Page 9 of Monster Song
“Come fill us in on your plan. I’m so glad you came. It’s good to see you again.”
He bowed his head so that his black hair fell in his face. It looked like he had cleaned all the soot off and tried to dress up when he came. Was he trying to impress us? Because I wanted to impress him. Kimon, Pavlina, Demos, and Kimon would still be slaves to those collars if he hadn’t agreed to help.
I leaned close enough to whisper into his ear, but he was massive.
“I was hoping I got to see you again.”
I saw him blush, and it was adorable.
“Why me?” he whispered back. “All your monsters are perfect. They don’t have my defect.”
“They are monsters, Hephaestus, and I don’t care. I don’t care that Tryphon and Pavlina eat people. I don’t care that Demos can be a jerk sometimes. I think Kimon is beautiful when he’s his minotaur. Why do you call it a defect when I didn’t even notice it until you pointed it out to me? Where I’m from, people have limps, missing limbs, burn scars, all sorts of things. We call them heroes and don’t look down on them when they got them protecting other people.”
Hephaestus’s eyes snapped to mine. There was a fire burning in his intense green eyes.
“You would call me a hero for defying Zeus?”
“Many people think Zeus is an egotistical man child who couldn’t keep his cock in his pants nowadays. All they know about you is that you were less perfect than the other gods, but they don’t know why. Will you come to my bedroom tonight and watch TV with us? The monsters have gotten me hooked on this television show where all the demigods pretend to be their parents and make fun of them. We all snuggle in my bed, but you only have to do that if you are comfortable.”
“You would invite me to something like that? Won’t your monsters have a problem with it?”
Would they? They were already fighting. I knew Tryphon was okay with it, and Pavlina just told me she was. That left Kimon and Demos. I had a feeling Demos used to get into trouble in phoenix kindergarten for not sharing his toys. Still, once they knew they’d all get a chance at snuggling, they all seemed happy.
I didn’t want to make them do anything they didn’t want, but maybe this could work if I could find a way to let no one feel left out. Honestly, I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. I’d been pretty insistent to Hades that after six months I was going home. I’d wanted nothing more than to go back to my vet practice and meals for one. Now, that just seemed painfully dull.
“You’ll have to join the spoon rotation, but I don’t think they will mind.”
“They were sent down here because of one of my weapons. I added to that by making those collars. They have every reason to hate me. I think everything I knew about monsters was wrong.”
“So, get to know them. Let them get to know you. Let all sides be heard. They aren’t unreasonable, and you’re here to help. They will respect that.”
“Thanks, little Hellspawn. I’m not sure how good my plan is. War is not exactly my specialty.”
I leaned into his shoulder.
“That’s exactly why it will work. Demeter has Artemis’s army guarding Persephone. They know war strategy. We need the unexpected.”
“You’re very kind, River.”
“Sometimes, it’s what’s needed over brute force.”
Hades had some sort of war room set up they led us to. He must have been fiddling with his phone while we were talking because there was breakfast waiting. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I saw the spread.
I’ll say this for my monsters—as much as they fought about the spoons the night before, they didn’t fight about who sat next to me. They knew I wanted to sit by Hephaestus, and they already seemed to have assigned seats.
Hades steepled his fingers.
“This is what we know. Barbatos, River’s father, has left to go bargain with the kings of Hell. If they agree to send a shadow demon, she can pop into the temple Demeter is keeping Persephone in and get her right back out. We were hoping to surround Demeter and get the key from her neck, but we have you now. What can you do with those collars?”
Hephaestus just shrugged.
“I made the collars. I made the key. I just made a second copy of the key. My forge, my rules.”
Hades just laughed.
“I love it when a loophole works in my favor. You said you had a plan?”
“Well, I didn’t know you already had one. I planned to get the collars off whoever was fighting and have them attack the audience instead of each other. Demeter will be pissed. While she’s distracted, the rest of the monsters in the dungeon grab Persephone and get her to safety. Once she’s safe, we can deal with Demeter.”
