Heart Read Free Page A

kept me grounded.
    “I want Olympus back,” he finally admitted.
“We all do.”
    “All?”
    “Everyone wants Olympus, Ivy. If you were
honest with yourself, you know you would want it too. There’s a
power grab at hand and if I don’t get it, someone else will. I
don’t trust my brothers or my sisters. I don’t trust them enough to
treat the mountain with respect and I don’t trust them to stop with
Olympus. Once they get a taste of that power, of that supremacy , Olympus won’t be enough.”
    “But it would be enough for you?” I didn’t
believe him. As far as I was concerned, all of the gods and
goddesses were the same. Just because Hermes said he was on my side
this time, didn’t mean he would always be.
    “You’re being difficult on purpose,” he
deflected. “We need you now. You had a break. You’re no longer in
Poseidon’s clutches. It’s time to become the person you’re supposed
to be. It’s time to protect your home.”
    “And what does Ryd-” I cleared my throat and
started over, “What does Orpheus or Honor have to do with any of
it? Why are they in danger?”
    “Because they are connected to you!” Hermes
threw his hands in the air and practically shouted at me. “Poseidon
could care less about them which puts them that much more in
danger. Fine, you don’t care about Ava. But you care for Honor. You
care for Orpheus. They need you.”
    “This is a low blow,” I growled at him. “I
left them to protect them. How can I help them? Even if I were to
go back, what could I do? Nix would have them and me .”
    “You don’t believe that,” he snarled at me.
“You know you’re not helpless.”
    The water sparked around my ankles and
something surged inside of me. It felt like the crash of a huge
ocean wave, the kind that could sink ships and destroy villages. A
tsunami of emotion brewed inside of me until I had become the
water… until I had become its potential destruction… its
unfathomable mystery that both compelled and killed.
    I was more than immortal in that moment. More
than gods and goddesses. More than Olympus .
    And certainly more than Hermes.
    “Okay, I’ll go,” I told him in a low
voice.
    He visibly relaxed, rocking back on his heels
and shooting me a triumphant smile. “That’s great news. We’ll need
to go straight to Delphi.”
    “Okay,” I said. “Then let’s go.”
    “Step out of the water and we can.”
    “Can’t you just beam me up from here?”
    “I don’t under- that’s not important. Step
out of the water and I’ll take you.”
    “Why can’t you step into the water? I like it
in here.”
    He frowned at the sparkling water that was
still clear, despite the late hour. “I bet you do,” he
grumbled.
    I held out my hand, but kept my feet planted.
“Let’s go, Hermes. What are you waiting for?”
    He took three steps back and suddenly looked
very restless. What did a god have to be anxious for around little
old me? I didn’t even have my Siren power anymore.
    “This isn’t a game, Ivy.”
    “I never thought it was.”
    He shook his head hard and his expression
shuttered. I had no idea what he was thinking. For a moment he
seemed disappointed, but I couldn’t be sure. And I didn’t care
either way. He meant nothing to me.
    If only I could say the same about Honor and
Ryder.
    “Call me when you come around,” he
growled.
    “I’ll do that.”
    “You will need me, Ivy. And soon.
Poseidon is drawing you out. You can face him alone or you can get
help from those that want the same thing that you do.”
    “And what would that be?”
    His eyes started flashing with that power
again. His entire body radiated something primal, something so
strong and compulsive that I was the one that took a step back this
time. Gray clouds churned overhead, a lone streak of lightning
flashed along the horizon. “Poseidon chained to the bottom of the
ocean.”
    Before I could agree with him, he
disappeared.
    I stared at the space he’d taken up only