High School Again? Ugh! Ch. 06

"It's getting late," she said some time later. "This wasn't exactly what I expected, but thanks. Thanks for listening."

"Not a problem," I smiled, meaning it.

"You do get that you're a fool, right?" she added with a laugh. "I mean, in the mood I was in, I was pretty much a sure thing tonight." I laughed ruefully. It was something Tara would say. I guess that was probably a large part of my attraction to Bridgette. She might not look very much like my girl, but there were similarities.

"Yeah, but you would have regretted it," I answered. She didn't argue.

"So, what are you going to do about the green haired girl I saw you staring at before?" I knew she meant Tara. Bridgette was no dummy.

"Talk to her of course," I shrugged, causing her to laugh again.

"Sounds like a good idea. Now let's go find my sister. We need to get home."

"Think we should interrupt them?" I grinned as we left the car.

"I was just kidding before," Bridgette said. "My sister isn't the type to sleep with a guy she just met. Normally, I'm not either."

"The windows are still awfully foggy," I offered as we moved toward Jake's car.

"I didn't say she was a saint," the redhead laughed. "Just that they wouldn't have gone all the way." I joined her.

We knocked on the window and heard some quick scrambling before one of the windows came down. They were both fully clothed although Patty's costume top was a bit off. Bridgette raised an eyebrow at her little sister, but didn't say anything. Patty blushed just the same.

"It's time to go," Bridgette said, and then turned to me. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks again."

"Call him," I said pointedly. She nodded and got into the back of Jake's car. Patty and Jake gave me an odd look before saying their goodbyes and closing the window. I watched the back of Jake's car disappear down the street.

"What a night," I sighed, moving back toward me car. I was almost to it when I realized the engine was already running. I frowned and pulled the keys out of my pocket. I shook my head and glanced through the window. Someone was in the driver's seat. "I guess my night's not over yet."

I moved to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. I didn't recognize the woman in the driver's seat, but she was beautiful and looked more than a little impatient. Surprise, surprise. I slid into the car and pulled the door close.

"Are you the ghost of Christmas past?" Okay, maybe it was a bit disrespectful, but nothing for six months and suddenly two goddesses in one night.

"Smart ass," she replied. "Now put your seat belt on. I need to get you home before this carriage turns into a pumpkin." I couldn't help myself. I laughed. I also searched for my seat belt. It took some time. It was buried deep in the seat and was a simple lap belt. I doubt anyone had ever used it.

The goddess pulled away from the curb and we drove in silence for a while. It surprised me. I mean, she had to have something to say since she was here and all. It's not like the gods ran a taxi service.

"Maybe I'm just here to make sure you don't drive drunk and kill someone."

Ugh. I guess knowing that the gods could read my mind and accepting it were two different things because I kept forgetting.

"Most humans do," she added. "It's easier on the psyche."

We continued on in silence once more. I did my best to keep my mind empty. I was pretty tired so it was easier than you would think. I actually started nodding off just before we arrived at my house.

"Thanks for the ride," I said, reaching for the door knob.

"You're welcome," she replied. The car door wouldn't open. I looked at her and she smiled. "You're right, we don't offer a taxi service." I sighed. It's not like I really thought it would be that simple, but I guess a part of me hoped.

"Who exactly are you?" I asked. "And are you and Hera friends?"

"Friends?" the woman frowned. "Hera is far too emotional and erratic to have many friends."

"You're avoiding my questions," I sighed.

"You don't say?" she smiled. I frowned and looked into her eyes. They were soft and surprisingly warm. They were old eyes with millennium of history and wisdom.

"Athena," I said in surprise. I don't know why, but visiting me seemed like something that should be beneath her.

"We all do our part," she shrugged, answering my unasked question.

"So what message do the Fates have for me now?" I sighed.

"They didn't send me," she said, laughing at my tone. I never pictures Athena as having a sense of humor either.

"I'm the goddess of wisdom," she said. "Of course I have a sense of humor."

"Athena, I'm too tired try and follow right now. Can this wait until tomorrow?" she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. The answer was obvious. "Okay, then can you please keep it simple? That's about all my brain can handle right at this moment."

"I can do simple," she smiled. "I hate all the infighting that the gods do. I stopped participating in it a millennium ago. There's nothing smart about it. So because of that I haven't really been involved in what's going on, but I can't deny I'm interested in the outcome. I've been watching."

"Up until tonight when you decided to visit me," I said, holding back another sigh. "Why?"

"Because I like you," she shrugged. "You know what who you are and are comfortable with it. I find that admirable. You're also a decent person, something that's not nearly as common as you might think. For example, I like how you handled Bridgette. Not only didn't you take advantage of her, but you actually tried to help."

"Thanks," I said, doing my best to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I remembered the feel of Artemis's knife against my throat. I had no intention of irritating another goddess if I could help it.

"You're also pretty smart for a human," Athena added. I knew she'd read my mind again, but decided not to dwell on it. What would be the point? "Yes, definitely a smart one."

"Where is this leading?" I asked, honestly curious now.

"Well, I've never been much for keeping someone in the dark. Also, I think you have a bigger part than most of the others realize."

"So, you don't think I'm just a minor character?" I asked, shaking my head as I remembered the conversation with Artemis. She was so not a people person. Athena laughed for a moment before growing somber.

"There are no minor characters in something like this," she said. "Tara may be the key, but time is running out. You see, if someone doesn't mother the next generation of gods, then they'll be no new Golden Age. If there's no Golden Age then the world will fall into truly dark times."

"Pardon?" I couldn't help myself.

"Can't you feel it?" Athena continued. "Don't you remember how things were in your former life? Earthquakes, the deteriorating atmosphere, tsunamis, oil spills, hurricanes, nuclear fallout, war and even genocide. That's the near future. The planet needs to be renewed and soon."

"Athena is an environmentalist," I said, shaking my head.

"What intelligent person isn't?" she retorted. "But that's not really my point. My point is that the Earth is dying and a new generation of gods needs to be born to save it."

Okay, so my mind went off in an odd direction at this point. I blame it on the beer and stress. I pictured Tara and me sitting around a kitchen table surrounded by our children. Smokey the Bear and Woodsy Owl were on one side talking about forest fires while Captain Planet and Mother Nature we on the other discussing the ozone.

"Oh dear!" Athena said and then burst out laughing. I mean serious laughter. Tears actually streamed down her face after a few moments. "You are so lucky that Mother Nature isn't here! She would not be amused."

"Mother Nature?" I asked.

"Gaia," she replied, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What does she have to do with Greek mythology?"

"You're serious, aren't you?" she groaned, no longer laughing. "Gaia is the mother of us all. She was the first. She came from Chaos. Her children were the Titans. Her daughter Rhea mothered most of the Olympian gods."

"Sorry," I shrugged. "I know Zeus defeated the Titans and took over, but that's about the earliest Greek mythology history I can remember."

"Well, now is not the time for a history lesson," Athena sighed. "Only, it might help you to understand why Hera feels slighted. You see, as I was saying Gaia is the daughter of Chaos and mothered the Titans. Her daughter Rhea mothered the gods. Hera thought that like her mother and grandmother before her, she'd mother the next generation of gods. It is a logical deduction and she might be right. I don't honestly know."

"Who is Chaos? Is he the first god?" I asked, trying to grasp what she was saying.

"Chaos isn't a he," she replied. "Chaos is an it, and believe me you do not want me to spend the time to try and explain it to you. The odds are you wouldn't understand anyway."

"Fair enough," I sighed. My head was spinning already. "We still haven't come to why you're here."

"To offer you a reward for being the man you are. Like I said, I like you," she grinned. The statement wasn't quite true. There was something more than just kindness behind her offer, but so be it. I'm sure Athena had her reasons and I could use all the help I could get.

I wonder what kind of reward she was talking about. She looked at me, laughed and answered my unspoken question. "Wisdom of course." Athena was so not what I was expecting. More thought reading. "I seldom am to most people." I had a headache now. I also had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

"John, I'll make this simple for you," she said as I rubbed my temples. "I can't stay here much longer anyway. The Fates aren't going to be happy with my interference and I expect Hera will be just as angrier. You can ask me one question and I'll answer it to the best of my ability."

My mind spun. I had dozens of questions. How was I supposed to narrow it down to just one? The ones that popped into my head were just the tip of the iceberg. Things like, was Tara human? Did she truly love me? Would we be together forever? What did being the father of the next generation of gods mean? Was it a sperm donation like Artemis inferred or something more? What would my children be like? Hell, was any of this real? Was I insane?

"Whoa!" Athena cried. "I said just one question. Besides, if you search your heart you'll realize you either already know the answer to most of those questions, or the answer doesn't matter anyway."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was right. In my heart I knew Tara loved me. I couldn't care less if Tara was from another dimension, much less human. I loved her and that was enough for me. That realization helped calm my thoughts. I let my mind wander for a while until I finally came up with the question I would ask.

"Oh! That's a good one," Athena smiled. "Go ahead, ask it out loud." I shook my head, but complied.

"What's the most important detail of what's going on that I don't know?" I asked. Athena tapped the fingers of one hand on her lips while she thought of the answer.

"Hmm," she finally said. "That's not an easy question. There are actually quite a few important details you don't know. Picking just one is tricky."

"You could just tell me them all," I offered.

'That would be cheating," she laughed. "Besides, some things need to be discovered in their own time."

"If you say so," I said, not bothering to hide my frustration. I had a feeling Athena was too smart to be offended by it. For once, she didn't comment on my thoughts. She was obviously distracted by my question.

"I've got it!" Athena finally cried, looking at me once more. "This will probably be the most helpful answer anyway. Tara has no idea that she's may be the mother of the next generation of gods. She doesn't know just how special she is or how much effort the Fates put into her existence."

"What?" I asked in surprise. "Tara does know? But then why did the Fates have Artemis tell me?"

"Even I don't try and spend a lot of time trying to figure out why the Moirae do what they do," Athena said. "But I expect it was something you needed to know for them to get the results they want."

"I think I need to sleep on what you've told me," I sighed. "Thanks." I was surprised by how much I meant it. This was the first goddess who visited me who was both friendly and helpful. She was also one of the prettiest.

"I'm not that friendly!" she laughed. I didn't think I meant it that way when I thought it, but who was I to argue with the goddess of wisdom who also happened to be able to read my mind? "Like I said, you're a smart man! No get going. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. Your odyssey is far from over and there are rough waters ahead, but you knew that already."

I shook my head and got out of the car. I slammed the door and leaned forward to thank Athena once more, but she was already gone. Six months of nothing and now this.

I caught myself wondering if Athena could be wrong about Tara not knowing. It was a silly thought considering who Athena was, but Tara had hinted at her being the cause of our difficulties instead of me. I'd blamed our forced separation on me and she said I had it backwards. If she didn't know, then what could she possibly mean?

I noticed that Athena also hadn't picked sides. She let me see that Hera had as much right as Tara did to be the mother of the next generation of gods. Did the Fates have the right to step in and change what seemed the natural progression of things? Did Hera have to right to ignore what the Fates decreed? Yep, I definitely had one hell of a headache.

"Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride..." The words popped into my mind and out of my mouth almost without me realizing it. I could have sworn I heard Athena laughing in the background.

**********

"Fuck!"

I snapped awake and found myself sitting up in bed. I had no idea what I was dreaming about before I woke up, but it must have been pretty ghastly for me to come awake the way I did. I had a bad feeling about today that didn't make sense. The gods had finally shed some light on what was going on. Okay, so Athena said that there was still a lot I didn't know, but at least things were coming to a head. I would talk to Tara today and we'd see where things would go from there. At least that's what I told myself, but there was a part of me that wasn't certain I was making the right decision.

I got out of bed and jumped into the shower to get ready for school, but the bad feeling didn't dissipate. In fact, it got worse. It suddenly hit me that I was missing something. As soon as that happened, I knew what it was. Hera. She'd been quiet since our last confrontation, but there was no way she was going to just let today happen without any interference.

"Great," I sighed as I dried myself and went to my room to get dressed. What choice did I have? It's not like I could think up some grand defense against the queen of the gods. Hell, according to Athena, despite Hera being a bitch, she might be the rightful mother to the next generation of gods. How was I supposed to know?

I'd just have to take things as they came. Hera clearly didn't like me, but all I could do was hope that the Fates had planned accordingly. I mean based on what Artemis said, they wouldn't let Hera do any irreparable damage to me, right? Yeah, I had no idea how true that was either.

I had a rushed breakfast with the family as usual. Mom and pop spent a lot of the time smiling at each other. I assumed that meant they enjoyed their night. Good for them, not that I wanted to dwell on the details. Cindy spent the entire meal telling us about the party. I enjoyed the meal and did my best to push away my fears of what Hera might be planning.

I grabbed my book bag and left the house with more than a little trepidation. I was running early today for a change, but that was okay. I wanted to try and catch Tara before she left her house. Maybe if we had our conversation first thing in the morning things would settle down. Yeah, I know, not likely, but it was worth a shot.

It was another nice day. The sun was out and it was unseasonably warm. Don't get me wrong, no one would be wearing shorts or a bikini this time of year, but it was nice to only have to wear a jacket instead of a full coat in March.

The car was still where I left it the night before. Well, where Athena left it anyway. I looked at it and grinned. I couldn't help myself. Weird thoughts tended to pop into my head these days and right at that moment I found myself wondering how the goddess Athena learned to parallel park.

I walked around the car to the driver's side and reached for the door handle. Someone beeped and I waved without looking, figuring it was just another friend from high school, but whomever it was stopped. I turned around with my car door half open and was surprised to see Bridgette sitting in a convertible with its top down. I frowned. Like I said earlier, it was nice out, but not that nice out.

"Let's go for a ride," she said. I looked at her more closely.

"Ah fuck," I sighed. The woman in the car looked like Bridgette down to the last freckle, but it wasn't her. I was sure of it. Bridgette was a redheaded bombshell. So was this woman, but there was also a humanness about Bridgette that this woman lacked. She also seemed somehow younger, which made no sense considering who and what she probably was.

"Let's go," she said. "I'll explain once you get in the car."

"No thanks," I said with a nervous smile.

"Look, it's either spending some time with me or with my mother, your choice." She sounded like she didn't honestly care which a chose.

"Your mother?" I asked.

"Hera," she clarified. "I'm Hebe."

I knew the name, but I couldn't remember what she was the goddess of. I had a vague memory of her being Hercules's wife, but that didn't make sense. Hercules and Hera hated each other.

"Old news," she said, obviously reading my mind. At least this time I expected it. "Hercules was made a full god when he died and mom and he reconciled. She was the one who gave me to him as his wife."

"Really?" I asked in surprise.

"Really," she laughed, but then grew serious and seemed oddly older as she added, "We had two sons, but they're in Tartarus with their father now."

"I'm sorry." It seemed to be the thing to say based on her expression. She shrugged and smiled, looking youthful again.

"It had to happen eventually," she said. "All things pass. I'm sure I'll be seeing them soon enough anyway, but I'm not here to talk about that."

"Why are you here then?" I thought my question was a fair one. It was also obvious that Hebe had no intention of answering me until I got in the car with her.

"Are you coming or should I let my mother know you prefer her company?"

"Not thinking that's an idle threat," I sighed, shutting my car door and getting in Hebe's convertible.

"Not hardly!" she laughed, pulling away.

"Um, do you think maybe you could put the top up?" I asked before we got very far. I'd already zipped my jacket up to my chin and put my hands in my pockets, but it didn't help much.

"What for?" she laughed, stepping on the gas and making the car go faster. The breeze picked up and I grimaced.

"First Artemis last night in the woods and now this," I grumbled. "I guess both sides want me to freeze to death!"

Hebe laughed louder and the car went even faster. The houses were going by quickly now. We lived on a long street that passed through most of the town, but at this pace we'd reach the end in a few minutes. That is, if we didn't hit anything. I wasn't counting on that. It was a very rural street and there was bound to be someone taking a walk or pulling out of their driveway.