Heart Read Free Page B

a
moment ago. His footprints still marked the sand and the atmosphere
still buzzed with his supernatural energy.
    What had just happened?
    His fast retreat left a cold wind to blow
past me. It rushed over my skin and skimmed the water before
continuing on, out to sea. I wrapped my arms around my torso and
looked down at the foaming waves bumping against my calves.
    The water had protected me tonight.
    Whatever power Hermes wielded, he was afraid
of the water. But why? What could it do to him?
    Or maybe the better question was what could I do to him?
    I held my fingers up and inspected them
carefully. I half expected lightning to synapse between my palms or
manifest before me like how the Fates had created that electrical
storm between them.
    Even Nix could change weather and draw
unnatural lightning in the sky. Hermes had just accomplished the
same thing.
    My hands buzzed with energy, but beyond that
nothing happened. The waves were docile at my feet; not even they
could be bothered to respond to whatever energy pulsed inside of
me.
    I didn’t understand what was happening to my
body, but I was thankful that I now knew I could use it.
    I would just have to stay close to the
ocean.
    Was that why Nix hadn’t come for me? If
Hermes had found me, how hard could it have been for Nix to track
me down?
    And yet he had not come. Hermes said he was
trying to draw me out... was I more dangerous here than at home in
my landlocked state with no ocean for miles and miles?
    Something to think about.
    There was actually a lot to think about after
that surprise visit. Most of those thoughts revolved around Ryder
and Honor. I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting there.
    They were the two people I cared about most
in this world. If Nix wanted me to take his threats seriously then
those were the two people that would drive his point home.
    When the sky lightened to a hazy gray and the
sun began to rise in pinks and purples in the eastern sky, I
finally waded to shore. I picked up my discarded ballet flats and
carried them to my house. My wet feet picked up sand as I went and
then shed it again once I stepped onto my porch.
    I pulled my keys from my purse and let myself
into my house. I had to work again at four that afternoon, so my
exhausted body needed to catch a few hours of sleep after my
entirely wakeful night.
    I tracked sand through my house and marched
straight to the shower. I rinsed off and washed my hair while my
mind replayed Hermes’ visit over and over.
    Once I’d dried off and dressed in loose
shorts and a tank top, I collapsed into bed and buried my face in
my soft pillow. My belongings were meager in this house, but I had
invested in a comfortable bed. I could live without a lot, but not
without sleep.
    Except for tonight.
    Or this morning.
    As exhausted as my body was, I couldn’t shut
my mind off. I argued with myself for hours that Hermes was only
using Ryder as a catalyst to pull me back into this war I wanted no
part of. Ryder was safe. I knew he was because he wore the
protection seal of Zeus. I also knew he was because I would have
known the minute he wasn’t safe.
    I knew that without any doubts or misgivings.
If Ryder wasn’t safe, I would feel it .
    How I knew that, I had no idea. But the
concrete instinct was there and I couldn’t get myself to dismiss
it.
    Still, if he was safe now, that didn’t mean
he would always be safe.
    And what about Honor? I had been able to flee
before because I trusted Smith to take care of her. Smith had never
let me down and after our last interaction, I had realized why.
    Smith was as much a Greek as I was. Probably
more so.
    If he couldn’t protect Honor, there was
nothing I could do. Smith was infinitely more powerful than I was.
If Nix had defeated Smith, then Honor was gone.
    Forever.
    Bitterness and vinegar churned in my stomach
and I lost the ability to breathe.
    I couldn’t let that happen. I would not let
Honor take my place and live out my future.
    When sleep