Complete Nothing (31 page)

I walked into my house on shaky legs, surprised that I had not yet been summoned back to Mount Olympus. That I had not yet been punished, or at the very least, chastised, by Zeus or Hera or Ares. Perhaps no one had noticed after all. Perhaps I was still safe. I took a deep breath of the oak-and-dust-scented air, trying not to think of the very public display of affection that had caused my momentary lapse of reason.

I couldn’t believe I had let something so petty almost ruin everything. I should have been celebrating. My mission was more than halfway complete. Tomorrow I would start searching for another set of soul mates, just in case Wallace and Mia proved to be too easy to be true, and before long Orion wouldn’t even recall having uttered the name “Darla Shayne,” let alone kissing her.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” I whispered to myself. “If you can just hold on to your head, everything is going to be fine.”

I closed the door behind me and froze. Hephaestus was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The little hairs on my arms and along the back of my neck stood on end. I readied myself for a confrontation.

“Waiting for me?” I asked him.

He looked me in the eye. I’d never seen him appear so vulnerable. My defenses instantly died away. “I’ve decided to tell you the truth,” he said. “I do have an ulterior motive for being here.”

“You do,” I said resignedly. I so hated it when my father was right. “Is it because of my parents? Are you using me to get back at them somehow?”

“No. It’s not that,” he said, raising one palm. “And I wouldn’t say I’m using you. My being here is mutually beneficial.”

“So how does it benefit you, exactly?” I asked.

He blew out a sigh. “I want to get back to Harmonia.”

That brought me up short. I stepped into the doorway between the foyer and the parlor, leaning back against the cool, carved wood that framed it. “Explain.”

Hephaestus rubbed his brow for a moment. He adjusted his wheels and edged over until we were directly facing each other. Out on the street, a car whizzed by, its horn honking, a pack of girls screaming happily out the windows, celebrating Lake Carmody’s latest win.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be torn away from your true love?” Hephaestus asked passionately.

“Yes, actually, I do,” I replied, trying not to think about my own personal earthquake.

He blinked. “Right. Of course. Sorry. Well, try living that way for over two thousand years.”

“So the two of you really were in love,” I said quietly, mournfully. I shook my head, staring down at the frayed fringe along the edge of the parlor’s largest rug. “How could she have kept this from me?”

“You know how private she is,” Hephaestus said. “How cautious. She didn’t want to tell anyone until she was absolutely certain
my love for her was pure. But before I had a chance to find a way to prove it to her, I was flung from Mount Olympus for the last time. I thought I would never see her again—that I would never be able to show her how much I cared for her.”

“But you found a way,” I said, looking into his aching eyes.

“I did.” He nodded and touched the back of his hand to his nose. “One morning many years ago I awoke to find a twisted ball of metal next to my bed. I could tell in an instant that this material held divine properties. To this day I have no idea which god or goddess gifted me with it, but I somehow knew exactly what I had to do. I forged that mirror, and Harmonia’s face appeared in the glass. When I saw her that day I thought I would truly die from longing, but instead it gave me a newfound hope. Now my only hope is that I live long enough to hold her again.”

“How long have the two of you been communicating?”

He lifted his shoulders. “A few centuries now.”

Centuries. She had kept this secret for so long.

“And she truly loves you? You’re certain of this?”

“She does.” His eyes shone, and I knew he was telling the truth. “It may seem silly, but we both thought that if I helped you, then you and Aphrodite . . . maybe even Ares . . . might plead my case with the king—help me get an audience with him. If it came from your parents especially, considering our history, he might be willing to listen, and maybe he’d let me come home.”

His lament was so sincere, his hope so pure, that it opened up something deep inside me. I knew that I could trust him again, felt guilty for having ever doubted him. It was time for me to share my truth with him as well.

“I have something to tell you, too,” I said, standing up straight.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Well, perhaps I should show you.”

With a flick of my hand, I released the lock on his chair and pushed him backward six inches. His hands flew instinctively to his wheels, and his eyes widened.

“Your power?” he hissed, wheeling back to his position.

I nodded. “And that’s not the only one.”

I knelt in front of him and placed my hand, palm up, in his lap. I envisioned a yellow sunflower, and suddenly it appeared there.

“Oh my gods,” Hephaestus said. “How?”

“I don’t know,” I replied in a whisper, tossing the bloom on the couch. I stopped short of telling him about the earthquake, not ready to receive the tongue-lashing he was sure to unleash. “My father thinks they’re returning of their own accord. That I’m so powerful in my own right that they can’t be kept from me.”

Hephaestus whistled, long and low. “That won’t make Zeus happy.”

“That’s what Ares said.”

“You must be careful,” Hephaestus said, reaching for my hand. “Promise me you won’t use them for fun. Only in emergencies.”

He sounded just like my father. Maybe the two of them weren’t as different as they believed. Not that I’d ever share that opinion with either of them.

I looked down at his fingers locked around mine, and my palms began to sweat. What I had done earlier had not been on a lark. I had lost control—a fact that frightened me to my core. But if I could focus on my mission, it wouldn’t happen again. I simply needed to be more careful from here on out.

Whatever the future held, I felt heartened by this conversation with Hephaestus. I wasn’t alone in this. Thanks to Harmonia, I wasn’t alone.

“I promise,” I said. “And I also promise that whatever happens, when this is over, I will do everything in my power to get you home.”

Hephaestus smiled and kissed the back of my hand like a true gentleman. “Thank you,” he said. “You have no idea what that means to me. And to Harmonia.”

I lifted my shoulders and looked up at the ceiling, knowing in my heart that Harmonia was watching. “That’s what sisters are for.”

We held each other’s gaze for a long, peaceful moment, and in that moment I somehow knew that we were going to get through this. Everything was going to be okay. Orion and I were going to return home to Mount Olympus, and we were going to bring Hephaestus with us.

Then, suddenly, Hephaestus’s head snapped to the side. His whole body went rigid.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Harmonia. She’s calling.”

He turned his chair and raced down the hallway to his room. The mirror’s frame glowed so brightly it was near blinding. Breathless with excitement, anticipation, and fear, I stepped into the room behind Hephaestus. He raced to his desk, shoved himself up, and touched the mirror.

Harmonia’s beautiful face filled the screen. Her red hair floated around her like she was lying in the calm waters of a lake. My heart swelled with joy. I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my long, long existence.

“Harmonia, what is it?” Hephaestus’s voice was filled with concern.

I blinked, and for the first time noticed that Harmonia’s face
was creased in worry. I had been so blinded by my excitement over seeing her again that I hadn’t noted it.

“Harmonia?” I said, approaching the mirror.

“Eros!” Her eyes widened at the sight of me. “Sister, it is so good to see you. I wish it were under merrier circumstances.”

“What is it?” Hephaestus repeated. “What’s wrong?”

Harmonia glanced over her shoulder, frightened by something in the background we couldn’t see. She was so startled that I automatically reached for the mirror, as if I could somehow press through it and protect her. Then she turned to face us once more.

“You shouldn’t have done it, Eros,” she said gravely. “You should have kept your temper.”

A sizzle of fear went through me.

“Done what?” Hephaestus demanded.

“The earthquake. Everyone knows about it. Everyone saw.”

Hephaestus craned his neck to glare at me. “You caused an earthquake? Have you lost your mind?”

“What does this mean?” I asked Harmonia. “Is Zeus angered? Is he bringing me back?”

“No, but Hera has used your carelessness as an excuse,” Harmonia said.

I sank like a stone onto the edge of Hephaestus’s bed. “An excuse to do what?”

“She’s sending Artemis and Apollo to Lake Carmody to retrieve Orion.”

“What?” I breathed.

“It gets worse, my sister. It seems Apollo has been spying on me, knowing that if you tried to contact anyone here, it would be me. He heard me speaking with our father and . . . they know. They
know it was you who brought him down from the heavens. They know you are in love.”

The whole world went gray. I closed my eyes, the air around me seeming to blister with fear.

“I’m so very sorry, Eros,” Harmonia added, desperate. “I should have been more careful.”

“They’ll kill me,” I whispered. “The queen must know they’ll kill me.”

“She’s making a sport of it,” Hephaestus said, his tone dire. “She wants to see a battle.”

My stomach twisted into knots. “How long do I have?”

“No time at all,” Harmonia said. “Artemis and Apollo are already there.”

Also by Kieran Scott

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He’s So Not Worth It

This Is So Not Happening

True Love

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