Page 181 of A Touch of Chaos

He opened his mouth to speak, but she stood, brushing the sand from her clothes. “We’re in Mycenae, by the way. Not Poseidon’s territory.”

“What?” he asked, confused.

“We’re in Mycenae,” she repeated.

“We can’t be,” he said. “I should be able to teleport.”

“Well, he says otherwise.” Medusa pointed to a man who was a few feet down the shore, pushing a cart of random goods.

Dionysus ran after him. “Sir! Sir!”

The man paused and turned to face Dionysus. He had wild hair and a large, wiry beard. “Ah, yes, sir! Can I interest you in a hat? Or a Mycenaean shell necklace? Made from the finest shells!”

“Mycenae?” Dionysus repeated, but even the hat was embroidered with the words Mycenaean Greek.

Dionysus tried to teleport to New Athens again, but nothing happened. Something was wrong. He should be able to teleport if this was New Greece.

“Do you want the hat or not?” the man asked, frustrated.

“Is there something happening in New Athens?” Dionysus asked.

“That depends,” said the man. “How much money do you have?”

Dionysus summoned his thyrsus and pointed it at the man’s neck. He dropped the hat and necklace as he put up his hands.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble. I’m just trying to sell my shells.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Dionysus said. “You tell me what’s going on in New Athens, and you get to continue selling your shells.”

“There’s not much information coming out that way,” said the man. “They’re saying there was a huge earthquake, and the entire city just broke off into the ocean. At first, we all thought it was Poseidon, but now they’re saying his son is responsible.”

“Theseus?” Dionysus asked.

“Yeah! That’s the one. Personally, haven’t heard much about him, but if he can take over a whole city…fuck…he must be powerful.”

Fuck indeed.

And if it was true, it meant the gods had failed to kill him during the funeral games.

“Thank you,” said Dionysus. He pulled his thyrsus away and then bent to pick up the hat, shoving a handful of coins at the man’s chest before turning to Medusa.

“Hey! You sure you don’t want something else from the cart?” the man called.

Dionysus ignored him.

“Nice pinecone,” Medusa said as he approached.

“Close your eyes,” he said before releasing his magic in one sweeping blast. He teleported them to the border of Attica.

When they arrived, Medusa doubled over and vomited, but Dionysus was too distracted by the scene in front of him to ask if she was all right, because floating miles away from the jagged coastline was New Athens.

CHAPTER XXXIV

HADES

A strange, strained quiet settled between the gods, heavy with shock. It was a quiet Hades knew well, one he had often been responsible for but had rarely felt until Persephone. It was almost like she had taught him how to grieve—first for his mother and now for Apollo, who had come to mean more to him because of how much he meant to Persephone.

“We should prepare funeral rites,” Hecate said.

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