“What’s going on?”
“Zofie filled us in on Helen,” Leuce said. “So, I thought I’d go through her things.”
“Because…?”
“Because she’s been hiding things,” the nymph said.
“How do you know?”
“I have been watching her,” she said. “She would take phone calls out of the office. I thought it was weird, so I followed her one day.”
“And?”
“And she was meeting some guy who kept glorifying Triad…and himself,” she said. “I think they’re sleeping together.”
“What did he look like?”
“A demi-god,” she said, and her lips twisted into a look of disgust. “A son of Poseidon if I had to guess. It’s in the eyes.”
Theseus, she thought.
“When were you going to tell me?”
“Today,” Leuce said. “That’s why Helen went to you this morning—she wanted to get to you first.”
Persephone lowered her gaze to Helen’s desk. It was neat and organized. She had varying researched stored in file folders and labeled in clean handwriting.
Sybil was looking through a small, black book.
“What’s that?” Persephone asked.
“Notes,” the oracle said. “Just trying to see if she left anything useful.”
“I say we burn her things,” Zofie said. “Leave no trace of her treason.”
“I wouldn’t call her a traitor,” Persephone said and searched for the words—confused, foolish, delusional all came to mind.
“She’s a climber,” Sybil said. “She’s searching for an opportunity that will get her to the top fast. It’s why she left New Athens News with you. She thought she could ride to the top with you.”
“Did you see that in her colors?”
“Red, yellow, orange, a touch of green for jealousy.”
“You knew all of that by looking at her and you didn’t warn us?” Leuce countered.
Sybil looked up from the black book. “I saw ambition when I looked at her. It can be a positive or negative trait. I didn’t know how she was going to use it.”
“I don’t think any of us did,” Persephone said.
“Sephy, it’s lunch time!”
Hermes appeared beside her suddenly, singing. She jumped, not expecting him so soon but as her eyes darted to the clock, she saw it was almost noon. Time had gotten away from her.
“It’ll be a few minutes, Hermes—what are you wearing?”
It looked like a romper and was army green in color.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and twisted.
“You don’t like it? I call it my lounge suit.”
“And…you’re going to lunch in it?”
Hermes glared. “Just say you don’t like it, Sephy. You won’t hurt my feelings and yes, I fully intend to go to lunch in my lounge suit.”
“Um, Persephone,” Sybil said. “I think you should take a look at this.”
“Oh no you don’t!” Hermes wrapped a hand around her arm to hold her in place.
“Hermes, let go of me.”
He pursed his lips. “But…I’m hungry!”
She glared and he released her, grumbling. “Fine.”
The oracle handed over the open book. On one of the pages, Helen had drawn a triangle and then scribbled in a date, address, and time. The date was today, the time, eight this evening.
“Leuce—can you look into this?”
“Wait. Let me see,” Hermes said.
“I thought you were hungry,” Persephone shot back.
“Stop reminding me,” Hermes said through his teeth and snatched the black book from her hands.
He spent a minute studying the page and then said, “That is the address for Club Aphrodisia.”
“Does that…belong to Aphrodite?”
“No, a mortal owns it,” he said. “He calls himself Master.”
Sybil and Leuce giggled.
“What kind of club is it?” Persephone asked, though she thought she could guess.
“A sex club,” he said. “Uh, not that I have been.”
Persephone raised a brow.
“You mean to say Helen has a meeting at a sex club?” Leuce asked.
“Maybe she’s kinky,” Hermes said with a shrug. “Who are we to judge others sexual preferences?”
Persephone frowned. “I think we should check it out.”
Hermes laughed. “You think Hades is going to let you go to a sex club?”
“I’ll make him come.”
“I’m sure you will, Sephy, but not there.”
Persephone gave him a scathing look. “If you aren’t going to be helpful, you can eat lunch alone.”
“I’m just saying Hades would totally kill the vibe. If we’re going to go, he can’t come.”
“Then you tell him,” she said. “I won’t go without his knowledge.”
“Uh, no. He’ll make me swear an oath that I’ll protect you with my life.”
“Won’t you?” she asked.
Hermes opened his mouth to speak and then paused, his gaze softening. “Of course, I’d protect you.”
Persephone offered a small smile.
“We can go,” Leuce suggested. “Sybil and I.”
“No,” she said. “Not alone and not without me.”
This felt personal, not only because it involved Helen—a woman she’d thought as a friend and employee, but because she feared her friends could become targets, too. If this meeting was about the future of Triad and their plans, she needed to be there.
She looked at Hermes. “Prepare to take that oath, Hermes, and protect me with your life.”
***
Hades reluctantly agreed to let Persephone go to Club Aphrodisia but had done as Hermes predicted and made the god swear an oath to protect her.
“What does that even mean?” Persephone had asked when he’d returned later to inform her that he’d gained Hades’ permission.
“Don’t worry about it, Sephy. I got this,” he’d said. “Wear something sexy!”
Persephone shook her head and tried not to laugh as the god departed in a hurry.
After work, she returned to the Underworld. Before getting ready for the night’s investigation, she teleported to Elysium. It had been a while since she’d visited Lexa, and she found that what she wanted most after what happened with Helen, was her best friend.
She took her time wandering through the golden fields, speckled with gloriously lush trees with wild and deep roots. Now and then poppies shot from the ground, mingling with the grass. Once, before Thanatos had allowed Persephone to approach Lexa, she had asked the God of Death about the sporadic poppies.
“They are eternal resting places,” he had replied.
“You mean...”
“When a soul no longer wishes to exist in the Upperworld or the Underworld, they are released into the earth.”
He went on to explain that the energy from their souls often acted like magic. “From it, poppies and pomegranates spring.”
She’d had more questions—when does a soul decide it no longer wants to exist? Of course, she was thinking of Lexa when she had asked, but Thanatos’s reply was not what she expected.