揟he plants almost killed him,?I said quickly. 揑 saw it.?
Persephone huffed. 揝erves him right.?
Marie nodded in agreement. 揥hen I found out what he did I seriously considered killing him and burying him in the yard.?
揗arie!?Nyx said, her eyes wide. 揥hy are you talking about him like that? He抯 old, and he抯 your梬hat?梱our sixth great-grandnephew??
揌e was about to be six feet under the ground,?Marie said. 揌ave you seen my house? It looks like several angry ghosts live there. Bri was scared when she came over. He put up suits of armor in the library. Why? What抯 the reason??
Circe looked horrified but was also fighting back a smile. 揧ou can抰 kill him because he抯 bad at decorating, Marie. Goodness.?
Marie huffed. 揥hy not??
揚lease don抰 kill anybody, baby,?Mo mumbled from the chair. 揑抦 trying real hard not to lose it here, just so y抋ll know.?
Circe quickly went over and put her hand on Mo抯 shoulder. 揑抦 so sorry. This is not how I wanted to do this, and there抯 so much to understand. All of this has to sound ridiculous to you.?
Mo patted her hand and took a deep breath. 揑 don抰 really need to understand. I don抰 even know if I want to. Y抋ll are talking about immortals and potions and gods. I桰 can抰 get my head around any of that right now.?She sighed. 揃ut we have the same goal, right? We all agree that we gotta get Thandie back, so if y抋ll are vampires, or gods, or witches, or something else, that抯 not my business. Let抯 just do what we need to do to get Bri抯 mama back, because I don抰 know what I抣l do if?if棓 She clapped her hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut to try and stem the tears.
The grief washed over me again like a wave. The room was quiet for a long time before Circe returned to the table.
揥e抮e all on the same page,?she said. 揕isten, Alec is a history buff. I抦 good at the ins and outs of our own family stories, but he抯 good at everything else梩he wider mythology, the stories that came before. So let抯 go talk to him. He might be able to give us some insight.?
揂nd I can get you Dr. Kent抯 contact info,?Mo said quietly.
I had a thought and opened my mouth to ask the question but stopped. It sounded completely ridiculous.
揥hat is it??Marie asked.
I shook my head. 揘othing. It抯 stupid.?
揇on抰 say that,?Circe and Mo said in unison.
Mo gave Circe a quick nod. 揑f you got something on your mind,?Circe said gently, 揹on抰 ever be afraid to come right out with it. I抣l answer whatever I can.?
It still felt like a stupid question. 揅an we ask梩he gods??I didn抰 know how else to put it. 揌ecate? Or one of the other ones??
Persephone smiled. 揑t抯 a reasonable question. But I think you抮e the only person in living memory who has seen Hecate in the flesh. My memory is long, and all I have are stories of her. I抣l never be over the fact that she revealed herself to you. I wish I could抳e been here to see her.?
揑 don抰 know.?I thought of the overwhelming feeling I抎 had of being in the presence of something otherworldly. 揑t scared the shit out of me.?
揕anguage,?Mo said.
Persephone grinned, again letting a little of her gruff exterior slip.
揝orry,?I said. Avoiding Mo抯 eyes.
揧ou were so lucky to have seen her,?Circe said. 揃ut I don抰 even know how or why she showed herself. I don抰 think calling on her would do much good.?
揑f Hecate can抰 help us what about the others??I said. 揑s there someone else who can help us??
揟here are no others,?Circe said. She stared off. 揘ot that we know of anyway.?
I thought for a moment. 揗rs. Redmond made it seem like there were others. Matter of fact she was sure there were.?
Circe and Persephone stopped moving, stopped breathing.
揥hat do you mean??Circe asked in a whisper. 揥hat exactly did she say??
Mrs. Redmond had revealed so many terrible things I had to take a second to recall what she抎 said about these other gods. 揝he said they still lived. She made it seem like that was her main reason for going after the Heart. She wanted to take her place among them.?I hooked my fingers into air quotes because I still wasn抰 100 percent sure what she抎 meant. 揝he said Jason was descended directly from Hermes. She thought if she could make herself immortal, then they, whoever they are, would welcome her into the fold.?
Circe turned to Persephone, whose mouth was stuck in a little o. 揑f that抯 true棓
揑t can抰 be,?said Persephone.
揃riseis saw Hecate,?Marie said. 揧ou know for a fact that at least one of them is still around. If there抯 one, there could be more.?She looked thoughtful. 揧ou think Poseidon抯 still around? I抎 like to beat his ass on Medusa抯 behalf.?