Page 84 of The Shadow Gods

“I thought he was you at first, but then he spoke, and there was no way to confuse the two of you. You're so different. Every expression. Your voices. The tone you use. He does seem like a younger brother, though, from what I've gathered about how younger siblings act. He was a little...irritating.”

Pollux narrowed his eyes, and I went on, “Exhausting. Annoying. Kind of rude.”

A soft knock on the door sounded. Achilles opened it enough to poke his head in. “Are you—” He surveyed me, pausing at my chest. “You're okay?”

“I'm fine,” I replied, and rather than allow Pollux to talk over me, blurted out, “I knocked myself a little silly and sent myself to another world, but I'm fine.”

Blinking, Achilles slowly shifted his gaze from me to Pollux. “Elaborate.”

I waved my hand in front of his face, making him jerk back. “I can explain,” I said, ticked off he'd done it again. “I need a second to put on dry socks, then I'll be out.”

“I'll wait,” Pollux said.

Instead of arguing, I rolled my wet clothes into a ball and pulled a pair of sandals from my bag. My outfit was a little too breezy for the middle of the sea, but they could start the van and blow hot air, and I'd be fine.

As I got dressed, I ran through my story in my head. There was no way Pollux wouldn't freak out, but maybe he'd also be happy. Or, if not happy, then relieved. Everything he'd done when it came to trapping the gods was because of what Zeus did to Castor.

It would hurt him, however, to know how very alone his twin was.Until we could get him out of there.

We had to. It was one thing, thinking that Zeus had sent Castor to the afterlife, but it was another to know he'd damned him to be alone. What a horrible fucking thing to do.

I shoved my feet into sandals, sighing at the socks-with-sandals look, but decided being warm was more important.

Zeus was such an asshole! Why not just tell Pollux that he wouldn't bring his brother back? Why make it a whole thing? God. They deserved to be trapped forever. They really, really did.

“You're muttering.”

Standing quickly, I fluffed my hair out of my eyes. “What?” I asked Pollux.

“You're muttering,” Pollux repeated.

“And you look like you want to murder someone,” Achilles added. “Why?” He held open the bathroom door and snagged my ball of wet clothes as I walked by.

“Zeus is a douche, and I'm thinking about how we're going to get Castor out of wherever Zeus stashed him. Why did he have to make the whole thing a game, you kn—” A firm pair of lips cut off everything else I was going to say. Around us, people hooted and someone clapped, but I barely noticed it.

Blinking up at Pollux as he pulled away, I tried to find my bearings. “Why did you do that?”

“Do you know, it never occurred to me to free my brother? It did, but not in a 'let's make a plan' way. I didn't even bring it up.” He kissed me again, causing another smattering of applause.

“One thing at a time,” Achilles said. “We can't battle on every front.”

“No,” I agreed, letting them lead me back down the stairs and through the ship to the room. “Where are Hector, Orestes, and Paris?” I couldn't remember if they'd told me where they were going. They might have, but if I'd been reading, it probably hadn’t registered.

“Scoping out the ship and keeping an eye out for any other gods who might want to drop in,” Pollux answered. “They'll want to know what happened too.” He stared at Achilles, wordlessly communicating.

“We can fill them in after. I want to hear about Castor.” He opened the cabin door, gestured for me and Pollux, and then followed us inside. He adjusted the thermostat, and soon, it was toasty warm, and my bra was draped over a heating vent.

Jesus. That was embarrassing.

Achilles stood with his back against the door, watching as I crawled onto the bed and drew my knees to my chest. Pollux sat on the edge of the bed next to me but remained there only a second, because Achilles decided to leave his spot and pushed between us, graceful for such a big man. There was a second, though, when he was sandwiched between us, that I thought one of us would fall off the bed.

“Castor,” he reminded me when he settled in, mussed and a little breathless. He stared down at me. Nestled between these two men, I was warm and protected. A sense of peace filled me. No matter what else happened, we were together.

“Do you think he brought you there?” Pollux asked. “Wherever he was?”

I thought about it. “No. He seemed surprised to see me. And he wondered why he had seen you, and me, after going so long without seeing anyone. He thought it was a long time—he told me there was no night and day. He doesn’t eat or sleep...” Watching Pollux carefully, I trailed off. His expression didn't change, but I was afraid of overwhelming him.

“I think we can draw a straight line from the gods to Castor. This has their bullshit all over it. Zeus is showing me my brother. He'll try to use it for whatever end benefits him. Maybe he'll make me choose between my brother and Leo. Or my brother and you—” He glanced at Achilles, and I could see then that the choice would gut him.

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