My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Happy Freaking Birthday (Part 4)

Fee squealed and turned me around to face the mirror. Staring back at me was a really hot stranger with whom I was quite willing to get more familiar. My eyes were huge and all mysterious. My royal blue dress was crazy scandalous. For me. The long sleeved top was loose and blousy, but it turned into an über-tight mini skirt at the hips. While the neckline in front was high, the back plunged down to my waist. There was no bra-wearing tonight.

Hannah had helped paint my nails and toes a matching blue, and I wore very low heeled silver sandals since I wanted to be able to dance. With all the running and weight training to amp my strength and stamina, my legs looked crazy sexy.

I wore my hair down, the loose curls tumbling to my shoulders in the best sultry bedhead imaginable. My only jewelry was Hannah's silver cuff over the top of my right sleeve. And of course my sapphire pendent, which I never took off. I had the pendent tucked under my dress. Shimmery lip gloss completed my va-va-voomness.

"I love it!" I clapped my hands in delight and beamed at my friends. "Seriously, you guys. Thank you so much. For everything. I really did need this. Need all of you."

They shrugged it off in varying degrees of modesty, except for Fee who announced, "D'uh. That's why I suggested it."

I flung my arm around his neck. "Okay hot bunch, let's dance, drink, and be merry for tomorrow—"

Theo cut me off with a shake of his head. "Don't even finish that bad paraphrase."

We waited with Festos in the living room while Theo got dressed. Festos rocked a kind of retro 80s London vibe. He wore dark green slightly baggy pants that were a bit long through the crotch and rolled up at the ankle, revealing black wool socks and matte shoes. His shirt was the same green as his pants, topped with a short fitted charcoal jacket, and matching scarf.

He'd rolled the cuffs of both his shirt and jacket back in a jaunty "couldn't care less" kind of way and topped his blue hair with a fedora that matched the color and fabric of his jacket.

"Admire me all you like, kiddies," he encouraged from his sprawled out pose on the low red leather love seat.

We did, until we saw Festos bolt up, and turned to see what he was gawking at. My breath caught. "Hannah, I'm feeling wrong feelings."

"Indeed," she murmured.

Even the eye roll Theo shot us could not detract from the uncomfortable reality of how amazingly GQ incredible he looked.

He sported a black skinny suit thrown on over a black striped tone-on-tone T-shirt. He'd lost his glasses for the night and slicked down his usually dark spiky hair. Very Mad Men.

I'd seen Theo in suits before. Most recently at our school's Winter Formal. And he'd looked very handsome. But more "good boy for cleaning up so nicely and even buttoning up your collar." Nothing like this. Looking at Theo right now, so sleek and tailored, I realized this was the first time I'd seen him with some confident swagger.

I'd seen many sides of my friend; snarky, annoyed, loyal, and sadly—lately—far too serious. But Theo had never given off that vibe of supreme conviction that I was used to from other gods. An arrogant sense of self. Which made me wonder what he'd been like as Prometheus. And how much he'd tempered his personality to better fit in as a human. Being around Festos, maybe Theo was showing his true colors.

And those colors ran the full spectrum of man-candy edible.

I swallowed hard. Twice. And continued to stare dumbly at him.

"You never looked like this for us," Hannah sputtered.

By this point, Festos had limped over to Theo. He smoothed a lapel down and gazed at his boyfriend. "This one's all mine."

Hannah cocked her head toward the handsome couple. "Real hardship living with that," she said to me.

"I despair," Theo said as he grinned across the room at us. He took Festos' hand.

Hannah and I took that cue to also link ourselves to Festos, and in the blink of an eye, we'd left Seattle behind as he transported us away.

Almost immediately, we found ourselves outside, under a starless night sky. Before us lay a black infinity pool full of flat rocks that pulsed with a gentle light. The rocks marked a path toward, well, even more darkness.

"You're sure this is the right place?" I asked.

"Oh, ye of little faith," Festos said. "Come."

Festos jumped from rock to rock across the pond with surprising agility, given his twisted foot and the fact that he'd left his cane at home.

The stones didn't sway at all but I was still glad I'd worn low heels as I made my way across. I yelped as I saw something slither in the water, rippling the still surface.

Theo glanced down. "A little something for unwanted guests."

Even though I was apparently worthy of attending Nyx, I reached the ground on the far side with a sigh of relief. Now that I was up close, I realized I'd been completely mistaken about the darkness ahead. There wasn't just night before me. More like an absence of everything, woven into a pulsating barrier.

"Yeah, so that's creepy." I craned my neck up, attempting—and failing—to see where the barrier ended. I looked down and scanned the section in front of me. There didn't seem to be a door or a gate. "How do we get in?"

I poked gingerly at the barrier, felt the energy pouring off whatever it was, and decided I really didn't want to be touching it after all. I tried to pull my hand away.

But I was stuck fast.

And that's when the barrier pulsated outwards and slithered over my arm.