Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(26)

"Γαρι?το!" Apollo breathed the Greek curse. He was thoroughly shaken by his first sight of automobiles. Zeus had insisted that before any of the immortals passed through the portal that Bacchus must first explain to them the details of modern day transportation, as well as the mortals' use of currency, electricity, and an extraordinary communication system called the Internet, so Apollo was able to logically identify the madness before him, but seeing the monstrous vehicles that appeared living, yet were actually devoid of all life, as well as the garish way the warm spring night had been illuminated with harnessed electricity, was far more overwhelming than he could have imagined. He focused on the most familiar of the bizarre visions - the fountain - and reminded himself that he was an Olympian god, one of the original Twelve Immortals. He could flatten everything around him with a thought.

One of the shiny black things blared and skidded to a stop as another monstrosity cut in front of it. Apollo moved quickly, placing himself between Pamela and the metal creatures and neatly retucking her from his left to his right arm.

"I know exactly what you're thinking," Pamela said softly.

Apollo's eyes jerked down to meet hers. Rationally he knew that she could not be reading his mind, but the thought of even the slightest possibility of her knowing what was going through his head was alarming.

"You don't have to tell me," she said, eyes sparkling puckishly. "You were thinking that the fountain is ginormous."

He hoped his relief wasn't too obvious. "Tragically, you are wrong," he returned her teasing tone. "I was thinking that it is gihugic."

"Well, that's only because you're confused about the correct usage of the word. Gihugic is not as big as ginormous; therefore, ginormous is the proper word to use when describing that" - she hesitated dramatically, casting her eyes the length of the Palace's front grounds - "that fountain."

He nodded his head in gracious acceptance of defeat. "I concede to you. Yonder monstrosity is definitely ginormous."

"So I wasn't really wrong," Pamela said.

When it came to women, Apollo was no fool in any world. He smiled. "How could anyone so beautiful ever really be wrong?"

"May I call a cab for you and the lovely lady?" One of the bellboys asked.

Apollo's "No!" was spoken with more passion than he intended - and he was suddenly glad that night in this world was already so filled with lights and sounds that the bolt of lightning that flashed across the sky in response to the God of Light's shout went unnoticed. Even so, he made certain to tighten control of his voice. "No," he said with considerably more calm. "The lady and I are walking."

"The Bellagio fountains are not far from here. Right?" Pamela asked.

"Yes, madam," the bellboy pointed. "Follow the sidewalk down to street level, turn right and cross the next street, and you'll be there. You can't miss it."

"Thank you," she squeezed Phoebus' arm. "Ready?"

Apollo was absolutely not ready. He would rather have faced the mighty serpent Python again, alone in the black caves of Parnassus, than to walk out into that alien night. But the petite woman on his arm strode ahead with the confidence of Hercules. Apollo gritted his teeth and plunged forward, all his senses on high alert.

"It's so warm here, really a nice change from Colorado. Even though it's May, we've had an unseasonably cold spring - it snowed again last week." Pamela tilted her head back and flung wide the arm that was not holding his. Laughing, she breathed deeply, loving the warmth of the desert day that still lingered in the air. "I didn't realize how much I'd been craving spring until I got here."

Apollo grunted a vaguely affirmative response. His gaze kept skipping from the enchanting woman at his side to the vehicles that sped past on the crowded street, to the huge glowing signs and towering buildings, many of which had colorful, moving images flashing over them. The thought came to him that he would have to make sure that Zeus ordered the nymphs to stay within the confines of Caesars Palace. Like beautiful little moths, they would be overcome with excitement at all the sparkling, flashing lights if they ventured outside. He hated to think about the scene that would be caused by the fun-loving semideities, drunk on light and sound.

"Careful!" Pamela's voice pulled him back to the modern world as her hand likewise tugged him to a halt. "Whew, that was close. I was so busy gawking that I almost didn't see the street, and this traffic is terrible. We better wait for the light."

They were standing on the corner of a street that seethed with cars, and Apollo realized that if it hadn't been for Pamela, he would have stepped out into the flow of traffic. Of course he couldn't actually be harmed by the metal things, but he certainly didn't want to try to explain to Pamela why he hadn't been smashed to pieces by one of them. Daydreaming in the Kingdom of Las Vegas was not a wise thing for him to do.

"That must be where the fountain show is," she said, pointing across the street to lights reflected off a body of water.

He squinted over the stream of vehicles and people. "I do not see any fountains."

In front of them a red circle changed to a green circle, and the people around them moved forward. Apollo hesitated, but when Pamela stepped confidently into the street, he moved with her, keeping a close watch for any errant vehicles that might streak into their path.