A Shrine to an Unknown God

AN INJURED DEER

A BILLION TERRIBLE POSSIBILITIES float through my head. The people from the foreign currency exchange could have found us, or Alekos' children could be seeking to avenge their father's death. Or even worse, Apollo, his cult—

I look everywhere for my bag and my weapons and can't find them. They've gone missing alongside Marisol.

On top of the desk, there is a waxy maroon candle inside of a golden candlestick. I toss the candle to the floor and hold the candlestick in my hands, testing its weight. In an emergency—and this is an emergency—it's better than nothing. I have no time to waste finding anything better. With each passing second, Marisol's life could be in more and more danger.

I race down the hall to the elevator's double doors, trying to pry them open. A second later, I remember that the elevator must be summoned by the press of a button. I dig my finger into one of the two until it flashes orange. It dings a couple moments later, and the doors slide open at last.

I throw myself inside and examine the sea of buttons on the wall. I have to press one of them. Which one? I don't understand any of them other than the one labelled EMERGENCY. I can rule that out, however—this is not an elevator emergency; this is a my-friend-might-have-been-kidnapped-or-killed emergency.

Tyche, great goddess of luck, guide me. I shut my eyes and press one at random. When I open them again, the doors are shut, and one of the buttons is glowing.

I get the sensation of sinking, though the elevator has only moved upwards in the two other times I'd been in it. I cling tight to the handrails. When the doors open, I fling myself out into the open and take off at a run. If I'm not in the right place, I'll just try again. It's best to be quick about it.

The hallway I sprint down opens out into a familiar room—there are the doors to the outside world, and the counter and the perky girl behind it. I let out a prayer of thanks to Tyche and approach the perky girl.

"That girl I was with. Marisol. Have you seen her?"

The girl refuses to look at me. "Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Her face is completely red. She sounds appalled, disgusted.

"I didn't have any time." I brandish my candlestick exactly like I'd brandish my sword. "Answer my question."

Her voice shakes. "Ma'am, please return to your room before I have to call security."

My arm falls to the side. I'm wasting time. I turn to go, heading toward the doors to the outside.

"MA'AM!" the girl yells. "MA'AM, YOU CAN'T LEAVE LIKE THAT!"

She must be working for Apollo or the guys from the foreign currency exchange or Alekos' children, whoever took Marisol. I tune her out and push the door open, the hot outside air rushing over me.

I run out into the street, my mind turning over itself. Where should I look? I know that she was at least alive up until the point where she left the building. They likely weren't disposing of her body. If I had kidnapped Marisol, where would I take her?

That depends on who took her.

If I was one of the guys from the foreign currency exchange, I'd take her back there. Alekos' children, I'd kill her on the spot. Same as Apollo or his cultists. If I had gone through all the trouble to come out here and find her, I might as well—though maybe I'd take her back to Apollonisi first. So that rules out Alekos' children, and perhaps Apollo or his cultists as well.

She was most likely taken back to the foreign currency exchange.

I turn in that direction, just about running into a group of three boys. They turn, and their apologies die on their tongues. They look me up and down, laughing, hands over their mouths and eyebrows raised. They're all about the same age as me and white. One of them, maybe their leader, puts his fingers in his mouth and whistles at me like I'm a dog.

Another makes motions like he's groping his own breasts. "Nice tits!" he calls.

The third pulls out his iPhone and points it in my direction.

My blood boils, heating my face. At my side, my fists clench, my right hand tightening around the candlestick. I don't have time to deal with these boys like I'd want to, as Marisol is in danger, but how dare they.

I knock the iPhone out of the hands of the third boy. The device shatters on the sidewalk. To make sure its dead, I jump on top of it, forcing my full weight onto it. Glass explodes into my foot.

"Hey," he says in a soft voice.

While they're distracted by what I just did to his phone, I slam the candlestick into the side of the head of the boy that whistled at me. Blood spills out of the side of his head. His eyes bulge. He heaves like he's going to vomit. Then he drops to the path.

I move toward the last boy, the one who told me I have nice tits. Every step I take pain explodes through my feet as the glass shoves its way further into my skin.

He backs away from me, holding his hands up. "Hey, I don't want any trouble, I didn't mean anything by—"

"Don't fuck with girls if you don't like it when we fuck with you," I hiss.

And I turn his blood to wine.

He convulses, frothing at the mouth. Then immediately he drops dead.

A voice calls out my name. Marisol.

I turn, looking for her, and she bounds up to me, looking very much alive and not-stabbed, and likely not-kidnapped as well. She's holding several of those flimsy plastic bags. Ezra and Dahlia follow behind her.

"Marisol! Where did you go? When I saw that you and my weapons were gone, I thought you were kidnapped." I show her my candlestick. "I brought this in case I had to fight."

"Why are you naked?" she asks.

"I thought you'd been kidnapped. I didn't have any time to waste."

"Oh, my God." Marisol's entire face turns red. She looks back at Ezra and Dahlia and aggressively shrugs at them.

Without saying anything, Ezra unbuttons his shirt and wraps it around my shoulders. Marisol pulls it closed across my chest.

Why can his tits be out and no one seems to bat an eye, but—gods forbid—mine happen to come out, everyone loses their minds? They're not that different, just maybe a little bigger. And mine are the only ones that are actually useful. His are just for show.

It was never like this on Apollonisi. Anyone could go around completely in the nude and it wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

"Why is nudity such a big deal here?" I ask.

"What happened to those guys?" Dahlia asks.

"Let's just get inside," Ezra suggests.

We turn back toward the hotel, the three of them forming a little circle around me. Both Dahlia and Marisol are shorter than me, and Ezra about the same height, so I don't know what good trying to hide me from the world is doing.

"Where did you go?" I ask Marisol.

"I just went down to check on Ezra and Dahlia and then we ran out to grab a couple things that we're gonna need." She hefts the bags. "Deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, snacks, and some stuff to do on the flight tomorrow. Goodies, basically. I'll tell you all about them when we get back to the room. Oh, I also got rid of your weapons for you. Not telling you where or how. I thought it would be better if I did it without you, so you wouldn't try to stop me."

I don't admit it to her, but without anything sharper than a candlestick, I feel like an injured deer. Easy pickings for the closest hungry bear.