26. Caspian

I wanted to be touching Medusa, but I had time for that later. Toppling the Coalition had been something I'd wanted to do for a long time. I was just eighteen when the angels started appearing to humans. I didn't think it was going to be that serious, but it was. They arrested everyone at first and got it wrong a lot. They were torturing humans, too, but they'd never admit that.

They learned and adapted. They knew they couldn't tell us apart unless they caught us using our magic. They actually fucked themselves over because we'd been using those abilities to help and protect them. So, we stopped and got blamed for all kinds of things we normally would have saved them from.

They went out of their way to provoke us so we'd use our magic in front of them. It was how they kept catching us. If it wasn't law enforcement, it was civilians. And sometimes, it was just us being stupid.

We didn't just need to stop the Coalition. We needed to discredit them and the angels. Having met the man running the Coalition, I had a feeling that part was going to be easy. The angels were going to be a different story. They were self-actualized as beings of goodness and we didn't actually know their motive for any of this.

We were all working while Medusa was learning with the furies. I had Father Nathan and Orion up on video chat while we all worked to bounce around ideas. One of Benji's followers was some high-level genius who managed to get us into Saul and Hannibal's phones and the webcam on their computers so we could listen.

Jezebel and Kat insisted she get a better name than one associated with being one of Benji's followers, but she refused. She said it was for everyone's safety and she couldn't reveal her identity, but she was in a place she could get us information.

I didn't know who the mystery woman was, but she was a treasure trove of information about what was going on behind closed doors when Saul and Hannibal were away from each other and had their phones off.

"Shit, should I send her a topless selfie?" Benji asked. "I'm pretty sure she's earned it. Who is this magical mystery woman and how did she get a video in the senate chambers?"

I'm pretty sure we all had that question. Because this mystery woman had sent us a cell phone video of Saul on the senate floor giving a fire and brimstone speech about supernaturals killing everyone at New Eden Asylum and how congress needed to pass a law deploying armed forces to round us up.

She was also able to film the other senators' reactions. No one was on his side, even the people who usually were. Because he'd talked up the press conference with Hannibal to his friends and his enemies had apparently watched it, too.

And I was never pissing Persephone off. She blinked and New Eden ceased to exist. Hannibal and Saul could claim everyone got murdered and a bunch of dangerous supernaturals broke out, but they'd never be able to prove it. And current vibes from literally everyone was that blaming demons was a little too convenient with all the other evidence.

Saul and Hannibal were looking like utter fools. Saul was up for reelection in a few months. He needed this to look good to win and step up the political ladder to president. I was pretty sure he was gunning for Vice President in two years and then President.

This didn't look good for him.

I still didn't know how we were going to use this to shut the Coalition down for good. It needed to start at the government level.

But there was another genius in our group. One my mate was furious at and who was suspiciously absent right now. And she'd made this complicated murder board with red strings and something that looked like weird math that I couldn't even remotely comprehend.

"Can anyone decipher what Athena is trying to do?" I asked.

"I love a good murder board, but looking at that is making me constipated," Benji said.

"I tried really hard to seduce Isaac Newton, and all I got from it was learning Calculus. Whatever she's written is more complicated than that," Jezebel said.

"This is more advanced than any math on this realm," Dionysus said. "Athena invented it and she uses it to solve most of her problems."

"Problem is, no one understands it except Athena. I've asked her to teach it to me. A few other gods have asked her because she's really done the impossible with it. Everyone is pissed with her about how she handled Medusa, but Medusa really was always her favorite. She never plays favorites and everyone might want to remember she's got a brilliant mind and is an excellent strategist. We're going to want her on our side," Hades said.

"So, as hilarious as the Sugar Tits name is, maybe lay off for now. Athena knows everyone is pissed at her, but she's here taking it, anyway. She never gets this involved with her heroes. This is just an important quest."

We all grunted. Benji wasn't going to stop calling her Sugar Tits until Medusa forgave her. The rest of us knew we needed her help, but we were legally obligated to be mad at her until Medusa wasn't. It was a mate thing.

Athena finally reappeared, and she'd better not have been out there poking my mate while she was trying to learn.

"Sis, let her come to you. She has every reason to be pissed," Dionysus said.

"Her being pissed is what's holding her back. This is all fated. It's preordained. Everything that led to this point has happened the way it was supposed to. She was my favorite because she was so strong and smart. I'm not shocked she was chosen by the Fates for this.

"I hate what they put her through. I hate what they put you all through. It's more than anyone should bear. But it's what you needed to bring down the Coalition. It's stupid. No one should have to go through any of this, but it happened. Anyway, telling her that got her to portal. The furies went after her."

I didn't know what to make of Athena. She was right. It was stupid. She was also probably right. We were all motivated by our experiences. I could sit here and stew about it or I could do what we all wanted to do.

"Explain your board. I don't know math like this."

"No one does. I've been chatting with our mystery woman, too. I'm pretty sure she's a politician."

"That's what I thought," Pax said. "She's managed to get places you can't be unless you are."

"The way I see it, you can't just topple the Coalition. You need to change things at the government level and you have to change the minds of the people."

"How we gonna do that, Sugar Tits?"

Athena shot Benji a withering glare.

"I'm still working on it. I think the upcoming election and this mystery woman are key. Give me time."

We didn't have time. The election was in two months.