Page 23 of The Call of Monsters
And there was the rub. I hated most of them, but not all of them were evil. Some of them didn’t create monsters and curse people. Some of them didn’t design things like phoenixes to stroke their ego. Some of them taught humans all kinds of arts and new crafts. They made society better. They could make Olympus a better place.
But was all that going to mean anything when they found out there was now a weapon that could kill them?
Chapter 12
River
M
y parents did the best they could with a child who said they could hear animals, then later started liberating pets from their owners. I loathed all the medication and therapists that got thrown at me, but it paid off as an adult. For a while, I thought I was crazy too and was a model patient. I carried over many coping skills I learned in therapy to my adult life, even after I realized Iwasn’tcrazy and accepted what I could do.
My favorite therapist ever was Doctor Woods. I started seeing him when I was thirteen, and I asked to keep seeing him well after I got better at lying and breaking into people’s houses to re-home the pets they were abusing. Since I was pretending I couldn’t hear animals anymore, we talked about life and dealing with high school.
And high school was pretty fucking traumatic. I was skinny, awkward, and went through my goth phase pretty hard. The fucked-up thing was, not even the other goth kids liked me. It was weird having so many lovers right now when not a single person in my high school would piss on me if I were on fire. They were seriously not very nice to me.
But having someone to walk me through how to deal with life when nearly everyone in your high school just couldn’t let you be weird in peace was a tremendous help. I was using many things Doctor Wood taught me to deal with all the shit that had happened since I got kidnapped. Doctor Woods wouldn’t have been very proud of me for losing my temper and setting Hades’s trousers on fire, but high school bullies didn’t exactly kidnap me to an entirely different realm and throw me in jail with monsters. He deserved it. It was probably a good thing I didn’t know I could set things on fire in high school.
So, I didn’t have a lot of unresolved shit to process, so my demon side didn’t go popping out all the time. I had years of learning skills, so things didn’t fester, and I learned not to dwell on things I couldn’t change.
Still, there was that entire issue of feeling threatened now that I’d accessed my demon side, and therapy didn’t prepare me for this. I didn’t even know if that was what it was. I wasn’t scared when Tryphon wrapped his tentacle around my neck, so she either popped out because she was or she wanted to play with my men.
I didn’t feel any different when I was using my demonic side aside from being a lot stronger and more powerful, so it wasn’t like I could have a conversation with her and tell her to stay put unless I called for her.
We were all sitting around talking about my feelings, and I have to say, Doctor Woods was a much better therapist than a demon, four monsters, and a witch. Doctor Woods would listen to everything I said before he gave his input. No one listening to me talk about anything I thought I might still need to process could do that. There was a lot of growling and threatening to eat people. Even my father, who had the best resting bitch face of anyone I knew, was offering to bring people to his dungeon and torture them.
We weren’t getting anywhere, and I was so relieved when Hades interrupted us. I pretty much adored knowing everyone close to me would cut a bitch if someone hurt me, but some of these people I still considered dreaded foes were now in their thirties with a picket fence and 2.5 children. They’d long forgotten teasing the weird girl in high school. They put me through some shit, though, and I wouldn’t mind my monsters giving them a little scare for some payback.
Hades looked intense, and Persephone was with him this time. I had seen little of her lately. Her bodyguards were jobless at the moment. Persephone was glued to Hades’s side, and I didn’t blame them. I could tell they were deeply in love, and after they had been forcibly separated, they didn’t want to be apart.
“Hephaestus made allies, but they are super vague. Honestly, I’m shocked the Fates even revealed as much as they did. Many Olympians and demigods have asked them about their strings and what’s in store for them, and they are super anal about revealing any spoilers. Hephaestus said Zeus has been visiting them every day for answers.”
“How does he know that? Is he safe?” I demanded.
All I wanted Hades to tell me was that Hephaestus was fine, and we were closer to ending this so my life could be as drama-free as possible dating four monsters and a god. Hades looked like he was about to give me a very Hades answer, but Persephone just smiled.
“Hephaestus is just fine. He’s right under Zeus’s nose, and he doesn’t even know it. The Fates visited the Horae and told them to help him, but they would have done that, anyway. Hephaestus is older than I am, but he always made me curious because everyone was so mean to him. I saw him sneaking through Olympus one day and followed him. Our people don’t sneakanywhere.
“He went to the Horae’s back gate, and I watched him bring them gifts and have tea with them. They were so much nicer to him than his own mother, and I was happy for him. I don’t think he wanted anyone to know because he didn’t want to bring trouble to their door. I kept his secret for him and went back home. They would have snuck you in if he asked, even if the Fates didn’t give them some cryptic message they should.”
I didn’t really believe in fate because so much random shit just seemed to be thrown at me with no rhyme or reason even before I ended up down here. If all that was a bunch of crones playing with strings, then I had so many things to say about that. But everyone here who wasn’t a half demon, a full demon, or a witch believed fully in the Fates and wanted to know exactly what kind of spoiler they might have dropped. And they were about to hop right on top of Hades to find out.
Hades held up his hands as he got swarmed by four massive monsters. What was Charley doing? She was right up in Hades’s face too, and she was so tiny compared to the rest of them. I didn’t know how old she was, but I didn’t think it was Greek God old, and she ended up in Hell, not the Underworld. Everyone here seemed pretty unfamiliar with witchcraft when she showed up and started casting magic. Why was she so interested in what the Olympian Fates had to say?
“Enough! Persephone and I have dealt with the Fates way more than anyone here. They reveal nothingmajor, but they like to move things like chess pieces. They moved the Horae to help Hephaestus, but all they said were some strings were going to get cut soon. They are not, and will not, just going to change and start telling people when they are going to cut a string.”
Charley placed her hands on her hips and just glared at Hades. She was just so small and innocent looking, but I knew better, and I hoped Hades did too. Whatever she was about to ask, he’d better have an appropriate answer because something told me witch curses were just as unpleasant as the ones Olympians gave out like candy.
“Witches hold a lot of stock in fate and the stars. We don’t worshipyou,but we respect any old gods throughout history and have our own we pay tribute to. Do your Fates controleveryoneor just Olympians?”
Well, that was a really fucking good question. One I should have asked myself. If they were going to be cutting strings soon, we needed to make damned sure it wasn’t ours. I didn’t survive vet school and killing Demeter just to have some fucking Fate cut my string right when I had a chance at happiness.
Charley barely came up to Hades’s armpits, but she looked ready to punch him right in the testicles or curse him with a dick for a nose if he didn’t answer right. I watched the great God of the Underworld take a slow step back.
“Despite what they told everyone when they came to Earth, the Fates are an entirely Olympian thing. Well, demigods too technically since they share blood with us. The Fates justlovemessing with demigods, but they’ve left Olympians alone for the most part. I don’t know if they decided this a long time ago or something happened in Olympus, and they’ve decided to start cutting strings.”
I frowned. None of this was making sense. So, Hephaestus’s life was tied to these three women and their strings? Why didn’t they just cut Demeter’s string before she ran amok in the Underworld? Did I even kill her?
“Did I kill Demeter, or did the Fates? I thought Hephaestus’s weapon was the only thing that could kill an Olympian. Now, you’re telling me it involves strings and three women.”
