New Olympus Saga (Book 4): The Ragnarok Alternative by C.J. Carella Page A

Watchers, the other Lowell brother and Little Jimmy. All the bullies looked much the worse for wear; the Watchers had decided to add injury to injury, apparently. Welcome to D-bag Land.
    Sitting on a chair on the dais of the church was a middle-aged guy who didn’t look as comfortable in the Watcher hoodie as the younger dudes. If he’d been dressed normally, he would have passed for your typical small town wise and gentle old-timer, with grayish hair, neatly-trimmed beard, and thick glasses. The eyes behind the glasses were cold and flinty, though, matching the emotions beneath. From the way everyone was looking at him, he was the man in charge. Even Charlie the Emo looked a bit greener around the edges when he saw him.
    “Sheriff Bergen,” Charlie said, bowing deep at the waist like they did in Karate school. “I didn’t want to bother you with this, sir.”
    “Been a slow day, and I heard there was someone with potential around these parts,” the Sheriff-Watcher said. “I’ve been charged with finding some fresh blood for the Games. Goddess needs new recruits.”
    Oh, no, no .
    “These two?” Charlie said, indicating Robb and her. “They’re nothing. White trash. They got lucky and beat up three other losers.”
    “It was the girl,” Little Jimmy said. From the looks of it, someone gave him a fat lip to go with his bruised testes. “Bitch broke my balls.”
    “Is that so?” Sheriff Bergen said. Jimmy nodded emphatically. “Come closer, little girl. I want to get a good look at you.”
    She walked up to the dais. This isn’t going to end well .
    The old man was undressing her with his eyes as she approached. She didn’t know what she would do if he went beyond that.
    Probably do something that will get me killed .
    “Pretty enough. Bet she cleans up real nice. Healthy. Let’s see what she can do. Charlie, pick one of your boys. If he can pin her down, he can do whatever he wants with her.”
    And here we go again .
    She was scared crapless, but also mad as hell. The combination was making her vaguely nauseated.
    While the other Watchers cleared a fighting area by moving pews around, Charlie picked the lucky wannabe rapist. All five members of his posse wanted in on the action. That almost sparked a fight right then and there, but the Emo put an end to it by the simple expedient of cold-cocking the friskiest guy in the bunch, restoring order and cutting down on the number of applicants in one swell foop.
    “Luke,” he said, pointing at a wiry guy with a crewcut and a whole three front teeth, which looked pretty lonely when he smiled in triumph. “You’re up.”
    “We’s gonna have fun,” Luke said, lisping badly and sending a thin spray of saliva everywhere.
    What the eff do I do? Beat him quickly and get sent to the freaking Goddess as my door prize? Lose and get raped? Make it look like I barely held my own, and probably get raped anyway?
    Anger won out. Frakk it. I’m probably dead anyway, so I’m going out on a high note .
    Luke came at her, stupid-like, just like Little Jimmy. For a place that was essentially a matriarchy, they sure didn’t seem to respect women. He bull-rushed her, going for a tackle and takedown. She dodged the clumsy charge with ease and tripped him with a strategically-placed foot. Luke ended up sprawled on his stomach, to the laughter of everyone else. As he scrambled to get up, she walked up behind him and kicked him right between his ass cheeks, getting at least a partial impact on the family jewels. Luke folded into a fetal position with a cry of pain, giving her plenty of targets for a follow-up kick. She picked the kidneys, just to stay consistent. Luke yelped, all thoughts of violence against women forgotten.
    Maybe next time he won’t be so eager to join the local wrestle-and-rape team .
    “Well, well, well,” Sheriff Bergen said, looking pleasantly surprised. “She is a little minx isn’t she? Where have you been hiding her?”
    “She never done