“What is… What are those people doing?” Helen slides back alongside me, her attention narrowing on the pair of women skirting away from the tents, heading into the foothills. They walk with purpose and no urgency…exactly how someone would if they were looking to fit in. My sister frowns. “The citizens are under strict instructions not to wander because it’s so dangerous for people who aren’t familiar with this area.”
“Let’s find out.” I start down the hill, taking an angle so we don’t lose sight of them. The hills are deceptive, as Helen said, and that makes it hard to navigate—or follow someone.
The change that comes over Helen is truly impressive to behold. She was already deadly serious, but even the way she moves changes as she slips down the hill next to me on soundless feet. “I’m taking lead. Stay behind me.”
“Helen—”
“Come on.”
I decide not to waste time arguing and follow her, albeit less silently. Our father taught all his children how to be predators simply by existing, but there are different flavors of that and Helen has always leaned toward the physical. It’s how she won the Ares competition.
We move forward carefully. If the hills were less deceptive, thetwo women would have lost us immediately, but the moment they’re shielded from sight of the camp, they turn toward the mountains. I want to keep them in sight, but Helen grabs my arm and keeps me back until they disappear from sight.
“What are you doing?”
“The ground isn’t frozen solid.” She nods behind us, drawing my attention to the faint outline of our footprints. “With everything close to the camp trampled, there’s no way to know who’s coming or going, but there can’t be many tracks out here. We’ve been focusing our efforts to the north and south, assuming Circe wouldn’t be so brazen as to send her people this close to the camp.” She makes a face. “That was a mistake. I’m sorry.”
“She’s done nothing expected from the moment she arrived.” I bump my shoulder against Helen’s. “Now you’ve joined the rest of us in being outsmarted by her.”
“Yeah, well, fuck that.” She waits a beat and then moves forward to where we saw the two women last. Sure enough, there are footprints in the dirt, faint enough that I wouldn’t have noticed the signs if I wasn’t looking for them. Helen draws her gun and looks at me, expression serious. “We don’t shoot them if we don’t have to.”
I do the same, a horrible stillness settling over me. “Right. We need the information they have.”
She nods and starts forward, moving faster this time. I shadow her footsteps, ice layering over me in waves. By the time we crouch on the crest of a low hill and look down on the four women grouped together, nothing can touch me at all. I’ll do what needs to be done, and if I have nightmares about it later, it’s a small enough price to pay for enacting my duty. As we watch, they crouch down around adevice, speaking in low voices. None of them appear to have weapons, but surely they must. “We split up and come from both sides. I’ll take point and distract them, and you come up behind to stop any heroics.”
My sister gives me a long look. “That’s more dangerous for you.”
I know. A danger I’m willing to take on to spare her. “Go.”
I wait two eternal minutes and then slip down the side of the hill and come at them from the side. The blond with a head full of curly hair and light-brown skin sees me first and shoots to her feet. I already have my gun out. “Hands up.”
For a moment, I think they won’t obey, but Helen steps forward from behind them, her gun drawn as well. “Try to be a hero, end up a martyr.”
The women exchange a look I can’t read and slowly raise their hands. I nod at my sister. “Pat them down.”
She makes quick work of it, tossing away two guns and four knives. She also pulls out zip ties from her jacket and fastens their hands behind their backs, one by one. It takes seconds. Helen places her hands on their shoulders and guides them to their knees, and only then does she give me her attention. “Demeter needs to know, but I don’t like the idea of marching them back like this.”
She’s right, and not only because there are four of them and two of us. The last thing we want is to cause a panic. “Call in Achilles and Patroclus and transport these three back to the city for questioning. I’ll take this one to Demeter.” I jerk my chin at the blond, who glares up at me with a fury that makes my skin prickle.
For a moment, I think Helen might argue, but she finally nodsand pulls out her phone. While she calls Patroclus, I crouch before the blond. “This is the beginning of the end for you and Circe. We have you right where we want you.”
If anything, her fury seems to grow. “Yeah, I guess you do.”
Helen hangs up. “They’ll be here in five. They aren’t far off from our position now.”
It’s the longest five minutes of my life. I want nothing more than to rush back to Callisto and whisk her to the city. I don’t care if she hates me; I’m shutting her in our penthouse until we get to the bottom of exactly how many of Circe’s people have infiltrated the civilian camp.
The moment Achilles and Patroclus arrive, out of breath and damn near sprinting, I slip out of my coat and drape it over the blond’s shoulders, pausing to zip it up. It looks odd, but it’s less eye-catching than the zip ties. I haul her to her feet. “Let’s go.” The sooner I deliver her to Demeter, the sooner I can get my wife to safety.
26
Hera
I don’t bother to try to find Psyche before hunting down my mother. As much as I value Psyche’s perspective, she’s not in the position of having a direct connection to a title—thank the gods. I need our mother to listen to me, and I need her to do it now.
Besides, if I see Psyche, she’s going to want to finish our conversation about my pregnancy, and I have no more answers now than I did a few days ago. My feelings just get more complicated with each hour that passes. No matter what happens, I have to ensure there’s a world for my little parasite to grow up in.
The surge of protectiveness sets me back on my heels and has me pressing my hand to my stomach despite my determination not to give any indication of anything being different. It’s strange how quickly things change.
