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

You can lead a nymph to water but you cannot make her think (Part 2)

As we ran in the fabulously fresh air, we reviewed our findings and discussed our plan of attack. I hoped that the more Hannah heard about it, the more it would reinforce that Ms. Keeper was a danger and prevent further memory loss in case she resurfaced.

"The good news," Theo began, checking over his shoulder to ensure no one was too near, "is that I don't think Cassie is dead. I believe that Keeper won't show up until she's completed whatever task she has set for herself. And given her interest in Cassie, Keeper seems to need her participation. So for now, at least, Cassie is probably safe."

A knot of tension I didn't realize I'd been carrying loosened. I crossed my fingers and hoped the good fortune extended to Bethany and Mrs. Rivers as well.

"That's good," said Hannah. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to her."

"You remember?" I was delighted.

Hannah blushed and pulled a cue card out of her of hoodie pocket. "Theo helped me write everything down so I'd be in the loop. I've memorized facts about them. Like they're an English assignment, not real." She paused. "I'm sorry I don't remember them, though."

"So where are they?"

Theo pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Not sure."

Huh. "Okay, if she's not dead, what happened while we were in Hades to make everyone forget about her?"

"No clue."

I fixed Theo with a disapproving look. "You're wowing me with mediocrity."

"Get stuffed," he replied smoothly. "You're asking the wrong questions. What you should be asking is 'who took Cassie?'"

"Who took Cassie?" Hannah asked obediently.

"Hey, Bloom! I mean, Sophie."

I startled, not having realized Anil had arrived and worried about what he might have overheard.

"Hey, Anil." I glanced over at Hannah and Theo for enlightenment on this jovial salutation but merely got an indifferent shrug from Theo and a smirk from Hannah. So no help there.

"Feeling better?" he inquired solicitously.

This was getting weirder and weirder. "Fine, thanks."

"Cool. Cool. What'd you think of that bio exam? Brutal, huh?"

Hannah smothered a laugh.

It dawned on me that Anil was attempting to chat me up. In a blatantly unsupportive act, my former best friends jogged ahead, as if to give us some privacy.

Thanks a bunch.

I consoled myself with the thought that I really could kill them. Not that I'd ever do that. (And Psycho violins play ... now.)

Anil was still waiting for me to answer. I opened my mouth to blow him off as per our usual discourse. "The dissection was pretty fun." Apparently, some latent manners had just kicked in.

"Did you hear about Jackson's eyeball?" He then proceeded to regale me with a hilarious story about Jackson squirting eye fluid during his dissection exam.

I found myself laughing. And dare I admit it, kind of flirting back. When Anil wasn't being a total meathead, which was most of my past association with him, he was kind of cute. He had beautiful brown skin and darkly fringed eyes. A solid grin, too. It was nice. Normal.

I sighed. Normal was not in my cards. At least, not until I'd resolved the immediate crisis at hand. I had to finish talking to Theo. "I should probably find Larry and Moe and go stretch."

He nodded. "Sure. Catch you later?"

I meant to say, "Sorry, no." Had a list of reasons why not, including how shallow he was to only start noticing me in my new, improved Sophie form, but I couldn't blame him. He was just a regular teenaged guy who'd never done anything worse to me than mouth off and get mouthed off at in return. I didn't want to lead him on but I wasn't going to be a bitch either. "For sure. We'll always have eyeball dissections."

He grinned and jogged off.

I went and found my turncoat friends, who greeted me with kissy noises. "Perhaps we should be focusing on the important issues at hand," I retorted loftily. "Who's behind this?" I asked Theo.

"All scales point to Delphyne," he replied with triumphant finality.

I glanced at Hannah, who shook her head.

"Theo, while I'm thrilled you've figured it out, we have no idea who that is." We completed our final lap and headed for the grassy area where kids had started to cool down.

"You've got to learn your basic Greek history."

"I'll do that with all my free time. Cheat sheet, please?"

He humphed. "Delphyne is a dragon who used to guard the Oracle at Delphi."

"Where Cassandra was," Hannah said.

"Clever girl." He bestowed a pleased smile on her.

"So why is she here?" I still was missing the big picture.

"For Cassie, obviously."

We stood there, lamely stretching but mostly chatting. "Obvious how? To do what?"

He looked a little less certain. "You know. Cassie foretells things. Delphyne guarded the Oracle."

"Still not making the connection."

"The 'why' of it is still a tad unclear," he admitted.

"Less talking, more stretching," Mr. Naiman called over to us. We lowered our voices and followed directions.

I turned to Theo. "Can Delphyne be killed?"

"Mos' def."

There had to be a catch. "We need a magic bow dipped in poison and forged by an elf chained to a tree on Mt. Olympus?" I said, attempting to keep my balance as I stretched out my right thigh by bringing my foot back to touch my butt.

"No elves," Theo said. "You're reading all the wrong books. The poison has possibilities, though. Gorgon's blood would be brilliant."

"No problem." I turned to Hannah. "I think Mrs. Singh has some in the lab."

Theo shot a look of contempt my way.

"Where do we find a Gorgon and how do we convince it to give up its poison?" Hannah cut to the chase as she dropped into a lunge stretch.

"It's not so much a bargaining process as a killing process," Theo explained. "That, or we need to get close enough to nick her left side and get a drop of her blood."

"Why left?" Hannah didn't seem to make the distinction. I sure didn't.

Theo sat on the ground and stretched forward toward his feet. "Because the blood of a Gorgon's right side brings people back to life and her left kills people."

"How very yin and yang," Hannah murmured, shaking out her shoulders.

"It's hopeless." I steeled myself to begin the grieving process for Cassie.