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“Rosie,” he answers. At the sound of her name, the dog jumps up, her front paws on his thigh, and he uses both hands to ruffle her ears. “She’s a good dog.”
“I’d keep her for you,” my mother offers, and I stare, because she’s never had a dog in her life. She’s never even talked about wanting one.
“Wait,” I blurt out. Is she serious? My mom looks up into my eyes with an expectant smile. “What do you mean, keep his dog? He’shere.”
“I’d like that.” Hades ignores me and smiles at her again, and I finally figure out what’s so wrong about his face.
His eyes are blue.
They’re blue, not black, and I’d bet my life that nothing hurts him here, either. That thing he said about the seizures finally sinks in. If he was here before, how did he ever leave? How would hechoosepain and suffering over this?
Hades glances at me like he can hear my thoughts.
Because he hoped.
He hoped that things would be better one day. He didn’t want to trade pain for his family. He doesn’t now.
“I can’t stay.” Hades gets down on one knee, puts his arms around the dog, and holds her. She pushes her nose into him. Ten or twenty dog kisses later, he releases her and stands. When he looks at me again, he’s much more serious. “Hercules.”
“I’m okay here. It’s not a big deal. You can tell Zeus I’m fine, if he’s worried.”
“Daisy’s waiting for you.”
“She is?”
A solemn nod. “She was very upset when she realized what you’d done.”
I wince without meaning to, because the first thing that flashes into my mind is winged, terrifying, endlessly powerful Daisy. “Is she pissed?”
The corner of Hades’s mouth quirks. “She says she does not accept this, and I doubt I’d survive telling her the news that I couldn’t convince you to come back.”
Hope beats in my chest. Or is my heart? I don’t know. “I didn’t think that would be an option. It seemed like a permanent trade.”
“Listen.” Hades looks rich and graceful and at ease. I can’t imagine wanting to go back to the pain of his real life, ever, but he seems pretty sure about it. “I have no fucking idea how this works. My daughter asked me to get you back, so I’m going to.”
“But—”
My mom clasps her arms around my neck and hugs me tight. “Don’t keep her waiting.”
“But I love you.”
“I love you, too. Come see me later.Muchlater.”
“But what will you—”
“I have a dog now,” she says, like that’s a serious answer.
I donotwant to let go of her, but I force myself to look at Hades. “How does it work? Because I don’t think I’m allowed to walk through that door.”
“I didn’t come through a door. Or the gates.”
“How the fuck—”
He tips his head back, mild irritation showing through for the first time. “Again, I don’t know how it worked. I’m fairly certain I can follow the path back out.”
“What path?”
Hades tips his head forward, blue eyes narrow and skeptical. “Are you kidding?”
