Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Book 2 Chapter 25

25

Mavis turns her back to me. The sun is bright now, and I have to shade my eyes as she walks away, head down, obviously crying.

I don’t know how I feel. My sister, the person I’ve looked up to my whole life, actively helped the monsters who raided the Spring Fling and killed Darcy. She almost killed Nico. She made the decision—without me—to help Mom erase her memories.

Mavis turns back, walking toward me like each foot weighs a thousand pounds. When she’s up close she reaches out, takes both my hands, looks me in the eye and says, “I forgive you.”

“You forgive me?” I shriek. I’ve listened to Mavis’ s**t all last night and then again this morning, but this is the final straw. “For what? For defending the Academy? For helping my friends? What about you, Mavis? Don’t you need forgiveness?”

She shakes her head, hair blowing in the breeze. “I don’t forgive me. How could I ask it of you?”

This knocks me back a step.

But then I hear the screams of the dying from the Spring Fling. Sometimes the sound still wakes me in the middle of the night. I feel horrible that Mavis is so obviously broken in ways not obvious on the outside, but I also really need her to acknowledge how bad Ocypete really was.

“And what about your mentor, Pity? She led the monsters who decapitated a merman for no reason other than he was standing in the way.”

Mavis’ eyebrows draw together, confused.

“And kidn*pped a seer who may never recover from the shock.”

Her mouth opens, but nothing comes out.

“And tortured a werewolf who was already half-dead—”

“The monsters wouldn’t do those things,” Mavis says, interrupting me. “Ocypete was always very clear—no harm to students. Ever. That was the golden rule.”

“Ha! Well, it was broken the second Darcy’s head hit the floor.”

“Wait,” Mavis grabs my arm. “Did Ocypete give that order?”

“What? No.” I shake her off, irritated that she’s stuck on details. “But she couldn’t control her soldiers and a minotaur—”

“Falcus,” Mavis says, her tone suddenly hard. “Gods damn it.”

“What?” I ask again. Now it’s my turn to be confused.

A family shows up on the beach, the mom and older child running ahead, the younger one struggling in deep sand, the father holding her arms for balance. We both watch for a second, remembering when that was our family.

“Come on,” Mavis leads me away, dropping her voice. “Falcus was always a loose cannon. He didn’t think Ocypete took enough risks, or was hard enough to do the difficult things. She always said that the students were only human shields, but Falcus argued that you’ve got to smash the shield to get to the god standing behind it.”

It’s a terrible thought, but accurate. I’d seen more than a few students smashed that night. And yet not one god lifted even a finger against the monsters attacking us.

“Edie,” she goes on. “I think Falcus may have splintered off from the main group, the monsters I worked for. With Ocypete dead…” She swallows hard, clears her throat. “With Ocypete dead, there would have been no strong leadership among the monsters who were only fighting for what they believed they deserved—freedom from the gods.”

“Oh, the kinder, gentler monsters,” I scoff.

“Yes,” Mavis squeezes my wrist. “Falcus must have talked other malcontents into coming over to his point of view. Torturing Nico, k********g a seer…” Mavis shakes her head. “That’s not something the monsters I know would do.”

“Really?” I ask, snapping my hand away. “And what about Leviathan, huh? How well do you know him, Mavis? Because he killed our dad!”

“Levi…” Mavis pushes some hair out of her eyes. “Well, that’s complicated.”

I cross my arms and stare her down. From behind us comes the sounds of the family, happily playing in the surf.

“Themis hinted at that,” I say. “She said something about Dad and Levi having a history. But I’m guessing it’s not written down anywhere, and I’m not leaving this beach until I know.”

“Okay, okay,” Mavis sighs, sits down on a piece of driftwood and pats the spot beside her, inviting me to sit. I don’t want to sit. I want to sprout wings and fly and maybe burn half of Greece. But there’s a nice family not too far from me, and I’ve already killed enough.

I sit.

“Gods and monsters aren’t all that different from us,” Mavis says. “They have enemies and old feuds and…and they fall in love.”

“Sure.” In the mythology book I’ve been reading gods were always falling in and out of love.

“And sometimes they fall in love with humans,” she says, holding my gaze. “And when that love isn’t returned, just like us, they’re hurt. And sometimes they get angry. Sometimes, people die.”

“What does that have to do with Levi and Dad?”

Oh…wait. Tears are forming in Mavis’ eyes, threatening to spill over.

The tide crashes up to our feet, soaking them in cold seawater. Cold like the spray that hit me that day when Levi came for our father

“Are you saying that Levi was in love with Mom?” I ask, incredulous.

“Deeply,” Mavis nods. “Mom and Dad tried to reach a hand out to the monsters. They hoped to see some sort of peace settlement between the gods and monsters one day, but…” She sighs, looking out over the water. “Love makes things complicated.”

I want to have a smartass comeback for that, but I don’t. I don’t because it’s true. Love does make things complicated—look at Mavis coming back for Derrick after stabbing Nico, uncertain if she was returning to certain death.

Look at Tina making every effort to cover for Val and ensure everyone believes he’s a full-blooded vampire.

And Val…Val’s mouth on mine, neither one of us remembering that he’s engaged.

I shake my head. I can’t think about that right now.

“Levi had been checking in on Mom, surreptitiously, for a long time,” Mavis says. “When we went to Greece and Dad stayed behind, he hoped that our parents were separated. He found us, came on strong. Mom rejected him, in no uncertain terms. And I was right beside her—telling him to take his fish stank out of our faces.”

“Oh, Mavis,” I say, sadly, realizing this was yet one more thing for Mom to hold against her.

“And that made Levi really mad, so he took his fish stank to our side of the Atlantic.”

Tears fill Mavis’ eyes. “Mom says I tipped him over the edge. That I should’ve let her handle it.”

“He was a crazy monster. You can’t blame yourself for how he reacted.”

Mavis shrugs in response, clearly not buying this.

“But wait,” I say. “What about Grandma? She died in the elevator, not on the beach. And why would Levi want to hurt her?”

“I don’t think he did,” Mavis says carefully, guarding her words. “I don’t know who killed Grandma, Edie,” she says. “But I can tell you this—I’m pretty sure someone else was there that day.”