Worth It - Lisa Oliver Page 0,65
“If you’d rather live here…”
“No.” Zeus’s pearly white teeth disappeared into another hunk of toast. “I have to be here sometimes, of course,” he explained around his mouthful. “If I leave the minions alone too long, they start to think they own the place. But I have realized you would feel a lot happier on earth, am I right?”
“I guess.” Paulie hesitated. “I don’t know much about life on earth either really, apart from the few small towns I’ve lived in and even then, most of my time was spent trying to stay warm and fed. I do realize, just listening to the kids in college and hearing stories from the old soldiers on the streets, that there’s so much more to living than what I’ve seen. This,” he waved at the serene scenery, “this is the closest I’ve ever had to a vacation. What would we do? How would we live? Did you want me to keep on with college?”
“Let’s make that a firm no on the college thing.” Zeus shuddered. “I wouldn’t want to go – it would give me the shits having to sit around young people all day every day.”
Paulie was surprised enough to laugh. “I didn’t think you’d go. You probably know everything there is to ever learn anyway.”
“Huh, you’d be surprised.” Zeus’s hand hovered over the last piece of toast and then he reached for his coffee mug instead. “You should’ve seen me when I got my first computer system. The pictures I’d seen didn’t show any power cords with them, so I didn’t realize they needed a power source to operate. I was pushing buttons, and nothing happened, so I waved my hands to give it a zap of my power and the bloody thing exploded in my face.”
“Oh, no.” Paulie quickly put his hand over his mouth to hide his grin. “Did you get hurt?”
“You can laugh.” Zeus reached over and took his hand away from his mouth. “I wasn’t hurt. It would take more than a pile of plastic and metal to do me any damage. I learned quickly, but learning isn’t something I’d want to do in a lecture hall or classroom.”
“How does your computer system even work?” Paulie looked around realizing he didn’t remember seeing any electrical outlets since being on Olympus. “It’s not as though you have a power cord connected to earth, do you?”
It was Zeus’s turn to laugh. He pumped a bicep. “The power all comes from me, honeybuns.” He tapped the straining muscle. “You could call me the powerhouse of this place if you like.”
Paulie’s eyes widened and he felt a stir in his pants. Three times already today, he reminded his slightly tender ass. “That doesn’t explain how you power computers,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound too breathless.
Letting his arm relax, Zeus shrugged. “It wasn’t easy getting things to work. It was worse when the internet was invented. This floor under our feet came from at least a hundred exploded computers. It took a lot of experimenting to get them to run on godly power instead of the electricity mortals rely on.”
Glancing down at what he’d thought was marble, Paulie was impressed. “That’s an amazing recycling effort. But okay, so no college. What do gods do all day?”
“It depends on the god.” Leaning back in his chair, Zeus scratched his head. “To be honest, I’m not sure what most of them do. I mean, Hades still runs the Underworld – he kinda has to - and Poseidon helps run his mate’s club and still visits the sea at least once a week. Ra, well, I’m not sure about him. He just pops up every now and then to muck up my day, and as for Odin, who’s the father of the Norse gods, you’re not likely to meet him for a few centuries. He just wanders the earth, looking all mysterious with his ravens and his wolves, supposedly looking for the Tree of Life, which is a complete waste of time. But I suppose it keeps him busy.”
“Did someone cut down the tree?”
“No, my precious honeybuns, the tree is on Artemas’s back. You’ve met him. It was gifted by the Mother when Silvanus claimed him. But I don’t think anyone’s told Odin. Thor seemed to think it might really upset him, seeing as he’s looked for the fabled tree for more centuries than you could count. Or so I heard.” Zeus winked. “I used to spend a lot of time spying on my