This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2)(58)

Persephone tilted her head back and looked up at the strobing light. “He’s going to kill us all.”

Hermes flicked his hand at her dismissively. “I’ll do no such thing. You’ll have a boat.” He stood and marched up the spiral staircase until I couldn’t see him anymore. “Sleep. Set sail in the morning,” he called from somewhere above.

Circe rushed to Persephone’s side and examined her arm. Marie was suddenly standing next to me.

“You were scared, huh?” she asked.

“Are you serious right now? I thought he was gonna end us. So yeah, I was scared.”

“Sorry,” Marie said. “But we don’t have time for his pouting. We needed to know if he was going to help us or not so we could figure out what to do next.” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. All these gods do is sit around and be angry and jealous. Like damn. You could do something useful. Cure cancer or something. Instead, he’s in here doing what? Playing lighthouse keeper?”

“You’re not wrong,” I said. “But they’re playing by rules we don’t know anything about. And honestly? I don’t even care. He says he’ll get us a boat. That’s enough for now.”

Marie sighed. “You’re right, but I really wanna know where he got those fancy sandals. Where do you get gold sandals with wings?”

I laughed. “You were talking to him like he’s not the god of—what does he do again?”

“Messenger god,” Circe said. “Guardian of travelers. Did you see that sword?”

Persephone held up her arm. “I got a good look at it.”

Circe winced. “No—I know it’s just—remember the story, Seph.”

Persephone went very still suddenly.

“Y’all are gonna have to clue me in,” I said.

We huddled around the small table.

“That sword? Hermes lent it to Perseus to slay Medusa,” Circe said. “The shoes, too.” She squeezed her eyes shut and took off her glasses. “I’m losing my mind here. Is this really happening?” She was so knowledgeable, but it was one thing to know the stories and another to have their participants standing right in front of you. “We just have to keep it together. He said he’ll get a boat in the morning, and we’re just going to have to go with that because we don’t have a choice.”

I pulled Circe’s moon clock out of my pocket and flipped it open. “We have five days left. Is that enough time?”

“We’re close,” Marie said, trying to reassure me. “We’ll leave in the morning. We’ll do what we came here to do and then we’ll go home.”

“Did you give her the information?” Persephone asked.

I looked to Marie. “What information?”

“It’s just a backup plan,” Marie said. “In case something happens I got all the paperwork together. All you have to do is show up at the airstrip at the time and date I tell you and you’ll be able to get home. Alec will have something for you, too. Just check in with him. And Nyx will stay with you as long as you want her to.”

I looked at each of them, waiting for someone to explain. “Y’all are planning for me to go home … alone?”

Circe avoided my gaze. “We have to plan for the worst even if we’re hoping for the best. If something should happen, if you find yourself alone, you have to get home to Mo. I left very clear instructions with Khadijah. You’ll have everything you need.”

“Excuse me, but what am I missing?” I asked.

“It’s just in case,” Marie said.

Persephone turned and walked toward the fireplace. “We need to rest,” she said. “Circe and Bri can take the bed, me and Marie will keep watch. I don’t trust Hermes to take our safety into consideration. He’s a little too reckless for me, and we don’t know where Karter and the people he’s with actually are or what they’re capable of.”

Marie put her hand over mine and kissed me gently on the cheek before nodding to Persephone. They went out the front door, and Circe began to pull the covers back from the bed.

Above me, I heard Hermes’s heavy footsteps pacing the floor. He said we would have a ship, and I assumed that meant he was going to help us know which way to go. I couldn’t help but picture us boarding a boat and Hermes taking off on his little golden sandals, laughing at how dumb we all were. I didn’t want to take that chance. As Circe slipped into the bathroom, I quickly climbed the stairs.

The room at the top of the lighthouse was made entirely of glass. Hermes stood against the panes opposite me, and the light that guided ships to port spun in a slow circle between us. I didn’t know how it was supposed to work, but I was pretty sure electric lights needed some kind of bulb or fixture and they definitely needed a power source. There wasn’t a glass housing or wires or even a supporting structure of any kind. The light beamed from a free-floating orb that undulated in the center of the upper room.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Hermes asked.

“I—I guess. I’m not really sure what I’m looking at, though.”

“The Great Eye,” he said.

“And I’m guessing it’s more than just a light to help ships sail in from the sea.”

Hermes nodded. “So much more, but that’s a very convenient cover story.”