I make a face. “There’s a reason I built the team I did. I’m good at managing and interpreting information, but I would have been much better suited to be Hephaestus. The spy-work part of the job doesn’t come naturally to me. Hector tried to teach me to pick locks, but I’m terrible at it. I can get in…eventually, but time is of the essence right now.” I clear my throat. “And I don’t actually kick down doors.”
“From how worried about it you were yesterday, I would have thought it was just as common an occurrence as lock picking.”
Embarrassment heats my skin. “Your point is noted.”
“Glad to hear it.” She reaches the last door in the hallway and tries the doorknob. It twists in her hand and the door creaks open. Cassandra blinks. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“The odds weren’t in our favor.”
We share a glance. “This feels like a trap,” she says.
“I can’t argue that.”
“Well, after you.” She opens the door and steps back to allow me to precede her. Inside the room is bathed in shadows, thick curtains drawn over the windows. It’s about the same size as our guest room downstairs, and I can make out the shape of a canopied bed, dresser, and two nightstands on either side of the bed. I feel around for a light and finally flick the switch. Disappointment sours my stomach.
Everywhere I look is evidence of Minos’s daughter. The decor of the room leans toward frothy and dainty: the canopy made of lace, the comforter looking like some kind of antique bridal style, and even the rug beneath the bed seeming to be made of ruffles.
This is not Minos’s room, and it certainly doesn’t belong to the Minotaur or Theseus. I frown. “Well, this was a waste of time.” It’s likely that Minos’s sons have some knowledge of his plan, but I’m not certain Ariadne does. I know better than to take things at face value, but Ariadne seems to be exactly what she presents: a lovely woman who has resigned herself to being a pawn for Minos on the marriage mart.
“You don’t know that.”
I look around again. “I suppose this could belong to the other woman in Minos’s household. Her name is Pandora.” She’s not a foster like the two men, but she came with them to Olympus all the same. “It’s unlikely either she or Ariadne have valuable information.” It’s even less likely when the unlocked door is taken into account. Minos hasn’t misstepped yet. It’s unlikely this is the exception to the rule.
“Don’t be so rash.” Cassandra slips past me. Her breasts brush my arm as she does, and I have to swallow past a physical response to her nearness. Ishouldbe focusing on the mission, on finding as much information as possible with the time allotted us, but suddenly all I can think about is whether she’s as bare under that dress as she was last night. I actually clench my fists to keep from reaching for her instead of using this opportunity to search the room as she’s begun to.
The hold this woman has on me.I swallow hard and follow her into the bedroom.
It takes three minutes of rifling through the dresser, feeling like the worst kind of creep, before I straighten. “There’s nothing here.” What did I expect, though? Minos is definitely keeping the information I need in his study. All the rest of this searching is only to ensure we’re not missing something while we figure out a way into that locked room. Frustration surges and bubbles forth before I can call it back. “Fuck,” I breathe.
“Language.” She tuts. She doesn’t look at me, flipping through a notebook left on the dresser. “Keep looking. If this is the only room we can get into this afternoon, then we need to ensure we search it fully.” She carefully sets the notebook back down exactly where she found it.
“Minos doesn’t seem to be the most forward-thinking feminist individual in existence,” I finally say. “It’s not entirely surprising that his daughter and her friend don’t have useful information in their rooms.”
“I suppose.” She plants her hands on her hips and looks around the room. “We’re missing something. I’m certain of it.” Cassandra walks to the bookshelf tucked against the wall next to the closet and starts tugging on the books.
I recognize what she’s up to immediately. “You really think that there are secret passageways in this house, don’t you?”
“It’s all but guaranteed, considering.” She narrows her eyes at the full-length mirror, positioned against the opposite wall, and circles the bed to come and stand before it. “It would be really convenient to be able to find one of those right about now.”
She’s not wrong, but we haven’t been lucky to date, and I don’t expect that to start now. “There’s little convenient about reality, Cassandra. You know that as well as anyone.”
“Yeah, I suppose I do.” She presses her hands around the ornate gilded frame that surrounds the mirror. I find myself holding my breath, even though I know better. As she said earlier, some things occur far more often in fiction than in reality. This is not the part of the story where the frame clicks and gives way. Yet I half expect it to happen. When it doesn’t, we both let out a sound of disappointment.
I drag my hand through my hair. “Damn. I thought that might actually work.”
“Me too.” She sighs and tucks her hair behind her ears. “How embarrassing.”
21
Cassandra
I hadn’t honestly expected the mirror to contain secrets. It’s too obvious. I bet Hermes put this mirror in here specifically to make people think that theremightbe something hidden behind it. It’s exactly the kind of joke she’d find so amusing. I’m not entirely sure she’s wrong, because we’re the fools standing here, pawing at the mirror frame and hoping for a miracle.
I turn to Apollo, disappointment taking root. He’s right. This was a dead end, a wasted opportunity. When I first agreed to Zeus’s bargain, a week felt like an eternity. Now, I’m worried it won’t be long enough. “Well, it was worth a shot.”
For the first time, I wish I actuallyhadlearned to pick locks. Hermes offered to teach me once long ago, a fun little game while she distracted me, but she was far too good at distraction for me to get close to picking up the skill. I should have asked her to teach me properly. She would have said yes. It would have amused her greatly to do it. But I didn’t. It honestly didn’t even occur to me at the time. Lock picking is something out of thrillers and spy movies. It’s fiction. When would I ever need that in real life?
Nowis the answer.