We swept through the house and out the French doors that led to the pool area. Palm trees, flowering bushes, and a fountain that spouted into the pool dominated the eyes first. The warmth of the oasis was humid and instantly made sweat bead up on Tad and Sandy. I liked the heat, but it didn’t do anything to me.

The people and creatures lounging around the pool had changed. But one thing hadn’t; most of them were completely naked. Including a particular someone I knew very well.

“Yaya?” I gasped as our grandmother swam through the pool toward us. Completely naked, as in not a single stitch of even a bikini on her. Tad grunted and spun around so his back was to her.

“My eyes! I can’t unsee this, Alena,” he yelped.

I couldn’t help laughing, and Yaya winked at me as she swam to the edge of the pool. I looked around for a towel, grabbed one off a chair, and tossed it to her. “Yaya, what are you doing here?”

I looked around, thinking that the men were getting a show, but I saw only women at the pool. That was the difference I’d noticed but not realized. Women who all looked to be of the same age as my grandmother. I frowned and narrowed my eyes at her. “Yaya, what are you up to?”

“Things are changing, Alena. Tad”—she swatted him as she wrapped the towel under her arms—“stop being a ninny; a nude body is a beautiful thing.”

Sandy laughed softly. “Yeah, Tad. Don’t be such a prude.”

He shot her a dirty look, and she just smiled back, her eyes twinkling. It was the most life I’d seen in her since Beth had been killed. I didn’t want her to flirt with my brother . . . but for now I’d let it go.

Tad flinched and peeked over his shoulder. “You can’t blame me. There are certain things a man should never be exposed to. First on the list is his grandmother prancing around naked.”

I put a hand on him, stopping him. We weren’t here to trade funny quips. I needed information. “The Aegrus virus has exploded, Yaya. What do you know?”

Her eyes widened, too wide, too innocent, and she shook her head. “I’ve heard nothing. Ladies, have you heard anything?”

There was something different about her, and then I slowly saw what it was. She looked young. She looked like . . . like she’d gone backward at least fifteen years. The other women around the pool looked like they should be hanging out in the retirement home discussing which adult diaper was preferred, not swimming in Zeus’s pool in the nude. They watched us with sharp, intelligent eyes that seemed . . . vaguely predatory.

I suddenly had no doubt who they were. “Yaya, are these your priestesses?”

“See”—she smiled up at me and patted my cheek—“I told you all she was a clever girl.”

They cooed and waved at me.

All priestesses of Zeus. And none of the pantheon? I looked back into the house just as Narcissus stepped out of the French doors, a platter of fruits dipped in chocolate in his hand. “Narcissus. I thought you said there were some of the pantheon here?” I asked.

“There are,” came a soft voice from the cabana I’d spent some time in with Smithy. My face flushed with that memory, and I headed toward the voice, leaving Yaya where she was. I would deal with her later, and yes, I felt like it was going to be dealing with and not just talking to.

I stepped into the shadows of the tent and saw two women I’d met before, Panacea and Artemis.

I didn’t bow, but I did tip my head.

“Drakaina, it is good to see you.” Panacea smiled at me. “You have healed well.”

“Thanks to you.” After my fight with Theseus, I’d been covered in fennel oil, and it had been burning through me. Panacea had healed my wounds, allowing me to walk away from the fight on my own two legs. I took a deep breath. “You are a healer, Panacea. Can you tell me what’s going on with the Aegrus virus?”

“We do not know it as that, but I will tell you what I can,” she said.

“What do you mean you don’t know the virus as that?” I was confused as to just what else they might know it as.

She smiled. “It is not a virus but a curse, a curse that has been cast on the water now. A curse that will help a few of the pantheon gain control of the world once more.”

I didn’t like the sounds of that. “But you mean, then, that it was manufactured by like a lab or something?”

She frowned, not a single line marring her brow. “What I do know is that it is not found in nature; it is not something that the world, or the humans, have created. Someone from the pantheon has created this . . . curse.”

“Can you stop it?” I could hope, but I suspected I already knew the answer to my question.

She shook her head, her eyes sad. “No, only the one who created this sickness can call it off.”

I was willing to bet that there was one queen of the pantheon who had brought this about. Dang it all. Then again, maybe I was being hasty. Right.

“Who made it? Do you know?”

Again another headshake, her blue eyes downcast, her perfect blond ringlets falling over her bare shoulders. “No. Only one would know the answer to your question, and as you can see, he is not here.”

Artemis, who’d been completely silent up until then, snorted. “You have a . . . forgive the pun . . . monstrous task ahead of you, Drakaina. You must find Zeus. Not only will he know who has created this virus you speak of, but he must be the one to bring the pantheon back into order. If he would do that, the world would settle. There is no doubt in my mind that if he would take the reins like a true god, then all would be well once more.”