We Bent Fate

Chapter 33

We get in the car.

The daylight was slowly draining into the velvet tinge of the sunset when I told Martha that we were finally going to Aphrodite's place. Martha's eyes went round and she nodded solemnly. She got dressed without question and immediately ran down to the car, clutching a pair of shears in her fist.

"Just in case..." She told me when she saw me eyeing the weapon.

Other than the overly dramatic yawn of my own, I could hear the chirping of birds above us. I shot a glance at Martha and her sisters, sitting at the backseat with tensed expressions. Everyone in the car was dreading for what was to happen but for some reason, I felt calmer than usual.

"Hey guys, I was wondering if we could stop at Starbucks and get some coffee? I really need one." I yawned again and Martha shook her head. I imagined a smile on her face but when I shot another glance at her, her face was as plain yet tensed as that of her sisters'.

"Oh, come on. It will take just a minute." I insisted and someone heaved a huge sigh from the backseat.

"Okay fine. But be quick." Lila said and I grinned at myself. At least now I would be awake enough to feel as tensed as these three.

After a few minutes, I spotted a Starbucks shop and, I quickly slid out of my seat and promised Martha and her sisters that I will be back in a second.

A blast of hot air washed over me as I entered the complex and a pull of disappointment tugged at my throat when I realized that the queue line was longer than I had imagined. By the time I debated that I should probably go back to the car and quit the coffee, I was the second in line. I sighed and looked expectantly at the person standing before me, wondering if he would order everything in the menu.

Finally when I approached the lady behind the desk, I quickly ordered a Vanilla Latte and jogged my way back to the car.

And, found it empty.

"What the fuck?" I whispered.

"Austin!" I heard a muffled cry from a corner and then found a lady I may have seen somewhere before with four men, clutching a blade over Martha's throat. Her sister's are standing aside with their hands raised in surrender.

"Please don't hurt her." I beg them as I take several steps towards them. The lady's grip on the blade tightens over Martha's throat and I stop in my tracks.

"Don't move! If you do anything, she dies!" The lady warned in an american accent and glared at me. My hands slowly raised in surrender, turning as cold as the ice in my coffee.

"Athena, please. You don't understand. Martha is an innocent." Lila tells her but she doesn't seem to listen.

"Please. Don't hurt her. She doesn't mean any harm. Nor do we." I added in desperation.

"Don't worry. We are taking her with us." said the lady holding the blade. "And don't be smart with me."

The lady shoves Martha inside her car and kicks the car door shut with her leather boots, making the car stagger a little. I cringed as she glared at me and nearly spat her chewing gum on my shoes. My feet took me a few steps behind the car as it drove away and somewhere along the road.

I sighed heavily and my heart sank. What are they going to do to her?

From the peripheral vision of my eyes, I watched Chloe and Lila moving towards me and I dramatically spun around to glare at them.

"I thought you were goddesses. Why didn't you save your sister?" I shouted on top of my lungs and all I could see was red.

"She was Athena. The Goddess of War. Do you know how powerful she is?" Chloe spat back and I let out a hoarse grunt in dismay.

"Well, what now? Where did they take her?" I asked in vain.

"To the Olympus, perhaps. Or to the court. Or maybe-" Chloe kept guessing and I nearly scratched my eyes out when Lila suddenly blurts out,

"She is where we were going. On her way to meet Aphrodite." She said in trepidation.

"Well then you should have told them that we were going there anyway? Why did they have to pull out a scene?"

Chloe gave me a disgusted look and inclined her head towards the car. "Let's go?"

***

I felt like I was in a video game- that if I stopped playing, I would probably end up dying. It felt like if I stopped driving, I would die instead of Martha. I wasn't stopping for anything and I sure as hell wasn't taking my foot off the clutch.

Chloe patiently dictated me the directions to where possibly they could have taken my Martha. My heart was palpating like it would come out of my mouth if I stopped driving or if I didn't find Martha alive.

She is okay. She is okay. She is okay. I mutely chanted to myself.

After twenty minutes of non-stop driving, I finally pulled over outside a beautiful palace which was surrounded with a moat of clear blue water and a patch of green with shrubs and roses growing on them. The palace was adorned with marble and glass, and sculptures of naked men and women mating with each other.

I quickly got out of the car and looked everywhere around me as I shouted, "Martha! Martha!"

Lila grabbed my face and gagged my mouth with her sweaty hands. I struggled desperately out of her grip when she wouldn't let me go. Is she planning to fucking kill me?

"What the hell was that for?" I screamed at her when her grip on my mouth finally loosened.

"Shhhh!" She glared at me. "I might as well give you a mic to help you announce and make an entrance at a time like this!"

"I need to find my girlfriend, okay? I am not a huge fan of getting killed, myself." I said stubbornly.

"The chances of getting killed are way way much higher if you shout her name like that." Chloe scolds me. "Now come! I think I know a way inside."