Blooming Idolatry

Stupid Cat

"I can help you find Leta."

The male god was massive. All muscles and brawn. His eyes were bright green. The male reminded me of a panther stalking his prey waiting to pounce.

"Why?" This isn't a romance novel. Men do not swoop in the save the day without an ulterior motive.

"That's not important to you. What's important is I can help you protect your cult." I swore if I saw his pec pop one more time through his shirt I was going to rip his arm off.

"Look, I don't know you." I held my palms up to him. "I don't care to know you. But before we go on this grand adventure to slay Leta and I drag these kids along with me, I need you to spare a few details." His scoff pissed me off.

"Leta is a menace to both mortal and immortal society. It's not an unknown fact that every god hates her. We want her gone. What rock did you crawl out from under?" His eyebrows rose into his hairline.

"Sir, I need you to take your haughtiness somewhere else. I've been in death-like sleep for over two thousand years." I crossed my arms and leaned back on the building. "I'm older than the oldest living god at the moment, making me your elder. Didn't your mother teach you to respect your elders?" I glared at the male down the bridge of my nose.

"Okay, then." He rolled his eyes. "I am Kane, god of mercenaries. I was hired by a certain someone to do away with Leta by any means possible." He shifted on his feet to gain balance in his thoughts. "I followed her to this school. I'd been suspicious of her preying on the children, and with the loss of your cult, my fears are confirmed."

I distracted myself by growing a single coneflower in the browned grass by the brick school building. Stretching my power was a heady feeling. I could become addicted.

"Is she killing the children to gain power or simply trying to monopolize on followers?" The flower swayed with the breeze.

"She has yet to slay any." I could hear the swishing of his tail in annoyance.

"Very well. You haven't told me nearly enough to trust you but what other option do I have? I don't know the gods of this modern world." My shoulders lifted to my ears. I grimaced at the awkward gesture. "Let me gather my-" The door to the classroom slammed closed.

"SEKIE!" My terror wailed for me. "Sekie, what are these flowers on my hands? Who's that?" She stopped short of coming near me when she saw the make god. Enna must have a talent for seeing gods and their marks. I'll have to explore that with her later.

"The flowers on your hands are called flos divus. They mark you as..." I sought a way to explain our bond to Enna. " My adoptive child." Close enough. Truly I was the ant to her aphid. Seeking the honeydew her life force leaves behind.

"They're pretty." Her puppy dog expression warmed my fear-chilled heart.

"They're called coneflowers." I smiled. "This  male, Enna, is going to help me find a bad woman." Her little nod was so cute. "We're going to go on an adventure!" I grabbed her hands and rose with her. "Now go get all the other kids with coneflower flos divus and tell them about our trip okay?"

"Okay, Sekie." She skipped back inside. I could see the male's smile from the corner of my eye.

"Touch my terror and I'll gut you. Now tell me what you know about Leta's whereabouts."