There was another rumble. This time the plates and glasses jumped, and liquor sloshed onto the tablecloth.

  “Oh!” the girls exclaimed together, cutely alarmed.

  This was not good. “Perhaps we should retire from the meal,” he said. “At least while this awkwardness continues. You are welcome to come to my suite for a nightcap.”

  “Oh, that sounds nice,” the blonde said.

  “Does it have a big bed?” the brunette asked.

  But then a third rumble came, and this one was bad. The table tilted and dumped the dishes onto the floor with a tingling crash. There were screams from other tables. This was not blasting; this was an earthquake!

  “This way,” the exec said urgently, putting his arms around the slender waists of the girls. They hurried to the elevator bank.

  But now the lights blinked and faded. The power was out! The elevators wouldn't work. In fact it was dangerous to remain inside the building, lest the upper floor come crashing down on their heads.

  The floor pitched violently. A supportive column came loose and crashed down. The blonde screamed as it crushed her to the floor.

  He grabbed for her hand in the darkness, to try to haul her clear. But it was already wet with blood. She was beyond saving.

  “We must get out of the building!” he called to the brunette.

  “Yes!” she cried, frightened.

  They hurried down the hall toward a crease of light that signaled the outdoors.

  Then there was another rumble, and a section of the ceiling dropped. The brunette screamed as it bore her to the floor.

  He paused, feeling the rubble. It was massive; there was no chance she had survived. All he could do was scramble over it and go on.

  He did not make it. Another shake brought more of the building down, and this time he was the target. Concrete landed on either side of him, trapping him. He knew the next heave would crush him.

  Your industry's pollution is poisoning the ground.

  He woke with a feeling of impending doom. He knew that fracking caused earthquakes, but so far they had been small and local. Now that was changing.

  What could he do? Well, he would make sure he didn't spend the night in any big building near any of the fracking sites. That was just common sense.

  “It's not working,” Nerine said. “The top execs know they are degrading the world, but they don't care. They just make sure that they personally don't suffer from the effects of the pollution. Bad dreams don't stop them.”

  “It's time to try something that will stop them,” Neris said grimly.

  “No violence,” Hedva repeated.

  “No physical violence,” he agreed. “I've been thinking about it. I'm thinking of sending a worse nightmare. One they won't readily dismiss.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Rosie asked.

  “The great majority of the highest execs are men. The glass ceiling keeps the women out. If there's one thing that gets the attention of a man, it's a threat to his masculinity, genuine or implied. I'm thinking of a dream of impotence.”

  “A dream won't do it,” Kelsey said. “It has to be a real threat.”

  “That depends on the dream. Much of impotence is psychological.” He turned to Hedva. “Would you object to a dream that made a man afraid of sex?”

  She laughed, embarrassed. “No. That's the opposite of violence. But I can't imagine any dream that would do that.”

  “Neither can I, at the moment. But there has to be something.”

  “I can’t think of a script,” Kelsey said.

  “There may not be one,” Rosie said. “You're the only man, Neris, that I can be naked with who isn't hot for my pants, so to speak, even when he knows I'm lesbian. But you're part god, and can turn it off at will. I doubt any mortal man can.”

  Neris was afraid they were right. But he had to find a way if one existed. “We'll see. I'll have some spot research to do first.” Hoping he would somehow find a lead. “Meanwhile it's time to help you and Hedva move into your new laboratory.”

  “We will gladly do so. But are you sure it's safe?”

  “My sisters will be watching,” Nerine said. “They'll intercept any bombing attempt. They support our effort. Father Nereus gave them the word.”

  “You're sisters are fun, even in the brutal dreams.”

  “The dreams give them a chance to be mischievous without actually violating any godly strictures.”

  “Strictures?”

  “They're not supposed to take any physical actions that might reveal their natures to the mortals. I alone am allowed to be physical, though I try not to abuse it. But dreams aren't physical.”

  “That's why the nereids are satisfied just to tease me,” Kelsey said. “They're not allowed to get physical.”

  “That's it,” Nerine agreed.

  “But you can be.”

  “I can be physical,” she agreed. “But I'm satisfied just to tease you too.”

  “I know I can't win your love. But some day I hope to win your passion, at least for a night.”

  She shrugged. “Some day, perhaps.”

  Neris was intrigued. Nerine had been his nanny; he had no passion for her. Kelsey had come to the scene later, and saw her as a lovely young woman. He knew her nature and age, but still was attracted to her. Men could be like that. Kelsey really did want to get her into his bed for sex. She was playing him along, as she had throughout their association, and he knew that too, but Kelsey still hoped she would some day change her mind. And some day she might.

  Nerine caught his eye and nodded. She might indeed. Kelsey was not a man to be trifled with, but it seemed she wasn't trifling. Just as she would castrate him if he ever betrayed their project, she would reward him if she ever found sufficient reason. She could read his mind, and he knew it, so the dialogue was on more than one level. Neris was almost jealous of the game they were playing, and of the stakes for it. He had no similar interest of his own.

  Hedva touched his hand. “I am concerned for you.”

  “Now wait! You're not a mind reader.”

  “I don't need telepathy when I see you watching Nerine and Kelsey flirting. That would stir a similar interest in any young man. I wish you had a serious girlfriend; it would settle you down.”

  “How can I have an interest in any ordinary girl? None of them have a mind like yours.” He was speaking only part of it; his crush on her had made regular girls seem largely irrelevant. That had faded into the background, but still influenced him. If only Hedva were his age, and healthy!

  She smiled indulgently. “You have perhaps been spoiled by your intellect. But Rosie comes close.”

  “Nu-uh,” Rosie said. “We get along because we have no romantic interest in each other. When we sleep together we sleep. We're close companions, is all. What Neris needs is a hetero woman with a mind like yours and a body like mine or Nerine's.”

  Hedva laughed. “If I had a body like one of yours, and a lifetime ahead of me, I'd marry him.”

  Neris stayed out of it, lest he betray feelings he preferred not to. They had nailed him: he wanted a young or young-looking woman with a mature mind and dedication to the project. The only females who came remotely close were the nereids, and they were his half sisters. His mortal half and mortal training banned them from any serious attachment. Maybe once the mission had been accomplished he would be able to look more widely. Surely there were women out there who were like Rosie or Hedva but were hetero and with lives ahead of them.

  Hedva squeezed his hand. “Surely there are,” she agreed.

  Siphon

  “Maybe you should go home,” Nerine said.

  “Why? They're happy without me.”

  “Doris misses you. But mainly I have a feeling. You know I'm not much for precognition, but I think she can help you.”

  She did have a fair sense of what was what. It was best to heed her advice.

  Neris went home to Doris and Crosby, now happily married. He got along with his stepfather well enough, in significant part because Doris wanted no trouble between them. Crosby knew Neris' nature and origin, and knew of Nerine, but evidently preferred not to think about them when he didn't have to. He was an old-line conservative who did not believe in gods or magic. But now Neris needed their advice.

  “For multiple reasons I will not go into details,” he said. “I find myself in a situation where I need to put the fear of god, or at least of sex, into some people, but must not practice violence. I have friends who can generate bad dreams and project them to sleepers as nightmares. I need a nightmare so bad that it will make a man swear off sex, at least for some time. So I come to you in the hope of getting some objective and maybe skeptical advice. How can I fashion such a dream?”

  Crosby shook his head. “You're a strange one, and I don't mean your origin. The devious courses of your mind amaze me. Yet I know that your projects have made you a billionaire while you remain technically a minor, so I take you seriously.”

  Of course the man did know; finance was his business, and he tracked any significant financial currents in the economy. He also handled Neris' private account, and saw its size first hand. Neris' ability to make money compelled Crosby's respect. “I'm a strange one,” Neris agreed. “But that is getting me nowhere in this case. I need input from left field.”

  “Nerine can't advise you?” Doris asked gently.

  “She can and does, constantly. But this one has her stumped. She advised me to come to you.”

  “Thank you Nerine,” Doris said, smiling. Nerine was present but invisible, because Crosby preferred her that way. It could be that her chronic nudity agitated him.

  “Considering the circles you move in,” Crosby said carefully, “You might consider a monster like the gorgon. I understand that her body can be seductive, but her snake-framed face can turn men to stone. I would be extremely nervous if I encountered one of those in a dream.”

  “Or a siren,” Doris said. “You may have a certain affinity there.”

  “Affinity?” This was new to him.

  “Do you know, it took me time to realize it, but your name is 'siren' spelled backwards. I originally thought it was a simplification of your father, Nereus, and a male variant of the female nereids, but considering the powers that you have, siren fits.”

  “Siren,” Neris repeated thoughtfully. “I do have the ability to summon women by song, though I never thought of it quite that way. Of course I can't summon men similarly, so I suppose I'd need a real siren for the role.”

  “Sirens are dangerous,” Crosby said, happy to agree with his wife. “They lure sailors to their deaths, and I'm sure the lure is sexual. That may indeed be your best bet for a nightmare.”

  “And that's what scares me,” Doris said. “They are utterly heartless creatures, half woman, half bird. Could you handle a siren, Neris, if she called you? Because if you can't, this is nothing for you to tackle.”

  “I don't know,” Neris said. “Could I, Nerine?”

  “That depends on the siren,” Nerine said. “They're not all birds. Some are simply mermaids with good singing voices; it's really their pretty faces, luxuriant never-wet hair, and overfull breasts flashing in the waves that lure the sailors, who can't see their tails.” She smiled briefly. “As it is said, all the good parts of a woman and none of the bad parts, though men seem to like the bad parts too. True bird-sirens are of a different order, with bird-like larynxes. Of course they have faces, hair and breasts too, along with the bad parts; they’re half human crossbreeds, designed to entice men who seldom look beyond those artifacts. But it's their song that does it. Frankly, I'm not sure you could withstand one of those, Neris. You're good at singing, very good, but you have never been the target of it. Better not to risk it. Go for a mermaid.”

  Was there a certain tacit resentment of those man traps? Neris remained intrigued. “It's the compelling song I want. One that no mortal man can resist.”

  “That's the bird woman, then. But this makes me nervous.”

  “Me too,” Doris said. “I remember how helpless I was to resist the song of your father. Fortunately he did not want to kill me, only--” She broke off, glancing at her conservative husband.

  “And Neris resulted,” Crosby said. “This may surprise you, Doris, but I suspected you weren't a virgin before I married you.”

  “Well, I was except for that,” she said defensively.

  “I will see about the siren,” Neris said, not completely comfortable with this dialogue. “Thank you.”

  “You're welcome,” Doris said, embarrassed.

  The moment he was alone with Nerine he asked her. “How are sirens vicious?”

  “Must you know?”

  “Would you prefer to have me go up against a siren without knowing?”

  She shuddered. “No. A siren brings a man in with her song, seduces him, then pins his penis inside her, punctures it, and sucks the blood out of him via that avenue. It's her way of getting enough fresh nutrient to form and birth her daughter. Like a mosquito, or a praying mantis.”

  This surprised him. “What happens to the man?”

  “Once he is drained of all his blood, she releases him. He is of course already dead, likely with a smile on his face.”

  “And you think that the siren would do that to me?”

  “I know she will, unless you kill her first.”

  “I don't want to kill her. I want to capture her.”

  “That is more difficult.”

  “How can it be done?”

  “A full god would ejaculate a drug to pacify her and make her a virtual slave to his will. She would have to assimilate it, because her body is geared to process the blood. In effect, her ploy is reversed. She is as vulnerable through her cloaca as he is through his penis. That is the only way. But you are half mortal.”

  “Cloaca? The common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals open in birds and reptiles? No separate vagina?”

  “She is a bird, Neris. A bird woman, but a bird. In this case it also houses the feeding canal. She looks human only on the outside, so as to deceive men about her nature. She may use illusion to make her vulva look human. So you can see this is not something you want to get into, literally.”

  “I'm half mortal, but also half god. Do I have the drug?”

  “In your ejaculate? Yes, but only half the strength of a god's. So its chancy at best. She would be at full strength. So in any such engagement you would be in effect fighting with one arm tied behind you.”

  “Suppose she didn't know about my godly half? So that I could get it in her. Would it pacify her?”

  “If she were surprised, so that it had time to work, yes. At least you would have a fifty percent chance. But also a fifty percent chance to die. Those are not safe odds, Neris.”

  He had to agree. There were only so many even bets he could take before he lost. “How can I improve the odds?”

  “I don't know. I would have to inquire.”

  “We'll inquire together.”

  “You actually want to do this thing, Neris? I thought you had grown into better sense.”

  “No such luck,” he said, smiling.

  She did not argue further. “We'll go ask Rhea.”

  “We maybe have a lead,” he told Rosie by text message. “We're going to see Rhea.”

  She texted promptly back. “I'll tell Hedva.”

  Neris turned to Nerine. “Can we do this one quickly?”

  “I will ask Rhea.” Nerine texted on her own phone, surprising him. The mother of the gods had a cell phone?

  The reply was immediate: “Come.”

  Nerine took his hand. “Close your eyes briefly.”

  He closed them briefly. When he opened them, they were in Rhea's underwater palace. He was now nude. He had not known that Nerine had that power.

  “I don't,” she answered his thought. “Rhea lent it to me, to facilitate the interview.”

  “This is serious business,” Rhea said. She did not need to ask their mission; evidently she already knew it. “I can enhance your seed, but it remains chancy.”

  “Enhance it,” Neris said.

  “Give me your member.”

  He stepped close to her, proffering his penis. She took it in one hand, massaging it. In an instant it was stiff. She put her mouth down, taking it in. Then she seemed to blow, only not with air. There was a jolt like a reverse orgasm. Something was entering him; he felt it coursing through his member well down into his body, like a flow of molten lava. There was no pain, rather the opposite, a phenomenal fulfillment. He felt supercharged. It had to be additional magic potency. She withdrew, and his penis was limp but ready.

  Rhea lifted her head. “Put that into her, and it will infuse her body, governing it, making her subject to your will. She will take it in because that is the way she feeds: first the semen, then the blood. The difference is that this is a much heavier dose than she will anticipate, which will overwhelm her before she catches on. But you must distract her with the song or she will realize the threat and escape. Or, worse, prevail, and drain you of blood.”

  “Thank you,” he said, amazed.

  “Do not expend it on anything except the siren,” she warned. “There is only one dose.”

  “Aunt Rhea, we have not yet found a siren,” Nerine said.

  The goddess glanced at her. “Oh, pshaw! You will want Siphon.”

  “Siphon?” Neris asked.

  “I had better provide the context. In the beginning, when the universe was without form and void, Chaos generated his daughter Nox, then married her and generated Gaea, who cohabited with assorted gods and became the mother of the titans, including my siblings and me. We had little choice but to marry each other, in those early days. But some were impatient. They were not supposed to breed with animals, but a few did; gods will be gods. Thus came the rogue offspring, with some godly powers and some mortal liabilities. Some bred with the fishes, producing mermaids; others with birds, producing harpies and sirens.”

  “The gods indulged in bestiality?” Neris asked.

  “Oh, don't be shocked. Of course they did. How else do you suppose the myriad crossbreeds came about? The centaurs, the sphinxes, the werewolves and all. Our concern at the moment is the distinction between a male god breeding with a female bird, and a female god breeding with a male bird. The former reproduces by laying eggs that hatch harpies. The latter turned out to be the most potent combination, producing live issue with double larynxes, wings, and human torsos. That enabled them to sing in a manner no mortal could match, and to seduce the mortal males they summoned, so that they could imbibe their blood. In that manner they were able to parthenogenetically birth their daughters, on down to the present time. All have similar names: Sibyl, Siege, Silver, Signet, Simile, Sizzle and so on. The one you want is Siphon.”