Fledgling God: Book 3

Chapter 2, Arrival

We ended up in a gazebo, which wasn't what I was expecting at all. Granted, it was a huge gazebo, but I thought we were going to a House. It was beautiful, though, with hanging ferns, comfy benches, and thousands of little twinkling lights. Some sort of classical music was playing in the background. I looked closer and realized the lights were actually flowers. There were leafy green vines climbing all over the structure, and growing on those vines were thousands of white flowers. In the middle of each of them was a bright, twinkling light. It was the afternoon when we'd left, but it was nighttime here, and all the little lights made the place feel festive and fun.

I took a quick look around to see over a hundred people in different groups standing around chatting. Before I could take in more than that, a kind-faced woman came over and greeted us.

"Hello, and welcome to House Atayk." She clasped her hands together in a strange-looking pose and gave us a small bow. Sandy bowed back. I followed her lead.

"Kindly step away from the portal so the rest of your party may follow." She gestured in front of us, and we both stepped forward, trailing our luggage behind. We knew there wasn't anyone else coming through, but the woman made it so easy to follow her directions. Behind us, the portal gave a small pop and disappeared.

A look of surprise flashed across the woman's face. She looked at us, looked at where the portal should have been, and then looked back at us.

"I'm sorry, but there appears to be some sort of mistake," she stammered. "I've never had the portal close so quickly before. Normally, it stays open for several minutes, and we have plenty of time to move the guests through."

"It's okay," Sandy said soothingly. "We are the only ones from our House coming to the Gathering. The portal was welcome to close whenever it wanted."

"It's just the two of you?" She sounded shocked. Like she couldn't believe only two people from a House would attend the Gathering.

Sandy nodded.

The woman looked at us for a moment, unsure of what to do. We had certainly thrown her out of her normal routine.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I've just never had this happen before. Getting an invitation to the Gathering is highly coveted, and there are only twenty open places for each House. The spots are always filled, and sometimes we've even had people try to sneak in as stowaways. That never works, of course, but still, we have those that try. Having eighteen empty invitations, though, that is just unheard of."

"If it helps, we would have enjoyed having a few more people with us, but they had to stay behind and defend the House," Sandy said with a sigh.

"Defend the House?" she echoed. Then something seemed to click with her. "By any chance, are you from House Louisville?"

"That we are," Sandy said. "I'm Sandy, the Head of Household, and this is Jason."

"Oh! Well. It is certainly nice to meet both of you." She did her hand thing and bowed to both of us again. "I am Aoede, and I am very happy to welcome you.

"Since you are such a new House, and under attack too, it makes perfect sense that only a few of you could come. I'm pretty sure neither of you have been to a Gathering before?" She gave us a questioning look. Sandy shook her head. "Well, I'm so glad you are here. You are going to love it! Being at your first Gathering is something special." She gave a wistful sigh. "It's like falling in love for the first time. You will forever remember these next few days."

It seemed Aoede was a bit of a romantic. Normally, I'd say I was a realist. But Tyler, the sweetest, hottest incubus ever, was now my boyfriend, so I was ready to swing to the romantic side and see the world through rose-colored glasses.