Theo sat with his back against a tree for the next two hours, watching five mostly immortal Olympian gods cover up a crime scene. First Hermes had dashed off into the woods. Minutes later, he returned, his body blurring with speed before he came to an easy halt, casually brushing a few leaves from his impeccable linen suit and holding a shovel no doubt illegally procured from a park ranger’s storage shed. Dionysus gave him a sardonic golf clap upon his return. Theo was finding it surprisingly easy to think of his old roommate as the Wine Giver. It made more sense than many of Dennis’s other exploits.
Between the shovel and Hippolyta’s strong claws, it didn’t take them long to dig a ditch deep in the woods. They laid Everett’s body—Orion’s body—carefully inside. Hephaestus the Smith did something uncanny with a match and a jar of black goo that made the corpse burn nearly smokelessly. At Selene’s direction—and with a little help from Dionysus, God of Wild Vines—they made the entire area look untouched and natural once again. Hermes and Selene, with their experience on the police force, inspected the cave and wiped any prints that would indicate someone other than the professors and Everett had been there. They removed the gold and silver arrows and Orion’s bronze sword, but left the professors’ knives. Before they burned the corpse, they pressed Orion’s fingers against the knives’ handles. Theo would explain that the professors had taken him to the cave, but he’d managed to escape before the ritual began. The cops would blame Everett Halloran, the mysteriously missing classicist, for killing his colleagues as part of their cult. That much is true, anyway, Theo thought. Everett’s the one who really killed them, with his flattery and his promises. They were decent men once. Or at least, they weren’t evil. Soon, I’ll mourn them all. But right now, I’m just glad it’s over.
Theo felt a little lame for not helping with all the burning and digging, but he had just died and been brought back to life. And they were gods, after all.
Finally, as the Olympians placed the final shrubs and branches on Orion’s grave, the sky grew light. Now Selene sat beside him, a scant two feet away, her head thrown back against the trunk of a neighboring tree, her eyes ringed in dark circles. New lines creased her forehead. She wouldn’t look at Theo.
“It’s almost dawn,” Theo said quietly. “The park crew will be here soon.”
She nodded wearily.
“Artemis?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?” he asked a little giddily. “Isn’t that your name?” It wasn’t every day that Olympians stepped out of myth to stand beside him. It would mean reworking all his lectures on the “real” meaning of myths, but he’d deal with the philosophical ramifications later. For now, he might as well just enjoy it.
“That’s the name of a goddess,” Selene murmured. “I haven’t been a goddess in a long time. Right now, I barely feel human.” She raised a hand to the new streak of white in her black hair.
“You feel exhausted, and overwhelmed, and like you can barely stand?”
“Well, that’s exactly what being human feels like most of the time,” he said with a laugh.
“I hate it.”
“You’d rather have let Orion turn you back into a goddess?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
She finally met his eyes. “No. You knew, didn’t you, that I hadn’t really gone back to him?”
“I knew you weren’t the type of woman to forgive someone who’d killed so many innocent people. And I’d begun to suspect, although I still couldn’t believe it, that you weren’t really an ordinary woman at all.”
“What gave me away?” A hint of a smile brushed her lips.
“Hmmm. The talking to mice? Breaking steel handcuffs? Bringing me back from the dead? Something like that.”
“I don’t think I’ll be performing many supernatural feats again anytime soon. That was my last hurrah for a while. Maybe forever.”
He looked again at the white in her hair, the new creases around her mouth. “It weakened you to bring me back, didn’t it? Without the sacrifice…”
“You died. I think we’re even.”
He laughed at her rueful smirk. If she can smile, even when her entire future is in doubt, then I may have finally met my match.
“In the cave…” he began. She looked away from him, but he pressed on. “You said you wanted me to kiss you.”
“I kissed you before, don’t you remember?”
“Doesn’t count. I was almost dead, so I couldn’t really enjoy it.”
Her hands were shaking. “I’ve been lying to you all this time.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have believed the truth, so I can’t blame you.”
“I don’t even know what the truth is anymore. I’m not a goddess. I’m not quite human. I’ve lived forever and sometimes still feel like a child.”
“I know enough. I know you’d do anything to help a friend. I know you’re brave and wild and lovely, and that you saw things in me I didn’t know were there.”
“Don’t you see how dangerous I am?” She gestured to the cave. “Look what happened to the last man I was with.”
“I think I can learn from his mistakes. You know… don’t become a serial killer. Don’t piss off your twin brother. Don’t try to become immortal. I’m a quick study.”
Selene started laughing. That beautiful, embarrassing honk, mixed with equal parts tears.
“Hey, Relentless One, you haven’t answered my question.”
She turned and gazed at him. Her silver eyes could still strike him speechless. Taking his face in her hands, she ran a thumb across his lips. Then she kissed him very lightly. “How’s that for an answer?”
“Almost perfect.”
“Almost?” She frowned.
He wrapped her in his arms and drew her close, ignoring the dull ache of the wound in his chest, and kissed her with all the passion and relief of a hero finally returned home.