obvious the second we get there—the tallest man on the docks by far. He has a swimmer’s body, muscled and lean, but he looks more storm than man. Zeus and I go with James in a very bizarre welcoming committee. Poseidon narrows his eyes as we approach. “Who’s this?”
“Brigit.” Zeus stands very close to me, one hand on the small of my back. He wears an easy smile and I recognize it from the floor of the whorehouse on a bad night.
“Bait?”
Zeus’s fist clenched behind my back. “A distraction,” he says.
Poseidon looks at him now. “I’m not touching her.”
“I’d kill you if you did,” Zeus says lightly.
“I’m talking about Demeter.” Poseidon’s eyes flash. “I’m not going into the room.”
“And you won’t have to.” Somehow, Zeus turns reassurance into a mocking taunt. “I’ll make sure you’re all right.”
Poseidon glares at him, eyes almost black, and then he bursts out laughing. “You unbelievable fuck. No wonder Hades hates you.”
“That’s not true. He recently joined me for dinner.”
“Who swung first?” Poseidon punches Zeus on the shoulder, and Zeus rocks back on his heels. A subtle motion, but—I didn’t think that would ever happen. “You or him?”
“Persephone,” Zeus says. This has a noticeable effect on Poseidon. It’s like watching a light go out in his expression. But then it’s back on, and he’s shoving past Zeus on the docks.
“Let’s go retrieve the whores,” he says as he goes. “And remember—you owe me, you bastard.”
The wait until nightfall is the longest wait of my life. Zeus doesn’t love it, either. He can’t stop touching me. Rearranging my hair. Checking to make sure the slim knife he’s given me is in its holster. The knife is a last-minute addition. No one thinks Demeter has metal detectors, so I should be able to make it inside with one option for getting back out.
It ends in the back of an SUV, with Zeus kissing me carefully so he doesn’t screw up the makeup. We’re down to mere seconds when he presses his forehead against mine. “Don’t do anything reckless,” he orders. “You have to come back to me.”
“You won’t even notice I’m gone.”
James knocks on the window and my body springs into action. Time to go. But Zeus catches my wrist. “I love you. Every second you’re gone is fucking agony.”
“I love you, too. Close your eyes and count to ten.”
He doesn’t do it, but I get out of the SUV anyway. Zeus has to wait for the signal from Poseidon before he comes in.
I can see Poseidon’s people waiting in the shadows, all around the building, and a pricking awareness makes my gut go cold. How can she not have noticed them? Zeus’s men are there, too, divided into different teams. One to search the girls for trackers or bombs. One to take anyone who wants to go to the train station. One to take the rest to a small safe house in the city. And one for me. There are enough people to fight, if we have to.
She’s just one woman, I remind myself as James walks me to the corner of the building, kisses my cheek, and points me toward the front entrance.
It’s time to put on a show.
I stumble a little outside the front doors, but no one’s waiting inside to see. The first floor is empty, the light dim, and my heart races. One foot, then the other, up the stairwell to the ballroom upstairs, where Demeter’s show is already in progress. Zeus told me what he saw from the building across the street. I’m prepared for it.
Right up to the moment I get to the second-floor landing and see the men clustered at the door to the ballroom.
In one sense, this is a good thing. It will let Poseidon’s people blend in with the crowd and extract the girls one by one. Slowly. With great care.
But I don’t see how we can do it slowly, because the sounds coming from that room are inhuman.
At Olympus the parties looked like parties. They had music and dancing and food and wine. For the most part, they were civilized.
The only music now is the twisted melody of someone crying.
Not just crying—sobbing. It’s edged in a scream.
I put a tentative smile on my face anyway, which feels sickeningly wrong. Horribly wrong. My legs threaten to buckle but I will that feeling away and approach the group of men. The only thing to do is to get close, to slide my body near theirs and wriggle through