I take a swing at him and he blocks me with one hand, laughing. Hades and Zeus are the only people who are a physical match for my strength. Nicholas comes close, but he can’t measure up to them.
Oh, fuck. That came from the farmhouse, too.
Zeus opens the door to his own room and puts his bag neatly inside. Then he barges in through Hades’ door, which is only partially closed.
Hades rests in a chair by the window, his legs stretched out in front of him, eyes closed. “Bad?” Zeus asks.
“No,” Hades answers. “It’s wearing off.”
He’s talking about one of his painkillers. From what I understand, they’re extremely powerful and have no side effects. Not for Hades, anyway. They knock other people flat on their ass. Pain-free but unconscious. The only downside is that they don’t last a long time. Zeus told me once that Hades only rarely stacks them.
Hades waves a hand in the silence. “Talk, then.”
Zeus flops onto the bed, and I lean against the windowsill. My brother was right about the windows. They’re among the most expensive things on the entire ship, and they’re not the most expensive model. Those are the ones Hades has on the mountain. I know because I threatened the owner of the company that produces them into telling me exactly which ones would be enough.
I have the uncomfortable sensation that I’ve given myself away with these windows. That I’m tacitly admitting something I don’t want to say out loud.
I push that away.
“He means you,” Zeus says to me. “What’s the status of the ship?”
“Not done. And I only have a skeleton crew, because I hadn’t assembled everyone on the island yet.”
“How much isn’t done?” Zeus pulls out his phone. “If I’m going to get people here, I should give them more than an hour of advance warning.”
“I can’t believe that after all the strings I pulled, you still managed to piss off the federal government,” Hades says without opening his eyes. Conor is curled up on the floor at the side of his chair. “What the hell happened? It’s not just about the kidnapping, is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Speaking of kidnapping, you haven’t said anything about Ashley.” Hades unfolds his hands behind his head and refolds them. “Are you hiding her somewhere because you think we’ll take her for the ransom? There was quite a large sum involved, if I recall correctly.”
He delivers this so dryly it doesn’t sound like a joke. It sounds dead serious. But—and it kills me to admit it—I’ve known him a long time. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I’m afraid of either of you.”
“You’re still not talking about her.” Zeus is being his outrageous whorehouse self now, all cocky expression and dancing eyes. He drops the act after a few heartbeats, but he still loves this shit. “You’re in love with that sweet thing.”
I let nothing show on my face. Nothing. But hearing it out of his mouth does something strange to my pulse. “Don’t insult me.”
But it’s not an insult. It’s the truth. He called it. It’s not a joke. This is a red alert. I put more energy into leaning on the windowsill. At least I can be sure the glass can hold me. It’s ultra-reinforced, more so than the other panes.
“Where is she, then?”
“She wanted—” Jesus Christ. This whole thing is too close to normalcy for comfort. It can never be normal—not between the three of us, not with all the years leading up to it. “She’s making dinner.”
Ashley. Making dinner for my brothers. And if one of them says a damn thing—
“Not a single lead on the island?” Hades muses, and just like that, we’re past it and I don’t have to kill them both.
“I haven’t heard anything more.” Zeus props himself on one elbow. “You have no idea who did it?” He directs this to me.
“No.” Frustration is a tight knot at the base of my spine. “And we can’t retaliate until we know who it is.”
Hades and Zeus do not exchange a glance. They can’t, because Hades has his eyes closed. But Zeus looks at him, and then Hades shrugs, and this is it. This is proof I’ve lost my mind or slipped into another world somewhere. They do not communicate like this. They can’t. A lifetime of hating each other and struggling to survive has stripped us all of that closeness forever.
Unless.
It didn’t.
Zeus turns over and sits back on the pillows. “Are we not going to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” Hades asks. Habit. He already knows. His face has gone still and neutral.
“She’s not my problem,” I tell them.
Zeus looks me in the eye. “She could be. I don’t know how far her reach has gotten.”
“What the fuck do you mean, her reach? She’s supposed to be under house arrest. You put her there. That was your call.”
He holds up a hand. “Yes. And I underestimated her. Nothing I do deters her from trying. Short of putting her in complete isolation, I can’t stop her from talking to the guards. Eventually, they talk back. They can’t help themselves.”
Old pain flickers through his eyes, and Zeus looks away to hide it. Then he lifts his chin. He can’t put Demeter away. He won’t.
“We’ve both tried,” adds Hades. “Different guards. Different plans. We’ll have to handle it.”
He’s right.
I’ve been avoiding it all this time. Avoiding everything all this time. And I’m beginning to think I made the wrong call. Instinctively, I start to back into what’s convenient—thinking it’s too late to do anything.
But that’s not true. If it were too late, Hades and Zeus wouldn’t be here. Still, I can’t talk about Demeter anymore. Can’t plan to deal with her until I’m not being hunted like an animal.
When Ashley’s safe, then I’ll help my brothers deal with Demeter. Or I’ll do it myself. We’ll get it done.
I stand up from the windowsill and take a deep breath. “Dinner won’t be ready for a while, and you need to see the ship so we can plan.” I don’t like having to rely on them for this—for anything. But that’s the choice. Put my crew at risk by not having a fully finished ship, or act like I have brothers. “Try not to embarrass me in front of my crew.”
Hades opens his eyes and stands. Conor is on his feet right away, ready to go. “Oh, I doubt that would be possible,” Hades says, tone mild. “They’ve already met you.”
16
Ashley
I’m bothering Cook, and I’ve never been more grateful that he’s putting up with me. I cannot settle down. Meeting Poseidon’s family is a lot. For him. For me.
Before his brothers stepped off the helicopter, he sent me down below to warn Cook about their arrival. “You can decide, if you want,” he said as I went. “Whatever you want to have.”
“Do we think it’s done?” I bend down in front of the ship’s oven and peer inside. Dinner rolls are spaced out evenly on a tray, each bathed in a thin layer of butter.