Page 47 of As Darkness Fall
“No,” he said quietly. “You did not.”
“I had no choice!” Aaron said sharply, twisting his hands on the steering wheel. “He called it in.”
“What thefuckare the two of you talking about?” I snarled, angrily looking back and forth at them. “Whocalled it in? Who are you talking about?”
Aaron stared straight ahead. “Uh, would you believe me if I said Hades?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Hades.”
Aaron nodded.
“This is just some friend of yours,” I said slowly. “Right? Like, a pal you play tennis with on Sundays?”
I couldn’t really imagine Aaron being the type to play tennis with someone, but my brain was having a hard time wrapping itself around the other option.
“No,” Aaron said quietly. “I hate tennis.”
Of course, he did.
“Hades,” I repeated. “Like, god of the freakingUnderworld?That guy? That one? Is that the Hades you’re talking about? You’re positive it’s not just some pal of yours?”
“A little of both,” Aaron said, trying to be light-hearted. I think. Or maybe he was being serious.
Vir snorted from the back seat. “He doesn’t have ‘pals’.”
“Sure, he does,” Aaron fired back. “You’re just not among them, so you don’t think he does.”
I cut Vir off as he opened his mouth to say something. “Enough. I don’t have time for your teenaged bickering. My parents are in danger here, okay?”
Vir fell silent.
“Now, Aaron,” I said, focusing my full attention on the driver. “You’re telling me that you owed money to the god of hell? Am I getting that right?”
“Not quite,” Aaron said. “I owed him a debt. And it’s the Underworld. He doesn’t really like it when you call it hell.”
Vir muffled a cough. “He always was a touchy one,” he muttered.
Aaron craned his neck around. “Can you blame him? I would be, too, if an asshole like Lucifer came and stole my thunder.”
I stared at Aaron, suddenly feeling very, very tiny.
“Whoareyou?” I whispered. “You’re clearly not just some treasure-hunting accomplice my father worked with.”
I’d already surmised that much, but it was one thing to be able to run fast and be stronger than most. But knowing the god of He—the Underworld—well enough to say you were pals? That was on an entirely different power scale than anything I’d imagined for Aaron.
“Well, if you want to get technical—” Vir started to say before falling silent at a sharp shake of Aaron’s head.
I glared at Vir, trying to will him on, get him to continue.
“Now probably isn’t the best time,” Aaron said quietly. “We wouldn’t want your friend to wake. She doesn’t know any of this.”
“She won’t,” Vir said with a confidence I hadn’t expected.
“Is she okay?” I asked, worried. “Did something happen? How can you know she won’t wake?” I was turning in my seat, trying to get a better look at Jo.
“Relax, Dani,” Vir said, laying a hand gently on my arm, letting me feel his calm. “I simply put her to sleep. Precisely so she wouldn’t be aware of this. She already heard my name. That could make things difficult.”
