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

Like father, like son-of-a-bitch (Part 2)

Finally, I was dry and Hannah and I had reviewed everything that had just happened. She explained how when Delphyne died, she could remember everyone clearly. Which was great except it also meant she understood what she'd lost with Mrs. Rivers. We both shed more than a few tears over her.

Hannah was unsurprised at Kai's behavior. "What did you expect?" she chastised. "He's a god."

"You sound like you're excusing him," I protested.

"I'm not. But I think we all assumed he would act like a human. That was our fault. It's like expecting a tiger to act like a house cat just because there's a furry resemblance. The tiger will tear your throat out when you pet it and it's your fault for thinking otherwise."

Intellectually, it made a certain amount of sense. Emotionally, I wanted a rally cry to cut off his balls. I had to console myself with putting on grey leggings and a cute tunic and stuffing my feet into extremely warm, comfy suede boots. Fortified, I took a last glimpse in the mirror.

"Ready?" Hannah wanted to go find Theo and Cassie.

I nodded, then grabbed her in a huge hug.

"What's that for?"

I released her. "If it hadn't been for our friendship and all our silly rituals, I would never have broken Delphyne's hold on my mind."

"Yeah, well. I'd hate to have to break in another best friend. Took me years to train you properly."

I grinned at her. She grinned back. "Okay. Moment over," I said. "Move your butt, Swedeling, and let's find the Rock."

That took a while. We searched his room, Cassie's room, the sick bay, the front office and the library. We couldn't figure out where they might have gone.

"Cafeteria?" Hannah suggested.

"The place of food? Why yes, we should look for him there."

Theo and Cassie were seated over hot drinks and a plate of freshly baked muffins.

"Muffin!" I squealed, realizing how ravenous I was.

Cassie looked up, pale but happy at my approach. She pushed her chair back as if to get up, but I motioned for her to stay where she was. "Sit. You need to get your energy back."

She thanked me profusely.

"Do you know exactly what happened?" Part of me was curious to find out if she remembered my real identity.

"Some of it. Some Theo told me."

Cassie filled us in. My suspicions about the truth exercise were correct. Ms. Keeper had only assigned it to see what Cassie came up with. It turned out that I had popped up on Delphyne's radar and brought attention to this place, and Cassie with it.

I apologized, but Cassie waved me off saying it wasn't my fault. She explained that when she said those "truths" about me, Ms. Keeper had started to press her on other things. When Cassie had gotten freaked out by her intensity, Ms. Keeper drugged her.

After that, Cassie had been kept in a zoned out state. Everything was dreamy until she found herself gagging on a potion Theo made her drink that cleared her mind.

"Do you remember all the truths you'd said to me? The prophecy?"

Cassie nodded. "I do."

I leaned forward eagerly. "What did it all mean? Am I really an 'instrument of destruction?' And the other stuff in the ravine? Something about the dark and overthrowing?"

She must have heard something of the bleakness I felt in my voice, because she squeezed my hand in a reassuring manner. "Not everything is literal. These things I see, that I say, they're fragments of truth."

"Not the whole picture?"

"More like maybe the whole picture but you have to know how to interpret it."

"You need the key," Hannah said.

We turned and looked at her. "Cassie," she continued, "when you were zonked on Chlorpromazine, you said something about a key."

"OneaboveonebelowakeyawakeitisnomoreITISNOMORE," I chanted. They looked at me, bemused. "It stuck in my brain."

"Anyway," Hannah shook her head at me, "could the key be a metaphorical key, rather than Sophie being a literal key to something?"

"Sure."

Not much of an answer. I'd hoped maybe Cassie could clear up a few things, not make them more convoluted.

"Sorry, Soph. Guess I don't fully get how to use my own power."

"Can't fault you for that. I'm in the same boat."

Not to mention all the questions I couldn't answer. Like why had I been in Tartarus? Why had Demeter wanted to come to Hades that fateful night? What, if anything did my pendant do? What did all of Cassie's predictions mean? Who had wanted me dead? And how could I get my memories back in order to figure out the way to save humanity?

I was broken out of my reverie by Theo asking Cassie a question.

"What about the blood that you saw?"

"That one was clear. Wish it hadn't been. It was Mrs. Rivers." Cassie turned haunted eyes to us. "She died in a pool of blood, didn't she?"

"Yes," Hannah replied.

"I thought as much." She gazed down and plucked at her sleeve. "I never saw her. Not physically. But I did 'see' her death. It was because of me."

"No," I insisted. "It was because of Delphyne. You were both victims."

"Is Delphyne going to stay dead?" Cassie asked anxiously. "Since you left the box back there and all?"

"Even if someone did find the box and manage to open it without invoking its self-destruction properties, there's no way to reattach her head and bring her back to life. She's gone."

I decided to believe Theo and have one less thing to worry about.

"Besides, the entire dimension is gone." I caught them up on what had happened. Then I hugged Theo. "Thank you. For everything, but most especially Nysa. You both saved me."

Theo shrugged. "Just sent out the bat signal, is all."

Dragon dead? Check. Cassie rescued? Check. "What are we going to do about Bethany?"

"She wasn't a victim," Theo said.

"Bethany was just herself," Cassie agreed. Even through the fog of the drugs and the water from the springs, Cassie had thought Bethany's behavior reprehensible. "She was getting off on it."

Speaking of Bethany ... "Hannah, I know you think Bethany is this fabulous—"

"I'm over it."

"Really? Is she back to normal levels of toxicity?"

"Not exactly," Hannah replied. "Whatever Delphyne did to her in terms of her looks has stuck."

"She's supermodel amazing," Theo clarified.

"Yes. Thank you," I snapped.

"And she still gives off this charm. Or something that makes people look twice, want to get to know her. But it's not like it was back at the ravine. I don't feel like I'll die if she won't be my friend," Hannah said.

"That's good." I was relieved. I had no idea what I would have done if Hannah had crossed to the dark side.

"Yes and no," Theo said. "The fact that the enhancements that Delphyne gave Bethany remained means that the line between mortals and gods is blurring. We don't want humanity to be aware of us. Hannah excepted. And we definitely don't want humanity messing around with gifts they don't know how to control."

"So we keep a closer eye on Bethany."

"If Bethany knows who you really are," Hannah fretted, "it could be a problem."

"Eh. I'll kill her if she talks."