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“Been living under a rock?” he asked, brows screwing up.
“I don’t watch any TV,” I admitted.
“Well, yeah, man. There was this flash flood. Then there was a storm with lightning so bad it set a fire that they are still working to put out. And then a tsunami. Like, in South America. Weird shit. They tried to warn us about that ozone layer when we were kids. But did we listen? No, we didn’t. They should have told us that the ozone layer could strangle ducks or some shit, ‘cause I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t cut up their plastic can connectors.”
With that, he shook his head and turned to go back to his friends.
Sure, Earth was known for natural disasters. And, yes, they’d been increasing in severity for decades thanks to careless corporations and an insane amount of waste produced by the humans.
But, still, three events in one week of such magnitude seemed unlikely at best.
The gods were showing themselves.
Eventually, there would be no ignoring them.
I needed to get more information out of Charlotte. Which only left me with one option. Following that kid’s advise. Act like nothing happened.
What was the worst that could happen? She’d call me out on it? Somehow, I just didn’t see her doing it. For all her smarts, she was a little reserved, even a bit unsure of herself.
Was it probably a dick move to play to that insecurity? Probably. But no one had ever accused me of being kind or even fair.
In fact, “dick” was probably everyone’s favorite way to describe me. Especially my brother’s.
Decision made, I threw back the rest of my drink, paid my tab, and made my way out of the bar.
Even if she wasn’t planning on working with me again, I figured I knew exactly where I could find her.
It didn’t appear like Professor Charlotte Astor had anything else in her life other than work and books. The library seemed to be like a home away from home for her. So I knew she would be there even before I made my way in and saw her sitting at her usual tables, her arm resting on the surface, holding her forehead as she bent over a book she was engrossed in, her oversize glasses slipping down her nose a bit.
I half-expected a sort of fiery reaction to her, a need based on recent sexual familiarity. What I didn’t anticipate was some sort of gut-punch of, fuck, I didn’t even know what to call it.
Interest?
Affection?
No.
Neither of those made any sense, especially the latter. I could possibly understand if I found myself interested in a human being. Especially if they had a good mind or a fascinating story.
But affection?
No.
Not even for the woman that I had a strange urge to go up to, reach out, and push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose for.
Instead, I made a racket of slapping my notebooks down on the table, then dropping down in my chair, pretending not to notice as she jolted upright, eyes wide behind her glasses before she remembered to take them off.
I wasn’t very adept at reading the more subtle human emotions, but there was no mistaking shock when you saw it. The wide eyes. The raised brows. The way her lips parted ever so slightly.
“So, moving on from Hades,” I said, flipping open my notes.
Personally, I wanted to harp on Hades as much as possible, learn more, try to figure out if there was a way for me to have my old life still. It sounded like there would still be areas in Hell where there was punishment and hellfire. If at all possible, I wanted to get back to that. Even if the rules and the ruler had changed.
But I knew it would look suspicious if I asked about it too much more. And, well, Ace would have my ass for it too. He was more concerned about what was to become of the human realm.
I had to gather the information he needed as well.
“I’m sorry, what?” Charlotte asked, brows pinching together as she looked at me.
