Ungodly: A Novel (The Goddess War) (26 page)

“Ares,” she called softly, and his shoulders slumped, ready for a lecture. “Be careful.”

He looked back. Sometimes Ares seemed so much like one of his wolves. But just then he seemed more like a kicked dog, surprised by an offered Milk-Bone.

“I will be.”

*   *   *

Cassandra and her mother met with the principal for an hour and a half. For forty minutes of that time, the district superintendent sat in as well, for no other reason than to convey the gravity of the situation. Or at least that’s how it seemed. She said nothing of note, just sat in a charcoal suit and drank a cup of coffee. But they let Cassandra back in for the rest of the term. Summer school was on the docket, too, as her father had predicted. Consequences.

Cassandra and her mother timed their arrival and departure to avoid crowds in the halls. Her mom’s idea, and a great one. The few kids they did see weren’t ones she knew, and didn’t seem to recognize her. When she officially returned to classes, it would be a hassle. She’d have to give the same explanation over and over, for friends and for people who suddenly considered themselves friends because they wanted to know the gossip. She could’ve hugged her mom till she was blue for sparing her one more day of it.

Of course Andie and Henry would spread the news as much as they could. But it wouldn’t be the same as hearing fantastic runaway stories straight from the runaway’s mouth.

“Do you think you’ll be okay, to catch up?”

“What?” Cassandra asked. “Yeah, Mom. I’ll have to study a lot, but what else is new.”

Her mom shook her head. “For a few minutes there, I thought we might have to switch schools. The way Superintendent Russell was looking at you. Like she’d just caught you outside the walls with an open can of spray paint.”

“She was just trying to see if I was trouble.”

“Just trying to be a jackass, more like.”

“Mom!”

“Well. It’s not as though you’ve been in any trouble before. A detention here and there, sure. But you’ve always been an excellent student. And we participate in the damn bake sales just like everyone else.”

Cassandra laughed. They walked through the front doors and out to the visitor’s lot. Thanatos stood beside their car.

“Zack,” her mom said, and it took Cassandra a few seconds to connect the name to his face.

“Hi, Mrs. Weaver. Hey, Cassandra. How’d it go?”

“She’s back in. Starts back tomorrow.”

“That’s great!” Thanatos smiled. Cassandra wondered if her mom noticed the way his smile never touched his eyes. It didn’t seem like she did. “Can I treat you guys to lunch?”

Her mom checked her watch. “I can’t. I’ve got just enough time to run a few errands before I go back in to the office. But I suppose you could take Cassandra, if you’ll drop her at the house right after.”

Her mom got into the car and smiled at them as she buckled up. They waved as she pulled out onto the road.

“Odd how she lets me out of the house unsupervised with the boy who just brought me home from god knows where,” Cassandra said.

“Well I’m sure she wouldn’t, if she knew I was Death.”

Cassandra frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see you. To see how you were. And Athena kicked me out of the house.”

“Why?” she asked, and almost chuckled at the image. Standing in the familiar spring sunlight of the town she’d grown up in, Thanatos looked different. She could almost forget the way they met. She could actually feel her brain trying to superimpose a normal explanation over the true one.

Thanatos sighed.

“Because I am what I am,” he replied. His brows knit. “There’s something wrong with Hermes.”

“What? What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s dying.”

“He’s been dying.” But something in Thanatos’ eyes told her this time was different. Hermes was dying now.

*   *   *

When they pulled into Athena’s driveway, Cassandra had a moment of doubt. A flash that going inside wasn’t the best idea. Ares was bound to be there. It could all blow up. But she had to see Hermes.

She knocked at the door without knowing why. She’d always gone straight in. Times had changed.

Odysseus answered, and after his face lit up, he pulled her into a hug. Her arms stuck out behind him like brittle twigs. He was alive. Alive and unhurt as if nothing had happened.

And Calypso will never know.

“Odysseus,” Cassandra said. She could only bear looking into his eyes for a few seconds. “Athena told me you were alive, but I almost didn’t believe it.”

“Yeah, well, this bloke told us about you, and I almost didn’t believe it, either.” He touched her hair. “I’m glad you’re okay. I’m sorry about Cally.”

Cassandra squeezed her eyes shut. He was the last person in the world who should say that.

“Is Hermes…?” she asked.

Odysseus nodded over his shoulder.

“Stick around, after,” he said. “I want to hear all about your time on the road. God killing.”

Cassandra let him lead her into the house. The kindness in his voice was terrible. It was only because he didn’t know. Once he did, their friendship would be over. She deserved that. But she couldn’t help wanting to put it off.

Hermes lay on the couch, covered from chin to toe by a slab of blankets. They’d packed something in with him that made boxy bunches beneath the fabric. She didn’t know what it was, but it hid his thinness well enough. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he had just come down with the flu.

That’s a lie.
His gaunt face had gone the color of ash.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was already dead.

Athena stood beside the couch. She’d changed out of her bloody shirt, but the way she stood said the wound still hurt. A dark spot above her collarbone hinted at another feather working toward the surface.

“You brought him back here,” Athena said, staring at Thanatos.

“He’s not the cause of this.” Cassandra spoke carefully. Anyone could see Athena was barely hanging on, and Thanatos was an easy target. But Athena knew the truth when she heard it. She backed up a step so Cassandra could get to the front of the couch.

“Hey,” Hermes whispered as she knelt. “We’ve been looking for you. Went all the way to the desert to ask Aunt Demeter where you were.” Cassandra felt the cold emanating from beneath the thick blanket. They’d packed him with ice, and still his eyes shone bright with fever, and sweat dripped down his neck. “They killed her, you know. The Moirae. Sliced her into confetti.”

Cassandra pressed her hand to his shoulder. “How long has he been like this?”

“Since last night. Since we dreamed of Demeter’s murder.” Athena hugged herself tightly, and Odysseus went to stand beside her. “The fever broke for a few hours this morning. But it won’t stay gone.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“I don’t know.” Athena wiped a tear out of her eye. “Maybe if we found a way to kill that.” She gestured toward Thanatos, who did his best to look innocent.

“Can’t.” Cassandra smiled softly. “I already tried.”

Athena scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Perfect.”

The back door opened and closed. Cassandra knew who it was before she saw him, even before she heard the wolves scramble into the kitchen, just by the way Athena stiffened. Cassandra drew her hand back fast from Hermes’ shoulder and took a long, slow breath.

Control it.

But she couldn’t. It burst from her as soon as Ares stepped into her peripheral vision. His wolves whined and slunk behind his legs. Cassandra breathed, in and out. In and out as fire licked up her arms.

He should be dead. He should die. It was what she’d waited for.

Control it.

She told herself again. To control it like she hadn’t been able, when she’d killed Calypso. When she’d murdered Calypso.

Athena stepped slowly around the back of the couch, her arm stretched wide to block Cassandra’s way, or maybe just to separate them. Not that it would do any good. One touch and there’d be nothing left of Athena but the remains of a pillow fight.

“It should’ve been you,” Cassandra heard herself say. Her legs drove up from the ground and she vaulted toward Ares and Athena both. “It should’ve been you! Not her!”

Ares stepped back, and reached for Athena as though he might shove her closer. The coward. But his hand wrapped around Athena’s arm and pulled her to his side, so maybe he meant to use her as a human shield instead.

“Cassandra!” Thanatos jumped forward and caught her around the waist. She’d come so close. The terror in Ares’ eyes was incredible. Exhilarating.

“Thanatos, be careful,” Athena shouted, but he paid no attention. He wrangled Cassandra from the room. Just like he had in Hades’ house.

21

NO TIME TO HEAL

“That went better than I expected.” Athena shook loose of Ares and returned to Hermes.

“What just happened?” Hermes asked when she knelt.

“Nothing.” She checked his shoulder where Cassandra had touched him. It was no worse. “Just Cassandra, come to check on you.” She felt Odysseus’ and Ares’ eyes glued to her back and willed them to shut up. There wasn’t any need to worry Hermes.

Sure, Cassandra had exploded into a bloodthirsty monster in their living room. Sure, the way her face had seemed to elongate in that moment, the way her
teeth
seemed to elongate, was bound to keep them all up nights. But considering Athena had figured on losing most of an arm to feathers during the exchange, it really had gone much better than she’d hoped.

Still, they’d have to find a way to keep Cassandra and Ares apart.

Odysseus closed the front door, left open after Thanatos had dragged Cassandra out. There’d been a tense few seconds when she’d clawed into the jamb and it seemed that she would scratch her way back in. But her fingernails gave way instead.

Athena reached for Hermes’ forehead and watched her hand shake.

“Ares, would you and the wolves stay with him a few minutes? There’s—” She looked around the living room as though she was surveying her kitchen cupboards. “There’s nothing here to eat. Nothing that’s good for sick people. The grocery store’s only a few miles away. Odysseus, will you drive?”

She tossed the keys to the SUV at him and headed for the back door without really knowing why. Maybe to avoid the invisible trail Cassandra seemed to have left. Maybe just to feel farther away.

“Good thing we still have the rental,” Odysseus said as he buckled up. “I guess Hermes didn’t bother to bring the Dodge back from where we parked it. I wonder if anyone’s found it yet. Maybe it’s giving the cops something to puzzle over: a stolen car covered with inhuman prints.”

“I doubt that they’d bother to dust a stolen ’91 Dodge for prints. Besides, our fingerprints look as human as anyone else’s.” She didn’t bother with her own seat belt. She didn’t want to be gone long. Just long enough for the twitchy feeling to leak out of her bones, and to find something palatable for Hermes to eat, if there was such a thing.

“So,” Odysseus said carefully. “Cassandra seems different.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Athena looked at him slantways.

“Oh, nothing.” He smiled. “Just that she sent the temp up by ten degrees. And after she was gone I swear it smelled like … ozone? Is that what they call the smell before a thunderstorm?” He shook his head and turned onto Alderwood Place. “She didn’t even look like herself.”

“She looked like a monster. A demon. And how much, do you think, did we have to do with that?”

“All of it. None of it. And what do you mean by ‘we’?” Odysseus blinkered for the grocery store and hit the brakes abruptly. He still had trouble sometimes with driving on the right side of the road. “Besides, it’s probably for the best anyway. We can use all the monsters we can get.”

“I thought you were her friend,” Athena said.

“I am her friend. But the Fates are slicing and dicing your aunt, we’ll be next on their list, and Hermes is laid up on the sofa. So you’d better start finding uses for the assets we’ve got.”

Athena sat quietly as Odysseus pulled into a parking space and killed the engine.

“No,” she said.

“No?”

“I’m not leading. I’m not going to use them anymore. Your lives are your own. From now on, they’ll make their own choices.”

Odysseus stared at her. But how could she make him understand? She still felt like Athena, goddess of battle and wisdom. But she wasn’t. If she was, she wouldn’t have almost gotten them killed. Gotten
him
killed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have asked you to drive me here. You have too much on your mind. Calypso—”

“I’ll mourn Calypso for the rest of my life,” he said, and grabbed her shoulder when she moved for the door. “But I need you. We need you.”

“No you don’t,” Athena said, jerking the handle and stepping out. “I had to learn that. And now so do you.”

*   *   *

Henry squeezed Andie’s hand before they got out of the Mustang. Her fingers were cold and clammy. They’d been stuck in school for hours after Cassandra texted, saying that Hermes was sick and she was going over to see him. Knowing she was there already eased Henry’s conscience, as though she was an ambassador for all Hermes’ human friends. Andie wanted to ditch out on the rest of the day and go at once. But they were just about out of good excuses.

He can’t be that bad.

The words repeated in Henry’s mind but refused to come out of his mouth. Hermes probably wasn’t that bad. They’d just seen him, for Pete’s sake, and he’d been fine. Thin as ever, and maybe a little feverish, but he had run fevers on and off since the day they’d met him. But every time Henry tried to say something to reassure Andie, his tongue went numb. What did he know about the deaths of gods?

When they finally got to Athena’s, Andie was first through the door, and not for the first time Henry regretted that she was so tall. He couldn’t see a thing.

“Get away from him,” Andie said.

Ares had dragged the ottoman nearer to the couch. He sat on the edge, leaned over Hermes, and pressed a wet cloth to his forehead. He paid no attention to Andie’s order, just regarded them in a lazy, irritated way and kept sponging. Henry’s throat tightened. What right did Ares have to take care of Hermes, when whatever had gone wrong was probably his fault?