Free Crazy in the Blood (Latter-Day Olympians) by Lucienne Diver

eyeing Christie’s goodies.”
    It was a leading line, and he was supposed to pick up on it, but he seemed more interested in studying me than exchanging witty banter. I should tell him. I knew it. But until I kicked the habit or was at least well on my way… I was already judging myself. I didn’t need the weight of his disapproval as well.
    “You can tell me anything, you know,” he said quietly.
    I met his deep blue gaze and nearly let it all pour out…but then the pizza guy came on the line and the moment passed. I placed our order, hung up the phone and asked, “You gonna grab us a couple of sodas or just let all the cold air out?”
    He grabbed the sodas and together we walked back into the living room to sit, this time together on the couch. No sooner did our butts hit the cushions then he turned to me. “Okay, Tori, what’s really going on?”
    That intensity was almost painful, like looking straight into the sun. I spilled…everything but what he really wanted to know. I told him about the Feds’ eight-by-ten color glossies, about the latest photo of the body near San Fran that I feared might be Christos, even about Hermes and his cryptic ramblings about war. After all, Armani had been by my side when Zeus, Hephaestus and Poseidon had made their play for power. It wasn’t like the mention of Hermes would be a great blow to his world view.
    “What do you think he meant?” Nick asked. We were back to Nick. Unburdening my soul (mostly) had that effect.
    “I don’t know how many meanings there are. I think the questions are: who will be fighting and how do we stop it?”
    “Okay then, how do we stop it?”
    “No flippin’ clue.”
    “Well, as long as you have a plan.”
    “Any luck finding Lau?” I asked, switching gears. Here I was going on about my crap—blah blah war , blah blah missing uncle— okay, neither insignificant. But meanwhile he had an Internal Affairs investigation against him—a possible career ender—and an AWOL partner unable to back up his story or explain why his girlfriend had temporarily taken over her lease.
    “Her mother’s heard from her, at least. When Lau makes contact again, she’ll pass a message along. There’s apparently no way to reach her. No cell reception where she is. Something about dragon breeding grounds and signal disruption.”
    “Wait, wait, wait, did you say breeding grounds ? I thought the dragons had all died off or gone into perpetual hibernation. You’re telling me they’re up and about and multiplying ?”
    “I think so. Lau’s mother doesn’t speak much English, so I may have gotten things garbled.”
    “Wow, that’s…wow.”
    “You consort with old Greek gods and you think that’s wow?”
    “Hey, I grew up on tales of the Olympians, almost like they were my crazy aunts and uncles, which if you’d met any of them you’d understand that’s not so farfetched. But dragons ? They’re mythic.”
    “Your sense of wonder is seriously skewed, you know that?”
    “Yeah.”
    “So what’s really in that tub in your fridge?”
    I gave him Yiayia’s stink-eye. “Hash brownies, cleverly disguised as ambrosia. You’ve got me.” I held out my wrists. “You gonna apply the cuffs?”
    “Maybe after the pizza.”
    “Good call,” I said sourly.
     
     
    Later, after he’d gone off to the precinct where desk duty was making him insane, I called Christie.  
    “If Nick brings up the tub in my refrigerator, it’s yours.”
    “Huh?”
    “Don’t ask.”
    “Okay.” That was when I heard the quaver in her voice.
    “Christie, is everything all right?”
    “N-no. Jack…” She got a little incoherent after that, but I let her ramble. I might have missed the details, but I’d gotten the gist from his previous months of dickery. That’s right, I said dickery. I’d never really had a BFF before Christie, so I’d had no idea how much tongue-biting could be involved. Not that I hadn’t expressed myself on the matter of Jack now and