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Understanding flares. Again, Persephone speaks before I can. “You sneaky motherfucker, you let her take this job because you knew she wouldn’t agree to stay on this side of the River Styx otherwise.”
“Yes, in part.” He turns to look out the window. “She managed to pull off something that no one else could. If Ariadne really has the information she promised, it may be invaluable.” He sighs. “Or it might already be too late.”
“You can’t think like that.”
“I can’t afford to think any other way.”
My phone chooses that moment to buzz in my pocket. I send an apologetic look to Hades and Persephone, and dig it out. Thankfully, it’s not Minthe or Eurydice, but that doesn’t mean it’s good news. Thanatos’s name appears on the screen. “I have to get this.”
“Take it in here.”
I nod to show I understand and put the call on speaker. “I’m here.”
“We have a problem. I need you to come down to the club.” His voice is rough and raspy as if he just smoked an entire pack of cigarettes. “Hurry.”
I exchange a look with Hades. We both know what that tone means. Trouble in the worst way. Thanatos didn’t tell me to put the house on lockdown though, which means he believes it’s already finished and the danger has passed.
I wish I could believe that too.
Hades turns to Persephone and takes her hands. “I need you to go to our room and lock yourself in until I call you.” She tries to pull her hands from his, but he tightens his grip. “Do this for me,little siren. I need to make sure we’re safe, and I can’t do that if I’m worried about you and the babies. Please.”
Persephone curses softly but presses a quick kiss to his lips. “Be safe.”
“I will. I promise.”
We walk Persephone as far as the curving staircase that leads to the second floor. I don’t comment on the fact that he waits until she disappears from sight before he moves with purpose toward the part of the house the connects with the club. He’s not that much taller than me, but I still have to focus on keeping up with him. “Someone attacked the club.”
“Undoubtedly.” A deep anger comes off him in waves. Even during the most tumultuous time with the past Zeus, his club was always safe. It was a proving ground and a theater, but not a single one of the rest of the Thirteen ever dared threaten it. To do so would mean revoking access to Hades. Though most of them weren’t brave enough to come to the lower city themselves, they had plenty of spies they sent to keep tabs on him. Hades knew about every single one of them and chose to allow it.
That careful balance issacred.
We reach the black door that leads from the house to the club. I’ve never really understood why Hades invested what he must’ve in that door. It’s abnormally large, and its surface is so glossy it almost looks like liquid. As if you could press your hand against it and slide right through. It’s dramatic as fuck, and no one sees it except Hades and Persephone. I don’t even bring Eurydice through this door on the nights when we visit the club.
I don’t comment on the fact that Hades is blatantly bracinghimself before he opens the door and steps through. I follow on his heels, only to stop short in horror. My brain shies away from what I’m seeing. The only word I can come up with isruin.
The club has only been closed for a couple hours, and the cleaners we employ should just be wrapping up. I’ve been here plenty of times during off hours, when the lights are high and the mystique is nowhere to be found. Even then the luxury and beauty of this place are on full display. Not now.
The front doors have been blasted open and hang off the hinges. I stare at them for a long moment. That had to be noisy, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing. There’s a lot of soundproofing that went into the construction of this place. The club keeps late hours, and no one wants the music or activities to disturb the rest of the house’s occupants. I move to the nearest couch and run my fingers over the torn fabric. “They shot the place up.”
“Yes.” Hades still hasn’t moved from his spot near the door. I can’t read his expression as he surveys this place that has been so important to him for so long. The attack on the greenhouse was a private attack, meant to go straight to the very heart of him. This is a direct fuckingchallenge.
I turn as Thanatos hurries up. Half his face is covered in blood, and he’s limping, but he doesn’t seem to be otherwise seriously injured. He glances at Hades and must see the same thing I do, because he turns back to me to give his report. “They came through just as we were locking up after the cleaners left. Bashed me over the head and then locked Hypnos in the office. They wore masks and didn’t speak, and they were in and out before I could get my feet.”
We suspected they were professionals. This proves it. Theyknew our schedule. It’s not exactly something we hide, but to have things narrowed down to that tight window, they had to have been watching us for some time. More, they didn’t kill anyone. I don’t know what to make of that. I want to appreciate that I have no one to mourn, but it feels particularly sinister. Intentional in a way that raises the small hairs on the back of my neck.
I step closer to Thanatos and lower my voice. “How badly are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” Even as he speaks, he weaves a little, and I have to jump forward to catch him before he slams to the floor. He clears his throat and blinks at me. “I’m mostly fine.”
I guide him over to the nearest couch and try not to notice just how destroyed it is. This is the same couch Eurydice sat on when she challenged me… Was that only a couple days ago? It feels like another life. Impossible to look at the space and not picture the harm that would come to her if she’d been here when they attacked.
The lower city isn’t nearly as safe as we want it to be.
I send a quick text summoning the doctor we have on staff. Hades still hasn’t moved. Worry tightens the muscles along my spine. He’s been more sensitive since Persephone got pregnant. It’s understandable, but it makes him unpredictable. That’s dangerous. The Hades I grew up with would never strike out without reason. But this man, the one who feels that his wife and unborn children are threatened? I don’t know what he’ll do.
After making sure that Thanatos won’t fall right off the couch, I stand and move to Hades’s side. “We’ll find them.”
He exhales, slow and steady and perfectly controlled. That’s scarier than if he’d cursed and thrown things. He doesn’t look at meas he speaks. “I want them on their knees before me. You have two days, Charon. Otherwise I’m going hunting on my own.”
