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  And I didn’t trust him.

  Especially not now. Not when he was fighting me to keep me from getting a hold. I’m his daughter, right? You’d think he’d want me to be sure I could trust him.

  So I worked, and before long, I was rewarded with a throbbing headache and so frustrated I was about to scream. Every time I thought I had gotten a hook into his mind, a piece of it for myself, it slithered away from my power, and I had to start over again.

  Hades laughed, and I worked harder.

  You, he said in my mind. So sure of your power. Remember this, little girl. You have power. The difference between you and I is that I actually know how to use it.

  And then I felt him change tactics. More than just defending his own mind, he was making his way into mine.

  Should have done this a long time ago. You’re too unpredictable, daughter.

  Oh, hell no.

  So I stopped trying to get into his mind, and I worked at strengthening my own defenses. He pushed harder, and I focused harder.

  You can’t hope to actually prevail here, he thought in my mind. The idiocy of youth.

  I didn’t answer, just focused on maintaining my mental shields.

  I don’t know how long it went on. I could feel Hades getting frustrated, watched him and Persephone as I focused on keeping my mental shields intact. Waiting….

  And, there it was. Hades sprung forward, slashed the ebony staff he usually carried out toward me. I ducked it easily, and he swung it back again, trying to catch me at the knees.

  I held my shields, produced my sword.

  You really want to do this?

  He stared at the sword, took in my wings, and I felt surprise from him. Then it passed, and he hit out at me again. I met his staff with my sword, and the impact produced a dull "thunk" of sound. For the next while (I have no idea how long) the only sounds in the room were the thunk of sword hitting staff, the sounds of Hades and me breathing, grunting.

  He was getting frustrated. I slashed out at him again.

  I focused a little harder. And then I smiled, added a final bit of strength to my own mental shields.

  "Hey, dad, guess what?"

  He just glared at me, tried to strike me again.

  "You’re more experienced, but only one of us has a mind strong enough to destroy the barriers between worlds. You seriously think I can’t keep you out of my head?"

  Now that my mental shield was built, his attempts to get in felt feeble, pathetic. I laughed at him, felt his rage in response.

  "Fine. Stop," he shouted. He stepped back, pulled his staff in front of him in a defensive, rather than fighting posture.

  I stopped. Kept my sword at the ready, but rested it at my side.

  "I am not giving you a tie to my mind, Not happening, Mollis. We can keep fighting over it, or we can figure out what to do next."

  "I don’t trust you. You have just as much reason as everyone else to want me gone. Maybe more. You’ve lied to me, over and over again–"

  "It’s what he does. The original Father of Lies," Persephone interrupted quietly.

  I rolled my eyes. "I really don’t give a fuck about your little lovers’ spat. He’s going easy on you, and I should have killed you already." Then I looked back at Hades. "So you can choose. Let me have a tie to your mind, the way you do with Persephone, or I consider you an enemy from here on out."

  He looked at me, shook his head. He was irritated. Angry. So angry that, if I were anyone else, I’d be pissing myself just then. I just gripped my sword tighter.

  "You are my daughter. You need to know that I meant what I said before. Tisiphone and I made you, and you are a thing of beauty. You’re powerful. Unrelentingly noble," he said, a bit of a sneer in his voice. "There is nowhere for nobility in our world. We’re gods. Not a damn one of us is trustworthy. And you being here instead of where you’re supposed to be threatens everything we are."

  "I know."

  I nodded. Gathered my strength, keeping a calm, blank look on my face.

  I blinked.

  And I slammed myself, full force, into his mind, crashed through his well-built defenses, and he screamed. He tried pushing me out, but I was already there.

  And I was surrounded by death. Instead of fearing it, I embraced it.

  Formed a connection to it. I felt the moment I’d formed a connection to Hades’ mind. It was like having an angry, complaining voice at the back of my mind. Incessant.

  Eh. I’d get used to it.

  I pulled out of his mind. He’d crumpled to the floor when I’d assaulted his psyche. I knew from experience, from having Nain and then the Puppeteer in my head, that there was definitely an aspect of physical pain involved when your mind was attacked that way. I felt a moment of regret, brushed it off.

  "Thanks, dad," I said. Then I glanced at Persephone, who was watching me with a mix of awe, fear, and loathing on her face. I gave her a sarcastic bow and left.

  I walked out of Hades’ home, barely registering the bows and salutes of the demons there.

  I didn’t know much about my father.

  But what I knew was enough. He would not stand for the indignity of being overpowered that way. Add him to the ranks of gods who would actively try to hunt my ass down now.

  As if it could have ever been any other way.

  I walked down the front walk, away from Hades’ palace, and with each step, I felt my power settling down to normal levels. And with that, sanity.

  What the hell had I just done?

  I stopped in my tracks.

  Holy shit. I just attacked the freaking Lord of the Dead. My father. The one being who’d actually promised to take some action to end the fighting so I could open the gateway again.

  If I could even do that. I couldn’t think about that now.

  I turned and looked back at Hades’ house.

  I knew my father well enough to be afraid of him. Just as he knew me well enough to be afraid of me. I took a breath to steady myself, and walked back up toward the house. Either we would kick each other’s asses now, or I’d have to wait for him to surprise me later. The older I got, the more I hated surprises.

  I lifted my hand to knock, but before my knuckles made contact with the dark wood, the door opened. I looked up into Hades’ face.

  "Let’s walk," he said, and I nodded. He closed the door behind him and gestured toward the left. There was a pathway that led to the riverfront. There was a weird garden there, full of plants I would have never imagined, the types of things that looked like, at any moment, they would reach out and grab you.

  Since this was the Nether, that wasn’t entirely impossible.

  We strolled through the garden in silence for a while, Hades’ hands clasped behind his back as he walked. The two of us, walking side by side, probably made for a bizarre picture, all pale skin and black feathered wings, Hades towering nearly two feet taller than my scrawny frame.

  "I’m sorry," I said softly. He glanced over at me, raised an eyebrow.

  "Well. That’s something you don’t hear often in the Nether."

  "I am. I lost myself," I said, my voice barely a whisper, afraid as I was of the words and what they meant. Hades stopped walking, looked down at me. He was silent, waiting for me to continue.

  "I lost control. It’s screwing with my head, being here. I draw all this power, and it almost makes me forget anything but wanting more of it. How the hell do you live here like this?"

  He took a breath. "It is not as bad for us. You know that as creatures of the Nether, we draw strength from it. We’re at our most powerful here in our realm."

  I nodded. "But you stay in control. Is it just an experience thing? Will I get used to it?"

  He shook his head. "They call you an abomination. They’re not wrong."

  "Thanks, Dad," I muttered.

  "They mean it as an insult. That is not how I mean it. An abomination is simply something that should not be. And as much as I cherish you, and I do, whether you can believe m
e or not, you were never meant to be." We resumed walking and eventually reached a stone bench. He gestured for me to sit, and I did. Once he’d settled himself, he continued. "You have all of my power. All of Tisiphone’s power. And while the two of us, individually, are fine here, the combination of our power coursing through you is understandably too much." He looked at me, pushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. "Your mother told me how often you came close to losing control in your duties as a Fury. That fiery outburst after you killed Hermes was you losing control again, yes?"

  I nodded.

  "Does that happen in your world?"

  I shook my head. "Only when I’m really, really angry or desperate. Usually I’m just trying to protect someone, and destroying isn’t at the front of my mind. Here, it’s like all I want to do is destroy things the second I try to use my powers." I plucked at my pants, not knowing what to do with my hands. "You don’t seem surprised."

  "I’m not surprised the Nether affects you so. I am surprised you’re here at all. You were supposed to be in your realm."

  "I know. That’s where I want to be, too." I explained everything. The pain as the gateway closed, the blackness that enveloped me, and reviving on the rocky mountainside in the Nether, new and unmarked. About hiding.

  He took my hand, clasped it between both of his. "There was nothing, in any prophecy or anything else, that indicated you would be trapped here. I swear it to you. If I’d known, we would have found another way. We would have fought them, side by side, or figured out how to stall Zeus and Ares."

  I believed him. The piece of him I held in my mind now didn’t indicate any falsehood on his part.

  "Who else knows you’re here?"

  "Just you and Persephone. And Artemis," I said.

  "Ah, I figured," he said, smiling. "Artemis is a good one."

  "You knew who Brennan was, when you came to me in my realm and agreed to ask Asclepias to save him," I said, watching him. "You didn’t just do that for me."

  He nodded. "I know how Artemis is about her descendants."

  "And she’d owe you a favor."

  He squeezed my hand. "Well, I knew I had a daughter I wanted to protect."

  We sat in silence for a while. "I really am sorry. Here, let me–" I was ready to sever my tie to him, when he took my face between his hands.

  "Don’t. Leave it, Mollis. If that’s what it takes to give you a tiny bit of peace here, then keep it. I was a fool for fighting you over it. Stupid, selfish, proud. Just keep it."

  I nodded, looked away so he wouldn’t see the tears I was trying to fight back.

  "We need to get you home. Your world needs you, and you need it."

  "We do."

  "I will do as I promised. I’ll speak with Zeus. He’s so hardheaded, and he has Ares whispering in his ear all the time, urging an escalation in the fighting. If I can get my idiot of a brother alone, we may end this."

  "Nothing is ever that easy," I said, refusing to get my hopes up.

  "No. But we’ll make it happen."

  "I can’t open the gateway until it’s over. I won’t let them fight in my realm. Things are probably already bad enough, if they’re even a fraction as bad there as they are here."

  He nodded.

  "I want you to try to keep something in mind."

  "Don’t break into your mind anymore," I said.

  He let out a short bark of a laugh. "Yes, that would be a good thing to remember. You’re lucky you’re my only child and I like you. Don’t do it again."

  "I won’t."

  "But what I really meant was this: you are at your best, at your strongest, when you are protecting something you care about. Your mind is clear; your power is focused. You are unstoppable. When you protected me from Hermes and Enyo, when you refused to cause my death…that was your true self. And you know it."

  I didn’t answer. Looked out over the river. It didn’t move at all, its glassy surface completely undisturbed. It was eerily peaceful.

  "But what I saw in you in there just now," he said, gesturing toward the house. "That was fear."

  "I hate being here."

  "I know. But your fear will undermine you if you let it rule your actions. You have so much at stake. I understand. But you need to be better. You need to master your fear, or you’re going to find yourself in much worse situations than having your father mad at you."

  "I will. I’m so f– … messed up right now. And I know I can’t afford to be."

  Hades tried to hide a smile.

  "What?"

  "The big bad godslayer is worried about cursing in front of her father," Hades said.

  "Cram it, pops."

  He laughed, then. "Come on. No more sleeping in caves. The demons will practically piss themselves in excitement to find out you’re staying here."

  I took a deep breath, and nodded, and when Hades took my hand and led me back toward the house, I let him. I just had to hope I wasn’t making yet one more boneheaded mistake.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Hades and I walked back into the house and into his office. I sat down in one of the leather chairs across from his desk, and he sat behind it. I watched him with some weird sense of irritation and jealousy.

  I was used to being the one in the big chair behind the desk now. I frowned.

  "What was that?" Hades asked, raising an eyebrow.

  I shook my head. "Thinking about how much I’ve changed in the past year or so. It’s nothing."

  Hades was about to respond when Persephone poked her head into the office. "The abomination is still here?"

  I winked at Hades, turned to look at my stepmother. "I’m living here now! We can hang out. Maybe you can teach me how to play the piano. We’ll bond."

  She looked as if she’d just gotten a whiff of something awful. "Are you serious?"

  I just smiled. Hades remained silent, though I could sense that he was enjoying himself immensely.

  "She’s staying here?" she asked Hades again.

  "Yes, my daughter is staying here for the foreseeable future," Hades said, emphasizing the word "daughter." "And she will be treated with the respect due any of my guests."

  She just stared at him. "Haven’t I been punished enough? I already said I was sorry, Hades."

  I turned back to my father, trying to hide my laugh. The expression on her face, the absolute horror at the idea of living in the same house with me, was just priceless.

  Hades was better at keeping a straight face than I was. "It has nothing to do with punishing you, my love. She needs a place to stay, and I think it would be good for you to get to know Mollis better."

  "I… you… I will not spend any time entertaining your brat, husband," she said, sneering the last word.

  "Aw. And here I thought we’d bonded a little when I decided not to kill you," I said, meeting Persephone’s eyes. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy doing that, I said in her mind.

  "And she just threatened me. Lovely," Persephone said.

  "That’s between the two of you. I really don’t care," Hades said, rifling through the papers on his desk. "Just be nice. When she asks for something, make sure she gets it." He paused. "Oh, and she’s kind of on edge here in the Nether. You’ll probably want to avoid pissing her off."

  Persephone just glared at Hades. "Should I bow down before her when she passes me in the corridors as well?"

  "Don’t be silly. A curtsy is fine," I said, and Hades suddenly became very interested in one of the documents on his desk.

  She gave me a look that would have made any sane person terrified for their life, then swept out of the room, slamming Hades’ office door behind her. My father erupted in laughter, and before long, I had joined him.

  "Did you see her face?" I said, erupting in another gale of laughter.

  Hades rested his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. "You are terrible," he wheezed.

  After a while, we both managed to compose ourselves. Then Hades muttered "curtsy" and we both st
arted laughing again.

  "I am going to be sleeping in one of the guest rooms for quite a while, I think," Hades said, shaking his head.

  "Probably for the best," I said, and he nodded.

  "Well. We’ve already angered my wife, so let’s just keep going. I just summoned your mother. She should be here so we can all figure out what to do now."

  "Oh, you are just evil," I said.

  "I love my wife madly, but she’s a pain in the ass," Hades said, leaning back in his chair. "It’s been this way our entire marriage. It’s just how we are."

  I shook my head. My father could have just about anyone. Powerful, good-looking. Kind of a nice guy if you hadn’t just pissed him off somehow.

  Oh well. Not my problem. Well, it kind of was, but it’s not like I could do much to change it.

  We sat, Hades asking questions about my friends back home, and me answering in as few words as possible, because if I talked about them a lot, I knew I’d lose it. I wanted to keep it together, and it was already really, really hard to do that. The Nether’s annoying effect on my powers, plus the fact that Hades and I in the same room always made my powers act weirdly. I drew off of his constant supply of rage. It wasn’t something I tried to do. It was automatic.

  "Do your powers act weird around me?" I asked him, interrupting his questions.

  "What do you mean, weird?"

  "I’m pretty much feeding off of your power when I’m around you. And I can’t stop it. It happens every time I’m around you. It's making me kind of nauseous."

  "Oh. No, I can’t do that. That’s related more to your mother’s side."

  "The mindflaying thing comes from Tisiphone?"

  "Right. I like pain, anger, fear, just as the demons do. I crave those things, and when I’m around them, I’m stronger. But to be constantly feeding from those around you, to be able to mentally rip into them and devour whatever you need…that’s more a Fury thing."

  "Why?"

  "Well, think about it. You've worked as a Fury. The things you saw would have broken you, made it impossible to go on with your work. Unless," he said, "you could also draw plenty of strength from the ones you were punishing. It’s almost a symbiotic relationship: you punish them, and they feed you."