Thea sighed, watching the flame flicker in the breeze. For nearly two days there had been no advancement on the flame situation. It was easier to create the fire, but she still couldn’t make it larger. The best she could manage was moving the small flame through the air after that.

Apollo’s advice to get angry just wasn’t working. Her brain was clouded with worry over the impending battle and she just wasn’t ready. The more she failed the bigger the worry grew, and the night before she had lain awake, watching a flame flicker above her, its orange light mocking her.

Hermes being gone was another problem. Zeus had decided to get his revenge in pettiness, by sending Hermes all over to alert the other Gods that the time was close. She hadn’t seen him since they got back from the forest two nights ago. He had left in a hurry, promising to be back soon, and left her and Artemis to deal with a pouting Apollo who was upset he’d missed the big showdown with Zeus.

Artemis sat next to her, sharpening arrow heads, and the noise was grating on Thea’s patience. Artemis barely left her side, giving her no spare time to relax. Even Apollo was beginning to feel on edge. The Gameboy had been destroyed and Artemis was on his back too, hitting him whenever his teaching grew lax. If he’d been a normal human, Thea knew he’d be black and blue by now from all the blows Artemis had inflicted.

Just after lunch, a reprieve had come in the form of Ares, the God of War. He was a large man, all muscle and scars. She wasn’t sure how he had scars, being a God, but she didn’t dare ask. He was bare chested, wearing nothing but a leather Trojan style warrior skirt. A strap ran across his chest, holding a large bronze shield in place on his back, a chariot etched into the metal.

He appeared in the field next to Apollo’s head, and Apollo moved quickly, sitting up. “Come on, Ares! I didn’t need to see that, I just ate!”

Ares looked down at him, amused. “Good to see you too, Apollo.” His voice was deep but quiet, seeming to fill up the silence. “Hello, Artemis. It has been some time since we fought together. Hope you haven’t lost your touch.”

“It’s probably still better than yours,” she muttered, throwing another arrow into the sharp pile.

His eyes landed on Thea and she nodded her head. “Hello.”

“You must be the young woman our messenger is enamoured with.”

“You saw Hermes?”

“Yes,” he smiled thinly. “He has nothing but praise for you. I trust you will live up to your reputation.”

“I hope so too,” she murmured, turning back to the flame in her hand.

Apollo stood up. “Come on, Ares. I’ll show you where you can dump the shield.”

They walked off, Ares reminding Apollo that his shield was valuable and would not be dumped, and Thea felt her shoulders relax. She knew he was on their side but just his presence was threatening.

Artemis continued sharpening. “You all right?”

“Yeah, just on edge. Are they all going to be as scary as him?”

Artemis grinned. “No, he’s probably the scariest of the bunch next to Athena. She should be coming in a couple of days.”

“How many are coming, exactly?”

“Unfortunately, not many. Many of the Gods don’t want to be involved anymore. They gave up caring some time ago. Fortunately, Cronos won’t have an army himself, only a handful of Titans so we won’t be completely outnumbered. Including Apollo, Ares and myself, the rest should be Athena, Zeus, Enyo, Hera and Hephaestus.”

“So, ten in total?”

“That’s right. Not exactly an army, but getting ten Gods together is a feat in itself. We aren’t exactly a big happy family. The only time we get together is for battle and the last time we fought together was centuries ago.”

“Oh, so not everyone gets along like you and Apollo and Hermes?”

“No way,” she laughed. “Athena and Zeus, for instance — they despise each other. The only reason Athena is coming is because she believes this is the just thing to do. She’s good in a battle, don’t get me wrong, but the woman is a stickler for laws and rules. Damn drives me insane, she does.”

“I take it you’re not looking forward to seeing her, either?”

“Of course not. I hate them all,” she muttered.

Thea laughed under her breath and looked at the flame again, sighing internally. Why couldn’t she do it?

“Hey, guys. Did Ares arrive yet?”

Her mood lifted at the familiar voice and she gasped as the flame in her hand intensified and sparked into her face. Forgetting the flames wouldn’t hurt her, she shrieked and fell backwards on the grass.

Large hands pressed into her back before she could hit the ground and helped her back up. “Since when are you afraid of a little fire, Peaches?” he murmured into her ear.

She looked at her hand again, ignoring his question, and lit another flame, this time concentrating on how she felt with Hermes touching her. The flame rose instantly and she laughed, watching it grow bigger and spread across the top of the grass.

“Ah, Thea, you aren’t planning on burning down the field are you?”

She snapped her fingers and the flames vanished. Turning around she gave him a hug. “No, I just finally figured it out, that’s all. I’ve been struggling with it since we got here and I think I finally know how to do it.”

He brushed her hair from her face. “Well, that’s nice. Since you’ve made some progress for today, want to get away for the afternoon?”

She nodded and he pulled her to her feet.

“Did Ares show up?” he asked Artemis again.

She nodded, concentrating on her arrows. “A few minutes before you did. Apollo took him away to the house.”

He nodded. “Okay. Enyo should be arriving later tonight so keep an eye out for her. Talk to you later.”

Artemis didn’t look up and they vanished, returning to what Thea was now calling her forest.

“What happened?” she asked. “Did you really have to go and tell everyone?”

He nodded, sitting down and pulling her with him. She sat on his lap and wound her arms around his neck. He traced her arm. “Zeus is being a bastard. They already knew about the upcoming battle. He just wanted to get back at me for ruining his last chance with you.”

She rolled her eyes. “There was no chance to begin with.”

He chuckled and laid down, and Thea moved so her head rested on his chest.

“So.” His voice rumbled through his chest. “What have you been up to?”

She told him about her troubles with fire and Artemis’ observations. “She was telling me about Athena and she sounds pretty strict. If she’s worse than Artemis then I don’t think I want to meet her.”

“Don’t worry about Athena. She won’t make an appearance until the last minute. She will be wanting to avoid Zeus as long as she can.”

“I don’t blame her,” Thea muttered.

Hermes rolled onto his side, taking her with him, and he looked at her face, brows creasing. His fingers moved gently over her eyes. “You look tired. Did Artemis even let you sleep?”

Thea nodded. “She did. I was just worried and couldn’t sleep.”

Hermes moved closer. “Are you worried about the battle?” he asked softly.

She nodded. “I don’t think I’m going to be ready in time. I mean, I’ve made progress today but it took me two days just to make the flame bigger. What if I can’t get a handle on this in time? I don’t want to let you down.”

Hermes kissed her. “Don’t worry, you won’t let me down. I know you can do this. I’ve got complete faith in you and I’ll be there to help and protect you.” He could still see the worry on her face and stroked her cheek. “Try not to worry, Peaches.”

She rested her hand on his shoulder. “Hermes?”

“Hmm?”

“Can we stay here until tomorrow?”

“If you want.”

“And will you help me forget what’s coming in the next few days? I need to be distracted.”

He grinned and kissed her once more. “I think I can help with that.”

*                             *                             *                             *                             *

After forgetting all her worries with Hermes’ help, the next morning came too quickly and they returned to Apollo’s, her worries rushing back with them.

When they walked inside, a woman stood with Apollo in the entryway. Her black hair was cut short, curling around her ears. She was dressed for battle in brown and black, a long sword hanging at her side. It looked too big for a woman her size. Apollo was laughing at his own joke but her face remained stoic, eyes cold.

They both turned as Thea and Hermes walked in and her expression didn’t change.

“Welcome back, love birds,” Apollo teased. “Enyo, this is Thea — the nice version of Lissandre.”

She didn’t say anything, simply staring at Thea for a moment before walking back inside. The Goddess had the same aura of danger as Ares, which gave her goose bumps.

“I take it she wasn’t a fan of Lissandre either?” Thea joked faintly.

Hermes squeezed her hand. “Don’t take it to heart. Enyo isn’t nice to anyone. She’s only here for the battle, same as Ares.”

She shuddered. “Those two in the same room would be too scary.”

Apollo nodded. “They aren’t the most sociable Gods you’ll meet. They do have similar interests and they had a child together.”

“What?”

“Hmm, we think they must have bonded over their mutual love of bloodshed and war, then nine months later Enyalios was born.”

“What a thing to bond over,” she muttered. Trying to put it out of her mind, she turned to Apollo. “So, should we keep training?”

Apollo nodded. “Yep, I’m ready when you are. Is Hermes coming?”

She nodded before Hermes could answer. “I want to test something and I need him there.”

“All right.”

They all headed back into the field, Apollo leading the way as he hummed what sounded like, ‘You shook me all night long’.

“I can’t stay all day,” Hermes murmured into her ear. “Zeus still has me running his pointless errands.”

“I know, but just a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay.”

They stopped in their usual spot, the sun still shining brightly. Turning around, she moved away from Hermes.

“So, what are we doing?” Apollo asked.

She started flame, the ball burning in her palm and, closing her eyes, she tried to make it bigger by focusing on things that made her angry.

Nothing happened and she opened her eyes, meeting Hermes confused gaze. As she looked at him, the flame suddenly burned brighter and grinning, she increased its size. She could feel the heat on her face but it didn’t bother her. The flames licked at her hair as it grew and feeling confident, she flung it across the field.

Apollo shouted in annoyance as the field burst into flames, and she quickly doused them.

“Very impressive,” Apollo scowled. “Why did you have to scorch up my field, though?”

“I wanted to show you that I figured it out. For ages I thought you just meant I should get angry to make flames. It was how I did it when I first saw Prometheus in that alley. But I couldn’t get it right. Then yesterday, Hermes appeared and I was able to do it — and I realised I was channelling the wrong type of passion.”

Understanding dawned on Hermes’ face and he smiled. Walking over, he kissed her slowly. “I thought you hated sweet stuff?”

“I do, but every now and then I like dishing it out. Was it too much?”

“No, it was enough.”

The sky flashed and Hermes groaned, moving away and putting her behind him. “What do you want now, Zeus?”

“I’ve been calling you all morning!” the God snapped. “Stop messing around and get to work.”

Hermes rolled his eyes and gave him a mock salute. “Right away.” He turned back to Thea, murmuring, “I’ll be back later. Watch yourself”, before he disappeared.

Unfortunately, Zeus didn’t disappear, his focus solely on her.

Great.

Apollo walked over and sat down, pulling her down with him. “Let’s keep practicing.”

He acted as if Zeus wasn’t there and she decided to follow suit, getting comfortable and creating a ball of flame again.

“Right, you’ve figured out how to channel the flame. Now we just need to focus on your control,” Apollo explained. “As I’ve already said, fire is closely linked to your emotions. If you lose control of your emotions, you’ll lose control of your fire, which can be dangerous.”

“Speaking from experience, Apollo?” Zeus smirked.

Thea saw a look of rage flash in Apollo’s eyes, something she had never seen before on the happy God’s face.

“If you are just here to be a nuisance, then go away. I need Thea to be focused.”

Zeus chuckled and she could feel the anger radiating from the Sun God. Whatever Zeus was referring to was a sensitive subject and it was cruel of him to taunt Apollo so...

Touching his knee, she tried to reassure Apollo with her eyes and he smiled, his lips strained. “Today’s lesson will have nothing to do with fire itself,” he continued, "but more with controlling your emotions. You need to learn to build a wall around your emotions for the battle. Cronos will definitely try to make you lose your composure and he already has the upper hand with Josh. He will play on your fear for Josh and try to make you slip up. Building these mental walls will help to keep you composed and not let his tricks get to you.”

She nodded, trying to ignore the large God in the corner of her eye. “All right, what do I have to do?”

For the next few hours, under Zeus’ annoying gaze, Apollo taught Thea how to build her defences, picturing them in her mind whenever she got annoyed or flustered. Having Zeus there became quite handy in those situations, his constant gaze getting on her nerves and giving her a chance to test out her walls.

By the end of the second hour, she had managed to block her annoyance with her mental wall. Zeus had moved closer and was sitting in front of them. Every now and then he would speak to them, trying to annoy Apollo or ask Thea questions. She answered them curtly and kept focusing on building her walls, wishing secretly he would get the message and go away.

“This is pointless!” Zeus snapped finally. “It doesn’t matter what you do. When he kills your friend, you are just going to lose control. You should be learning to harness that anger so you can use it to send Cronos back to Tartarus.”

Thea felt the words hit her wall and bounce off. A few cracks formed when he mentioned Josh dying but she quickly reinforced the wall and looked at him calmly. “I understand what you are saying, Zeus, but getting angry isn’t going to solve anything. I need to remain calm if I’m going to do this and anyway, Josh is going to be saved. Remember the deal?”

Zeus gritted his teeth and clouds started forming overhead. Apollo was looking into his lap, a large grin on his face at her ability to annoy the Thunder God. “Now listen here, Lissandre –“

Smack!

Zeus tumbled forward, head hitting the dirt, and Thea looked up in shock.

Hera stood behind him, hand outstretched. She looked at them calmly, before dusting off her hands. “Sorry to interrupt. I had a feeling I would find him here being a pain. Has he distracted you from your training, Thea?”

She smiled at Hera gratefully. “At first he was but then having him around was useful for testing out my mental wall, which seems to be working.”

Hera looked at her husband in annoyance. “Shall I leave him here, then?”

“No, that’s okay. I think he’s done enough,” Apollo grinned.

Zeus stood up, turning on Hera. “You don’t control me, woman! I can go wherever I like!”

“Yes, you can,” she said coldly, “as long as it isn’t near this girl. You can be near her during the battle but that is all. I believe Hermes has claimed her so I suggest you suck it up, as the mortals say, and get over it. Every time this girl is brought back, you pull this stupid stunt, like a spoiled child. Do I not satisfy you enough?”

Thea’s face turned crimson at the direction this conversation was taking and Apollo snorted. Zeus glared at her. “That has nothing to do with this.”

“I believe it does.” She looked at him with disdain. “If you ever want to share my bed again, I suggest you give this up right now. If not, then you better hope she says yes because I’ll make sure no woman, mortal or Goddess alike, will have you otherwise.”

With that, Hera disappeared and Thea turned to look at Zeus. He actually seemed to be contemplating Hera’s threat, eyebrows drawn together, deep in thought. After a moment, he looked at Thea. “You sure you won’t sleep with me — just once?”

“Not a chance.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Fine, then I concede —for now. See you in a few days.”

With a flash, he vanished too and Apollo started chuckling. “Hera played her ace card there.”

“How did she know Zeus would agree to that?”

Apollo pulled Thea up and they started walking back to his home. “Zeus may sleep around but at the end of the day, he always comes back to Hera. They are tied together through centuries of love and war. Deep down, Zeus loves Hera more than anything and I think after being together for so long, the fear of being without her is too much for him to contemplate. Am I making sense?”

“Yeah, you’re making sense.”

“Good. Now, let’s go and eat before the next guest arrives.”

“Who else is coming?”

Apollo winced. “Ah, I’m not sure if you’ll be happy or not, but its Aphrodite. She heard you were here and wanted to meet you.”

“I don’t know about that, Apollo. Hermes really seems to hate her –“

“I know, but when Aphrodite wants to do something, there is no stopping her. Let’s just hope she doesn’t bring her gaggle of nymphs – actually, let’s hope she does.”

Rolling her eyes, she pushed Apollo away from her and hoped Hermes would be late, wanting him to avoid the inevitable confrontation with the Goddess who helped ruin his life.

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A/N: Hello guys! Here is the next chapter, Zeus just doesn't give up, lol! A couple more Gods introduced in this chapter, what do we all think? See you next week!