My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Incriminating Evidence (Part 1)

Five minutes later I was still kind of paralyzed, with worry. I tried to get Festos' attention, but he blatantly ignored me. He was testing jets of fire and lava from each individual candle cup on the chandelier. That was one way to light up a room.

I'm sure the result would be spectacular, but I'd leave my close up oohing and ahhing for the night of the ball. Besides, the one time I did manage to make eye contact with him, Festos tossed me a look that promised burns from the dancing plumes of flame if I came any closer.

Since I had zero desire to take him up on that experience, I kept my distance. Besides, there was no need to panic, right? I mean, Demeter and I had left on perfectly good terms. She'd kissed me.

Hmmm. Mafioso kissed people before killing them, too, didn't they? My pulse spiked. I brightened a little when I figured that, even if she did come to whack me she might have second thoughts doing it in front of a room full of witnesses. At the very least, I'd be with Festos, Prometheus, Aletheia, and possibly Oizys. Although it wasn't like Demeter had to worry about getting arrested so what did witnesses matter?

Jaw set, I scanned the room, looking at all the faces. Fact was, I didn't have a single friend here. I watched Festos as, with a flick of his hand, he made the chandelier come alive with fire. Then, he pointedly turned his back on me. Again.

I saw Kyrillos, surrounded by fawning suck ups, while minions hovered protectively nearby. He spared me one hard look before charming his posse with a grin.

Not even my friends were my friends here.

The whole situation felt so unreal.

Dazedly, I wandered farther into the room. I felt one second out of synch with everyone else. The chatter around me sounded like a buzz, coming through a long tunnel. Colors seemed teeth-jarringly bright. Even walking felt too languid. Like I was streaming through a river of molasses.

I couldn't breathe. I pressed a hand to my side, taking in gulping breaths of air, desperate to get my lungs to expand.

"Did you get his help?" Oizys asked. Suddenly in my way.

My chest loosened at the sight of her, and I took a much needed breath. "Yes. And you don't need to sound so doubtful."

She shrugged. "You dance in flowers. That doesn't scream 'competent'."

"Give me a freaking break. I'm Goddess of Spring. I celebrate occasionally in a meadow. It's not like I prance around with floral arrangements. Nor do I just get bored with people and forget about them. Guy in chains suffering? Who's that?" I held myself stiffly, chin up, and added, "For your information, Hephaestus is coming to free Prometheus personally."

She pursed her lips, displeased.

"Now what?"

"Prometheus isn't going to be happy."

Maybe for five minutes. Until Aletheia revealed the truth. At which point Theo would probably even hug me for bringing Fee to him, given how they'd left things.

My last hug?

Oizys took a step back, eyes huge.

Which made no sense until I realized that, in thinking about Theo and what lay ahead for us, I'd worn a dark enough look to bother her.

I smiled, thinly. Good.

Hurt flashed across her face.

And my stomach sank. I balled my fists. I was not going to apologize. She got to be as crabby as she wanted to me.

Guilt.

She didn't even like me.

More guilt.

I sighed. "I have a lot on my mind. Look, there's still stuff we need to take care of before the ball. Like the nectar, and getting us both a costume."

"I want a floral arrangement." Her voice was even. "For the costume."

"You're going to milk this, aren't you?" I was resigned. But not really annoyed.

"Yes." She headed off in typical stomping stride.

"Okay then. Just checking." I trotted after her.

Oizys led me me through winding hallways that got narrower and narrower, until the two of us stood squeezed together like sardines in a stone can in front of a simple wooden door.

"Use your light to open it," she said. "We need to get into Hades' cellar and liberate some nectar. The good stuff."

She probably didn't mean for me to blast the thing off its hinges, but I was not in a subtle frame of mind. The door blew back into the room, arcing through the air to take out an entire rack of glass jugs before it smacked against the back wall hard enough to make my teeth rattle.

We stood there staring at the carnage of broken glass and pale peachy liquid streaming onto the floor. Slowly and deliberately, Oizys looked from the mess, to me, to the mess.

"Whoops." I stepped inside, and carefully picked my way to an intact rack. I scanned the jugs of nectar. Each one contained several of gallons of booze, sealed with a metal cap. A date, probably of bottling, was written across each jug on a neatly scripted label. "Moonshine of the gods," I said.

Over my shoulder, Oizys squatted on her heels, examining some labels on the bottom row. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, grabbed a jug and slid it off the rack. "This ought to do the trick."

"A fine vintage is it?" I asked.

"Fine is a relative term." Carefully, she uncapped it for me to take a whiff.

I leaned in, sniffed, and recoiled, wiping my eyes. "What is that? 400 proof?"

"At least. Drink any of this blend and you'll go blind. But the Hekatonkheires love the stuff." Oizys cradled the brew in her arms and led me out.

My sandals left sticky footprints as we walked away. "Where to now?" I asked.

"We need to put this away for safekeeping. Rule number one in the Underworld? Never keep incriminating evidence in your room." Her hands full with the jug, Oizys elbowed me away from a corridor full of voices.

We waited, tense, as they came closer. Thanatos, the creepy death baby, was directing one of the Infernorators.

Oizys held herself stiffly. She glanced back, searching for a hiding place but it was all wide stone corridor, devoid of any convenient doors.