The Blood of Athens by Amy Leigh Strickland

her to an O.B.G.Y.N is beyond me.”
    “ It's
complicated. I can't explain. You know, confidentiality.”
    Jason’s
father eyed him suspiciously. He opened his mouth to speak, but was
cut off.
    “ I was
hoping to meet your girlfriend,” Elizabeth said, rescuing Jason
from further scolding. “And her daughter. You said she has a
daughter, right?”
    Jason nodded.
“Penny. She's a sophomore in high school.”
    “ That must
be nice for Haley, to have an older girl to look up to.”
    “ Penny’s a
good kid. She’s got a good head on her shoulders.”
    “ What
happened to Penny’s dad?” his father asked with a raised eyebrow.
    “ Died.
Cancer.”
    A whistling
from the tea kettle broke their conversation. Jason rushed over to
pull it off the stove while his aunt rummage through the tea boxes to
pick her flavor. “Ooh, rasberry zinger,” she said, trying to
diffuse the tension with idle chatter.
    Paul
Livingstone rose from his seat and retrieved three mugs from Jason's
cabinets. “Just remember,” he said after a long and mulled-over
pause, “Haley, Jamie, and Scott. They are your top priority. I have
no doubt that this woman is something special, but your kids come
first.”
    Special.
Celene and Penny were certainly special. Jason glanced over at the
business card stuffed into the side of his bill basket. Mr. Spade was
expecting a call. He took a deep breath and nodded. “I know, Dad.”
    Jason poured
three mugs of hot water. As their tea brewed, he opened the frozen
pizzas and put them on a cookie sheet for dinner. Family first, he
reminded himself as he slid the pizzas into the oven. The Pantheon
wasn't his family.

“ We
hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ”
    -Aesop

    x.

    The
slender trickster stood before a locked door,
a metal barrier,
bolted and chained shut.
As his body turned to a blanket of
mist,
he smirked so slightly.

    The
silver cloud of mist passed through the keyhole
and reincorporated
in the god's form,
standing inside the chamber without a
sound,
surrounded by gold.

    As
he silently surveyed all this treasure
the subtle smirk
transformed into a broad grin.
Moments just like these were the
reason they called
him the King of Thieves.

“ A lucky
person is someone who plants pebbles and harvests potatoes.”
    -Greek
Proverb

    X.

    “ Where are
we going?” Minnie asked Lewis as he dragged her down the street.
They had left their friends back at the night club and were heading
in an unknown direction through the streets of Athens. Lewis was on a
mission.
    “ You ever
see that movie about the Harvard card counters?”
    “ It's MIT,
but yes.”
    “ We're going
to do that. Or rather, you're going to do that.”
    “ So what are
you here for?”
    “ I'm the
charisma. Now, you saw the movie, so you remember it, right?”
    “ You mean
how to play and how to count cards?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ Sure, I
mean, whatever I didn't get from the movie, I clarified with a
YouTube video.”
    Lewis clapped
his hands and bounced around excitedly. “Sweet.”
    “ This is
insane,” Minnie said.
    “ But it's a
challenge. You know your wits love a challenge.”
    Ten minutes
later, Minnie and Lewis walked through the doors of the casino. Lewis
pointed to a 3:2 blackjack table with a fifty Euro minimum marked on
a kelly-green sign. Lewis wasn’t eighteen, but he was allowed to
tag along. Minnie was the legal age to gamble, so he handed Teddy’s
starting money over to let her purchase chips.
    Minnie, sat
down at the blackjack table. “Alright, Mins,” he said. “One
hand. If you lose, that's it and we go back to the hotel.”
    “ Are aces
high or low?” Minnie asked, adopting a higher-pitched voice and
trying to sound like Devon Valentine’s cheerleader friends.
    The dealer
changed the cash for chips and pushed them across the table to
Minnie. “Sir, I'll need to remind you not to touch the cards” he
said.
    Lewis tapped
the betting circle in front of Minnie. “Right