I hike up my big skirts and run over to the twins, cursing Zola in every language I know. The moment I skid within metres of them, I'm attacked by two pairs of arms and lifted up into the air. I burst out laughing and grin down at them.

"You guys! Put me down!"

Selene smiles and holds her hands up, letting go immediately. Axel continues shaking me, a mischievous smirk on his lips.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Axel! Let me go."

"I would if I could, Evie." He replies, the smirk suddenly dropping off his face. "But it's not that easy."

"'It's not that easy?'" I stare at him, taken aback by the serious edge in his voice. "What do you mean?"

Selene touches his arm, shaking her head with a pointed look. Axel sighs and abruptly drops me. I drop to the ground in a pile of flailing limbs.

"Hey! Axel!"

Axel doesn't respond, picking up his bow and letting an arrow fly instead. I frown, shocked into silence by his sour attitude.

"How are you, Evie?" Selene distracts me with a smile. She sticks her bow into the grass and leans on it. "Are you coping alright down here? Is Hades treating you well?"

Axel grumbles incoherently and shoots another arrow. Someone off in the distance screams.

"Axel." Selene smacks his arm. He glowers at her.

"What? There's a reason those souls are wandering the Halls of Hades, and it clearly starts with torture."

"You know that's not the reason we are here. Besides which, don't you think it's unsettling for Evie to find out that there are tortured and damned souls wandering around, right outside the palace's garden?"

"She was bound to find out at some point, wasn't she?"

Selene narrows her eyes at her twin. "My arrow is bound to find you if you continue to act like an ass."

Axel stares her dead in the eye as he pulls the drawstring taught. The arrow leaps forward in the air.

"Uh, guys?" I stare at them, unsettled by their behaviour. "You do realise that I'm right here, right?"

"Of course." Selene shoots Axel a look so withering that it almost has me shaking in my boots. She turns back to me with a juxtaposing smile. "But you never answered my question! I'm dying to know — how have the last few months been?"

"Alright, I guess." I reply slowly, my gaze flickering between the bitter-faced Axel and the calm-faced Selene. I pause and chew on the inside of my cheek, uncertain as to what to say. I speak hesitantly. "If I'm completely honest, I'm enjoying myself a lot more than I thought I would."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Sel." I find myself unable to meet her gaze, busying myself with fiddling with the folds of my skirt instead. Selene quirks an eyebrow at me and gestures for me to continue. "I guess I just... I feel more at ease here in the Underworld than I ever did in England. Than I ever have for most of my life." Selene opens her mouth to say something, and I hold my hand up. "Please don't ask me why. There's only one answer that comes to mind, and I don't think you'll like it."

Selene's face drops. Axel abruptly stops shooting and turns to me. The look on his face quite honestly scares me a little.

"Evie, we are so, so sorry." Selene says softly, her face sorrowful. "The last thing we wanted to do was hurt you."

"Seriously?" My voice rises with disbelief. "You all genuinely thought that I wouldn't be hurt, in any way, by this divine plan of yours?"

"No—" Selene immediately starts to protest. Axel interrupts her.

"That's bull, Arty." Axel growls. His expression is torn when he turns to me. "Evie, I won't lie to you. At the start, we agreed to be a part of Hades' master plan because we couldn't see any reason we would be impacted by it. To put it bluntly, we were arrogant. But once again, we underestimated what humans are like, and overestimated our own arrogance. Out of all the future possibilities we predicted, we didn't expect you to be like... well, like this."

I cock an eyebrow, crossing my arms. "Like what, exactly?"

Axel clears his throat, looking to Selene for help. "I uh... Arty?"

"Like the amazing person you are now." Selene says simply. "You're compassionate, strong-willed, and see the good in every single person you meet. We never thought we would end up caring for you as strongly as we do. Obviously, we were wrong."

"To be completely honest, I didn't expect to end up caring for you at all." Axel snorts. Selene kicks him. "What? Oh don't give me that look; do you honestly remember all the humans you've met?"

Selene narrows her eyes. She snatches her bow out of the ground and shoots him in the leg. Axel howls, hopping away.

"We're here to practise our shooting on the damned souls, Artemis, not on each other! That's gonna hurt for days now!"

"Poor wee god." Selene coos, feigning sympathy. I stifle back a laugh, shaking my head. I'd forgotten how ridiculous they were.

Selene, noticing my small smile, stops beating up her twin to grin at me. "Are you still mad at us?"

My smile is quickly replaced by a half-assed frown.

"A little." My tone grows more serious when her expression falls. "You know what I'm like with secrets, Sel. You've known ever since I was eleven."

Selene's eyes widen. "Evie, we didn't think —"

"You know that I'm also quite familiar with that saying, Sel." I shoot her a waspish look. "Just as familiar as I was with it eight years ago."

"Evie." Axel gives me a look as he wraps a comforting arm around his twin's shoulders. "Don't blame us for what happened. We're not the ones who kept secrets from you."

I raise my eyebrows at him, putting my hands on my hips. He lets out a breath, tilting his head from side to side in defeat.

"Okay, okay, we did keep a teeny tiny secret." He holds his hand up and pinches his fingers together. This time it's not just me who glares at him.

"Oh good god." Selene scoffs, rolling her eyes. "You suck at helping others!"

"And you don't?" Axel challenges, tapping her on the chest with his bow.

"Yes, funnily enough." She scowls at him. "It may sound like a foreign concept to you, but compassion can go a long way."

"I can be compassionate!" He whines. I snort. It's hard to believe that this petulant little child is supposed to be a deity. "You take that back!"

"Guys." I click my fingers in front of their faces. They both turn to me, eyes narrowed. "I'm trying to be angry with you, and your childish arguments really aren't helping."

"Sorry E." Selene grimaces. She pokes Axel's shoulder. "Would it help if this one left?"

"Hey! That made me ow in more than one place, you witch!"

"Keep calling me a witch. See where that gets you." Selene notches an arrow and aims it directly between his eyes. Axel visibly flinches.

I groan, burying my face in my hands. "I hate you both."

"Is that Evie talk for 'I forgive you both'?"

"I honestly don't know, Axel." I sigh. They stare at me and simultaneously widen their eyes. "Look, no matter how much you pull those faces and make me laugh with your idiotic arguments, it's still not going to change what you did. You broke my trust and kept a life-changing secret from me. You have to understand the position you've all put me in. Everyone that I know and trusted lied to me for almost half of my life. It's not that easy to just forget that."

"So... you're never going to forgive us?" Selene asks softly.

"I didn't say that. You just have to give me time. I'm still trying to process it all, and I feel like the only person that I can truly trust at the moment is Hades." I sigh again and blow the air out of my cheeks. "Which is ironic, because he's the only person I trust right now and suddenly he's being all spacey, and I don't trust you guys and suddenly you're here and seeking redemption, and I just—"

"Evie." Axel's hand covers my mouth, cutting me off. He looks at me sternly. "You're rambling again."

"I'm sorry." I groan, falling back against the tree with my face in my hands. It feels like, with that one motion, all my worries come crashing down on me, manifesting in the form of fast-flowing tears. "Everything is just so confusing at the moment. God, why did Spencer have to fake die and reveal everything?"

Axel eyes me warily. He pats Selene on the back and raises his bow. "Yeah you're right Arty; I suck at this kind of stuff. You help our younger sister work through her breakdown, and I'll continue shooting dead people."

I watch through my fingers as he scampers away, leaving Selene alone with me in the middle of a field.

Selene lets out a long breath, running a hand through her dark hair. "What's really going on, Evie?"

"There's nothing really 'going on,' Sel. There's just you and Axel re-appearing, and the whole Spencer thing, and just Hades in general, and you're all being super confusing, and I just..." My fingers twist frenetically together as I stare down at the ground. "I don't know how to comprehend it all."

"What do you mean?" Selene asks, touching my hands and gently prying my fingers apart. She lowers my hands to my sides and traps my fingers underneath hers. "I understand why you're struggling to process what happened between you, Spencer, Axel and I, but what's confusing about Hades?"

I laugh hollowly. "What isn't?"

Selene rolls her eyes, flicking me in the forehead. "That's true, but doesn't exactly answer my question."

"Ow! Why does everyone feel the need to flick me?"

Her eyebrow raises. "You're still avoiding the question, Evie."

"Is it that noticeable?"

Selene narrows her eyes and bumps my shoulder with hers.

"Evie Mae Autumn, stop avoiding the question."

"Or what?"

"Or I will smother you, and nobody will be here to save you. And this is the Underworld; nobody will ever find your body."

I groan, scowling at her begrudgingly. "Fine. But you're going to think I'm crazy."

"I already think that, darling." Selene pats my cheek. I try not to be offended by her condescending tone. "But go on."

I let out a long sigh, sliding down the tree-trunk until I crumple in a heap on the grass. Selene elegantly sits down next to me, crossing her legs at her ankles. She tilts her head to the side and gestures for me to start talking. I smile at her weakly and swallow hard.

"I just... I don't know what I'm doing with my life right now, Sel. I thought I had it all planned out; I thought my life was normal. But then Spencer 'died' and my life turned upside down. I found out that all the people I was close to were gods, and they'd been lying to me for as long as I'd known them. Then, to top it all off, I had to live with this aloof, grumpy god who, on all accounts, appeared to hate socialisation and me!"

I take a deep breath, running a shaky hand through my curls.

"I felt so alone, Sel. I'd lost you guys, and nobody here seemed to want to talk to me. I mean, the only friend I made ran away because I asked one too many questions! I didn't know what I was going to do to keep myself sane, let alone know whether I was going to survive being cooped up all by myself. But then something happened, because all of a sudden Hades just... changed. Maybe I pestered him too much, I don't know, but suddenly he started being nice and friendly and acting like a decent... well, like a decent person. And suddenly, I realised that maybe living down here wasn't so bad. But now you guys are back and confusing me, and he's ignoring me and being all spacey, and I'm confused all over again because it hurts me more than it should and I just... I don't know what to do!"

By the time I finish talking, I'm breathing heavily, and my voice has reached high-pitched levels of squeaking that I wasn't even sure was possible. Selene stares at me, her emerald eyes wide. I laugh awkwardly and clear my throat.

"I just scared you, didn't I?"

"No." She says slowly, turning around so she's facing me head on. "It's just a lot of information to take in all at once."

"I'm sorry." I sigh again, falling back on the grass. She looks down at me, sympathy evident in her elegant features. "It's just difficult trying to wade through all my thoughts by myself. I don't have anybody to talk to about this."

"Good." Selene squeezes my hand. "Secondly, why are you so upset about Hades being spacey? You do know he's been like that since forever, right?"

"Unfortunately not. I've only known him for three months, not 'since forever'."

"Your sarcasm truly knows no bounds." She teases. I give her the evil eye. "You didn't answer my question, though. Why are you so upset about it? It's only been a day since you last saw him."

"I know, but that's not the point." I sit up again. "I just can't help but feel that something is off. He's made a point to see me every day for the last two months, and then today he doesn't? It doesn't feel right."

"I can understand that," Selene tilts her head from side to side. "But surely you've discovered by now that he's not exactly the warmest person to be around?"

"Well, yes." I chew on the inside of my cheek. "But he was starting to be so nice to me, and even started to open up. I mean, okay, yes, he avoids certain subjects when we talk to each other and makes me want to run and hide because of how scarily cold his demeanour can be at times, but I thought I was getting somewhere with him. But then, all of a sudden he stopped talking to me, and now I haven't seen him all week, and—" I cut myself off, my cheeks burning. "Wow. I sound like a whiny, pathetic idiot, don't I? Maybe that's why he's avoiding me."

Selene chuckles, shaking her head.

"No, you don't. But you do need to work on your rambling." She places her hand over mine. "Look, I wouldn't worry about it, E. This is just what Hades is like. Different people have different ways of protecting themselves, and Hades' preferred way is to put up a wall of ice as soon as he's concerned that he will get hurt. You can't fault him for his protection mechanisms."

"So you're saying the only reason he's acting like this is because he's preventing himself from getting hurt?" I ask in disbelief. "How am I going to hurt him?"

"It's not the only reason." Selene shrugs, blatantly ignoring my question. "He can also be kind of a distant and cold ass at times, but he's always been like that. That has nothing to do with you."

"It sure feels like it."

Selene places a finger under my chin and forces me to look her in the eye. "Evie, come on. You never act this petulant. What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing, Selene." She flicks me in the forehead again. I yelp. "Stop that! I'm not not telling you anything!"

Selene studies me for a long time. "Okay, fine. You obviously haven't realised it yourself yet; I won't grill you any further. But you need to cut Hades a little slack, okay? He's been a lot more closed off recently, especially because of what happened with Persephone. It may take a little more time for him to open up to anyone, let alone someone he's known for a few months."

"Because of what happened with Persephone?" My breath catches in my throat. "What do you mean 'because of what happened with Persephone'?"

"It's not my place to say, Evie."

"No, no, maybe it is." I sit up straighter. "Why isn't Persephone in the Underworld anymore, Selene? Where is she?"

"I can't tell you, Evie." Selene purses her lips, her shoulders stiffen. "If you want to know, you need to ask Hades."

I sigh, my heart sinking.

And once again, the secrets are back.