My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Enough With The Stabbing (Part 1)

"Walking. Suicide. Mission." Kai sounded caught between relief and fury. "I swear I'm locking you up so you can't get yourself into more trouble. You've outdone yourself on this one, Goddess."

Goddess? Did he mean ...? I snuck a look a Festos, who stared at me so hard he seemed to be trying to see through me.

My heart raced. In hope, not fear, which was a pleasant change. I glanced down at myself. I was still Persephone and Kai was still not my Kai so I wanted—no needed—to be sure I understood him correctly. Understood that exasperated tone of voice correctly. "You know it's me? Me, me?"

Kai pressed his forehead to mine and put his arm around me. "Yeah. I know."

I wanted to weep. My entire body sagged. If Kai hadn't been holding me, I would have collapsed. Knowing that Kai and Festos were now firmly back on Team Sophie? Well, it made this entire situation so much more bearable. An incredible tension left my body. My shoulders felt like they dropped a good couple inches down from my ears, finally relaxing.

My mind whirred. The enchantment hadn't actually broken. The fact that I was still in Persephone form, and that all of Hades was not on my tail, was proof. But it had been pierced, which was good enough for now. I stepped away from my boyfriend and started down the corridor that led away from the throne room. We could talk en route to Prometheus.

"Spill," Festos said, keeping pace alongside of me, his cane thumping off of the green stone with every step.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Kai took hold of my hand and tried to pull me to a stop but I tugged him along, determined to keep moving.

"We need to go get some nectar."

"What for?" Kai asked. He refused to let go of my hand, and the look on his face made me think he might never, which filled me with a happy glowiness.

I explained the plan and he laughed. "Soph, I'm Prince of Hades. I think I can get them to let Prometheus out."

I mewled and he looked at me, concerned. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I sighed happily, pushing open a door that led us out into the night. "You called me Sophie."

"Which I know you are." Festos rubbed his temples, "Visual aid to the contrary. Explain already."

I poked Kai. "You going to save some time and transport us into Tartarus?"

Kai shook his head. "Can't. In and out of the Underworld? If you have that privilege? Sure. But not within Hades. It's forbidden. Big painful consequences." He smiled dryly. "Paranoia. My father doesn't like people sneaking up on him."

Now wasn't the time to get alert Hades and set him on our heels. Not yet. Not until I knew the enchantment was definitively broken and I could leave the Underworld. Guess we were walking. Briskly, because I didn't want Prometheus there a second longer.

Compared to all the noise of the party, the grounds were still and quiet. The air felt cool and refreshing after the stifling heat inside. The night was overcast, but there was enough light to pick out our route to Tartarus.

"Do you both remember everything that's happened down here?" I asked.

The guys nodded.

"Fee, what happened between you leaving your place, and getting sucked in to all this?" Theo, Kai, and I had been together when Kiki threw down the magic. But Festos hadn't been there.

He scratched his head, looking thoughtful. "I was pretty mad when I left. I just wanted to get out. Walk around. That's what I did." He laughed a little. "I was commiserating with the Fremont Troll."

Kai looked confused. "Seattle has trolls? Trolls exist?"

I smiled. "It's a massive statue under a bridge. There's a roll holding an actual VW bug in his hand."

"Ah."

Festos went on. "Eventually I ran out of steam. When you guys didn't come home that night, I figured you'd just decided to exclude me from the action." Fee's expression turned sheepish. "I was still mad. I didn't start to worry until the next day. Monday. I was about to go find Pierce and see if he could help me track you all down, when I was suddenly in a workshop space here. Working on the chandelier because Hades had me on deadline."

"You didn't wonder about that?" I asked.

Festos' forehead creased. "It didn't even occur to me to question it. It was just where I was and what I had to do." He frowned. "And it seems that Hekate must have spanned the enchantment between here and Olympus because when I went back to speak to Aletheia, she was caught up in it, too. Or I somehow carried it with me when I went to her."

Kiki's powers were impressive. All the more reason to believe that my only way out of this mess was to face Demeter.

"Here's what you missed," I said, and filled them in on everything that had happened, starting with me in the tunnel. Talking kept me from thinking, which mostly kept the knot of dread in my stomach from getting too big.

Kai and Festos both thought my sleeping-arrangement anxieties were hilarious. Although I smugly noted their grins dropped when I reminded them of their little spat.

I shoved at Kai. "Fee was your name for him. And you never told me."

"Yeah, Koko," Festos said with a glint. "How remiss."

"Shut up," Kai said.

"You two need to resolve your issues," I ordered.

Their expressions grew stony.

"I mean it. I love you both, but this fight is stupid."

"Can we not talk about this while you still look like her?" asked Festos. "I do love you, honeybunch, but the optics are clouding it a bit."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'll finish the story." I felt the ground go boggy under my feet and scooted back on to terra firma. I wasn't about to short cut us through the Stygian Marsh, even though the detour added a bit more time to our journey.

"You know, seeing me seeming to work with Kyrillos is just going to confirm every bad thing Prometheus ever thought about me." Now that he knew the entire story, Festos looked glum.

"It won't be for long," I assured him.

"Only until Demeter shows up to try and kill you again." Kai was not impressed.

I patted his arm. "I'm not thrilled about relieving that myself, but I'll have you two. You won't let anything happen to me."

Kai frowned. "Yeah, well maybe you should have thought about that sooner and tried telling me what was going on."

Great, now he sounded hurt. "Like you would have believed me? Hello? Enchantment."

"You told Fee." In Kai's agitation, he didn't even realize he'd reverted to his nickname for Festos. "But you couldn't tell me?"

"To be fair," Festos piped up, "I didn't exactly believe her."

"Irrelevant." Kai's voice was clipped. "She didn't even try."

Anger burned my cheeks. He did not get to be mad. I'd been the invisible girl. I'd been the one who had been stuck here in the body of his previous girlfriend. And it had killed me in a soul-destroying way every single time he'd failed to see me.

So yeah, I hadn't tried to tell him because hearing his dismissive laugh, or seeing that "get real" look when, of course, he didn't believe me?

It would have finished me.