My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

For all the stars in the sky (Part 4)

Kai sighed and released my hands. He looked at Theo. "Your turn."

"Magoo, think about this logically, not emotionally," Theo gently urged.

I crossed my arms. I felt lightheaded. I didn't care about logic. What place did logic have in a world where teen girls ended up with goddess powers anyway?

"Hannah?" Theo turned to her for help. "Does this seem right to you?"

"Theoretically, I guess it's possible," she said. But I could tell from the doubtful look on her face, she was only saying that to be supportive.

A slow burn started in my gut. I wanted nothing more than to prove them wrong. Because the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.

Demeter returned with a steaming teapot. "Now, who wants tea?"

Nervously, I took a deep breath. Time for all these naysayers to see that she was who she claimed. "Mom," I faltered, but she nodded at me encouragingly as she poured, "why didn't you come find me? When I realized who and what I was?"

Her face fell. "Darling, I wish I had and I'm so sorry I didn't. But until now, I had no idea that you were alive."

And that's when the bottom dropped out of my world. Because I knew she was lying. The entire damn pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses became aware of my presence upon my awakening. It wasn't ego. Just fact.

I bit my quivering lip and looked down, blinking furiously at the tears filling my eyes. The happy fantasy I'd built in my head in the span of the twenty minutes I'd known Demeter—involving noisy holiday gatherings and quiet times together—was just that. A fantasy.

My body splintered into a million fragments of icy cold at the realization that this was just another of Jack's illusions. Another trick from the God of Tricksters.

Stupid, stupid girl.

I got a littler older, a littler smarter, and a little harder.

My body tightened with a fury unlike any I'd ever known.

With a shriek of rage that didn't even sound human, I jumped up and blasted a single pulse of green light at whatever that sham Demeter was, destroying the illusion, and my own.

There was a shocked silence, but before anyone could say a word, I ran.

I tore through the streets of Athens, adrenaline and rage fueling my flight. I ran farther and harder than I ever had before, my chest heaving and sides burning.

As fast as the anger had risen in me, it vanished, leaving me spent and alone at the base of a large rock.

I scampered to the top, laid my head on my knees, and began to cry. Those fast, thick tears that can only be pushed past your tear ducts with big, shuddery sobs.

It wasn't about "poor me." Well, not totally. My emotions had been whacked every which way since I'd tried to flee Olympus. The more I tried to face things, the more crap came along to knock me down.

Maybe I was being tested. Maybe I had to morph into the strongest, most resilient version of myself in preparation for my final showdown with Hades and Zeus.

I didn't feel strong at all.

Just an empty ball of longing and loss.

Strong arms came around me. My body relaxed into them before my brain even processed that it was Kai.

He turned me into his chest and held me, stroking my hair.

"Please feel better." He sounded really distraught. Of course he did. I'd already seen that my emotions amped up his own, courtesy of the arrows. We were feeding off each other.