"Are we clear on the plan?" Hades asked, steepling his fingers.
I sighed and crossed my arms. "Pain & Panic will disguise themselves as kids, pretend to be trapped under a rock, and I'm to play the worried citizen."
His lips slid into a villainous grin. "Bingo. Pain! Panic!"
They appeared in a swirl of red and blue and saluted Hades.
"Put on your best innocent tike faces. We gotta sell this if it's going to work." Hades' eyes narrowed into slits.
They transformed into a skinny blonde-haired boy and a portly brown-haired one. A lump formed in my throat. They disappeared, off to play their part.
Hades floated closer to me, dragging the back of his knuckles over my cheek. When we'd first made this deal, his touch might've made me cringe, but now all it did was send shivers down my spine.
"Lure him there and then hide in the cave walls. Understand?"
I frowned. "Why? What are you going to do, Hades?"
He rested his hand on my shoulder, the look in his gaze bordering on concern. "Just do it. Capiche?"
"Yeah. Alright, fine." I stared up at him as if I could telepathically convince him to stop it all.
He patted my shoulder. "Good girl. See you in a bit."
He snapped his fingers, and I appeared in the middle of town. I wrapped my arms around myself, already feeling slimy for what I was about to do. Taking a deep breath, I cinched my brow and ran into the bustling crowds.
"Help! Someone, please help! There's been a terrible accident!" I frantically grabbed one patron's robes, followed by another.
It disturbed me how many people ignored me or straight up shoved me away. What if this really had been an accident? That the two boys trapped under the rock weren't demons? Humanity was losing its way.
"Meg?" Hercules' voice rang out.
I clapped a hand over my chest. "Oh, Wonder Boy. Thank Zeus. Please come quick. There are two boys trapped under a rock in the gorge. We have to hurry."
He gave a curt nod. "Lead the way."
I turned my back on him, pinching my eyes shut. Hades could throw anything at him, but I feared if Hercules could stop it.
As soon as we reached the gorge, Pain, and Panic, in children's voices, wailed from the crack in the rock, claiming they couldn't breathe.
Overkill, much?
Hercules ran over, slipped his hands under the rock, and after a few grunts, lifted the boulder that was a hundred times his size, and held it above his head.
Clearly, I underestimated exactly how strong he was.
"Jeepers, mister. You're really strong," Pain said as the two of them scrambled out.
"Just be careful next time, kids."
"Oh, we will," Panic chirped before the two of them ran off.
As Hercules hurled the boulder to the other side of the gorge, I remembered Hades' warning. Clutching the top part of my dress, I backed away and climbed into the cave walls, leaving Herc alone.
Hades sat on a nearby rock, leaning casually, waiting to watch the show. Pain and Panic arrived, turning into their normal demonic selves.
"Jeepers, mister?" Panic said to Pain through a lisp.
Pain pressed a hand to his collar bone. "I was going for innocence, just as the boss asked, remember?"
"Excellent performance boys, I was really moved, but Meg…my, my—somehow you keep surprising me." Hades cocked his head to one side.
I bit down on my lip, staring down into the gorge where Hercules was celebrating his heroism prematurely.
"Get outta there, you big lug, while you still can," I mumbled.
Hades appeared behind me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "This is why I told you to get out of there." He pointed.
A hydra even twice the size of the boulder Herc threw slithered from the darkness. My shoulders tensed, and Hades' grip tightened on them.
I have no idea how he did it. Maybe it was the blood of Zeus running through his veins. Or something sappy like courage. But he defeated the hydra.
To say Hades was pissed would've been a gross understatement. For the next three weeks, I, Pain, and Panic sat around watching Hades send creature after creature to fight Hercules, and not one of them were able to beat him.
Hades growled, sending orange bursts of flame in every direction. "I can't believe this guy. I throw everything at him, and it doesn't even—"
The sound of Pain's feet squeaking interrupted his tantrum.
Pain had on a pair of Hercules sandals.
"What. Are. Those?"
Pain swiveled his feet. "Um. I don't know. I thought they were kind of—dashing?"
Hades closed his eyes and rubbed his temple, the other fist at his side shaking uncontrollably.
Leaping up, I slipped in between Pain and Hades, knowing Hades was about to explode.
"Hey, at least he's wearing shoes, right?" I rested a hand on Hades' forearm. "Besides, you do realize this is all your fault?"
Hades' eyes flew open. "Excuse me?"
"All of this fame? Merchandise? Every cart in the marketplace whispering about the heroic Hercules? None of it would be happening if it weren't for you giving him a reason to be heroic."
He stared down at me, and his face softened, turning into an expression I'd come to associate with devious planning.
"Face it, Hades. He's hitting every curve you throw at him."
He gave a toothy grin, pulling me against him and trailing his finger from my shoulder blades to my lower back. "Or maybe…I haven't been throwing the right curves at him."
"No. Please."
He traced his fingers down my arm, his eyes growing heavy. "He's gotta have a weakness, my sweet. Everyone, gods included, has a weakness."
A breath hitched in my throat.
"I'm through playing your little flirt."
His hand splayed across my back, pulling me in tighter. "I think you'll change your mind when you hear my offer."
My heart raced.
"You give me the key to bringing down Wonder Boy, and I'll give you the one thing you crave the most in the entire cosmos." He lowered his mouth, lips pressing against my ear. "Your freedom."
My eyelashes beat against his cheek. "This is that important to you?"
He leaned back, blinking rapidly. "Not the reaction I was expecting."
"Hercules." I pushed away from him. "Your Titan plan. All of it is so important to you over some petty dispute with Zeus that you'd give me up?"
Hades' lips parted, and he stared at me wide-eyed.
"Forget it. Fine. I do this last task for you, and then we're done here. No backing out. That's what you want?"
He didn't answer.
"Besides…this'll give me a chance to spend some…quality time with him." I swayed my hips and flashed as flirty of a smile as I could muster.
Hades' hands balled into fists.
I sauntered over to him, flicking my hair in his face. "I might as well get to have a little fun in the process, right? All the other men you had me wine and dine for you were disgusting oafs, but Wonder Boy? Mm. Muscles, young, nice, and super super strong."
"Strength is a dime a dozen amongst the gods. It's a given. He ain't special."
I shrugged, pressing my back against his arm and pouting at him over my shoulder. "All of Greece seems to think otherwise. Thanks to you."
He whirled me around to face him. "Get the information. I don't care how you do it."
"You sure?" I walked my fingers up his chest. "Even if I have to, oh, I don't know, sleep with him?"
His lip twitched, and his nostrils flared. "Any. Way. Possible."
I raised on the balls of my feet, bringing our faces inches apart. "Suit yourself…Hayd."
His eyes softened, but he let me go.
I kept smiling until my back was to him, and it faded into a frown. There was no way I could be feeling like this. Love the god of the Underworld? It seemed suicidal.