Smoothing a hand over my hair, I looked over at Erin. She was staring at the closed door. “I’ve heard a lot of stuff about him,” she said, her voice soft. “Rumors. Some of it probably true. Some of it not. He did kill one of my sisters.” She turned to me. “Granted, they were trying to kill him.”
I wasn’t sure if that made it any better.
Uncrossing her legs, she dropped both feet to the floor and leaned forward. “He’s just not… He’s not what I thought.”
“What do you mean?”
Erin shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I brought you all the clothes I could grab, and some of your other stuff, too.”
On the floor under the desk were several gym bags and backpacks that looked full to bursting. My tongue felt woolly as I spoke. “Thank you.”
Her features pinched. “We need to talk before he gets back and pisses me off. I know you’re probably confused.”
“Confused?” My laugh was as dry as dust. “Twenty-four hours ago, I thought Greek gods were nothing but myths, and now…”
“And now you know you’re one of the myths,” she finished. “A demigod—a very important one. Besides the fact that there hasn’t been a demigod since, well, a very long time, you’re Apollo’s daughter. The freaking sun god is your father.”
My father. I still couldn’t wrap my head around that, but I did know I wasn’t comfortable with the way it sounded. “Please stop saying he’s my father. He might’ve donated some sperm, but that’s all he did. He’s not my dad. My grandpa is the closest to a dad I have, because he raised me. He loves me.”
She cocked her head to the side as her brows knit together. “Apollo loves you, too. I know that may be hard to believe, but he does. He made sure you were always safe. Protected.”
The thing was, I hadn’t needed that when I was growing up. Or if I had, I’d been completely oblivious. What I had needed was a dad. Grandpa was great and did everything he could, but it wasn’t the same.
I swept those thoughts aside. “He sent you to watch over me.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. As she nodded, a twisty motion enveloped my stomach. “He did.”
“So you’re not really from DC, are you? And you didn’t run track in high school.” When she shook her head, my chest squeezed like it had been dropped in a juice grinder.
“I grew up on Olympus, but I’ve visited DC many times. I like the museums,” she said sheepishly. “I know that’s not what I told you.”
Did they even have high schools in Olympus? “You’re right. Everything about you—about us—has been a lie.”
She stood, flipping her curly ponytail over her shoulder. “I couldn’t tell you the truth. You wouldn’t have believed me.”
She was also right about that, but she didn’t get it. “You know that I didn’t have friends growing up, right?”
Casting her gaze to the window, she nodded. “I know.”
“Other kids weren’t nice to me, because their parents weren’t nice to my family,” I said, swallowing against the sudden tightening in my throat. “When I came here, I was expecting the same. I didn’t really know any better, but I met you and you were so nice and so open, and…” Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. “You had to be friends with me.”
Her eyes widened as her head snapped back to me. “I had to be close to you, yes, but that doesn’t change that I sincerely like you.” She took a step toward me. “I wasn’t faking that.”
Part of me got that, but I couldn’t help wonder how our relationship would’ve been if she was…normal.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, and my gaze drifted to her. Sincerity was etched into her beautiful face and soulful eyes. Seeing her like this made it hard to believe that she could turn into a giant bat-like creature with snakes for hair. “I know you, so I know this has hurt you. And I wish I could’ve sat you down and talked to you about what I am and why I was here, but we were ordered to keep the truth hidden. And for your sake, I’d hoped you would never find out. No. Don’t take that the wrong way,” she said when I opened my mouth. “Not because I wanted to continue to lie to you, but if you lived the rest of your life not knowing about any of this, that meant you were safe. None of us knew this would happen with the Titans. We were preparing for…”
“What?” I asked when she didn’t finish.
Erin glanced at the closed door. “We were preparing to fight the God Killer. He told you about what he could’ve turned into, right?”
I nodded. “He mentioned something about that.”
Tension crept in her movements as she folded her arms across her chest. “We prepared for a different kind of battle. None of us planned for the Titans or for…” Her forehead wrinkled as her shoulders hunched. “Apollo trusts the Apollyon—Seth. He trusts him with you.”
Tiny hairs all over my body rose. That didn’t sound good. “Should I be worried about more than just the Titans?”
She was still for a moment and then shook her head. “There are things about us, about our world, that you don’t understand and will hold to mortal social norms and judge by mortal standards. And anyway, you’re leaving in a few hours, right? Where are you going? I’m leaving, too. I’ve been called back, now that Seth is here.”
“Called back? What about school?” I asked stupidly.
She picked up one of my bags and placed it on the foot of the bed. “I don’t need to be here any longer.”
“But how can you just disappear?”
Another bag joined the one on the bed. “The same as you have. People will think you went home. Family emergency. And well, people leave college all the time.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal. “So where are you going?”
“We’re going to see my mom first,” I answered, distracted by how she was organizing my bags and what she had said. “Then I guess we’re going to someplace in South Dakota.”
“Ah, the University. It’s kind of like Radford, but cooler. Full of pures and halfs and maybe a god or two.” Opening one bag, she grabbed a pair of jeans and tossed them on the bed. She laughed, the sound like wind chimes. “Sorry. I’m trying to picture Seth in Osborn, Missouri. I do think it’s cool you’re going to see your mom. Maybe knowing what you know now will help you understand her better. And also will stop you from worrying that you’ll have some kind of illness later. You won’t.”
“Yeah, I guess that clears up that worry.” I caught the bra and undies she threw at me. “So you’re not going with us?”
She shook her head. “If I did, I’d probably end up maiming Seth at some point, and that kind of defeats the purpose of him watching over you. But it’s not like you’re never going to see me again. You will. But I need to help locate the other demigods. They also need protection.”
I’d forgotten about the others already. Standing up and holding my undergarments close to my chest, I watched Erin pull out a lightweight pink sweater, and it hit me again that, at some point, I was going to be required to fight the Titans, to help entomb them in Tartar Sauce Land.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
Erin looked at me sharply. “What?”
“I can’t even walk a straight line sober, but I’m basically a weapon, aren’t I? So are the other demigods. I’m going to have to fight a Titan.”
Her eyes met mine before flickering away. “You’ll be okay, Josie.”
I’ll be okay? That’s like telling someone who was about to jump into shark-infested waters they’ll be okay.
She came around the bed and shoved the jeans and sweater into my arms. “You should shower and get ready before Seth comes back. Unless you want him to see you in that robe again, which by the way, does nothing to hide your goods.”
Oh Jesus.
I let her push me toward the bathroom, but I stopped just inside and faced her. Our eyes met, and somehow I knew—I just knew—that after I closed this door, she was going to be gone, and I wasn’t sure, no matter what she said, if I would see her again.
Our friendship had been built on lies. There was no ignoring that, but the last two years… She had been there for me when I was the scared and na?ve freshman, away from home for the first time. She was there the first time I drank tequila, and she held my hair while I vomited it all back up later that night. She’d been there when I went out on my first date with the boy from my Soc 101 class, and then rescued me when he started talking about inviting me to meet his mom five minutes into our awkward dinner. She’d also been there when my mom had a terrible relapse and had gone missing for days, ending up in Tennessee. She had become my best friend, and that wasn’t something I could forget. No matter how much it sucked and hurt to know that the foundation of our friendship had been precariously built on a house of lies, it didn’t change everything she had done for me.
I couldn’t hold a grudge.
Dropping my clothes on the floor, I sprang forward. Her eyes widened as my arms circled her shoulders. I pulled her in for a tight, fierce hug. And I didn’t say anything. Neither of us did as she hugged me back. We stood there for a few minutes, and when we pulled apart, her deep eyes glimmered with tears.
“You better get ready,” she said, her voice thick as she smiled faintly.
The lump in my throat was hard to talk around, so I nodded as I drew back. I needed a deep breath before I spoke. “You’re my best friend, no matter what.”
Her eyes squeezed shut briefly as she whispered, “You’re my best friend, too. No matter what.” Then she stepped back, her smile spreading as she flashed me the peace sign.
For some reason, knowing what she was, that made me laugh as I gripped the door. But it wasn’t until the bathroom door was closed that it really set in she was leaving and I…I wanted another hug.
Throwing the door open, my shoulders slumped. Like I’d suspected moments earlier, the hotel room was empty. Erin was gone.