Navigating Hermes (Book Two)

Chapter Twenty-Three

I apologize if there are any glaring mistakes! Renovating an old house turned out to be way worse than I thought so I'm throwing this up without doing anything aside from paragraph indents. Do let me know if there's a terrible spelling error or anything that makes this hard to read! I loved your reaction to the reveal last week and I'm excited to see what you think going forward for the last month or so of chapters! - Amy

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     Julie had gotten used to her sleeping routine after a few months of working full time. She would allow herself to sleep for an extra two hours on Saturdays, but only one extra hour on Sundays in order to not make waking up as terrible throughout the week. It was the reason why at nine o'clock in the morning Julie had already been up for an hour watching cartoons on her couch when Danika appeared beside her.

     Still mildly annoyed at their brunch the day before, Julie returned her attention to the tv.  "So, did you find anything incriminating about my boyfriend?" she asked sarcastically before turning to look at her friend. 

     Danika sat down and immediately placed a throw pillow on her lap. She looked at Julie, obviously uncomfortable.

     Julie's smile faltered at Danika's lack of response. She had fully expected her to reply with something equally sarcastic, or at minimum an attempt at a joke, but her serious expression sent a chill down her spine. "Shit."

     "Unfortunately, yes. I did find out something... quite a lot actually," Danika sighed. "I'm so sorry."

     Julie already felt her throat tighten the way it always did when she was going to cry. She didn't even know what Danika had discovered yet, but she knew it wouldn't be good. Is he seeing someone else? Does he have a secret family? Maybe he's planning on breaking up with me. The countless possibilities flew around Julie's head and she was brought back to reality when Danika took her hands in her own and squeezed them.

     "I used my powers like I said I would and with some help I now know the truth. Hamish isn't who he says he is," Danika explained.

     "He's a con artist, isn't he?" Julie guessed. "That must be why he's been so weird when I asked about family. You know I haven't even seen a picture of any of them?"

     Danika shook her head. "He's not a con artist," she answered, but scrunched her face with the tilt of her head. "Actually, he kind of is a con artist, but not in the way you're thinking."

     "What?" Julie blinked. "Just tell me what you saw."

     Danika let go of Julie's hands and stood up. "I shouldn't be the one telling you everything. Sure, what I saw helped unlock the truth, but I really only helped provide a few missing pieces of the puzzle. It all makes sense to me now why Hermes and I both felt weird vibes."

     "Hermes?" Julie asked. "What does he have to do with this? I thought you hadn't seen him in weeks?"

     "I hadn't," Danika  confirmed, "until about an hour ago. He helped me put the rest of the pieces together."

     Julie frowned at the goddess. "Why would you do that after everything he's done to me?"

     Danika shook her head. "I had a feeling, Julie, and I was right about it."

     Before Julie could respond, Hermes appeared, looking even more uncomfortable than Danika did. Julie quickly stood up. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him before looking at Danika. "Did you tell him to come here?"

     "Yes," Danika answered. "Please listen to him, Julie. I'll leave you two alone for some privacy, but please hear him out," she pleaded before disappearing.