"Are you sure you’re putting it in right?" Aegle asked .
"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing," I said as I put my hand into the garden lake. Quick summary: Hera had ordered on her last visit to the Hesperides that from that mont on, the garden lake would not be available for their use for a week. The reason, apparently once every 100 years the water had to be purified or sothing like that, so only gods with a domain could touch the water, because otherwise if they touched it, it would be like when the witch in The Wizard of Oz got water thrown on her. But anyway, there wouldn’t have been a problem if Aegle hadn’t dropped her cup in there while she was reading.
So I was trying to find it, because, newsflash, when water is purified, it stops being transparent for so reason. I know, crazy, right?
I kept searching with my hand for a few seconds until...
*CLINK*
"Aha, gotcha," I said as I finally managed to pull the wine cup out of the lake.
"Thank goodness," Aegle sighed, relieved. "If Erytheia ca to check and sothing was missing from her stuff, she would have went crazy, real crazy."
"Well, if she ca, you would need to explain it to her because technically, you caused this."
"It was an accident!"
"Sure, like everything you do," I said with a smile. Aegle pushed with an amused expression, crossing her arms as if trying to look angry, although she clearly couldn’t.
It was then that the atmosphere in the garden changed. I felt it first as a tingling sensation on the back of my neck, then as a sudden silence in the leaves of the trees. I turned around instinctively. Hesperia was there, but we both quickly noticed that there was sothing strange about her; her expression was not the relaxed, carefree one we were used to.
Aegle noticed this too, obviously. Her expression changed subtly, becoming serious.
"Hey sister, is everything okay?" she asked in a neutral voice, but without sounding entirely concerned, perhaps because there was no reason for it yet.
Hesperia didn’t answer right away. She was wearing her usual dark, light clothing, as if it were part of the gloom that surrounded her. So the contrast with the garden was obvious, as always.
"I need to talk to him," she said, referring to cryptically. Her tone was flat, unadorned and to the point.
Aegle looked at , then at her sister, and with a resigned sigh, she walked away to another part of the garden. ’Tell what’s wrong later, okay?’ she murmured as she passed by her.
"Don’t worry, I’m fine," Hesperia replied emotionlessly.
Then, almost without a word and with a simple gesture from her, we began to walk silently to the edge of a small grove. I stopped when she did, leaning against a tree trunk with my arms crossed, looking out at the dull lake in the garden.
"Everything okay?" I asked. ’You’re not one to co here and act mysterious like this. Sothing happened."
"No,’ she said. "Well, yes, but you have to promise that before you do anything, you’ll listen to what I have to say."
I waited.
"I don’t know if you know, but Olympus is screwed," she blurted out. "Zeus is paranoid, as usual, but now... he’s acting like one of us. According to what I heard, today, at the end of the monthly Olympus eting, without warning, he imposed a new control: all the gods have to report their movents. Who they see. What they do. What they agree on."
"That’s... extre."
"It’s stupid," she corrected. "And dangerous. He’s upsetting the balance. All he’ll achieve is to further alienate those who still respect him from those who now detest him."
I looked at her. Her expression was hard, but not upset. In Hesperia, that ant she was really worried.
"Tell sothing, Hes. Does all this have anything to do with Nesis?" I asked, lowering my voice a little.
Hesperia slowly turned her head toward , as if weighing the question.
"Do you know what it is?"
"Yes, don’t you rember one day when the four of us talked about them here? I rember that you and Ery knew quite a lot about them and were the ones who gave the most information."
"Oh, yes, I had forgotten," she said simply.
The silence stretched out for a mont. She looked away, watching the branches above us, as if thinking out loud, which made suspect more and more that there was sothing else she wanted to tell . I didn’t know if it was because sothing was wrong or what, but she was acting very strange.
Her posture wasn’t that of soone angry or upset, but... uncomfortable. And that, in Hesperia, was rare. So I finally blurted out what I was thinking.
"You’re involved, aren’t you?" I finally said.
She didn’t answer right away. She just crossed her arms tighter, as if her own body was pressuring her not to say what she wanted to say.
"It depends on what you an by ’in trouble.’"
"Don’t be cryptic, Hes. Not with ," I said, while looking around as to see if soone was listening. "What if soone hears us? What’s wrong with you?"
Her eyes locked onto mine. There wasn’t the coldness she’d been treating with, but rather a trace of exhaustion, of soone who seed to be close to breaking point.
"Look, I know what we’re telling you, but it’s not a cult, or a revolution without a leader. It’s... a necessity. Sothing that was born out of so much injustice on Olympus. Zeus thinks he can still rule like he did a thousand years ago. But the gods have changed. And with them, so has the world. Oh, and don’t worry, this conversation is private. I cast a spell on the garden before you saw , to prevent unwanted ears from hearing my offer."
Her last words cald down a little, so I changed my tone to a more serene one, trying to hide the nervousness I still felt.
"And you... did you join because you wanted to change things?" I asked.
"No, I joined because I couldn’t stand by and do nothing," she said. Her voice trembled slightly. "Olympus is not what it used to be. Zeus intends to crush those who oppose him. And that cannot be allowed."
I nodded silently, but without really thinking about what she was saying, as my mind was still recalculating the situation that still seed unreal. Hes was part of Nesis, it seed impossible, but in reality it wasn’t, if I thought about it, the pieces fit together. The way she acted, the tis she disappeared without saying anything. Everything made sense now.
"I didn’t co to tell you this to unburden myself," she continued. "I ca because this is going to explode. And when it does, we’re not going to win if we’re the sa as always. We need more people, we need soone like you."
"Soone like ?"
"A new god, free and above all, strong. Soone who isn’t tainted by the politics of Olympus. And above all, soone with conviction."
I took a deep breath. I had thought that sooner or later the conversation would end up here. But even so, I was surprised.
"Are you asking to join you?" I asked.
"I’m telling you to consider it. Don’t close your mind to the idea," he said. "And when the ti cos, choose carefully which side you want to be on."
"Why can’t you just tell straight, Hes? Say it all, admit that you’re part of it, it’s already implied."
She hesitated. For a mont, I thought she would do it, that she would break down that final barrier.
But no. She simply said:
"Because if I say it, it’s no longer a choice for you. It becos an obligation. And the last thing I want is for you to join because you feel you have to do it for ."
That threw off.
"Then why did you co?"
"Because I trust you. Because I know you’ll understand and that when the ti cos, you’ll do the right thing. And not because I asked you to, but because you decided to."
A breeze blew through the leaves. The garden, which was usually a quiet corner, now seed to be holding its breath. She looked at one last ti, as if searching for a sign on my face.
"What if I decide not to do it?" I asked.
"Then I’ll still be your friend," she said without hesitation. "But I’m not going to lie to you: what’s coming... is going to hurt, for everyone. And if you’re not with us, then... you’re against us."
I remained silent.
She turned to leave, but this ti I didn’t let her go so quickly.
"Hey," I said.
Hesperia stopped.
"Just tell one thing. Are you afraid?"
She looked at over her shoulder. Her eyes showed no fear... but they did show respect.
"No," she replied simply, and walked away.
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