揅irce is going to help you, Briseis,?Marie said as she gathered her cloud of white coils behind her neck and secured it with a hair tie she had on her wrist. 揑 know she will.?
揥hat if we can抰 find the last piece??I didn抰 want to allow such a negative, terrible thought to take hold of me, but I couldn抰 get it out of my head.
Marie didn抰 answer. It felt like a silent acknowledgment that this might not go the way we wanted it to.
I might be forced to live the rest of my life without Mom.
That thought brought the tears again. Marie was suddenly there, lifting me up so I could rest my head in her lap. Her fingers traced the tracks of my tears. There wasn抰 much else to say or do. I closed my eyes.
CHAPTER 2
I opened my eyes the following morning. At least I thought it was morning until I realized the sun was slanting through my curtains at full strength. A rustle near my feet almost made me jump out of my skin. The plants sitting on the hearth had knitted together in the night and were now twisted around the four posts of my bed. My hand was rebandaged, and the aroma of sweet almond oil and menthol wafted from it. Mrs. Redmond had sliced open my palm, but whatever this balm was made the pain barely noticeable.
Mo still slept, her face relaxed, her breathing slow and steady. I couldn抰 believe I抎 managed to sleep, but as I awoke, the horrors of the previous day and night crashed over me again. If Mo could just stay asleep, she wouldn抰 have to feel what I was feeling. The weight of this grief held me to the bed, made it hard to breathe. I thought if I didn抰 get up I might lie there forever.
I forced myself to stand and slipped out of the room to let Mo rest as long as she could. I wandered through the hall and down the stairs like a ghost, like my body was just going through the motions. I rounded the corner and almost bumped into Persephone. She had the coffee table tucked under her arm. Me and Mo had tried to move it when we first got here and couldn抰 because it was solid as a rock. It was made of oak and must抳e weighed a hundred pounds. Persephone was slinging it around like dollhouse furniture.
揥ere you able to rest at all??she asked.
揑梱eah.?It actually felt like my body had completely shut down. I didn抰 even remember falling asleep. 揥hat time is it??
揑t抯 almost one in the afternoon.?
My heart sputtered. A whole morning gone. 揥here is everybody??
揗arie and Nyx left a little while ago. Marie asked me to tell you she抎 be back soon. They had some business to attend to.?Persephone readjusted the table. 揑抦 clearing out this front room. We thought maybe we could bring in a big table and lay everything out. We抳e done so much work, Briseis. We抳e spent so much time searching for the other pieces already, it might be good for us all to be on the same page.?
揌ow did the other pieces of the Heart get split up in the first place??I asked. I needed to put my mind somewhere else, and it seemed like a good place to start. 揟hey were all together at some point, right in the beginning when Medea buried the pieces of her brother.?
Persephone winced.
揑桰抦 sorry,?I said quickly, putting my hand on her arm. I had to remind myself that these weren抰 just stories. They were a family history梞y family history.
Persephone shook her head. 揑t抯 all right. I抦 always just a little shaken by the cruelty of what was done to Absyrtus. I抳e seen so much in my life, and still, his death stands among the most violent I抳e ever heard of.?
揑t抯 awful,?I said. 揑 hope Jason got what was coming to him.?
揌e got to grow old, which feels unfair. But I take comfort knowing he was unhappy and hated by the gods for what he did to Medea. When he was an old man he fell asleep under the mast of the Argo as it rotted away in a shipyard, and it crushed his skull.?
I paused. 揥ell, damn.?
Persephone smiled like the thought of it was the best thing she抎 ever heard of. 揑 like to imagine he was in agony for some period of time before he actually died.?She shrugged. 揂nyway, I抦 not entirely sure how all the pieces of the Heart were separated. I know that soon after Medea buried Absyrtus, a piece was taken by a demigod on orders from Jason himself.?
I thought of who in their right mind would or could do something like that. 揥ho抎 he get to do it??
揧ou抳e heard of the twelve labors of Hercules??Persephone asked.
揢m, not really. Is that in the Disney movie??
Persephone chuckled. 揑 haven抰 seen it. But you抮e familiar with Hercules??
揧eah.?
揌e was given twelve tasks to complete after he killed his wife and children.?
揌old up,?I said. 揌e did what now? That抯 definitely not in the Disney version.?
Persephone pushed a heavy side table out of the way with her foot like it was nothing. 揑 can see why they may have left that part out. But yes. He killed his wife and their children and, as punishment, was given twelve impossible tasks, things like slaying the hydra monster or capturing Cerberus, the three-headed beast that guarded the entrance to the underworld.?