I groaned and buried my face in my hands. The frame slipped into my lap. “It’s a nightmare.”
“I mean, we could sabotage it. I can think of five hexes right now.”
My hands fell to my side. “If only, but I swore to my father I wouldn’t and that I wouldn’t let you.” I smirked.
“I still could. You don’t have to have anything to do with it.”
“I appreciate it more than you know, but if I don’t find love, I can’t live in this world. And there are always unnamed consequences when one fails or refuses to fulfill a quest.”
Cassie swallowed hard. “True. Once Poseidon sent my cousin Dexter on a quest to find a new species of animal life in the ocean just because he made some crack about Poseidon’s trident. Something crude about its size compensating for his lack of virility. When Dexter came up empty-handed, Poseidon turned him into a clam until he produced the perfect pearl.”
I blinked. What? That was so disturbing. The gods were so full of themselves. I shuddered to think what Zeus would do to me. Maybe turn me into clam chowder and consume me with a side of ambrosia bread?
He obviously wasn’t as grandfatherly as I’d thought he was. If he were, he wouldn’t be sending me on this vile quest. Why not send me on a singles cruise? Or sign me up for a matchmaking app? Or literally anything that didn’t involve Roman Archer and televised humiliation?
“Being a clam doesn’t sound half bad right now.” I squeezed my eyes shut as if I could hide from the horror before me. “It’s better than having to fill out theLove Unscriptedapplication. Hestia went over some of the questions with me in her office. They were absurd. Why do they need to knowmy love language? I don’t even know if I have one. And my biggest relationship fear is being in a relationship.”
I popped my eyes open to find Cassie grinning way too big. “And, I have to send in head and full-body shots, and a video audition,” I said dramatically.
Cassie bit her lip and surveyed me from head to toe. From my dingy-colored hair made purposely limp to my black muumuu that covered everything. “Please tell me, for the love of the Titans, that you’re going to . . . well . . . look more like a goddess.”
I sighed and slumped deeper into the couch. I’d been thinking about this ever since I left Hestia’s office. Hestia and Father had both subtly suggested that I might want to consider sprucing up my wardrobe and maybe ditching the glasses. What did Hestia say? Quit hiding the windows to my beautiful soul.
I wasn’t sure I had a beautiful soul anymore. Once upon a time, I believed I did.
“I don’t want someone to fall in love with me because of how I look. It seems unfair.”
Cassie’s brow scrunched. “Is that why you’ve been hiding behind your clothes all these years? Huh. I thought it was because you just hated life.” She paused and then laughed. “Your reasoning is kind of noble. Albeit ridiculous.”
“Why is it ridiculous?” I asked, trying not to bristle.
She reached over and took off my glasses, her eyes locking on to mine. The corners of her lips twitched, as if she were trying to hold back the truth with her grin. “For one, being beautiful isn’t a crime. And just because someone falls in love with you, doesn’t mean you have to fall for them. Theright guy will fall in love with you not because of how you look but because of who you are.”
She waved a hand over me. The muumuu, the messy hair, the emotional armor. “Is this who you really are?”
I looked up and away from her gaze. “I don’t know who I am,” I whispered.
Cassie lifted the framed photo off my lap and shoved it in my face. “I think you owe it to this girl to find out.”
“What if that girl was a lie?”
“Demi,” she said gently. “She wasn’t.”
“How do you know?” I begged, voice cracking.
“Because you were my hero growing up.”
“I was?” The words came out jagged.
“Yes. My sisters and I used to watch you compete on TV. You made it look so easy, so naturally we had to try to replicate your floor routines.”
I was stunned and honored. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
She shrugged. “You seemed to want to forget that girl. And I have my own scary reputation to live up to.” She cackled evilly. “And I didn’t want you to think you had a sycophant working for you. Because you don’t. I will still hex anyone I please at any time.”
I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I threw my arms around Cassie and hugged the life out of her.
She was so taken aback that at first, she was rigid. But it didn’t take long before she mirrored the embrace.
