Persephone plucked another flower from the ground and twirled it between her fingers. “Either way, that means the information we need may not be on the island with you. There’s a chance you and Ares have already found out all you can.”
I shook my head. “I refuse to believe that. Maybe they aren’t hiding Hades or the weapons here, but Jason, at least, would know where.”
“I want to try negotiating with him,” Persephone declared. “I could reach out through Narcissus, but that feels vaguely threat-like. I’d rather he come to me.”
When she gave me an expectant look, I scoffed, leaning back on the blanket. “You’re joking, right? What am I supposed to say? Hey, my friend Persephone wants to talk to you?”
“Of course not. But Orpheus is a well-known ally of the Pantheon and famous among the demigods. It wouldn’t break cover for you to suggest him as a neutral channel.”
“Is that a request?” Because the way I’d been created, I had to follow Persephone’s orders. She was generally pretty careful with her phrasing, but the girl had a lot on her mind. So I’d gotten in the habit of following up all her directives with that simple question. Just to be certain.
Persephone groaned, her head flopping back as she looked up at the brilliant blue sky. “Of course. I’m sorry. Disregard any standing orders. If you can safely suggest that Jason contact me through Orpheus, please do.”
“Okay.” Now, how the hell was I going to work that into a conversation?
THE CARIBBEAN MUSIC grew louder as Ares and I walked to the dining hall for happy hour the next night.
“I’ll get you a drink,” Ares called over the music.
“Thanks.” I worked to keep a smile on my face. Swimming had not gone any better today. Worse, I was wearing a red sundress that looked like it’d been repurposed from a frickin’ bandana, and it had taken nearly an hour to get my hair to cooperate as opposed to the two seconds it would have taken to cast a glamour. All in all, those were stupid things to be upset about, but they’d been enough to thoroughly ruin my day.
“Elise,” Medea called, forging her way through the crowd.
“Medea.” I smiled, thinking of yesterday afternoon, and whinnied at her with a snicker.
Her eyes widened, and she shushed me, crossing the distance between us in a matter of seconds to grab at my hands. “He’s, like, right behind you,” she whispered.
I turned to see Zeetes giving me an odd look. “So?”
Medea dissolved into giggles and yanked me through the crowd and away from him before he could catch on to what we were talking about.
“Wait, wait.” Medea’s eyes caught on something. “Glauce,” she called, rising to her tiptoes and waving. “Over here!”
“Hey, Elise,” Nestor said as he passed by. “Did you want a drink?”
“I’ve got one on the way,” I said with a smile. I turned down three more drink offers before Otrera and Glauce joined us.
“Oh my god,” Otrera snapped when Idas paused to offer her a drink. “We’re hydrated. Thanks.”
“I’d like a drink,” Medea joked, but there was a bitterness in her voice that belied the jest.
I tilted my head, glancing at Medea. Something wrong? I mouthed.
She shook her head.
“Sucks to be you,” Otrera quipped, completely missing the undertone as she lifted the hair off the back of her neck with one hand and waved at her face with the other in an effort to combat the oppressive heat. “You’ll just have to get your own.”
Since girls were a rarity among demigods, the four of us were a constant source of interest to them. Well, except Medea. No one ever bothered Medea because she was with Jason. But the rest of us were fair game, and the fact that I was with “Adonis” didn’t get any respect. The guys were always nice enough. They never got upset when we turned them down or got defensive about it. I’d never seen them be anything other than respectful, but the never-ending flirting still got old after a while.
Medea rolled her eyes and pitched her voice loud enough to be heard over the music. “Did you guys get anything interesting from the commissary?”
She’d know, of course, she’d unpacked it. But the question was sure to generate conversation. Shipment days were like holidays around here. Everyone was chatting about what they got.
Glauce brightened. “You’re looking at it.” The slim demigoddess held out her arms and turned back and forth, showing off what I assumed to be a new dress. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
The cut, while daring, didn’t flatter her figure at all, and the color didn’t go well with her golden complexion, but I smiled and fawned over it with the others as best I could without being able to lie.
“Ooh.” That looks horrific. “That’s such an interesting shade of orange.”
“Ahh . . .” You actually bought that on purpose? “What a bold choice.”
Glauce was . . . delicate. Demigods were always ridiculously attractive by human standards—it just came with the genetics—but I got the impression that rather than her beauty being recognized growing up, she’d been picked on for being different. Now that she had near-constant admiration, she didn’t seem to know what to do with the attention. When guys flirted with her, she got defensive, as if she thought they were kidding. But ten minutes later, she’d get all giggly. She was slowly getting more sure of herself, but it was painful to watch her experiment with clothes, makeup, and increasingly awkward attempts to return the flirting.
“You know what I wish we could do?” I yelled over the music once Glauce was appeased.
“What?” Otrera said, eying me over her now-empty cup.
“Go shopping. Like actual shopping. You know, try on clothes before you buy them.” Turning to Glauce, I added, “We could have so much fun.” I was practically itching to help her find her perfect look, if only so I didn’t have to look at the alternative any longer.
This isn’t real, I reminded myself. I liked these girls, but they weren’t really my friends. They didn’t really know me, and when this was all over, it wasn’t likely they’d ever want to speak to me again, much less hang out.
Medea glanced around the crowd, as if expecting someone to materialize beside her, ready to contradict whatever she said next. “Well, we don’t have a mall, but . . .”
Glauce gasped, clasping her hands together and giving a tiny jump that nearly turned into a wardrobe malfunction thanks to the ugly dress. “Oh, Medea, could we?”
She hesitated. “As long as we replace everything we take with something from our wardrobe, I don’t see why it would be a problem.”
“I’m lost,” I announced. Then I spotted Ares in the crowd, glancing around in confusion. Stepping on my tiptoes, I waved him over. “What are we talking about?”
Medea grinned. “There’s a ton of extra supplies, including clothes for situations where our new arrivals packed poorly or lost their luggage along the way.”
That made sense. They’d gotten Elise’s luggage to me when the cruise ended, but it had taken time. The pajamas Medea had brought me had been enough for my stay in the hospital, but if I’d been out and about on the island, it would have been a d