Goddess (Starcrossed)

arm, grinning mischievously. “And what I want right now is to ride the carousel.”
     
    Matt heard Telamon sound the alarm. No human or Scion would ever be able to discern the skritching noises that the Myrmidons made from the chorus of natural noises on a beach, but Matt could easily tell the difference between the voices of the insects and those of his soldiers.
    He left his tent to watch a party of Scions coming up the beach. Matt had known most of them from Troy and had disliked most of them. Odysseus was the only one worthy of respect.
    “So it’s true,” said a large, blond man. Matt knew him as Menelaus. “The Warrior has finally joined the fight.”
    “Tantalus. Head of Thebes,” Telamon whispered in Matt’s ear. Matt nodded.
    “When Hermes told me that Myrmidons were massing on the shore, I knew the last piece of the puzzle had been found, and you were coming to fight,” Tantalus continued, although Matt hadn’t asked him to. An uncomfortable silence followed as Matt stared at Tantalus, still reluctant to make an alliance with this man, although he knew it was inevitable. The Myrmidons had voted for it.
    “You hired one of my soldiers. Automedon. He was one of my closest friends once,” Matt said, expressionless. “Before he lost his way.”
    “Yes,” Tantalus said warily as he sized up Matt. “I had nothing to do with his death, though.”
    “Uh-huh.” Matt looked at the two men on either side of Tantalus—Odysseus on his left and Agamemnon on his right. Pallas Delos, as Matt knew Agamemnon now.
    “How’d this happen, Matt?” Pallas asked, dismayed. He gestured to the Myrmidon warriors, arrayed in precise ranks.
    “He was chosen,” Telamon said defensively. “That’s all you need to know. We accept him as our Master.”
    The Myrmidons whispered the word Master in their ghostly way, unsettling the Scions who shared a round of nervous looks. They were afraid of Matt’s men, as they should be.
    “And do you have all the skills of Achilles?” asked the man Matt knew as Odysseus. Matt leaned his head close to Telamon.
    “Daedalus Attica, Head of Athens,” Telamon told him immediately.
    “That’s not your real question,” Matt said, regarding Daedalus evenly. “You want to know if I have Achilles’ weakness.”
    Daedalus’s mouth turned up in a half smile. “Every mortal has at least one.”
    Matt smiled back at him with closed lips, neither confirming nor denying what the crafty one was asking. They stared at each other until Daedalus looked away.
    “Suit yourself,” Daedalus said. He regarded Tantalus and Pallas and raised his eyebrows. “Well, I’m convinced.”
    “Are you sure about this?” Pallas asked Tantalus.
    “The gods will crush us all if we don’t fulfill our end of the bargain,” Tantalus replied, eyeing Matt with open distrust. “We bring the Warrior to the table, or all the Scions die. Zeus swore on the River Styx that if we do this our Houses will be preserved.”
    It was like it always was. At Troy, the Greek kings made their own deal with Zeus and saved their skins, and the innocent children of Troy were thrown from the top of the wall. Matt learned long ago that kings cared only about preserving their own kingdoms and were more interested with what they could get out of any given situation than doing what was right. Matt was suddenly so disgusted by the hedging and the political posturing he saw in the Scions that he turned to go back to his tent. This wasn’t what he’d come for.
    “Hold on,” Daedalus called out, taking a step toward Matt. The Myrmidons moved as one to intercept Daedalus. He put his arms up in surrender. “Easy. Everybody just take it easy.”
    “I’ll fight with or without you.” Matt stopped and turned back to face them, speaking plainly. “I’m here to kill the Tyrant. If that’s what you want, then you may join me. If not, get out of the way.”
     
    Helen led Lucas into the maze of booths, tugging on his arm. He hung back playfully, acting reluctant to follow so she had to half drag him. On the way, a barker caught his attention with an outlandish dare, and Lucas just had to stop and throw a baseball at a stack of lead milk bottles.
    It took him three tries, which he insisted had never happened to him before, but eventually, he won Helen a prize. There was a fluffy elephant that caught her eye for a moment, but she finally picked a glittery wand. It had a silver star on the top and dozens of ribbons flowing