“What is the meaning of this?” Ares roared.
Everyone stopped moving and turned our way. I suddenly felt self-conscious, as though we had just crashed a party instead of staging an elaborate rescue maneuver. I felt my cheeks flush as every silver eye in the courtyard fixed upon us. Zeus’ ancient face lit up as he saw us, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled.
“Ares,” Zeus called happily. “Come forward, my friend. It’s been a long time. Aphrodite, it is nice to see your lovely face.” His silver eyes scanned the rest of the group and halted when they found me. “And Harmonia. I am so pleased that you have been victorious.”
“Victorious?” I asked hesitantly. “I was given no choice.”
He nodded. “I know, sweet girl. My apologies. But it was the only way. I hope you see that. And now that you’re here, you can feast with us. Come. Join us! It’s beautiful here. We have not a care in the world.”
He waved his hand and the dancers began dancing again. I studied the scene in front of me warily. Zeus’ demeanor was strange. He was as light and carefree as I had ever seen him. His face, which was usually serious and lined with worry-lines, was relaxed and he was actually smiling. I looked at him uncertainly and felt everyone with me do the same.
“Mother?” I whispered. “What is going on?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, not taking her gaze from the festivities.
“Nothing, sweet girl,” Zeus called from across the courtyard. He had heard me and I startled. How was that possible? Our gifts were blocked here in the Underworld.
“Not for us,” Zeus replied again with a wide grin. “We have an unlimited supply of nectar here that perpetuates our gifts. Life is good.”
He could also read our minds. We all realized it at the same time. Without our gifts, we weren’t able to block our thoughts and I suddenly had the uneasy thought that we might actually need to.
“No, you do not,” Zeus replied indignantly. “Why would that be the case?”
“I don’t know,” I answered calmly. “This is just all very strange to me. We have traveled through hell and high water to get to you- to save you- and now that we have arrived, we see that you’re having a party, as happy as larks. I find that curious, to say the least.”
Zeus’ stare flitted from me to Hecate and for a split second, it hardened, and then he relaxed once again.
“Hecate,” he drawled slowly. Her shoulders slumped as he spoke, weighed down by her every contributing action that had put them here. “I should be angry with you, but I am not. I’ll admit I was furious in the beginning, but we have found joy here. You cannot imagine how wonderful it is to bear no responsibility for the world at all. We are free to simply enjoy our own lives. So, perhaps I should thank you instead.”
“You speak as if you like it here,” Ares replied uncertainly, shock evidenced on his face. I was certain it was mirrored on my own.
Zeus shrugged. “Tis the truth, we do.”
“But you can’t leave,” I pointed out, still in shock.
“No, we can’t. But why would we want to? We have everything we need. You should see for yourselves. Stay with us!”
“You can’t be serious!” I snapped. “After everything you have put us through- for thousands of years- in order to secure your rescue, you can sit there and nonchalantly dismiss it and tell us that life is wonderful here? If life is so wonderful here, you should have simply volunteered to come in the first place and saved the rest of us a bunch of heartache.”
“Harmonia,” Aphrodite began warningly.
“What, mother?” I replied angrily. “What is he going to do? He apparently doesn’t care that he has abdicated his reign. I can’t show him respect right now because I don’t feel it.”
“She’s right, Aphrodite,” Ares declared. “This is rubbish. All of it.” He stomped through the festival-goers and stood in front of Zeus, leaning down to speak directly into his face. “You have wronged us, Zeus.”
Zeus appraised him quietly and then nodded. “You are correct. I have. It was not meant that way, you understand. We were tricked into entrapment here, but as the years passed, we settled into life here. There are no power struggles, no corruption, no hate. Hades leaves us be, he simply enjoys the powerful energy that we garner with our presence. There is nothing to dislike, and I cannot imagine ever wanting to return to the Spiritlands.”
His statement caused most of us to drop our mouths open. This couldn’t be happening. Everything that we had been through… had been for this? It was unfathomable. And to make it worse, Zeus didn’t seem to care.
“Come now,” he called to the rest of us. “Come and catch us up on the latest goings-on. We’ll be interested to learn how you have managed to topple the Fates.”
His words brought an interesting point back to mind.
“Zeus,” I began, “With the Fates’ overthrown and you here in the Underworld, there is no one at the helm, so to speak. There is no one to monitor the mortal world, no one to regulate the Spiritlands. This is just… irresponsible. You must return. You are the only one who can use your sword correctly. We tried and failed miserably, making some things even worse in the process. We need you to set everything to rights.”
He stared at me like I had two heads.
“There is something that I have learned since I have been here, Harmonia, something monumental. It doesn’t matter if we interfere or not, life… whether it be mortals or gods… goes on without us. We might bend something to our will, but that does not mean that the way it would have gone on its own would have been any less right. We are unnecessary,” he concluded simply. “I believe that we have out-lived our purpose.”
“You have given up,” I replied, drawing my own conclusions. “You have simply given up.”
“No,” he shook his head. “That is not the case. What I have just told you is the truth. And if you had been cognizant of your surroundings and your true self all of these years, you would have come to this same realization. Fate… destiny… those are simply words that we use to fool ourselves with. Neither of those things exists. Every person takes their own lives into their own hands, they make their own decisions. We are not needed for that. We only thought that we were.”
“So, it’s all just been a big misunderstanding?” I snapped sarcastically. “For all of these years, we’ve been deluded and living a lie? I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”