Page 66 of Seph

“I want to help you find your wife! I don’t want you to tip off her kidnappers. There—does that make sense?” Emily hissed angrily.

For a moment, Simeon wondered if the god would materialize and break Emily’s beautiful little neck, but instead, Hades’ voice changed tone and direction.

“Zag? Zagreus! Come here, son.”

“What’s up, Dad?”

“Pop down to Tartarus and do a quick check on what Titans are there. Or rather, check specifically for one. Ask the guards if you have to, but keep it casual. On the down low, I think the trendy youths say.”

“Dad, please. Don’t.”

“Find out if Mnemosyne is there, but don’t make it obvious. If you do—your mother’s survival could be in peril.”

“Auntie Mem? The really stacked redhead?”

“Zagreus!”

“I’m not a little kid anymore, Dad.”

“Then why are you calling her auntie?”

“Because she told me and Milly to call her Auntie Mem when she was down here the last time.”

“The last time? This is our domain, you don’t let people come and go as they please!”

“Mom was here. She was always extra nice to Zeus’ exes, you know that. She said they were all victims of a master... master baiter?”

“No! That isnotthe word your mother used, I know that.”

“Master manipulator!”

“Yes, yes, that’s far more likely. Now, make haste. Go. But again—on the download.”

“Down low. I... I’m going. Please stop trying before you hurt something, Dad.”

Simeon and Emily waited, muffling half-hearted chuckles as they heard the exchange between father and son.

“Auntie Mem,” Emily whispered.

“I’m more interested in the stacked redhead part of the conversation. I have a feeling Zeus wouldn’t let that sort of hobby go so easily.” Simeon gave her a lascivious stare, one eyebrow arched.

“And nine kids together, jeez.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Hades grumbled. “The amount of offspring means nothing to my brother. Trust me. I very much doubt he even knows half of his children. He is an indiscriminate sower of wild oats. He is every locker room jock’s definition of— Zagreus, easy, son! I’ve told you not to run through the Isles of the Blessed. Your mother worked so hard to get the orchids to take root.”

“Mem isn’t there. Guards can’t recall when they last saw her.”

“Where would she be if she’s not in Tartarus? Why was she in Tartarus to begin with?” Simeon demanded.

“Zeus demanded she be placed there. She took the opposing side in one of our many, many immortal wars. Squabbles of thebored, I call them. Now, me, I have no time for such things. If more gods truly worked at their appointed careers, Olympus wouldn’t be such a soap opera.”

Simeon rolled his eyes and asked, “If Zeus put her there, how come she’s out?”

“Oh, he often lets out the pretty things he wants to—Zagreus, go and talk to Charon for a minute, Daddy’s talking to the nice vampire.”

“My dad is trying to say that Zeus would get mad, put his exes in Tartarus until he got horny, and then let them out when he was bored and wanted something to bang.”

“Zag!”

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