Page 40 of Hades' Shadow
“I’ll see you later, Beth,” Dax calls out to me, but I don’t turn or acknowledge him at all as I sit back in my seat and lean my head back.
“Why can’t they both just leave me alone?” I growl.
Raven pats my shoulder as she walks around the table to her seat. “You’re hot. They will get over it after a couple more rejections.”
“Probably not,” Jayden mumbles. “They are still staring.”
“Ignore them. What did you dream about that’s so pressing?” Raven asks, cutting her pancakes up and shoveling some in her mouth.
“I think we need to wait for Adrian to get here so I don’t have to repeat myself.”
And maybe I can actually eat a couple bites of my breakfast before all hell breaks loose, I think bitterly.
I am able to eat a couple bites before Adrian jogs up to the table, out of breath. “Sorry, I’m late.”
“No worries. I haven’t said anything yet. It’s been an eventful morning already.”
Not the kind of eventful I would like but eventful nonetheless. The bite of bacon I take has me groaning. Gods, that’s so good.
“So, what’s up?” Adrian sits next to Raven, eager to find out what’s going on.
“I found out who has been sending me the dreams.” I peek at Jayden from the corner of my eye.
“Who?” Jayden asks, turning to me with a raised brow.
“Hypnos,” I say softly, scanning the room to make sure no one overhears our conversation.
“The god of sleep? I mean that makes sense, but he lives in the underworld.” Jayden frowns.
“Yeah, the underworld is where we need to go.” I sigh.
We figured that it might be Hades who needs our help.
“Are we sure that it’s not Hades doing all this?” Adrian asks but flinches when he sees the anger in Jayden’s eyes. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. He is the logical answer for this since he has tried multiple times before.” Jayden stares down at his plate, pushing food around with his fork rather than eating.
I almost reach out to him but pull my hand back. He will not be receptive to my comfort. “I don’t believe he’s behind this. There’s more…”
“What?” Raven tries to snag a piece of sausage off my plate, but I poke her with my fork.
“The weaker Hades gets, the weaker the underworld is, and monsters have been escaping and attacking mortals.”
It’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop as their mouths all fall open at my admission.
“Shit,” Raven says, finally sitting back in her chair.
“Exactly. The thing is, if the underworld is weakening, there’s no way to stop them, and if we kill them, they will just come back.” I scrub a hand over my face.
“That makes sense but just makes things extra hard on us.” Jayden groans. Adrian has been silent but sits forward, putting his elbows on the table.
“We need to get that back and fast. I’m not one to skip classes or even suggest it, but if we are going to get ready for this, then we need time to prepare.”
“Agreed.” I nod, then finish my breakfast.
Adrian goes ridged, and I jolt, staring at white eyes. “What the fuck? Adrian?”
“I think he’s having a vision,” Jayden whispers like if he’s quiet he won’t disturb the vision.
