The Fleece Job (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Chapter 10: Problem solving

Ari

Solving problems like a Rhea. Be too drunk to realize you have a problem. I'm illegally alive. My friends aged without me. I have no idea how old I am. I'm probably gonna wind up in Tartarus for this stunt. Normal stuff. Typical worries.

Did I have a job in this heist? Probably. Was I paying attention? No. No I was not.

I walk into the kitchen. It's expansive, and all shiny and chrome. I want to puke. I also want to find booze. Booze---is not well hidden. I'm going to make a martini. Do I know how to do that? No, I do not. That isn't going to stop me, though.

"What are you doing?"

"Hi, Than," I say, looking up from the booze I was getting out. He's standing there. In all his winged glory. He shrinks a bit when he sees my eyes on him. I know he likes looking like a human. That's how he looks in the Underworld because that's how he wants to look. I take out my ear piece and turn it off. This is a private conversation.

"Just—what are you doing? Here?" he asks.

"Is this an official visit?" I ask.

"No," he sighs, avoiding my gaze, "I just---I –I don't know."

"You know the wings are hot, right?" I ask, walking around the counter to him.

"W---what--?" he stammers.

"Yeah, I like you this way," I say, petting the feathers on his left wing gently.

"I hate that it did that to you," he says, putting a hand through my hair. He means my grandfather's lightening, which also scarred him once.

"I don't. We match now," I say, smiling a little.

"Where do we go from here?" he asks, sighing.

"Well, first I thought you'd kiss me. Then I'd kiss you," I say, leaning against the counter. "Then maybe you'd kiss me again."

"You know what I mean," he sighs.

"I do. And I meant what I said about the kisses."

"Ari—"

"I don't have a future yet. I have one single day, one single hour at a time. Let's face it, I'm probably gonna get condemned again. But I have tonight. You and me have tonight. And we have you and me. And I want that. I'm done with putting other people's—lives, before us," I say.

"I wouldn't want you to be—not who you are," Than says, quietly.

"Even if who I am is getting condemned six different times or whatever we're at?"

"Yeah though---you know. I'd rather you not be dead."

"I'm not dead anymore," I kiss him. He kisses me back, slowly at first.

"No. No you're not---doesn't it hurt--?" he's like a void. He knows that. He's a void of nothingness and everything that comes along with death. The living can't stand to touch him usually. That's why he can only deal with the dead.

"A little. I don't care, just kiss me tonight. We'll figure out tomorrow if I have one."

"That's the thing. I want you to have one."

"I don't if you're not in it."

"I don't see how that can be possible," he says.

"Anything is possible," I say, kissing his lips very, very slowly. Gradually he kisses me back.

"What if someone comes--?"

"Not the strangest thing happening on this island tonight," I say, "Impossible. For an undead boy to love a Titan prince."

"Since when are you optimistic?" he asks, finally starting to smile.

"Since I raised myself from the dead," I say, kissing his lips very very slowly.

"What if someone sees me?"

"Believe me, lover. You are NOT the most unusual thing on this island tonight," I say, rubbing my nose against his.

Right on cue, my baby brother runs through the kitchen, screaming and playing 'Johnny B. Goode' on a guitar which is currently on fire, followed closely by Frankie and about a dozen dancing party goers. They do not even notice us.

"I realize you're right but I don't understand how---?"

"Don't question it. We probably only have a few minutes before one of them dies and we're both required."

"What am I gonna do with you?" he sighs, putting a hand through my hair.

"Kiss me, I hope."