Out of Cake Aphrodite (The Goddess Chronicles Book 6) Page 5

  When I returned, she still wore the same blank stare except for this time she was holding a bucket full of cleaning tools. Some I recognized, some I’d never seen before. Probably not a good sign for my burgeoning cleaning lady career.

  I took them from her outstretched hand and walked in the direction she pointed to, feeling completely disturbed by the woman and her lack of emotion. I was the only one in this area right now besides the weirdo, and that made me wonder, too. One person could not possibly clean this entire house in a day. It would take an army.

  So where was everyone else?

  A few minutes later after I started to wonder if I’d ever get to the end of the hallway, a set of large metal doors loomed in front of me. I stopped and gawked. I assumed the rest of the house was beyond them, but what if I was being sent to a dungeon? What if Persephone knew I was stalking around her house and this was my punishment? And, again, why was everyone here so freaking weird?

  The doors opened with a loud screech making me jump out of my skin. The broom clattered out of my hand and onto the floor, and the feather duster landed at my feet. I scooped them up and took several steps back in order to keep from being crushed by the opening door.

  I sighed in relief when I saw who stood on the other side, although I found him pretty weird too.

  The butler gave me a strange look over my reaction, but I didn’t care. I no longer thought I was being carted down to another dungeon to die. I waggled my cleaning tools at him and smiled. “Ready when you are!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Ms. Styx, you may follow me into your assigned section of the house.”

  “Oooh,” I said. “I get my own section? How cool is that?”

  “Very cool.” His tone was dry as dust.

  I clamped my mouth shut and let him lead on, but before he left after dumping me in the kitchen, I said one final thing. “What’s your name?”

  Surprise flashed in his eyes. “Percy.”

  I stifled the disappointment I felt when the word Jeeves didn’t come out his mouth. “Nice to meet you, Percy,” I said politely and turned to look at the enemy - the kitchen that looked like a bomb had exploded.

  He shuffled behind me for a moment and as the doors were shutting, I heard him say, “Pleasure, my dear.”

  A tiny smile creased my face. Maybe ol’ Percy wasn’t as sour as he initially appeared to be.

  A woman poked her head out from behind the pantry dressed in the same uniform as mine. She was young and fresh with pretty dark eyes and red hair. “Miss,” she bobbed her head at me. “You’re the new sucker?”

  I blinked in surprise. She was feisty. Could it be someone normal finally?

  “New sucker right here,” I responded and waved my bucket at her.

  “Good,” she said. “We’ve got some work to do.”

  Two hours later, every single muscle and bone in my entire body hurt. I hadn’t been able to use magic because the redheaded devil hadn’t left my side for a single second. She’d barked commands like a boot camp instructor and pointed out every single spot I missed.

  I might have thought her normal at first, but I was slowly inching toward the direction of impaling her on the end of my broomstick.

  “You’re quite terrible at this, aren’t you?” she mused as I made yet another swipe across the kitchen with my mop.

  The scent of lemon scented cleaner was heavy enough to make me gag and my white uniform was soaked through with sweat.

  “Out of shape, too,” she added.

  I was going to enjoy killing her, I mused to myself. I hadn’t spoken too much, instead choosing to conserve my energy for the task ahead of me, but I was about to lose my mind if I had to mop this floor one more freaking time under the supervision of this monster.

  I tried to strike up a conversation. “How long have you worked here?” I moved the mop back and forth across the floor - swipe, swipe, swish, drain, swipe, swipe.

  She made a tsking sound and pulled out her phone to check her text messages for the umpteenth time. “We aren’t paid to talk, now are we?”

  My cheeks colored, and I stifled the urge to turn her into a toad. Or pick her up and dump her into the filthy bucket of water. It couldn’t possibly be sanitary to continue cleaning the floor with the dirty water. Unless she was just being a jerk because she could be.

  I sent a small burst of magic over to her, giving her a case of the butter fingers. Seconds later, her phone lay face down on the kitchen floor with the screen cracked.

  Her moan of horror had me biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

  I made the appropriate noise of sympathy and continued mopping. She picked up her phone, shook it and headed out of the kitchen. But I didn’t let her get all of the way without putting a broom across her path that wasn’t there before.

  She tripped and did a one-and-a-half gainer right into the canned goods. I set the mop down and stared at her lying limbs akimbo in cans of chicken broth, the expression on her face priceless.

  “Can you help me?” she screeched as she struggled to extricate herself. She looked like a turtle on its back.

  I picked my mop up and stuck it back into the dirty water. “No can do,” I said. “Boss says I have to keep mopping.”

  I couldn’t help myself. Two enemies in two days.

  I was on fire.

  Another dour-faced woman by the name of Molly was sent in to replace the first evil redheaded monster. I said nothing and continued to mop the floor for about the five hundredth time. The woman walked over to me, looked into my bucket and made a gagging noise.

  “The hell?” she asked, horrified. “Why haven’t you changed your water?”

  “Evil Little Red Riding Hood wouldn’t let me,” I said and kept mopping.

  There was a snort that was quickly covered up. She stopped the mop with the palm of her hand and took the bucket to the sink. “I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to mop it once more to clean up the filth you’ve been spreading around.”

  I shrugged. “One more isn’t going to matter now.”

  The larger woman smiled, a pretty little dimple peeking out of one cheek. I studied her, feeling bad for misjudging her initially.

  “Red Riding Hood can come across as quite the dictator,” the woman admitted. “This was her first test as a new hire supervisor.”

  I held my hands up and showed her my new blisters. “Seems like she did a bang-up job.” I frowned. “If we were in the 1800’s.”

  “Sorry,” the woman whispered, then looked around as if to make sure she wasn’t being watched.

  That made me look around in suspicion as well. No doubt we were under surveillance. Just in case one of the maids decided to pilfer the jewels, I guess. That would make my job a little bit harder but not impossible.

  Fresh water was run into the bucket, but instead of handing it back to me, she put it in on the floor and gestured for me to hand her the mop. I was more than happy to oblige.

  With efficient, brisk strokes and at three times my speed, the floor was remopped.

  “My name is Sarah,” I said, giving her the name I used on my application. And yes, Sarah Styx did sound like a dirty stripper name, but it was the best I could do on short notice.

  “Pru,” she said.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  She handed the mop back to me. “You as well. Now let me train you on how to do the dishes.”

  I sighed and followed her over to the massive sink.

  Hours later I sank down against the back of my hotel room door and groaned aloud.

  Artie came around the corner and laughed heartily at the sight of me. “Tough day?” she asked with a massive I told you so grin.

  I held up my hands in answer.

  Her indrawn breath was all the response I needed to tell me how bad they looked. She hurried over to me and took both hands in her own. Seconds later I felt the cool wind of Artie’s healing magic against my fingers and palms. I could have tried to do it myself, but I was too ex
hausted to do anything except collapse into bed.

  “Thanks.”

  “You look like hell,” she responded.

  “Feel like it too.” All my years on the Earth and I’d never done this much physical labor. Ever. As an immortal, I was extremely spoiled.

  “Did you see Persephone?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “All that and not a single glimpse. Can you believe it?”

  She shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not too surprised. It’s a massive estate and rich people tend to not notice or interact with the hired help too much.”

  Doubt settled in as I dropped the glamour. My hair stretched out to its normal length and golden color. “Maybe I shouldn’t have hired on as the maid. I got stuck in the kitchen today.”

  “You just need to do some switching around,” Artie recommended. “You’ll have to make sure Persephone isn’t around, but you could easily search portions of the mansion without raising suspicion. But, make sure there are no active magic users inside before you start casting magic around willy-nilly.”

  My brows knit together. “You think he may have magic users there? Like who?”

  Artie looked thoughtful. “Humans have been hiring witches for as long as I can remember.”

  “Witches?” I asked in surprise. “Why would they work for humans?” This was a fact I hadn’t even considered.

  Artie helped me up and shoved me onto the bed. She tugged my shoes off and made gagging noises while remarking on how bad I smelled.

  “Abs, the human world revolves around money.”

  “Why would witches need money?” I shifted and got a whiff of myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have laid down before I showered.

  Artie sat down beside me. “You have a lot to learn about the way the world operates.”

  I stared at her in surprise. “How do you know so much?”

  Artie’s gaze shuttered. “I hear things,” she said after a moment.

  “Uh huh. How do you know about witches?” The only witches I knew were evil ones who were hell bent on destroying Zeus. I knew there were certain branches of people who called themselves witches but they tended to be the fluffy pagans who wanted to be lightworkers and used crystals to chant with.

  The witches I knew were pretty hardcore, and none of them were human.

  “I’ve had a couple of cases where witches were involved,” she admitted after a moment. “They can be dangerous.”

  “All of them?” I asked, feeling like my world was expanding in ways I didn’t exactly like.

  She shook her head. “No. Just some. The majority I’ve met have been very nice.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Just how many do you know? The only ones I’ve ever met had barely any discernible magic.”

  “Asheville is a mysterious town, Abs. Perhaps you should get out and explore it more.”

  Her words stung a little bit. Like I had time to get out and be a tourist. People were always trying to kill me.

  "I'll check tomorrow when I go back in. If the coast is clear I'll see if I can search part of the property."

  Artie nodded. "Just make sure Persephone is nowhere on the premises."

  I stared at her for a second. "Okay, mom."

  She gave me an ugly look, then ran her hands over her face. "Sorry. I know you know what you're doing. This whole prophecy thing has me totally freaked out."

  "Yeah," I said. "Me too."

  "What do you say we go to dinner and have a few drinks?"

  I was bone tired but a few drinks sounded pretty awesome. I didn't want to get up, though. Maybe if someone could bring it to me.

  Artie stood up and slapped me on the thigh. "Just for a little while. You can do it."

  I groaned, shifted and got another whiff of myself. "I have to shower first."

  "Please do."

  Thirty minutes later I was somewhat revived by the hot shower and ready to go. "There's only one restaurant in this area."

  Artie shook her head. "I didn't mean here. We've been invited to dinner somewhere else."

  My hackles immediately went up. "Where?" I asked, my voice quiet.

  Artie backed away from me. "Now Abby, relax. He asked nicely."

  "Who asked nicely?" My head spun. I was not in the mood for this.

  She reached over and grabbed me by the arm. Before I could yank it away, she had blinked us out of the place in a shower of light.

  Seconds later, I stood in the throne room of Olympus. I wanted to curse Artie out, left right and upside down, but now that I was here and Hermes was staring at me, I had to settle for a dark glare. With my eyes, I told her I would kill her later.

  She looked sheepish but not sorry.

  I'd have to kill her twice then.

  "Abby," Hermes acknowledged. He looked handsome as ever, blond and golden, his whiskey eyes filled with amusement. "Obviously this is a surprise to you." He gave Artie an admonishing look.

  She shrugged. "She wouldn't have come otherwise."

  I pressed my lips together to keep from saying something I'd regret. Instead, I grumbled, "Well no one asked me so no one could know what I would say, would they?"

  Hermes motioned me over to the large table set for six. "Come have a glass of wine."

  "Who else is coming?" I asked. I took the seat closest to the door so I could see exactly who was coming in and get the heck out of dodge if I needed to.

  Hermes glanced quickly at Artie and then away.

  "Who?" I asked again, nervousness filling my belly. I took a moment and looked down at my attire. "Also, I'm not dressed for a dinner here. Perhaps I should come back later." I stood up ready to make myself scarce, but Hermes' golden magic swirled around me, changing my jeans into a ball gown. My wet hair dried itself and curled on top of my head in a loose chignon.

  "Thanks," I said not sounding thankful at all.

  Artie fixed herself up and sat beside me not saying a word. I leaned over.

  "Payback for this will be righteous."

  "I know," she murmured. "But it was necessary."

  "Nothing is necessary right now. I'm right in the middle of a job, and I don't have time for Olympus politics."

  She gave me the look. "You're caught right in the middle of Olympus politics."

  I mulled that for a moment. "No," I argued. "I'm caught up in Underworld politics. Completely different."

  Artie rolled her eyes and picked up her wine glass. "Sure, Abs. Totally different."

  "Shut up," was all I could muster.

  Hermes sat at the head of the table and studied us. His eyes were hooded and distant as if he were lost in thought. Something was up and it wasn't good.

  "Hermes?" I questioned.

  "Something has come to my attention, and since it involves all of us I thought it important you were here for this."

  "What is it?"

  He shook his head and took a long sip of his wine. "Let's wait for everyone."

  I sat back in my chair feeling mulish. How offended would he be if I just popped out and left him here with his forced dinner?

  Artie put a hand on my arm as if she could sense exactly what I was thinking.

  "Don't you dare," she hissed in a low voice.

  "Tell me what it is or I'm leaving."

  The stare he gave me was tired and almost defeated. He didn't look much like himself today. "Abby, please just play along. For once in your life. I rarely ask anything of you, but I ask this. Just for today."

  Damn it. He was right. "I'm not going to like it," I said and cringed as I realized I sounded like a petulant teenager.

  A ghost of a grin flickered over his face. "When do you like anything?" he asked and chuckled.

  I picked up my wine and drank long and hard.

  Silence fell in the throne room as we waited for the rest of his guests to show up. Three more. How bad could it be?

  Seconds later, the air went from cool and dry to wet and humid.

  I sat up straight. Only one person could make that happen.

&nbs
p; Poseidon stood in the room dressed in Kingdom of the Seas finery and holding his trident. He nodded once and gave a quick bow to Hermes, something I probably should have done but I hadn't quite gotten used to his new position as ruler yet.

  "Huntress," he acknowledged Artie. She stood and curtsied back to him.

  "Queen," he said to me, a little frostier.

  I didn't bother to stand. I came from the sea and his domain was just as much mine as it was his. I offered a nod and sipped my wine.

  His lips thinned in distaste, but he didn't say anything about my horrid lack of manners.

  He took the seat opposite of Hermes and farthest from the door. "I thank you for the invitation tonight," he said.

  Hermes, ever graceful, grunted. "I had no real choice in the matter."

  A flash of lightning broke in the room. The hair on my arms stood up. Strong magic was at play. Magic unlike the immortals. I stiffened and looked around the room. A boom of thunder shattered the suddenly tense silence.

  A woman dressed in all black stood in the room with us. A woman I'd never seen before but whom I would know in a heartbeat.

  "Morgana Le Fay," Artie whispered.

  "Balls," I muttered under my breath. What in the hell was she doing here?

  Hermes stood, gathered his caduceus and bowed low to the powerful witch. "Morgana," he greeted in a neutral tone.

  "Guardian," she said, acknowledging him with a slight incline of her head. Quite a bit less than Hermes had done for her. Curious that. She took a moment to look around the room at all of us.

  Power sparked off the witch, the likes of which I'd never seen before. Long black hair cascaded down her back and fell to her waist in curls at the end. She wore a crown of black thorns and blood red berries and carried a long, dark staff with a large, round, glowing amethyst on the end of it. Dark green ivy swirled down the staff and was punctuated with jewels of the brightest colors - rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds glowed with an unearthly light. Her trim figure was encased in a gown of the darkest ebony and fit her like the skin of a snake. There was no discerning where the gown ended and her skin began. Eyes of the shiniest black met my own and I shivered. This was a woman who was not to be trifled with. I racked my brain for knowledge of Morgana but failed to come up with anything other than her role in the fall of Camelot, a place I wasn't exactly sure existed. But seeing her and being able to feel the power that rolled off her in waves strong enough to make me shiver made me believe anything was possible.