“I got the impression during the vision that if I didn’t tell you, then it would spell disaster for us all,” Adrian says.
“Okay.” Raven claps her hands. “Now that stupidity is settled, we can get down to planning the real mission.”
“Sometimes I wonder why we’re friends.”
Raven scoffs. “You would be lost without me and you know it. Ever since the first time we met.”
“I thought you were weird and unhinged the first time we met.” I point at her.
“You did not. You were wary of everything because you felt this guy’s eyes on you.” She waves a dismissive hand in Jayden’s direction.
“That’s not how I remember it,” Jayden says. “You clearly freaked her out.”
“I just knew we would be best friends.”
“Then stop calling me stupid for considering saving your ass,” I say.
I flop onto the couch and pull the book closer, ready to be done with this pointless conversation. They don’t realize that I’m not as convinced by Adrian’s vision as they are because if it comes down to it, I will still choose them.
“Okay, so Hermes said he is more than just the messenger god but the god of travelers and communication, right? I wonder if we can get Kira or the other Hephaestus kids to come up with a type of magical radio so we can hear what’s happening outside the walls of the academy.” I flip through the book.
“Yeah, he seemed really concerned about a possible rip in reality or something sending travelers to other realms,” Jayden says as he sits next to me.
“The idea of other realms never even occurred to me,” I say. “How are there other realms close enough to us that we could just slip inside them without even trying?”
Greyson tilts his head. “All these months and you never wondered where other supernatural creatures came from?”
“Um, no. In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve been kind of busy. I thought they were all from here. Or like children of the gods like shifters are Artemis children.” I shrug.
“A lot of supernatural species can be traced back to the fae. They are ancient magic users from the Otherworld which is split by a veil between realms. They closed the veil long ago because they were interfering too much with humans and the gods were getting angry at them.”
“I can see that.” I nod. “The gods are all about the power they wield over humans so another species coming in and making them more powerful would piss the gods off, I’m sure.”
“Okay, so how do we stop ourselves from slipping through this veil if it is open and popping up in weird places, trapping travelers in other worlds?” Raven asks.
“I don’t know. I’m unsure if we will even know it’s happening until it’s too late,” I say.
“Great, so this mission just got infinitely trickier,” Raven grumbles.
“We really need a radio. We could just be borrowing trouble that doesn’t actually exist.” Jayden pats my knee.
“Agreed. I think we should talk to Kira now and have her get started on a radio for information.” I push myself up from the couch.
“If Hermes is weakening and is the god of communication, can we even trust any communications?” Greyson asks. “The communications would already be breaking down outside the academy, right?”
“We need something. Last time we went in completely blind and that wasn’t okay.” I pull the door open.
Jayden strides next to me, studying my face with a small frown. He knows me too well and I’m not sure how long I can hold up this facade. They think I’ll blindly trust Adrian’s visions and though I usually do, I can’t shake this horrible feeling in my gut that something is off. That if I don’t take her offer, something terrible is going to happen to my friends.
“We’ve pretty much always gone in blind to what’s actually happening in the world around us. Having a radio to tell us what’s going on and how many are missing already is a good start.” Jayden squeezes my arm lightly.
“Hopefully. I don’t think it will give us any clues on where to look for his temple, though.” I chew my lip.
“It’s more than we’ve had in the past, and with the messenger god practically out of commission this time, we would have even less information without a radio.” Raven jogs to catch up.
She eyes me warily too, like she’s trying to get inside my head. Between the two of them, I don’t really stand a chance athiding my true feelings on all of this Hera shit. I just need to focus on the task at hand and not think about Hera’s deal.
They aren’t wrong, though. She didn’t say anything about ending the war or giving Hermes his caduceus back, just that she wouldn’t destroy it. Is that her play, then? She wants me to take this deal so she doesn’t destroy Hermes and then once I’m out of the way, her victory is ensured?
