“You miss them anyway. At least if you spoke to them you might have some comfort.”

“The only thing that comforts me—the only thing that gives me an ounce of comfort—is the thought of Hera sinking like a stone in that underwater cave.” Cassandra threw a tomato onto her napkin. “I hear the sound of it, the clink, clink, clink of her body against the bottom. I hear it in my dreams, and I sleep like an angel.”

“You don’t sleep at all.”

The nymph’s steady eyes hung on her, heavy and so damn thorough. An almost constant irritant these days. Calypso saw everything. Half the time it felt like she could read Cassandra’s mind.

“It’s almost time to go,” Cassandra said. “Are you sure he’ll be there?”

Calypso glanced at her watch and brushed crumbs from her palms.

“Yes. If he wants to keep my friendship. Which he does.”

“Good.” She watched Calypso clear the baskets and discarded napkins without trying to help. She would’ve only been batted away. Calypso acted very much like a servant sometimes.

Cassandra frowned. It would have been nicer to have a friend.

“You don’t have to do everything, you know.”

“Yes, I do,” Calypso said.

“You pay, and you’re helping. You’re not a slave. And I shouldn’t snap at you all the time.”

Calypso stopped, and crunched an aluminum can of Fanta in her fist.

“Cassandra. Don’t forget your promise. Our bargain.”

Cassandra lowered her eyes. “I won’t.”

“Look at me when you say so.”

“Okay. I won’t.”

“Say it again.”

The gravity of those green eyes held her up and down all at once. But Cassandra did as she was asked.

“You’ll help me. And when all the work is done, and the gods are dead, I’ll kill you, too.”

2

POST-OLYMPUS

Andie was a master at lugging grocery bags. She looped plastic over her wrists and hugged paper to her chest and was altogether blind by the time she started making her way toward the door. Hermes watched from the window. He could’ve helped of course, but it was early April, and the ice on the walk had melted so it wasn’t like she was going to fall. He did open the door, though, when he heard her start to grunt.

“Andie.”

“I saw you in the window, lazy ass. You want to start doing your own shopping?” She threw a bag into his chest. It appeared to be filled with nothing but Oreos and E.L. Fudge cookies. “There’s a lot here, and more in the backseat. If you supplement with Stanley’s Wok, maybe it’ll last you a week.”

The five bags wouldn’t last three days, but Hermes smiled at her anyway.

“You know I’d be just as happy ordering pizza.”

“You would not,” she said, walking into the kitchen. “There are some super fatty steaks in here.” She dug them out and put them in the refrigerator. “So don’t argue.”

“Henry coming over later?” he asked. “We could put some of those on the grill. Have a feast.” He almost didn’t need to ask. Since Olympus, Andie and Henry barely gave him five minutes to himself. As if he were the one who needed looking after.

Andie shook her head.

“He’s with his parents. For the duration, I think.”

“It won’t be much longer before they’ll want real answers.”

“It won’t be long until we’ll have them. Until they’ll be back. Right?” She paused her unpacking and looked at him with big eyes over a box of cereal.

“Right,” he said, and turned away so she wouldn’t see the falsity on his face. Around his eyes. Around his mouth. He was usually a much better liar.

But this time they should know the truth. That I don’t know what I’m doing. That I’m not sure if we’ll ever see Athena or Cassandra again.

It was easy enough at first to pass off the story that Cassandra, Athena, and Odysseus had taken off together. To Cabo, or Cancun. In the months preceding, Cassandra had become enough of a delinquent for her parents to buy it. But then weeks passed and they didn’t come back, and concern slowly burned into panic.

“Tom was here again today,” he said. “Asking if I’d heard from my sister.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That Athena left a message a few days ago.” He swallowed. “I made it sound like it’s all about Aidan. That Cassandra had to get away for awhile.”