Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(61)

I buckled my seat belt and tucked my chin to my chest. “I don’t want to try and explain right now.”

Ernie dropped back to the seat between us, cupcake platter firmly held between his hands. How it had managed to stay in one piece was beyond me.

“Well, fine. But are we still going to Zeus now?” He pointed at the cupcakes.

I nodded. “Yeah, more than ever I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

“You going to question him between bouts of puke?” Yaya’s eyes sparkled, like she wanted to see Zeus green and on his knees.

I clutched at my seat belt as the cold air swirled in around us. “Something like that.”

Really, I was hoping he would answer my questions without the cupcake. But I’d dealt with Zeus, and I knew how he was. An avoider of epic Greek proportions.





CHAPTER 17


Before we went all the way out to Olympic Drive in the Highlands, I pulled over and used Yaya’s cell phone to call the Blue Box Store Zeus worked at. I kept the phone on speaker. “Store manager, please,” I said.

“He’s not available, would you like to leave a voice message?” a raspy voice answered.

Yaya nodded.

I cleared my throat. “Yes, I’d like to leave a message.”

“Hold, please, I’ll forward you to his voice mail.”

I waited, the line buzzed and clicked, then an automated voice came on.

“You have reached the voice mail of—”

“Zeus Olympia,” Zeus said, then back to the automated voice.

“The voice mail box for this party is full.”

It clicked off, and I handed the phone back to Yaya. She cursed the phone like somehow it was the cell phone’s fault. I had to agree; there was nothing more irritating than trying to leave a message for someone only to be told their voice mail was full. Who didn’t check their messages at least once a day?

Psychos, that’s who. All that meant was I really had no choice; we were off to Zeus’s abode.

Number one (yes, Zeus’s house was number one) Olympic Drive was a mansion. I mean, like a literal mansion built into a hillside, set way apart from any other houses. The fence was fifteen feet high, the gate solid, and the only reason I knew it was the right place was the seal in the middle of the gate with an oversized lightning bolt through it.

“Subtle,” I mumbled under my breath.

Yaya leaned over and pushed the intercom button. It buzzed and clicked before a high-pitched, whispery voice floated through. “Hello, are you here for the party?”

“Of course we are, you idiot. We brought the dessert,” Yaya snapped.

“Ohhh! Dessert! I can’t wait!” The high-pitched voice cooed and giggled. I couldn’t decide if it was male or female. I glanced at Ernie, and he shrugged as if he didn’t know either. More like it didn’t matter, and I had to agree. If it wasn’t Zeus, it didn’t matter.

The gate in front of us slowly slid inward, and Yaya drove us through. Okay, the Granada limped through, if I was being honest, but at least it was still moving.

“That was far easier than I thought it was going to be,” I said.

Ernie tapped on the dashboard, leaning forward on his elbows. “Yeah, that is making me nervous. If he’s just letting people in, either this is a monstrous big party or he’s expecting you.”

“Why would either of those be bad?” I asked.

Yaya and Ernie exchanged a glance I didn’t like. “A monstrous party, Alena,” Ernie repeated.

“Oh dear. You mean, like me?”

Ernie nodded. “And possibly some of the other pantheon. They all have their pets they bring with them for the entertainment.”

I shrunk in my seat. “You mean like . . . Theseus and Beth could be here?” As much as I knew it was coming, I didn’t want to face him. Not yet.

Ernie shrugged and tugged on one wing, straightening the feathers. “Possible, but I mean, more like your new boyfriend Smithy, and maybe his wife?”

Spiked snickerdoodles, this was bad. “Then we’ll just sneak in. Ernie, you can scout it out, right?”

“Too late,” Yaya said. “They’ve seen us.”

We were being waved up to a large covered area right in front of the doors. I looked up at the twisted white marble columns that held the roof, which was easily thirty feet high. I hoped it wasn’t a sign of what kind of monsters would be waiting for us. I mean, I was big when I shifted, but there was no reason to believe that all the monsters were like me in size. I hoped.

I grabbed the container of cupcakes and did a quick count. I had sixteen left. I pointed at the two separate ones I’d originally done up for Merlin and Zeus. “Hide them under the seat, Ernie.”

He saluted me, and I took the fourteen remaining cupcakes with me.

“You aren’t really going to bring them all, are you?” Ernie whispered.

“Yaya told them we were bringing dessert. What do you want me to do?”

We stepped out of the broken-down car. I found myself looking into the most gorgeous brown eyes I’d ever seen.

“Hello.”

My mouth dropped and no sound came out. Okay, a squeak came out.

Ernie floated around so I could see him behind the youth. “This is Narcissus. Good looking, ain’t he?”