“We have lost touch,” said Athena, glancing around at the others. “It couldn’t hurt to try.”
Nearly a minute passed as everyone seemed to absorb this. A few whispered amongst themselves, but it wasn’t until Zeus sank back down into his throne that everyone seemed to relax.
“We will try,” he said. “Abstract as that is. Do you have any solid suggestions for what we might do to implement these…ideas of yours?”
“Yes,” I said frankly. “We need to change our names. Right now. We need to cast aside our old identities, and we need to become the people we have to be in order to adapt and survive. The name’s just the start of it, but it’s as good a start as any.”
No one looked happy about it, not even Hephaestus, who hadn’t exactly won the name lottery. “What sort of names?” said Aphrodite, frowning.
“I don’t know. Names that will stick around for centuries, though I suspect we can change them again if we have to,” I said. “We’ll do whatever we have to do to survive.”
“Very well,” said Zeus. “Then why don’t you start us off? What is your new name, son?”
Son. It may have been a single word to him, but to me, it was a moment of acceptance—a moment when we moved beyond the struggles of the past eons and stepped into a new era where the slate was wiped clean.
It was exactly the kind of life Tuck wanted. And it was the life I would live when she couldn’t.
“James,” I said. “My name is James.”
* * *
Three years later, we all still existed.
Couldn’t lie and say it was easy—none of it was going to happen overnight, but to the council’s credit, they each tried. Only Hera kept a Greek name, refusing to budge from the roots she held so dear, though at least we were able to persuade her to change her name to the lesser-known Calliope. Even Zeus found a name powerful enough to satisfy his ego.
Slowly but surely, the council changed. Instead of deities lording over a world that didn’t know we existed, each of us began to spend time on the surface, interacting with mortals in a way few of us had in millennia. It wasn’t painless—more than a few attempts resulted in varying disasters, mostly revolving around Aphrodite and her new set of mortal conquests. Apparently the world had changed since she’d last waltzed into the middle of a village and announced herself. But soon enough, we all adapted. We all started down the road of becoming the people we needed to be in order to survive.
In those three years, I visited Mac, Sprout and Perry often, occasionally bringing Iris along with me. The three boys moved into the castle soon enough, and Mac slipped seamlessly into his role as the new earl. He was a kind, fair leader, exactly as I’d hoped, and as time passed, my concern for them lessened. They’d be all right. They already were.
But despite that, I could never escape the guilt that surrounded me over Tuck’s death. Even though the boys had long since mourned her, I’d never fully recovered, and that was why it took so long before I finally made the trip I’d been dreading.
I approached Hades’s throne with my head bowed—partially to show respect, but mostly to avoid looking at Persephone’s empty throne. He hadn’t chosen a name yet, the last of us to do so, but there was no hurry. If he chose to remain Hades, his existence was secure. Even after the last mortal died and the rest of us faded, he would live forever. But if he didn’t fill Persephone’s throne, it would be a very, very long forever. And I didn’t like the reminder of what I’d done to him.
“Hermes,” he said in a deadened voice, and he paused. “James. Is there a problem with the souls you’ve transported?”
“No,” I said.
“Then why are you here?”
It’d been an unspoken rule between us that I went out of my way to avoid seeing him while doing my duties in the Underworld. Despite a few awkward run-ins, most of the time we managed to keep our distance. “I have a request.”
Silence hung between us, and at last Hades sighed. “You want to see the girl.”
“I—” I clamped my mouth shut. Of course he knew. “Yes. I won’t stay long. I just want to make sure she’s doing all right, and I have something to give her—”
“No.” The word echoed through the throne room, even though he hadn’t spoken above a quiet murmur. “I cannot allow you to see her.”
I gaped at him. Was he serious? “Why not? You’ve allowed others to visit mortals in the Underworld before. Why can’t I see Tuck?”
But even as I said it, I knew. This was his revenge for what I’d done with Persephone. All these thousands of years of dancing around each other, pretending to be neutral—now that she was gone, now that he thought I’d played an integral role in stealing her from him, he was stealing Tuck from me. An eye for an eye.
“You can’t do this,” I said. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“But you have.” He leaned forward, his silver eyes locked on me. “You are the one who wants to see her, not the other way around.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.” He straightened again. “I will not allow it, and if you try to sneak away to find her, I will have her moved around the Underworld as many times as I must to keep her from you. You will never see her again, not as long as I am King of the Underworld.”
He may as well have reached inside me and ripped out every piece of me that had ever mattered. I stood there, trembling, trying to think of a way around it, but I’d already apologized a thousand times over. I’d already done everything I could to make it up to him. His pride and his fury stopped him from moving beyond this, and now, because of that, we were both stuck.
My hands tightened into fists. I could hit him. I wanted to hit him more than I wanted to live, but I’d worked too hard to get back on even footing with the rest of the council. Any attack on Hades would only send me spiraling again.
I couldn’t do a damn thing, and he knew it.
“Then—could you give her something for me?” I said, slipping my shaking hand into my pocket. The moment my fingertips touched the pendant, however, Hades shook his head.
“No.”
Of course. Of bloody course. I raked my free hand through my hair, my vision growing red. “It isn’t my fault, what happened to Persephone,” I blurted. “She’s the one who made those decisions. I just pointed out the fact that she had a choice.”