Page 21 of Goddess of Storms

“Reid?” Phoenix asks.

“Didn’t you listen when I complained about her earlier? She is hot but she has an obsession with knives and death.”

“So, maybe a descendant of Hades?” Nile laughs.

“Could be, or just crazy? I’d have to get near her to tell and I’m not getting close to her.” I shrug.

Harper sighs and smiles when the Jeep is in sight. “I’ve never been so happy to see the Jeep! I love hiking but I want to enjoy it, this was too fast of a trip.”

Nile

Does Stone ever shut up?It’s only been an hour in the Jeep and I’m sick of listening to him already. Every time I try to chat up Harper, he blocks me and takes control of the conversation again.

“So, how much longer until we are back to civilization?”

Harper turns from the passenger seat and smiles at me while reaching a hand back for me. “We still have a couple hours. Why not kick back and take a nap? I can see the bags under your eyes.”

“I thought about it but then all my dreams would have Stone in them. All I’ve heard for the last hour is his voice,” I complain.

“Well, count yourself lucky. On the way here, it was a three-hour Stone karaoke show,” Harper says, a smile on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes.

Shit, he’s wormed his way in her heart again already.

“You have no reason to be jealous, Nile. I love you both. Not one more or less than the other,” she reminds me.

I return my gaze out the window. “I know, it's just hard to have to share you again.”

“How do you share?” Phoenix asks.

“Do you want details?” I ask as I turn to face him with a smirk.

“Gross, dude, not really,” he replies with disgust.

“It’s an open relationship. I get them both and they get me. Simple,” Harper states.

“I just don’t see what the perk for the guys are?”

“We are soulmates, it is the only way we can all be together, not always happily but we manage,” I tell him.

“Still seems weird to me.”

Harper turns further around in her chair so that she can see Phoenix. “And if it was a guy with two girls would you bat an eye? No, you’d high five him and ask him how he scored. It’s a double standard, if you ask me.”

With that, she turns back around, takes Stone’s hand and turns up the radio.

Harper

The ride back to my house was awkward; one, because of Phoenix—he’s a dickhead—and two, because I realized that I grieved for my parents that weren’t really mine. I still have my mom and dad even though they are at Olympus. I’m unsure how I should feel honestly. One thing I did know, it was wonderful to have Stone and my memories of us back, like a piece of the puzzle inside me was found.

“Harper, you okay?” Stone asks from the driver’s seat.

“Yep, just thinking back on it all: my parents that died, who I really am, and my life the last few years. I missed out on so much because people want to use me. Sometimes, it would be simpler to just be a human.” I sigh.

“As much as I agree, if you were, we never would have met and I’d still be in the forge with my father, a mindless drone,” Stone states.

“I don’t regret anything about my life with you or Nile, I am just tired of running. Can’t a girl just live in peace with her guys?” I laugh.

“All in due time! We will deal with this cult once and for all,” Stone vows.

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