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Castor starts a slow clap.
“Oh myGod.” Calliope covers her face.
“Are you serious?” Orion reaches over and slaps Castor lightly on the back of the head.
Poseidon laughs. “Why are you all still standing here? Go the hell inside.”
“Aren’t we going to sing?” Castor asks. “I thought there was going to be singing.”
Poseidon shoots his son a look over his shoulder. “Go. Inside.”
Brigit’s the one to drag her sons toward the house, Artemis with Apollo. Calliope and Orion shoo the twins in the direction of the front door.
I turn around and give my mom a hug. I’m somadat her. I missed her so much. “You should have told me.”
“Yes, well, I was forbidden.”
“Please. Men can’t forbid anything. That’s the rule.”
“Sometimes I can’t say no to him.”
I squeeze her tighter. Hercules is the one who never saysnoto me. “You should go in.”
“Youshould go in.” My mom pulls back and brushes my hair away from my face. “You’re tired, too.”
“Mom. I can’t stay out here forever. I’ll be right there.”
She purses her lips. “Will you?”
“Yes.” On second thought, it might not be my dad who’s impossible to get away from. I might’ve had that one wrong, too. “I’ll be inside in a minute. And I’m starving.”
And additional pressure is starting to build at my temples already. I really can’t be out here. Not if I don’t want everyone to crowd around and have a firsthand view of how dicey things are.
My mom kisses my forehead, then goes to the front door. “Zeus. Poseidon.”
Their heads both turn to her like she’s a queen and not their sister-in-law.
“What?” Poseidon calls.
“Let go of my husband and come into the house.”
“Persephone,” Zeus begins, reasonable as ever. “I don’t think—”
“What did I say that wasn’t clear? Do you need me to rephrase? Let go of him and come inside. Daisy’s hungry.”
She doesn’t say anything about my dad.
“We have acook.” A tiny hint of exasperation enters Zeus’s voice. “He’s been cooking all morning. His name is Cook, if you haven’t—”
“Zeus, get the fuck inside.” Wow.Wow.This, from myMom?
“Christ.” Poseidon disentangles himself from my dad, grabs Zeus by the shirt, anddrags.“I’m not going up against her over this. I want to be able to f—”
Zeus claps a hand over Poseidon’s mouth before he can finish his sentence.
My mom wriggles her fingers at me, opens the door, and ushers Zeus and Poseidon through it.
I have a very limited amount of time left to stand in the sun, and this is heartbreaking, so I go over to my dad at top speed.
