Chapter 9

CHAPTER9

CALYPSO

Medusa falls asleep in my arms. I’m too damn jaded to believe this could be love after a few hours, but I can’t deny the connection I feel with her. Maybe it’s trauma bonding. Maybe it’s something more. I don’t care. All I know is that I’m not willing to give it up without a fight.

I want her with me, to chase this thing between us until we figure out the full shape of it. But, even more than that, I can see how the jobs she does for Athena are leeching away her life. It’s not the same kind of thing that I witnessed growing up with my parents, but it’s close enough that I recognize it in the way she carries herself, how she speaks, how desperate she is to ensure I make it out of this alive.

She’s done her part. She spared me back in my apartment and again here. Her plan might not be one I intend to follow through on, but it is a plan.

I am fully committed to meeting her halfway and doing whatever it takes to ensure she doesn’t feel like her only option is going back to Athena.

I leave her in my new bed, her big body sprawled out with a carelessness that warms my heart. No matter what she thinks, there is a strange sort of innocence to her. Or maybe not innocence. Maybe it’s a purity of character. I can’t quite define it, but it draws me all the same. She just so fucking honest.

Charon’s card is in the back pocket of my jeans and I stare at it for a long time. It’s not in my nature to trust. If my life has taught me anything, it’s that everyone has an agenda, and those with power are only too happy to use it to get what they want—even if it means stepping on those below them. Maybe even especially then.

He didn’t ask for anything when he gave me this card, or when he led me to this apartment building. I’m not quite willing to believe he did it out of the goodness of his soul, but even only being in the lower city a few hours, I get the impression that there’s something different here than in the upper city.

Asking Charon for help is a risk. He might name a price that is too high.

I grip the card until its edges imprint on the pads of my fingers and look back at Medusa. There’s no escaping this life. Even if I left Olympus—if I convinced her to come with me—I don’t imagine the greater world is somehow kinder than what we have here. It’s simply different.

Better to deal with things here and now, instead of wishing on a shooting star.

I take a breath, hold it for five seconds, and release it slowly. When I dial the phone sitting on the dresser, I feel slightly more like my old self again. I can do charming. I can do whatever’s required to secure our safety, even if I lose the fledgling fantasy of a future with Medusa in the process. It’s worth it if she’s safe, if she’s free. If we both are.

Charon answers on the second ring, his voice heavy with sleep. “Yeah?”

“You’re not the one in charge of the lower city.”

A pause. When he speaks again, he sounds alert and suspicious. “Did you call me in the middle of the night to tell me something I already know?”

“No.” I take a deep breath, cast one last look at Medusa, and gamble everything. “I thought crossing the river would be enough to deter my pursuers. It wasn’t. I need help.”

Another pause, longer this time. “Tonight?”

I refuse to give up even a moment with Medusa if I don’t have to. “The morning is soon enough.”

“I’ll be there at eight.” He hesitates. “I can’t guarantee anything, but I can get you in front of someone who can help. After that, it’s up to you.”

Someone who can help.

The leader of the lower city.

It seems that tomorrow, a mystery will be solved, though I can find no joy in the discovery. It’s not just the strange boundary that lines the River Styx that keeps people—and the Thirteen, in particular—out of the lower city. It would take a strong leader; someone like the last Hades and his lineage that stretched back to the founding of Olympus, the same as the other members of the Thirteen.

But Hades is dead and gone.

“Thank you,” I manage.

“Don’t thank me. I haven’t done anything yet.” He hangs up before I can argue.

Tomorrow, I’ll consider that Charon thinks several rather large acts of kindness to be nothing. He might be trying to manipulate me, but I don’t think so. I think this is genuine, though I can’t begin to guess what that means.

I use the bathroom, grab a quick drink of water, and then slip back into bed. Medusa murmurs in her sleep and turns without opening her eyes to wrap an arm around my waist and tug me back to be little spoon to her big spoon. She sighs in utter contentment, and that soft feeling in my chest expands in a truly worrisome way.

But when I close my eyes and slip into a dreamless slumber, it’s with a smile on my lips.

“This is too risky.”

I cling to patience with everything I can. “So is your plan.” I hold up both my hands when Medusa starts to protest. “Just hear me out, please.”

She crosses her arms over her chest and slumps back against the headboard. She’s completely unreserved in her nakedness, and I’m doing my best not to be too distracted, but with her nipple piercings shining in the morning light and how her tattoos seem to shift on her skin with every move of her arms, it’s a challenge.

I clear my throat and force my gaze to her face. “I realize that Athena sent you over here, but even you have to admit that isn’t the normal mode of operations.”

A line appears between her brows. “Usually if someone manages to get across the river, that’s the end of it. I think if you hadn’t stolen from Odysseus, it would have been true for you as well.”

I’m not about to apologize for stealing from him. He took a hit out on me, for gods’ sake. That’s not the part I’m debating right now, though. “Haven’t you wondered why that was? The Thirteen are essentially only answerable to each other. There is absolutely no reason for them to call off pursuit. Yes, there’s a bit of a barrier, but you managed across just fine.”

“It was uncomfortable.” I give her a look and she sighs. “Okay, fine. It is weird when you put it like that. What’s your point?”

It’s only a theory, but we’ll find out the truth soon enough. “I think whoever is the leader of the lower city is powerful enough to give even the Thirteen pause.”

She frowns. “That seems impossible.”

“That’s because we grew up in the upper city. What if it isn’t impossible? What if this person can help us, and it won’t mean me leaving the city or you dealing with coming back to Athena empty-handed?”

Medusa’s frown melts away to a curiously blank expression. For the first time since meeting her, I can’t begin to guess what she’s thinking. She uncrosses her arms. “You don’t want me to go back.”

Every instinct I have—and my entire history—is clamoring for me to be quiet and play my cards close to my chest. Offering your heart to another person on a platter is a good way to get it thrown in the trash. Or a meat grinder.

I’m asking a lot of Medusa. For her faith, for her trust. If I can’t return the favor, what motivation does she have to listen to me?

It feels like balancing precariously on a high-wire above a fall to my death. I speak slowly, feeling my way. “I realize this may be difficult to believe considering how little time we’ve known each other and how we met, but last night meant something to me. It wasn’t just sex. I like you, Medusa. A lot. I feel very taken care of when I’m with you, and you make me want to take care of you, too. It…” Gods, this is hard. She’s still giving me nothing, but I push through. “It doesn’t feel transactional. I realize that might not be mutual, and I understand completely if you were just having fun, but—”

“It wasn’t.”

I blink. “It wasn’t fun?”

“What? No, that’s not what I meant.” She drags her hand through her blond hair, making it stand on end. “Or I don’t know if I’d qualify last night as fun. It was more like a religious experience, except I’m not religious and I don’t even know if I believe in the gods.”

I stare at her helplessly. I think I understand what she’s saying, but I’m suddenly terrified that I’m misreading things. It strikes me that while she has shown me a degree of kindness and care that I’m not used to, she’s obviously a good person, and that might just be how she moves through life. It’s a foreign concept to me, but that doesn’t mean it’s foreign to everyone. “Okay,” I say slowly.

“Oh no, I’m fucking this up.” She shoves to her feet and starts pacing around the tiny apartment. It’s a glorious sight. She’s fucking magnificent, and I can’t even allow myself to enjoy the sight because this conversation is too fraught. She finally spins to face me with an agonized expression on her face. “I like you, Calypso. I wouldn’t have done all this—I wouldn’t have had sex with you—if I didn’t. If you’re saying you want to—”

“Date you,” I rush in. “I want to date you. Exclusively. As your girlfriend.”

A slow smile dawns on her scarred face. “My girlfriend.”

“Yes…” I swallow hard. Why is this so difficult? “If that’s what you want.”

She takes one large step and then she’s on me, bearing me down to the mattress and kissing me hard enough to make my head spin. She peppers kisses across my jaw. “Yes, it’s what I want. Are you kidding me? I’m warning you now, Calypso, I’m going to fall in love with you. Prepare yourself.”

My laugh goes more than a little breathless as she skates a hand down my side, her destination obvious. “Wait, wait, we can’t get distracted. We have to meet Charon at eight.”

Medusa makes a show of looking at the clock. “It’s seven.”

“And if we get started, it will be hours.” I kiss her quickly. “I need to get ready. We’ll have one shot at this, and we can’t afford to mess it up.”

She eases off me, her dark eyes going worried. “Promise me something.”

“What?”

“Promise me that you won’t bargain anything away for me. That if this person asks for something outrageous or unforgivable, that we’ll leave Olympus. Together.”

“I promise,” I lie.