I leaned forward and focused on the list in front of me once again. Aunt Jo was right. Mercer had to be one of the Greek gods. Which one could cause depression? According to the stories, they could do damn near anything they wanted, so he could be any one of them. That was thousands of years ago, though, before they disappeared. We hadn’t been able to get much information on them since they returned. I had to play the guessing game.
He couldn’t be any of the women since none of them ever seemed interested in shifting sexes, except maybe Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. The role of a playboy billionaire didn’t really suit her. She’d be somewhere in the Amazon or the Australian Outback, reveling in the last remaining wild places. That left the males. Apollo, the god of music and prophecy, was a possibility. So was Hephaestus, the smith god. Mercer had come here with the intention of creating a new device. He was also playing human, which Zeus, the king of the gods liked to do, as did Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Hades, lord of the dead, could explain the suicides. However, Mercer wasn’t here for the first one.
I leaned back with a frustrated groan and rested my forehead on my fingertips. The only one I could rule out was Ares, the god of war. The myths portrayed him as way too violent and impulsive.
“Your frap’s ready,” Katy called.
I stood and stretched my arms above my head, arching my back. Hours of sitting hunched over that laptop was causing a kink in my neck. I tossed a five dollar bill on the counter and grabbed my drink. I took a pull from the straw and closed my eyes as the sweet, creamy liquid hit my tongue. The bell above the door jingled, and Serenity stepped in. We both stiffened, staring at each other from across the coffee shop. Her chest rose and fell in a large sigh, and she walked towards me with her hands shoved in her pockets.
“Hey,” she said.
I gulped down another sip. “Hey.”
“Can we talk?”
“Depends on the kind of talk.”
“A real one,” she said. “No more lies.”
I stared into her direct gaze and gently bit the inside of my cheek. This was what I wanted, right? She could give me an explanation and maybe a clue to who Mercer really was, who she really was. Could I trust her? I couldn’t really know unless I tried.
“All right.” I walked back to my table. “Should we move somewhere more private?”
“How about the Alcove?” She nodded to the group of three seats behind a large bookcase that we’d nicknamed years ago.
“Sure.” I grabbed my laptop tucked it under my arm as I followed her.
I plopped down into the blue velvet armchair, and she took the red one across from me, flinging one leg over the armrest. My laptop balanced on my knees, but I left it closed for now and instead focused my attention on Serenity as I took another drink. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt for several moments before looking up at me.
“I’m sorry if it came off as a big lie, but how could I tell the truth?” she asked. “Would any normal person believe me?”
“No, but then again, I’m not normal,” I said. “Not that you knew that.”
She smirked. “Yeah you really had me fooled. Which is really something, considering …”
“Considering what?”
She cleared her throat. “The point is, I’m sorry.”
I rested my chin on my interlaced fingers. “I’m sorry, too. Though, I’m not sure how much of a difference that makes. If you’re really related to Mercer, out bloodlines are enemies.”
“Yeah. What’s that about?”
“It all goes back to Pandora. The gods kind of screwed her over from her creation. They made her, and then made her responsible for unleashing a bunch of evil shit on humanity.” I shrugged. “Her bloodline has been cleaning up her mess ever since.”
She leaned back and made a snorting laugh. “So, you’re a descendant of Pandora? I thought she was the first woman.”
“She was, but humanity is actually descended from stones.”
“What?”
I raised my hand. “Gods’ honest. So, her daughter Pyrrha and Pyrrha’s husband Deukalion are the only ones to survive this big flood Zeus created, because, well, he’s a douche. They asked this Titan of prophecy how they can repopulate the earth.”
“Why her and not Apollo?”
“Because humanity was made by Titans. They favored us more than the gods did. The gods only loved us as long as we worshipped them.”
She blinked. “Okay …”
“Anyway, she tells them to pretty much toss stones over their shoulders, except in the cryptic prophet way they all talk. When they did, the stones became the first men and women.”
Serenity crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow. “That’s …”
I shrugged. “Hey, science says we come from the water. Who says there wasn’t a bit of earth mixed in?”
“We... So are you human, or something else?”
“A little of both. I come from Pyrrha’s and Deukalion’s line, so it’s always dominant.” I leaned forward and caught her gaze. “Like I said, we’re not meant to be friends.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. When have either of us listened to what our families said?”