But then, no one really talks about how little crossover there is between the upper and lower city. It’s just taken as the way things are. Even I never questioned it, and I question so much else when it comes to Olympus and the Thirteen.
Finally, Psyche says, “What do you need from us?”
I think hard. I only have to last to my birthday and then I’m free. The trust fund our grandmother set up releases to me then, and I don’t have to rely on my mother or anyone in Olympus for anything ever again. But not until then, my twenty-fifth birthday. I have some funds of my own now, but they aren’t really my own. They’re my mother’s. I could ask my sisters to bring me my purse, but Mother will have already frozen my accounts. She likes to do that to punish us, and she’ll want to ensure I come crawling back after humiliating her like this. More, I don’t want my sisters in the lower city, even if they could make their way across the River Styx. Not when danger seems to be around every corner.
Really, there’s only one answer. “I’m going to figure something out, but I’m not coming back. Not right now.”
“Persephone, that’s not a plan.” Callisto huffs out a breath. “You have no money, no phone that isn’t likely to be tapped, and you’re shacking up with Olympus’s boogeyman, who also happens to be one of the Thirteen. He is the very definition of dangerous. This is the opposite of a plan.”
I can’t argue that. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, no. Try again.”
Psyche clears her throat. “If Eurydice can distract Mother, Callisto and I can bring you a burner phone and what money we have on hand. It should at least buy you time to figure things out.”
The last thing I want to do is drag my sisters into this, but it’s too late now. I lean back against the headboard. “Let me think about it. I’ll call tomorrow with more details.”
“That’s not—”
“I love you all. Goodbye.” I hang up before they can find another angle to argue from. It’s the right call to make, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling like I’ve cut off my last connection to my past. I’ve been working out a way to leave Olympus for a very long time, so this break was bound to happen, but I thought I’d have more notice. I thought I’d still be able to connect with my sisters without putting them in danger. I thought, given enough time, Mother would even come around and forgive me for not playing a pawn in one of her schemes.
It seems that I was wrong about a lot of things.
To give myself something else to think about, I look around the room. It’s just as opulent as the parts of the house I’ve seen so far, the bed large and with a dark-blue canopy that would do any princess proud. The hardwood floors that Hades is so fond of are covered with a thick carpet and there’s yet more crown molding everywhere. It’s as atmospheric as the rest of the house, but it doesn’t really give me many clues about the man who owns this place. It’s obviously a spare bedroom, and as a result, it’s doubtful it’ll tell me anything about Hades.
My body chooses that moment to remind me that I walked for hours in the cold in those godforsaken heels and then ran over gravel and glass barefoot. My legs ache. My back hurts. My feet… Best not to think too hard about them. I am so incredibly exhausted, enough that I might actually sleep tonight.
I look around the room again. Hades might not be as bad as Zeus, but I can’t take any chances. I climb gingerly to my feet and limp to the door. There’s no lock, which has me cursing softly. I limp to the bathroom and nearly whimper with relief when I find that this door does have a lock.
My muscles seem to turn from flesh to stone with each second that passes, weighing me down as I drag the massive comforter off the bed and into the bathroom. The tub is more than large enough to sleep in, uncomfortable or no. After a quick internal debate, I go back to the bedroom door and drag the side table in front of it. At least I’ll hear someone coming this way. Satisfied I’ve done all I can, I lock the bathroom door and practically collapse into the tub.
In the morning, I’ll have a plan. I’ll figure out a way forward and this won’t seem like the end of the world.
I just need a plan…
Chapter 5
Hades
After a few hours of restless sleep, I head down to the kitchen in search of coffee only to find Hermes perched on my kitchen island, eating ice cream out of the carton. I stop short, faintly alarmed by the fact that she’s dressed in a pair of cutoff shorts and an oversize T-shirt that she was most definitely not wearing last night. “You keep clothes at my house.”