He takes a deep breath, clenching his teeth. “Itisyour fault that Hades is loose upon the world, so you may consider taking some responsibility.”
“Never,” I quip. “Why don’t you and your Titan buddies do it? You’re all so much more powerful than me, and you’re not even offering to help?”
He shifts uncomfortably and clears his throat. “We do have…one piece of Hades’s original body. It may be useful in neutralizing them.”
After a moment of hesitation, he opens his briefcase and pulls out a large bone.
My eyes widen. “That’s a human femur.”
He nods.
“You kept Hades’s femur? It just hangs out in your briefcase?”
“Bones have magic—”
“You want me to take Hades’s femur, which has been chilling in your briefcase for millennia, into the Afterlife so someone can possess her?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “That won’t work for many reasons. The rules are different now that Hades is in a different body.”
“So what do you want me to do with it?”
“As I was saying,” he says pointedly, “bones have magic. Many kinds of magic. It’s possible, with the right rune, this bone could be used to control Hades in some way.”
“But you just said she’s in a new body.”
“The bone will remember the soul. The connection is still there. Do you have a rune witch on your crew?”
Neither CJ nor I can do rune magic. Tolliver is uninterested in anything but alchemy. I guess Ezra is going to be learning magic after all.
I think of Poppy and how this would pretty much be her dream job.
“We can figure it out,” I say grimly. “Let’s talk numbers.”
Waring, predictably, does not stay to help. Though, on the way out, he does remind CJ that Melinoë is expecting them by the end of the month.
“You didn’t have to make that deal, you know,” I say once he’s gone.
CJ shrugs stiffly. “It’s done.”
Their expression is no grumpier that normal, but there’s an air of sadness around them that wasn’t there before. If we survive this job, I’ll figure out a way to get them out of the deal. I have no clue how, but that’s Future Elle’s problem.
“So do we have a heist to plan?” Tolliver asks.
Apparently, they had all been listening in on the conversation with Waring, so they know the deal.
“First things first,” I say, sitting at CJ’s kitchen table. “We need to take stock of our assets.”
The others gather around. Tolliver has already made popcorn, and Crowlene has her head in the bowl, flicking kernels left and right. CJ hands me their tablet, notes app open. I grab the stylus and twirl it around my fingers.
“Asset Number One: Tolliver’s alchemy.”
“Asset Number Two,” Ezra says. “My new magic!”
I write it down. “Yeah, about that. We’re going to see if you can learn advanced runic magic in a couple of days.”
He deflates. “Great,” he says flatly. “I hope the entire plan hinges on my ability to master it.”
“Asset Three,” I say. “CJ’s…” I look at them questioningly.
