by River Ramsey
“It’ll stop when I say it will,” I snapped, feeling the need to put him back in his place. He was the closest thing to a brother I had, but he was stepping beyond the bounds. “Kore needs to learn her lesson. The sooner, the better.”
I turned around and kept walking but paused at the end of the hall. “There’s something else.”
“What is it?” he asked, his voice laced with irritation.
“It’s time for a second Rabbit to join the Hunt,” I told him. “Dionysus. Make sure he gets his rose.”
Chapter 5
Kore
Morning came like a load of bricks, but that probably had something to do with the drinks Dionysus and I had enjoyed last night while watching our favorite old movies. We shared similar tastes in everything from movies to men and drinks, which made being roomies fun if not so productive when it came time to get down to work.
I groaned, rolling over to smack my alarm clock into submission once it started screeching. “Too early.”
“You’ve hit that snooze button seven times, and if you do it anymore, you’ll be late,” he warned in a listless tone.
His overt awakeness got my attention and when I sat up, I found him sitting on the already made bed across the room. They were originally bunked, so it wasn’t hard to get another mattress out of storage even if I’d broken a nail in the process. I realized he’d probably been up for some time, given the fact that he was already dressed, but he seemed in no hurry to get to class.
I sat up and threw off the covers to walk over to him. “Dionysus, what’s… wrong…” I trailed off when I saw the black rose he was absently twirling between his fingertips. “Holy shit.”
He gave me a tired smile. “Guess it was only a matter of time.”
“This is bullshit,” I snarled, going from confused to pissed in two seconds flat. “They can’t do this. There can only be one Rabbit!”
“Hades can do whatever he wants,” he said in a tone of resignation. “Looks like he’s decided to up the stakes this year.”
I was still reeling and only half awake. The hangover was lingering like a real bitch, too. “This is ridiculous. I’ll talk to him. He’s just trying to get at me.”
“Talking to him will only confirm that he succeeded,” Dionysus said, standing. He tossed the rose aside on the edge of the bed like he didn’t have a care in the world, even though I knew that was far from the truth. Unlike me, he actually cared what people thought and had enough of a reputation to be worth protecting.
“This is my fault,” I muttered, folding my arms. “I’m so sorry, Dionysus.”
“Hey,” he said gently, putting his hands on my shoulders. When he looked into my eyes, I froze. Had his always been that shade of blue? I thought for a moment he was using his Ecstasy on me, but these feelings, as traitorous as they were, were all organic. I ordered my racing heart to shut the hell up but that only did so much. “It’s okay. It was only a matter of time.”
“How can you be so calm about this? You’ve seen what they did to me. They’re coming for you now and I can’t protect you.”
He smiled, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“What’s so funny?”
“You,” he answered unapologetically. “I might not be as brave as you are, but I’m not totally helpless, you know.”
“Still--”
“It’s fine,” he insisted. “In a way, I’m glad.”
“How can you say that?” I asked, thinking he’d lost his mind.
He shrugged. “I hate the way things are at this school as much as you do. I just never had the guts to do anything about it before you came along, but maybe you’re right. Hades and those other jerks are always going to get away with treating people like this if no one ever challenges them. Maybe it’s about time someone did.”
My heart started racing again, torn between my concern for my friend and the hope of having someone else officially in my corner. I’d do anything to move the target off him, but his words meant more than I knew how to say. “We’ll get through this,” I promised. “We’ll make them pay.”
“We’d better,” he scoffed. “My family members have matriculated from the Academy for the last five generations. My parents will kill me if I break the tradition.”
“Yeah, yours aren’t the only ones,” I sighed. “We just need to be smart. Act like it doesn’t bother you when you go out there today, as tough as it is. Hades wants to get a rise out of you because he knows it’ll piss me off.”
“I think I can play it cool. Not like this year was going great for me anyway.”
I gave him a sympathetic look. “Wanna head down to breakfast together? Strength in numbers and all that.”
He glanced down at his phone. “I wish I could, but I’m afraid I have to run. We’ll get lunch, though?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, watching him leave. I couldn’t help but be worried about him going out there alone, but he was right. He was a big boy and he’d survived before I came along, even if my presence had put a target on his head.
I looked down at the black rose on the bed, feeling my hatred for my betrothed intensify. I picked up the flower and watched it wilt in my hand. Not a bad substitute for Hades’ ego at the moment.
Chapter 6
Hades
“You want me to what?”
As I stood watching Ariadne shrink into herself in disbelief of what I’d just asked her to do, I called upon my patience. As future god of the underworld, I hadn’t been raised with the intent of making me sociable, spending more time with my books than the half-gods who served us. The coursework at the Academy might have been pitifully easy, but dealing with people? That was a crash course.
“It’s rather simple,” I said, doing my best to sound pleasant. Or at least like I wasn’t about to open up the bowels of hell to swallow her whole. “I want you to join her team for the Games.”
“But I wasn’t even planning on competing!” she protested.
No surprise there. Ariadne was definitely the more studious type, but I was desperate and Kore hadn’t exactly endeared herself to many people. Woman after my own heart, really.
“Be that as it may, I need someone I can trust to get close to her.”
“What about Daphne?” she blurted out.
I frowned. “What about her?”
“They’re friends, sort of. I’ve seen them talking,” she said quickly, clearly relieved for the chance to pass the buck to someone else.
“I see,” I murmured. Daphne wasn’t usually the type to get involved in a Hunt, which made her an even better choice. Kore wouldn’t suspect a thing. Ariadne was too timid for a job like this, really, but until now, I hadn’t had a better option. “If that’s the case, then you’re free to go.”
She lingered, looking like she was going to disappear into the wallpaper. I realized what she was after and sighed, slipping a small packet of capsules from my pocket to hand to her. “Make yourself useful and tell Daphne I want to see her.”
She nodded and disappeared from my sight. Honestly, some days I hated this job for how easy it was.
I waited around in my office, AKA the lounge I’d commandeered from day one, until Daphne appeared at my door. She was wearing a nervous look on her face, but she didn’t shrink and skitter like Ariadne. She kept her shoulders as high as her red ponytail and walked in to meet me. “Ariadne said you wanted to see me.”
“I did, as a matter of fact,” I said, sitting back in my throne. “I hear you’re close with Kore.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she muttered. “We’ve talked once or twice.”
“No need to get defensive,” I grinned. “I wasn’t about to give you a rose.”
I expected her to wilt, but she didn’t. The look she was giving me wasn’t quite a glare, but it was close enough. “I’ve heard that’s going around.”
Bold. Good. Kore would like her. She would trust her, if she didn’t already.
“I called you here because there’s somet
hing I want you to do for me. An opportunity, really.”
“An opportunity?” she asked doubtfully. “Whatever it is, I’m not interested. No offense, but I have better things to do than play your little bully game.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at her candor. She and Kore were definitely two peas in a pod. Funny how her mouthiness simply pissed me off while Kore’s… well, that was intriguing in a way I found perplexing, to say the least.
“I think you might change your mind when you hear what the opportunity is.”
Her eyes burned with agitation and she stood with her arms crossed, but she waited for me to go on.
“Your father is in the Underworld, isn’t he?”
Her eyes widened and all the toughness left her expression. Not the hatred, though. That remained. “What about it?”
“I’ll be ruler of the Underworld soon, and the keys will be in my hands,” I mused casually, stroking the engravings on the arm of my chair. “You’re a smart girl, according to the test scores posted last semester. I’m sure you understand how beneficial it could be to be owed a favor by the god of the Underworld.”
She gulped. “You can’t release him.”
“That’s true, but I can grant passage for a limited time,” I reasoned. “I’m sure you and your family would love the chance to see him again. But of course, I wouldn’t want you to go against your principles.”
“No,” she said quickly, her voice broken with desperation. “I… I’ll do it.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” I said, allowing myself to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that always came with breaking a particularly strong will. The harder the will, the easier it was to break, really. You just had to know where to apply the exact right amount of pressure and then…
Snap.
Easy as can be.
“What do you want me to do?” She wasn’t meeting my eyes anymore. Thoroughly put in her place.
“I want you to get close to Kore,” I said, shrugging. “Earn her trust and when I ask you to do something, you do it. Simple as that. Starting with joining her team in the Games.”
“That’s impossible. The teams have already been chosen.”
“Nothing is impossible, just difficult,” I answered. “Go to Kore. Make up some sob story about your current team pressuring you out. Beg her to take you in and say you don’t care about being part of the herd. You’re above that sort of thing, after all.”
Her eyes flashed with guilt before she looked away. “Anything else?” she asked bitterly.
“That’s all for now,” I said, leaning back in satisfaction. “We’ll be in touch.”
As she left, I poured myself a glass of wine. This was all coming together nicely. This year’s Hunt was shaping up to be the best yet, and for once, the Games were more than just a droll event playing at school spirit and pride.
I had to admit, there was part of me that was curious to see just how far Kore and her little band of misfits would make it.
Chapter 7
Kore
Operation Sabotage was barely underway, but school called and since I had a roommate who actually gave a shit about his grades, I found myself in on a Friday night, studying in bed with Dionysus. We’d compromised and there was music going in the background, plus snacks, which made reading school-assigned material tolerable.
“You know, if you paid more attention to the practice test than you do to your phone, this whole studying thing would be a lot easier,” he remarked.
I shot him a half-hearted glare. “Seriously? What are you now, my father?”
He just smirked and turned back to the book in his hands. “You have to admit, the alchemy prof isn’t half-bad looking.”
“No, he’s not,” I said with a wistful sigh. “Too bad the guys in class can’t take a page out of his book.”
“You’re not kidding.” He paused. “So, are there any guys back home?”
I shrugged. “Not really. I didn’t have time.”
“Between what, drug dealing and giving your mother a heart attack?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You could say that.”
“Come on, there must have been someone.”
“There were guys here and there,” I admitted. “No one serious, though. I went to a human high school.”
“That’s right… what was that like?”
“Normal,” I sighed. “Pleasantly so.”
“Mhm.”
I caught the doubt in his voice and couldn’t pass it up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I just find it doubtful that you really enjoyed being surrounded by humans,” he said wryly.
“Right, because hanging with gods has been so pleasant.”
“You know what I mean. You put up a big front of hating your own kind, but I know the truth.”
“Which is?” I asked.
“You’re afraid of rejection,” he said with a shrug. “I think you’ve been pushed to the outskirts of this world for so long that you’re afraid if you let yourself want to belong, you’ll only be setting yourself up for disappointment.”
His words hit some mark I couldn’t imagine he was intending them to, and for once, I found myself at a loss for words. Hades’ most well-aimed barbs failed to strike half as true as Dionysus did without trying.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I overstepped…”
“No,” I murmured, glancing away since he seemed perfectly capable of seeing through my soul. “It’s fine. You’re not wrong. And I don’t belong here. This semester has made that abundantly clear.”
“That’s not true.” The firmess in his tone took me by surprise. When I finally looked up, his blue eyes were just as sharp as I’d feared, but I found myself not wanting to look away. He reached out to touch my cheek, a soft smile on his full lips. “If anything, I think you’ve proven you belong toe-to-toe with the best of them.”
“Dionysus…”
“I’ve never been one to rock the boat,” he said quietly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I always just accept things as they are, for better or worse, but you… You make even me think that change is possible. Change for the better.”
I felt my cheeks flush despite my best attempts to stop them, but all thought of embarrassment went out the window to leave room for shock as Dionysus’ eyes fluttered shut and he leaned in.
To kiss me.
Holy shit.
I found myself kissing him back, too. For one improbable moment, our lips brushed and the soft caress made goosebumps rise up all over my body. He tasted as cool and sweet as I’d imagined, and holy Hestia, was he a good kisser.
I wasn’t sure who finally broke the kiss, or if we both just ran out of breath, but he was staring at me with the same look of shock I was sure I had to be wearing, like he couldn’t believe what he’d just done.
That made two of us.
The knock on the door nearly sent me out of my skin and I leaped up from the bed. “I’ll get it,” I mumbled hastily, reaching for the door.
Dionysus was back on his side of the bed, looking as flustered as I felt when I opened the door to reveal Daphne on the other side. She was still in her track gear and she looked into the room with a curious glint in her eyes.
“Sorry. Did I come at a bad time?”
“No,” I said quickly. Technically, it was the truth. She hadn’t just come at a bad time, she’d come at the worst, but at least I was saved from having to process what had just happened. “What’s up?” I asked, trying not to seem as dazed as I was.
“I was just hoping we could talk about the Games,” she said, clearing her throat. “I kind of had a falling out with my team and you’ve still got a couple of spots open, right?”
I stared blankly at her, waiting for the joke. When I realized she wasn’t kidding, I asked, “You’re serious?”
“I mean… I can’t compete on my own and none of the other teams want another member, so…”
I realized Dionysus was com
ing up behind me a second too late, but tried not to look as flustered as I was as he joined me in the doorway.
“You know teaming up with us is practically a guarantee to get disqualified in the first round, right?” he asked.
“Dionysus!”
“Well, it’s true,” he said, shrugging innocently. “She should know what she’s in for.”
“I know the risks, but everyone is already underestimating you,” Daphne reasoned. “I figure that’s an advantage of sorts. And I’m kind of out of options.”
“Must have been some falling out,” I sighed.
“It was.” She held my gaze. “So… what do you say?”
I hesitated when I realized they were both looking at me. When exactly had I become the leader in this? “I mean… I don’t even know if Artemis will let us switch teams at this point.”
“I already talked to her,” Daphne said quickly. “She said it’s fine as long as it’s settled today.”
My mind was reeling, but all in all, this was probably the best news I’d had all week. “Sure. I mean… yeah, as long as Dionysus is good with it, I don’t see why not.”
“Great,” she said with a smile of relief that seemed a bit unfounded for someone who’d just willingly put herself on the Triad’s shit list. “We should start talking strategy. The other teams are already gearing up, so the sooner we start, the better.”
Before I could respond, Dionysus grabbed his bookbag and slipped past her through the door. “Sounds like fun. You two go ahead, I’ve got something to take care of.”
“Dionysus, wait —” I called.
He cast me an apologetic glance, but he was already on his way. “We’ll talk later. And good luck with the strategy session.”
I had half a mind to go after him, but told myself it was for the best to give him some space and sighed, stepping back to let Daphne into the room.
