Venus Rising Deleted/Altered Scenes and Snippets

Intro to Dreamwalking

"But not all at once." Otrera pointed out. "You're tapped out holding the island together."

"We don't..." Aphrodite hesitated, glancing between us before seeming to come to a decision. "You don't have to keep the shield up."

I blinked. "I can't...I don't think I have it in me to just let everyone else drop off the face of the earth." They'd be crushed or drown and it wasn't like they'd even die. I'd be sentencing them to something worse.

"You wouldn't have to," she assured me, wiping her eyes and taking a steadying breath. "There are ten other demigods on this island who can cast shields?" She glanced at us for confirmation. When we nodded she asked, "Still?"

Otrera's breath caught. "No. Nestor is down, and he's probably not the only one. Once Narcissus is done with the census, I should be able to tell you exactly how many shield-castors are left."

"Jason used all ten of them to replace Glauce's shield on her days off," Aphrodite reminded us. "Now we know some of them were dedicated to shielding the hidden wing, but for the island to stay together, the shield around the island itself had to expand to beneath it, and it had to become impenetrable from water, which drains more power. If you stop shielding, Narcissus will have to divert all his resources to keeping the island afloat until he figures out a way off of it. Even if he doesn't believe us about what's happening to the island, he's not going to risk drowning to test our theory. Give Narcissus the specs for the shield you cast and tell him you're worried you can't keep it up. Whatever else I can say about the man, he's not an idiot. He'll be ready. That'll free up a lot of your power."

##

Worth a shot. A thought occurred to me. "You called what I had the power standard set. Does it come with anything else?"

Aphrodite blinked. "Oh gods," she groaned. "I am such an idiot sometimes."

"What?" Otrera and I asked at the same time.

"Dreamwalking. It takes so little in the way of power that sometimes gifted humans can pull it off."

"Gifted humans?" Otrera asked.

Aphrodite waved her hand. "Demigod powers aren't supposed to last more than one generation. Once a demigod and a human get together, they should always produce a full human. But sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, a divine power will pop up a few generations down. We've bumped into a few of Hypnos's descendants in the dreamscapes every so often."

"How does it work?" I asked, eager to try a new power.

"What good is it?" Otrera asked at the same time. "What?" she demanded when she noticed we were both looking at her. "It's a legitimate question. We can't dream our way out of here."

"But we can coordinate with the Pantheon," Aphrodite said, getting more excited. She leaned forward on the couch, face lighting up at the prospect of seeing her people again. "Medea can't drop the shield around the island because we don't know, haven't had time to figure out, how long it takes her powers to recharge. If we coordinate with the Pantheon to drop the shield at a specific time, they can take it over. No one on this island but Medea can sense powers. The demigods won't know. So, we let them take over the shield, then she can recharge, we can secure the weapons, teleport our people to a safe place, and let the Pantheon swoop in and deal with the islanders."

"The steele isn't all in one central place anymore," Otrera pointed out. "The demigods are training with it."

"Then we'll figure something else out, the point is that we don't have to brainstorm this alone. We have some of the oldest beings in existence at our disposal, and because we're dreamwalking and they aren't here, they'll have to work with you. They'll negotiate with you two. We just have to get to them."

"How do I do it?" I asked.

Aphrodite hesitated. "Okay, so it's easy to do, but not to learn. We're in for a long night."

"Can I learn how to do it, too?" Otrera asked.

"Probably not," Aphrodite admitted. "But she might be able to pull you into a dreamscape, once she figures out how it works."

"In that case." Otrera stood and stretched. "I'm going to get some rest. I'm on breakfast duty again tomorrow. If you guys figure it out..."

"We'll wake you," Aphrodite promised.

"Okay." Otrera yawned.

"Take the bed tonight," I suggested. "That way you don't have to hear us chatting all night."

Aphrodite scowled, but didn't object.

"Okay," Otrera agreed. "Night ladies."

"Night," we called.

The second the bedroom door closed, I turned to Aphrodite, gaze snagging on the red bandage on her arm. Was she still bleeding? "So, how do we do this?"