Natalia looked at the time on her phone, then to the screen where the flights were displayed, and sighed. Delayed. Aries sat beside her, a coffee in each hand, and she handed one to her.

Forty-eight hours ago, she was just a bartender in Nevada trying to make ends meet. She never expected to be sitting in an airport with a strange woman with the name of a Zodiac sign waiting for a flight to Philadelphia so she could meet six other strangers in hopes of saving the world from creatures from Greek mythology. And it was all too easy to convince her parents to let her go. With some creative liberties, of course.

“You ready for this?” Aries asked, watching her carefully.

Natalia sighed. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Aries grinned. “Ready to follow your destiny, then?”

Natalia scoffed. “I’m starting to think my parents were just waiting for me to leave. They probably would have let me go even if I told them the truth.”

“They want better for you than what they had,” Aries said.

“It’s not like I told them I’m doing anything extraordinary,” Natalie said. “I said I had a dream that I traveled the world and I felt like it was something I should do. Most parents would probably be warier about letting their kids go off on their own like that.”

“You said so yourself,” Aries reminded her. “Don’t they take vision quests pretty seriously?”

“Maybe two hundred years ago.”

“Your culture is important to them. And from what I know of you mortals, many people have an itch for adventure. Even going so far to live out of tiny vans.”

Natalia grinned. “That always did look fun.”

“Well, you may get to live that life.”

“I don’t think twelve of us will fit in a van.”

“You’d be so lucky to have a van,” Aries said.

Natalia frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means this could literally take us anywhere and everywhere,” she explained. “Maybe our adventures will lead to a comfy hotel room. Or, maybe we’ll be roughing it under the open sky.”

“I heard comfy hotel rooms,” Natalia said. “You’ve got that covered, right?”

“When we can manage it.”

“So, what, do you just have all the money you need to do whatever you want? Buy plane tickets and hotel rooms?”

Aries grinned. “Not exactly.”

“Then how did you make this happen?”

“We’re tools for the Gods,” she said. “And they can make anything happen. A little divine intervention here and there and poof, we get to ship you halfway across the country.”

“Right. Seems logical.”

“And some of you mortals believe a man can walk on water.”

Natalia smirked. “Guess you got us there. So, who are we meeting with, anyway?”

“Taurus and Freya. I’ve also gotten word from Pisces and Gemini who are both relatively close as well. There’s a good chance we’ll meet up with all of them once we get there.”

Natalia took a deep breath. “Okay,” she started. “The team’s coming together.”

“That’s the spirit,” Aries said gleefully.