392 His Influence

Russ blew out a tired, exasperated breath as he ran his hands through his hair. He leaned back against the cool window, his gaze trained on the high ceiling of the library. "Well…"

Shelly glanced nervously around the many faces in the room before finally turning to Rin. She nodded to him in a wordless exchange. She groaned a bit as she pushed herself up from the window seat. She clasped Russ's shoulder. "I'm going to rest like Jos suggested… You should do the same."

His skeptical gaze moved to her. "You know I can't do that…"

She forced a sad smile past the frown that threatened to curve her lips. "Russ, I've been around Arei long enough. He's no fool. From what you and Poseidon said, it's obvious he knows more than he's letting on." She shrugged. "It's likely he knows more about it than Jos at the moment." When Russ began to protest, she interrupted him. "It's not our business… especially not yours. You have this palace, this kingdom… Jaden… to worry about. Leave Jos and her problems to Arei and Poseidon."

Russ blew out an irritated huff. "You're right… I know you are… but still."

Rin stood up beside Shelly gently clasping her shoulders. "She's right, man. You have your own problems to deal with… besides… what do you really plan to do against gods?"

Drake's eyes shot up from his hands to Rin. "What are you talking about?"

Rin sighed. "You haven't pieced it together?" He ran his hand through his curly hair. "Man… You guys don't pay attention at all… or you're just dumb…" His eyes moved between the surprised, confused faces in the room. "Russ, you said the entire cliff smelled like poppies?"

Russ nodded. "Yeah, it was weird…"

"You didn't know what flower it was, but Arei knew exactly what flowers to ask Poseidon to produce?"

"Yeah…" Russ answered still not putting the pieces together. "So?"

Rin shook his head in frustration. "So? So, he knew immediately who had been there. Use your brain, man. April's in a damn sleep coma. Think back to all the mythology Ry has pushed down your throat over the past year or so… Poppies, sleep, children of Nyx… It's Hypnos." He looked around the room once again. "Am I right?"

Naru was tapping away on his phone, then suddenly held it up. "He's right! Here it is! Hypnos, Greek primordial deity of sleep. Son of Nyx and Erebus, twin brother of Thanatos… wait… where have I heard that name…" He scratched his head… "Isn't that the dude with the space stones that, like, wiped out half the superheroes?"

Rin smashed his palm against his forehead. "My gods! Just when I thought the lot of you couldn't get dumber…" He squeezed Shelly's shoulders as she giggled. "You are excluded from that statement, of course, honey."

She held her belly as she laughed harder. "Oh no, I'm not arguing with you at all! I'm just surprised it took you this long to realize what idiots they are!"

Drake reached over and plucked the phone from Naru's hands. He continued scrolling through the different references on the internet search. He muttered to himself as he read through the articles. "…people also asked… most powerful…" His eyes widened. "Holy shit!" His gaze shot up from the phone. "This says he's considered to be one of the most powerful!" His brows furrowed. "But if that's the case, why is he fucking around here? With us? With Jos?"

Everyone exchanged questioning looks. "Who knows? I doubt even Jos can answer that… but we know for a fact his siblings have been involved with her. That much was obvious on the security videos from your family mansion." Russ finally answered.

Naru's eyes widened before rolling in irritation. "Mansion?! Really?! Just once, I'd like to walk into a room of people and not be the most broke!"

Georgos chuckled. "Then venture into any building in town."

When Naru sent Russ a questioning look, he shrugged. "He's not wrong… this might be a 'castle' and a 'kingdom' but it's a broke as fuck one. Hell, if it wasn't for Poseidon I don't know where we'd be right now."

Drake raised his hand, snapping his fingers to get their attention as he continued reading. "But listen to this… Hypnos is considered a gentle god. He is not considered an evil being although he lives in the underworld…" He continued scanning the article. "He's considered lazy but sensible… sacred animal is the songbird… symbols are poppies…" His eyes moved to Russ. "Not just any poppy either. It says here that it's a specific opium-producing poppy that only grows near the River Lethe… Rin's right… Arei must have known or at least suspected…"

"I really hope you kids aren't planning on going up against Hypnos. I promise that would not be a wise idea for any of you." Poseidon said as he walked into the library, baby Cam in one arm and his cell phone in the other.

Shelly arched a brow. "Did he wake up or something?"

Poseidon smiled guiltily down at the sleeping baby. "Yes… well not, but he could have… My call with Hades got a little heated while I was near the crib… I didn't want to have him wake… so…"

Shelly rolled her eyes as she laughed. "So… You took a sleeping child from his crib just to carry him around while you were on the phone?"

Poseidon squinted one eye. "Maybe…" He sent her a charming smile. "What can I say, I haven't seen the little guy in so long."

"It's only been a few days." Shelly giggled as she walked over to them. She brushed her finger across her sleeping child's long, dark lashes. "I swear, you're the only person he lets carry him around like that…"

Poseidon chuckled. "What can I say, I have a way with children… I've had enough of them, after all…" He sent her a wink before looking around the rest of the group. "So, speaking of sleep, why is Hypnos the talk of the night? Shouldn't it be the wedding tomorrow?" He looked around the small group. "Speaking of weddings… where's the bride?"

Drake spoke up first. "She's with April…"

Poseidon nodded. "I see… and you have linked April's current condition with Hypnos's little visit tonight? Wise of you, but foolish… Stay out of it. He has no beef with you all, and there's no point in creating it. He's obviously taken an interest in Jos, as long as no one directly threatens her… at least at night, it would seem, he should leave the lot of you alone…"

Russ's brows furrowed. "What do you mean? He was here? I thought you guys said he was trapped in the underworld?"

Poseidon frowned as he shook his head. "Not quite… Hades confirmed it. Unlike his siblings, Hypnos was never imprisoned in the underworld… nor was his brother Thanatos. They are both free to move between the words freely."

Russ and Drake exchanged confused glances before Drake turned back to the search engine.

Poseidon shook his head. "You'll not find any imprisonment on there for Hypnos… However, you will find that he took refuge there after the uprising against Zeus."

"Wait but then what the fuck does he want with Jos?" Russ called out in frustrated anger.

Poseidon pressed a finger to his lips as he nodded down to Cam. "Shh. Not so loud. And to answer you… I have no idea… If I had to guess, it's not Jos herself he's interested in. From what I know of the man, he's only ever loved two people Hera and his wife Pasithea. He has no reason to add her to his list of foes. There must be some other benefit he hopes to gain from her."

Shelly rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "That's not much to go on… We do know that he seems to be physically coming to Jos along with letting his presents be known in her dreams…"

"In her dreams?!" Russ interrupted.

Shelly nodded. "Yeah… Apparently, he was the one who woke her up when the house was set on fire too." Her gaze involuntarily fell on Drake before moving back to Russ.

Russ narrowed his eyes. "So he's been trying to help her?"

Shelly scrunched her face. "Not all the time… It's kinda weird… Jos said he was appearing to her in her sleep as you and Arei for a long time…"

Naru shrugged. "Maybe cause he thought she'd be more comfortable with him that way? I don't know… all this god stuff is new to me…"

Shelly shook her head. "Jos wouldn't go into details about any of it, but I could tell from her voice she was very uncomfortable with it… It's one of the reasons she and Arei were having so many problems. She said there was a point when she couldn't decern what was real and what were the dreams."

Russ arched a skeptical brow. "I was under the impression from Arei it was over something entirely different…"

"I mean there were definitely other reasons… but when we talked on the phone after she had already left the dreams seemed to be the biggest problem." Shelly shrugged. "You know how she is… She probably still hasn't told Arei the whole truth on the matter."

Poseidon blew out an exasperated sigh. "You're probably correct, dear. As much as I wish it were not so…" He reached out and placed a hand on Shelly's upper back. "You shouldn't trouble yourself with it, dear. Jos is in good hands. She will be protected… though I don't believe she's in danger from Hypnos. He's never been known as particularly devious. I'd worry more about what Zeus is currently up to…" He shrugged. "Who knows perhaps it's Zeus's involvement that has struck our dear god of sleep's attention." He guided her toward the library doors. "Would you like me to teleport you to your room?"

Shelly nodded before turning back to Rin. "Will you be up soon?"

Rin nodded. "Yeah, go on and lay down. I'll probably be no more than thirty minutes."

Drake pushed up from his seat and handed Naru his phone back. "I'm going to head back to April… just in case she wakes…" He nodded to everyone as he made his way past Shelly and Poseidon. "See you guys tomorrow."

Rin waited until Drake was out of the room, and Shelly and Poseidon had teleported out before speaking again. "I agree with Poseidon. Hypnos was probably protecting Jos tonight…"

Russ furrowed his brows. "What makes you say that? Protect her from who? His presence was the only one on the cliffs."

Rin arched a brow. "Other than Drake and April?"

Russ nodded. "Well, yeah. Of course. But neither of them would want to hurt Jos."

Rin crossed his arms. "Are you sure about that? You're a wolf. You know how jealous you guys can be. Plus, tomorrow night is the full moon, emotions within the wolves are extra high. You said yourself, when Drake came back from the cliffs, he reeked of Jos… April disappeared into the woods shortly after talking to Drake…" He shrugged. "Who's to say she didn't go out there to threaten Jos."

Georgos shook his head while Russ could only stare in stunned disbelief. "Even so, Miss Jos would be in no harm. We've all seen what she can do. A young wolf like April would have no chance against her."

It was Russ's turn to disagree. "Jos would never intentionally hurt someone she cares about. She'd be more likely to-" His words trailed off as realization dawned.

Rin spoke up. "She would most likely let April take her aggressions out on her. She'd feel responsible for whatever afflictions April was feeling…"

Russ cleared his throat, finding the thought hard to swallow. "You're not wrong…"

"She would never do something like that." Jaden's voice came from the doorway, a strong matter-of-fact tone to it.

Georgos stood and bowed to her, and Naru followed his actions. "We should probably… um… head to bed… early day tomorrow and all… ya know…" Naru said with a nervous laugh as he ran his hand through his messy hair.

Rin nodded toward the door. "I'll walk you to your room if you'd like."

"Ha, no flashy gin shit?"

Rin shrugged. "I mean I can… but last time you threw up…"

Naru lifted a finger into the air. "Good point! Walking it is!" He gave Jaden another awkward bow as he walked past her.

Jaden stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. She bowed slightly to each of the men as they walked past her, but her angry eyes continued to return to Russ. She continued to stare him down, not saying a word even after the faint sound of footsteps completely vanished.

Russ ran his hand over the back of his neck as he rolled it in his tight grip. "Listen, Jaden, I didn't mean-"

"Just as you are convinced your Joslyn is innocent, so am I of April. She would never go after your Joslyn."

Russ closed his eyes as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Jaden, you have to stop. She's not 'my Jos' and you know it. We've already had this conversation. I thought you'd moved past it…" His eyes met hers. "Are you really going to stand there saying that shit and not at least admit it's a possibility?" He shook his head as he turned toward the window. He stared out at the many lawn lights strewn out over the gardens. "Will you hold my relationship with her over my head for the rest of our lives? What will it take to make you believe me when I say it's you that I'm in love with?"