Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 80

"Of course, my lord."

"I didn't expect to see you here, Iros. But I suppose even a beggar can sue for retribution. Drink. Eat," Antinous invited.

Thick red liquid sloshed in the goblet. On the plate sat a steaming brown lump of mystery meat. Jason's stomach rebelled. Even if ghoul food didn't kill him, his vegetarian girlfriend probably wouldn't kiss him for a month. But despite the choice, he was reminded of Cressida's words. He wasn't Jason. He was Iros. He was a character. He was an ungrateful beggar and he had to act like one.

He ripped off a chunk of meat with his fingers and stuffed it in his mouth. He guzzled some red liquid, which thankfully was watered-down wine, not blood or poison, which he thanked Cressida for seeing as her father was also the god of wine. Jason fought the urge to gag, but he didn't keel over or explode.

"Yum!" He wiped his mouth. "Now tell me about this ... what did you call it? Retribution? Where do I sign up?"

The ghosts laughed.

Antinous leaned forward. "Tell me, Iros, what do you have to offer? We don't need you to run messages for us like in the old days. Certainly, you aren't a fighter. As I recall, Odysseus crushed your jaw and tossed you into the pigsty."

"You made Iros –" Jason hesitated. If you falter, get angry or make threats, anger is your friend, that had been his instructions. "You made me fight Odysseus. You bet money on it. Even when Odysseus took off his shirt and you saw how muscular he was ... you still made me fight him. You didn't care if I lived or died!"

Antinous bared his pointed teeth. "Of course, I didn't care. I still don't! But you're here, so Gaia must have had a reason to allow you back into the mortal world. Tell me, why are you worthy of a share in our spoils?"

"What spoils?"

Antinous spread his hands. "The entire world, my friend. The first time we met here, we were only after Odysseus's land, his money and his wife."

"Especially his wife!" A bald ghost in ragged clothes elbowed Jason in the ribs, the one that had called Cressida sweetheart. "That Penelope was a hot little honey cake!"

Jason caught a glimpse of Piper serving drinks at the next table. She discreetly put her finger to her mouth in a gag me gesture, then went back to flirting with dead guys.

Antinous sneered. "Eurymachus, you whining coward. You never stood a chance with Penelope. I remember you blubbering and pleading for your life with Odysseus, blaming everything on me!"

"Lot of good it did me." Eurymachus lifted his tattered shirt, revealing an inch-wide hole in the middle of his spectral chest. "Odysseus shot me in the heart, just because I wanted to marry his wife!"

"You're better off trying to win over that serving girl, though then you'd have to compete with everyone here," Antinous remarked as Eurymachus's eyes glinted and he tried to gain Cressida's attention from where she was flirting with more dead guys. And she didn't have to look over at them to know Eurymachus's eyes were on her, and she also knew how to manipulate them to feel what she wanted them to feel. And in this case, she wanted the ghost's attention on her and not on Jason, which she achieved by seating herself on the lap of a ghost with an arrow through his heart.

"At any rate ..." Antinous turned to Jason. "We have gathered now for a much bigger prize. Once Gaia destroys the gods, we will divide up the remnants of the mortal world!"

"Dibs on London!" yelled a ghoul at the next table.

"Montreal!" shouted another.

"Duluth!" yelled a third, which momentarily stopped the conversation as the other ghosts gave him confused looks.