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A Greek God at the Ladies' Club
Chapter One
Present day
"Psst! Darius, where are you?"
Hermes fluttered around the sky in his winged sandals, searching for his elusive little brother. He couldn't be too loud or too obvious; Zeus frowned on any contact with his shunned son, even after three thousand years. But they were brothers, and Hermes felt someone had to look out for Darius.
Trouble was, he was hard to find. Zeus had been so angered by the tryst with Queen Aara, he'd taken away Darius's rulership of gems. His telekinetic powers were gone, too. He'd been allowed out of the broken, deformed statue, but he no longer had any "body" to call his own. No form, no shape, nothing. Sometimes, when he heard Hermes searching for him, Darius would get inside a star or a tree so Hermes had something on which to focus while they were talking. Not often though, as he was always afraid of getting stuck again.
"Psst! I've got good news."
Dust particles around a satellite shifted and took on a new form.
"That you, Dare?"
"It's me," filtered through what sounded like a yawn.
"What are you doing by the satellite?"
"Listening." Darius didn't sound as morose as the last time they'd spoken -- a mere one hundred fifty years ago.
"Really?" Hermes winged downward, landing gently and sinking up to his knees in the dust.
"Hey, watch it."
"Oh, sorry." Hermes surveyed his surroundings for a comfortable place to sit, then moved toward the edge. "Okay over here?"
"Yeah, I guess."
He wiggled into the cloud of dust the way one burrows into a beanbag chair. "What are you listening to?"
"Jeopardy! The history category is a cinch. You ever listen to The Learning Channel?"
"Uh, no. How you been, buddy?"
"Well, if I let myself get distracted with all the information the mortals have amassed, I don't notice how miserable I am."
"That bad, huh?"
"Worse." Darius's sorrowful sigh tore at Hermes' heart. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a woman when they can't see, hear, or touch you?"
He thought Darius would've forgotten about women by now, but, no -- he still had a one-track mind after all this time.
"Can you imagine how frustrating it is to want a woman when I can't touch one even if I got one? And that's not all -- "
"Precisely why I'm here." He thought it better to cut Darius off before he hit rock bottom. "I think I found the answer to your problem. Maybe."
"Zeus is ready to forgive and forget?" Darius asked sarcastically.
"Zeus forgive?" Hermes laughed mirthlessly. "Not hardly. But he said you couldn't have your body back until someone pieced it together again, right?"
"'Until it's perfect again' were his exact words."
"Right, that's it. So, do you know about Dr. Mickael's team?"
"Yeah, I watched them uncover what was left of me ... it." Darius yawned.
He couldn't see Darius yawn, of course, but he heard it. A big, openmouthed, I'm-bored kind of yawn. It made Hermes sleepy, so he hopped up out of his comfy seat and paced the edge of the dust cloud before he nodded off.
"They never found all of me, so it was a, shall we say, less than perfect job."
"Right, but get this ..."
"Can you stand still? You're walking all over the family jewels."
"Oh, sorry." He didn't add salt to the wound and point out that as long as there was no body, there were no family jewels. That seemed too cruel. Instead, he crouched near what he thought was Darius's head, the better to get his full attention.
"Not that I get to use them or anything."
Dare's increasing despondency worried Hermes, which made the timing of his visit perfect. "There's a sculptor in the United States I think you might be interested in. She's working on a marble statue."
Darius yawned again. "Uh-huh."
"Guess who her model is?"
The dust shifted slightly. "Who?"
"You. Your statue, I mean. The one they found and pieced back together."
"But it's locked up in a museum basement."
"She's got pictures, Dare. Pictures of it ...of you."
"Pictures?" The dust cloud sat up.
If not for his lightfootedness, Hermes would've toppled overboard. "Yeah, you know what those are, don't you?" He wasn't sure just how well Darius had kept up with the times. Listening to sound waves wasn't the same as seeing the real thing on television or in books.
"Of course, I've been on Earth. I just told you I know where the statue is."
He was pleased to see Dare's lethargy replaced with a crumb of interest.
"Good, then you know where St. Louis is, too?"
"Unless they moved it."
"And you know how things work down there now?" He didn't want to throw him to the wolves if he wasn't ready. If he hadn't seen microwaves and TV and video games yet, he'd think the whole planet was possessed.
"Well, it's been a while, but the satellites keep me up to date. Is the sculptor any good?"
"Oh, very good. Her work is outstanding."
"Maybe perfect?" Darius showed more interest than he had in centuries, and Hermes knew he was doing the right thing in bringing him this news.
"Perfection is her middle name."
"How far along is she? How big is it? Is it -- "
"Stop!" Hermes laughed and held up his hands to forestall the questions. Better to let Darius get involved from the ground up. "Go see for yourself. Look for Alexandra de Marco, in the -- "
The dust cloud flattened abruptly. "I can't."
So close, Hermes thought. He'd almost had him. This close to getting his brother back. "Why not?"
A Greek God at the Ladies' Club. Copyright © by Jenna McKnight. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
