Josie giggled as Hercules yanked open the back passenger door. The SUV shook and groaned under his sudden weight.

“You aren’t going to be laughing in an hour,” I warned her.

Prowling around to the back of the SUV, Solos tossed his bag in. “You’re lucky I like you.”

I closed the rear door. If I was going to have to deal with Herc-The-Dickface, I wasn’t going to suffer alone. Oh no, my kind of misery demanded company.

Alex darted over to her father as I walked around to the passenger side of the SUV and opened the door for Josie, who already had her nose buried in her e-reader. She barely looked up as she murmured her thanks. Shutting the door, I turned and caught Aiden’s gaze.

He wasn’t exactly smiling. That damn look was on his face, one I’d seen a dozen times, usually back then, before Ares. Before Alex Awakened on her eighteenth birthday. The same look he gave me whenever he saw me with Alex.

Like he trusted me as much as he did a daimon starved for aether. Didn’t blame him either. He wasn’t like his brother, who seemed to see puppies spewing rainbows in everyone. He wasn’t like Josie, who didn’t know me back then. Who only knew the Seth she wanted me to be.

He stared at me like he knew I was wearing a mask and he was waiting for it to shatter, revealing what truly existed underneath.

Is it possible that Alex is still the God Killer?

What an odd question for Josie to ask. What an odd thing for me to think about right now.

Aiden pivoted around, hand clenching the car keys as I closed the door behind Josie. Solos got in the back, and once I was behind the wheel I pushed Aiden out of my thoughts. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the disposable phone we’d gotten the night before. I placed it in the cup holder.

Behind me, Hercules lurched forward, grasping the back of my seat. “You know, this is the first time I’ve been in a SUV. Apollo just kept popping me around every place, so please don’t ruin my first experience with less than stellar driving.”

I clenched the steering wheel.

“You haven’t been in the mortal realm in a while, have you?” Solos asked.

“No, but I’ve been watching a lot of TV and movies. I know all about California,” he explained sagely. “I watched all the episodes of the old and new Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, and Laguna Beach.”

This guy was not for real.

I glanced over at Josie. Her lips were pressed together as she stared down. A second passed and she peeked up. Her eyes danced with amusement.

Solos sighed. “This is going to be so much fun.”