My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Not Quite Cinderella (Part 2)

Red tinged her eyes.

"It's our best hope," I said, soothingly, and took a few steps back just in case, the dress held out like a shield. I had no desire to be ripped apart as easily as she scrapped wooden doors and bronze fences. "With you wearing this, I'll appear to be at the ball all night. The perfect plan."

I put the offensive garment down on the bed.

Oizys looked like she couldn't believe what I was saying. "Hades wants you to wear it."

"He won't know the difference."

"He's not an idiot," she fired back. "We look nothing alike."

"Really?" I waved a hand between us. "You're just as curvy as I am. We're basically the same height. We'll dye your hair and arrange it so that it looks like some updo that I'd have. You even have green eyes."

"That are blind without my glasses," she protested.

"Don't move around much."

"That's your solution? One conversation and he'll know it's not you."

"Listen and nod. He likes that better anyhow." I lay the dress down again.

Oizys shook her head, making for the door. "No."

I pounced before she got to the knob. "Stop being so stubborn and think about it. The only one who actually has to go rescue Prometheus is Hephaestus. He's the one who knows how to unbind him."

Oizys twisted free. "Not true. I'm the one who knows how to get in and out. I'm the one that the Hekatonkheires will recognize and accept the nectar from."

"So I'll dress as you. Festos won't go with just you, Underworlder. He won't and you know it, so don't even bother to argue. And if Hades wants me at the ball, then our only option is for you to impersonate me and tell me the way back to Prometheus."

She pushed her glasses up her nose and glared. "You want me to let you go with Festos and drug the giants, while I play dumb at the ball?"

"Play goddess," I corrected.

"Same thing."

I motioned at her with a very specific finger, taking petty pleasure in her surprise.

Honestly? I didn't think she was actually going to agree. I mean, it was kind of a harebrained, Olsen-Twins-movie-of-the-week idea. Except for the part where we weren't twins. But it was really our best hope at this point.

A crafty look stole over her face. Like she'd found my deal breaker. "What about Kyrillos?"

Yeah. That was the one potential disaster. Not enough to scrap the plan though. I wagged a finger at her. "Avoid him. At all costs." He'd know in a second. "He wouldn't out you to Hades, but he would try and find me. Stop me from getting to Prometheus."

"I'm not kissing him."

I eyeballed her. "Good. 'Cause you do and you lose your lips."

She shrugged. "Long as we're on the same page. You really think this will work?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Crazy as it is, I think it will. People see what they want to. Anyone looking at you in that dress will see a humiliated goddess. And anyone who sees me, will be looking at the scowling goth princess they know and tolerate." I held out a hand. "Deal?"

She ignored my hand. "Deal. But when it goes horribly wrong, I'm so killing you."

I busied myself with the dress, oddly hurt at her dismissal of me. "Yeah, yeah."

That's how we spent the next twenty-four hours. Prepping for the equinox masquerade ball, and hiding in Oizys' room to avoid Kai. First, we had to dye our hair. That was the easy part. Oizys had a hard time moving around without her glasses. It wasn't pretty. She kind of held her hands out and shuffled forward.

"We're going to have to tell everyone you're drunk," I said, watching doubtfully.

"That's not a bad idea."

At least the preparations kept me from dwelling on all the insanity that was going to rain down on my head soon enough. I was grateful for every minute of Wednesday. Aware of each precious second that counted down to midnight, and the ball, and the start of all the madness, because these hours were the last normal ones I'd have until I defeated Hades and Zeus.

And even when that happened, the giant blank slate of my future was almost scarier. Since last Halloween, I'd been dealing with one crazy adventure after another. Planning and training, and then throwing all the plans out the window and starting again. Many many times.

But at least I'd been goal-oriented.

What was I going to wake up to on Friday morning? With no school, no home, no family, and a question mark where my future was concerned. What exactly did a girl do for an encore after saving the world?

Those thoughts made up most of my Wednesday afternoon. Honestly, they weren't any less terrifying than thinking about freeing Prometheus, breaking the enchantment, and fighting the battle itself.

Just different.

Late afternoon. I stared out Oizys' window, drumming my fingers in a slow rhythm that worked as a kind of white noise to keep me calm.

Eventually, the sky turned to full black and night fell.

"It's time."

I startled out of my reverie at Oizys' words and pressed my hands to my heart with a delighted gasp.

"Don't. Say. A. Word."

"You're so pretty," I cooed. "The dead flowers really bring out your eyes. And now we get to do each other's make-up."

"This is the worst day of my life."

Lucky her. I wished I could say the same.