My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Not Quite Cinderella (Part 3)

"Shut up and stop blinking. I can't do your eye shadow properly." I had paired the dress with the girliest makeover imaginable, painting Oizys' face in hues of pink ranging from Bubblegum (lipstick) to Princess Poo (blush). I'd mentally dubbed the pale pink glitter on her lids as "Fairy Spew."

Her hair was now dark brown and curled into frothy ringlets. I topped it with a giant tiara. I'd pinned her bangs off her face so that no one could tell she had them at all.

"It itches," Oizys groused.

I slapped her hand away from her hip. "Stop plucking."

Finally, she grabbed my wrist to keep me from applying one more shiny coat to her lips. "Enough." Her eyes glinted. "It's your turn now."

She dolled me up in her clothes, cut my hair to give me bangs and then pulled the rest of my new black mass back into the same tight bun she wore. I wouldn't be able to wear her glasses, but we figured that copious amounts of eye-liner and purple lipstick would sell the effect.

As Oizys applied my make-up, she detailed my route in and out of Tartarus. She made me retrace the path, and repeat what I would say when I met the giants over and over, until I had it down pat.

Once I was fully made up, she cocked her head and looked at me critically. "A pale imitation, Springtime."

"Right back at you." I studied us both in her mirror. Unless we were standing side by side—under scrutiny, we looked pretty convincing. Normally, I would have found my resemblance to an Underworlder disconcerting. But if I could handle looking like Persephone, all else failed to rate. "It's going to work. Except ..." I glanced down at my bare feet. "Pony up the boots."

"No," she whined.

I gave her my sternest look. "Oizys, Spirit of Misery and Woe, I demand that you suck up your foot issues and hand me a pair of your stupid boots."

She muttered something mean and flung a pair my way. "I hope they pinch your toes."

I grinned and, shockingly, she grinned back. I felt a deep pang of regret. Maybe Oizys and Persephone had come to some kind of weird truce, but I knew that wouldn't hold when she found out who I was.

The Persephone in this enchantment hadn't betrayed anyone yet. Hades had no idea that she and Kai were planning anything for the equinox. The Underworld didn't hate her. Maybe they did on principal, but not with any specific vendetta. Once the enchantment was broken, this Persephone wouldn't exist anymore. Which would just leave me, Sophie Bloom, mortal enemy numero uno.

Regardless of how Oizys felt about her fellow Underworlders, she wouldn't stay loyal to me just because we'd had a magically induced moment or two. I'd rather not see the look on her face when she decided to get in on the "kill Sophie" action, too.

"For a daemon who feeds off other people's misery, you're not so bad," I told her.

"Yeah, well, for a goddess who cavorts in meadows," she shook her head. "Nah, you still suck."

Damn Hekate. And damn this enchantment. I wished I'd never met Oizys. She was going to be one more loss in my life.

By 11:30PM, we were as perfect as we were going to get. I tied the accompanying mask around the back of Oizys' head. It was a simple black thing, but dotted with pink sparkly crystals. While the mask itself obscured much of her face, enough of her pretty pretty makeover was visible that the overall effect sold her as me.

"I think it's perfect," I said, forcing her to do one last pirouette. "In that make-a-total-mockery-of-Persephone way that Hades intended."

Oizys gave me a weird look. "Talking about yourself in the third person now?"

Whoops. Luckily, I had just the thing to distract her. "Hang on. There's one last piece."

I scrambled under her daybed and pulled out a pair of sparkly gold heels that I'd snagged from Persephone's closet.

Oizys stared at them in abject horror.

"You didn't seriously think you were going to wear any shoes you owned, did you?"

Poor Spirit of Misery and Woe. She looked like she wanted to die as she shoved her feet into the shoes.

Correction. She looked like she wanted to kill me. Either way. It would add to her aura of deep humiliation. Which would, in turn, delight one and all.

I wanted lots of attention on her. I wanted Hades entertained by her embarrassment. The more he was distracted, the better the chance I had of sneaking out with Fee to free Prometheus.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Good luck."

"Bring him back safely or die." Oizys flung my hand off of her. "And don't get caught."

With that, she stomped out.

"Less lead foot, more goddess floating," I called after her.

She tossed back a rude name and headed out of sight.

I gave her ten minutes before I went downstairs myself.

I was lost in the throng of guests long before I got to the throne room. Costume-wise, all of the Olympians were represented, most of them in multiple versions. Except for Zeus. One guess who had decreed that costume for himself.

The outfits were lavish. Sumptuous. Also twisted, lewd, grotesquely exaggerated, and highly, highly offensive. Everyone's body language reflected their contempt. Looking around, you'd think all the beings in Olympus were limping, flailing hunchbacks.

The few people that bothered to look my way only rolled their eyes like the lack of a costume and the killing of buzz was exactly what they expected from Oizys. Her reputation served me well.

It was easy enough to keep to the fringes unobserved, yet totally observing everything. While the throne room may have mimicked Zeus' statue gallery, Hades had opted to drape the rest of the main floor in bordello chic. Not a decor I'd seen during my stay in Olympus. This meant red velvet brocade wallpaper, divans, plants, knick-knacks, and lots of gold gilt and zebra print furniture. Taaaacky. My head throbbed looking at it all. It didn't help that Zeus' own clean citrusy cologne was gusting into the room in hissing puffs.

I did my best to breathe through my mouth.

Finally, I managed to skirt my way into the throne room. After all that red velvet, the white and gold that Hades had used to transform it into Zeus' statue room was blinding. I blinked a few times to adjust my eyes.

When I could see again, I slinked to the far corner and hid behind a massive statue of my father plucking a fig from a tree, while a bird in the branches pooed on his head. The tree had been sculpted in such amazing detail that I was actually able to climb it and hide myself among its marble leaves. This was the perfect vantage point. I had a clear view of the entire room over everyone's heads.