War of the Gods

Alex notices something is up with me in the morning. He can see it in my face. He doesn’t say anything as he eats though. His brown eyes search my face, wanting me to tell him. I can’t bring myself to tell him about the nightmare.

I didn’t go back to sleep. I went to the living room and kept myself busy. I read a book and cleaned. I’m sure the lack of sleep is clear on my face, but I’m not about to tell him about anything. I lean against the counter in the kitchen drinking coffee to keep myself awake. Maybe I can talk to Ares about this.

I can’t believe myself that I’m already thinking about talking to him about this. I have only known that he was my father for a day now. Isn’t that a little too soon? I guess I have to hear what he has to tell me before I make any decision about what I should do about trusting him.

“You weren’t in bed with me when I woke up,” Alex says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry, Alex. I just couldn’t get to sleep,” I tell him. It wasn’t a complete lie. I’m just leaving out the fact the dream.

“Worried about something?” He is begging me to tell him what is going on. It’s clear in his voice.

“You don’t need to worry about it, okay? Just get to work.” I push away from the counter and go into the bathroom to take a shower.

I hear him sigh and push the chair back. I hear a door open and close. I’m guessing that it was the front door. I take a quick shower and get dressed. When I go back into the kitchen, he isn’t there. I’m left alone in the apartment. I take this moment to go to the temple. I slip my shoes on and walk out of the apartment.



I walk up the steps and look at the tall statue. It depicts Ares in armor and like a fierce warrior. It was accurate after seeing those visions. There isn’t any people in the temple. I look around wondering if he is here or not.

“I’m surprised you didn’t sneak out the moment you saw my note,” a voice teases behind me.

I turn to see Ares. I should have known that he enjoyed popping up when I’m not looking for him. “Well, I couldn’t exactly do that with him asking who Apollo was,” I argue.

“He knew he was a god? They must be smarter than I thought.” Ares shrugs his shoulders as he walks towards me. “I need to tell you something important.”

I think about making some sort of smart comment, but I see the look on his face and think twice about it. Now isn’t the time for a smart comment. I have to listen to what he has to say. I nod and make a rolling motion with my hand for him to continue.

“Your fiancé is a part of a group that wants to take over as gods themselves. They have been planning on doing this for years, and it’s not going to be long before they make their first move. They want to start a war against us,” he explains.

I’m taken aback. I don’t know if I should believe this. This is something that I never thought about, but then I remember the dream. They were looking at the temples with the gods standing in front of them. I know that dream has to involve something with this, but I don’t want to believe it.

“That’s impossible,” I argue. “Alex can’t be involved with that. You must be mistaking him for someone else.”

“Do you know what he does at work?” the god of war asks.

“No,” I answer, embarrassed. I couldn’t tell anyone what he did for a living if it means life or death. “Alex doesn’t talk about his work.”

“That’s my point. They know about what you are, Eutropia. They are either going to try to get you to join them or kill you. I don’t know which. All I know is that I can get you away from them, but we need you to help the gods.”

I look at him strangely. “What do you mean I need to help?”

“You are one of the strongest demigods. Sure, you’re not strange, but I can feel your energy even now. You will be able to help us. You are going to be one of the big factors with you on our side,” he informs me.

I stare at him in shock. I don’t know what to tell him. He thinks that I will be able to help. I don’t even know if I should believe him. I barely even knew that I was a demigod for a week. I don’t have any idea how to control the powers he says that I have.

I run out of the temple because I can’t think with him staring at me like he was. He wants me to tell him that I will help him, but I don’t even know what to think about first. I just run pushing my legs in front of the other rushing out of the town. I sprint until I can’t breathe any longer.

I sit down on a large rock, overlooking a large patch of grass. I sigh unsure about what to do. I just stare at the green plants in front of me.

I don’t know how long I was out there before I hear a footsteps coming in my direction. I turn to see a farmer with a friendly smile on his face.

“What are you doing out here?” he asks as he sits down next to me.

“I don’t honestly. I just needed to get away for a little bit,” I reply, trying to put a smile on my face.

“This is a nice place to think. It’s so peaceful out here.” He looks out over the land.

I just nod. He makes some more small talk, and I give him small answers. Eventually, he stands up and looks at me. “Sometimes, if you don’t think about the facts, then you will miss what’s really going on,” he tells me. With that, he walks back the way he came.

I’m left watching him walking down the small hill. I make a mental note of what he said. I couldn’t exactly understand what he was talking about, but I want to know what was going on. If Alex is really trying to go against the gods, I want to know what’s going on. I want to hear it from him.



I walk through the streets of the town. I don’t go in Ares’s temple when I see it. I just look at it for a few seconds longer than I should have. I can’t go in and tell him that I don’t know what I’m going to do. Besides, there were people walking in and out of the it anyways. It wouldn’t be very secretive. There isn’t privacy with people standing around and praying.

I take a few more steps and nearly run into Isadora. I’m shocked to see her at this part of town. She doesn’t know anyone in this area, and she doesn’t like any of the stores in this area. I smile as she looks up at me.

“What are you doing over here?” she asks.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I point out. I wave my hands to the group of stores placed next to me. “I like the stores over here.”

“Well, actually, I’m here for the temple.” Her eyes look at Ares’s building. It doesn’t take me long to realize that she isn’t there to worship. She has another reason, but I won’t know what she is going to do.

“I didn’t know you worshipped the gods.” I played dumb. I want her to tell me what was really going on. I’m sure she isn’t as tight-lipped as she should be which makes it easy to get information out of her.

“I don’t worship the gods, Eutropia. I’m not stupid. I’m here to help Iason with his job. He needs someone that they don’t know.” She smiles at me like I knew what she was doing. “I didn’t know Alex would have you do the same thing.”

Well, that worked out a little better than I thought. I just smiled and shook my head. “Actually, I’m here to shop. I have nothing to do with the temple,” I correct her. “Also, Isadora, worshipping the gods doesn’t make you stupid. It just shows what side you are on.”

She looks at me strangely as I walk into one of the stores. I know that I lied to her about the shopping, but now I was going to have to buy a few things to prove to her that I was being honest. I’m not sure how Alex will feel about it, but he’ll get over it. If anything, he should be happy that I’m actually spending his money for once.



When I got back to my apartment, it’s empty. I smile to myself as I carry the bags into the living room. I bought a couple of outfits and a few pieces of jewelry. I walk back into the hallway and look at the door to Alex’s office. I know it’s locked, but I want to know what’s on the other side now. The room can be the answers to what I need to know about Alex.

Isadora probably won’t realize that she gave me information that she should have kept her mouth shut about. I can only wonder what kind of trouble she was going to get into with Iason. I’m sure he will be pissed about it. I can only hope that he wouldn’t beat her.

I hear the door open. I walk into the kitchen to see Alex standing there. He gives me a adoring smile. “Someone told me that you went shopping,” he points out.

“That I did,” I agree. “I figured I needed to do something with the morning. I guess I should have stopped and got something for lunch.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I brought something.” He lifts up a back with two containers in there.

“Do I get to see what you got?” he asks.

“Alex, it’s just clothes. It’s nothing extravagant.” I look at him. He doesn’t show any signs of disappointment. He just continues to give me that half-smile of his.

“Well, I’m just happy that you are starting to realize it’s our money, not mine,” he points out.

I think about telling him that I only spent the money to cover my lie, but I know that wouldn’t roll over well. He would want to know why I lied, and he would be furious when I told him what I heard from Ares. Then he will ask how I know Ares. It’s just not something that I want to explain.

I know that I was torn between my feelings for Alex and what I know now about it him. Of course, I still don’t know everything. The words of the farmer ring in my ears again. I have to think about the facts, but I don’t know all the facts. The only way I’m going to know the facts were in my fiancé’s office behind that locked door. How was I even going to get back there to it?

“Yeah, I still feel kind of bad about it,” I lie with a smile on my face.

“You’ll get used to it. I want you to buy whatever you want. Just don’t go to crazy with it,” he teases. He winks at me as he throws away his container. “I don’t want to hear you bought a race horse because you thought it was pretty.”

“Oh, you ruined my plans for tomorrow,” I joke trying to keep the atmosphere light. I don’t want him to know what was going on in my head.