Panacea shook her head. “You give her too little credit because you have feelings for her. That was always your way. It’s why you fell out with Aphrodite, you know, you didn’t allow her to own her own strength.”

“I don’t need a marital lesson from you, someone who’s never even been married,” Smithy snapped. “And I’m saying this because it’s the truth. Alena has come a long way, but look at her. Look at the damage she took, and that was without Hercules doing much. How can anyone expect her to survive the both of them if they come against her in full force?”

“Because she has more heart than anyone else I have ever met. And she fought while fearing for her mother’s life. That was not a fair fight, not in the least, you big, dumb ox,” Yaya said, stepping into view. “She will find a way to defeat Hercules and the Hydra. We have to let her find her own way; that is the only thing to do. Do you understand?”

I kept breathing the fluid in and out, and the water grew deeper green in color until their faces were obscured. I realized it was the toxins filtering into the water. Toxins that the Hydra carried in her bite. I pushed myself up, liquid streaming down my face, dribbling out past my lips and out my nose. I coughed, clearing my lungs. Large chunks of green came up, thick and heavy with blood as well as the poison. I held the edges of the tub and drew in a big breath. “I’m going after my mom.”

Smithy shook his head. “No.”

I glared at him. “You think I’m weak, just like everyone else.”

He shook his head. “You are weak, compared to what you face. You’ve been unconscious for days, and barely survived. The Drakaina can only take you so far, Alena. Part of being strong is knowing when you can’t accomplish a task on your own. I know you want to prove yourself, but I don’t want to see you get killed because of pride.” He crouched beside the tub and reached one hand out to me. I batted it away.

“I may be weak, but I can bend. I can bounce back. I am not going to go down without a fight. And I will ask for help. If I need it.” My muscles protested as I pushed myself into a standing position. Smithy’s eyes never left mine.

“I don’t want you to die, Alena,” he said.

I held a hand out to Yaya, and she took it, balancing me as I stepped out of the tub. I glanced at her. “We all die, Smithy. Even the gods, isn’t that right?”

I caught a look from Panacea, a soft smile and a twinkle in her eyes. She gave me the barest of nods. “You are correct. We all die, at some point. But perhaps you will show us a new way to live, yes?”

Smithy grunted. “I’m not going to encourage you to do this. I’m not going to watch you throw yourself into the flames.” He turned his back on me, shoulders and movement stiff. Hard. Unyielding.

“Thank you for your help,” I said. He didn’t turn around, and I knew that we’d crossed some barrier that was yet unseen to him. And maybe it always would be. In another life, another time . . . he would have been a match for me in so many ways. Maybe if I hadn’t met Remo first, if I hadn’t felt the strength of a man who believed in me, who let me find my own way for right or for wrong. A man who saw my weakness as strength, and my strength for what it was. I put a hand to my face. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. Or lead him on.”

A thick towel was swung over my shoulders and wrapped tight around me. “You woke him up,” Panacea said. “To the possibilities that lie out there. Just as you’ve woken Zeus up. Just as you’ve woken all the gods up.”

“That’s not what Hera wanted, is it?” I asked. Better to ask questions than think about what had happened at the bakery. My mind skittered away from that, from the memories that were so fresh I could still smell them. Could still taste the scent of my mom’s blood on the back of my throat if I let my mind go there.

“No, I believe Hera thought to only wake up her own followers. But she forgot that the pantheon is a whole, that we are all connected. In waking up her believers, she also made it so that there were people waking up to the rest of us. Remembering that there is a plethora of gods to be seen.”

I shivered, and Yaya rubbed my arms as she stared up at me. “You must find Zeus. He holds the key to all of this; he holds it completely. Do you understand? If you can convince him to come back, to actually become the leader he is meant to be, he can stop the virus. And he can bring your mother back.”

I stared at her, seeing the shape of her mouth, the gentle plump skin of her cheeks. She looked to be in her late fifties now. Maybe younger, even. I glanced at Panacea, who had a frown on her face. That did not give me confidence in my grandmother’s words. At the same time, she was probably at least partially right. If I could convince Zeus to pull his cookies out of the oven before they burned to a crisp and get his butt in gear, maybe he could slow things down. Maybe he would have a way to bring my mother back from the dead.

Then there was Orpheus. Yaya shook her head, almost as if she knew what I was thinking. “Not here.”

The twinge in my heart almost brought me to my knees. I focused on the here and now. “Where is Zeus? I thought maybe Whistler when you said he went north, Panacea.”

The goddess shook her head. “No, that is too close, even for him. I would go farther north yet. Hermes could lead the way if you could convince him.”

There was a flutter of wings that was far too loud for a single set. Behind Panacea appeared Hermes and Ernie. The two tiny winged men argued back and forth like siblings as they flew through the window. I wondered for a moment if that was actually the case.