The Dissonant Notes Of Fate

Twenty-nine

THALIA blinked in surprise, gazing around her in confusion. She had just been standing in the middle of the road beside Luke and Chiron, with the centaur telling them how Dionysus had been taken down by Typhon in the Appalachians, and how Hephaestus had created a whole new lake on impact with the ground when he was thrown out of action.

The centaur had gone to supervise his brethren and she'd been left alone with Luke when suddenly she wasn't in front of the Empire State Building anymore.

She was standing in a long bar with black walls, neon signs, and a bunch of partying adults. A banner across the bar read HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOBBY EARL. Low music played on the speakers. Big guys in jeans and work shirts crowded the bar. Waitresses carried trays of drinks and shouted at each other.

She was at the very back of the room, next to the bathrooms and a couple of antique arcade games.

"Oh good, you're here," said the man at the Pac-Man machine. "I'll have a Diet Coke."

Thalia blinked, again, brow creasing. The man was wearing his usual leopard print and shorts, but he had a cast around his arm and a bandage around his head. "Mr. D?"

He sighed, not taking his eyes from the game. "Really, Tina, how long will it take for you to recognise me on sight?"

"We'll discuss that when you learn how to say my name right," She muttered. "Where are we?"

"Bobby Earl's birthday party," Dionysus said, rolling his eyes. "Somewhere in lovely rural America. As you can very well see."

"I thought Typhon swatted you out of the sky. They said you crash-landed."

"Your concern is touching, but useless and quite pitiful. I did crash-land. Very painfully. In fact, part of me is still buried under a hundred feet of rubble in an abandoned coal mine. It will be several more hours before I have enough strength to mend. But in the meantime, part of my consciousness is here."

"Playing pac-man, while we all die miserably," She agreed.

"Party time," Dionysus told her. "Surely you've heard of it. Wherever there is a party, my presence is invoked. Because of this, I can exist in many different places at once. It happens with most immortals in their domains. The only problem was finding a party. I don't know if you're aware how serious things are outside your safe little bubble of New York—"

"Safe little bubble?" She let out a snarl out disbelief.

"—but believe me, the mortals out here in the heartland are panicking. Typhon has terrified them. Very few are throwing parties. Apparently Bobby Earl and his friends are a little slow. They haven't yet figured out that the world is ending."

"So . . . I'm not really here, am I?" She questioned, trying to keep her anger in check.

"No. In a moment I'll send you back to your normal insignificant life, and it will be as if nothing had happened," He waved it aside. The god still hadn't looked at her.

"And why did you bring me here?"

The wine deity snorted. "Oh, I didn't want you particularly. Any of you silly heroes would do. I would have much preferred Lucas. Gods know he has a better head screwed on his shoulders than you."

She didn't bother to correct him.

"The point is," he said, "I pulled you into party time to deliver a warning. We are in danger."

"Gee," She snarked, folding her arms. "I've been fighting armies for two days because I was safe. Never would have guessed it, thanks."

He glared at her and momentarily forgot his game. Pac-Man got eaten by the red ghost. Dionysus swore, both at her and the game.

"You're ruining my game, Trisha!"