I wrestled with Bill who pinned my arms to my side and tried to free myself. "Eli!" I shrieked in a ragged voice. So, I was the source of the screams I heard a moment before. I felt as if I tore something loose in my throat. Still, Bill didn't release his grip. "Bill, you fool, let me go. He has transported somewhere."

“I just wanted to be certain you didn't throw yourself off the balcony," Bill explained.

"I am not suicidal, idiot. Let go of me." My voice still sounded gruff from ill-treatment, but Bill released his grip on my arms. I ran inside the penthouse and called to him, "Are you here? Eli?"

No one answered.

"Athena," Ares said from behind me. "If he simply fell, he would have transported back here. He was taken. She took him."

"Circe?" I asked, knowing the answer to the question before I framed it.

"Of course, Circe," he said.

"But, I took her head. I cut her head off," I protested.

"Apparently, it takes more than that to kill that one. I felt her. I felt her energy. That thing was Circe."

“This can't be. Not again." I whirled around to face Ares. Bill and Hermes waited beside him. I attacked all three at once. "You three were so busy trying to protect me that you completely forgot that she stole Eli away once before. You should have been watching him instead of me."

Ares threw his hands up and shook his head violently, sending his black curls in every direction. "Did you actually think about that statement before you made it or are you just shouting for the sake of being heard?"

"Have a care, brother," I said in a low warning tone.

"Sometimes Athena, you are the lamest person on this entire planet," Ares said.

"Lame? Did you just tell me I am lame?" I swung a fist at his face, but the former god of war caught it easily in one hand.

"What are you doing, Athena? He was just trying to help.” Bill asked me, his Brooklyn accent heavier than normal. Bill was upset, whether with me or with the situation, I didn't know.

"It’s okay, Bill," Ares said. "She is angry enough to hit something. That's all."

"Do not talk about me like I am not in the room," I told them. I flopped onto the white leather sofa that dominated the living area and took several deep breaths, attempting to control the violent emotions that coursed through me. I didn't want to cry in front of Ares, who would surely see it as a sign of weakness. I needed clarity and not a brain fogged with emotions.

Ares was correct. I was angry enough to hit something. I couldn't allow anger to affect my thinking, however. I worked to calm myself, using some deep breathing techniques Bill showed me. The anger was still present, but I could think around it after a few inhalations.

The darkness that stole away my husband came to us for the past three nights. It made certain I was aware of its presence. I am the one who set us the vigil to watch for it, again. It couldn't penetrate our barrier, so I led Eli right into danger, myself. She played me like a cheap violin. I said as much to Ares.

My brother sat on my left side and put an arm across my shoulders. "Yeah, she played you," he agreed, "But you don't think the way she does. Circe is a witch and you, dear sister, are not."

"Why Eli? Why not me? I am the one who killed her."

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"You are making assumptions. And obviously, you didn't kill her. Circe is very much alive and always has been. She simply waited for you," Ares said.

Bill and his pig entered the living room from their place beside the open glass door. "The thing is gone," Bill said.

"Circe, again.” I felt Bill beat down the memory of his one and only meeting with her. He barely escaped with his life.

I nodded and said, "Yes, and she has Eli, again. Remember what happened during our last encounter with her. She turned our Hermes into a pig--something we haven't been able to change. She nearly castrated Eli and he still isn't fully healed from that injury, and she almost killed Bill, outright. Ares, she broke your ribs and you whined like a girl for a week until they healed. So, who was the target today? Eli or me?"

"Good question," Bill said. "When she took him before, it was personal on one level, but she did it to get to you."

"How do you figure?" I asked Bill.

Bill lowered his tall frame to the hassock that matched the sofa. He scrubbed his hair with his hand. "Think about it. She just roughed me up a little. She began hurting Eli and cutting him with a knife to ruin his manhood--well, that was personal and directed toward him. Turning Hermes into a pig was a reflex. You were the target then and today. She, like all of us, knows that Eli is your weak point. Don't get pissed at me. I know he is your husband and your love for each other makes you strong, but it is also where you are weakest. You will take more chances to save him than you will to save anyone else."

"If that is the case," I protested, "Then, why didn't she simply take me? She has had more than one opportunity."

"Not really," Ares said. "You are the power center. You have all of us protecting you. Besides the three of us, you have the others--Hercules and Hebe, Dion and Ariadne, Nike, Jason and Phobos’ former followers, Thanatos, Lethe, and Tychon. Don't forget about the new ones, who are mostly Titans and very strong--Your mom Metis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, her daughter Leto, and Eli's brother Titan. The whole race of them got its name from Eli's brother. He is a powerful ally."

"Not to mention the Olympians who have joined us--Bia who is Nike's sister, Calliope, and Irene. And more arrive every day," Hermes added.

"What Hermes and Aaron are saying," Bill said, "Circe can't hurt you while you are here, with all those Titans and Olympians helping you. It was only when Eli and Aaron, here, left the protection of the magical walls we put up that she was able to grab him."

"But, she had both of them in her grasp," I said. "Eli and Ares. She had them both, but she only took Eli."

Ares nodded and said, "I'm not complaining."

"That's not what I meant," I said. "I mean, she had the opportunity, but didn't take it."

Hermes said, "She doesn't have any particular animosity toward Aaron, but she does against Eli. And you. Eli because of what Aphrodite did to her. She has a beef with you because you are the next leader. A position of power and that is what Circe wants. Your power. So, she strikes where you are weakest and gets the bonus prize of wreaking revenge on her father."

In spite of the tragedy I felt in my soul, I had to smile at Hermes's turn of phrase. Time spent with Bill was telling. He sounded more like a New Yorker all the time. Even in his current visage, Hermes's association with Bill was obvious.

As for me, I only barely hung on without screaming and crying. I knew Eli lived. That I could feel. And I knew Eli would help me to find him. Because finding him, I must. Bill said Eli was my source of strength and also my weakest point. Did everyone know that?

Ares, Bill, the too-tall former police detective, and Hermes, my brother turned pig, all stared at me, waiting for a decision. I refused to allow Circe to goad me into premature action. I refused to let her win. She used Eli as bait, attempting to pull me in so she could kill me, but not until she extracted my power. Could she do that? I didn't know. The stakes got suddenly higher.

"What do you plan to do?" Ares asked me, his face a cloud of anger. I didn't answer. My mind roiled. Ares persisted. "Circe took your husband from you. What are you going to do about that?" From his place beside me on the white sofa, he shook me violently. "What are you going to do?" he shouted loud enough for his voice to echo around the room.

I surged off the sofa and whirled to meet his eyes, directly. "I'm going to take him back. But, the witch will not make me act rashly, nor will you. Eli is bait, so she can't kill him. She loses her leverage if she does. Eli knows we will come for him. He knows that. It will sustain him." I stomped away from Ares. I felt the anger that he feels. It bored into the center of my being. It grew into a large and living thing. I exited into the foyer and pounded the elevator call button with my fist.

Ares stood behind me. I felt him without having to turn to look at him. In a much softer voice, he said, "Athena. I am sorry. I really am."

The elevator door slowly slid open and I stepped into the small car, Ares at my side. "You want to know what I am going to do? I am going to wake everyone up and tell them what has happened."