No More Olympus

Chapter 19

Athena sipped her red wine at the hotel bar in silence.
Being a weekday and the middle of the night, the restaurant was almost barren save for her party and a few other patrons.
She stared at her phone, which was face down on the countertop, simply because there was nothing else she felt like looking at.
Her last conversation with her father and the revelations it brought forth were rattling back and forth in her head.
For the past two thousand years, her entire life had been consumed by her greatest failure. By the belief that the fall of Olympus was her fault. That the death of her brothers was her fault. That the destruction of her family was her fault.
But as it turned out, none of these things were in her control. She was a slave to prophesy. A victim burdened with the guilt of the victimizer, and worse, she had been allowed to believe this for years, thanks to her father, who wished her to be destroyed but didn't have the stomach to do it himself.
"Excuse me, bartender," Athena called out.
"Yes, Ma'am," the bartender said politely.
"Could I get a refill, please?" She requested, sliding the glass closer to the other edge of the counter.
"Certainly," the bartender replied, pulling a bottle off the shelf and filling her glass, "Can I get you anything else?"
"No, thank you, that's all," Athena declined.
She continued to stare at the phone, this time flipping it over and looking at the Lock Screen, which displayed the same photo of her family that she had shown to Hera earlier in the day.
Athena sighed, unlocked her phone and made her way to her contacts list, stopping when she found the number for Jacob's cell.
She stared at the eleven digits under his name.
Taking one more big gulp from her drink, Athena dialled the number and put the phone up to her ear.
It rang twice before being picked up.
"Athena, thank god," Jacob answered, "Are you okay? I've been trying to call you for the past day and a half."
"I'm fine," Athena replied, her voice sounding more unsteady than she wished, "I was out of range of the cell towers. I'm sorry I made you worry."
"Are you okay?" He asked, "You sound like something's up."
"It's nothing," she assured him, "I just needed to hear your voice."
"Okay," Jacob accepted, "Anything in particular you'd like my voice to say? I just need to remind you I don't remember any Shakespeare from school, and I can't sing."
"Don't I know it," Athena chuckled, recalling Jacob's awful singing voice from when they were dating and would go to karaoke bars with their friends, "Hey, do you remember when we told your folks I was pregnant with Alexander?"
"Remember it?" Jacob asked, "How could I forget it? My old man got up and started dancing around the restaurant. Thought he was gonna have a heart attack."
"Remember when that waitress had to kick him out?" Athena laughed.
"Of course I do," he responded, "Oh god. I went to high school with her. She messaged me the evening after to apologize."
"I thought I saw her at your reunion," Athena remembered.
"What reminded you of this?" Jacob asked.
Athena grew silent.
"I saw my dad today," she admitted. Her voice was low and solemn, threatening to shatter with every breath.
"Oh..." Jacob replied, "How did it go?"
"He's just like I remembered," Athena sighed.
"So, you've met your father before?" He asked.
Athena put down the phone for a moment and had another sip of her drink.
"Jacob, I haven't been entirely honest with you," she admitted, "Some of what I told you about myself has been heavily simplified."
There was a noticeable silence from Jacob.
"I know," he replied.
"Wait, you know?" Athena questioned, "How do you know?"
"Babe, orphanages with nuns aren't really a thing anymore," he answered, "Not counting the three stooges, of course, I just figured you were trying to get away from something that you didn't want to discuss or were in witness protection."
"Well, I'm not in witness protection, so you don't have to worry about that," Athena chuckled, "It's just that... my family is incredibly complicated, and I didn't want it to complicate us or scare you off."
"You're not scaring me off," Jacob assured her, "You're stuck with me whether you like it or not."
"Stuck with you?" Athena repeated.
"Like an old ball and chain," Jacob joked, "Works both ways, you know."
"Good," Athena smiled, "You deserve to know, you deserve the truth, and it's only right that you know."
"Okay," Jacob replied.
"It's just..." she hesitated.
"Yeah?" He encouraged her.
"I don't think this is a conversation to have over the phone," she explained, "This is something that needs to be said face to face."
"I understand that," Jacob agreed.
"So I'll tell you everything when I get home," she assured him.
"Or..." he suggested.
"Or?" She questioned.
"Okay, I need to preface this," Jacob began, "By saying that you weren't picking up your phone for thirty-six hours, there were reports of some sort of attack at a military camp in the area, and you're travelling with your long lost brother who you yourself admitted you weren't sure wasn't dangerous."
"Jacob, what is it?" Athena asked, hoping to accelerate to the point.
"I'm in Greece," he said.
"Are you serious?" She questioned.
"I left the kids with Sadie and grabbed a flight first thing this morning," he explained.
"You know what?" She thought aloud, "Good, the sooner, the better. Where are you right now?"
"I'm in a little hotel near the airport," he answered, "Do you wanna meet sometime in the morning? Grab some breakfast?" He asked.
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed, "Alright, it's late. I'll let you get some sleep."
"Okay," he said, "Love you."
"Love you too," she said back, "Good night."
She hung up the phone and placed it back down on the counter, taking another sip of her wine.
"Are you really gonna tell him?" Hermes asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
In surprise, Athena spit the contents of her mouth a good meter away, spraying it across the mirror at the back of the bar.
"I'm so sorry," she coughed as the bartender looked at her unamused, "What the hell, Hermes! You scared the shit out of me!"
"Are you really going to tell him everything?" Hermes repeated.
"I'm going to tell him about my hilariously extended family if that's what you're asking," she said.
"Are you going to mention that they're all immortal?" He asked, "That your dad shoots lightning bolts, that you're a descendant of the earth and sky itself, that your incredibly handsome brother can move at supersonic speeds."
"I don't know anyone by that description," Athena teased.
"Oh har har," Hermes said dryly, "Well, are you?"
Athena took another drink.
"How do I tell him?" She asked.
The two stared at each other.
"How, Hermes?" She demanded, "It's not something you just spit out. How do I tell him that I am something he doesn't even believe in? If I tell him I'm a god, he is going to assume I'm joking. What do I do to prove it? Turn into an owl, lift a car over my head, shoot myself in the face with his twelve gauge and not die?"
"Well, if you shot yourself, that would be pretty cut and dry," Hermes commented.
"Okay, got it," Athena said defensively, "I pretend to commit suicide in front of my husband. What could go wrong? Maybe I should bring my kids to the show as well."
"Okay, okay," Hermes surrendered, "Then what are you going to tell him?"
"Something along the lines of..." Athena thought aloud, "I have this really extended family. It was an affluent family, my father was this serial womanizer, and I've been trying to distance myself from them for a long time."
"All of that is technically true," he shrugged, "Just leaving out probably the most important part."
"I know, I know," she sighed, "But think about how quickly your life would be over if it came out that you're a god. How quickly do you think you'd be cut from the NBA?"
"I don't think even I can move that fast," Hermes shuddered.
"So you see what I'm getting at," Athena said.
"Though I probably would sell a lot more shoes if people thought they could make them fly," He commented as if considering the possibility.
"Do not tell the world you're a god!" Athena demanded, realizing what he might be thinking.
"I wasn't gonna," Hermes defended.
"Sure you weren't," Athena sighed, "Maybe you're right, maybe I should tell him I'm a god, just put it all out there, live with the consequences."
She tapped her knuckles against the bar.
"You gonna tell him about all the incest?" Hermes asked.
Athena cringed.
"That's even more complicated than godhood," she sighed.
"Well, you live in Alabama," Hermes said, "Maybe you'll fit right in."
"I vote we never speak of it again for fear of going insane," Athena shuddered.
"Agreed," Hermes nodded.
The two gulped down the rest of their drinks with sour looks on their faces.
"I need gin," Hermes said, holding up a finger to grab the bartender's attention.
"Agreed," Athena nodded.