Hades Legacy (Hades Series #3)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

I don't get any sleep at all that night, and spend most of it tossing and turning over my decision to let Eric help me. Even though his explanation made logical sense — well, the one where he wanted to bring justice to Otti's killer, seeing as I was still refusing to acknowledge the first half of his explanation — it was hard to ignore how much his betrayal still stung.

But what was even worse was that after he explained everything to me, and after I yelled at him and swore that it would take a lot more than just an apology to earn my trust again, my heart was already ready to forgive him.

And I hated him for that. I hated that, no matter what he seemed to do, no matter how much he hurt me, a small part of me was always willing to forgive him; and I hated that because of that, I couldn't trust myself around him.

Yet at the same time, I couldn't deny the basic fact that a small part of me was always so willing to forgive him because I had fallen for him; I had fallen for him hard.

My mother was right. I was in love with Eric. And that terrified me.

Because being in love with Eric was like learning how to fly; exciting and scary all at the same time, and all for completely different reasons. The only problem was, I'd now experienced what it was like crash landing out of the sky, and I wasn't sure whether getting back up into the air again was worth it.

So, after finally accepting the fact that I wasn't going to get any sleep — or any peace of mind, for that matter — lying in bed worrying, I grudgingly drag myself out of bed in the early hours of the morning and mentally prepare myself for the fact that I'm going to have to get back up in the air for at least the amount of time it takes to find out who killed Otti. Eric had told me to go and meet him at the Orphanage when I woke up in the morning — much to my mother's incredibly vocal disapproval — so I quickly slip on some inconspicuous black clothes and head out.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I freeze, in the middle of opening the back door, and slowly swivel around. My mother, who I hadn't previously noticed, is sitting at the table in the kitchen, casually sipping from a cup of coffee as she watches me with a sharp gaze.

"Out." I say, watching her warily.

"Oh really?" She asks, taking another deliberately long sip of her coffee. "Where are you going out at this ungodly hour?" She snorts, shaking her head. "Ungodly. God, I'm hilarious."

"I'm not sure I want to tell you." I reply slowly. She arches an eyebrow at me.

"Kid, you know I'm all for you living out as many of life's cliches as your heart desires; hell, a little teenage rebellion is good for you." She says, her cordial conversational tone scaring me a little. "But going where I'm ninety-nine percent sure you're going is taking the whole teenage rebellion thing a little too far."

"You know this is not an attempt to rebel." I reply, my grip tightening on the door handle ever so slightly. "He's trying to help, Mum. He has resources and connections up on the surface that we don't."

"I have a Spencer." My mother points out. "He has connections, and a magic staff that kills people, and he isn't an ass. Well, he is, but a tolerable ass. Not a 'you have a face that makes me want to eternally punch you' ass."

I groan, rubbing my face with my hands exasperatedly. "He doesn't have the right connections and you know it."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Because I've been living here for the last two months?" I say wryly. "All the nymphs who thought I killed Otti were close to Eric, Mum. He has a much higher chance of being able to find out from them who told them where the knife was and why they were all so absolutely adamant I killed Otti than Spencer does. To be honest, they're all just kind of terrified of Spencer."