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CHAPTERSEVEN
HADES
My text messages from Eros tell their own story quite elegantly.
Where are you???
Hades, what the fuck?
Seriously???????
Hades, ye fucking bastard. If this is a joke, it’s not funny.
There is a pause that last almost an entire day.
Then:
Just talked with Ares. He says something happened with Persephone. But he’s being evasive. I think it has to do with why you’re not answering messages…
Silently heaving a sigh, I tuck my phone safely in the inner pocket of my coat. I’m not exactly sure how I should respond to Eros or even if I will at all. It’s unclear if he knew about Ares’ little plan. And until I determine that, I have to protect Penny first.
My arms and legs are cramped from hours spent in the close confines of this little plane. The pilot and the cockpit are only separated from the single row of passenger seats by a flimsy partial wall. Immediately behind my body, I can feel what little luggage we brought pressing against the back of my seat. The rumble of the engines is uncomfortably close, a constant reminder of just how close we are to falling out of the sky and plunging to our deaths.
Penny seems to not notice. Most of the flights, she’s spent asleep or drowsing.
The pilot of our little prop plane turns his head toward me, shouting through the gap in the wall. “We should be on the runway in fifteen minutes or less!”
I nod. My phone chimes again and I ignore it. There are other factors holding my attention just now, like the not insignificant challenge of getting myself and Penny off of the grid and up to Norway to begin with.
My phone chimes and I grit my teeth. The only reason I even still have phone is that my phone sends anyone trying to track it on a wild goose chase of seemingly random phone numbers that rotate every few seconds as they are being tracked.
Silencing the phone, I turn to my right. Persephone is asleep in the seat beside me, mouth open slightly, raven hair askew.
I touch her arm gently and she jerks awake, eyes opening wide. “What’s happening?”
I purse my lips. “We’re finally going to land.”
She sits up, touching her hair and blinking sleepily. “We’ve been on planes for the better part of the last twenty four hours, Hades. I really want to leave this plane and never look at another teeny tiny flying vessel.” She pulls a face. “Being trapped in this tiny tin can has making me feel sick since we first took off.”
“What? You’re not feeling well?”
She shakes her head but doesn’t delve into. the subject. I give her a shrug.
“We’re almost on the ground. We only took so many flights because I needed to put a firm layer of security in place and disguise our movements. I’m just trying to keep us safe.”
She gives me a watery half smile and pats my hand. “I know.”
Persephone looks away, lifting the window shade. I feel a little guilty, as part of my precautions were to take a series of untraceable flights between Spain, England, and Wales. I also booked a flight to Australia with two people flying under our names on board.
If the cost is just money, I’ll spend it all if it means that we will slip untraced in Norway’s coastal islands.
Penny grips my hand as the plane descends. Our landing is more than a little rough but soon enough, we are taxiing down a very small private runway that’s the closest I could get to Island.
We finally climb out of the plane, blinking into the bright morning sunlight. It’s chilly here, a cold breeze blowing off the water and cutting me to the bone. The runway tarmac is just a stretch of asphalt on land that’s about a football field’s length from the roaring of the dark blue ocean. I shield my eyes and gaze around, but there is little enough to see.
There is the ocean to our right, the single. airplane hangar immediately in front of us. And to our right, an enormous grassy field spreads out wide. In the distance, I see some grassy bluffs. But mostly, there is nothing here.
I pull out an envelope, handing it to our pilot for services rendered. Penny shivers and squints up at me, curious.
