" 'Cause akri don't know about Katra," Simi explained. "If he learned about her, he would be really sad and the Simi don't want to make akri sad, so you can't say a word about Katra to him. He sad enough already because he has to deal with that bitch-goddess with the red hair."
"Simi," Kat said in a warning tone.
"Well, she is a bitch-goddess. I know you love her, akra-Kat, but facts is fact and she a mean heifer."
Xirena smacked her lips. "l haven't had a heifer in a while. Are there any heifers here?"
Simi cast a sideways look at her sister. "l know where a big red one is on Olympus."
Kat shook her head. "Simi!"
"What?" She batted her eyes with a wide, innocent expression.
"If Xirena eats her, then how can I get in trouble for it?"
Sin snorted. "lt's like dealing with children. Ye gods, how did the Atlanteans stand it?"
Kat pressed her hand to the throb in her temple as she wondered the same thing herself. "They're normally a bit more silent than this."
He looked less than convinced. "Really?"
"Apollymi keeps a tight rein on them."
At the mention of Apollymi's name, Xirena hissed. "Death to the bitch-goddess! May she die in a flaming pit of Charonte spit."
Sin laughed at Xirena's condemnation. "Damn, Kat, you can't win for losing. Is there anyone, other than you, who actually likes your family?"
She sighed in resignation. "Some days it seems not."
"You one to talk," Xirena said testily. "Nobody likes your family, either."
"Yeah!" Simi paused. She put her hand to her face to whisper at her sister, "Is that true?"
"Yes."
"Yeah!" Simi shook her fist in the air to prove her point.
Sin shook his head at her. "I think I'm getting a migraine from this. "
"You can't get migraines," Kat reminded him. "Then it's a tumor ... one the size of two demons."
She laughed at his acerbic tone. "You wanted help. I give you the cavalry. "
Well, she had done that. But Sin wasn't convinced the cure might not be a thousand times worse than the ailment. "Strange, I have this feeling our cavalry may yet run us both over ... then eat us."
Kat gave him an agitated stare. "So where do they stay?"
Sin hesitated at the question. Leaving them alone didn't seem like a good idea to him. "Can they be left alone?"
She shrugged. "l don't see where they're any more dangerous than the Daimons you have downstairs patrolling tourists for dinner."
"They don't have wings and horns."
Xirena returned to looking human. "Neither do we. Unless we want them. "
Simi lifted her hand like a student. "If the Daimons are eatin tourists, can we?"
"No," Sin and Kat said simultaneously.