A Victorian Lady's Guide to Killing Gods and Monsters [ONC 2023]

Chapter X: Your blood relatives like... blood

Salisbury, April 6th, 1852

"Get yourselves comfortable, people!" Hermes shouted from the outside. "Our trip is going to be a little tricky and fast."

Hattie rested her head on the glass, looking at the fields pass by. The moon was up in the sky. How many hours had they been there?

Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Helen's face when the lightning hit her. Did she really kill her? Was she a murderer?

"I wanted to ask you, Mr. Swift... What did you do in the Inn?"

"I invoked the spirit of Dionysus. It is something that only his children can do... and the maenads, but that is for another day. My father is the god of madness, and I tried to induce it into those monsters. I think it worked."

"It sure did. I... I am impressed."

"Thank you." He smiled, not with the terrifying grin he had in the Inn while doing his strange tricks with the monsters. No, this was a real, innocent boy's smile. A second later, it disappeared. "What about you? How did you get rid of Helen?"

"I-I really do not know. I think my instincts took control of me."

The carriage went silent. The fields turned into a blurry haze as if they were going too fast to even process it.

"So, Hermes, huh?" Ben said after a couple of minutes. "What did you do to win his favor? He's not that kind to heroes, you know?"

"Apparently no god is kind to heroes. It was Hestia. She appeared to me in the inn, when all of this started. She told me something-she would give me leverage. I guess she meant this."

"Well, we are lucky, m'lady-"

"Stop calling me that way, Swift."

"Okay! As I was saying, we are very lucky. Our coachman is actually very fast, and we will get to Stonehenge just about..."

The coach stopped abruptly, throwing Hattie across it and making her land on Ben's stomach.

"...now."

"Come, kids!" Hermes' voice chortled. "You have arrived. Good luck!"

An invisible foot kicked Ben and Hattie out of the carriage, and in just a moment Hermes and his coach were gone.

"Well... here we are," she smiled. "It did not take us that long."

"Thank Tyche for your fortune, m'lady."

Instead of lecturing him once again, she just laughed in response. They were on an empty field, the monotony just broken by a pile of huge rocks in the distance. Stonehenge. The darkness of the sky was turning into a color just like Ben's eyes. The sunrise was near.

"Do you know what I have to do?" she asked. They started walking toward the pile of rocks. "I did not notice this was a temple. I thought it was just like... a calendar or something."