I waited for Apollo and Hermes to complete their task with Helios. From my perch on a bar stool, I sipped strong coffee and ate a meatloaf sandwich. Metis cut a large wedge of German Chocolate cake and placed the plate in front of me. “Is she dead?” My mother asked me.

“No. She ran. But, I will not stop until I have her head on a pole.”

Metis merely smiled and patted my arm.

Ares, Bill, and Hermes had stuffed themselves to replenish their own depleted energy reserves.

I could sense Bill’s head swirling. Finally, he said, “When I shot her, she didn’t die, right?”

“No.”

“I gave her four, right in the heart.”

“I know,” I said.

“What will it take to kill her?”

“I am not sure.” The answer to that question would never be easy.

“Can we protect ourselves from that pig thing she does?” Bill asked. “Like Ares, here, said: That freaking hurts.”

“Yes. I should have thought of that before we went into her house.” I picked at the cake crumbs left on my plate and licked them off of my fingertips.

“Okay.” Bill still had questions, but I assumed he would save them for later or ask Hermes. He asked, “So what happens with Eli, there?”

“Hermes and Apollo will do what they can to heal him. Mnemosyne can restore his memories if she has to. He will be well. It will take a little time.”

“So we use that time,” Ares said, looking up from his iPad screen.

“Doing what?” I asked him.

“We need to increase your followers.”

“Agreed. We can contact any of the remaining Titans and anyone else we can think of.”

Metis still hovered in the kitchen, clearly worried about her daughter’s dwindling energy levels. She said, “Themis, Phoebe, and I can do that. I mean contacting the Titans. Also, my son Poros will attend you shortly.”

“All right.”

Memory, who was never far away from me said, “I have already called my remaining daughters. They will arrive presently.”

“Thank you both,” I said.

Memory gave me a sweet look and said, “We all have reasons to want Circe dead, but mostly, everyone is eager to pledge their loyalty to you.”

I nodded, feeling less like the leader of the Olympians than ever before. In my short tenure, I had only made things far worse for us. I turned my attention to the healers.

Helios moaned and grimaced and thrashed his head. Occasionally, when an action by Apollo or Hermes hurt, he would suck wind between his teeth in a hiss that set my teeth on edge.

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It took nearly two hours of struggling with Eli’s battered body, but finally, Apollo announced. “I have done all I can. The rest will be his to accomplish.”

My husband was naked and still covered in blood and other things. He slid off the countertop and said with a crooked grin, “I think a shower is in order.” He took a tentative step and stumbled. Ares and Bill both rose to grab him before he fell. The three walked to the bedroom and I transported directly to the shower. By the time the three arrived, I stood in the shower with warm water cascading over me. Eli hung onto the shower wall and stepped inside with me. Ares joined us a few moments later. “I’ll hold him while you wash him,” Ares suggested.

I covered a soft washcloth with perfumed soap. I washed every exposed surface of his skin, then I washed his hair with a liberal amount of shampoo. Slowly, the blood of several days washed down the drain. Eli said nothing while I bathed his recently healed surface wounds and I sensed there was a lot going on under the surface.

Eli would tell me soon what happened.

Shower finished, I wrapped a bath sheet around him much like he had done for me after my night with Phobos.

Ares supported Eli’s weight while he led him to a chair in the bedroom. I set about the task of combing out the tangles in his hair. By the time I had removed them, his hair was almost dry. Eli put on a pair of boxer briefs and lay on the bed.

Ares, Bill, and Hermes arrived with food for all of us and Eli sat up long enough to eat a huge meal of fried chicken and potato salad. He drank three cups of tea and then announced, “I am feeling a lot better. It’s amazing what a meal and a bath can do to lift one’s spirits.” He looked at all of us, one at a time. “We have a new addition to our power partnership. Welcome, Hermes. I am not surprised to find you in that esteemed position.”

Hermes smiled and nodded. “It is different from what I expected. More than I expected. This is fairly new to me, so I am not sure....” His voice trailed off.

Bill laughed and clapped him on the back. “It is new to all of us.”

Eli looked deeply into my eyes and said, “I know what this cost you, Athena, to admit another person into our partnership. I also know you did it for me. Thank you.” His eyes said many things his mouth didn't. I felt his gratitude and love. He leaned forward and kissed me. I realized how much I missed those lips on mine.

After a lifetime, he pulled away from me and lay back on the bed. Eli needed to recharge, still, instead of borrowing energy from Ares, Bill, Hermes, and me. Eli needed sleep. I carefully lay beside Eli and he pulled me closer to him. Because I faced Eli, Ares lay at my back, and Bill and Hermes at Eli’s back.

“I have missed you,” he whispered, not caring that the other three could hear him. He was just happy to be in our company.

“What did she do to you?” I asked him.

“She wanted the secret to our power partnership. She tried beating it out of me when verbal persuasion didn’t work.”

My gasp was involuntary.

“Athena, the wounds are healed,” he whispered.

I didn't say anything because I didn’t trust my voice. Eli continued, “That is why she disguised herself as me and infiltrated the Highrise. She thought she would figure it out that way. She is a master of illusion. How did you catch on to her scheme?”

“She didn’t smell right.”

“What?”

“She doesn’t smell like you. She smelled like earth and moldy autumn leaves. You smell like vanilla and cinnamon.”

He grinned. I touched his face with my finger. We kissed again, and it was a deep and passionate thing designed to reinforce our union. I said in Sonoran, the language of Eli’s homeworld, “I love you and I am so glad to have you back. Tell me how badly she damaged you.”

He answered me in the same language--our special language that Circe didn’t know.

“She, like so many others, believes that physical torture will bend people to their will. I think she just enjoys hurting others. At first, she believed that simply separating me from you, Ares, and Bill would bring you to me. But, you didn't act rashly as she expected. Then, in her anger, she tore flesh.”

“I am truly sorry it took so long to find you.”

“Not as long as all that. Besides, I knew you were looking for me. I knew you wouldn't be fooled by her very long, despite her boasts to the contrary. Athena, she isn’t going to stop. She is mounting her own army of dark creatures because she thinks she can win against you. She thinks she is stronger than you.”

“We both know that isn't true. Besides, I have a few tricks of my own.”

“I have no reason at all to worry, now,” he said, drowsily.

“Eli, sleep now,” I said. He pulled me closer to him and I smelled the very familiar cinnamon and vanilla. He covered me with his blanket of hair and Ares pulled the lavender woolen blanket from the end of the bed over our feet and hips. We five slept long and deeply wrapped in each other’s arms and love.