“No. You did not kill a phoenix.”
I let out the breath I’ve been holding, and can’t stop the smile that’s hiding behind my lips. Finally, an answer. “So Minos was wrong.”
Shayne nods. “Yes. Minos was wrong.” And then he’s leaning into me and kissing me, and I forget about phoenixes and Minos and Asphodel. He traces his fingers up my spine, and I respond by pulling him down onto the floor. Between the embers and Shayne, I feel like I’m on fire myself. I run my hands over his chest, his arms; I just don’t want to believe we ever have to be apart.
We stay there forever, and even at that, it’s not long enough. I never want to go away, but as the wine leaves me, I know I have to. I need to get back to reality, to take care of Chloe, to deal with my mom. And then, of course, there’s Reese. It’s only once Charon takes us back across the River Acheron that Shayne mentions him again.
“Please stay away from Ares.” The concern in his eyes and voice is enough to catch me off guard.
“I will. There’s nothing to worry about.” I’m telling myself this as much as I’m telling Shayne because, when I say his name, I remember the kiss we shared and wonder if I’m being honest with myself.
“I’m serious, Piper. Ares will trick you and deceive you and do whatever he needs to do to win.”
“To win?” I stare at him. “Is there some kind of competition I’m not aware of? Am I like a prize or something?”
“No, Piper. Nothing like that.”
“Then what?” I need to know. “You can only win something when you’re competing against someone else.”
“Look. Ares doesn’t care about the prize. He only cares about the battle and the conquest. He thrives on it. You can think whatever you want, but just remember that. He’s the god of war.”
I roll my eyes. It’s not like this is some kind of amusement park game and I’m the giant stuffed animal up for grabs. This is my life. “I have no plans to go near Reese.” And it’s true. I can only hope he’s gone by the time I get back home and that I never see him again.
Shayne twists up his lips. “Yes, but I’m sure he has plans to go near you.”
I cross my arms. “I’ll be careful. As long as he doesn’t hold me at knife point and threaten to throw me into Tartarus, everything should be fine.”
Shayne doesn’t laugh. He caresses my ear, sending a wonderful chill down below my stomach. And then he gives me a wistful smile and walks away, leaving me to return to Earth above.
Chapter 27
Hurricane
I return from the Underworld and find myself by the Spanish Oak. Reese is nowhere to be found. Overhead, the birds flutter through the trees. Birds. Phoenix. I look up and imagine I see a purple and red bird overhead bathed in flames, but there’s no fire. There’s no sun. A giant gray cloud fills the sky, and the wind picks up and starts blowing leaves off the tree.
I know I need to go back home and see if my mom will tell me what’s going on. She’s keeping secrets from me about who I am. Who she is. It’s like I don’t know her. And I don’t even know myself.
I try to piece it out in my mind, but there’s just nothing that makes sense. I’ve lived with my mom my entire life. That’s all I am. Still, there has to be something more. Otherwise, why would two Greek gods suddenly be fighting for my attention?
A gust of wind slams into the tree, and a cracking sound cuts into the air. I hardly have time to jump out of the way before a branch from the Spanish Oak falls to the ground right where I was standing. Would it have killed me? Would I be judged just like Randy Conner? I try to think of the good things I’ve done in my life. Are they worthy of paradise?
As I walk out of the woods, the wind starts to really pick, so I run until I’m in front of the shuttle stop. My tattoo aches, and it’s turning red again. The ink has faded a few shades, but the raised scar underneath remains. And I think of the face I saw in Asphodel. Like a shadow of Chloe. It had to have been a shade of Reese in disguise, but the ghost Chloe reminds me too much of the fading tattoo. I brush it with my hand, and it deepens again.
When the shuttle stops, I hop on and head for her house. The wind’s blowing so hard it pushes on the shuttle, but the driver has his hands tight on the wheel. It’s getting dark outside, almost like night, and I think most people will be heading inside. But around the steel struts that reach upward to form the domes, there are work crews everywhere. I get off the shuttle at Chloe’s stop, but before I walk the remaining distance to her house, I move closer to one of the steel legs and try to see what’s going on.
There’s a panel open, and one of the workers is guiding a sand truck that’s dumping into it. My mom told me they use sand to help grow the glass in the dome, but I thought the domes needed time to recharge. I walk up to the nearest worker and tap him on the shoulder. He turns around to face me.
“What’s going on?” I ask. From above, tiny drops of rain begin to fall down. They’re heavy and sparse, and I can see each drop when it lands on the concrete surrounding the steel supports.
“You need to get inside.” He looks back at the panel.
“Why? What are you doing with the dome?”
He flips the control panel he’s been working on closed and finally looks me in the eye. “Running tests,” he says, and I see his lie thick on him, growing like a dark gray fungus.
I wipe the rain off my face. They shouldn’t be doing anything with the domes. I pull out my FON and text my mom. I’m still freaked that she knows Reese, but I’m not going to ask her about that now. It’s not like I can text the message, “why do u know the god of war?” and get any kind of real response.
“what’s going on with the dome?” I text her instead.
She responds in seconds. “get home. talk when u get here.”
I start to type out the next message, to tell her about the sand, but then stop. I’m not ready to head home yet. I pocket my FON and sprint to Chloe’s house. The wind has started blowing hard enough I have to fight against it as I run. My hair’s blowing every single way and getting in my eyes, and anything not tied down is starting to move.
Chloe’s sitting outside when I get there, arms wrapped around herself, legs drawn up into her. It’s like she doesn’t even realize the wind is blowing. Overhead, a tile blows off her roof and crashes to the walkway where it shatters. The streets are littered, and where any trees still stand, branches snap off and fall.
“It’s freezing here.” She doesn’t even look up at me, but she has to know I’ve arrived because there’s no one else around she could be talking to. “Have you noticed how cold it is?”
I stand over her. “Chloe, we need to get you inside.” More tiles pull from the roof. We’re under the patio cover, but the way the wind is blowing, one good gust and it could be gone.
“The world feels like ice.”
Ice. I think of the River Cocytus between Hell and the Elysian Fields. Frozen over, but still the wraithlike monsters swim underneath, hoping for an opening but never finding one.
She lets me help her up, and then we walk inside. Her mom shuts the door behind me and starts telling me how’s she’s been trying to get Chloe inside for the last half hour. Chloe’s mom is normally a calm person, but she’s freaked. Her eyes look bloodshot from worry, and she keeps hovering over Chloe.
The rain comes down in sheets then, pounding on the roof of the patio. I’ll have to stay at Chloe’s house until the storm relents. My mom may want me home, but she won’t want me walking or taking a shuttle in this mess. I text her a quick, “waiting til storm stops” and leave it at that.
Chloe’s mom finally goes into the kitchen to make us some coffee which leaves Chloe and me alone. We sit on the sofa, and I try to figure out how to start this conversation with her. There’s been so much going on, I don’t know where to begin. So much has happened even just today. This hurricane is only the most recent part.
“I missed you at the funeral,” I say and put my hand on Chloe’s. But I yank it back at the touch. She is freezing. Like she’s kept her hand in an ice bin to numb it. I force myself to reach back out and put my hand on
