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“Yeah!” Claps and cheers diffused the tension.
The man bowed and scraped and apologized his way back to his table. I watched him go, feeling more confused than I ever have in my life.
“What the heck just happened?” I sat down to a plate of lettuce and fennel salad, lentil soup, and chicken with spiced chickpeas. “One minute, he was in your face, and the next, he was licking your boots.”
“It’s nothing.” Alex passed me another mug of ale. “He thought I was deserting and got carried away. Now he knows I’m not.”
“Deserting? Deserting what? Isn’t that something only soldiers do?”
The corner of his mouth curved up. “It’s also something Deucalion Academy novices do. Attendance is mandatory and Olympians take that... very seriously.”
“What’s Deucalion Academy?”
“It’s where young demigods train for the army.”
“Oh.” I started digging in, unable to resist the smell. Everything that touched my lips tasted delicious. “An army to fight the monsters?”
He nodded. “It’s a never-ending battle. They can’t be wiped out and they breed out of control. Some of them even reproduce asexually. Imagine a twelve-foot-tall beast with three rows of teeth, razor-sharp claws, and the ability to make more of itself at will.”
I shuddered. “I don’t want to imagine that.”
“It’s why we need the army. They fight so that we can do this,” he said, gazing around. “Laugh, dance, celebrate, drink. But still, it’s a heavy duty and some run from it. I’m only sorry I had to reveal myself to prove we weren’t one of them.”
I didn’t understand the expression on his face or the tight grip on his fork.
“I really wanted us to have time to talk and plan. There’s still so much I need to tell you about this world.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” I laid my hand over his fist unthinkingly. “We do have time. I’m not going anywhere. You’re not going anywhere. We have all the time we need.”
I meant that because I trusted Alex. Selene wouldn’t have threatened me to not tell him about her if he was one of her minions. She brought us together because she wanted to use him like she was using me, but if we figured out the trap, we’d destroy it and free my mom without ever springing it.
“Tell me something good,” I burst out. “Something fun and wonderful about Olympia.”
His smile came back. “All right, but only if you tell me something fun and wonderful about the mundane world.”
“Ooh, here’s a fun fact. We don’t like being called mundanes.”
Alex barked a laugh. “You’re a we with me now, Aella.”
My mug reflected my reddening face. He didn’t say it suggestively, but that’s how I was taking it. And I was taking ithard.
“That’s fair,” he continued. “But we can’t call them the humans because we’re human too.”
“Hmm. How about... mortals? My mom is a mortal, and she’s the least mundane, dull, boring, humdrum person you’ve ever met.”
“Then I can’t wait to meet your mom.”
My grin melted away. “I wish you didn’t have to wait.”
“Hey, hey,” he whispered. “No frowns. We’re talking about wonderful things right now, like how wonderful it will be when we get her back.”
I more than liked Alex in that moment because he said it like there wasn’t a doubt in his mind.
“My turn,” he continued. “Something fun and wonderful about Olympia. There’s this place called Paradise Isles where the waterfalls flow up.”
“What? No. That’s impossible.”
“It is impossible. Even in Olympia, it’s impossible, but they do, and it’s amazing, Aella.” Excitement made him lean in. “Sunlight reflects through the droplets, so the sky is filled with—
