Sirenz - By Charlotte Bennardo Page 0,66
you had nothing to do with that!”
“I have as little interaction with her as possible,” Hades said with distaste. “But even so, this is your deal. There were bound to be some problems. I never promised it would be easy.”
“The words ‘simple, no?’ come to mind,” retorted Shar.
He laughed. “The whole concept is simple—I never said a word about the execution of the concept. And why should I make it easier for you two? What have you done for me lately?”
Shar turned scarlet and looked away.
“First,” I said, jumping to her defense, “we don’t expect, and don’t want, any help from you. But you left out some crucial details. It would have been nice to know that Demeter can ruin things at will. Doesn’t she have any restrictions?”
“We all have rules to abide by, and if she breaks them, I can assure you that Zeus will have something to say about it. But I’m afraid I have no control over Demeter’s doings—”
“Don’t think we can’t see where this is going,” I interrupted. “Let’s see—if we get Arkady, you collect on your contract, but if we don’t, you get us. We knew that from the beginning. But this task is proving to be impossible because of ‘divine intervention.’ It seems you’ve got quite the operation going on.”
“Demeter is hell-bent on us failing,” Shar interjected. “She wants me in Tartarus because she thinks I’ll be a distraction for you and then you’ll forget about Persephone, but no way. Not happening!”
“Margaret, I’m a man of good business,” Hades said to me with a wink, before turning to Shar. “Sharisse, you have no idea how I suffer. I’m not one to sit on a dark throne, brooding. I want excitement, a challenge. For six months, I’m devoid of feminine charms, so I’m—”
“Lonely, I know,” Shar rolled her eyes. “Heard it before.”
He rose slowly, like a sleek panther ready to strike.
“Don’t mistake my attraction for permission to indulge in disrespect,” he said through pursed lips. “You try my patience, Sharisse. It’s about time you learned you shouldn’t interrupt a deity. Especially one who’s done so much for you. I saved you from incarceration and gave you all the material things you could wish for.”
Shar inhaled deeply to argue, but suddenly sneezed several times.
Hades chuckled. “Perhaps you should invest in one of those flu masks. And you, Margaret—pick up some pet dander shampoo at the vet’s.”
A mirror hovered before her and Shar shrieked. Then she turned to me. Her lips had puckered, pointed and paled, and had fused to her now pointier nose; a beak! I looked at my hands; they matched Shar’s, and my shoes felt tight.
“Oh my God, oh, caw!” I clasped my wing over my mouth.
“You two have been very busy with your gifts,” Hades said smoothly. “I guess you’re realizing now that sometimes the changes take a while to manifest.” He rose and carelessly tossed his cup into the air. It vanished. “Now I’ll give you another piece of advice; I’m simply too kind to you. I warned you before to only use your gifts on Mr. Romanov. The more you use them, the more you hasten the transformation”—he looked pointedly at our trembling bodies—“and bring other attention. The Divine knows when its power is being used. You don’t have much time. If you keep using your powers indiscriminately, you two can expect to be completely avian within a day or two. However, maybe this little eye-opener will increase your motivation. I’m sure you’ll be able to get Mr. Romanov near a portal again.”
“How?” I squawked.
“Y-yes!” Shar chirped. “The gifts don’t work on him. He won’t wear his glasses, so he can’t s-see me, and he can’t hear, s-so M-meg … damn it!” Her head twitched. She took a deep breath and then spoke slowly. “She even tried shouting, and that didn’t work.”
“Siren powers are gifts of subtlety!” Hades shook his head and tsk-tsked. “You can’t shout and get into people’s faces. Oh no, my dears, your gifts will work, but you’ll have to get close to him.”
“We were right next to him.” Exasperation laced my voice.
Hades twisted his large ruby ring, aligned the stone, then admired his reflection in its glossy surface. “Not close enough.”
“Oh, skeeve!” Shar snapped, the image dawning. Hades meant real close. Bodily contact close, butterfly-kiss and whisper-in-the-ear close. The cake in my stomach threatened to throw itself onto his shoes. My face must have looked green because Hades stepped back warily; maybe he remembered my reaction to