Page 55 of Chaos
As soon as I clicked on it, my heart sank.
A familiar voice filled the room as the message played.
“Malice, it’s Hades . . .”
Chapter
Thirteen
CHAOS
“Malice, it’s Hades. The one fuckin’ time I need you, and you don’t answer the godsdamned phone. Listen, I need to cancel the poker game we have scheduled. The shit has hit the fan, and I don’t know when I’ll be available again. You might have heard about the escapees, and well, that obviously needs to be dealt with. If you have any suggestions, I could really use a few good men on my side for this one. Anyway, if you could call me back to let me know that you got this, that would be great.”
“What the fuck was that?” I asked, my eyes narrowed as I processed the weird-as-shit message from the god of the underworld. “Hades has never left any of us avoicemail.”
“Let alone asked us to call him back,” Malice pointed out.
“We also don’t have a poker game scheduled. Not for another twenty-five years.” Grim paced in front of the bookcase, hands in his trouser pockets. “What is he playing at?”
My mind was a blur of possibilities. I considered and dismissed dozens before arriving at the only possible conclusion. “It’s coded.”
“Since when do we have a code with Hades?” Sin asked.
“We don’t, but he’s banking on the weirdness of the message to help us figure it out.”
“Okay, so what is he trying to tell us?” Grim asked.
“It could be one of two things. A call for help or a Trojan horse.”
Sin laughed. “I doubt he’s got a bunch of Greeks hiding inside a horse just waiting to take us down.”
“He does if he’s actually Lucifer in disguise. The master of lies can do a lot of things. Trickery is his middle name.”
Grim was studying me, his mercurial eyes dark and calculating. “And which do you think it is? A trick or a plea?”
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw. “With everything that’s happening, it could be either. By mentioning the poker game, he was trying to convey something only the five of us would know about, which makes me inclined to think it’s the latter.”
“And the escapees would obviously be in reference to the Knights,” Malice added.
I nodded my agreement. “A few good men would be us.”
“He wants to go after the Knights?” Sin asked. “I know why we’re on Team Keep the World Alive, but why is he? There’s no upside. Think of how many souls he’d collect once everyone bites it. This isn’t like him at all.”
“Unless he’s got something worth fighting for up here,” Grim observed. “The lord of death may have found his Persephone.”
“You mean the blonde he rescued?” Malice asked.
I shrugged. “Could be. We didn’t exactly have time to sit down and chat.”
“Then why don’t we call him right now and get to the bottom of this?” Sin asked, pulling his phone from his pocket.
Grim snarled in response, his shadow expanding from under his feet and looming over Sin.
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to get so grouchy. I’ll put it away.” Sin took one step back and returned the device to his pocket.
“You think it’s Lucifer?” I asked, unsure myself.
Grim nodded, his shadow receding as he came toward the three of us. “The timing is off. Why is he contacting us now when we are hidden as deeply as possible? After each Knight has been released, there’s been some sort of attack on us?—”
