she died that was now permanently on her face.
“I took it for the Gorgon sisters, not to wave it around bragging to Olympians I killed her. Like I want any more of them going off like Ares did. Let’s get out there and see what’s going on.”
We all started filing out towards the front door. I realized something. I didn’t want to kill anyone else. Pavlina got her revenge, and so did Tryphon. Zeus and Ares were horrible and hurt Hephaestus. They were dead too. Everyone we thought we needed to worry about with that weapon in play was killed.
I really hoped these Olympians weren’t like humans in horror movies, and we had to kill more of them.
Chapter 26
Demos
I
hadn’t said a single thing about Hestia when everyone was naming Olympians to kill. I was a petty little bitch most of the time, but I didn’t think I needed to kill her at first. When Hephaestus mentioned her name as Solron and Finn were bleeding out, I was so conflicted. There was this rage flowing through me at the idea of seeing her again. A part of me wanted to burn her alive and drive one of those daggers in her eye. Another aspect of me knew Solron and Finn might die if I did.
It relieved me I didn’t have to see her again and risk my team when Artemis stepped in and said she learned from her. I was less relieved when we stepped on Zeus’s front steps, and there she was. There weren’t many Olympians, and Zeus had forbidden them from having children, but there was still a good-sized crowd flipping their shit.
I was only paying attention to Hestia, my creator. She created phoenixes then attempted to make us her pets. I still remembered her appearing to me in the woods outside my house and pretending to be my friend so she could use me. When she found out I was only playing her, my entire family was rounded up in cages and sent to the Underworld.
I saw red, but unless I wanted all these people flinging magic at us as Ares had done, I couldn’t kill her, no matter how much I wanted to. Fuck. Maybe I should have made claimsies with everyone else.
Dionysus was trying to calm the crowd by telling them that yes, people were dead, but a new age was about to begin. That wasn’t working because these fuckers couldn’t die before, and now that it was possible, they didn’t want to hear about how things were going to get better. They wanted to make sure they weren’t next. Dionysus was doing a shitty job at calming the crowd, and I didn’t particularly want to get hit with any more of their magic. I was pretty sure I had several cracked ribs, and both my eyes were black. Dying and being reborn would have healed them instantly, but I’m glad I didn’t die in front of River. That would have been mortifying, even if it hurt like fuck now.
Hera finally took over, and I was glad someone did. At the rate Dionysus was going, there was going to be more than one revolution in Olympus, and it was going to be against us this time.
“All of you felt Demeter’s life force go out. I should explain that first,” Hera said. “Despite what she tells everyone, Persephone is quite happy in the Underworld. It’s coming here that she doesn’t like. Demeter convinced Artemis that Persephone was being harmed and borrowed her handmaidens. She went to Hephaestus and asked for something to take care of the monsters there. But she wasn’t doing an unneeded rescue. She was forcing the monsters to fight to the death for money, and she hurt Persephone. She drugged her and held her captive until she agreed to leave Hades for good. The two are quite in love from what I’ve been told, even now.
“When it was discovered what she was doing, it was also entirely possible that she intended to take over the Underworld. A weapon was forged that could kill an Olympian. I think we can all agree Hades had every right to defend his realm, his people, and his wife.
“That weapon would never have seen Olympus, but Zeus went to the Underworld to kidnap its maker. It wasn’t to punish him. Zeus attempted to torture him to get one. Zeus would have used it to secure his throne, and several of you would have died because you disagreed with him.