But then CJ’s great-aunt Thea appears beside her, wheeling over a stand with a laptop on it. On the screen are two people. One is a thin dark-skinned woman and the other kind of looks like Danny DeVito. I’m guessing representatives from the remaining syndicates: the Nightshades and the Ferrymen.
“You’ve got the whole gang together,” I croak.
Waring smirks but in the most likable way ever. I think I hate him.
“I know it’s unusual,” he says, “seeing us all here at once. But the syndicates have worked together in the past, and that’s actually what we want to talk to you about.”
I clear my throat. “I’d be more willing to talk if I weren’t restrained.”
“You misunderstand. We’ll be doing the talking. All you have to do is listen.” He pulls his chair closer to me, sitting forward so he’s more in my line of sight. “Tell me what you know about the Cult of Hades.”
I don’t respond. It’s silent for a moment. Waring raises one eyebrow.
“I thought all I had to do was listen.”
Truth is, I don’t know anything about the Cult of Hades. I’ve never even heard of them. I just assumed Hades was one of those myths that none of the Titans fashioned themself after. Either that or whatever syndicate he ruled had become obsolete, like Persephone’s or Alecto’s.
Waring tilts his head. “The demon you so pulchritudinously impaled is part of the Cult, who are now trying to use the grimoire to resurrect Hades.”
I don’t let my surprise show, even though too much information was just thrown at me. Hades is real. Hades is dead. Andpulchritudinousis a word.
“Okay?”
The less impressed I sound, the more information I’m likely to get as Waring tries to prove to me this is something worth talking about.
He laughs softly. “The last time the syndicates worked together, it was—”
“Tell her about the—” A voice cuts in. “Sorry, I was muted. Tell her about the banishment.”
Waring sighs and looks over at the laptop screen, where the man on the screen is leaning toward the camera, so all we can see is one eye and his nose.
“Gotta trim those nose hairs,” I say.
“This girl has some sass,” he fires back.
“I’ve got this, Chuck.” Waring’s voice is weary.
“Sorry, Mr.DeVito,” I mumble.
Waring turns back to me. “The last time the syndicates worked together, it was to banish Hades’s soul to the farthest reaches of the Afterlife. Now we’re—”
“Hades was a real asshole,” Chuck—I guess?—cuts in again. “The rest of us are all minding our own business, but Hades had to—”
“Chuck,” Waring says.
“Sorry, yeah, go ahead.”
Waring pinches the bridge of his nose. “We’re now working together to keep the Cult of Hades from bringing him back from the Afterlife.”
I raise an eyebrow. At least I try to, but the strap across my head prevents it. “So the Cult of Hades is a bunch of demons? What about that one I saw you with in Boston?”
Waring clears his throat, looking sheepishly at the others. “Not all demons are in the Cult of Hades,” he explains.
“Are you outsourcing to demons now,Adam?” Chuck says.
“Can we move this along?” Hecate snaps, speaking for the first time. “I’d like to be able to finish out the rest of the gala.”
“Let’s get back on track.” Waring leans over to Hecate, and mutters, “Can you mute him?”
