by Nicole Thorn
Bony hands ran down my chest, and that cotton candy voice tried to beckon me. “Maybe you can stop by my place sometime and give me a lesson.”
Is this not what disinterest looks like? “Lovely,” I said, grinning. “I’m great at knitting. I can show you in no time.”
She giggled, and Juniper made her way down to the bin on the street. When she tossed it in, she looked up at me for a moment. We made eye contact, and then Celeste put her fingers on my chin, tilting my head down. She really ought to look into some manners.
“Is that all you wanna teach me?” she asked, trying to mimic someone to be desired.
I shrugged. “What else is there?”
Her grin turned predatory. “Lots.”
I patted her hat. “Great. See ya.”
I left her there and rushed over to Juniper. The girl hated my very face, but that couldn’t last. Dad wouldn’t let me live this down if I didn’t make some kind of effort. He insisted that I be a gentleman to every woman on the planet . . . until they prove that it would be wasted on them. Then . . . fuck ‘em and what they think about your manners.
“’Ello, luv,” I said, rather chipper as I caught up with Juniper. She’d started heading back up the drive, and I walked backward with her. “How’s your mornin’?”
She shot a glance at Celeste, who straightened her hat as she gathered her bike. “Not as good as yours, I’m guessing. Or your night.”
I played poker with Mum and got my arse handed to me. Then she made me biscuits and it turned around. “Very enjoyable, thank you for asking.”
She rolled her eyes and opened up her door. “Great . . . ”
When she tried closing it in my face, I stopped it with my hand. Her strength was laughable against mine. “Oi, I was tryin’ to talk to you.”
Juniper crossed her arms after putting aside the umbrella, and glared hard at me. “I don’t need to hear about the debauchery you were up to last night, so spare me.”
“Hey,” I said sternly. “It’s none of your business anyway, my eating habits.”
She made a disgusted face that suggested. “You’re disgusting . . . ”
I only had a dozen or so biscuits . . . “Luv,” I sighed, walking into her house without permission. She gasped and I ignored it. “We need to talk about something.”
I greeted Nemo, petting him under his chins. He loved it lots, and I looked up to see Juniper fuming as she stared at me. “What might that be?”
I stood up straight and fixed my sweater. “I need whichever of you seers who sees the present, to look into it and attempt glancing where Cerberus is being held.”
The girl watched me blankly. “And why should we do this for you?”
I sighed, throwing my head back. “Oh, I knew you would be difficult about this.” I watched her again. “Because I need to get my dad’s dog back to him. Do you understand what his job is?”
She scoffed. “I’m not stupid. He guards the Underworld.”
“Yes,” I whispered, admittedly, a little more condescending then I wanted to sound. “His job is very important. People can sneak in and out if he’s not there keeping guard. That means that we have the chance to get fucked good and proper by a bunch of different scenarios should he stay missing.”
Also, my dad loved that dog. I did as well. He licked my face when I was a toddler, and he brought me bones as presents. What else do you need in a pup? Nothing.
“You are awful calm about just being sent on this mission,” Juniper commented. “You do this a lot?”
“Nah. But what is there to be worried about?”
She arched up one eyebrow and cocked her hip. “Um, maybe some monster thing trying to kill you. You don’t know who took him. What if they want you dead?”
“Then I kill them first, obviously.”
“What if they’re stronger than you?”
“Kill them anyway.”
“Have you ever killed anyone before?”
“No,” I stated flatly.
“Then what makes you think you can just kill anyone who comes at you now?”
I smirked slowly, and I held it. “Because of course I’ll be able to do it, luv. Why wouldn’t I be able to just because I may not be as strong? I’m clever, and I just need to want to win more than they do.”
I watched her carefully, taking in each expression she changed to, and memorizing them for later. “Cocky . . . Of course, you’re cocky.”
I bowed quickly and extended my hand. “Verin Cooper, nice you meet you.”
She didn’t shake.
On Zander’s back, Jasmine came down the stairs with a candy bar in her hand. She nibbled it as Zander finished a story about a goat. Then the two of them saw me and gave me a kind greeting.
Jasmine hopped off Zander’s back and stepped up to me. “Hey, what’s up?”
I told her why I came over, and she took it better than her sister, as did her brother when he walked in with my aunt in the middle of my explanation. Everyone got caught up, and Jasmine proved to be agreeable.
“Of course, we’ll help,” she said. “I would be so sad if Nemo got out or if some jerk took him.”
“Well . . . ” I started. “Nemo would probably enjoy tearing up the town. As would Cerberus, but I need him home. So, you’ll look?”
“Oh, I can’t.” Jasmine turned to look at her sister. “Juniper sees the now, I see the future, and Jasper is the past.” Her brother nodded, but said nothing. Huh . . . he never said much . . . “So Juni?”
All eyes went to Juniper, and she swallowed. “I . . . I need to wash my hands . . . ” she left the room and headed into the kitchen without further explanation. No one looked all that surprised.
Shocking that it would have to be the one who hated me that I needed the favor from. Why in the world would this be easy when it could be awful? Now I would have to go be extra nice to her to get what I wanted, and even that would probably not work so well. How could one girl be so stubborn?
“Give her a second,” Jasmine said, grabbing my sleeve as I started walking. “Trust me.”
I grumbled at her. “I don’t have time for this, luv. I have a dog to get home and telly to watch.”
Zander agreed with his girlfriend, leaning on the wall and watching the kitchen. “It’s best to not poke Juniper. It’s not good for her.”
I threw my arms in the air. “Neither is a pissed off Hades, or the dead coming topside. Can someone please talk to her for me?” I looked to her brother for a last effort.
He shot a look at my aunt. “What do you think?”
“Why are you asking me?” Kizzy said. “I don’t understand how living things work, honey.”
“And I do?”
I huffed. “You can’t wager a guess? Kinda pressed for time here. How about I just march in there and remind her that washing her hands shouldn’t take five minutes?”
“Verin,” Jasmine whispered, taking a step to me. “Just let it go, please. She’ll come back. She had to take out the trash, so her hands were dirty.”
I shrugged. “Ninety seconds, darling. There is such a thing as overkill. If she’s so obsessed with being clean, maybe she should change her clothes.”
“She did,” Zander said. “She just likes those colors.”
“And I like black, but I switch clothes.”
Jasmine put her hands on my arms and pleaded with me. “Please, she’ll help. Just stop.”
I gave up and went to sit on the couch while we waited for the crazy girl. I would just need to explain to Dad that the reason people broke into the underworld was because the seer needed extra clean hands. Surely, he would accept that one and let me off easy.
The four remaining went on with their business, like none of this annoyed them. They all just dealt with Juniper taking off in the middle of a crisis. How did they survive this long if nothing mattered to them?
“Well,” I said, leaning against the couch. “The least you can do is go pick up something for us to eat while we wait. I s
hould be fed if I’m going to be dealing with this.”
“Sorry,” Jasmine shrugged. “I don’t have my keys.”
“Lose them?” I asked with almost no actual interest. It took everything I had to not groan and start taking a nap on the couch.
“Zander has them,” she stated, looking up at the massive man. “He’s keeping them safe for me.”
I blinked. “Are you worried that some kind of key monster is comin’ ‘round to eat them?”
Zander, who had already tensed at the first mention of keys, shifted uncomfortably in his spot. When his hands went into his pockets and Jasmine put a hand on his arm, I suspected this answer would be a lot more than I thought before. How could one man look so afraid.
“I have a drinking problem,” Jasmine told me. “I need Zander to keep my keys until I’m sure that I won’t go get a drink.”
Well that took a dark turn.
This girl looked so young . . . too young to have a problem like that. She had to barely be of age, so what went so wrong that she drank far too much, and so dangerously that she had to cut herself off? Of course, she could have started early, and she probably did. Zander, being as protective as he obviously was, must’ve been having a rough go of things.
I looked to the brother, as subtly as I could have. I genuinely couldn’t read anything from his expression. Blank, but made so on purpose. I imagined that Kizzy would know what he thought, but the demigods and Jasper looked most broken up about this. Jasmine just looked determined. Well good. I hoped the best for her, because I couldn’t imagine how difficult that must’ve been for her to deal with.
“Are we gonna do this?”
I turned to see Princess Juniper finally coming out of the kitchen again. Her hands must’ve been just about as clean as they could’ve been, and she better not take off like that again. I would chase her the next time, and no one would stop me. Even Zander.
I stood and my arms crossed. “Yes we are, luv. Shall I lay out the red carpet for you so that we can begin.”
She sneered at me as she walked to her sister. “Thanks, but I’m good.”
Juniper sat on the couch that I’d abandoned, and her siblings joined her on either side. I had no clue how this worked, but I thought it would be interesting. Both Zander and Kizzy seemed uneasy about it, but that didn’t tell me much. Everyone looked like a worrier.
I paced while everyone warned Juniper to be careful, as if the girl wouldn’t know to do that already. I doubted that she ever did anything in life without being annoyingly careful. Probably made men wear two condoms when they slept with her, if she let them touch her at all.
“Ready?” Jasmine asked her sister.
Juniper nodded and closed her eyes.
The room went silent, and I kept on pacing. I didn’t do well with the quiet, and something to distract me would’ve been ideal when I felt as irritated as right then. I wouldn’t be shocked if Juniper found nothing, and this whole mess had been for naught. I needed something to make me sleep . . .
Oh, I forgot, Celeste took my tea.
“I see a puppy,” Jasmine finally said. “He’s fuzzy, and I can’t really see much else. He’s chasing his tail around, somewhere green. I think outside. And . . . and he has three heads.”
“Is that it?” I whispered, hoping desperately she would say something to assuage my thoughts.
“Yeah . . . ” Jasmine breathed. “Three heads.”
Juniper came out of her vision and stood up. Her siblings rushed to make sure she was okay, but she seemed mostly fine. A little worn looking, but functioning just fine. She eventually sat back down.
I gave myself a moment to accept that Cerberus had been turned into a puppy. A puppy . . . Someone. Turned. Him. Into a puppy. Dad would be so annoyed with this. I couldn’t recall the kind of magic one would need to literally turn him into a puppy, but it had to have been strong. I took some comfort in knowing that he was alive and well, and I hoped that the soon to be dead kidnapper wouldn’t harm him.
“A puppy?” Zander asked. “Cerberus, guard of the Underworld, is a puppy?”
Juniper shrugged. “I guess he is. Maybe he’s easier to hide, ya know . . . not being massive anymore.”
“Robocop has a point,” I said with a smile. “He could be anywhere if he’s only the size of a small dog.”
Dad wouldn’t have picked me he didn’t think I could handle the job. Though I could handle any job in existence, Dad didn’t think so. “He won’t be all that far,” I said. “The mouth of the Underworld moves, and it’s pretty close.”
Jasmine shot Zander a look. “Of course, it is. Everything magical and monstrous is right in town, huh?”
He rubbed her back for comfort. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.”
She looked daggers at him. “Really? Like how there are three eyes in this room, and three mountains?”
What the fuck? “Excuse me?”
Kizzy shook her head and said, “Don’t worry about it. We have it covered.”
“Um, no. What are you talking about? Where do you see mountains, Jasmine?”
She pointed to Zander, Kizzy, and then me. “Mountains.”
And the eyes would’ve been obvious I supposed. The Seers. Three mountains and three eyes . . .
“About the dog,” Juniper said, cutting in. “We told you what you wanted to know, so you can go off and find him, right?”
I still had nowhere to start, but I knew that the thief kept him somewhere green. Perhaps a field or some kind of farm. Somewhere hidden and safe from someone seeing a three-headed dog.
I nodded. “I suppose I do. Thanks for your help. It must have killed you a little inside to do something for me.”
The girl stepped to me, brave in a dangerous way. “Yeah, but don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”
I smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of asking you to take up any time in your day to help save lives. I’m no monster.”
“Wait!” Jasmine hurried and stood between us, holding hands out to keep us apart. “Are we seriously not helping, Juni? This is important. A puppy needs us, and the Underworld is in danger. Do you really wanna risk Hades getting upset with us for this?”
Oh, clever. Juniper seemed to have some issues with Dad, and one of them looked like fear. He probably wouldn’t kill her if she screwed something up. I could tell her that . . . but why ruin the fun? I liked her on edge. Revenge for her poor treatment of me when I only wanted to make some friends. I stayed at home and read because of people like her.
Juniper huffed like the hit to her pride wouldn’t be worth helping me out. Really, I didn’t want her following me around and harping in my ear about how I went about things. What did she know? I could imagine her walking behind me, poking me with her nail and telling me how I should do things.
“Fine!” Juniper caved. “Maybe we can help. But only so that Hades won’t get mad.”
Oh . . . goodie for me.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
Friends in High Places
Juniper
Of course, Jasmine wanted to help him. It shouldn’t have surprised me with everything else that’d happened in the last year. Someone needed help, and Jasmine would be right there. Never mind if it was smart. We’d only almost died by fury, gorgon, chimera, werewolf, and pissed off spider lady. Oh gods, that was quite the list. I wanted to put my head between my knees again, but somehow managed to stop myself. I had to be helpful now.
My sister beamed at me, and I tried not to scowl at her. Easier said than done. I really wanted to scowl. Jasper merely looked resigned, like he suspected this would happen from the start.
“What are we going to do?” Jasmine asked, clapping her hands together. “Ooh! Does this mean I get to play with puppy Cerberus?!”
“No!” I shouted. “No puppies in the house.”
Verin snorted. “Too pure-hearted and loving for you? I can understand. I hate having something that loves with its whole heart around me too.” He looked irritated for
some reason. I resisted the urge to snap at him and remind him that we agreed to help. He didn’t need to be rude about it.
“Puppies are messy,” I said, glaring at him. “They ruin everything.”
“As opposed to him,” he pointed at Nemo over his shoulder. I looked at the hydra, swimming in happy circles. His fins batted at the water.
“That’s different,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
“How?” Verin asked.
I didn’t answer him. He hadn’t earned an answer from me, and I didn’t want him thinking I cared about his opinion, because I didn’t. He was a no-good demigod that irritated me, and would probably make more trouble for me in the long run.
Unfortunately, I had a sister. “He was the first thing we got after moving out of our father’s house.” She said it cheerfully, but it still made Kizzy and Zander scowl. She flounced over to Nemo and started scratching him around his head. “He’s such a good hydra. If you play your cards right, I’ll let you feed him Cheetos.”
“He likes Cheetos?” Verin asked.
“And beer,” she said. “But we don’t have any more of that in the house.” She frowned heavily for a second, then shook it off. “But yes, Cheetos. He used to take them into a hidey-hole when he still looked like a beta, but he can’t do that anymore. We’re thinking of building him a pool.”
I wanted to sit down again. My backyard . . . would’ve been torn to shreds for gods knew how long. Concrete would get poured into a massive hole in the ground. Filling it with water that would never be clean. Pools didn’t work out in Seattle. It would flood, making my entire backyard a muddy wasteland. I felt sick.
Jasper patted me on the back. I hadn’t even noticed him showing up, but I appreciated his support. My brother had always been good at putting Jasmine and me back together. I suppose now he just put me back together. Jasmine had someone else to help her out.
I shook off the melancholy the pool had given me. It would be fine. It hadn’t even happened yet, so I really shouldn’t’ve panicked over it, but it would happen. Nemo got bigger every day, and soon that kiddy pool would be too big for him. He would outgrow it, and start walking around on the carpet, getting his fishlike scales everywhere and spitting fire.
