Volcanoes (22 page)

Maybe one day things would calm down and I'd be able to think about getting into a relationship with a nice young boy (or old demi-go
d) and we'd ride off together into the sunset. Not right now, though.

My heart squeezed when I said, "Because you know I have absolutely no interest in that right now." It wasn
’
t true and my heart knew it for the lie that it was.

"So you're sticking it ou
t with Captain Awesome." It wasn't a question. He was making a statement and I could hear the tinges of jealousy and frustration in those words.

I threw my hands up and yelled, "I never said that! I said that I wasn't ready! Why can't you just take a fuck
ing breath before you accuse, berate or get pissed off at me for 'hurting your feelings' you dick?" I made the bunny eared quotes there and his face mottled with anger.

"Whatever. Justify it all you want, but you don't have to lie to me."

"Oh my God!" He
drove me crazy. It wasn't the kind of crazy I had with Drew where I was all longing and bitter. It was a goddamned emotional rollercoaster with this man where I couldn't tell whether he loved or hated me - or just wanted to throw me down on the ground and
have his dirty way with me.

"If you're not going to be a help, get the fuck out."

He huffed and walked away. I waited a few minutes to see if he'd gone for good, then rested my head against the bars. They were warm. I hadn't noticed how warm they were bef
ore.

A loud clank startled me and I jumped away from the bars. I looked up and what appeared to be a bolt cutter was lying across the top of the bars. Heph stood over the pit with his hands on his hips.

"Think that will help?"

I studied the large cutters
above me. "It couldn't hurt. Let me see if I can get it through the bars."

He smacked his forehead. "I'm a gods damned idiot. Hold on."

He closed his eyes and jumped into the pit landing with a large ruckus on the top of the cage. "I'm stronger than you
are. I'll have an easier time getting through these."

"Where did you find them?"

"Your garden shed."

"Oh," I said, nodding appreciatively. I never would have thought to look in there. Hell, I hadn
’
t even known I
had
a pair of bolt cutters.

He bent over a
nd wedged the cutters around a bar and pushed the handles together. The metal groaned under the pressure but didn't budge.

"Maybe you can get some leverage on the hinges on the top and snap them off?"

He nodded and looked at me with appreciation. "There's
sometimes a brain in that pretty head. I'm impressed."

I shrugged. "Hey, it's gotta be for more than holding up all of my hair, right?"

He snorted and went to work on the hinges.  "I've seen your hair lately. There isn't much left to speak of."

"Har. You'
re a funny guy."

That was it? The argument was over? We were going to act like it hadn't happened? Business as usual?  I won't
lie;
I wanted desperately to renew the fight. I was full of piss and vinegar and Hephaestus had become my favorite sparring partn
er. Unfortunately, I now realized that it wasn't just harmless words being thrown back and forth. Feelings were involved on both sides and I had to be more careful with my cuts.

I stood back, just in case metal went flying. However after five more minutes
he threw the cutters out of the pit and snorted with disgust. "I don't know what in all the Hells he used to create this cage, but it's not going to open up with those crappy things. I could use a blow torch…
Or my forge," he said as an afterthought.

"We
ll you don't have either of those," I responded calmly.

"Can't you just imagine them in, or whatever it is you're doing here?"

"I could, but don't you think that Hypnos would have thought of that too? This is going to be made of something that won't be af
fected by either the powers he knows I have or anything I can materialize."

"I see." He sighed and hefted himself out of the pit. "Are you hungry?"

I smiled at him. "No. I'm not hungry. Are you?"

"I'm always hungry. I do a lot of physical work," he shrugge
d. "Burns a lot of energy."

"Would you like me to materialize food for you?"

He shrugged again with a moue of disappointment. "Probably wouldn't be satisfying. I feel like I'm awake and I need awake food."

I rolled my eyes. "Well then wake up for fuck's sa
ke and let me be so I can get out of here before Hypnos gets back. It could be any minute now."

"So you
’
re saying you don't need me." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," I gritted out. "I'm saying I don't need you. If I knew how to pop you out the way I popped y
ou in, you'd be gone already."

"You don't have to be a bitch, Brat."

"You don't have to be a
—
" I didn't get to finish my sentence because he'd disappeared.

Fine, I wouldn't be able to let go of this argument but it could wait until after I was out of this
cage. Then I could dwell and stew and stay pissed until we could get it resolved.

The problem was that I didn't know what would resolve this tension between us.

"Sex," my mother called out. "You resolve it with sex.  The tension between you two is so th
ick I could cut it with a knife."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not just jumping into bed with someone because there's tension. I have enough bullshit in my life without adding that to it. What are you doing here?"

"Hell if I know. I was just falling asleep and s
uddenly here I am."

"Hmm, I seem to be pulling random people into this dream with me. Know a way to get me out of an impenetrable cage?"

"Nope, I sure don't. But you know what I can tell you?"

"What?"

"This is your dream baby. You can do whatever you want
in this world. If you're powerful enough in your dreams to pull my conscience into yours, you can get out of that cage. You just don't want to."

"I'm calling bullshit. I certainly do not want to be trapped in this cage."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? That'
s a stupid question. Who wants to be trapped in a cage, waiting for someone who wants to kill them to return? That's just psychotic.  I may be crazy from time to time but I am certainly NOT psychotic."

"I agree, you are not psychotic, but this is your worl
d, Grace. Why haven't you gotten out of the cage yet?"

That was a really damned good question but I was being defensive so I snapped. "People won't leave me alone long enough to think about how to do it!"

That just earned me an arch look.

"Maybe I'm afrai
d that if I escape this cage, Hypnos will do even worse things to the people I love."

There. I'd said it. I was afraid that if I didn't do exactly what he wanted me to do, he'd hurt everyone and wouldn't stop til the entire population of Olympus was decima
ted. "Mom, when did it become so personal with him?"

"The only person who knows that answer is Hypnos, dear. You should ask him when he gets here."

I looked up with panic. "What do you mean
‘
gets here
’
?"

"He's here. Send me away quickly before he gets me t
oo."

"I don't know how to do that," I hissed.

"Shit."

I gasped. Did my mother, the Huntress Diana just swear? "Go back to sleep, Diana." I said softly.

She disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against the bars. They were so warm. Why were
they so warm? What would make them break? I tried to quickly come up with something
–
anything that would make hot metal brittle.

I could have smacked myself when I realized the answer. Actually, I wanged my head against the bars a few times in self-flag
ellation.

Hot metal is most susceptible to cold water. So, if I could freeze the bars, they would probably break. But I didn't know how to get water, much less cold water.

Then it was too late. "Did you miss me while I was gone?"

"No, not really," I said
while nonchalantly inspecting my nails.

"I tell myself before I engage you in conversation that I'm not going to let your smart mouth anger me, but every single time, I fail. You make me want to kill you fast - so I don't have to listen to you anymore -
and slow, so I can watch you writhe in pain for all of the smart assed things you've said to me."

"Kinda sounds like you have a crush on me." I looked up to see his reaction before continuing. "Frankly, I can't understand why you have such a hard-on for me
. It can't be what Persephone said about me killing you. What is it, lover? You can tell me. I'm a good listener."

His face was darkening by the second, becoming even more red. If he didn't get himself under control, he was going to give himself a stroke.
On the bright side, if he killed himself I wasn't going to have to worry about him anymore. That definitely lightened my mood.

"I'm not going to let you bait me." He was trying so hard to stay calm.

"It's okay, I wouldn't masturbate you anyway," I said,
lowering my eyes and hiding the grin threatening to spread across my face. I pretended to be busy staring at the roots around the cage. I could see an earthworm stuck half out of the dirt, trying to wiggle its way back into the safety of the earth. I reac
h
ed a hand through the bars and touched the area around the wiggling flesh, parting the dirt so it could inch its way back in.

I hadn't even remembered that I had Earth powers. Duh. I should have whacked myself against the bars a few times for how bloody i
diotic I was.

Closing my eyes I called down to the dirt beneath the cage and envisioned it raising me to ground level. The cage began to rise and I looked up to see Hypnos stumbling back out of the way.

When we were face to face, I smirked at him and gav
e him the 'now what?' eyebrow.

He sputtered, "I was told this cage would prevent you from using your powers. You're not even supposed to
have
powers since you're in my realm." I don't think he was supposed to say that because he seemed to get more fluster
ed.

I frowned.  What did he mean I was in his realm? This was my dream, wasn't it?  Moreover, where was the scary motherfucker who
’
d faced me outside of my house? Where was the man who'd cleaned Drew's clock and nearly killed him
–
would have if my mother
hadn't intervened.

I opened my mouth to speak, then thought better of it.

"What?" he spat at me.

"I was just wondering where the scary Hypnos went. Because right now, you're just acting like a petulant child. As a matter of fact, I can't believe you lea
d the cause to free your mother because frankly, you're an idiot."

He rushed the cage and shoved his hand through the bars to get at me. He shouldn't have done that.

I grabbed his wrist and jerked him forward, slamming his face into the cage. I did it aga
in for good measure, then bent the arm back against the elbow socket and heard the sickening popping noise as it gave. He screamed and tried to pull back but each tug made the excruciating pain in his arm throb even harder.

I pulled on his arm again and le
aned forward. "You should have done your homework better, Hypnos. I may not seem smart or put together, but I am the meanest fucking bitch on the block when you corner me. You should have had a heart to heart talk with Brandon's new wife before coming aft
e
r me. You would have been better prepared."

I reached through the bars and pulled him forward by his shirt collar so that we were almost nose to nose. "Now," I punctuated the word by slamming his face into the bars again. His nose burst and sprayed blood a
t my face. I ignored the ick factor and stayed with the badassery character I had going on. "You will tell me where you are holding Rose. Then you're going to tell me why you've made this little war against me personal."

I could tell he was trying to dissi
pate because he was becoming more distraught with each passing second. "You can't go. Guess what I learned today?" I leaned forward and whispered, "I'm in control here. You should have pulled me into your own dream instead of invading mine, asshole. You'r
e
staying here until you answer my questions."

He smiled smugly at me and replied, "But I did pull you into my dream. You didn't expect that, did you? You just think you have power, Grace. You're less than the worm you just pushed back into the dirt. Go ahe
ad with your delusions, dear.  I can keep this up all night."