Namely that someone was Alex, who was sitting on the leather couch, squeezed in between Aiden and her father. Deacon was perched on the arm, beside Aiden, and Luke was sitting on the ottoman. Solos was leaning against the wall, grinning. Everyone was happy.

Not that I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to be in this room with them, so I stayed by the window, watching the Guards escort pures and halfs back and forth. But my attention kept wandering back to who was sitting on the couch. Out on the quad, I’d managed to ignore it, but I couldn’t seem to stop it now. Every fiber of my being was aware of potent aether emanating from the two demigods, but it was more than that. The long-dormant cord was thrumming to life, and I was doing my best to—

“Why do you keep staring at me?”

Realizing I was, in fact, staring at Alex, I blinked. Awkward.

Aiden leaned against the cushion on the couch, tossing his arm along the back. “Good question.”

I shot him a bland look before focusing on her. “You look like . . . like you did when we first met.”

“I do, right?” She lifted her hair in both hands and wiggled the ends. The last time I’d seen her, her hair was much shorter. Ares had gotten hold of it, lopping it off with a knife. “Apparently when you die, you get doused with Scar Begone or something.”

Jaw working, I looked away from her. When you die . . .

“Not that she really died,” Aiden intervened quickly, always the mediator. “But when you enter Tartarus the correct way, you’re kind of . . .”

“Reassembled?” Alex said with a laugh. “Caleb is the same way. So are Olivia and Lea.”

The names of those who had perished echoed in my skull.

“How are they doing?” Luke asked.

“Great. Caleb and Olivia are together, just like they were, um . . . here. Topside. And we’ve played Mario Kart with Persephone a couple of times.”

Alexander’s brows rose at that.

She giggled. “She gets mad when she loses, though.”

“And when she gets mad, that usually means Hades is going to be in a worse mood than usual.” Aiden grinned a little as he glanced at Alex. “We make ourselves scarce when that happens.”

“Sounds like fun,” Solos said, but his tone was the complete opposite.

“It’s really not that bad. Pretty much whatever you want is there,” Alex replied, leaning her head onto her father’s shoulder. “But we miss you guys. Sucks that we have to wait six months and we aren’t allowed to communicate with anyone topside during that time. Feels like forever to us down there.”

Her father turned, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.