Deity

“I made it.” The tips of his cheeks flushed. “Do you like it?”

“You madethis?” My eyes widened. I breathed a little harder. It was remarkable that he could craft something so astonishing. “I love it! When did you make something like this?”

“A while back,” he said, cheeks reddening further. “After you gave me the pick, actually. I wasn’t sure I’d ever… get to give it to you. I mean, I just started making it one day and the more it took shape, I thought of you. I was just going to leave it in your dorm, but then everything happened…” He trailed off, looking contrite. “I’m just going to stop talking now.”

I stared at him wordlessly.

“Are you sure you like it?”

Climbing to my knees, I threw my arms around his neck. I clenched the rose in my hand as I kissed his cheek. “I love it, Aiden. It’s perfect. Beautiful.”

He laughed softly, gently untangling my choke-hold. “Here, let me help you put it on.”

I popped around obediently and held up my hair. Aiden clasped the chain behind my neck, letting the crystal rose settle above my chest. The weight of it felt wonderful. I reached up, ru

Laughing, he caught me before we both tumbled off the bed. “I guess you do like it.”

I pushed him down and kissed him. “I love it. I love you.”

Aiden reached up, tucking my hair back as his molten stare pierced me to my core. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“Great minds think alike.”

“Later,” he growled.

I started to protest, but he rolled me to my feet. “Boo.”

He gave me a cheeky grin. “You have to come downstairs.”

“I do?”

“Yes. So don’t argue with me.”

“Fine. Only because you’re wonderful and this necklace is beautiful.” I paused, nudging him with my hip. “And because you’re sexy.”

Aiden ushered me out of the room after that. Before I reached the stairs, I tucked the necklace under my shirt. People may know or suspect something, but I wasn’t about to broadcast it, even though I wanted to shove the necklace in everyone’s face and make them coo over it.

I followed Aiden into the kitchen. My steps slowed as I saw everyonegathered around the table. “What’s going…?”

Deacon and Luke stepped to the side. “Happy Birthday!” they cried in unison.

My gaze fell to the table. There sat a birthday cake, decorated with eighteen burning candles and… Spider-man?Yep, it was Spider-man. Red and blue tights and all.

“It was either that or My Little Pony,” Luke said, gri

“Plus he’s all wicked cool with the whole climbing buildings stuff,” Deacon added. “Maybe one day, when you decide to Awaken, you’ll be just as cool.”

“I lit the candles,” Solos said, shrugging. “All by myself.”

“I gave them the money.” Marcus folded his arms. “Therefore I was the key part of all of this.”

“And we got grape soda.” Luke gestured at the bottles of soda. “It’s your favorite.”

“This… this is… wow.” My eyes found Lea, sitting behind Solos. Her hair was pulled back from her face, eyes still swollen. She caught my eyes and smiled just a little. “This is great. You guys are awesome. Really.”

Deacon gri

What to wish for? I smiled. That was easy. As I crept to the table, I blew out the candles and wished that all of us made it out of this alive, including Seth.

“I want the spider web!” Deacon yelled as I stepped back, producing a supersized knife.

“Yikes.” I stepped back into Aiden.

“It’s her birthday,” Luke took the knife from him. “She gets to pick what piece she wants first.”

I laughed. “It’s okay. He can have the spider web. I’ll take the head.”

We set about carving the cake and passing around grape soda. I was overwhelmed by everyone. I hadn’t expected much of anything on my birthday except weird looks, but this was amazing. It was easy to forget about everything and what today symbolized. Here, surrounded by friends, things were sort of… normal.

Normal for a bunch of halfs and pures celebrating a birthday.

Okay. It wasn’t normal at all, but it was just my kind of abnormal.

Huddled around the table, we laughed as we shared cake and grape soda. Lea perked up a little, nibbling on the frosting. The boys continued to give me crap about not Awakening yet, which Aiden tried to put a stop to. It was cute watching him try not to be overly defensive or protective of me. Not like I needed him to, though I think it was just second nature to him. He was the same with Deacon… when Deacon wasn’t wielding a six-inch knife.

Toward the end of the birthday celebration, there was a distinctive pop!from the rec room. We all twisted around. I prayed the rune worked on the house, because there was definitely a god here.

Apollo strolled into the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was that his eyes were blue and not that creepy white. “How is my birthday girl?”

For some reason, I blushed to the roots of my hair. “Doing good, grandpa.”

He smirked as he slid into the seat beside me, easily prying the knife from Deacon’s fingers. “I do not look nearly old enough to be what I am to you.”

That was true. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, which made it all the freakier. “So when were you going to tell me that you spawned me?”

“I did not spawn you. I spawned a demigod centuries ago who eventually spawned your mother.”

“Can you guys stop saying ‘spawn’?” asked Luke.

Apollo shrugged as he carved off an edge of the cake. He handed the knife back to an oddly subdued Deacon. “I did not find it necessary to tell you. It is not like I am going to be bouncing little Alex babies on my knee.”

The soda caught in my throat, and I almost spit it back up. Someone chuckled, and it sounded like Luke. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“My sister should have kept that to herself.” He took a bite of the cake, made a face, and then pushed his plate away. “Our familial tie is not what is important here.”

I frowned.

“You know what, guys?” Solos clapped his hands on Deacon and Luke’s shoulders. “I bet I can take you both at air hockey and make you call me mama.”

Luke snorted. “Not likely.”

Solos dragged the boys from the room, but Lea sat back in the chair and folded her arms. Her eyes dared anyone to tell her to leave. Now that was the Lea I was familiar with.

“Do you remember when you went to Marcus after Grandma Piperi passed on?” Apollo reached for the bottle of soda.

“Yes.” I handed him a cup, wondering where he was going with this. “Kind of hard to forget that day.”

“Humph.” He sniffed the top of the bottle, shrugged and then poured himself a small amount. “Well, then you should also realize that there is another oracle.”

I glanced at Marcus. He arched a brow as he leaned against the counter. “What does this oracle have to do with this?” he asked.

I thought of Kari. “But didn’t she pass on, too?” After a few strange looks, I explained. “I met her in the Underworld. She said she knew what was going to happen.”

Apollo nodded. “She had a few visions before her… departure. Probably had something to do with your own untimely visit to the Underworld. See, the thing about oracles is that they… own their visions. What they see is not seen by others and I can only see what the oracle tells me.” He lifted the plastic cup, took a tentative sip, and immediately made a face. Guess grape soda wasn’t his thing.

“It is part of how it all works—why we need an oracle at all, instead of me just knowing the future,” he continued, looking up at me. “Did she say anything to you while you were there?”

I shook my head. “Just that she knew she would meet me and… and that she knew how it ended. And knowing how it ends doesn’t really tell me what to do.”