No More Olympus

Chapter 8

"This place is great," Aphrodite assured them as she led Ares and Athena down the street to a local restaurant.
She had changed into what had to be the shortest pair of denim shorts and the most undersized pink t-shirt Athena had ever seen. She wondered if the goddess of love even owned a piece of clothing that didn't excessively show off her body in some unnecessary way.
She took a glance over at Ares, whose red t-shirt still looked like it was about two sizes too small, not to mention it was still covered in the faint stain of gorgon blood.
Athena concluded that she might have been the only one in her family to have figured out how twenty-first-century clothing worked.
Speaking of Ares and Aphrodite, the god of war had not been able to take his eyes off of his ex-lover for the entire walk downtown, and Athena had taken notice.
She also noticed that whenever Aphrodite turned around to talk to the two of them, her eyes favoured looking at him rather than her.
"It better be," Ares sneered, his words trying their best to seem uninterested and bored, "We've certainly been walking for long enough."
"Why, do your feet hurt?" Athena mocked.
"My feet don't hurt," Ares refuted, "I am simply hungry."
"Yeah, so am I," Athena sighed, "But you don't hear me bitching about it."
"What do you call this then?" Ares retorted.
"It's been two thousand and five hundred years," Aphrodite began, sounding very annoyed, "How are you two still arguing like children?"
"Philosophical differences," Athena answered.
Aphrodite didn't seem to want to press the issue further.
"Here we are," She announced as the three approached a clean-looking old brick building and pushed their way through the door.
"Welcome to The Lotus," said the young man as he looked up from his seating chart. He immediately recognized Aphrodite, "Ah, Miss Newton, you're in luck. Your favourite table is vacant."
"Oh, you're too good to me, Steven," Aphrodite smiled.
"Just the three of you?" Steven asked, counting out three menus.
"Yep," Aphrodite confirmed, "Just us."
The waiter quickly led them to their table, which was positioned right beside the front window, giving us a perfect view of the street outside. He rushed to pull out specifically Aphrodite's chair.
"Can I start you with something to drink?" Steven asked.
"Oh, surprise us," Aphrodite joked.
"Sure thing," Steven said, turning on his heel and walking toward the kitchen.
"Thank you, sweetie," she called back.
Steven disappeared into the back of the restaurant with a spring in his step.
"Miss Newton?" Athena asked.
"Aphrodite Newton," Aphrodite introduced, "A pleasure to meet you."
"Where'd you pick that up from?" Athena asked, opening her menu and looking down the list.
"I met this mathematician in England," Aphrodite began, "This was back in the eighteen hundreds. He was a good friend. Did very well for himself."
"Newton?" Athena repeated, "Do you mean Isaac Newton? The guy who invented calculus?"
"That's the one," Aphrodite grinned, "And contrary to the rumours, he did not die a virgin."
Ares snorted as he read his menu. Athena rolled her eyes as she read hers.
"What about you two?" Aphrodite asked, "What identities have you two made up to fool the mortals?"
"Ares Mason," Ares explained, "Got the name from a bottle of booze thirty years ago, before that, Smith, Jones. Just whatever I could think of at the time and could remember between drinks."
"I'm Athena Bauer," Athena hesitated.
"And how long have you had that name?" Aphrodite asked.
"Oh... about seven or eight years," Athena estimated.
She was hesitant to mention her family to Aphrodite. The more gods knew about them, the harder it would be for her to slip back and forget about Olympus like this whole Pandora's box ordeal never happened.
"You have been married to that mortal for eight years?" Ares questioned, "And he hasn't noticed you haven't aged a day in the last decade."
"Just change how you wear your hair, and they don't notice," Athena sighed, cursing Ares for revealing what she had kept hidden.
"Wait, you're married?" Aphrodite asked with a smile on her face, "Someone check if hell has frozen over. What's his name? Or her name, we don't judge here."
"His name is Jacob," Ares answered, taking it upon himself to speak for her, "And she has had two children with this mortal."
"So old Gray finally 'got busy,'" Aphrodite remarked, chuckling to herself, "And had two little pups for good measure, and here I was thinking you were completely empty downstairs."
"What is it with you two and discussing my romantic life?" Athena demanded, losing patience with the topic.
"Well, it's just surprising," Aphrodite explained, "You always seemed to act like you were above our... 'affairs.'"
"I'm not above it," Athena leaned forward, "The only difference is I'm not seducing everything that moves like you two."
"Life's too short for monogamy," Aphrodite refuted.
"You're immortal," Athena reminded her.
"Pish posh," Aphrodite shrugged off, "Now let me see pictures."
"Excuse me?" Athena raised an eyebrow.
"Of your kiddies," Aphrodite clarified, "Gimme."
"I don't have any," Athena said defensively, "And since when do you care about children?"
"You don't get to be a goddess of procreation without having a soft spot for the product," Aphrodite retorted, "And all mothers have at least one photo of each of their children on them at all times. It's either your phone's home screen or they're in your wallet."
"What about you?" Athena asked, "You certainly got around. Do you have photos of all of your children?"
"Of course," Aphrodite confirmed, her face slowly falling, "The ones that are... still alive."
There was a pause as Aphrodite recomposed herself.
Athena finally surrendered her wallet.
"Oooh," Aphrodite remarked, looking at the family photo within, "They're cute, they've got your eyes, thank the great mother, Gaia, it is your best feature after all, and Daddy's not bad either. What are their names?"
"The boy's name is Alexander, and the girl is Odessa," Athena smiled, feeling the pride most mothers do when showing off their children.
"Have they developed any powers yet?" Aphrodite asked,
"No," Athena insisted, "And if we're lucky, they never will."
"Shame," Aphrodite frowned, handing back her wallet, "They would make for some nice Demigods, maybe even new Olympians."
"Oh, come on," Athena groaned, "The father is mortal. The chances of us having another Dionysus situation is one in a million. It happening twice is one in two million."
"The world's changed since the old days," Aphrodite pointed out, "New domains are popping up all over the place just waiting for new gods to fill those slots."
Athena sighed.
"What do you mean still alive?" Ares asked uncharacteristically softly.
The two goddesses turned their heads toward him.
"I... uh..." Aphrodite stammered,
"What about..." Ares trailed off, unable to get the words out of his mouth,
"Ours?" Aphrodite asked softly.
"...yes," Ares confirmed.
"Well..." Aphrodite began, "Eros and that wife of his live up in New York with their family. As for the triplets, Deimos and Phobos are travelling across Europe, seeing the sights, and likely arguing over every path to take."
"What about Harmonia?" Ares asked. Athena noticed he was clutching his fist unusually tight.
"Harmonia is the conductor in an orchestra," Aphrodite explained, "Just actually here in LA."
"Oh, okay," Ares sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"Do you want to go see her?" Aphrodite offered.
"I don't think we have the time," Ares stammered, "I mean, after all, Pandora's box is open, and time is of the essence."
"Well, given we have no clue where the box is, we have all the time in the world," Athena explained.
Aphrodite looked expectantly at Ares.
"Maybe next time I'm in town," Ares excused.
"When are you coming back to Los Angeles?" Aphrodite asked, her eyebrows narrowing.
Ares was caught off guard by this question and could do nothing but shrug.
"Of course," Aphrodite sneered.
"What?" Ares asked, completely obliviously.
"You coward," Aphrodite spat, "Too afraid to even speak to your own daughter, a daughter you haven't seen in centuries,"
"If I remember correctly, I was told by you to keep our daughter at arms reach, something about 'war being no place to raise a daughter,'" Ares countered.
"Harmonia isn't five years old anymore," Aphrodite argued, "You're both adults, and you still hide from her. You're not a god, you're hardly a man."
"You will watch how you speak to me," Ares hissed, pointing his finger in Aphrodite's face.
"Or what?" Aphrodite asked, "We both know you won't do anything, the god of war is all talk."
Aphrodite was right, of course.
For as long as any Olympian had known him, which had been most of their lives considering how he was Zeus's first-born son, Ares had never hesitated in responding with violence whenever he felt slighted. With only two known exceptions, his mother Hera as well as Aphrodite, which confused the other gods considering how much Ares talked about how he despised her after their affair was revealed. This dynamic made it difficult for the children created from their temporary union.
After what had felt like half an hour, Steven finally returned with a bottle of wine and three glasses.
"Today, we have a bottle of the red Ouilien," Steven began, laying out the three glasses and uncorking the bottle, "It's from 1935 and will pair just beautifully with anything you decide to order."
He then filled the glass he placed in front of Aphrodite, who thanked him with her usual dazzling smile.
He then went to pour Athena's glass.
She placed her hand flat on the cup to stop him.
"Just water will be fine, thanks," Athena said.
Aphrodite looked visibly displeased.
Steven signalled for Ares to hold out his glass.
Ares reached over and took the whole bottle.
Steven awkwardly looked at Aphrodite.
She shrugged.
"Are you guys ready to order?" Steven asked, pulling out his notepad.
"Yes, I will have the chicken parm," Aphrodite smiled, handing Steven back her menu.
"You will give me anything with beef," Ares demanded, purposefully not handing back his menu so Steven would have to reach for it.
"And yourself, ma'am?" Steven asked Athena.
"Cesar salad," Athena requested, handing her back the menu.
"No," Aphrodite rejected, "You are not eating at The Lotus and ordering the Caesar salad."
She turned to Steven.
"She'll have the sea bass," Aphrodite said, "She loves sea bass."
Athena did indeed enjoy sea bass.
"Aphrodite, this isn't a lunch date," Athena objected, "We aren't here to drink or try the food. We're here to talk business."
"Oh, I insist you at least try the sea bass," Aphrodite pressured.
"I'll be fine with the salad," Athena assured her.
"Bring her the sea bass," Aphrodite ordered Steven.
"Steven, I will give you an extra fifty percent tip if you do not bring me the sea bass," Athena said, looking Aphrodite in the eye as she did so.
Steven looked at Aphrodite, shrugging as if asking, 'What do you want me to do?' before starting to walk back to the kitchen to place the order.
Aphrodite sighed.
"My dear Steven," Aphrodite called out with a strange pink mist on her breath.
Steven turned back around to face the table. His eyes had grown dull and unfocused.
"Do be a dear and bring my friend a plate of the sea bass. She does enjoy it so," Aphrodite said, grinning at Athena.
"One sea bass coming up," Steven grinned, making a beeline to the kitchen, seemingly forgetting all about Athena's bribe.
"That's cheating," Athena said dryly.
"Sue me," Aphrodite countered.
Most gods had very obvious unique abilities, such as Ares's strength multiplication and Athena's ability to manipulate her many weapons telekinetically. Aphrodite's was quite different. In fact, if you weren't paying attention, it would almost be impossible to notice. She could manipulate the actions of both men and women through words alone. With just a few sentences, she could put most mortals and even some gods under her complete control for as long as she wished. There were a number of variables involved in its effectiveness, the largest being it only worked properly on humanoid beings. She seldom used this power, believing that as powerful as it was, it removed most of the fun and challenge from her day-to-day life. However, it still made her one of the more dangerous Olympians to piss off.
"So," Aphrodite began, taking a sip of her wine, "About Pandora's box."
"Yes, back on topic," Athena sighed in relief.
"What's our plan?" Aphrodite asked.
"Well, we were hoping you would have one," Athena explained, "Or at least a new lead."
"Why did you think I would have a new lead?" Aphrodite asked, a puzzled look spreading over her face.
"We didn't," Athena admitted, "You were our only choice."
"How was I your only choice?" Aphrodite asked, her voice hinting that she didn't believe what she was hearing, "You found me out of nowhere. How hard would it be to find the others?"
"Well, we only knew where you were because Ares had been keeping tabs on you," Athena explained.
Ares choked on his drink as he sipped directly from his wine bottle.
Athena got the sense that this little detail was supposed to remain hidden.
"Keeping tabs on me, huh?" Aphrodite remarked, smiling at Ares's obvious uncomfortableness.
"I was simply on the lookout for new demigods," Ares lied unconvincingly, "I believed if any Olympian were to sire new children, it would likely be you. Obviously, I was looking at the wrong goddess."
He tilted his head toward Athena.
"Ares, god of broken records," Athena mocked under her breath just loudly enough for the table to hear.
"I still can't get over how you never found anyone," Aphrodite remarked, "I mean, a good chunk of us are on Facebook for Gaia's sake."
"Ah yes," Ares grinned as if he was glad to be part of some grand conspiracy, "I am familiar with this Facebook."
"Wait, they are?" Athena asked, sitting up a little straighter, "Who is?"
"Let's see," Aphrodite thought aloud, "My kids, Nike, Thanatos, but it takes a while for him to respond to your messages with his busy schedule. Iris is on a lot as you may expect, but her page gets confused for a gay pride page. She's learned to embrace it though. Dionysus is on there, Hermes and I think that's it, but what am I saying? We all know where Hermes is."
Athena and Ares looked at her strangely.
"What do you mean?" Athena asked.
"Hermes," Aphrodite repeated, "Our Hermes, winged shoes, speedy... stupid hat."
"We remember who he is," Athena said, sounding very annoyed, "What do you mean we know where he is?"
"Are you kidding?" Aphrodite asked, for some reason or another, not believing what she was hearing.
The two war gods sat with unchanging looks of confusion on their faces.
"Oh, you're not kidding," Aphrodite realized.
Her attention was then caught by the sound of a public bus outside the window.
"You mean to tell me you've never seen that?" She said, pointing to the bus.
Athena turned her head toward the bus.
"Oh, for god's sake," she sighed, placing her head in her hands.
On the side of the bus was an advertisement for a pair of running shoes.
The shoes were bright yellow with tiny white wings printed on both sides.
Next to the picture of the shoes was a photo of an athlete wearing said shoes, frozen in mid-air, dunking a basketball through a hoop.
Athena recognized this athlete.
It was Hermes.