AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Does the name Circe ring any bells?”
___________
I feel strange as I head back to the house with Minthe at my side. She hasn’t said anything since we arrived at Calypso and Medusa’s apartment. She played the part of the silent guard, but I know that she’s Charon’s second-in-command, which means she must have thoughts about what we just heard. I open my mouth to ask her but stop before a single word escapes. I’m not sure what the protocol is surrounding something like this. She heard everything I did, but are we allowed to talk about it? I don’t know.
Better to report directly to Hades and sidestep any potential errors.
We find him still in his office with a stack of untouched paperwork in front of him. There’s a strange look on my brother-in-law’s face that I’ve never seen before. It’s frightening. I don’t know what happened in the time since I saw him last and now, and I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask.
He looks up as I knock on the doorframe. “Did you get the information we need?”
“I think so.”
“Come in and shut the door. Minthe, report to Charon.”
Minthe squeezes my shoulder and then heads down the hall. I may have known Hades for over a year, but it still takes more courage than I’ll ever admit to step into the office and close the door behind me. I follow his silent command to take the chair across the desk from him.
The silence gets to me immediately. Maybe I’m supposed to start? “Her name is Circe. I think she was exiled from Olympus fifteen years ago, and she apparently went straight to Aeaea and offered them Olympus on a platter. Ariadne was kept out of the actual nitty-gritty plans, so most of the information she has is what she could glean from her father’s emails and conversations she overheard.”
Hades steeples his fingers in front of his face and leans forward. “Go on.”
“The gist of it is that Minos was intended to soften up the city and sow chaos, as well as undermine the power of the Thirteen. He was to destroy public confidence in them. Then, after an undisclosed amount of time had passed, they would bring the barrier down.”
“How? Not even Apollo is entirely certain of how it works—or why it’s failing.”
I feel absolutely sick over what I have to say next, and I would do anything not to be the messenger that delivers this information. But he has to know. They all have to know. “It started failing fifteen years ago. It may have taken us longer to realize it, but that’s when the process began.”
“You can’t know that.” He leans back. “Circe may have claimed that she’s behind that, but it’s impossible.”
I wish he was right, because it’d mean Apollo has a way to fix the barrier. “Unfortunately, it’s not. She took a piece with her when she left. Ariadne couldn’t tell me what it looks like, or how it functions, but it was the proof the council on Aeaea needed in order to go along with Circe’s plan.” I shiver. “The barrier will fall, and when it does, she will be waiting there with an army.”
“We have scouts monitoring the perimeter. There hasn’t been any movement on that front.” The words sound like he doesn’t believe me, but his tone isn’t dismissive. More like he’s musing to himself, mulling over the information I brought him. “That doesn’t mean Ariadne’s lying though. Just that Circe is smart enough not to show her hand before she’s ready to strike.”
“What do we do?”
He gives himself a shake and finally focuses on me. “Leave that up to us, Eurydice. You did a fine job getting that information. We’ll hold up our end of the bargain with Ariadne, but for now it’s time for you to go home.”
It’s not until I’m walking out the front door that I realize he didn’t tell me to go to the room that I usually keep in this house. He told me to gohome, and there’s no way he meant the upper city.
He meant Charon’s town house.
I’m not even surprised when Minthe pulls up in one of Hades’s nondescript black sedans. I climb into the passenger seat and sit back with a sigh. I don’t mean to speak, but I have too many emotions tangled up inside me, and Minthe will understand. I hope. “Ithought the information would fix things, but it only made them worse. We are in a lot of trouble.”
“Welcome to the lower city.” She laughs a little. “But seriously, you did good work today. You handled her perfectly and got every bit of information that she had. It was well done.”
Warmth takes up residence in my chest. It’s one thing to think that I might have something to offer, but it’s entirely another to have it confirmed by someone who has no reason to lie to me. Minthe isn’t related to me, even by marriage. She’s not interested in getting in my pants. She’s essentially a coworker who’s giving me a pat on the back for a job well done, and that feels so damn valuable. “Thanks.”
“Now that we have that out of the way, I have something you need to hear.”
The warmth in my chest dims. “Okay.”
“We didn’t get a chance to talk about it this morning, but I’d like to make one thing clear.” She weaves through the light traffic with an ease I envy. “Medusa is still adjusting to how we do things in the lower city. She sees things in a very black-and-white way, which means your previous role as honored guest who isn’t technically a citizen of the lower city created a gray area you were able to manipulate her through. Don’t think that I will allow you to do the same to me.”
I jerk back. “I never manipulated her.” That sounds insidious. Evil, even.
“How many times have you slipped her security detail? No, you don’t have to answer, because I already know. Seven times in the last year. That shit won’t fly with me.”
“I had my reasons.”
