He grunted. "Sure, the Bull Boys, I've got dibs on them you're going to want."

I nodded. Why did I think this was not going to be good? Instincts. I was beginning to hate them. "What are they doing now?"

"Well, they've gone after Zeus and are currently demolis.h.i.+ng the Blue Box Store."

I shrugged. "Why would that matter to me?"

"Because unlike your vampire friend who just left"-Ernie twisted around and launched back into the air-"if you help Zeus, he'll owe you a favor. And let me tell you something, in your situation, you could use a favor from the G.o.d of thunder and lightning, previous ruler of Olympus."

He had a rather good point there. But if Remo was telling the truth, I had a reprieve from Achilles. If I went to help Zeus, the Bull Boys would tell Achilles where I was and that small window of time would be lost to me.

"No, it's too risky. Besides, I can't fight. I don't know how."

"I thought you might say that." He fluttered up and out of my arms, his baby-blue eyes deadly serious. "The thing is, your yaya and brother are still there. And they're right in the center of things."

CHAPTER 10.

I clutched the steering wheel of the sports car so hard the plastic creaked under my hands. The vibration of the engine transmitted through the wheel and up my arms, which made me want to scratch like crazy. That or get out and run beside the car and burn off the excess sensations rolling over my skin. The feeling was so insistent, demanding of my attention, I had to grit my teeth and force myself to keep my hands clamped tight. The last thing I needed was a wreck at these speeds, seeing as I had my foot jammed to the floor, the pedal as far down as I could push it without driving it through the floorboards.

"Slow down, I think I'm going to s.h.i.+t myself," Ernie gasped out as we sped off the highway, the off-ramp curving hard enough that we were pushed into the side of the car by the g-force. Rubber squealed on the pavement and the car tipped precariously, balancing on only two wheels. Ernie yelled and I made myself ease off the accelerator a fraction of an inch. As soon as the road leveled out and the car dropped to all four tires, I punched it again.

"Where did you learn to drive like this?" Ernie yelped as I wove around cars, into oncoming traffic, and then back into my own lane. Cars and trucks laid on their horns, and a big rig jackknifed as I took a hard left in front of him.

"Gran Turismo."

"We're going to die," he whispered.

I spun the wheel and did a full drift through the next corner, the sports car responding as though it were a part of me. "Nope. But those Bull Boys are about to get a surprise."

"You realize it's probably a trap?"

"Yes." I couldn't look at him and still keep us on the road. "Stop talking, Ernie. We're almost there."

Behind us came the flas.h.i.+ng lights and sirens I'd expected right off the bat. Not that I cared. n.o.body was going to get between my family and me. Not when they were in danger, not when I'd only just gotten Tad back.

With a second spin of the wheel we drifted into the Blue Box parking lot. People mobbed outside, peering in through the main doors. Above the store, a storm cloud gathered, dark and violent as it rumbled and flickered lightning as if it couldn't contain the energy.

At least the humans were out of harm's way.

I slammed the car into park, was out the door and running across the asphalt before the engine quit humming. Behind me, the police shouted at me to stop.

I didn't pause, didn't even consider it. A few short weeks ago, the old me would have put her hands up and tried to explain. Tried to get them to help.

A few days . . . who'd have thought a few days would be enough to turn my world upside down? That a few hours could suddenly make me flout rules I'd followed my whole life? Certainly not me, I would never have thought I was capable of such blatant rebellion.

My mom would be horrified. Who was I kidding? I'd already disappointed her; what was another reason to make her think me a heathen?

"Get out of my way!" I yelled as I drew close to the front doors. The mob jerked as a unit, and a small opening appeared. I ran through it and slammed a shoulder into the doors. I'd meant only to push them open, but instead I shattered the gla.s.s. People screamed and I kept moving, limbs flailing as images of Yaya and Tad being hurt filled my mind. Maybe I couldn't fight, but I could distract the Bull Boys and give my family time to get away. That had to be worth something.

Through the candy aisle, pop and chips, and cooking department I raced. I paused in the cooking aisle and grabbed my weapons of choice, then was off again, running toward the sounds of battle and the show of thunder and lightning in the corner of the giant box store.

I skidded to a stop as lightning danced at my feet. "I'm on your side!"

"Sorry, I'm out of practice!"

"Yaya?"

It wasn't Zeus throwing lightning bolts, but my yaya. She held a thin rod out in front of her, and wherever she pointed, lightning flung out in wild arcs. Blue and red, green and yellow, the colors were anything but natural. But they kept the bad guys at bay, and that was enough for me.

Between her and me, though, was a bigger problem than the lightning. The Bull Boys had increased in numbers. At least three times as many as had met me at my house now ranged out through the different aisles.

Not one of them looked at me; their focus was all on Yaya. One of Achilles's minions held a net out in front of him. "Let's tag and bag the old lady, boys, and the snake will come to us."

A trap indeed, Ernie was right about that much at least.

"Hey, you ding-dongs. Why don't you try me on for size?" I yelled, brandis.h.i.+ng my weapons at them.

The big bull, the one who'd fallen through my stairs, turned slowly and glared at me. His face was scratched up, and a few wooden splinters were clearly visible under his skin. I cringed. That had to hurt.

"You."

"Yes." I waved him toward me. "Me. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" I grinned as I said it. That was one line I'd always wanted to use but had never been big enough to say.

He bellowed and rushed me with his head down, anger making him stupid. Even with my lack of fighting skills I could see it was a brash, foolish move. I sidestepped him easily and brought the thick cast iron frying pan down on the back of his head with everything I had.

The boom of metal on skull and the crack of bone echoed through the suddenly silent store. My arm shuddered from the impact, and it rippled all the way up to my shoulder.

He went down, the ground crumpling under his body. Waves of cheap linoleum rolled out around him like a mini-earthquake.

"Oh, now that was a good hit. You should use a frying pan more often, I think." Ernie situated himself on the top of the rafters. "d.a.m.n, girlfriend, I think you killed him."

I stumbled back from the body at my feet. "No. I didn't kill him. I didn't hit him that hard . . ." I lifted my eyes to see all the Bull Boys staring at me with open mouths. At my feet their leader lay lifeless, without a single twitch or heave of his chest.

"I didn't mean to," I said. Not that my protesting did me any good.

"She killed him, get her!"

As a herd, they rushed me.

I had a choice. Fight them off, likely killing more of them, or stand there and let them take me to Achilles, who would surely kill me and maybe my yaya and Tad too.

While the choice might have seemed obvious, I didn't react to the raging herd until the last second, my past and present warring within me for dominance.

The first two Bull Boys in the lead swung their overlong swords straight at my head.

A strangled squawk burst out of me and I fell to the floor, the whoosh of the weapons whistling through the air where I'd stood only a second before. Right under my nose was their leader I'd killed. Blood trickled from the cracks in his skull, drawing my eyes, holding me in place as I stared at the damage I'd done.

"Move!" Ernie yelled, and I rolled to the left, right into the base of one of the stacks of goods, hitting it hard. The stack wobbled and tipped backward with a groan. Plastic jugs of bright-blue winds.h.i.+eld washer fluid hit the floor, creating a near-instant lake that smelled vaguely of soap. I leapt to my feet and whipped around, frying pan in one hand and rolling pin in the other. My arms shook and my mouth was dry as a brownie made without enough b.u.t.termilk.

"To your right!" Yaya said, and I spun, but not fast enough. A head wrapped in horns slammed into my ribs and sent me flying through the air. I arced over the electronics section high enough that I could see the cas.h.i.+er crouched down behind the register as I pa.s.sed. The cas.h.i.+er with the white-blond locks, chiseled jaw, and store manager's name tag.

I hit the ground hard, rolling across the slick floor and stopping only when my skin finally stuck to the linoleum. I sat up, my legs too wobbly to actually stand. "Zeus, why aren't you fighting?"

"Can't. It's against the rules. No fighting of the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses. There's too much damage when we duel."

I glared up at the rafters and the flutter of white and pink. "Ernie, we are not friends anymore, you bat-winged liar!"

"I wasn't lying!" He swung down right in my face, his eyes pleading. "I was only telling you what I got from the hotline."

He moved sideways when I waved at him, forcing him out of my way. The Bull Boys had split up, most of them coming my way. But three had stayed with Yaya. There was a flicker of movement as the bull in front of Yaya swung a fist, catching her in the jaw. She fell backward, boneless.

The moment stretched, I felt it pull at me like taffy being strung out, holding together far longer than it should: Yaya falling, her eyes rolled back, her body hitting the floor with a distant thud.

A strange sensation rolled through me, a feeling of not being able to control myself. An anger so hot and wild I knew it would burn me up if I didn't let it out gripped me. I flung my head back, opened my mouth, and screamed. The sound echoed through the store, a cry that slid from the upper octaves down lower until it was nothing but a low rumbling hiss that echoed from my chest.

"Oh, they've done it now," Ernie said, his voice from somewhere to my left. "Alena. You're going to s.h.i.+ft."

"Don't fight it. It will only take longer and hurt if you don't let it happen," Zeus chimed in.

Don't fight what? I fell to my knees, my eyes locked on the Bull Boys as they dropped into identical crouches, inching their way to me, their weapons weaving from side to side. A roll of smoke swirled up around me, blocking them from view. I tried to stand, to move forward. I had to stop them. I had to save Yaya.

What if she was already dead? A blow to the jaw and a fall . . . they were enough to kill someone her age. The thoughts pounded through me as I struggled to move, and again Ernie yelled out to me.

"Stop fighting it!"

Only, I wasn't fighting whatever was happening. Or at least, I didn't think I was. I tried to take another step and stopped as my body rippled forward. I blinked and the scene around me s.h.i.+fted. The smoke cleared and nothing was as it had been. My head was in the rafters, and the Bull Boys far below backed away from me. My body was a beautiful mixture of multicolored scales: purples and pale greens with a flicker of silver here and there.

Beautiful was not a trait I would have ever attributed to a snake, certainly not a snake that filled up the interior of a box store. But even I had to admit the scales were something else, a rainbow that caught my eye, mesmerizing me for a split second.

"Cut her tail off, boys, we'll have roast snake for dinner!" One of the Bull Boys laughed. "She don't even know what she can do. Too d.a.m.n new! Achilles won't even have to deal with her."

They laughed with him and ran forward, weapons raised. Two of them swung down at a section of my coils. I braced myself for the impact. They were right; I didn't know what to do.

The weapons bounced off, as if they used plastic toy swords and I was made of steel.

I opened my mouth to yell at them, but all that came out was another rumbling hiss, and in it I felt my strength for the first time. Saw the fear in their eyes and knew it was because of me. Because of what they knew I could do to them, even if I was still learning the depth of my own ability.

Think of it like learning a new technique in the kitchen, girl. You can do this.

Maybe being a monster wasn't so bad after all; at least not when it came to protecting my family.

I flicked my tail forward, slamming it into the stacks on one side of my enemies. Sweeping the merchandise at them, I cleared the section of everything but the floor and a few bolts. I bunched my muscles and slid across the floor, scales catching the light, flickering it around like a living prism.

The three remaining Bull Boys ran from my yaya. I snaked my head toward them, mouth open and fangs bared. So fast . . . I had no idea how fast I really was until two of them filled my mouth. I bit down, driving a fang through each of them.

Ernie flew by my head. "You don't have to kill them. You can make them your minions with your siren abilities. It's your choice."

I rolled my eyes to him and he flew back a few feet. That would have been nice to know about ten seconds previous. "d.a.m.n, girl, you've got the beauty and the beast all rolled into one package. Don't get p.i.s.sy with me, girlfriend. I'm trying to help."

The boys in my mouth writhed and I shook my head, flinging them across the store. One hit the plus-sized women's clothing, and the other hit the stacks of toilet paper. I didn't want them to be my minions.

I dropped my head and sniffed at Yaya. Her heartbeat echoed across my skin along with the buzz of the lights. I swept my head back up to the roof and did a swift arc with it, taking out the lights closest to us. The buzzing eased a little and I dropped my head again. Yaya didn't move and I looked up at Ernie. I wanted to ask him questions, but couldn't.

Apparently being a giant snake had its disadvantages. As the adrenaline faded, the smoke rose up around me again, and my body sloughed off the snake form like a dead skin that faded away until I stood there, buck naked, in front of my yaya.

"Beauty indeed," Ernie murmured, and I glared at him.

"I heard that."

"Sorry, but you've got an a.s.s that won't quit and legs-"

"Shut up, Ernie."

I ran forward and crouched beside my grandmother, taking her hands in mine, pressing them to my chest. "Yaya, talk to me, please."

"I'm alive, though I'm going to have a headache the size of Zeus's ego." Her eyes flickered open and I smiled.

"Can you stand?"

Her eyes flicked over me. "You s.h.i.+fted?"

I nodded and gave her a somewhat wobbly smile. "Yeah, it wasn't so bad. I killed someone. That was worse."

"Ah, my girl. I'm sorry." She sat up slowly and cupped my chin with one hand. I burst into tears and bowed my head, pressing my face against her shoulder.

"I am a bad person. That's why I'm a monster, that's why Merlin made me this creature. It's a reflection of who I really am." At least that was what I tried to say; it was hard to actually tell through the sobbing hiccups what the words were.

A blanket settled over my shoulders, and Yaya wrapped her arms around me. "Pull yourself together, Lena. The night is not over yet."

I lifted my head and wiped my nose. "It's not?"

"They took Tad."

My heart sank. "I was hoping he'd made it out. Or left before this mess started."

"No. We tried to talk Zeus into spilling the beans, and then I decided to get some groceries. You know how it is, once you start shopping you keep adding things, and before I knew it, hours had pa.s.sed."

Zeus cleared his throat and we both looked up at him. To be fair I looked, and Yaya glared.

"You fool. You think you can escape your responsibilities by hiding here?"

"I'm not hiding. And your granddaughter is not my responsibility, Flora," he said, but there was hesitation in his words. As if even he didn't really believe them.