Breaking the Gods

chapter 3

"Okay . . . so do you demigods hate the Roman forms of your pantheon or something?" asked Sadie.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Nico started to say, when Anubis spoke up.

Nico . . . there is something that you do not know.

"Wait," Nico requested to Sadie and Felix. To Anubis he stated, I'm listening.

There . . . your pantheon of gods . . . they have a Roman form. And at one time, their Roman forms were able to have children. And . . . the Roman demigods were once at war with the Greek demigods.

"But that . . . that doesn't make sense," said Nico accidentally speaking out loud. Then he caught himself. Why would they do that? Why would we do that? I mean . . . they were our brothers and sisters, right?

I cannot pretend to comprehend the minds of mortals, let alone Greek or Roman ones, Nico.

Why do I get the feeling you know more than you're telling me? asked Nico.

Damning silence was his only response.

"Okay, I just remembered that there used to be demigods who were children of the Roman forms of our gods, and that us kids of their Greek forms used to be at war with them. But . . . I guess those guys aren't around anymore since I haven't heard anything recent about them . . ."

But even as he said that, he realized that might not be true. Sadie apparently came to the same conclusion.

"Not necessarily," she said. "They might still be around. I mean, you guys hadn't heard of the House of Life before you met us."

You think that's what this is? Nico asked Anubis.

I don't have any idea what this is. Even if he is a Roman, I don't know why he would be trying to kill a window cling with the Roman pantheon on it.

Hey, stop that! shouted Nico, realizing that while he was distracted, Anubis had taken control of his body and was shaking his head at Sadie. He wrested control back and mentally glowered at Anubis. When we get back, you're going to tell me everything you know about this, Anubis.

There's not much to tell. I don't keep track of the affairs of demigods. Or at least I did not until I accidentally possessed you.

"Maybe," said Nico, suspiciously. That one word conveniently served as an adequate response to both Sadie's comment and Anubis's lie. "I can't remember anything else right now. But there's a chance that this demigod might know something about them," he continued, addressing Sadie.

"So what do we do?" Felix wanted to know..

"You don't do anything. I'm going to try talking to him. Both of you, stay back."

Predictably, Sadie had protests. "We're not letting you do this alone," she said immediately.

"He's unarmed. And the only thing he really wants to kill seems to be that window decal. I'm just going to try to talk to him, and see if I can figure out what's wrong with him," said Nico. "You guys are magicians, and lately we've been being taught that you guys can be dangerous. So you should probably stay back and not provoke him."

He was expecting more of an argument from Sadie, but she surprised him.

"Alright," she said. "But be careful."

"I will," said Nico, then started toward the angry demigod. Then stopped as something occurred to him. "Oh, and Sadie?"

"Yes?"