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Even if it did, I’d die instead.
Ha, ha. No. Fuck that. I’m not dying any time soon. Not if she’s here with me.
I wish I could’ve seen the inside of my mom’s cottage, but I bet I can guess what it looks like. She always wanted white sheets and gingham curtains and a braided rug. A low bookshelf. A lamp with a lampshade.
She wanted to be able to afford nice shampoo.
I’m not jealous of her, either.
I’ve been jealous of her before. Angry at her, too. There were lots of nights on the street when I raged at her. Dying would’ve been easier, I thought. It wouldn’t have been so cold, or so tense. It wouldn’t have hurt so much.
I didn’t have anything to leave behind back then.
I was the only one.
That gives me a hint of pity for Kenneth. The foolish prick looked like complete shit. I can’t help but understand that. I know what it’s like to be the only one, too.
Idon’tknow what it’s like to be so devoid of humanity that I’d push a teenage girl into a dark alcove and kiss her until she fought me off.
Forget pity. He’ll run around screaming his head off about whatever Persephone said until he gets arrested. Whatever the cops do is up to them.
The bedroom door opens and Zeus comes in, closing it quietly behind him. He carries a plate in his hand and a bottle of orange juice. His eyes areallred. Guy’s a wreck.
“Hey.”
He waves the bottle as if I could’ve missed the bright orange and puts it on the side table closest to me. “Cook sent bacon.”
Zeus sits down on the edge of the bed and balances the plate between us.
“Is it a revenge thing? Is he pissed your kids woke him up?”
He picks a slice and bites into it, the bacon crunching between his teeth. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask Poseidon.”
“…why?”
“Because Cook came with him, from his ship. He only lives at my house because it’s central.”
“Jesus. You didn’t tell me anything, did you?”
Zeus eats another piece of bacon without looking at me. “I’ve always said I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“Even if I was a prick about not wanting to know it before?”
“Yes.”
I eat some bacon. It’s hard to live in a guy’s house without picking up some things, but there’s a lot I don’t know about Zeus. Even more that I don’t know about his brothers. And I guess, if I’m going to be alive, it’s going to be in this family. The way they move around each other was formed a long time ago. It’d probably be easier to be a part of it if I wasn’t a willfully ignorant bastard.
Even this room is something new to learn, now that our darkest hour has blossomed into dawn and I can let my guard down long enough to check out the perimeter. Another one of her old, family-safe paintings hangs on the wall across from the bed. An abstract, I think.
Zeus follows my gaze and tilts his head. “Is it poppies?”
I squint at the canvas, ignoring the way he takes advantage of my focus to secure the last piece of bacon. “I don’t see it.” We’re quiet for a moment, until I’m ready to know. “What shook you up so bad this morning? You’re a mess.”
He glares at me. “Crying does not make a person a mess.”
It takes me too long to realize it’s a joke, but once I do, it’s fucking hilarious. Zeus cracks a smile after I nearly suffocate myself trying not to wake Daisy up by shaking with laughter.
Zeus shakes his head and leans back on the headboard. “I was pretty fucked when Hades screamed.”
