Page 170 of Blood of Hercules
“Look away, kid.” Nyx coiled around my head, covering my eyes. “You’re too innocent for this.”
I tugged her back down to my neck.
“Oh, please,” I whispered. “I’m gonna be twenty soon.”
Nyx shuddered. “Kid—you keep flinching every time you see a penis.”
“Well,” I said. “Have you seen them? They’re horrifying.”
“I’m looking at one right now,” Nyx hissed. “Unfortunately.”
We both recoiled as a Spartan in a laurel-wreath crown walked butt naked by our table, family jewels swinging.
We need to bring back people having shame.
“Is it supposed to curve to the left like that?” I whispered.
Nyx made a choking noise. “I don’t know. Do I look like a penis expert to you?”
We both grumbled, overwhelmed by the sheer imagery of the room. I racked my (traumatized) brain for a safe conversation topic.
“What are those people doing?” I asked as I pointed at where male and female sirens, as well as a few Spartans, were crawling naked across the top of the piano.
“I think they’re—trying to seduce the musician,” Nyx said. “And failing.”
We both gaped.
The pianist was still mostly hidden behind the thick colonnade next to his bench. He was nothing but a flash of wide shoulders and a dark suit.
Whatever he looked like, he had the room goingferal.
A Spartan crawled beneath the piano and was kicked away. A female siren sidled up next to the bench and was shoved off. A male siren lay exposed on the piano top (points for creativity) and was ignored.
“The pianist is probably just one of those asexuals,” Nyx said. “Like spiders.”
I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes. “Do you mean—arachnids?”
“Exactly,” she hissed.
Overall, I would not classify us as doing well.
“I think this is rock bottom,” I whispered.
The trio on the floor stood up, naked bits on full display, and then began aggressively doingitagainst a wooden pillar less than a foot away.
“I agree,” Nyx said. “This is a new low.”
A manic chuckle burst from my lips.
The female siren pulled away from her two lovers and pointed at me.
“I think she’s laughing at us,” she said to the male siren, who nodded before falling back to the floor with the male.
“We were just talking about...”Damn you, Nyx, for being invisible. I looked even more crazy than I was.
“Uh, sorry.” I held up both my hands like I was at gunpoint. “I wasn’t laughing at you, just the s-situation in general.”
I pointed at a Spartan’s penis as he walked past, just so there were no doubts what the situationwas.
