Sin City Goddess Read Free Page B

opposite end of the room, sitting in a chair that was too small for him, his long, thick legs propped on a far table, remote in hand. His back was toward me, trident at his side, green robes pooled around the metal chair. A tiny trickle of seawater dripped from his seat as he watched that movie the mortals had made about him.
    Hermes flickered over to Zeus, said something quietly, and shuffled from the room. Zeus and Hades exchanged a few more words. Then they both stood and faced me.
    “Tisiphone!” Hades boomed in that roaring voice of his. “Wonderful to see you.” He smacked his hands together to emphasize his point.
    I felt Athena and Artemis slip to the side.
    “My lord.” I bowed my head.
    “I suppose you’re wondering what led us to request your presence.”
    “As I understand it—”
    Then I stopped, remembering what Hermes had said about this being a secret.
    Zeus rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath.
    Snake spit!
I hadn’t intended to get Hermes in trouble. I quickly tried to cover. “It has to do with Charon.”
    Zeus’s sky-blue eyes sparkled at me. He didn’t believe my explanation, but he seemed to appreciate the effort I had made to cover for his son.
    Hades waved a bejeweled hand. Poseidon rose to join his brothers. He had to tilt his head to the side to avoid hitting it on the ceiling. He was the tallest of the brothers, although all of them were impressive in stature.
    “No, I’m afraid it’s more serious than anything that old bag of bones has to whine about,” Hades said.
    I stood there expectantly, dreading what was to come. A dozen alternatives ran through my mind. Perhaps Artemis could go? She was skilled in the hunt. Surely she could train her beasts to help her find mortals. Or Ares? He was the god of war, after all. He had more skill than most in battle and strategic planning.
    The bright lights were hot on my face.
Steady breaths, Tisi, steady breaths.
    Hades glanced at Poseidon and nodded. The ruler of the seven seas raised his remote and aimed it at a large screen to my left. He clicked it once, and an image filled the rectangular frame.
    “This is a land in the mortal realm called Las Vegas,” Hades said.
    The backdrop of the picture was a night sky void of stars and moon, but that was the only darkness. Endless stretches of bright lights in every color covered the landscape, blinking, twinkling, and chasing each other in circles. The speakers in the war room screamed out horns, bells, jingles, and endless shouts of humans who had clearly consumed too much wine and were spilling all over the streets and the sidewalks. Flashy automobiles crawled across the roads, with people hanging out of the windows in various forms of dress, and it seemed there was a talking machine every few inches across the screen.
    It was garish. It was vulgar. I had once had an assignment in a restaurant called Chuck E. Cheese’s, and this was more obnoxious than that place. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, mortal or immortal. Granted, I had not been to the outer plane in years, but had things really changed that much?
    “This is what the humans have succumbed to?” I asked, incredulous. “Is the species now ruled by machines?”
    Zeus chuckled. “Not exactly. This place is, for lack of a better term, a human playground. It’s where they holiday.”
    I widened my eyes. “Holiday? I cannot imagine a less relaxing place to holiday.”
    Poseidon clicked the remote again, and the image changed. I stared at the screen as giant animals stumbled across the walking paths, bottles of liquor in hand.
    “Those creatures. They don’t seem real.”
    Hades said, “They aren’t. They are people in disguise. They are a part of the games.”
    “I don’t understand. Are they hunted for sport?”
    Zeus said, “No, Tisi. They provide entertainment and souvenirs to the visitors in the form of pictures.”
    That was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. “Why would anyone want a portrait of a