My Ex From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #1)

Between a Rockman and a hard place (Part 3)

Theo sighed. "You fell in love. No one counted on that. Kai stole you away to the Underworld, but he wouldn't let Hades touch you. And it wasn't worth the headache to Hades to cross him, since he had you, for all intents and purposes, as his prisoner. It was all disgustingly nauseating bliss until someone decided to murder Persephone."

So people had wanted me dead before, too? "Who?"

"Must have been Hades," Hannah replied.

Theo shrugged. "Someone wanted you gone. Could have been anyone. Neither Hades nor Zeus wanted you two hooked up. Lesser gods would do anything to win their favor. Suck-ups."

"Dead, though. It seems a little extreme." I shuddered at the thought.

"Sometimes, death is a blessing which we don't have," Theo responded darkly. I felt bad for him because after that whole liver thing, he knew what he was talking about.

"What I do know is that I found you, dying on the floor."

"Why were you in Hades? You lived on Mt. Olympus." It seemed very suspicious to me that he just happened to be there. "Also, we need more cookies."

"You've had four," Hannah pointed out.

"I'm having a very trying day. Better pimples than a fiery, mortal death."

Hannah made the motion of playing the world's smallest violin.

"Will you two shut up and let me finish?" asked Theo.

"If you get cookies," I said.

Theo obliged. Probably because he knew I'd just keep whining "Theo, can I have a cookie?" until he did. Smart boy fetched one more small biscuit for each of us.

"Let's just say," he said, breaking his cookie open, "I didn't like constantly running into the god who had caused my liver to keep getting eaten. Zeus is a douche. Of epic proportions. Hades is too but he's all 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' crap. Otherwise, I'd never have been allowed in. Mr. Paranoia had the Underworld clamped down tight."

"You found Sophie, I mean Persephone and ... ?" Hannah prompted.

"I spirited her body away. Essentially made a deal to put her soul, her essence into human form."

"Can I have my other body back?"

"No. It's dead."

That fact shouldn't have upset me so much. This me didn't know or remember the other me. But I felt gutted. Like I'd lost someone incredibly close to me. Guess I had.

Theo must have noticed how pale I went at the finality of his words because he added gently, "Sorry. It was the only way."

I grudgingly nodded.

"My plan was to watch over you as you grew up human and then when you were eighteen, release your true identity, train you to your full powers, and let you fight for mankind and end this stupid war." He lit up with the passion of his plan. "Your allegiance is human but your powers are godlike. Since Persephone is Spring and the embodiment of earth's fertility, as both human and goddess, you're bound to the earth. Before you were, you know, you told me that you knew the way to stop them. Any memory of that?"

"Nada."

"This plan would definitely anger Zeus," Hannah said, thoughtful.

Theo gave a cherubic grin. "A happy benefit."

"So you were using me."

"I saved you," he retorted.

I thought about this. "You did. But the price was being farmed out to Felicia and then being stuck in this crapshow for pretty much my entire life. If you were really watching over me, you would have pretended to be my nice dad. You wanted me to be your Joan of Arc puppet."

"I couldn't be your dad. Things got ... messed up. That's why you didn't meet me until we were in grade two. Felicia's utter lack of parental ability was perfect because she stashed you somewhere I could keep you safe. Besides, if this had happened the way it should have, you wouldn't be whining."

"Yeah, well, would'a, could'a, should'a," I snarked.

We'd been crossing into one another's personal space. A loud whistle pierced the air. Theo and I whipped around to find Hannah glaring at us.

"Both of you, shut up!"

That startled us. She'd never spoken to us in that tone of voice. The few other students across the room looked over.

"The way I see it," she said more quietly, "it's humans who have been used. If I am going to believe this story, it sounds like we are the only innocent beings in all this. You Greek gods and goddesses are a bunch of narcissistic insensitives with unlimited power. Just a dandy combination."

"Don't lump me in with them," Theo sulked. "I'm a Titan."

"What? You're not even a Greek god?" Oh this was just great.

"Titans are better. We're the deities who came first."

"Theo," Hannah said urgently. She motioned to me. Both of them shot to their feet, grabbed my arms and hustled me out of the cafeteria.

"Look down," Theo hissed at me.

I had no idea what was happening until he shoved me in front of my mirror, back in my room.

"Sweet." My normally blah brown hair had gotten darker. More lustrous. It had also gone from dead straight to falling in loose ringlets to my shoulders. "I'm like the after picture for a hair ad." Massive delight.

"That's your real color," Theo said. "Persephone's real color."

"Well, it's extreme makeover time because check out her eyes," Hannah said. "They're green. As in brilliant."

Theo looked at me a minute then came to stand beside me. "You're taller too."

"A couple of inches," Hannah agreed.

I glanced down to see my ankles sticking out of my leggings like a total nerd.

Hotter, taller me? My whoop of delight was probably heard in China.

"And I get to live with this now. Thanks," Hannah muttered at Theo.

He gave her a grimace of apology.

"Will my magnificence get cranked to eleven?"

"Only if we're truly blessed," Theo grumbled. "You won't reach your original height, but yeah, it's all part of your true persona. Your natural abilities coming through."

"How big was my rack?" I asked hopefully.

"Such tact," Theo admonished. "I never noticed."

"How would big boobs help you save humankind? Unless you're planning to poke out Hades' eye with your diamond hard nips." Hannah rolled her eyes at me.

"Maybe that was my fiendish plan all along. I am goddess, see me poke."