Chapter 10

CHAPTER10

MEDUSA

Calypso is lying to me.

I can’t even be mad about it because she’s doing it for me. I can see it in the determination on her face when she thinks I’m not looking. She’s willing to bargain herself to ensure I stay safe. I won’t let her make that sacrifice, but there’s no use fighting about it until I know the parameters of the arena. First, we meet this leader. Then, we’ll figure the rest out.

After we get ready, Calypso leads me down to the main entrance where a white guy with artfully styled black hair is waiting. He doesn’t smile when he sees us, which makes me like him better. My instinct says that this guy is a soldier like me, though he’s out in the open where I clung to the shadows. He takes me in, but he doesn’t stare at my scars the same way some people do. It’s not enough to make me warm to him, but I don’t hate him on sight so that’s something.

“Like I said, I got you a meeting, but after that, it’s beyond my control.” He directs this to Calypso. “So, make a good impression.”

“I always make a good impression.” She’s got her charming facade in place, though it’s dampened a bit. I don’t know if that’s for his benefit or for mine.

“Yeah, well, we’ll see. Come on.”

I expect him to take us to a vehicle, but instead we start down the sidewalk. The morning is brisk and clear, and I sneak a glance at Calypso to see if she’s warm enough. My jacket is hardly a thick one, but I’m happy to wrap it around her. In fact, I kind of want to.

The thought barely crosses my mind before I’m following through on it. I shrug out of the jacket and drape it around her shoulders. She opens her mouth like she might argue, but instead snuggles down into it in a way that makes my heart thump too hard.

Girlfriend.

She wants to be my girlfriend.

If I keep looking at her, I’m going to trip over my own feet, so instead I turn my gaze around us. I only got the vaguest of impressions of the lower city last night while I snuck around like a, well, like an assassin. In the cool light of morning, it’s rather charming. The storefronts are an eclectic mix of styles that should look mismatched but feels intentional the same way a patchwork quilt is intentional. Every so often, I catch sight of carved pillars on either side of a doorway, but Charon’s pace discourages lingering.

If we pull this off, there will be plenty of time to explore. I’ve never been one to overly care about my surroundings—not when I went through great lengths to avoid being noticed—but there’s something about this area that draws me.

Charon takes us around a corner and I almost stop short. Before us rises what appears to be a Victorian mansion. It’s such a strange place for a mansion, let alone one of this style, that it seems plopped down in the middle of the lower city as if placed here by a giant.

This is, of course, right where we’re led. Charon walks through one of the massive front doors. Calypso and I exchange a look and follow him in. She seems certain that he’s on the up and up, but I brush my hands over the hidden hilts of my knives, mentally preparing to fight our way out if it comes to that. So far Charon is the only person I’ve seen, but surely a building like this has a full security force? Especially if the leader of the lower city is here.

“If you don’t stop fingering your weapons, I’m going to take them from you.” He speaks over his shoulder without looking at me.

I drop my hands, and then curse myself for doing it. “You can try.”

“I don’t mean you any harm.” He stops in front of a door and finally looks at me. “No one here does unless you plan on trying to attack one of ours. I let you keep the knives as a courtesy.”

My skin heats under his direct stare, embarrassment making me want to shuffle my feet. Gods, how can he make me feel chastised when I haven’t actually done anything wrong? It takes effort to hold his gaze, but I manage. “I have no intention of harming anyone here unless they attack first.”

“Good enough.” He opens the door and steps back. “Go ahead.”

Calypso moves first, brushing her shoulder against mine as she steps into the shadows of the room. I cast one last suspicious look at Charon and then follow her in. The room is like the rest of the house we’ve seen—expensive but not particularly lavish. It feels like a house a rich person actually lives in, rather than entertains in. The massive mahogany desk dominates the space…or maybe it’s the man sitting behind it who does.

He’s another dark-haired white guy, though his hair is a bit longer than Charon’s and he’s sporting a neatly shaped beard. He looks vaguely familiar, but it’s Calypso who recognizes him while I’m still trying to figure out why he looks familiar. She sucks in a shocked breath. “Hades?”

I jerk back and then look closer. A lot of Olympians get curious about the member of the Thirteen who’s essentially the boogeyman of the city. Or at least he was before his death. There aren’t many photos of the last Hades, but Athena and Apollo both keep good records, and so I’ve seen a picture of that man.

This one could be his doppelgänger.

Except that’s impossible, because even if Hades hadn’t died thirty years ago, he’d be in his late fifties now, at least. Maybe sixties? I’m not exactly great with guessing ages. This guy can’t be more than thirty-five. Understanding hits me like a lightning bolt. “You’re his son. You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Call me one of Olympus’s best-kept secrets.” He doesn’t smile, and his dark eyes don’t warm at all. “You’ve come to claim sanctuary.”

We hadn’t planned it in so many words, but that’s a good way of putting it. I suck in a breath to explain ourselves, but Calypso gets there first. She walks toward the desk, and she’s even moving differently than she normally does, her hips gaining a seductive sway. Her voice has lowered, too. “Yes. We’ll do anything.”

His brows raise so little, I almost convince myself I’ve imagined it. “Explain the situation.”

She starts to speak, but I grasp her shoulder. “Let me.” I don’t give her a chance to argue, just jump into a slightly chaotic explanation of how we got to this place. It’s not perfect but this Hades can get the general idea of what we’re up against.

He listens silently, never showing a sign of exasperation that it takes me a little longer to get to the point or cutting in to demand a cleaner explanation. When I finish, he sits back and steeples his fingers beneath his chin. “I see.”

“We’ll—”

Once again, I speak over Calypso. “We’re willing to work or do anything that’s a reasonable ask, but we will not be willing to do anything. I’m not going to kill anyone, and Calypso is not going to be your mistress.”

At that, his brows wing up. “This is the lower city. We don’t make a habit of murdering people who inconvenience us, and no one will be compelled to enter into any kind of sexual or emotional relationship if they’re not consenting.”

“So you say.” I’m being a dick, and I know it, but I don’t trust this. “What’s the catch?”

He turns his attention to Calypso for a long moment before returning it to me. “You’re hardly the only two people who have been wronged by the Thirteen.”

“You’re a member of the Thirteen.”

He continues as if I didn’t interrupt. “I can offer you the safety of the lower city, with the understanding that if you’re not being honest about why you’re here, the consequences will be…severe.”

“You’ll kill us,” Calypso says softly.

I glare. “You just said you don’t make a habit of murdering people who inconvenience you.”

“I did.” His nod is slight, but undeniable. “I will do anything to protect my people, no matter how distasteful. Harming them is hardly something that can be labeled an inconvenience. If your motives are true, you’re welcome to stay. But you can never go back to the upper city. My domain stops at the River Styx. I can’t protect you if you’re foolish enough to go where you’re not protected.”

I wait, but it seems he’s finished. “That’s it?”

“Yes.” He lowers his hands. “I sympathize with being used and discarded by those more powerful than you. Beyond that, Charon is prepared to vouch for Calypso here, and I get the feeling that all your bristling spikes are in defense of her.” He shrugs. “We have space for you in the lower city. Don’t make trouble and you can live out the rest of your life here in peace.”

“What about Athena? And Zeus?”

For the first time since we walked into the room, his expression goes dark and ruthless. “I’ll handle them. They should have known better than to send an assassin into my territory.”

Too good to be true. I open my mouth to keep arguing, but Calypso’s hand finds mine, her fingers lacing tightly between mine. “We’ll stay. We won’t cause trouble.”

“Time will tell.” He gives us each a searching look and then waves his hand. “Go on. I have things to do today.”

We don’t exactly flee the office, but we beat a hasty retreat, nonetheless. I don’t see Charon on the way out, but it’s just as well. I don’t know how to process what just happened. It seems too easy. Calypso and I stumble out of the strange mansion and make it one block down before we find a bench to sink onto.

She slumps against me. “What just happened?”

“What was that seductress bullshit? Anything? Really, Calypso?”

She straightens almost reluctantly. “Olympus is our home. I don’t want to start over somewhere else.”

I look around us. It’s late enough in the morning that the foot traffic has increased. People move differently in the lower city. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it feels just as seamless as the mix of shops. Like it’s truly a community instead of being whatever the upper city is. Another thing that seems too good to be true. “What if there’s a catch?”

“What if there’s not?”

We share a long look and it feels as if there’s a possibility this might be real. The threat of Athena’s disappointment—of what she might ask me to do next—has pressed down on me for so long, I can barely comprehend that it’s no longer there. I can see the same relief and disbelief in Calypso’s eyes.

She tentatively reaches for my hand. “I…” She swallows hard. “I meant what I said this morning. I would like to be your girlfriend, Medusa.”

I tug her closer and lean down to capture her mouth in a quick kiss. “I meant it, too.”

“We’re free,” she says wonderingly. “I’d hoped, but having it actually happen…”

“I think it’s going to take time for it to feel real.” I find myself smiling. “I’ll need to look for a job and all that, but I think it’s okay to start tomorrow. I have a few ideas to pass the time today.”

She laughs. “I bet you do.” Calypso stands and tugs me up with her. “Come on, Medusa. Let’s go home.”

Home.

It might be too soon to feel this way, but as I follow Calypso down the street and back to her cute little apartment, it really feels like home could be a person, rather than a place.

That, given a little time and a whole lot of love, Calypso can be my home. That’s the beauty of this turn of events, of something that started out like a nightmare and now feels more like a dream.

We have all the time in the world.

Thankyou so much for reading! If you enjoyed this foray into Olympus, be sure to check out Neon Gods, which follows Hades as he falls for the one woman he shouldn’t want…Persephone.

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Society darling Persephone Dimitriouplans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth...a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her - for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close....

Read Neon Gods now!