29
Hera
The less said about the trip back to the city, the better. Riding on an off-road vehicle was an adventure as a child and an excuse for freedom in my early teens. It’s significantly less comfortable as an adult. I cling to the harness holding me securely in my seat as Hermes hurtles through the night at speeds that mean a mistake will likely be fatal.
Of course, even allegedly recovering from a poisoning, she doesn’t make mistakes. She’s Hermes.
She fucking shot me…but then she rescued us.
I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to feel. Our circumstances have swung from vaguely hopeful to full despair to nebulous in a way I can’t quantify. Perseus loves me. He wants a future with me, even if our titles aren’t in play.
Unfortunately, the barriers between us and that possible future are high and thorny. Circe. My mother. Possibly the entire population of Olympus, or at least enough of it to be the majority. How can we possibly survive?
First, we have to survive Hades. He’s not going to be happy to see us. Just yesterday, he explicitly told me that I’m not welcome in the lower city. He has no reason to offer us refuge, especially when we are bringing this level of bad news.
There’s nowhere else to go, though. We could abandon the city but…I can’t walk away from my family. Perseus sure as fuck isn’t going to walk away from his.
As soon as that thought strikes me, I grab his hand. “Helen?”
His expression is grim as the wind whips his hair back from his forehead. “She went back to the city, so she should be safe enough for now. Even if Demeter fabricated some reason to call her back, she wouldn’t come tonight. I’ll call her as soon as I get to a phone.”
If she returns to the countryside to make her report, she’ll be taken, just like we were. The thought makes me sick. IlikeHelen. She might be a Kasios, but she has fought for everything she has. It’s admirable. “Hermes!” I call. “Do you have a phone?”
“Couldn’t risk it,” she calls back. “Not until we’re safely back in the city.”
I glare at the back of her head. That’s not how phone taps work, at least not to my knowledge, but it’s possible there’s tech I’m not aware of. It’s happened before. Even so…I don’t trust Hermes. I doubt I ever will.
I’m actually surprised when the lights of Olympus appear in front of us, backlit by the rising sun. Hermes doesn’t bother to stop at the city limits. She just drives us right in, cruising through the eerily empty streets to the Juniper Bridge. She pulls to a stop in the middle of the street and unbuckles herself. “Might as well walk from here. We can’t get through without Hades’s permission.”
“Not even you?”
She glances over her shoulder at me. “Not this time.”
It’s only in the growing light of the early morning that I realize how tired she looks. Or maybe sick. I frown. “What’s wrong with you? Is it still the poison?”
“Nothing so mundane. I’m suffering from a broken heart.” She says it blithely but doesn’t quite manage to pull off an unbothered tone.
For the first time, I wonder who Circe was to Hermes. At one point, I thought they were working together, but I was clearly wrong. Even so, there’s history there. The way she spoke about what the last Zeus did… There was too much in her tone. It’s personal, not a theoretical tragedy that happened to someone else.
Perseus takes my hand as I climb out of the back seat and we turn as one to face the bridge. “Now what?” I ask.
“Just a moment. She should be here any…” She visibly brightens. “There you are.”
Atalanta walks around the corner of a nearby building and crosses to us with long strides. She’s wearing her customary cargo pants and fitted long-sleeved shirt with heavy boots. Her face is a mask of concern. “Where were you? I couldn’t get ahold of you, and when I went to the house—”
“Long story, no time.” Hermes doesn’t glance at us, but there’s new tension in her spine. She’s hiding something. The fact that she’s not doing it well is more a testament to howoffshe is right now, like an instrument slightly out of tune. “I need your phone. The spare.”
Atalanta hesitates. She clearly wants to question Hermes more fully but finally fishes a phone out of her pocket and passes it over.Hermes turns to us. “Call Helen after you talk to Hades. You’ll only get one shot at this. By now, Circe knows you’re gone, and she’ll send her hunters after you. If you don’t manage to convince Hades to let you into the lower city, you’ll die.”
I notice what she’s very carefully not saying. Perseus does, too. He says, “You’re not coming with us.”
“Even if I were welcome there, I can’t do what’s necessary if I’m hiding behind a barrier destined to fall. It won’t protect you forever, but it will slow Circe down enough for you to have a chance to come up with a plan. I highly suggest you stop fucking around and actually make one. I won’t be able to haul your asses out of the fire next time.” She turns back to Atalanta. “Let’s go.”
Atalanta nods and looks over her head at me. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.” She turns and they walk away together, leaving us and the off-roader behind.
“I don’t understand her,” Perseus mutters. “Working to the same end goal, except for a singular difference, doesn’t exactly exempt her from being on Circe’s side.”
Once again I’m struck by the realization that there’s history there—potent history. “She helped us this time, so it doesn’t really matter what her goals are, does it?”
