Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Hermes.
“What trap is this?”
“No trap.” She speaks quietly and quickly, and even though I can’t actually see her, she sounds absolutely exhausted—a condition I didn’t know could affect her.
“Did you say poisoned?” Callisto whispers.
“I did, in fact. Don’t worry, I’m fine. You don’t survive in Olympus without building up an intentional immunity to a whole boatload of poisons.” She laughs faintly. “Or maybe I’m just a paranoid type of person. Anyway, there’s a shift change in seven minutes. We have a lot of ground to cover and very little time to do it. Are you coming or not?”
I open my mouth to argue, to point out that she wants the same thing as Circe, that she’s no doubt leading us out of a cell and into certain death.
Before I have a chance to, Callisto takes my hand and squeezes. A silent urge to listen to Hermes, to take this opportunity. No matter how strange. I suck in a breath and squeeze back. She’s right. Even if Hermes is somehow competing with Circe on who gets to kill us, she’s offering an opportunity to escape. It’s more than we had ten minutes ago. “We’re coming.”
“Then hurry up.”
I keep hold of Callisto’s hand as we slip out into the night to find the pair of guards on the ground, bleeding out from what appears to be several stab wounds. Hermes stands just to the side of the door, dressed fully in black with her braids fastened away from her face. She motions with the bloody knife in her hand. “Let’s go.”
I have so many questions, but they can wait until Callisto isn’t in immediate danger. I pause to urge my wife in front of me and then we follow Hermes as she takes a nearly direct route to the edge of the camp. Not the same way we came in, though. Instead of heading toward where the majority of the cars—and Demeter’s tent—are, she veers south.
The tents here are mostly dark, the hour late enough that no one has reason to be up and about unless there’s a job involved. I keep alert for guards, but either Hermes has dispatched them already or there weren’t many to begin with. The latter actually makes the most sense. Whether or not Circe has made her plans clear to the people here, she’s obviously intending to manipulate on promises instead of relying on violence. A large number of armed guards undermine the fantasy that she’s a savior instead of a conqueror.
She’s certainly capable of force, but she’s smart enough to know that route would cause the majority of the civilians to balk. Instead, she’s allied herself with one of the most popular members of the Thirteen and no doubt will start her reign by promising to take care of the people historically overlooked by the Thirteen.
“Hermes,” I say softly.
“Not yet.” She moves so surely, weaving through the tents with no discernible path, and yet we reach the edge of the camp in less than thirty minutes. She’s taken us opposite of the main road, far to the south of where most traffic in and out of the camp is.
Hermes picks up her pace, forcing us to do the same. I keep a close eye on Callisto. She doesn’t appear to be flagging, but she’s had one shock after another, and she was shot yesterday…by Hermes.
“Hermes.”
She turns to walk backward and motions for me to keep it down. “We’re not quite far enough yet. The sound carries in the hills, especially on clear nights like this.”
“How would you know?” Callisto asks softly.
“These are my old stomping grounds. Ancient, really.” Hermes tilts her head back, weaving a little on her feet. “I should have wondered why Demeter wanted this land specifically, but I wasn’t using it and selling it seemed to make sense at the time. I didn’t think…” She swipes a hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. I have an off-roader just over the next hill. We can talk once we’re clear.”
It takes everything I have to keep my peace until we breach the hill in question and walk down the other side, finally losing sight of the camp. I release Callisto’s hand and move past her, grabbing Hermes’s shoulder and spinning her around. “We talk now.”
She grabs my hand and hits the pressure points to force me to release her. “All you do is talk, you fool.”
“Better that than shooting two pregnant women.” I clench my fists, wanting nothing more than to remove this damned threat to the woman I love.
“You talk and talk and talk, and you don’t listen,” she hisses. “If I wanted them dead, they’d be dead.”
“Orpheus required surgery,” Callisto snaps. “That was a bit more than making a point.”
Hermes shrugs. “What do you care? You hate him.” She relents almost immediately. “Besides, that was an accident. I didn’t expect him to valiantly try to throw himself on top of you to save you.”