Angie was right. Hermes didn't like her idea much at all.
He complained about it the entire way to the Underworld, going on and on about how they couldn't trust Hades until he got his shit together, that he wasn't going to want to help anyway if it so much as threatened to threaten his precious, precious reputation. They were better off handling this situation themselves, he said. Bringing others into it would just complicate things, he said. He said a lot of things, but Angie was only half-listening.
"Hermes," she said as Charon delivered them to the other side of the River Styx with a jovial "Coins!" as a send-off. "At this point, Esme has attacked not just the twins, but Clio and me. If that doesn't indicate that she's serious about this, then I don't know what will. He'll want to help. Believe me."
Hermes huffed, adjusting his grip on Esme, who was tossed over his shoulder like she weighed nothing more than a winter coat. "And just what is it you think he can do?"
Angie shrugged. "Scare her shitless, perhaps. He's the King of the fucking Underworld, and this place is crawling with all sorts of dark creepy demons and stuff. That alone should freak her out."
"You have such an optimistic way of thinking sometimes, Angie," Hermes said, shaking his head. "But then other times you get in this 'Oh no, it's all over, we're all gonna dieeee' sort of headspace. It's always confused me."
She grinned. "I like that. The last thing I'd want to be is someone who's easy to figure out."
Hermes let out a long sigh that made it quite clear he was tired of her. Except he made that noise a lot, so she doubted he was really all that tired.
When they appeared outside the door to his penthouse, Hades was confused, too. He kept glancing between the three of them—Angie, Hermes, and the unconscious heap that was currently Esme.
After a while, he cleared his throat. "Angie. Herm-Herm. Hi."
Angie waved.
Hades grimaced in response. "Do I want to know what exactly is going on here?"
"Yes, yes you do," Angie replied, waltzing inside once Hades nervously motioned them in. "Because this, O Great Lord Hades, is your new favorite prisoner: Esme Espinosa."
Vik was in their kitchen when they got home.
Angie disguised her surprise, looking at Vik, and Alex, who was seated beside him, in turn. She frowned, considering for a moment how close they were sitting and the weirdly intimate way Alex's hand rested on the back of Vik's chair. She considered asking. She decided not to.
"Hey, Vik. Hey, Al."
"Hey," the pair said in unison, frowning back at her as she frowned at them, probably wondering if she was gonna ask.
When she didn't, Alex visibly relaxed. "What did Hades say?"
"That it was unfair of us to saddle him with such an 'unprompted' and 'arduous' responsibility, especially in these 'bizarre' times," Angie answered, forcing her voice to mimic the cadence of Hades's. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Vik's mouth twitch with amusement.
Alex tilted his head, inquisitive. "So...he's gonna help us?"
"Yeah he's gonna help us," Hermes replied, slinking past Angie and heading off down the hall. He barely gave Vik or Alex a second glance. "He just had to lecture us about it first."
"Typical Hades," Alex and Angie agreed, nodding their heads.
"So," Angie asked. "Any idea where Clio ran off to?"
Alex motioned in the direction of Angie's bedroom, the opposite direction Hermes had gone. "In your room, I believe. She spent a few minutes trying to bully Conny into doing a face mask with her, but then she gave up and went to wait for you."
Angie feigned a gasp. "How dare she bully Conny without me," she said, already headed down the hall. Not, however, before she stopped to wink at the two boys.
Vik looked away, but Alex simply glared back at her. She pretended not to notice.
When Angie reached it, her bedroom was dark. She froze in the doorway, instantly uneasy, squinting as she scanned the space for any shadow that looked even vaguely Clio-shaped. Her bed was unmade, the desk against the wall mounted with a stack of class notes she'd yet to read over. Pale moonlight glimmered softly through the window's glass.
Angie sighed and stepped inside, bumping the door shut with her hip. She stifled a scream.
"Clio!" she exclaimed, a hand flying to her chest, right over her pounding heart. "What are you doing sitting around in the dark like this? You scared the shit out of me."
The nymph was seated comfortably on a fuzzy rug beside the door, close enough to it, even, that Angie nearly bonked her in the head as she eased it shut.
"I like the color," Clio answered simply, as if this were an obvious response. She stood from the floor, turning a bright smile towards Angie. "Of the night, you know? How it makes everything all blue when you turn the lights off."
Angie had never before considered blue to be the opposite of light, but as was often the case with Clio, she knew she was better off not questioning it.
Clio leaned forward a bit, resting her forehead against Angie's. "How was Hades?"
"The same," Angie answered, "though at least he does seem interested in figuring out what this Esme chick wants. I think it was a good decision to bring her there."
A shaky breath. "I think so, too."
Silence stretched between them then, but it was neither awkward nor unnatural. It was a necessary pause, a space to breathe after the chaos that had been that night.
"I'm sorry," Angie said after a while, training her eyes down at the ground. Clio was wearing taco-printed socks. Tacos with smiley faces on them, no less. "I had plans, you know. We were gonna go antique shopping and then I was gonna buy you dinner, or something. Maybe ice cream. It felt like an ice cream night. But then Esme happened, so I'm sorry."
Clio shook her head. "It's okay."
"Is it?" Angie said, lifting her face so she could look Clio in the eye. "I just can't catch a break, Clio. Everywhere I go, it's like these crazy people and their even crazier ideas about the world just end up following me around."
"Angie," Clio said, raising an eyebrow at her. She read the warning in the nymph's eyes; they were approaching a territory Clio would rather not explore.
Angie didn't want to explore it either, but she had no choice. "No, don't Angie me, Clio. You know exactly what I'm saying," she said, squeezing Clio's arms, her thumbs pressing into the soft skin of her biceps. "She could've shot you! Have you thought about that?"
Clio only smiled at her. "It probably would not have killed me. I'm much less vulnerable than the average human, you know. Comes with my being a nymph."
"Clio, I don't care. If you got hurt, I think I'd lose my mind. Like, officially," she said. By then her hands were shaking, and embarrassed, she released Clio, plopping down on the side of the bed instead, the frame creaking as she settled on top of it. "I just worry, Clio. About you, and about us. Like maybe you made a mistake when you followed me out of that enchanted forest."
A breeze blew by at that moment, rattling stick-thin tree branches against the window. Angie heard Clio inhale softly, then exhale again, and then her hands were around Angie's face, tilting her head up and back.
"Angie," she whispered. She kissed her cheek, her forehead, the very tip of her nose. "I'd gladly take a million bullets for you. You know that, don't you?"
Angie frowned. Her skin was cool where Clio kissed it, like a snowflake had just landed there before it melted away. "I do," she said. "And I'd do the same for you."
"Then tell me why you're so worried all the time."
She thought the words, but they carried too much weight to say: Maybe because I am just no longer used to having peace.
Angie reached up, curving a hand around Clio's face, guiding her hair behind one beautifully pointed ear. She caught the collar of the nymph's sweater between her fingers, delighting in the stunned expression that flickered across Clio's face."Stupid reasons," Angie answered her. "I'm sorry for that, too."
The stunned expression gave way to a smile, though something about it struck Angie as oddly rueful. "As long as you promise not to pull away," Clio said, wiping a stray eyelash from Angie's face, "I suppose you're forgiven."
"Pull away?" Angie tightened her grip on Clio's collar, yanking her forward until she fell over top of her with a shriek, fingers pressing deep into the comforter to keep from falling over. "I could never."
Clio narrowed her eyes, dropping her voice to a whisper. Though the words were quiet, they were nevertheless intense: every sugary syllable making Angie's skin quiver to life with goosebumps. "We have guests, you know. We're making too much noise."
Angie grinned. "Better shut me up, then."
Clio grinned back, tracing a delicate finger across Angie's lips before she lowered herself, slowly, sealing Angie's mouth with her own.