A furious goddess on one hand, and a legendary monkey warrior on the other.
"I don't suppose we could all sit down to dinner together," I offer.
The glares aimed at me tell me that suggestion isn't going to fly.
Technically, I did promise to meet with Athena tonight. But it was supposed to be after dinner. I accepted Sun Wukong's dinner invitation first. Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom. She's not acting very wise right now. Maybe it's some sort of competition between her and Sun Wukong. That would make sense. The Olympian gods can be jealous and possessive.
"I wonder if Zeus and Hera are free for dinner," I quip.
Sun Wukong scratches his fur. "THOSE two? Do you like bloodshed with your entrée?"
Athena rolls her gray eyes. "Try sitting in the same throne room when they're not speaking to each other."
I hold up my hands. "Athena, I promised to stop by your room later. Sun Wukong, I accepted your dinner invitation. Athena said nothing about dinner."
"I assumed you'd be working through dinner," Athena protested. "You often do. And you order room service after shutting the door for the night."
I shouldn't be surprised that she knows my habits. Not because she's a goddess, but because "workaholic new manager" is my brand. Except for buying trips and meetings with suppliers and partners, I've barely left the property since I got here. It's a gorgeous resort, but if I'm sitting by the pool, I'm working. I fall into bed alone every night, exhausted.
"I often eat dinner here, or lunch," I protest. "To talk to the staff, or to get face time with the hotel guests."
"As I said, you work through dinner," Athena said. "This was not supposed to be work."
"Nor was my invitation," Sun Wukong asserts, not to be outdone. "Daji would get creative with punishing me if I added to your permanent exhaustion and stress. I intended to just have a relaxing dinner, and then perhaps we could go hiking in the country. It's going to be a beautiful night."
"I was going to take him up to my suite and let him relax." Athena leans in, and I swear her expression is sultry, but understated.
It's ten times sexier than if she threw herself at me like a femme fatale.
Hold on, Van. This is a Greek Goddess. I know my mythology. Love affairs between gods and mortals don't typically end well—for the mortal, at least. But maybe I'm reading too much into it. After all, she hinted that she wanted to share the inn's secrets. Well, I know the big one. I figured that out myself. But that's just the tip of the godly iceberg. There's probably a whole ice kingdom I don't know about.
Athena continued. "And, as a longtime guest—"
"We're all longtime guests," Sun Wukong jabs. "I've been coming here way before you emerged fully formed out of your father's head."
"You're not that ancient," she sniffs. "As a preferred guest, I want to educate our tireless manager and owner here about the business. Surely, that's knowledge he should have."
I give her my most charming smile. "You're not wrong, and I do want that knowledge. Later."
A glimmer of disappointment in her eyes, and then she stands. "Very well. I shall expect you promptly at eight o'clock."
Surrendering with grace, she moves to a table by the window.
Sun Wukong flashes me a blinding white grin. "Evidently, Eros—Cupid—has been sticking her with arrows like she's an archery target. She likes you."
"Is Aphrodite staying in this hotel?"
"Not in an eon."
He might mean that literally. I'll have to check the records.
Sun Wukong digs into his Buddha's Feast that the faun waiter brings from the kitchen. It could literally be created by Buddha. As for me, I picked the Jotunheim Steak with a side of Asgard Whipped Potatoes and Apples of Gold. Mmmm.
"I thought you'd order Greek food," he says with a cheeky look on his face.
I'm not taking the bait. "Are you going to order peach cobbler? And have it served to you by lovely maidens?"
"If you could send some Apsaras out with the peach cobbler, that would be…divine."
I roll my eyes and dig into my juicy, tender steak, hoping it's not made from the famous Midgard Serpent. "I noticed my grandparents' records date back at least a century. How long has this inn been around?"
"A while," he says mysteriously. "Your family have been its keepers for longer than you know. And as for the records…they could be in the Hall of Ages."
"What's that?"
He smirks. "Come now, I can't tell you all the inn's secrets. Where would be the fun in that? Every new owner throughout this resort's history has made his or her own discoveries."
The apples are especially crisp and tasty tonight. All the flavors seem more vivid. Maybe it's because this is the first time since I arrived that I've sat down to enjoy a meal without inhaling it.
"What kinds of discoveries?"
He pats my arm with a fond smile, like an uncle showing affection to a nephew. "More than your mind can even comprehend. It's all true, by the way, or mostly."
"What is?"
"Why, the myth of the Monkey King. I actually enjoy your television programs and movies as much as the Chinese novels. And the operas! Of course, I do have to quibble with some of them. They never quite get one of my companions, Pigsy, right. He's a fool, yes, a lazy glutton who never met a dessert or a woman he didn't like. But he's a lovable fool. There's a story about him that really illustrates his kind heart. I mean, he still ends up getting into scrapes he shouldn't, but underneath all that silliness, he's got a heart of gold. Let me tell you the story. You want to hear it, don't you? Sure you do. It's funny."
Sun Wukong launches into a tale about his companion, Pigsy. In the story, Pigsy and Sun Wukong gointo a cavern near the famous Terracotta Army in China to stop a demon from destroying the legendary tomb. Pigsy uses his cultivation to win over the demon and convince the monster that the statues are just lumps of stone and no fun.
"The best part is when Pigsy tells this demon, 'If you want playthings, we can make you toys like you've never seen before.' The demon is so excited that he listens to Pigsy and runs back into the cave. Then, Pigsy and I seal the cave entrance!"
I've stopped eating, even though my dessert has arrived. "The demon just wanted to play?"
"Demons live thousands of years. After a while, they get bored, like everyone else. And believe me, a bored demon is the last thing you want to encounter." Sun Wukong smiles. "Or a bored goddess."
I give him the side-eye. "So, the Terracotta Warriors are safe from this demon?"
"Well…we did throw a few enchanted action figures and toys into the cave." Sun Wukong burps and wipes his mouth with a napkin. "As I said, Pigsy is kind-hearted. And hadn't you better be getting along? You don't want to keep Athena waiting."
I quickly leave, ignoring Sun Wukong's penetrating stare like a laser heating my back.
Athena's door has a brass nameplate on it: "The Olympian Suite."
I knock on the door, feeling my knees knocking together. Why? I've been in meetings with attractive women before. Attractive, intelligent, older women. Attractive, intelligent, older women who can lead gods into battle.
The door swings open, and Athena smiles at me. She's dressed in a bare, filmy Grecian-style gown, her hair up.
If I recall the myths about her, she's supposed to be the virgin goddess who took a vow of chastity. She couldn't be trying to seduce me…could she?