Page 10 of The Call of Monsters
I didn’t get my alone time, and River didn’t even get a hot shower. When she agreed to leave it for the day, Hades came out to pull us to a meeting. Pavlina insisted food be brought because River had to be hungry after all that running.
Hades had been ignoring us to do his own thing, and we were used to that. River wasn’t. Hephaestus made a move without Hades’s approval, and now he had to scramble and plot.Nowwe were getting called into the planning part. I liked Hades, but he was a bit of a control freak, and even though they didn’t get along, I don’t think he liked the idea of killing his brother.
I thought Hephaestus had the right idea. What was he supposed to do? Let the Olympians torture him while Hades tried to talk things out? I would have snapped Aphrodite’s neck and escaped too. I had to deal with her when Persephone would have lunch with her, and I have no idea how Hephaestus stayed married to her without flinging himself into his forge to get away from her.
We all sat down in Hades’s meeting room, and there was no food here. River needed to eat. Everyone noticed.
“Where’s the food I asked for?” Pavlina said.
Hades just rolled his eyes.
“Unless you want me to feed her finger sandwiches, the food needs time to cook. It’s coming. Sit down and pay attention.”
Barbatos had been with us watching her try, and he beamed at River.
“You were so close. I’ll bet you can manage it tomorrow.”
“You almost had it a few times,” Pavlina said.
“I wish I could fly,” Charley sighed. “Despite rumors to the contrary, I can’t enchant a broom and go flying wherever I like.”
“Seriously? I’ve seen you do all kinds of shit,” River asked.
Charley just yawned.
“Witches and warlocks have been trying to perfect that for ages. We have levitation spells, but they only last long enough to bring something across the room. A few have enchanted the broom, but it goes feral, and you can’t sit on it. It’s more likely to beat you to death than carry you anywhere. You got pretty close.”
“Yes, River’s wings are amazing,” Hades snapped. “Can we focus on my brother?”
“Yeah, sorry. What did the asshole do?” Pavlina said.
“Is he coming so we can sneak into Olympus?” Tryphon said.
Hades ran his fingers through his hair.
“Zeus may be a lot of things, but he’s not stupid. He knows Hephaestus can make a weapon that can kill him. He also knows if he comes to the Underworld in person and everyone here rallies around Hephaestus and me, he could get trapped in the Pits of Tartarus with his father, and Kronos would love to get his hands on Zeus. He knows Hephaestus escaped, but he called me instead of coming here.”
Well, shit. Zeus was pretty stupid too. Most of the time, he thought with his cock. We couldn’t entice him to the Underworld with anything like that because everyone here hated him, and he knew that. Zeus needed to die. Hephaestus and the Underworld wouldn’t be safe now that he knew about that weapon. Trying to reason with him was out.
Sending him to the Pits was also an option, but how would we get him in the Underworld in the first place?
“So, what’s the plan, then?” Tryphon asked.
“Zeus is on the warpath. He sent Aphrodite to seduce the answer out of Hephaestus, and he’s not happy he snapped her neck and escaped. He’s playing this carefully. He didn’t come charging to the Underworld when Aphrodite woke up after she healed. He even checked with the Horae to see if Hephaestus left before he called me. He knows the Horae told him Hephaestus never passed through the gates to Olympus, but it’s also thrown him for a loop that Hephaestus could create that weapon in the first place. He doesn’t know if Hephaestus escaped without going through the Horae.”
“The Horae guard the gates to Olympus like Cerberus guards them here?” River asked.
Hades nodded.
“There are three of them, and they hate Zeus. He wanted them to lie to Hera when he would sneak out to visit a human woman. Hera always knew, and she would take it out on them instead of him. This is where we have an in. The Horae hate Zeus and Hera, but they’ve always loved Hephaestus, even after Zeus permanently injured him.
“You could say they were the only people in Olympus who were ever kind to him, so he was kind right back to them. He made them special gifts in his forge, and he would bring them food before he left. None of the other Olympians ever treated them that way. They treated them more like bellhops at a hotel. Hephaestus thinks they will help us sneak you in if it means killing Zeus. He’s working on it.”
It didn’t shock me Hephaestus’s kindness was going to be our in to Olympus. I’d seen him around the castle servants, and he so never acted like he used to be worshiped as the God of Metalsmithing. He thanked them personally for every refill, and he always smiled at them and made them feel seen. That was one thing I liked about him. He treated everyone the same and like they were his friend, despite the way people always talked about him to his face.
Pavlina just started laughing.
“I love the fact that because none of the Olympians can be nice to anyone they think is beneath them is how we are going to sneak in. Present company excluded, of course.”
