Page 34 of Monster Song
“This is getting ridiculous. I thought the whole point of this was to bring Persephone back to Olympus. She doesn’t even want to go. Demeter seems more intent on punishing everyone in the Underworld and threatening her than just getting her out of here.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m tiring of paying tribute and sacrificing to someone who isn’t my patron Goddess. No one in Olympus even does that anymore. Artemis doesn’t even like it if you suck up to her nowadays.”
Interesting. No one else was in the temple that we had seen so far, which meant they were either at the arena or keeping watch. Maybe we could get through to these two. I took a step forward, and Solron yanked me back. She placed a finger over her lips and shook her head. What was she waiting for, anyway? We had to get Persephone out before the shit started at the arena.
“Well, you saw what happened when Sura tried to contact Artemis. Demeter turned her into a monster and stuck one of those collars on her. She’s watching our phones somehow.”
Solron finally made her move. She stepped into the light. Both women raised their swords and pointed them at her.
“I have a phone you can use that I guarantee Demeter isn’t watching. I’ll even promise you protection from Demeter if you let us walk in there and bring Persephone home.”
That didn’t seem to get through to either of them. Solron looked utterly bored as one woman crammed her sword at her throat. Kimon got the other end of the sword. No one had a sword on me at all, and Pavlina picked out a special outfit for me and everything. I guess a warrior could just smell their own, and they thought I’d be useless with the dagger strapped to my thigh.
I was a little offended. Sure, I was probably centuries younger than everyone here, but I wasn’t totally useless. I opened my palm and let a little green flame dance there.
“Why don’t we put our weapons away and have a little chat?” I said.
Solron just grinned and pushed the sword away with her finger.
“You might want to listen to her. She’s just a baby demon who only just learned how to use her fire. I’d hate for her to burn you alive when I’d like nothing more than to save your fucking lives.”
“We don’t know what you are. The minotaur is well known to us. She’s human and not God touched. She shouldn’t be able to make fire. Prometheus was punished severely for stealing what wasn’t his.”
Solron just had this grin on her face like she was enjoying every minute of this and could sit here talking until Demeter showed up and killed Persephone.
“Okay, so introductions are in order. I’m a demon from Hell, the girl with the fire is an important baby demon, and she’s wearing an enchantment from a witch, so everyone thinks she’s human, and the minotaur is into her, so if you hurt her, he’ll probably eat you.”
“Minotaursdo noteat people,” Kimon growled.
“Quiet! You’re ruining my vibe. The Olympians aren’t the only ones with magic, and there are other realms besides Olympus, the Underworld, and Earth. The monsters are free of their collars, and you’ve got an entire world of shit from Hell headed your way. If Demeter doesn’t kill you, if you stand with her, a demon will. Trust me on this. We listened to you before we approached. You hate the bitch and know Persephone wants to stay here. Come with us when we leave.”
“How do we knowyouwon’t kill us? You only could have gotten in here if you killed our sisters outside. They are everywhere, and a lot of them side with Demeter because they aren’t in here with Persephone. They would have spotted you and killed you. If you aren’t dead, that means you killed them. There are two guards at every entrance.”
Solron gave this deep bow and stepped back into the shadows. She went totally fucking invisible. The two women gasped. Solron had this smug look on her face when she stepped into the candlelight.
“Shadow demon. I can travel by shadow. All you have to do is touch me, and I can get you out of here without alerting a single soul that you’ve left.”
The women looked at each other.
“We’ll do it.”
“You got names?” I asked.
It felt weird stealing soldiers from a Goddess if I didn’t at least find out their names.
“I’m Keti, and this is Irida.”
Keti had bright red hair and olive skin. Irida had black hair and a strong chin. They were both almost six feet tall and towered over me.
I held out my hand.
“I’m River. This is Solron, and you know Kimon.”
They both looked at my hand like a carried disease. No, they seemed afraid of me? Why? I was puny compared to them.
“No offense, but that hand just held fire.”
Kimon had been sitting there silently this entire time, but he blew smoke out of his nose.
