My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

Sophie Gets Gone (Part 3)

He shot me an assessing glance. "Persephone wasn't mouthy like you."

I stiffened involuntarily.

Zeus pulled a tube of moisturizing cream from a pocket, uncapped it and squeezed a blob into his hands. "Touchy, are we?" He rubbed the cream in with brisk strokes. "While 'prophesied' doesn't mean guaranteed, always better to be safe than sorry when dealing with attempted coups. Your turn."

I shook my head, doleful. "I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome. We can catch up another time. I'm free on Thanksgiving. We'll celebrate our dysfunction with turkey and stuffing."

Zeus pinned me in his gaze. "I don't think so. In the event of any other possible candidates coming forward with the ridiculous notion of overthrowing me, I'd like to destroy the ritual location. Can't go around battling every spawn I ever produced."

Pops spawning. Could I memory repress that visual?

I exhaled deeply. This conversation, like my entire relationship with my father, was hopeless. But since I couldn't let him seek and destroy this location that was so vital to stopping him, I had to get out of here.

"Can't help you. And won't." Planting myself in a firmer stance, knees slightly bent, I narrowed my eyes at the remaining Photokia, and made a "bring it" motion with my right hand.

"If you insist," Zeus said. He snapped his fingers and in an instant a half dozen more Gold Crushers had shown up.

Gold lightning lit the sky as the minions came at me, eyes blazing. I couldn't dispose of them on a ribbony-death-by-ribbony-death basis, so I had to boost things up to the next level of my power.

I fired single blasts of green light from my eyes and palms, obliterating them one by one as I ducked and bobbed, dodging their blasts. Seven against one.

Whatever.

The secret weapon bonus of Dad's minions was that he had an endless supply. So even though my superior goddess power made me capable of taking them out quite easily, if Zeus ever set them full force against me, I'd be exhausted (and thus dead) before he'd barely tapped into his stockpile.

That fact currently listed as number six on my list of "Final Showdown Terrors."

Lightning scorched across my side. I let out a mangled curse.

"Language," Zeus cautioned me.

With a growl, I took out the rest of them before they could do any more damage to my breakable human exterior. Done, done, and ... done.

Panting, I swung my eyes toward Zeus. Me and him.

He tilted his head with a cat-like grin. "I think you missed one."

Hundreds of Photokia poured into the room.

Bastard.

I fired my vines upwards, wanting out through the skylight, since flight seemed more prudent than fight.

Zeus smirked and gestured with his hand. "Not yet, my girl."

The minions lunged. I managed to swing past them and land on the head of one of the statues, calling my light back inside me. I planted myself in a solid stance, then dug my toes into the sculpted locks of Zeus' hair to get a better grip on the slippery stone.

"You're contravening basic parenting commandment number seven, Pops. 'Thou shalt not try to kill thy kid.'"

Forget escaping. I had to take the Gold Crushers out first. I reached down deep within myself, ratcheting up to my highest power level.

I blasted a full-body, all-powerful shockwave of green light, almost falling off the statue since the recoil on that move was a kicker.

Damn! The move destroyed all the Gold Crushers, as I knew it would, but left my father standing infuriatingly intact.

Power-wise, firing the shockwave severely depleted me. I was too limp and spent to do more than heave while hunched over, hands braced on my legs. I'd never done it more than once without needing to majorly recharge, which required being outside. Being Goddess of Spring meant my powers were tied to the outdoors. I was the ultimate solar battery. The light filtering down from above was helpful but wouldn't totally recharge me.

Since my kaboom hadn't taken Pops out, my only option was to flee. And fast.

Please let me have enough power to ribbon myself out of here.

I gave 'er. And all I got were two weakly glowing palms.

I leaped off of the statue hoping I wouldn't break both legs, as dozens more Photokia showed up and attacked me. Kind of like being caught in a sea of battering rams.

The bodies dogpiling on top of me knocked the breath right from my body. I couldn't blast them, didn't even really have the power to fight them at all.

Before I could catch my breath and attempt something, I heard Zeus say, "Let's wrap it up, shall we?"

I was plucked from the pile by a large, knobby, miniony hand and thrown high into the air. Before I could process what was happening, Zeus called "Pull!" and lightning enveloped my body.

Son-of-a-bitch, he was skeet shooting his own kid.

"Pull!"

My body snapped back painfully, somersaulting with the force of the electric blasts. I tried to blindly send out my light vines but nothing came out.

"Pull!"

My body spasmed uncontrollably as more lightning struck it. My head snapped to the right, my fingers flailed like I enthusiastically counted by tens and my legs made a pumping motion much like cartoon characters as they gear up to run, all while still flying upwards through the air.

Lightning shots give quite the endorphin kick. The last enveloping hit knocked my energy from foul ball to home run. My eyes widened on a manic high. I felt pleasantly warm. Colors were sharper, no detail too small to notice. Whooeeee.

It passed five seconds later, leaving me falling in wet noodle mode.

I would have cried out had I been capable of speech. Instead I just made a moaning sound and drooled. I smelled burned hair and charred flesh and saw plumes of smoke rising from various parts of my dangerously overheated skin.

Bye-bye, endorphins. Hello, pain crashing into my system. From the bruises forming from being tackled, to the burning pain ripping through my side—my injuries were intense.

I took a shuddery breath and flailed as my muscles seized up in a grand finale. I hit the ground with a hard thud.