My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Them's Fightin' Words (Part 4)

I latched on to the one tangible thing that we could possibly deconstruct without stepping into an emotional minefield. "Did anyone understand what Cassie was saying? About the flame and stuff?"

"'Bring the fire, choke the spark, release the form'. I have my guesses," Festos said, sliding Theo a sharp look.

Theo stood up abruptly, brushing off the front of his baggy pants. "It's about Zeus' and Hades' ward. How I'm going to take it down."

"Uh, no," said Festos. "We agreed I was going to cleanse the area. Which means I take the other ward down as well."

"You have your job, I have mine," Theo said.

I whipped around to face Festos. He looked like he might explode.

Shockingly, Kai pushed away from the dresser at this. With his right side held stiffly, he crossed to Fee in three steps. He waited until Festos met his eyes. "Prometheus started this. It's his to take down."

"His to be in danger. You would say that." Festos sounded, well, not angry exactly. More bitter.

I expected the fight to resume, but Kai let a fleeting sadness pass across his face before his expression went scarily neutral. He gave a one shouldered shrug, almost indifferent.

What the hell was going on here? Kai never called Theo by his full name. Nor had he ever given a damn that Theo had been the one to save Persephone seventeen years ago and put all this into motion. Never mind whatever was brewing between Kai and Festos.

All of which I was about to say when Festos spat, "I'm leaving," and stomped out of the room.

Uselessly, I stretched out a hand to stop him. But he was gone.

Kai shifted his focus to me. "Ready to go see Felicia?" he asked.

"I'll get my shoes," Theo said, crossing into the hallway with only the barest of flinches as he heard the front door slam behind Festos.

"What was ..." I made a flapping motion, "that?"

Kai shook his head, his mouth tight. "Nothing you need to worry about." His expression softened. "Festos doesn't want to see Theo hurt."

I could certainly understand that. "If Theo has to do this, then we'll keep him safe."

Kai's response was a small smile. He took a few steps toward the door.

"Kai?"

He paused and half turned toward me.

"What happened to playing nice? Downstairs? With the fight."

This time I got a genuine smile. "See, now, I never agreed to that."

He went out, leaving me alone and still very confused and deeply concerned about what had just happened.

I could puzzle it out later. For now, I had to go face Felicia and hope she'd help us through the ward that Zeus and Hades had put up, in exchange for handing Earth and its welfare over to her.

In other words, time for me to suck up to my pissed off mother and pray it didn't all go horribly wrong.

* * *

Theo, Kai, and I made a pretty impressive thwack as we rebounded off the glass and steel high-rise that was technically still my family home.

The fact that we were twenty-three stories up was not so great. Luckily, Theo had my hand, and I had Kai's, so he was able to blink us safely to the ground.

Snag the first.

My head started to throb. I went to the sidewalk and peered across the street, past the leafless branches on the row of trees ringing the park, and out to the frothy waters of English Bay, my favorite beach in the world. In summer, the water would be a brilliant blue, but today, in the gray weather, it was washed out and lifeless. The waves broke hesitantly on the rocky shore. Being here, seeing this usually filled me with such joy.