Page 86 of Seph

“If you summon Zeus, I’ll fillet your priestess,” Simeon added, fangs out, one hand around the semi-conscious Circe.

“And I wouldn’t do that. You’re not a popular goddess. You’re kind of the old guard, one the forgotten. Most of your siblings are in Tartarus or completely absent from the mortal or celestialplane,” Emily slowly retrieved an iron dagger from her thigh holster.

Mnemosyne froze, mouth partially open.

“All that holds you to this plane is your order of loyal little minions, messing with people’s minds to power you. And why do they power you?” Simeon bobbed Circe’s head around as if making her talk, a living, vacant-eyed puppet. “So you can trap Persephone, the one girl Zeus couldn’t get his leg over.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“We know you’re sleeping with a married man who killed your sister and wants to fuck his own daughter. And I get that in the world of gods and goddesses, incest isn’t a thing, that you’re all super ethereal beings and stuff... But she doesn’t want him. She wants Hades. Hades loves her. He’s waited faithfully for her all this time. Can you say that about Zeus?” Emily challenged, her knife now firmly in her palm.

“I... Hera has always been his biggest regret, but she’s the mother of Hephaestus and Ares. If he turns against her, his sons will unleash war, and Heph will refuse to work for him,” Mem stammered.

“Okay. So don’t ask him to turn against Hera. Free Seph. Walk away.” Simeon kept a hold of Circe but cocked his head. “You might not have a choice. You look a little pale, Mem.”

Emily watched as Mem held her arms out in front of her, blanching as her aura faded and her hands began to vanish, starting at the fingers. “See how fast it happens?” she whispered. “This little pocket of people... People enslaved and trapped—they were all that was keeping you here.”

“There are others. Other guests in the hotel...” Her voice was faint. Desperate.

“I don’t know, but when you poof off this mortal coil, maybe they’ll finally wake up and go home—if they have a home left.”

“Do the right thing before you leave. You don’t know where you’re going to end up. If you zap back to Tartarus, you’re going to have a long, long eternity. Probably being digested and shat out by something they keep in the backroom,” Simeon threatened.

Emily joined in with savage satisfaction. “Hades has had a thousand mortal years to miss his bride and think about what he’d do to the people who kept her from him. I don’t know what he’s got planned, but I know it’ll be spectacularly horrific.”

Mem seemed to unravel faster, the coil of gauzy green toga she wore seeming to unwind and vanish as if someone were pulling a thread into the ether. “You don’t understand. Zeus is brilliant. He has to have Persephone. Only two gods can create a new god. All the others... they’re being forgotten. Moved away from. Persephone will bear him a son who will be the new herald of Olympus, one that will bring civilization back to us!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. It will not. If he wanted to get some goddess pregnant, what’s wrong with you?”

“We only produce girls.”

“Excuse me, hello? Have you not been watching the news? Women rule. Literally. Like, all around the world, on the stage, in books.” Emily slapped her forehead with her free hand.

“Wanting to make some Greek mythology messiah is just an excuse. You know that in your heart, because if there were to be a big new god that everyone worships, what would happen to Zeus?” Simeon asked.

Mem said nothing.

“He’d never let anyone take his power. He killed your sister, just because she was going to have a son that could overthrow him. Thank goodness their child turned out to be a girl, Athena, or what do you think he would have done?” Emily walked forward, face twisted in disgust. “He would have had a child just to kill it. If Persephone had been a son, he probably would havekilled her, too, because she’s rebellious. Can’t be controlled.” Her voice was shaking now. “Hades never tried to control her. Only save her. Listen to her. Make her happy. They had a happy family. Where are your kids, Mem?”

There was a shattering wail as Mem’s lower body whisked away, green wisps flying apart. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Only Zeus has the key to her half of this floor.”

“You’re a fucking Titan! You could level the goddamned building!” Simeon roared.

With another long, desperate howl, the Titaness vanished.

“Well. She could have.” Emily sighed. “If she were still here.”

“Oh, my God. That was some New Year’s Eve Party. New rule for 1970! Never, ever drink three sidecars on top of champagne.”

“Circe lives,” Simeon said drily, returning to the slumped figure now holding her head in her hands.

“Circe? Who’s Circe?”

“Aren’t you?” Emily asked, hurrying over to the woman.

She lifted her head, and Emily tried not to scream in shock. The stunning singer, who had appeared to be a sinfully sexy thirty, was now clearly in her seventies. Her hair was rapidly graying and thinning as her face sagged and wrinkled. She was still beautiful, but there was no resemblance to the chanteuse who had charmed her audience downstairs.

“I’m Susan. Susan... That’s funny. Wow, I must have really tied one on!”

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