do everything I usually did when I was scouting in my phoenix form. Which led me to believe Demeter was lying about some things these collars were capable of. For instance, my head never exploded every time I was reborn or when I turned myself to ember to spy. But the collar was still there when I came back.
I had an audience waiting for me when I got back, including Hades. I knew it wouldn’t take him long to figure out I was missing, but no one looked like they had taken the brunt of his wrath. Whatever happened while he was gone, it looked like he saw the logic in me going, and I didn’t see anyone else out there spying. Demeter’s army might not have caught them, but I would have.
“Come up and explain. All of you have set dangerous things in motion.”
I’ll give River credit for making the jail a better place. It wasn’t as good as being outside under the sun with the freedom to fly, but she’d turned one of the cells into almost a showroom living room. I settled on a comfortable chair. River took the couch. Tryphon just had to wrap a tentacle around her, and Kimon sat as close as possible. I didn’t know why they were getting so attached. It wasn’t like she would be sticking around. If she didn’t go back to Earth, she’d be going to Hell with her people. There was no point in exploring romance with her, even if I was liking her just a little bit.
“Demeter had a temple built. That’s where she’s holding Persephone. It’s swarming with her soldiers, but she didn’t create a fortress, she made a beautiful temple with pretty temple vulnerabilities. There’s a huge stained glass window in the back with no guards we could burst through. The guards are all stationed at the main entrance. They watch the door in shifts. There are ten guards at the door on a six-hour rotation. There are also fifty guards in the woods spread out in a fifty-mile radius. They are using earpieces to communicate.
“Demeter has them jumpy. They investigate everything, even if it ends up just being an animal in the woods. I got close and listened to them. They know Persephone is being held hostage, and they don’t want to be there. Demeter borrowed her army from Artemis, and they risk pissing off two Goddesses if they don’t do this.”
This was totally infuriating. I had to sit and listen while River replayed my entire speech to Hades. If there was one thing I hated, it was people talking for me or over me. At least she did a suitable job. She didn’t try to put words in my mouth or embellish my recon. She tried to give it exactly as she was given.
“Artemis is pretty vengeful when she wants to be,” Pavlina said.
“Artemis thinks Persephone is my hostage. All of Olympus thinks I tricked her into staying because that’s what Demeter tells everyone. Plus, Artemis is a prude and doesn’t like that Persephone soiled herself having sex with me.”
Artemis was a prude, and it wasn’t like she’d be caught dead in the Underworld for us to clear this up. I was pretty sure Demeter kept Persephone as far away from the other Gods and Goddesses when she had her time with her so she couldn’t speak for herself. If she got someone’s ear, Demeter had all the time in the world to go around lying and saying she was brainwashed and talking nonsense.
“Don’t you see? It’s perfect. If I can find out the truth about those collars, the monsters in the pit can join the fight. We can storm the temple and get Persephone. She can clear up the rumors, and the rest of the Underworld will deal with Demeter.”
What the fuck happened while I was gone? The only person who knew the truth about the collars was Demeter, and she wasn’t exactly going to fess up to River.
“Your little plot is still dangerous, River, and I already said I don’t want you doing it behind my back.”
“Does someone want to explain what the fuck is going on?”
“Baby bird tricked Demeter into taking her to Hephaestus.”
What the fuck? Humans and demigods had been trying to get one over on the Gods since they went to another realm. Sure, sometimes, they killed their pet monsters, but the Gods always got their revenge in the end. Why was Hades tolerating this? He needed to