“It doesn’t matter, Piper. Best friends don’t keep secrets.” Her eyes rip into me when she says it, and what I thought was a smile turns into a sneer.
I stand up, taking a few steps backward. I’ve had just about enough of the whole world turning crazy on me. It was bad enough when Chloe acted like a phantom. Now I almost wish I hadn’t saved her. “Who are you to talk about keeping secrets? You’ve been sleeping with my boyfriend.” I spit out the lie to test her.
Chloe laughs, showing her teeth, and I hate her.
“Your boyfriend. I don’t remember Shayne saying he was your boyfriend. And anyway, you’re the one who went on a date with Reese. You knew I liked him, yet you still went on the date.”
My heart sinks. She doesn’t deny a thing. Doesn’t even flinch. Her lack of denial confirms every worst fear I have. Was this all my punishment for going on a date with Reese? Is this how Chloe has decided to get even? I can’t trust Chloe, and I can’t trust Shayne, and I can’t trust my mom. And I sure as hell can’t trust Reese; he scares the crap out of me.
Chloe stands and pulls off her bandana. She tosses her head and shakes her hair until it’s fallen into loose waves around her shoulders. And then she begins to rub her hands up and down her sides. “He’s so perfect and so warm. God, he makes me feel so good.”
I stare at her, unable to move my eyes. They’re glued on her like I’m being forced to watch an execution. I think Chloe’s gone crazy.
“He told me he loves me.” Her hands glide over her hips, and she sways to unheard music. Images of Chloe and Shayne, naked and lying together, flash before me. They’re wrapped around each other. They’re kissing. He’s running his hands through her hair. He’s moving on top of her. I want to banish the images, but they hold their position.
I want Chloe to die.
And then she looks at me and smiles, her hands caressing herself, as if she’s imagining Shayne’s hands on her. Rubbing parts of her I know he’s rubbed. Her eyes close, and her lips part, and I think of his lips kissing her. Lips I thought only wanted to kiss me.
“He wants me so much, Piper.” She licks her lips and her teeth. “Do you know how good it feels to be wanted so badly?”
I thought I did. I thought that was how Shayne wanted me. But Chloe’s taken every bit of that dream and smashed it under her foot.
“And he’s promised me the world, Piper. All for me. He’s perfect. Do you know what he said to me?”
I don’t want to know, but the words escape anyway in a voice so soft I wish she doesn’t hear it. “What?”
Chloe’s eyes open, and she looks at me, pupils so small I’m sure she isn’t bothering to even see me. “He said I’ll be his queen. His queen! He knew it would always be me.” And then she licks her lips again and smiles.
I can’t take anymore. I turn so I don’t have to see another second of Chloe’s madness and Shayne’s betrayal, and I run, tearing through the curtains on the stage and then down the aisle. Trying to get away from her. Trying to get away from the hideous truth.
Chapter 41
Jealousy
I head out of school, shielding my eyes from the blazing sun. The row of black clouds still hangs in the west, but it’s closer than it was before, and the air almost feels electric. All this is because of me. The seasons are stagnant because of me. It’s eternal summer because of me. Why does it have to be my responsibility anyway? My burden. As if my life falling apart isn’t enough.
I remember standing here talking to Shayne. I think of his arms around me, taking me to the Underworld, and sadness crushes me. I want so much to trust Shayne. Maybe Chloe lied; she has to have lied. I want to trust him, but now I also want to hate him.
I hop on the first shuttle that comes by the school, not caring where it takes me; what does it matter anyway? My life feels like it’s over. I get the brief feeling that someone’s following me, but when I scan the people on the shuttle, no one looks familiar. It’s just a sea of people trying to survive the Global Heating Crisis. A sea of people doomed to slowly incinerate if nothing changes.
I’ve only just turned back to the front when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn to see Melina.
“Did you get dumped, Piper?”
I want to punch her. “Just shut up, okay.”
“Oh, poor, Piper. She isn’t getting everything she wants for once.” Melina laughs.
I clench my fingernails into my palms. “Was I supposed to die, Melina? Was the box supposed to kill me?”
She presses her pouty lips together. “That would have been ideal.”
“Ideal! For whom?”
Melina laughs and leans forward on the bench seat so her lips are only inches from mine. I hold my position. I am not going to back down from her. She may be a goddess, but so am I.
“Why for me, of course. What a dumb question.”
I glare at her. “What have I ever done to you?”
Scorn flickers across her beautiful face, but she seems to catch herself and erases it quickly, replacing it with her standard serenity. “Piper. Persephone. What haven’t you done? Here I am the goddess of love and beauty, yet you’ve taken the hearts of the only two men I could call my own.”
“Your own?” My mind processes this. “Ares and Hades?”
Melina mocks my apparent stupidity. “Ares, of course. But then there’s my cripple husband Hephaestus. He pined over the box holding your identity, worshipping it like a golden idol. I watched him for years, going to the altar, praying for your release. His prayers are the only reason I knew what was in the box in the first place. The precious secret. Your mother and Apate didn’t tell anyone but him—and him only because he crafted the box and kept it safe. But all it takes is one weak link. So I stole it from him and gave it to you.”
I fix my eyes on her, trying not to let anything show on my face. I can’t believe my mom had worked with the goddess of deceit. Apate defines untrustworthy. My mom should know this. “But I didn’t die, did I?”
Melina shakes her head. “It seems Apate has earned her name as goddess of deceit. Whoever opened the box should have burned in Tartarus, but Apate crossed even your mother, allowing that one person would be able to open the box.”
“The person whose identity was stored inside,” I say.
Melina nods. “That’s right. You. And instead of an existence in Tartarus, which would have simplified my life beyond belief, now here you are once again trying to steal my true love.”
“Not Shayne,” I say. Inwardly, I laugh. If we’re talking about stealing true loves, maybe she should talk to Chloe instead.
“Of course not Shayne,” Melina says. “What a bore. Though I’m sure he, like every other man, would do just about anything to have me. Anything. You do know how men are, don’t you, Piper?”
I’m flooded with relief when she denies wanting Shayne. “How are men?” I ask.
“They’re selfish. And greedy. And all they care about is the conquest. Take your precious Shayne for example. Do you really think all he’s been doing for the last eighteen years is pining away for you?”
I bite my lip. Actually this is exactly what I thought. Exactly what Shayne led me to believe.
She must see my answer in my eyes. “Don’t fool yourself, Piper. Shayne is just like every other man. He doesn’t care about you.”
“You’re wrong,” I say. “You’re just angry because Reese wants me.”
Scorn fills in her eyes. “Reese doesn’t want you. And Shayne doesn’t want you. You’re nothing, Piper. You’re a fallen goddess. You aren’t worthy of someone like Reese’s attention. And if you ever think for a minute that Shayne will be true to you, you’re wrong. No one will ever be true to you. You don’t deserve anything.”
