Sun God Seeks…Surrogate? (Accidentally Yours #3)(50)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“No. Really!”

I blabbed a million miles an hour, telling them all about how Kinich had said the prayer, but that I’d forgotten until I’d heard the words spoken by Guy.

“Isn’t it great!” I said, clapping.

“Penelope.” Kinich mumbled. “You haven’t won a new car. In fact, we have a very big problem.”

I turned my head toward the ceiling. Then floor. Then…“I don’t know where to look when I talk to you, so I’ll just say this to my shoes.” They were snow boots, actually. That’s all I had with me. “Up until five minutes ago, I’d thought I lost you forever. So trust me. This is way better.”

“The same could be said about a tuna sandwich,” Kinich grumbled.

“Wow. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a downer?”

“Yes. Frequently. I believe Cimil refers to me as a Donna Downer—some acquaintance of hers, I suppose.”

“It’s Debbie.”

“Ah yes. Debbie is correct. But how is it that you also know her?”

He clearly had no clue who Debbie was. “You don’t watch television, do you?”

“Not this decade, but I understand the Me Tube is quite popular. I intend to watch my video—”

“Eh-hem!” Emma chimed in. “Sorry to interrupt the conversation…with…yourself—sounds pretty interesting, by the way—but could you explain that little part about Kinich again?”

“Oh. Sorry.” I jumped up and down. “Kinich’s soul, or…light…whatever you people call it, parked itself inside my body.”

I explained once again all about the ritual and how I’d completed it.

“You’re frigging kidding me,” Emma said. “That’s almost as weird as what happened to me.”

Before I could say another word, Guy appeared in the room.

“Did I miss much?” He said with a cocked brow and arrogance in his voice only a god could pull off.

Emma squealed and ran across the room, launching herself at him. He easily caught her petite frame.

“What happened? Did you find anything?” I asked.

Emma smothered his face in kisses.

“Hold on, honey.” He pecked Emma’s lips and then set her down. A gloomy frown occupied his face. “I was unable to find your mother. But I have found a few clues that might lead to the Maaskab. I’ve called an emergency summit for tomorrow to discuss it.” His eyes dropped. “I am sorry, Penelope, not to bring you better news.”

“It’s still something.” I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry.

Gabrán then jumped in and informed Guy about Kinich. Surprisingly, Guy didn’t seem at all worried. In fact, he looked downright amused.

See, ambassadors of weird.

“Well, Kinich,” Guy said with a grin. “Seems Fate’s having a little fun with you.”

“Fuck off,” I heard Kinich say. Obviously, Kinich could hear anything I heard, but no one could hear him back. So I said, “He says you’ve always been his favorite brother.”

Guy quirked a brow before turning toward Gabrán, still clutching Emma in his arms. “The others are right behind me, please make sure their needs are taken care of and that they do not destroy Kinich’s house this time.”

Kinich grumbled his appreciation, but I didn’t share, because Guy wasted no time relocking lips with Emma right in the foyer. It didn’t appear they had any plans to detach this century. In fact, they reminded me of a barnacle and a tanker.

I was about to comment that I wasn’t in the mood to watch the prelude to their “lovemaking”—damn, I was jealous—but that’s when I saw them.

“Oh my…gods…”

***

One by one they streamed into the living room.

They glowed. They radiated. They exuded the sort of power humans dreamed of. Words could not do justice, so I simply said, “Wow,” and let my jaw hang open.

“Wow, what?” Kinich asked.

“The other gods,” I whispered. “They’re here.”

“Ah yes. Stand your guard, woman.”

Um…okay. Was there something to be afraid of? Because, I didn’t feel afraid. I felt like running to get a camera.

And would he ever stop calling me “woman”?

“Sure thing, Minotaur,” I sighed.

First, a man with golden skin and ankle-length black hair streaked with silver, floated in. He wore a royal blue toga and an ostentatious, foot-high, jade headdress. His turquoise eyes were filled with irreverence as he surveyed the room.

Next came a tall, slender woman with golden waves of hair, wearing a bow and arrow and a short, white dress belted at the waist with leather cord—She-Ra? Princess of Power? Is that you?—followed by a rather statuesque woman wearing what looked to be a hat shaped like Winnie the Pooh’s beehive.

One by one, some with black hair and dark skin; some with white hair and light golden skin; some dressed semi-normal and others barely dressed at all; the ten beings lined up in front of me while I stood there gawking.

“Hi, I’m Penelo—”

Before I finished, all ten kneeled down and set objects on the hardwood floor.

I glanced at Guy and Emma for help, but they were still engaged in their heavy petting near the front door. Gabrán and a few of his men stood motionless at attention.

“Kinich,” I whispered. “What’s going on?”

“What are they doing?” he asked.

I covered my mouth to stifle the noise. “They’re kneeling on the ground. They put stuff on the floor.”

One had set out a smallish wooden box; the lady with the white dress, a set of horns from an elk or something. Another, a leather bota. There was also a jar of honey and some other bric-a-brac. It seemed they’d all gone to Cost Plus and shopped in the third world knickknack section.

Then my eyes shifted to the far end of the line to my right.

The woman wore a flowing black dress and lace veil. And though I could scarcely see her iridescent eyes through the cloth, her stare gave me the heebie-jeebies. Then I noticed her little prize.

Ewww. A dead rat?

“They are honoring you. Do not be nervous,” Kinich instructed

Oh hardy, har, har, har. Suuure. Nothing to be nervous about. The most powerful beings in the world are kneeling in front of me, offering dead things and other assorted sundries.

“Why are they doing this?” I asked Kinich.

“Simply thank them,” he replied.