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“Exactly,” he wheezed. “Two years. Get over it already.”
Oh yeah, the day wouldn’t end without me punching him in the face.
“I did... what I had to do.”
“You did have to do it the way you did,” I said, “because your boss can’t see me. A black hole where the future of Aella Vanda should be. All she could see was a son of Zeus veering off course of his destiny on the day he stepped across the barrier. She saw a werewolf looking forward to four long lonely years, suddenly have a fate switch-up and end up in her prophecy after hearing a voice on the wind during placement.
“She saw a mortal woman wasting away in the bowels of this hell alongside Selene, so she made it so. She put the pieces in place and waited... for me.”
Marinos dropped to his knees, coughing so hard he was hacking up his lung.
“One thing she and Selene couldn’t seem to see, though, is that I’m not stupid.” I towered over him, my friends falling in beside me. “I knew you weren’t Jason from the start.” I scoffed when his eyes widened. “You are a terrible fucking actor, just so you know. Yes, Jason is a sex-hound, but if you’d been payingattention, you would’ve noticed that he’s all about pleasure, happiness, and living life to the fullest.
“He wants that foreveryone. That’s why when he flirts with a woman, he does it to make her feel flattered, pretty, and sexy. He does not sleaze and lech on them like you were with Nitsa and us. Nitsa blushed every time the real Jason spoke to her. She cringed every time you did. Therefore, you are not Jason. And if you’re an impostor, there was only one possible reason you’d jump into this pit of death with us. You’re working for Selene.”
Marinos’s response was an obscene gesture. Selene’s was a hearty laugh. She was loving this.
“Obviously, you already know all of this,” I breezed on. “So why am I telling you? That’s easy.” My expression changed. “It’s to give the poison time to kill you.”
“Poison?” Theron blurted. “You mean the strychnine?”
“I mean the extra dose I gave him after stealing a starfruit from Demeter’s table, and squeezing the juice on his cut while you and Nitsa were flipping out over the cyclops.” I gave him the beaming smile he dared to give me. “Forgive me for dragging the explanation out. I’m just waiting until you’re good and dead.”
“Bitch!” he screeched, eyes bulging.
“You were never going to make it to the final chamber, asshole. It’s laughable that you thought otherwise.” Dropping down next to him, I smashed the remaining starfruit in his mouth. “That’s for my mom.”
I rose to my feet, rejoining my hanging-jawed, incredulous friends.
“I can’t... I don’t...” Nitsa trailed off.
“It’s a lot. I know. The whole twisted, tangled mess is hard for me to follow too,” I said. “What matters is that their plan failed. Selene is not getting out.”
“Their plan,” Alex repeated, nodding. “Their plan to let us think we escaped with your mom, and only your mom. Son ofAte, he was going to delude us all. We weren’t going to know that the goddess got out too. It was all going to be just a hallucination. It’s genius,” he admitted. “We’re dealing with a formidable enemy.”
Alex snapped me to his chest, kissing me hard. “But not as formidable as you.”
“Well done, Aella.”
“Amazing,” Ionna agreed.
“You saw right through fake Jason.” Nitsa clapped me on the back. “You’re the genius.”
“Enough of this,” Sirena barked, destroying the victorious mood like a boot through a birthday cake. “Never celebrate before the war is won.” She snatched the key from the dying man’s fingers. “We’re not done yet.”
“Precisely.” A deep voice spun us around. “One of you was listening during training.”
I choked, air stealing from my lungs.Cloaks.That was what I noticed first. The dark, heavy, cowled cloaks on the eight figures who appeared—surrounding us. And then I saw what the final figure was carrying—Tycho.
“What are you doing with him? Who are you!”
“Come now, girl.” A feminine voice emanated from one of the hoods. “Surely you can guess. The boy’s death ended his protection, and your delusion that he would enter this place alone. Of course we followed.”
“And of course you led us through every trap,” another voice said, swinging our heads around. “Erased every death. Undid every mistake. The chosen savior. The child of the Fates.”
“And of course I healed your friend just in time, tearing him from the grips of hades,” said a voice I knew all too well. Madame Remis lowered her hood. “Young Tycho is not dead. He wasn’t allowed to die. He is still needed for the glory and rise of our true goddess.
“You all are.”
