more of these Olympians pulled an Ares with their magic.
Charley knew it too, and so did Finn. My baby bird wasn’t the only one who wasn’t afraid to stand up to an Olympian.
“Sorry, Hephaestus, but we don’t answer to you. We’ve got orders to protect River, Barbatos, and Solron. Bael is already going to be upset Ares nearly killed Solron. If Barbatos and River get killed here, you’re going to have bigger problems than a few misbehaving Olympians. You’re going to end up having a war with Hell. They might not get their hands on one of your weapons to kill your family, but trust me. You don’t want them ending up in a dungeon in Hell.”
“It’s true,” Finn said. “Their dungeons might not be warded for Olympians, but they will find ways to neutralize the Olympians’ magic, and since they don’t have your weapon, the torture will be endless. Just let me do this. I wouldn’t offer if I couldn’t handle it.”
Hephaestus just threw up his hands.
“Enough people have died. I’m just trying to take care of the injured. I have a feeling Bael is going to get pissed if his witches die too. Watch, but don’t overexert yourselves, and don’t kill anyone unless you have to. Many people are probably just going to be scared, but they aren’t dangerous.”
Easy for Hephaestus to say. Scared people were usually dangerous, and they did stupid things. When Persephone would go to Earth to shop, Pavlina and I liked to get together in our hotel room and watch human horror movies. We weren’t scared, and we weren’t watching them for thrills. We’d sit there laughing and bantering about how stupid people were in those movies. Why did they always trap themselves by running upstairs instead of out the front door? Why did they find books made of human flesh and think it was a good idea to read them aloud?
People were idiots when they were scared, and I had a feeling Olympians were no different. I was pretty sure the great Ares was terrified when confronted with all of us armed with weapons that could kill him. The rest of them could be too and get reckless with their magic. We were all bleeding and bruised from our bout with Ares, and anyone who could heal us was taking care of those of us who took the worst of it. We couldn’t deal with another attack like that, especially if it were more than one Olympian flinging magic at us.
Charley and Finn disappeared into Hephaestus’s old bedroom, and now the only magic we had access to was an Olympian, a demon, and a half demon. I’d protect River with my life, but apparently, I was looking out for her father too. I’d heard enough about Hell and their dungeons to know Bael probably wouldn’t stop with Olympus if his people died here. He’d probably blame Hades and the Underworld for kidnapping baby bird in the first place.
Hephaestus ran his fingers through his hair and looked at us all.
“I know enough healing magic to heal minor injuries. All of you look pretty beaten up. Does anyone need me to heal them before we leave?”
I already knew what he was doing. Hephaestus may be an Olympian, but he wasn’t like the rest of them. He wasn’t even like us. He wasn’t bloodthirsty, and he didn’t enjoy killing, even if they deserved it. I think he might have briefly changed his mind with Ares, but he was stalling. He didn’t want us to go outside because he didn’t want us to get hurt, and he didn’t want to see any more of his family die.
“We can do that later,” Pavlina said. “If your people get overwhelmed out there, we’ll be sitting ducks in here. Especially if they walk in on us standing over dead bodies and all this blood.”
And Athena’s severed head. Was Pavlina forgetting she was holding it by her hair and dripping blood on her boots?
Hephaestus just sighed.
“Fine, but can you leave the head in here? If we can manage to explain this in a way they can understand, they are going to freak out at the head.”
Athena’s head made this disgusting squishing noise as Pavlina set it on the table. I got why she was bringing it back with her, but I didn’t want to look at it, and I hoped someone gave her a leakproof bag. Severed heads were just so unsanitary, and she had this look on her face when