Daughter of the Earth and Sky (18 page)

“But—”

“No really, Persephone, I don’t want to hear it.” There was a bitter edge to his voice. A muscle twitched in his cheek. “And for the record, you don’t have to avoid me if there’s something you don’t want me to see. I’ve been around for a while. I can handle it.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Are you ready? We should probably be getting back to the Underworld.”

“Wait, Hades!”

“Actually, I think I’m going to head down.” He walked to the door. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

“Stop!
Pleas
e!”
My voice broke. “I don’t remember any of that!”

“Yeah, that’s generally a sign to lay off the liquor.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. “No, I wouldn’t…I didn’t…I don’t—” I broke off with a curse. “I can’t even form a complete thought! I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t me.”

He stopped, his hand still clasping the doorknob. I caught my breath. I could fix this if I could just get him to stay.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. And I don’t…I don’t know what charming thing you were talking about, but I’m sorry about that too.”

Hades turned slowly, an expression I didn’t recognize on his face, his blazing blue eyes intense. “You don’t remember charming me?”

I stared at him. “Hades, I would never—”

He crossed the room before I could blink. “Drop your glamour and look at me, right now.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!”

I dropped the glamour, and his eyes searched mine, gaze intent.

“I’m going to kill her.” He turned for the door.

“Who?” I grabbed his arm. “Hades what is going on?”

“You’ve been charmed.” He stared at me again. “And it’s already gone, isn’t it? I wonder how many times a day you figure it out. Gods, no wonder you’ve been so out of it. There’s a physical toll.”

“What’s already gone?” My head was spinning with confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Hades shook his head. “She’s strong, but she isn’t this good.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m missing something.”

I couldn’t answer, but Hades didn’t seem to expect me to be able to. “We’ve got to get you immune to this. When’s the last time you slept?”

“I don’t remember.”

Hades’ nodded. “Hypnos taught me a new trick, to help with your nightmares.” He snorted and shook his head. “But that was never the problem, was it?”

I shook my head, feeling dizzy. This conversation was on dangerous ground. My mind felt like it was split into three, each side fighting the others.

Hades sat on the couch. “Can I use your phone?”

I raised my eyebrows at the odd request, but dug my phone from pocket and handed it to him.

“Thanks, now lie down.”

I curled up on the couch. I was practically in his lap. Part of me felt awkward, but a larger part of me was too exhausted to care. I felt drained. Emotionally and physically exhausted. Hades stroked my hair, a steady current of power flowing from his fingers. I was drifting off in seconds…

He muttered something I didn’t catch. A few seconds later I felt him fumble with my phone and heard a distant ringing sound.

“Demeter.” His hushed voice was full of disdain. “So glad you took a break from
shopping
to answer your phone. Yeah, we need to talk.”

* * * *

I came to feeling like I’d gotten a year’s worth of sleep in what couldn’t have been more than an hour. I felt like a fog had lifted from my brain.

“‘
Bout time you showed up,” Hades muttered.

I jumped, but he wasn’t talking to me. I was still stretched out on the couch, but I was shielded. I studied the shield and shot him a questioning look. He was leaning against the kitchen table with his arms crossed. He looked pissed.

“Why is there an entrance to the Underworld in my backyard?” my mother demanded, dropping her purse on the countertop. “Where’s Persephone?”

He glanced up in the general direction of my room, the motion seeming to be involuntary. “She needed rest before the thing tonight.”

I did my best to stay still so I didn’t disrupt the shield. Hades obviously wanted me to hear this conversation, and I didn’t want to screw that up.

“She’s asleep?” She sounded relieved. “Good. I haven’t seen her sleep in—”

“From what I gathered you haven’t seen her much at all.”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” She pulled back the wooden kitchen chair and sat, crossing her legs and staring at Hades expectantly.

My eyebrows shot up at her tone. I’d never heard her sound like that. She’d been mad at me before, but this was different. There was danger in her voice. She was staring at Hades like she’d tied him to a stake, soaked him with gasoline, and was playing with a lighter, just waiting for a spark to “accidentally” catch.

“There was a…situation with one of her guards. One of my Reapers went rogue.”

“What kind of a
situation
?”

Hades sucked in his breath, looking more unsettled than I’d ever seen him. “He um…” He ran his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. Mom’s eyes widened in alarm. I somehow doubted she’d ever seen Hades rattled. “Yeah, there’s no good way to say this.”

“What. Happened.”

Hades let out a deep breath. “He attacked her.”

“What?” My mom bolted from the chair.

Hades intercepted her before she reached the staircase. “She’s okay. I handled it.”

“I’ll just bet you did.” Mom’s eyes were blazing. “Get out of my way!”

I tensed, ready to teleport to my room.

“You really want to wake her? Do you have any idea how long it’s been since she slept?
She
doesn’t. In fact, there are some pretty significant gaps in her memory lately. Now normally, I’d ask you to help me fill those in, but you haven’t exactly been around—”

“Are you seriously accusing me of being negligent? You told me she’d be safe with those…things, and now you’re telling me one of them attacked her?” Fury still laced her voice, but I noticed that she’d lowered it.

Hades clenched his jaw. “What have you been up to, Demeter? And I swear by the Styx, if you say shopping—”

“You’ll what?” She drew herself up to her full height, challenge sparking in her eyes. “This isn’t your realm. I’m not one of your subjects. I don’t answer to you.”

Hades glowered at her, and my mom sighed.

“I went by a store. I purchased an item.” She indicated the single shopping bag on the counter. “It counts. And then I followed a lead.”

“A lead on what?”

Mom made her way back to the kitchen and sat down, fingers drumming on the wooden table. “Have you spoken to Orpheus lately?”

“Ugh, Orpheus again? No. Once was enough.”

I rolled my eyes. Hades worked hard to make the Underworld a paradise for the souls. So when Orpheus showed up, determined to take his wife back to the living realm, he took it personally.

“Some of the Muses have gone missing.”

Hades raised an eyebrow and sat down at the opposite seat. I leaned forward, listening intently. This is what Hades wanted me to hear. “Missing?”

“I don’t suppose they’ve passed through the Underworld?”

Hades shook his head, leaning back in his seat. “Thanatos knows to bring all deities to me. Demigods too.”

I ground my teeth together. For a second I toyed with the idea of searching the Underworld for the missing muses. Thanatos would have a tough time explaining it if they were down there. I dismissed the idea. The Underworld was huge. I could search forever and never find them. Even if I succeeded, it wasn’t like I could tell Hades where they were.

“Thalia contacted me. Some of her sisters are missing as well. And what do they all have in common?”

Hades sighed. “They’re all Zeus’.”

“Exactly. There’s been an upswing in missing persons lately.” Mom reached into her purse and pulled out a stack of missing persons flyers. I couldn’t see much more than gold hair. “Demigods, I’m willing to wager they’re Zeus’ as well. Since his kids are the only ones that can kill him, it seems logical that he’s taking them out before they can be used against him.”

“The only ones he can kill are the demigods.”

“Unless he can get the others to pull a Boreas. Give Zeus all of their power,” my mom pointed out.

Hades mulled that over. “Have you warned Athena?”

“Of course.”

“If Zeus is hunting down his kids, that’s even more reason to stay close. You should have told me. I could have followed up on this, and she deserved to know. Did you even tell her what was going on?”

“There was no reason to.” When Hades groaned, she continued. “Nothing’s changed. We still know Zeus is after her—”

“You know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, right? You need to tell her—”

“Hades, we’re not even on speaking terms.” She propped her elbow on the table and massaged her forehead with her hand. “I haven’t seen her for more than five minutes in passing since the night she found out about Minthe.” My mom gave Hades a sad smile. “You won, okay. She’s completely turned against me. So why don’t you two go live happily ever after? She’ll be safer in the Underworld—”

“Demeter, we aren’t together.”

I winced, the pain of that statement shooting me straight through the heart.

Mom looked up. “Then where’s she been spending all her time?”

“Apparently making out with random men in clubs.”

Mom’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Oh, yeah, and her new boyfriend. Did she tell you she quit school? She’s not on speaking terms with her priestess, either. She spends the bulk of her time out drinking and charming random shopkeepers with Aphrodite. I’d tell you more, but remember those significant gaps in her memory I told you about?”

“That’s not—” Mom stared at him, shocked speechless. “She wouldn’t—”

“No. She wouldn’t. Significant. Gaps. In. Memory.” Hades enunciated each word. “Remember the last time we saw those?”

Mom paled.

Hades continued. “I went through every stray thought in her head while she was out.” He shot an apologetic look in my direction. “I’ve seen every milestone with her new boyfriend, every dark corner of every nightclub, every lapse in judgment, but you know what I didn’t see? That Reaper torturing her earlier this afternoon.” He gave her a significant look. “I still don’t have a clue what’s been bugging her for the last few months. There’s a wall there, and I can’t break it.”

“Zeus is using her to get to you.” Mom’s voice was strained.

Hades nodded. “Exactly.”

“Aphrodite?”

“Do you think I would have left her here with Aphrodite if I wasn’t completely certain Persephone had enough power to resist her charm?”

My mom considered that, and then nodded. “Someone else then.”

“It’s not likely anyone I’ve seen in her head. He’s covering his tracks too well. She’s figured it out before, and today I point-blank told her she’s been charmed several times. She doesn’t remember.” He shot me an apologetic look. “She’s not going to remember until we can break her free of the charm.”

I frowned, pushing my necklace back and forth on the chain. What was he talking about? Mom spoke, breaking my concentration and washing whatever Hades had just said from my mind. “Your Reapers would know who she’s been spending time with.”

Hades shook his head. “I’ll ask, but I think we need to assume this was all taking place on the rogue Reaper’s shifts.”

“Did you interrogate him?”

Hades sighed and indicated the pile of dust on the kitchen floor. “I got a bit carried away. It was before I knew—”

“I would have done the same thing. I can talk to Melissa.”

“They haven’t spoken in weeks. Our best bet’s Aphrodite, but I’m not sure we should tip her off that we know anything.”

“How about her boyfriend? He may know where else she’s been spending her time. If you talk to him—”

Hades gave her a level look. “I just watched what feels like half the men in this city get to second base with my wife. Do you really want me in a room alone with one of them?”

Mom snorted. “Fine, I’ll talk to him. It’s probably a dead end anyway. If Zeus is putting out enough energy to maintain a hold on her, he’s not going to leave witnesses.”

Hades hesitated. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. He’s got to be using a ton of energy keeping her under. Persephone isn’t weak. Thanks to Orpheus, she almost rivals you and me. If we found Zeus now, we might actually be able to end this thing fast.”

Mom narrowed her eyes. “You want to use her as bait?”

“Hell no. She’s completely vulnerable to him right now. If Zeus caught wind we were on to him, he could just have her swear fealty, give him all her power, and then he’d have access to the Underworld, and she’d be gone. I want to keep her in the Underworld until this is over. If we both know she’s safe, we can put all our resources toward finding Zeus.”

My mom’s shoulders relaxed. “Good. I don’t know how you’re going to convince her to stay down there, but it’s good we’re on the same page.” Her eyes widened as if a thought had just occurred to her. “What if she’s already sworn?”

Hades shook his head. “I’d know.”

Mom nodded, her lips pressed in a firm line, expression troubled. “I wonder what he’s waiting for?”

I drew my knees to my chest.
Good question.

“Thanks for letting me listen in,” I told Hades as we made our way down to the Underworld. “Mom never would have told me what she was up to.”

Hades nodded, looking distracted. “Do you remember anything else from that conversation?”

I gave him an odd look. “Weird question. Yeah. You two argued. A lot.”

“Nothing else?”

I shook my head. “Why? What did I miss?”

He took my hand, and we teleported to the hall right outside my room. The hallway was huge and looked like it was carved from ebony. Not a single fingerprint marred the gleaming surface or silver trim. Hades changed that by planting his hand on the wall behind me and pulling me into a kiss. A surge of power rushed through me, and I pulled away, staring at Hades in surprise.

“What was that for?”

“You tell me.” He studied my eyes for a moment, and then, as if I wasn’t confused enough, kissed me again.