I bite my tongue to keep from asking that out loud.
“Look at that glare.” Aphrodite tsks. “Better watch out, Hades. I might steal her from you. I would love to be glared at like that. So much…passion.” She breathes the last word so it’s practically a moan.
Heat surges up my neck and into my cheeks.
The long, black hair curling down her back sways with every move of her hips, her light-brown eyes never leaving mine as she comes closer. She looks about my age, maybe a year older—but her eyes tell a different story. “I could put all that passion to better use,” she murmurs in a seductive purr of a voice. “Don’t you wish to—”
“Addie!” Hades snaps, out of his chair.
Addie?
Immediately, everything about her demeanor changes, the softness of her features hardening. Hells, the softness about all of her hardens until a warrior stands in her place, staring daggers at Hades. “You’re such a sourpuss. No fun at all.” Then she winks at me and walks away.
Hades shakes his head. “Watch out for her. If she says the words ‘don’t you wish to,’ clap your hands over your ears, because if she gets to the rest, you’ll be compelled to do whatever it is she asks then and there”—his gaze cuts from her to me—“no matter if it’s something you want to do or not. Fuck an enemy. Betray a friend. She can even make your body obey her against your will. Your reactions, your movements…sensations.”
The last thing I want to talk about with Hades is sensations. “I won’t listen when she says those words. Got it.”
A slight tilt to one side of his mouth is his only response.
“I thought you would all disappear until we find you with our artifacts?” I ask, flicking a glance toward Zeus, who hasn’t stopped glaring at Hades since he took my hand.
Zeles answers. “They will disappear when the item is found or be instructed to leave in the final few minutes.”
In other words, they want to watch us squirm.
“Better find it quick, then.” Hades walks away to stand at the base of the stairs, as far away as he can get from the rest of the gods and goddesses, who have all moved to the tables of food and drink.
I join the other champions among the tables, debating the best plan for success.
A gong goes off, and Dionysus’ champion gasps. Her dark-brown hair is arranged in an intricate braid, and she’s wearing a pantsuit made from wine-colored velour embroidered with grapevines that match her patron’s armor. Meike Besser, I think her name was. She has a rather large, hawkish nose with intelligent brown eyes beneath thick brown bangs. She shoots me a rosy-cheeked smile, then ignores the piles of antiques and wanders over to the food tables.
“Fifty-five minutes remaining,” Zeles calls out.
Is he going to count down every five minutes for us? That won’t be nerve-racking at all.
Meike, meanwhile, picks up a bite-size morsel from the table of decadent treats, studies it, then takes a tentative bite. She immediately chokes, her breath expelling in a harsh whoosh and dust flying from her tongue. She picks up a cup and drinks only to splutter and spit that out as well, the red stain on the white marble floor not wine…but blood.
We won’t find our tokens among the food, apparently. It is also not for the mortals.
As Meike straightens, I notice that some of her long, dark bangs are stained red. Seriously, the gods are assholes.
Focus, Lyra.
Thanks to learning that tidbit from Meike, a plan starts to form. I take my time, strolling and looking about, but I don’t touch anything yet, keeping an eye on the other champions and searching for patterns in the items. Not that I’m seeing any.
Another gong. “Fifty minutes.”
“I’m curious…” Hades’ voice sounds from right beside me, and I jump. I’m not used to people getting close. His habit of popping up wherever he wants, even when he was just standing all the way across the platform, is going to take some getting used to.
“I don’t have time to talk,” I say.
“I know, but you don’t seem to be trying very hard. At least the others have picked a few things up. Don’t you want to earn your gifts?”
“I’m starting out slow.”
“I can see that. Why?”
I shrug. “Just learning what not to do first. Seems prudent in dealing with a game devised by a bunch of bored gods.”
“Interesting. Have you learned anything so far?”
“Yeah. Don’t eat the food.”
13
Following The Clues
A shout pulls my gaze to the right in time to see a stone statue of a cherub turn into a gargoyle and snap at Isabel Rojas Hernáiz, Poseidon’s champion, dressed in a gorgeous heather-colored gown. She pushes one of the other champions back, then immediately yells at the gargoyle in rapid-fire Spanish.
I tilt my chin in Isabel’s direction. “And don’t touch the statues,” I add.
She even chucks a gold cup at the thing, which bounces off its stone forehead with a tink. The growling gargoyle unfurls a pair of wings that make a grinding noise as it flies away. I grin at the string of profanities still coming from Isabel. Didn’t Poseidon say she was a beauty queen before her current job in tech?
“That’s right,” Isabel calls after it as she picks up whatever was near the gargoyle that she wanted.
I mentally add her to my list of possible people to team up with.
