Hadrian had pulled me close and covered my mouth with a long, deep kiss. I tried struggling at first, but Hadrian only deepened the kiss in response, his tongue pushing in, and...I was lost. And easy. So much so that by the time he lifted his head, I cried out in protest and pulled his head back down for another kiss.
He chuckled against my lips before indulging my silent plea.
The Gorgon started making retching sounds, but we both ignored her.
When Hadrian lifted his head again, I tried to protest once more, but this time he only shook his head. "I have to go, love."
"You can't," I said quickly. "You...you...you need to stay here to protect me."
"Actually..." His lips twitched. "I think you've never been safer."
My jaw dropped. "So all of that earlier...you really were lying?"
"No."
"Then—-"
"In fact, I'd go as far as saying she's even more evil now."
The Gorgon was a fanatic who killed men for fun...and Hadrian thought it was safe to leave me in her company?
My head just started hurting when I tried making sense of it, but before I could ask Hadrian to do another ELI5, he had already kissed me goodbye, and I was left sighing in his wake.
"I'm kinda missing him already."
Disgusting.
"I just love him so much. He's so—-"
The Gorgon's tongue snapped out towards me, and I jumped back with a yelp.
Get moving, sssstupid. Or are you sssso ssstupid you forgot we had a thief to catch?
Chapter Nine
Little Iron sprang energetically into flight as soon as he took in another drop of my blood, wings flapping so fast I soon found myself in a mad dash just to keep up. I took a peek at Ssssusssan and felt rather disgruntled that she didn't seem out of breath.
It's probably the air, I tried comforting myself. Underworld's air might be so hot it could burn the flesh off your bones, but it was pure and clean. Zero pollution, and so it figured residents like the Gorgon had stronger lungs while my poor lungs, weakened daily by smog, felt like it could burst at any moment.
We are here.
I nearly wept in relief at hearing the Gorgon's words, not because I was unfit or unhealthy. I was just very, um, excited to get to our next clue and catch our thief.
Little Iron dove back into the pocket of my dress while I lifted my head to see where the partridge had taken us. A red-and-black tent had been erected on a grassy field, and flashing on top of it was a hologram of a woman dressed in a colorful robe and holding a shimmering crystal ball in her hand.
I turned to the Gorgon, incredulous. "Is this for real?"
Those are the colors of the Oracle of Tyche, ssso yes. It is...for real.
The Gorgon hissed the last words out like they tasted foul on her tongue, and I almost rolled my eyes until I remembered what Hadrian said about Sssusssan.
"Thank you for the clarification," I said instead. I'm sure Hadrian had his reasons for thinking I'm safe with Sssusssan, but I'd rather not take my chances. One wrong word could trigger her next murder spree, and guess who was comfortably within reach to serve as her first victim?
Can you read that?
Ssssusssan pointed at the Greek characters that were now swirling inside the hologram crystal ball.
It's in Greek, duh, I almost retorted, but then I remembered - thousands dead, and just one snake-haired woman to blame.
So I opted for the high road once again. "No, I do not."
It sssays they are closed for lunch.
I usually hadn't any problems with L-words, but that one hurt. Empty-stomach-suddenly-hurting-and-growling kind of hurt, and when the Gorgon grimaced at this rather uncouth expression of hunger, I said defensively, "It's been hours since I last ate!"
And that was how we ended up in a nearby cafe, with the Gorgon sipping tea while I demolished the local meat dish she recommended. "This tastes so good," I gushed. "What is it exactly?"
Cccentaur.
I almost threw up.
I was joking, ssstupid. That's just sssteak, with ssspecial Underworld spices.
"If I find out you're lying, I swear to G—-" I almost said 'God', caught myself in time, and said instead, "I swear to Gaea, I'm going to..." My voice trailed off. What could I say that would scare a Gorgon like Sssusssan?
I ssswear it by the river Ssstyx.
Since that was the equivalent of having her words notarized, I relaxed in my seat, relieved that I didn't have to make up some lame-ass threat to a Gorgon who could probably drain my blood with a single hiss. And honestly, this steak was to die for.
What do you know about Gaea?
"Nothing much," I answered after chewing another slice of steak. "I didn't even know she and her boyfriend were living here until Hadrian mentioned it." I was about to feed myself a spoonful of mashed potato when a question occurred to me. "Do you know anything about them?"
What do you want to know?
"Anything," I answered eagerly. "Why they came to live here, who's their favorite Kardashian...anything."
I heard that their powers proved terribly destructive on the sssurface. Too much ssso that they decided the risk was not worth it. Sssso they moved here, where their powers have less impact.
Since Cronos was the god of time, did that mean time worked differently here? And what about Gaea, the earth goddess? How were her powers affected now that she was in the Underworld?
I heard you with Hades' sssubjects earlier.
The Gorgon's words startled me out of my thoughts. "I didn't notice you." I stabbed the last slice of steak with my fork and popped the morsel of meat into my mouth.
You did not have to reveal your weakness to them, but you did. Was it to gain sssympathy?
I was staring rather morosely at my empty plate, trying to convince myself I wasn't still hungry, when the last of Sssusssan's words sank in. And this time, I really did roll my eyes at her. "Of course you'd think that."
Ssstupid people can also be ssshrewd at times.
"Sorry to disappoint," I said wryly, "but I wasn't able to think that far. I just didn't think it would set a good example to be scared and ashamed for something that's entirely natural."
You are ssstrange.
Coming from her, that almost kinda sounded like a compliment, but since I wasn't as stupid as the Gorgon liked to think, I only shrugged and acted like it was just another insult.
On our walk back to the fortune teller's hut, I asked Sssusssan why our missing thief would risk wasting time and getting caught, just to have his or her fortune read.
I cannot think of any sssane reason either. The thief must be as ssstupid as you are.
"Very funny." We had reached the fortune teller's hut by now, but when I glanced up, I was surprised to see the same Greek characters still flashing green.
Sssomething is wrong.
"You betcha." I shook my head disapprovingly. It was already half-past three, and they were still closed for lunch? How in Hell did they manage to stay in business like this?
No priestess would close her doors for this long.
The Gorgon's rather dark tone sobered me up. We had to find out why the thief came here, but to burst into the hut without a plan...
An idea occurred to me then, and I said rather excitedly, "Little Iron."