Heart (2 page)

The magic of the water called to me. It wound
its way into my soul with a quickness that took my breath away. I
didn’t understand, but I knew that I was bound to the ocean, to the
waves that could pull me under and push me every which way. The
vastness of it claimed me. The depth and mystery owned me.

I shared a bond with the salty water that
etched into my bones and tattooed me in ways ink could never
touch.

I couldn’t deny it anymore. Called by the
song that should be familiar to me, but wasn’t, I quickly finished
up my duties, waved goodbye to Fleur and hurried back to the beach
near my house.

Smith had outfitted me with plenty of cash
and a new identity and I used both as if my life depended on them.
And it did. I knew Smith had intended to help me and I wouldn’t
have made it out of the country if he hadn’t.

I turned eighteen a few days ago and
technically had access to my trust. But I doubted I would go back
for it. I had enough to set up a life here and if I kept working
hard, it would be enough forever.

It was ironic to me that I had waited my
whole life for that money… that before Smith had given me support
to get out, that money was the only way I had imagined I could
escape. Yet, I’d survived without a penny of it.

This island had remade me. I was a different
person than I had been at home. I was a person I liked better. I
was a person I could tolerate.

And I could almost pretend that this new
person… this new girl was really me. That I’d had some kind of
mountaintop experience and saw a new light. I could almost pretend
that this was the person I was supposed to be.

Almost.

Because as soon as I slid off my flats,
rolled up my black pants and stepped into the cool water, the girl
I used to be screamed her truths at me. The water wouldn’t let me
pretend. Or escape.

The water wrapped around my skin and forced
me to remember who I was.

Ivy Pierce. Eighteen. Siren.

Slave.

I inhaled a deep breath, one that felt like
it was the first true breath of my life. I had the same reaction
every single time I touched this water, every time the ocean met my
skin. I closed my eyes and momentarily got lost in the blissful
relief from everything else. The cool air mingled with the warm
water on my feet. Tropical paradise described this place
perfectly.

Which was a good thing since I had been
sentenced to live out the remainder of my days here.

A sharp, cold breeze tumbled over my back
suddenly. I sucked in a surprised breath and tried to settle my
heart after the jarring, frozen pulse of air receded.

I spun around, waves tangling with my abrupt
movements, and prepared my body to fight to the death.

My murderous reaction was premature.
“Hermes,” I growled. “You nearly scared me to death!”

His eyes flashed with awe, “You felt me
arrive.”

“I probably have frostbite!” I hissed at him.
I took in his tailored suit and golden hair, unruffled despite the
ocean breeze. He stood in the sand several feet away looking like
Adonis come to life. His olive skin glistened in the moonlight, his
amber eyes lit with a supernatural intensity. The sand scuffed up
his shiny loafers and I felt a small victory in that.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t
supposed to be able to find me.

I had done a great job of flying under the
radar and remaining undetected. I had banked on my new ability to
blend in.

He watched me with a calculating expression.
His eyes were narrowed suspiciously, as if I posed some kind of
threat to him. I could feel something building between us,
something he wanted to say.

But I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want
to hear what brought him all the way here or what he could possibly
want with me.

And I especially didn’t want anything to do
with the world he came from. I had made this choice. As hard and
lonely as it was, I had found freedom and I would do anything to
keep it.

Even if that meant that this future was just
as miserable as the one Nix had planned for me.

“That’s the mountain,” he explained.

I jerked back, “Olympus?”

A small smile twisted his lips, “The one and
only.”

Pride lit up his expression. It wasn’t just
pride though, it was entitlement. Nix looked the same way whenever
he mentioned Olympus.

I got that it was their home, but it was more
than that. Olympus to them represented so much more than the place
they came from. It defined them. It set them apart from the human
race and gave them infinite power and endless authority. Olympus
made them what they were- soulless, selfish bastards.

“Mortals aren’t supposed to notice it,” he
went on. “But then again, you’re not exactly mortal.”

I wasn’t in the mood. “As far as I know, I
am. Unless you have something you’d like to share with me? Maybe
fill in some very large blanks in my life?”

He shook his head and his awestricken
expression turned amused. “Don’t be angry with me. It’s not my
place.”

“I’m sure. Don’t shoot the messenger,
right?”

He tipped his head back and laughed like it
was the first time he’d ever heard that saying. I resisted the urge
to splash him with ocean water.

“What do you want, Hermes?” I didn’t have
time for this. And I could only imagine that he also didn’t have
time for this.

“It’s time to come home.”

That was not at all what I expected. His
words shocked my system completely. Everything inside me screeched
to a jarring halt and resisted the very idea. “No,” I bit out.
“It’s not. He’ll find me the second I step off the plane.”

“Not home to Omaha, Ivy. Home to
Olympus.”

Chapter Two

I stared at him, waiting for him to explain.
My mind spun with the implications of his words and what he was
asking me.

It hadn’t been a request; he had given me a
directive… an order. And for some strange reason, I felt compelled
to obey.

I ignored that confusing feeling and dug my
toes into the sand. I would never go there. I wanted nothing to do
with that place or what it represented. Besides!
Hello!
Nix!

“No.” That was all I gave him. I shouldn’t
have to explain myself to him. He knew it was impossible, so I
didn’t know why he bothered to ask, or, er, command. He knew I
would never willingly put myself back where Nix could find me.
Hermes knew how desperately I fought to break free.

He’d even offered to help me escape once.

It was almost laughable that he’d come back
after all these months and suggested the idea.

“Ivy, you don’t have a choice.” His tone
changed from light-hearted and entertained to deadly and serious.
His tawny eyes flashed with the promise of some great power I
couldn’t understand because I’d never experienced Hermes with his
power. I didn’t have any idea what he was capable of or how it
could hurt me.

And the power I did know of made this
conversation completely pointless. If he wanted me on Olympus, all
he had to do was think the thought and we would be there. He was
the messenger god. He could go anywhere, transport anyone
anywhere.

And yet he stood before me, with his hands
tucked into his pocket and fire in his eyes, but did nothing.

“I have a choice,” I argued. “I always have a
choice.”

Some of the anger dissipated in his
expression and made room for a wry smile. “My, how much you’ve
grown up on your own.”

“Yeah, yeah. All those after school specials
finally started to sink in. But it’s true, Hermes. I’ve gotten my
taste of freedom and I will never give it up. No matter how much I
have to lose. No matter how painful it becomes. I will not go back
to that world. I won’t go back to Nix. Nothing could make me.”

“Not even Orpheus?”

Nausea boiled in my stomach, rolling through
me with dizzying power. “What?”

“If Orpheus were in danger, would that bring
you home?”

“What are you saying? Is he in danger?”

He took a step forward but stopped before he
reached the water. “What about your mother? What about Honor?”

I moved forward too until we were only a few
feet away. I couldn’t bring myself to leave the water, but I had to
see his eyes, I had to know if these were lies or threats.

Of if they were truth.

“What are you talking about, Hermes?”

“Did you think Poseidon would let you go? Did
you think he wouldn’t retaliate in some way? Or in every way?”

“Stop being vague. Just tell me what’s going
on.”

He let out an impatient sigh. “He gave your
mother to the Fates.”

I braced myself for something to happen… for
my heart to hurt or my anxiety to skyrocket. When nothing did, I
had to admit that even though she had helped me, at least in her
way, I still felt no sympathy or loyalty to her. What did I care if
Nix gave her to the Fates?

What did that even mean anyway?

“Is that supposed to mean something to
me?”

Hermes winced and held out his hand like he
meant to touch me. His gaze dropped to the water and then back to
me. He retracted his hand before I had the chance to decline his
touch forcefully.

“She’s your mother,” Hermes reminded me
needlessly.

I laughed darkly. “Yeah, and that has always
meant so much to me. And her.”

“Everyone has an agenda, Ivy. Poseidon has
his and the Fates have theirs. Your mother is not safe.”

“What’s yours?”

“Excuse me?” He lifted his hand to finger his
tie. He fiddled with the knot, straightening it.

I watched him fidget and felt my question
take purchase. “What’s
your
agenda, Hermes? If everyone has
one, then what’s
yours
?”

He watched me for several long minutes.
Neither of us said anything and eventually the silence became
awkward. I entertained the idea of pushing past him and stomping
into my house, but morbid curiosity kept me grounded.

“I want Olympus back,” he finally admitted.
“We all do.”

“All?”

“Everyone wants Olympus, Ivy. If you were
honest with yourself, you know you would want it too. There’s a
power grab at hand and if I don’t get it, someone else will. I
don’t trust my brothers or my sisters. I don’t trust them enough to
treat the mountain with respect and I don’t trust them to stop with
Olympus. Once they get a taste of that power, of that
supremacy
, Olympus won’t be enough.”

“But it would be enough for you?” I didn’t
believe him. As far as I was concerned, all of the gods and
goddesses were the same. Just because Hermes said he was on my side
this time, didn’t mean he would always be.

“You’re being difficult on purpose,” he
deflected. “We need you now. You had a break. You’re no longer in
Poseidon’s clutches. It’s time to become the person you’re supposed
to be. It’s time to protect your home.”

“And what does Ryd-” I cleared my throat and
started over, “What does Orpheus or Honor have to do with any of
it? Why are they in danger?”

“Because they are connected to you!” Hermes
threw his hands in the air and practically shouted at me. “Poseidon
could care less about them which puts them that much more in
danger. Fine, you don’t care about Ava. But you care for Honor. You
care for Orpheus. They need you.”

“This is a low blow,” I growled at him. “I
left them to protect them. How can I help them? Even if I were to
go back, what could I do? Nix would have them
and me
.”

“You don’t believe that,” he snarled at me.
“You know you’re not helpless.”

The water sparked around my ankles and
something surged inside of me. It felt like the crash of a huge
ocean wave, the kind that could sink ships and destroy villages. A
tsunami of emotion brewed inside of me until I had become the
water… until I had become its potential destruction… its
unfathomable mystery that both compelled and killed.

I was more than immortal in that moment. More
than gods and goddesses.
More than Olympus
.

And certainly more than Hermes.

“Okay, I’ll go,” I told him in a low
voice.

He visibly relaxed, rocking back on his heels
and shooting me a triumphant smile. “That’s great news. We’ll need
to go straight to Delphi.”

“Okay,” I said. “Then let’s go.”

“Step out of the water and we can.”

“Can’t you just beam me up from here?”

“I don’t under- that’s not important. Step
out of the water and I’ll take you.”

“Why can’t you step into the water? I like it
in here.”

He frowned at the sparkling water that was
still clear, despite the late hour. “I bet you do,” he
grumbled.

I held out my hand, but kept my feet planted.
“Let’s go, Hermes. What are you waiting for?”

He took three steps back and suddenly looked
very restless. What did a god have to be anxious for around little
old me? I didn’t even have my Siren power anymore.

“This isn’t a game, Ivy.”

“I never thought it was.”

He shook his head hard and his expression
shuttered. I had no idea what he was thinking. For a moment he
seemed disappointed, but I couldn’t be sure. And I didn’t care
either way. He meant nothing to me.

If only I could say the same about Honor and
Ryder.

“Call me when you come around,” he
growled.

“I’ll do that.”

“You
will
need me, Ivy. And soon.
Poseidon is drawing you out. You can face him alone or you can get
help from those that want the same thing that you do.”

“And what would that be?”

His eyes started flashing with that power
again. His entire body radiated something primal, something so
strong and compulsive that I was the one that took a step back this
time. Gray clouds churned overhead, a lone streak of lightning
flashed along the horizon. “Poseidon chained to the bottom of the
ocean.”