Page 29 of Seph

“I hope to. If I don’t, my brother’s going to try and... well, frankly, he’s just annoying. No finesse, but really determined. Oh, and I don’t know if you need someone to cover your job at the grocery store, but Zag and I would be happy to help pitch in. And of course, the vampire has one of Dad’s phones, so you can call us to check in. Just dial 2 for him and 3 for me. 9 will get you to Dad, but he’s a bear to talk to on the phone. Only call if youneed info—or you want a really corny joke about people dying to talk to him.”

“Wow. Even gods tell dad jokes?”

“It must happen from lack of sleep. It kills their humor brain cells.”

“Ah. Right. Well, I don’t know about covering shifts—I haven’t taken any time off since I started working there, and I’ve covered a few weekends, too, so I can probably have some time off. I could use another favor, though. No more nightmares. Please.” Emily tried to keep the tremble out of her voice. “Especially not—especially not that last one. The one where I never, ever understand what it’s like to... just end. Or to be happy.”

Milly nodded and pulled out a slender black flip phone from her purse. “Zag? It looks like she’ll do it.” Milly looked at Emily with a question in her eyes.

Emily nodded, knowing that there would be some kind of fallout and feeling pretty helpless to stop it.

“That’s affirmative. What? No, I haven’t been watchingMission Impossible.Stop being negative! I said we’d help her at work as needed. But I need you to make a note. Put Van Helsing, Emily, on the Perma-Sweet list.”

Emily heard a deep, exasperated voice fill the room. “Oh, Styx and Lethe! First, Dad promised a full demon hibernation for New York, and now you put one more on the No-Nightmares list?”

“Zagreus.”

“Geez, okay. Anything for Mom. What job am I supposed to do?”

“Stock shelves and run the register if one of the cashiers calls out sick,” Emily supplied automatically.

“I can do that.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to,” Emily said nervously. Turning a Goddess of Nightmares and her brother loose in Pine Ridge probably wouldn’t endear her to the locals. “I don’t need a temp.”I need a family. I need... someone to love me. Mom? Would they give me my mother back if I found theirs?

Milly mumbled something into the phone and hung up. She reached out and laid a surprisingly solid, soft palm on top of Emily’s hand. “I’m sorry. I can’t send her back. She’s in the Heavenly Realm. She loves you, and she would come back for you... but you wouldn’t want to do that to her. She wouldn’t be human anymore, and you’re already struggling with the good non-humans around you.”

Emily nodded, trying to stuff the selfishness down. “My Dad—”

Milly’s face changed, ever so subtly hardening. “He’s more like Zeus than Hades. Trust me. You don’t need him here.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means your father had his obsessions and his own desires. Everyone and everything else was of little interest to him. He didn’t love you as a daughter. He trained you as his replacement. He was proud of your skills. He was proud of your kills. He loved you—not as a child, but as a machine. And you’ve realized that ever since you were little. You just had no one to tell.”

Emily’s fists tightened at her sides. “So you’re the Goddess of Nightmares. What does your brother do?”

“Zag is the god of rebirth, as well as the Prince of the Underworld. I’m the Goddess of Nightmares and Madness. If we manipulate things just right, we can create an idea that will drive someone crazy—or we can clear their mind and help them see what they’ve been missing.”

“Stay out of my head!” Emily hissed, pushing her chair away.

“I’m sorry. It’s just something that happens when I’m near mortals.”

“If you’re so powerful, why can’t you two find your mom?” Emily groused. She immediately wished she hadn't.

Milly’s face took on a lost, bewildered, helpless look.

I must’ve looked that way when Mom left—and when Dad said she couldn’t come back because—

Maybe if Mom’s car had crashed in Pine Ridge instead of on the A-1, she would have been saved.

It was this numb, “nothing is ever going to be right again” look. “I-I don’t know. I look for her. I scan mortal dreams. I thought someone might have seen her and dreamed about her. Zagreus shows her image to every soul he can. It’s like... not one mortal has seen her. Or if they have, they can’t remember her. Maybe she’s trapped somewhere all alone. She can’t die—she’s already tasted the fruit of the dead. Even if... I don’t know, even if she was turned into a mortal by some miracle, she’s not dead, or she’d be home by now. Seriously, we’d be thrilled if Mom showed up as a soul. That wouldn’t even freak us out. She and Dad could rule side by side, living or dead. And I know what people say— If she’s not dead, she must want to stay gone. Well,” Milly swallowed audibly, pushing back from the table with a scrape of chair legs. “I’ve seen a lot of people in my life. I’ve never seen anyone as crazy about each other as my mom and dad. I’ve seen lots of moms, and mine—mine is objectively one of the best. You know how parents say ‘I have all the time in the world for you’? She really did. She really meant it. And someone,” Milly’s voice cracked and broke, sobs taking over the confident words, “someonetookher from us.”

Instinctively, hurt calling to hurt, Emily went and put her arms around the sobbing woman. “Well...I’ll help you get her back.”

Chapter Ten

“Who could have done this? It has to be someone powerful, right?”

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