Forge of the Gods Quotes

“The rest of your party has no need to be here since they were studying at the time of the incident and nowhere near the forge.” Bethany looked ready to argue, but Jade took her hand. “Yes, sir,” she said obediently. But not without shooting me a look, asking me without words if I was okay. I gave her a reassuring nod, and my dorm mate led our friend out of the med bay. Khryseos and Argyreos stayed right where they were. “The dogs too, I’m afraid,” the Strategos instructed, directing the command to me. “I’m afraid,” I said, taking the same tone as the leader, “that where I go, they go. Especially after an incident like what happened tonight, they won’t be going anywhere without me.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“I need to see her!” I shouted as I threw all of my weight into Hailey. “You’re hysterical,” Kari said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Fuck off,” I told her,”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“Kari?” Hailey said like she was surprised to see her. Or better yet, surprised to see her in such a state. She stopped a couple of feet ahead of us, looking like she was still in motion. “There’s a fire at the forge.” It took my brain longer than it should have to figure out what she was saying because my mind replied with, “There’s always a fire in the forge.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“Jeez.” Daniella eyed her textbook with an expression of disgust. “Why does everything with the myths have to do with sex?” “Not every myth has to do with sex,” I argued, pushing myself off the wall so I could properly look Daniella in the eye. “A lot of it does,” Jade said, jumping on the bandwagon. “What about all the animals that gods turned into so they could have sex with mortals? Swans and bulls and eagles.” “That was just Zeus,” I corrected with a disgusted frown. “Then there was the sex cloud!” Jade continued. With a vigor, she yanked Beth’s textbook out of her hand and flipped through. She found her page and held up a picture of a centaur. “Ixion had sex with the Hera-shaped cloud and formed the centaurs.” “Or when Aphrodite cursed that one chick to fall in love with her dad,” Bethany said with clenched teeth and a wrinkled nose. “Everything with Aphrodite has to do with sex,” I reasoned unthinkingly. “True story,” Jade said pointedly. “Didn’t she impregnate a girl?” “She didn’t, but she caused a bear to impregnate a follower of Artemis. Her children turned out to be cannibals until Zeus turned them into birds,” I blurted out, unconsciously correcting my friend about the myth. “I don’t think that’s going to be on the test,” Daniella said skeptically. “That’s it!” Beth said with a triumphant slam of her book. “When in doubt, just write sex. You have a fifty-fifty chance of being right. Why did the Trojan war start? Sex! Why did Hercules complete his twelve tasks? Sex! How did Odysseus win Athena’s favor? Sex!”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“I’m sorry, what?” I said, blinking through my fog. “I wasn’t listening.” “Obviously,” my friend said with a playfully scolding tone. “I asked you what Tiresias told Narcissus’ mom about him. What was the prophecy?” “Let me think,” I said as I carved through the stories mentally. “Well, we know it’s vague,” Daniella supplied unhelpfully. “Prophecies are notoriously vague,” Bethany said as she popped a potato chip in her mouth. The crunch resounded through the dorm room and interrupted our study session. “Yeah, like the Ultimate Weapon one,” I muttered. “Didn’t Sarah tell you to focus on studying for the final tomorrow?” Jade reminded me. “Yeah,” I grunted, regretting ever telling them why I showed up at the late-night study session sooner than I planned. “Alright, Tiresias said that Narcissus should…” I closed my eyes and searched for the correct words. “Never know himself!” I concluded triumphantly. Beth scribbled down the answer. Then she perked up unexpectedly with a weird expression on her face. “That makes it sound like he wasn’t allowed to masturbate. Like he couldn’t know himself.” Beth’s eyebrows jumped suggestively. I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what it means.” “I know, but it’s funny,” Daniella said through a snort. “Maybe your prophecy has to do with masturbation,” Jade joked as she bent over the bed to reach for Beth’s bag of potato chips. She lifted them up, kindly, so she could grab a handful. “And the Ultimate Weapon is a vibrator!”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“I would stick the metal in the forge and then pull it out, and the whole thing would be bright green for no reason. Or a pink, like Kirby the Nintendo character pink. Or an aquamarine that shimmered like something sprinkled glitter all over it.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“We received this prophecy twenty years ago,” the Strategos said, like a professor beginning a history lesson. It was especially annoying since the daughter of Poseidon already stated that fact. “We have spent a couple of decades deciphering it and sussing out its meaning. We believe we cracked most of the code, but there was one crucial piece missing.” A knot forged in my stomach, and my breath caught in my throat. I knew where this was going. I had read my fairy tales and my epic fantasy movies. Anyone could have pegged where this was going. I shot up another prayer to my dad or to any god that was listening. Please don’t let it be me. Please don’t let them be talking about me. “We believe that missing piece…” the Strategos took a dramatic pause. A long enough one for him to sit back up and return to leaning on his elbows. The man looked me straight in the eye, but I refused to connect. I switched to looking at the top of his head. I did whatever I could to stall the inevitable, but the Strategos’s gruff voice finished his sentence and sealed my fate. “Is you.” “Fuck,” I muttered.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“I leaned my head back and released a wicked laugh of joy.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“Why do I feel like I just got a huge target on my back?” “Because you kind of did,” Daniella replied honestly. “Demigods don’t take it too kindly when you insult their godly parents like that.” “She started it,” I argued as I stuffed a fork into the middle of my pile of food. “Doesn’t matter,” Daniella concluded. “You continued it.” “She basically dropped the mic, and then you picked it up and threw it at her head when you should have just left the mic on the ground and walked offstage,” the other girl said with an astonished shake of her head. “It was kind of awesome, actually.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“I’m Karen, daughter of Hermes,” Karen recited proudly. She took another bite of the roll as if to rub it in. “Oh, and did he trick your mother into sleeping with him, or was it consensual?” I shot back, happy to have found a way to return the insult. Karen looked as though I slapped her in the face. To make matters worse, this section of the cafeteria fell silent, a natural lull in the conversation. I could feel dozens and dozens of eyes on me, but I kept my eyes on Karen, waiting for her response. Hermes was a God known for being a liar and mischief-maker. The insult shot true, and I would not back down. “My mother was one of Hermes’s most beautiful lovers,” Karen said as she leaned in, speaking sharp and low. “She was his favorite.” “Really?” I scoffed. “His most beautiful, huh? That’s quite an insult to Aphrodite, who he managed to woo and make love to. Because if your mother really was more beautiful than Aphrodite, I would get one of those 23 and Me kits and get your DNA checked.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“So did you make everything in here, or it is just for decoration?” the girl asked as she pointed behind me to some of the displays on the wall. I looked behind me to see what she referred to. Along this wall were some of the shields and breastplates I’d made. Stuck in the spaces around the prominent pieces were assorted horseshoes, a couple of daggers, a single boar’s spear, and some spurs. While the living museum mainly focused on the early pioneer days of American into the turn of the century, they approved the display of different types of armor and weapons throughout the ages. They thought having a few weapons up there would intrigue the children. But if the class from yesterday was any indication, it was difficult to get them focused on anything other than the live animals. “Oh no, I made those,” I replied with a little pride in my voice. “I made everything on display here. Well, except for him.” I pointed to the deer head over the door. “I had nothing to do with that.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“He said he was, but I didn’t believe him,” Mom said, and I heard her shake her head through the phone. “But he told me that whatever happened to him would affect you and that you needed to know about him sooner rather than later.” “And this was in your dream?” I checked with her. “Don’t sound so skeptical, Mister I-Can-Touch-Fire-With-My-Bare-Hands,” Mom snapped playfully.”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods

“Another child, one with a mouse-like face and a mop of dirty blond hair, raised his hand but didn’t wait for me to call on him. “Do you make guns?” “No,” I said, drawing out the word. “I make things like swords, knives, and axes.” “Why don’t you make guns?” the dirty-blond-haired child asked. “I can make guns,” I corrected, my exaggerated smile faltering. “So why don’t you?” Sam piped up. “I think what Sam means,” the teacher interrupted, “is why do we need blacksmiths still in today’s society?” “No,” Sam said sharply. He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking cocky and self-assured. “That’s not what I mean. I want to know why he doesn’t make guns.” “Because they are lazy and inelegant weapons,” I answered honestly. “Also, they’re a bitch to construct.” The students gasped in unison at my word choice. I didn’t mean to use that particular cuss word. It just sort of slipped out. I plastered on my fake smile. “I’m sorry about that,” I said, making my voice all fluffy and light. I pulled out the tool I had been working on before the class arrived. “Who wants to make a hotdog poker?”
― Simon Archer, Forge of the Gods