The words set off a sting someplace deep inside her. She moved against him again so they stood side by side, looking down the highway.

“Cassandra thinks I’m doing it to save myself. And I am. I mean, I was. When Demeter told us we’d need to use humans to fight, I barely shrugged. I just wanted these feathers out of my throat. I just wanted Hermes to grow strong again. If humans could help that happen, then great.” She took a breath. “I’ve gotten really bad at looking after people.”

“It’ll all come back,” said Odysseus. “You took care of me well enough, back then.”

Athena snorted, remembering his epic ten-year quest for home. “You were almost drowned. I don’t know how many things tried to eat you.”

Odysseus shrugged. “Eh. It all turned out well. Besides, you made me a legend.”

“Stop this. You’re not yourself without your ego.”

They smiled at each other. Let the rest of them hate her. Let the whole world blame her for its end. It didn’t matter, as long as he knew who she really was.

* * *

Lux whined. The big German shepherd walked restlessly from Henry to Cassandra and back again, trying to fix whatever was making the room so tense and quiet. Henry finally grabbed his collar and told him to sit. Andie rubbed his fur absently.

“So I was in the Trojan War.”

“Well, not exactly.” Aidan leaned against Cassandra’s closed closet door. “You were Hector’s wife, and he was in the Trojan War. You mostly just watched from the wall.”

“Lame,” she whispered.

“Lame that you just watched, or lame that we were married?” Henry asked.

“Both.” They smirked at each other.

“Hey,” said Cassandra. “This isn’t a joke. There isn’t really time for the denial phase you’ve both got coming.”

“Nobody’s denying anything.” Andie squared her shoulders uncomfortably and brushed dog fur off her hands.

“But you are. You’ve got this look on your faces, telling your jokes, like there’s going to be an explanation soon. Like everything’s still normal and this has been the most elaborate April Fools’ joke ever.”

“It’s nowhere near April.”

“Screw you, Andie.”

Andie’s mouth dropped open. Henry pushed off the wall.

“Come on, Cassie. Give us a break. It’s a lot, you know? If you walked into the woods and saw a rabbit hiding colored eggs would you just buy it? Just like that?”

Cassandra ground her teeth. Unless that rabbit was about to turn and snap them like twigs, it wasn’t the same thing. She ran her hands over the stitching of her quilt. If there had been a loose thread, she would have grabbed it and torn the whole thing apart. The need to run grew in her belly; it grew stronger every minute.

“Look, I think we just need to take a step back.” Andie stood up and stretched. “Get a good night’s sleep. Everything will look better in the morning.”

“We don’t have until the morning. We’ve got to leave. Now.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cassandra wanted to hit her. “I’m talking about my vision. About gods knowing where we are, coming to Kincade to kill us.”

“You don’t know when she’s coming. Or if she really will come. You just saw someone tell her. ‘Kincade,’ you said. Just one word.”

“If we don’t leave now, we won’t get away. And they’ll burn this place down looking for us. If we go, they won’t waste time on Kincade. They’ll chase us instead, and by then we’ll be far enough ahead.”

Andie raised her chin. “Do you really know that? Or is this just a hunch? I’m not giving up my life over a hunch.”

Cassandra stared at her, eyes wide. She looked at Henry, but he didn’t know what to do either. They would stand there, paralyzed by indecision, until Hera and Poseidon were at their door.

“Athena said we stand and fight, or we run. And she was right about that at least. Hera will be here. Soon. We have got to get out.”

Andie tapped her foot and shook her head. It wasn’t getting through.

“Andie.” Aidan stepped close and took her by the shoulders. “Do you want to remember?” He looked into her eyes, and the heat in the room jumped, driving the thermostat up ten degrees. His hands moved from her shoulders and wrapped around her throat.

“Aidan, don’t.” Cassandra started to get off the bed. Lux whimpered and nosed his way behind Henry’s knees.