Hooked [Complete]

52. Pantheon Pow Wow

Author's Note: Time for the Pantheon to make their final Beltane Plans.

Song for the Chapter: Heathens by Twenty One Pilots. Ha! "All my friends are heathens..."

It was late afternoon when Finn's Surburban crunched to a stop at Hearne's camp. Hearne was grilling on the back deck. Sucellus was bullshitting him from an Adirondack chair. Carrie was perched on the deck rail, laughing.

Finn took the stairs two at a time. "Don't you gods have work to do? The contributors arrive tomorrow."

"Everything is ready." Hearne replied. "But you're in time for my world famous ribs."

Finn tried to smile. He was exhausted and stressed beyond belief. He knew Lana felt the same way. Seeing the gods unconcerned about the toll their plans were exacting on their mortal subjects was more than a little irritating.

"How does this Roman get through your ward?" Sucellus asked. "I thought no Roman godspawn are allowed until the day of the Divine Hunt."

"Because he's carrying that," Hearne gestured to the leather folder tucked beneath Finn's arm. "He's the official liason between our Pantheons, bearing the contract for our Divine Competition. Mercury finally signed it, then?"

"No, he still has one point he wants to negotiate," Finn said wearily, as he handed over the contract for Hearne's inspection. "He wants Trivia be able to inspect the Questing Beast alone before you release it. To make sure Cerridwen hasn't put any spells on it that would advantage your side."

"That Roman witch can't be trusted," Cerridwen spat. "You can't let her alone with the beast. She's the Goddess of Ghosts. She'll summon a spirit to possess him and advantage their side."

Hearne nodded tersely, and gestured for Finn's phone. In seconds he and Mercury were yelling at one another but the conversation eventually ended with an agreement for Cerridwen and Trivia to jointly examine and release the Questing Beast.

"What the hell is the Questing Beast, anyway?" Lana sauntered out from the lodge, bearing a pot of barbecue sauce for Hearne to slather on the ribs.

Seeing Lana, Finn felt a small release in the pressure on his chest. He had missed her so much in the last eight days. Since they started making the Greenspark, it was torture to be without her, and not just in a sexual way. He missed her presence. He couldn't sleep without her in his bed, and the tension in his muscles and his chest tightened a little more everyday that he didn't see her smirk, or hear her voice.

And since they were pretending to be broken up, to everyone except the CP2.0, and since Hearne and Carrie were working Lana like a servant, and Mercury was doing the same to him, opportunities for even the briefest face-to-face had dwindled to nothing. He had only seen her once since Hearne's coming-out party, and not at all in the last eight days.

Finn strode over to Lana, took the sauce from her, thrust it at Hearne, and hugged her tightly to his chest. Greenspark whizzed everywhere.

"Hi," he said, after the sparkles died down.

"Hi," she grinned, pulling his mouth down into a kiss.

"Now that's a Greenspark." Sucellus gestured at Carrie. "They get almost as fired up as you and Nuno did, back in the day," he grinned. "Did you ever think, that you really messed up, Cerridwen? Tossing away love like that? I bet if you asked real nice, Nuno would spark you up like that, for old time's sake."

Cernunnos choked on his beer, shot Carrie a glance and then turned back to the grill. Carrie looked a little pained.

Sucellus eyes widened. "Fuck me, maybe not!" Sucellus laughed. "Holy shit, Cerridwen, I think you've finally made accept the truth. You've turned him down so many times, he's finally turned cold to you."