Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #2)(53)
“Smart dog!” Hound announced proudly as she bumped her shoulder into Hell’s with a clatter.
“Why do they seem so happy?” Nyx asked suspiciously.
“They want to die,” I said dryly.
Nyx clacked her jaw with excitement. “So—can I try and kill them now?”
“No.”
“So, yes.”
“No.”
“No, as in maybe?”
I stared up at the multiple water faucets. “Asking for a friend—can snakes drown?”
Nyx hissed but fell silent as she slid up my body and twined around my arm.
A few minutes later, I stumbled out of the bathroom and dressed for bed. From the peaceful quiet, my husbands had left.
I slipped into the adjoining room.
Ceres was asleep under the covers, which were covered in the Spartan history books that Helen kept giving her.
A pen was still clutched between her ink-stained fingers, like she’d fallen asleep taking notes, desperately trying to regain her memory.
In the bright moonlight, her features were soft and doll-like—she furrowed her brow and whimpered, looking impossibly young in the grand four-poster bed—there were ink smudges on her cheeks.
Lavender eyes blinked open and Ceres yawned, pointing to a book open at the foot of the bed. “I think … I’m finally remembering.”
She closed her eyes and turned, snuggling under the covers as she fell back asleep.
I peered down at the book she’d pointed to. Words were scribbled at the top of the page in her cursive handwriting.
“Zeus + Vyco. Hercules? Assassination?”
My stomach dropped.
What do I have to do with her memory?
Also, Vyco was the man who claimed I’d been attacked by Titans as a baby.
The scar on my sternum tingled.
I looked closer at the book. The text appeared to be archaic symbols in different colors, and was like no history book I’d ever seen.
Ceres had underlined sections and written in the margin, “Need to remember that day.”
How can she read this?
I backed away.
Tensions in Sparta were high.
Just yesterday, “Medusa manhunt picks up steam, Federation plans to start interrogating Chthonics” was printed across the top of the daily Falcon Chronicles.
I need to run away while I still can.
I rubbed at my wrists.
Hades believes in you.
I stumbled back into Helen’s dark bedroom.
Helen and Charlie were both asleep.
During my shower (protracted mental health episode), the two of them must have returned from their night tutoring session.
Charlie was asleep on the floor in a pile of pink pillows, a healthy glow to his cheeks. His features had been filling out since he began his stay at the villa.
Kohl was smudged around his eyes. Definitely Helen’s.
Smiling more and scowling less, Charlie stuck to Helen’s side since they had classes together all day. They often were giggling with each other at some joke the rest of us didn’t understand. He wrote on a notepad and was constantly showing it to her, then hiding it from everyone else.
I’d even caught him signing with Achilles at dinner.
There was no evidence of the aggressive boy who was constantly getting into fights. He’d shed his old, starved self like a second skin.
I wished I could do the same.
Charlie smiled in his sleep. Fluffy Jr. lay facing him, their arms (and hooves?) overlapping.
Sighing, feeling like I was twenty going on one hundred years old, I slid under pink silk sheets.
Almost instantly I dreamed of the grim reaper standing over me.
He caressed my cheek. “I’ll be back,” he promised darkly. “Don’t worry—I’ll always return.”
My eyes opened and I sat up with a gasp.
Death was gone.
Did the door just close? Was there a shadow moving? Was there— The bed dipped as a fluffy gray creature waddled across it. Poco climbed toward me until his whiskers tickled my face.
“I told you that we can’t keep doing this,” I whispered.
He patted his tiny hand against my cheek as if telling me not to worry, then he curled up into a furry ball, his back pressed against mine.
I pulled the covers up over him, so he was fully covered with his ears sticking out, just how he liked.
His gentle purrs vibrated through me.
I closed my eyes.
For the first time in weeks, nightmares didn’t plague me.
The grim reaper was gone.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
For the second time, I jolted awake.
From the moonlight, only a few hours had passed. The soft raps continued. Poco purred. Helen and Charlie shifted in their sleep.
“Alexis—are you up?” Patro whispered through the door. “We need to talk.”
19
DEMONS IN THE DARK
ALEXIS
My heart dropped.
I hadn’t spoken to Patro and Achilles for a reason—the reason being betrayal of the highest order.
Lingering childhood abandonment issues aside, leaving a person alone with mutated monsters was simply unprofessional, even for cult members. No one has any class these days.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.