“Yeah, I'm great. Nothing like witnessing a death match between gods when I'm trying to get some Cheetos. -Deacon”

“Deacon laughed. "Oh, you're so going to be the next person who gets hit. I'm putting money on that.""You need to add yourself to that list." Aiden looked about seventy-percent serious."And I'm putting money on that," Luke threw in.”

“She's Awakening,' Aiden said, voice tight.'But the blood...' I heard Marcus move closer. 'Why is she bleeding?'I eased onto my side. 'I'm being tattooed by a giant, mother fu-' Another strangled scream cut of my words as a different type of pain settled in, moving under my skin. It was like lighting racing through my veins, frying every nerve ending.'This is... wow,' Deacon said, and I pried my eyes open. There was a whole audience by the door.'Get them out of here!' I screamed, jackknifing on the floor. 'Gods, this sucks!''Whoa,' I heard Deacon murmur. 'This is like watching a chick give birth or something.''Oh my gods, I'm going to kill him.' I could feel the beads of blood breaking out under my jeans. 'I'm going to punch him-''Everyone leave,' Aiden ground out. 'This isn't a godsdamn show.''And I think he's like the father,' Luke said.Aiden rose to his feet. 'Get. Out.”

“If you cannot defeat him and take his power, then you must kill him."Apollo made it all sound so simple, like he was asking me to go to the store and pick up Crunchy Cheetos and if they didn't have them in stock, to get Cheetos Puffs. Insane.”

“It's the same thing when I'm gardening or reading. It's just me and what I'm doing, or the world I'm reading, and nothing else.”

“how could he explain what happened? 'hey, honey, i'm an alien and apparently i just doused you with some radioactive loving! wanna catch a movie?' Yeah, not cool.”

“Apollo was still a no-show and the cabin out in the middle of nowhere had become a god-free zone. A good thing, but I figured one would just pop in, most likely in Deacon's bed or something, where we'd least expect them.”