“I’ve had enough of this.” Athena shoved off the countertop hard enough to rattle the cupboards. “Tell me,” she said. Hermes and Andie scattered from her path, and Henry, too. Even Cassandra stood and backed off a few steps. With stony focus, Athena upended their empty chairs and dashed them against the walls. She flipped the table from under Odysseus’ arms, and he stood to meet her nose to nose. The room held its collective breath. She would never hurt him. But she made a damn good show of it.
“No more special treatment, hero,” she said. “I asked nicely. I won’t do it twice.”
“Do what you have to do, love,” he said softly. “I’ll tell you I’m sorry as many times as you like. That I didn’t mean for us to be here, like this.” He gestured subtly toward Calypso, but not so subtly that Calypso didn’t notice, and her face fell. It wasn’t helping, either. If anything, it made Athena angrier.
“Just tell her,” Hermes said, a little nervously. “She’ll get her way in the end.”
“Can’t do that,” said Odysseus.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” said Henry. “He’s just one person.”
“That’s what everyone says,” Hermes replied. “Until their city burns. That’s what you said, Hector. That’s probably what you thought, right until he killed you.”
Henry set his jaw. “Is that really how it was? They said Hector was the best in all of Troy.”
“The best,” Hermes agreed. “And Achilles killed you without breaking a sweat.”
“Everyone shut up,” Athena shouted. She wrapped her fist around Odysseus’ shirt, to shove him or throw him. “Tell me where he is.”
“Let go,” Calypso said. She stood calmly and smoothed her clothes. “You don’t need to harm Odysseus. I’ll tell you where he is.”
“Cally, don’t,” Odysseus started, but Athena shushed him with a jerk of her head.
“How do you know where he is?” she asked.
“I know because I was there, with Ody. Really, I am the one who hid him.”
Athena dropped Odysseus like a hot biscuit and stared at Calypso.
“Come with me.”
Odysseus almost followed them into the backyard, but there was little point. Beans were spilling. He swore and stalked past Cassandra.
“Where are you going?”
“Plan B.”
Cassandra, Andie, Henry, and Hermes stood, half of them trying to hear what was being said in the yard and the other half listening to Odysseus ransack his bedroom. It didn’t take long for Athena and Calypso to come back in. Athena didn’t say a word to anyone, and she was up the stairs in a flash.
“She’ll be after him soon,” said Hermes. “I’ll stay with the lot of you. Not that I can do much against Ares and his wolves besides throw you on my back and run.”
“We should think about leaving Kincade,” Cassandra said.
“Because it worked so well last time?” Andie asked. “No. If we’re going to get attacked, home ice advantage sounds pretty good to me.”
“If we go, they might follow us,” said Cassandra.
“And what then? We try to hide?”
“Hiding from gods,” Henry muttered. “That doesn’t feel possible.”
“I don’t understand,” said Calypso, in her soft, musical voice. “If you run, they will find you. People will die. People you know, or people you don’t. Is one more important than the other?”
Cassandra crossed her arms. “Well, yeah. Sort of.”
“I don’t want to run, Cassie,” Henry said. “I can’t give up everything.”
“Say that the next time there’s a wolf on your throat,” she said, and walked out after Odysseus. “Or on Mom and Dad’s throats.”
* * *
Cassandra peered into Odysseus’ room. The room he shared now with Calypso? It was impossible to tell. Clothes hung out of halfway open drawers and everything looked like a t-shirt. She certainly didn’t see anything frilly, or lacy, or bralike. But maybe Calypso packed light. And she was probably cleaner and more organized, and didn’t leave everything in wrinkled piles on the floor.
“So, do you always have a Plan B?” she asked.
“Always,” he said. His duffel was open on the bed, and he stuffed clothes in it from the closet, drawers, and floor. “But they suck. I never need to use them. My Plan A’s usually work.”