“I wouldn’t even mind being fired, but who will hire me now?” Sybil said, her voice desolate. “I just don’t know what to do. I can’t go home. My mother and father disowned me when I applied for the College of the Divine.”

“You can work with me,” Lexa offered, looking at Persephone as if to say, can’t she?

“I’ll ask Hades,” Persephone promised. “I’m sure they can use more help at the foundation.”

“And you can stay with us,” Lexa added. “Until you are on your feet again.”

Sybil looked skeptical. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

Lexa scoffed. “You would not be an inconvenience. You can keep me company while Persephone’s in the Underworld. Hell, you can probably have her room. It’s not like she’s here most nights anyway.”

Persephone gave Lexa a playful push and Sybil laughed. “I don’t want your room.”

“You might as well crash there. Lexa’s not wrong.”

“Of course, I’m not wrong. If I was sleeping with Hades, I wouldn’t be in my room, either.”

Persephone reached for a pillow and smacked Lexa.

It was the wrong thing to do.

Lexa shrieked like a banshee and reached for a cushion swinging wildly. Persephone dodged the blow, which left Sybil to take the brunt of it.

Lexa dropped the pillow.

“Oh, my gods, Sybil, I am so sorry—”

But Sybil took up a pillow, too, and smashed it into the side of Lexa’s face.

It wasn’t long before the three were locked in battle, chasing one another around the living room, delivering and taking hits until they collapsed in a heap on the couch, breathless and giggling.

Even Sybil seemed to be enjoying herself, the last few hours of her life momentarily forgotten. She sighed and said, “I wish all days were this happy.”

“They will be,” said Lexa. “You live with us now.”

By the time the pillows were returned to their place, the pizza had arrived. The delivery guy apologized profusely and explained that traffic had been backed up due to protests.

“Protests?” Persephone asked.

“It’s the Impious,” he said. “Protesting the upcoming Panhellenic Games.”

“Oh.”

The Impious were a group of mortals who rejected the gods, choosing fairness, freewill, and freedom over worship and sacrifice. Persephone wasn’t all that surprised that they’d showed up to protest the Games, but it was kind of unexpected, given that the Impious had kept a low profile for the last few years. She really hoped they stuck to peaceful protesting and didn’t escalate—a lot of people would be out and about for the festivities—Persephone, Lexa, and Sybil included.

The girl’s settled down to finish their movie, ate pizza, and kept their distance from topics that involved Apollo, though that didn’t keep Persephone from trying to figure out how to help Sybil.