by Folsom, Tina
Penny nodded numbly. Knowing that the same had happened to Kenton, she was certain this was no accident. Since Zeus hadn’t been able to get to her, he was taking it out on people close to her. People who wouldn’t have even been involved if she hadn’t taken the sandals to begin with. This was all her fault.
She had to find a way to fix it.
“Grams, will you be okay here for a moment? I just want to use the restroom.”
“Of course, dear. You go ahead.”
“Thanks.” She leaned over and kissed her grandmother on the cheek, then hurried out the door, out of the ICU, and out of the hospital. She walked around the back, finding a sheltered area that appeared abandoned, and took a deep breath.
“Zeus! You hear me, Zeus?” she called. “I want to talk to you.”
Though she expected it, she was still surprised when he appeared.
“Hello, Penny,” Zeus said, standing before her, impeccably dressed in a silk suit and Italian leather shoes.
“Please spare my father,” she said without preamble.
“So you got my message?”
“It was kind of obvious!”
He smiled. “Sometimes it’s necessary to use a sledgehammer to drive one’s point home.”
She nodded. “Spare him and Kenton. Please. They don’t deserve this.”
“Someone has to pay for what you did. You brought Olympus to its knees and made Hermes a laughing stock. There has to be retribution.”
“I know. But that was my doing. Not my father’s, nor Kenton’s.”
“True. But they both did play a role in it, didn’t they? So shouldn’t they shoulder part of the blame?”
“Yes. No. Neither of them would have even known about the sandals if I hadn’t taken them to begin with.”
“That’s true, too, but the fact is, I can’t touch you, Penny. Can I? You and Hermes made sure of that with your little wedding broadcast for everyone to see.”
“So you’ve seen it.”
“YouTube? Really? You had to upload it to YouTube for all to see? Not classy, really, not classy!” he grunted. Then he made a throw-away gesture with his hand. “But that aside, where is my dear son now? Certainly not by your side in your time of greatest need. If he were a true husband, he’d be protecting you now. But he isn’t. So I know it’s all a sham.”
“Hermes doesn’t even know about what happened to my father. He’s busy helping Hades.”
“You mean he’s doing his job?”
“Yes,” she admitted. Zeus was right. It was all a sham. Hermes wasn’t her real husband, despite the wedding night they’d enjoyed. He’d said himself that they would go back to their lives once Zeus was pacified.
“I’ll tell you what, Penny. You’re now family, so I can’t touch you, but you have the power to change that. Therefore, I’ll give you a choice.”
“What kind of choice?” she asked, curious and scared at the same time.
“You choose whether your father and Kenton will live or die. Their fate is in your hands.”
“How?”
“Take their place.”
Her heart stopped, and she knew instinctively what he was asking of her. His next words confirmed her suspicion.
“Divorce Hermes, and I’ll let them live. You’ll die instead.”
37
We need to talk, the text message said. Meet me at Triton and Sophia’s.
Hermes charged from the bedroom he and Penny had shared the previous night and barreled into Hades’ office.
“How the fuck did she leave from here?” He glared at his uncle, furious at Hades and scared shitless about Penny at the same time.
“Ah, well, there was an emergency.”
“Emergency, my ass!” Hermes cursed and pointed his finger at the god of the underworld. “If anything happens to her, I’m going to rip you to pieces with my bare hands!”
To his surprise, his uncle’s eyes twinkled at the threat. “It appears that my dear nephew really does love his mortal wife.”
“Of course I love her! Why the fuck do you think I married her?” he growled and ran out of the room and the palace. And why shouldn’t he love her? Penny cared about others more than she cared about herself. Whenever he was near her, he was happy. And when he was separated from her, he longed for her. She brought the best out in him.
As fast as his winged sandals could carry him, he crossed the River Styx and headed for the exit, passing through it without pausing. At the other side, he teleported, landing in the second floor corridor of Triton and Sophia’s B&B a few seconds later.
“Penny? Penny, where are you?” he called out. He could only hope that Zeus had already gotten the news of their wedding and had sufficiently calmed down so as not to hurt Penny once he realized that she was back in the mortal world.
“Penny?” he yelled once more, not even wanting to imagine what could happen to the woman he loved. Yes, loved. There was no doubt about it in his mind. His heart belonged to her. Without her, he was lost. He needed her as much as he needed his next breath. He shoved his hand through his hair, letting out a deep sigh. He couldn’t lose her.
“Hermes.”
Hermes swiveled on his heels, finding Penny standing a few yards away from him. He ran his eyes over her body, assuring himself that she was unhurt, while his feet already carried him to her, his arms outstretched. “Penny!”
She stepped back, avoiding him.
Instantly, suspicion rose in him. He drew his eyebrows together. “What’s wrong?”
She dropped her lids halfway, hesitating.
“You left the underworld. Why? What happened? What’s going on?”
“I think we made a mistake,” she said, her voice barely audible.
His pulse began to race. “A mistake?”
“Yes,” she hurried on quickly. “We shouldn’t have gotten married, Hermes. Neither of us wanted it. And I hate to think I’ve trapped you, trapped myself. I think we should get a divorce.”
Hermes’ heart stuttered to a halt. She felt trapped? By being married to him? “You want a divorce?” The last word tasted bitter on his tongue.
“Yes. Since we consummated the marriage, I assume we can’t get an annulment, right?”
“No, we can’t,” he said matter-of-factly.
She nodded. “Then it has to be divorce.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why so sudden? I thought last night . . . I thought we had something.” How had he not seen this coming? Maybe because she’d been more passionate and loving during their wedding night than ever before. Yeah, that had to be it. She’d been everything he could wish for from a wife. Had it all been a pretense? He shook his head. No, he couldn’t allow himself to believe that.
“Last night was . . . well, we’ve always had good sex. You said so yourself.”
The words hit him in the gut. So it had only been sex for her? What about the affection he thought he’d seen in her eyes, shining back at him? He’d offered her his heart on their wedding night. Maybe he hadn’t said so, but she had to have felt it. “Sex, huh?” he pressed out between clenched jaws.
“We got married for all the wrong reasons. It’s not like we love each other. It’s not like we want to spend the rest of our lives together.”
Hermes looked away, not wanting her to see the disappointment in his eyes. She didn’t love him. Didn’t want a life with him. “So you want your freedom despite what that means.” Did she like him so little that she’d rather be exposed to Zeus’s wrath than live with him?
“I’d still be your ex-wife. Still family, right?”
The words bounced around in his head. Still family? No, she wouldn’t still be family. Zeus would never stand for it. But before he could explain this to her, Sophia came running up the stairs.
“Oh my god, I just heard,” she said breathlessly and hurried past him, putting her arms around Penny. “I’m so sorry about what happened to your father. Is he going to be okay? And then for another bus to hit your colleague. That�
��s just so tragic.”
Hermes pinned Penny with a stare, her eyes going wide as she pulled herself from Sophia’s embrace.
“Everyone in town is talking about how it looked like the bus swerved over and hit your father on purpose,” Sophia continued. “Apparently, there was some mechanical failure; the steering mechanism didn’t seem to work. I haven’t heard all the details about your co-worker’s accident yet.”
Two men involved in the theft of his sandals had been hit by buses on the same day? Well, if that wasn’t a fucking coincidence.
“Penny!” he said, his voice sharp now, as he grabbed her by her bicep. “Tell me the truth. He came to see you, didn’t he?”
“Who?” she squeaked.
“Zeus! He threatened you.”
Penny squeezed her eyes shut. He knew then that his hunch was right.
“You don’t want to divorce me, do you? Zeus is forcing you to!” he guessed.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Sophia gasped. “What?”
Hermes glanced at her sideways. “It appears that my dear father is interfering in my life again, trying to blackmail my wife into leaving me. And if she doesn’t, he’ll kill her father and Kenton. Isn’t that right, Penny?”
She nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. “Yes.”
“What is Zeus planning to do with you once we’re divorced?”
Penny pressed her lips together.
“Tell me!” he thundered.
“He’ll kill me.”
Hermes felt fury charge through him like one of Zeus’s thunderbolts. “Over my fucking dead body!”
38
Contrary to accepted mythology, Poseidon’s world didn’t sit on the bottom of the ocean. Rather, it was located on an island in the Aegean sea, an island that was invisible to mortal eyes and undetectable by radar. It looked like any Greek island; however, the palace standing on it rivaled the Acropolis in size. Around it, lush gardens interspersed with fresh-water ponds and creeks made the place look more like a tropical paradise than the arid landscape the rest of the Greek islands offered.
As Hermes passed through the gate, following a path made of crushed seashells, he steeled himself for the coming confrontation. Knowing it would definitely come to one, he’d elected to conduct this meeting on neutral ground, and Poseidon had been willing to provide it.
The door to Poseidon’s palace opened automatically, and Hermes walked through it, entering the inner courtyard. In its middle, there was an oversized Jacuzzi sunken into the ground and surrounded by comfortable lounge chairs. Small tables, laden with food and drinks, and a rack with folded towels complemented the spa-like space.
Poseidon waved to him from his relaxed pose in the Jacuzzi, flapping his tailfin and splashing water in Hermes’ direction.
“Don’t mind if I don’t get up, but it was time for my bath when you called.”
Hermes approached, nodding. “By all means, don’t let me interrupt your daily routine.” He glanced around. “Where are Zeus and Hades?”
“On their way,” Poseidon assured him. “Now tell me, how’s my son doing?”
“Splendidly as always. Sophia is good for him.”
His uncle smiled. “Always knew it. He’s a good boy.” Then his eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head to the side, studying him. “But it looks like you’ve got yourself into some trouble. All for a woman. Hope she’s worth it.”
Without hesitation, Hermes answered. “She is.” Yes, his Penny was worth all the trouble.
“You sure about that?” a voice asked from behind him.
Hermes swiveled and faced Zeus. Hades walked into the courtyard a few steps behind him.
“You’d better have a good reason for getting me down here, because as you may know, I’m not in the best mood these days, thanks to your little mortal tart!”
“Watch your words! You’re talking about my wife!”
Zeus grinned. “Oh, you mean the same wife who’s only too willing to divorce you to save her father and her colleague, neither of whom she can stand?”
Hermes fisted his hands at his hips. “Because you threatened her! What was she supposed to say?”
“Looked to me like she gave in pretty quickly. You can’t mean much to her if she’s willing to give you up without a fight.”
Zeus’s words grated on him, but he wouldn’t allow his father to plant doubts about Penny in him. What he’d seen in her eyes during their wedding night had been affection. She felt something for him, he was certain of it. Even if it wasn’t love yet, at least he would have a chance to make her fall in love with him. But for that he needed to stay married to her.
“Be that as it may, I haven’t come to talk about my marriage. I’ve come to propose a trade.”
“There’s nothing you can possibly offer me,” Zeus claimed.
“Let the boy speak, Zeus,” Poseidon interrupted. “I, for one, am interested in what he has to say.”
“Fine. Go on. I’m dying to hear what you’ve come up with.”
“Penny will remain married to me, and in exchange, her father and Kenton will take over the management of the ferry service over the Styx. That will solve all our labor disputes and get the bottleneck of souls flowing again. Meanwhile they’ll also oversee the construction of a bridge over the Styx.”
“A bridge?” Zeus asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s the first brilliant idea you’ve had in a millennium.”
“It wasn’t my idea. It was Penny’s,” Hermes admitted proudly.
“The Greeks aren’t going to like that,” Poseidon interjected.
“I don’t care whether they like it or not. They shouldn’t have gone on strike then,” Hermes countered, looking back at Zeus, eager to hear his answer.
“Though the bridge is a good idea, I still fail to see how that’s a trade,” Zeus said, “considering that if I let those two men die, if Penny won’t agree to divorce you, they’ll end up in Hades’ Underworld anyway.”
“True, however, you forget one thing: if they die, they’ll enter as dead souls, and you know how willing dead souls are to work? That’s why we’re having this problem in the underworld in the first place. Dead souls are lazy workers, and even worse in management.”
Hades raised his hand. “Not entirely true. The two German security guards work extremely well, and they’re both dead souls.”
Hermes rolled his eyes. “Because they’re German. Have you ever seen a German who didn’t work? They’ll do anything for their six weeks of vacation a year! Even if they have to spend it down in the underworld.”
“So, if I agreed to this,” Zeus interrupted, “how are you going to convince Bart and Kenton to do this? What if they refuse to work once they’re down there?”
“We will of course have to give them some incentives: annual leave to return to the mortal world for example.”
Hades huffed. “I’m not giving them six weeks!”
“Two weeks will be plenty. After all, they’re not German. Americans only get two weeks.”
“Well,” Zeus mused, rubbing his chin. He exchanged a look with Hades. “If we do this, will that get you off my back?”
Hades nodded. “Works for me.”
Slowly, Zeus moved his head up and down. “Fine. But I have a condition too.” He squared his shoulders and stared at Hermes.
Hermes’ heart stopped. “What condition? If you think I’ll give her up, think again!”
“Hothead!” Zeus chastised. “Why do you always expect the worst from me?”
Hermes pressed his lips firmly together, not wanting to anger Zeus any further when the deal was nearly done.
“If you don’t produce a child with Penny within a year, I will consider your marriage a sham and take my revenge on her. Is that clear?” Zeus asked.
Hermes let out a sigh of relief and felt a grin spreading on his lips. “I’ll work at it day and night.”
Zeus chuckled. “Don’t I know it!” When he exchanged a conspiratorial look with
his two brothers, Hermes felt the hairs on his nape stand up. He knew those looks. He’d seen them often enough.
“You planned this! You planned this all along to get me to settle down and get married!” Hermes ventured a guess.
Hades nudged his brother in the side. “Told you he’d figure it out eventually. You’re lucky he’s not the fastest thinker!”
Finally, everything made sense. “The contract I delivered to Hades. It was all in there, wasn’t it? You’ve manipulated me all along!”
Zeus grinned. “I just had to push you a little.”
“And Penny? Did you make her steal the sandals?”
Zeus shook his head. “I didn’t have to. Once she got the news that she would lose her job if she didn’t get tenure and realized that she would have to uproot her grandmother in due course, all I had to do was make sure Penny crossed your path.”
“You, you . . . ”
Zeus shrugged. “So what are you gonna do about it? Will you leave her now just because I gave you a little push in the right direction? Or are you man enough to stick to your guns and make love to your wife so you can present me with my grandchild?”
Hermes looked at the God of gods and knew exactly what his answer was. But he wouldn’t give his manipulative father the satisfaction of giving him a response.
39
“They’ll have to do what?” Penny asked, gasping for air. “And how is that different from them dying? They’ll end up in the underworld no matter what!”
Hermes had returned from his meeting with Zeus only minutes earlier and explained what he’d negotiated with his father to assure her safety. They now stood in Triton and Sophia’s apartment, their friends having left them alone to talk in private.
“It’s very different. They wouldn’t be dead. They get to settle their affairs before they head down to Hades, and every year, they’re allowed to come back and visit friends and family for two weeks. It’s not any different than as though they were sailors who’re out on a ship for most of the year. In fact, they’ll be like sailors. They’ll be operating the ferry service. And you’re safe from Zeus’s wrath forever.”