden, War God? I will show you why,” I said, my voice a low rumbling growl.

I sent the power in every direction, felling trees and routing animals from their hiding places. Every time I encountered an animal, be it the smallest bird or a fully grown deer, I utterly destroyed it. Within seconds, the entire valley was laid waste, from the smallest flower to the tallest tree that reached its wooden arms toward the sun. I felt every death of every blade of grass, every fish in the lake, every majestic tree. I felt worms die and crickets and spiders. None suffered, but all were dead, that spark that makes them grow and thrive gone forever. Out and out the wave of destruction spread, up to the tops of the unnamed mountains that surrounded the once peaceful valley.

But there was control, too. I spared the cabin, the barn, the four horses that were on the far side of the lake, and my three companions. Sterope was thrown to her side by the wind of power that raged in her beautiful valley, but she lived on in the valley that was, quite suddenly, as bare as the surface of the moon.

“You want precision and direction, War God?” I asked, my voice still low with anger. “Behold!” I demanded and I pointed to the lone eagle flying overhead. It vanished into a spray of pink powder that drifted on the wind.

Then, I turned on Aaron. I stared into his eyes and I found his brain. That is what I wanted. I wanted to slowly boil his brain, turning his head into a pressure cooker. Blood poured from his eyes and his nose. He screamed and fell to his knees in agony as I forced the energy into his head. “Is this what you wanted, Ares, god of war? Is this the anger you sought to find? Did I satisfy your curiosity? I too am a war god, do not forget, strong and powerful. I have killed entire armies of mortal fools. Is this what you wanted to see? Where is your power, little godling? Who will save you, now?”

Somewhere, I heard a voice calling my name. But, I ignored it. My only thought was killing what I perceived at that moment as the source of my anger. I felt the capillaries and small blood vessels burst under Aaron’s skin and I probed deeper with my mind, slicing away small bits of Ares.

Someone screamed my name and that only spurred me into more forcible action. “You want to know if I can kill a person? Let’s find out, you insignificant little creature.” I forced my way into his brain, deeper and deeper.

Somewhere, a fist connected with my jaw and sent me reeling backward nearly thirty feet and onto my back in the dust. The air was forced out of my lungs from the impact. My eyes lost their focus when dirt flew into my face, covering my nose and mouth. I sat up coughing and sputtering and sudden tears cleared the dirt from my eyes. Eli reached a hand toward me and I knew it was he who had saved the life of the weak, weak godling, Ares. I slapped his hand away and stood without his assistance.

I took a moment to assess the damage I had wrought. The valley was dust. The dust was all that remained of once living plants, animals, and insects. I saw the four horses thundering toward Eli, eyes red with fear and terror. Bill’s eyes mirrored the horse’s eyes, staring at me in sheer horror. Phobos, himself, could not have evoked a more terrified reaction. Aaron lay in the dust, blood still seeping from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. He coughed and a pink froth flew from between his lips. Eli kept his eyes on me, a mixture of hurt and fear, but his fear was different.

All was not forgiven that quickly. I transported away from the three men whom I detested the most at that moment. I hated that they saw what I was capable of doing. I hated that I was capable of wreaking such destruction on a beautiful peaceful valley. I hated myself.

Zeus sat at an iron cafe table set in the middle of a small, but well-kept garden of flowers and bonsai trees. His black hair hung down to the middle of his back and his blue eyes widened at my sudden appearance. Zeus rose slowly from the table, his eyes never leaving me. He wore a pair of khaki pants, a starched white linen shirt, and a heavy black cardigan that was open halfway down his chest. A huge cigar smoldered in an ashtray on the table and a cup of coffee waited beside it. Tiki torches lit the garden enough that I could see into the far corners. In an instant, he was beside me, his large protective arms encircling me as if he could protect me from all manner of danger.

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He called someone named Hana to bring more coffee and then guided me back to the table he had just vacated. He held my elbow while I sat, heavily.

“How did you find me here?” Zeus asked.

“I don’t know where ‘here’ is. I just had a strong desire to be with you.”

“‘Here’ is in the middle of the Sea of Japan. My personal island is called, predictably, Olympia. It is not as lovely here as it is in Greece or Italy, but it is isolated enough to be satisfying. If you breached my wards that easily, I will need to rethink them. Now, tell me what happened?” Zeus sat at the table, again.

Zeus says “Tell me what happened,” and I did. I began with the day Eli and I saw the car filled with blood and then the day Bill asked me to the coffee shop to ask for my help. Had it really only been three days, ago?

When at length I had told my father all that had happened, he leaned back in the chair, thick cigar smoldering between his teeth. He blew a large cloud of smoke and returned the cigar to its ashtray. Again, I marveled at the resemblance between Zeus and Ares. They were identical except for the eye color. Zeus’s eyes shone as brilliantly blue as a perfectly clear winter sky at noon. The blue looked unnatural as if he wore contacts, but I knew the color was true. His shoulders were broad and strong and his legs were long and well-shaped. Other than the eyes, the weight of office added maturity to his appearance that could not easily be defined. That maturity set him apart from Ares.

“You’ve been busy,” he commented. “Are you hungry? You must be. To utterly destroy an entire valley requires an enormous amount of energy.” Over his shoulder, he called to Hana. The small Oriental woman appeared as if she had been waiting just on the inside of the open glass door. Listening to us? Perhaps.

We spoke in the ancient tongue, so the likelihood of her understanding us was remote. Zeus spoke to her in Japanese, requesting she bring a generous late evening meal for the two of us.

Then, “What of Helios?” he asked me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You left him in the valley wondering if you love him. Hardly a fair thing to do. The act of him wanting to help you unleash that incredible pent-up power proves it. He risked losing your love to help you.”

“I can’t see him right now. I don’t want to see any of them.”

“He can find you.”

“I am not hiding from him, Father. I am just separating myself from the three of them. This power base we have formed is annoying and I don’t want any part of it. I have seen what it can do to me.”

“And what is that?”

“I can’t hide anything from them. They know everything about me.”

“Tell me why that is bad, now, when it wasn’t just a few hours ago.”

“I don’t probe into their innermost thoughts. I never have. I haven’t even done that with Helios. He still surprises me with things in his head. I allow him to choose the moments he will show hidden things to me. I have never forced myself on him or any of them.”

“You are very highly principled, no one will argue that.” He took a deep breath and then said, “That you were able to destroy an entire valley is not a surprise. Since your birth, I have known you to be a very powerful Olympian. Actually, you are a hybrid. I am an Olympian and your mother, Metis, is a Titan. Regardless of your parentage, your power has always been formidable. That is why I hid you from all the others from the moment of your birth. I didn’t present you to the court until you were fully mature and capable of handling yourself among the treachery and deceit. Of course, the sudden appearance of a fully grown daughter fostered the rumors that you sprang from my head fully grown, fully clothed, and fully armored.”

“I know you hid Metis and me, but I always assumed it was because Hera was so vindictive that she would harm my mother or me.”

“Hera was the least of my concerns at that time. Athena, your power is only slightly less than mine or possibly even equal to mine. You could have taken the throne any time you wanted by just desiring it and there was nothing I could have done about it. But, that power was only fully manifested when you reached your majority. I didn’t want someone to kill you in your infancy.”

“Who would have wanted me dead?” I asked him.

“All those who desired my throne. I sat on the throne, but it was an uneasy seat. It still is.”

“But, who?” I insisted.

“Hera, Circe, Phobos, Poseidon, or Hephaestus, neither of whom had the strength or the wit to rule a kingdom of powerful Olympians and Titans. There are many others; the list is long. Ruling a group such as ours requires strength and principles, which is why I went to war against Cronus. He was power-hungry and didn’t care about the humans we were sent to teach. He, in his own way, was as bad as Phobos is now. And then there was the problem of succession. Ares has the birthright. ” He sighed and then said, “However, Athena, you have always been my choice for my heir, should the need arise.”

“Why tell me this, now? The Golden Age is through and the great palace on Olympus has long been dust.”

“The Golden Age is no more and we are scattered across the globe, but we still exist as a race of beings. We are imprisoned on this planet, but we are still just as powerful as we were in the Golden Age. There is still an organization, albeit a loose one. All Olympians and Titans still show me deference. I am still the King.” Then, “Ah, dinner is only moments away.” He reached over and carefully stubbed out his cigar. He rose to his feet and placed the ashtray with the cigar on a small table beside the open glass door. “Hana is truly an extraordinary cook.”

“Is she... yours?” I asked as gingerly as I could manage.

Zeus smiled at me and I saw his teeth, gleaming and white. At that moment, I noted another difference between Zeus and Ares. When Zeus smiled, it was genuine and he used his entire face. Ares’s smiles were small and insignificant by comparison. “No, Athena, Hana is a servant only and she keeps her place quite well.”

“And what of Hera?”

“Hera is... elsewhere,” he said. “Likely plotting my demise, again.” He glanced over his shoulder to watch Hana bring a large tray with many smaller bowls. She placed beautifully arranged bowls of food that included umeboshi (sour pickled plums), broiled sea bass, pickled daikon and cucumber salad, osuimono (light fish broth), and finally, sweet egg omelet and rice on the table. She poured tea and quietly departed back into the house.

“Where is Hera, again?” I asked, picking up the small ladle for the osuimono.

“My dear Athena, you know my rule. We never, ever discuss unpleasantness over a meal. Now, tell me about your bookstore.”

I smiled and spoke of getting the store set up and the mild adventures I had collecting the books, many of them rare. Eli was such a great help in those early days of the bookstore’s existence because of his ability to instantly transport us to nearly any place an old book could be found.

We talked of simple pleasures and happy, simpler times. Then, after the meal and a huge belch from the King of the Olympians, Zeus said, “I really like Japanese food, but sometimes I really crave a big juicy hamburger and greasy fries.”

I

laughed at the thought of this great king eating a sloppy hamburger and licking French fry grease from his fingers.

He rose and helped me from my chair in a very gentlemanly fashion. “Come, Athena. Walk with me. We will speak of important matters.” Zeus, my father and king ordered it, so I complied without a second thought.