Chapter Thirty-Nine
As I crossed my arms, I could feel the tension in the air, waiting for Loki”s response. However, all he did was nonchalantly shrug his shoulders and carry on walking.
I growled and dug my fingers into his arm and pulled him around to face me. I didn’t care if he was a god, that he was more powerful than me, he owed me some damn answers.
I was too quick to agree to let him help, and to get my butt out of the Underworld and make a difference. Maybe the Earth’s atmosphere was putting some sense back into my head.
“Why did you have this planned out so well?”
Loki emitted a low, soft coo from the depths of his throat, his eyes darted around our surroundings with an intense, apprehensive gaze. Without warning, his hand clamped firmly around my bicep and yanked me forcefully into a dimly lit alleyway. The pungent odor of urine, the scurrying of rats, and the lingering stench of decaying food assaulted my senses, instantly triggering long-forgotten memories of the place where Thanatos had once discovered me.
Well crap.
“Listen,” I took in a deep breath. “You’re up to something, And I will not get caught into whatever you are doing. How did you get an appointment with her? She knows you’re coming?”
Loki took us further into the alley way away from the people walking on the sidewalk. “Keep it down. You don’t know who is watching,” he hissed.
My back went ramrod straight and looked back to the opening of the alley.
“It’s not as simple as just looking in a window and seeing her, Juniper. You are going to have to go inside and see her, face to face.”
My face paled.
This wasn’t what I was expecting.
“I didn’t think so. And I can’t tell you much more of the plan because--I need you scared. I need her to believe that you are petrified, otherwise we will not get an audience with her.
For the first time I’ve spoken with him, granted, it has only been an hour; it was the most intense and serious statement I’ve heard from him.
“You’ve got to trust me,” he pleaded. “But yes, there are other motives why I brought you here. I can’t get out of the Underworld unless someone takes me with them. You were my ticket out.” He gave a mischievous grin. “And after I help my family take care of this problem, I’m hoping they will lift the ban and let me out. If not, I’ll just go on a little vacation.”
Captain fucking Crunch.
“You are insane!” I hissed.
“I’m insanely bored,” he whined. “I need other things to do than have lessons with Athena and listen to my brother and his mate fucking all the time. It messes with your head.” He tapped at his temple. “And this was the best way to get out of there. I’ve got everything we need to find the matchmaker, and you can point out who it is. It’s just that we need to do it my way. Okay?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I couldn’t trust him. This was a bad idea.
“Come on, Juni.” He threw his arm around me. “It will be great. You will finally feel fulfilled. You did something with your human life. You aren’t on the sidelines, fading into the background. You are making a difference and not waiting on the wet blanket, Hera.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying not to laugh. It was insane he knew so much about me, but the comment about Hera —
He was Hades’ son, and I hoped this wouldn’t come back to bite me in the butt later. We had gotten this far so why not? I wouldn’t back out now, not when I’d gotten this close.
Loki pulled me out of the alley, and I was able to breathe again. We went down street after street until I could no longer tell where I was. All the roads were unfamiliar. I’ve never been to this city before.
I had grown up in a small town of West Virginia where everyone knew everyone, and the furthest I had traveled was to Paducah, Kentucky, before someone took me.
Loki led me through a labyrinth of winding streets and narrow alleys, his pace quickening with each step. The anticipation and nervousness welled up inside me, threatening to burst.
Finally, we arrived at a modest building tucked away in a forgotten corner of the city. It wasn’t what I expected. No grand fa?ade or grandiose entrance; just a simple door with peeling paint. The sign above displayed faded letters that read “The Littlest Pet Shop.”
Were we even in the right place?
“As endearing as your thoughts are, try to keep them to a minimum.” Loki’s voice turns dark, and he grabs my wrist too hard for my liking.
I pulled back, but he grips it tighter.
“Behave.”
Loki’s eyes went dark. He looked far older than he should be, and now I was really regretting my choices. I felt the sharpness of his nails digging into my wrists as he tugged me to the door, and I kept telling myself he was doing this to get an audience with her.
As we entered the pet shop, a bell tinkled overhead, announcing our arrival. The quaint little store was dimly lit, and the air was heavy with the smell of sawdust and animal fur. Cages lined the walls, filled with various creatures—rabbits, guinea pigs, and even a couple of snakes slithering around in glass enclosures.
Loki marched me toward a counter at the back of the shop where a woman stood, her back hunched as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. She looked up at our approach, her tired eyes meeting Loki’s mischievous gaze. Recognition flickered across her face before she masked it with a smile.
“Welcome to The Littlest Pet Shop,” she greeted us, her voice barely above a whisper. “How may I assist you today?”
Loki’s grip on my wrist remained firm as he leaned forward on the counter, his gaze locked onto hers. “We have an appointment with the Matchmaker,” Loki interrupted, an air of confidence emanating from him. “I’ve come a long way, and I have come bearing a gift.”
The woman’s eyes widened slightly, but she quickly composed herself and nodded. “Of course. Do you have a gift for me?” She batted her eyes several times and Loki rolled his eyes.
Loki reached behind his ear and pulled out a long black feather and tossed it on the counter. The old woman snatched it up and held it close to her chest. “Yes, yes, this is perfect.” She brought it to her nose and let the length of it tickle her nose as she breathed in its scent.
Gross.
“That’s enough,” Loki snapped. “Let us in.”
“Fine, fine. Since you have an appointment, and come bearing me this gift, you can follow me.” She gestured toward a door behind her, concealed by a faded tapestry. Loki released his grip on my wrist, and I stroked it, trying to banish the lingering pain.
As we followed the woman through the door, I couldn’t help but notice how the atmosphere shifted. The dim lighting gave way to a soft glow that bathed the room in an ethereal aura. The air was infused with a delicate scent of roses mixed with a smokey incense, mingling with an underlying hint of something mystical.
We entered the room that was cluttered with both plush velvet curtains and beads, antique furniture, and shelves filled with books and trinkets. On a leather scaled couch faded into dark green sat an elegant figure, draped in a bohemian skirt and midriff pink top.
When she rose from her seat, I immediately knew who she was. Her hair was as teased high as the night I saw her and I took a step back to leave the room, but Loki’s had reached out and grabbed my upper arm yet again.
It was her, and she trained her cold eyes on me.
“I see you have brought her,” her cool voice sliced through the embrace of the room. “Good little birdie.”
I swiveled my head back and forth between the two, desperately trying to unravel the hidden knowledge they seemed to possess.
She let out a low chuckle and turned her back on Loki and was gliding across the floor. It was too perfect. Her body didn’t walk, her body was floating and when I looked to see where her feet could be I was stunned to find it wasn’t feet at all I was looking at---but a damn tail.
I gasped and tried to rip my arm from Loki’s grasp. “Do you see that?” I pointed at the tail that continued to unwrap around what I thought was a leather couch. But it wasn’t a leather couch at all, it was her body. “You’re a snake!” I yelled out at her.
Loki’s brow rose and turned to her all to narrow his eyes at her. “It is true. She can see your true form,” he said.
The matchmaker smacked her lips and flipped through papers on her desk. “Yeah, so what? One person out of thousands? Soon it won’t matter at all.” She pulled a piece of paper from the bundle and slithered toward Loki and hung it in the air for him. She wrote her signature, Medusa, in big bold red letters at the bottom. “Here you go, Loki, God of Mischief, son of Hades, God of the Underworld and Ember, the Keeper of the Sphere, who could do nothing to save your mate before she was even born. This is a binding contract, that of my word, that your mate will be born and no harm will come to her parents, so she can be conceived.”
My mouth dropped when Loki took the paper and shoved it into his pocket.
“W-what? What the hell, Loki? What did you just do?”
He shrugged his shoulders and wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“What I had to do. You’d do anything to save your mate, wouldn’t you? You should have bonded with Thanatos when you had the chance.”
No words could leave my mouth as Loki literally handed me over to Medusa. “And now you are handing me over to Medusa! This snake!”
Medusa slammed her hand over my mouth. “I suggest you don’t repeat my name to your parents or anyone else, otherwise you will lose your mate. Do you understand, little bird?”
Loki made a face of disgust and nodded.
Could he not see her name written on the paper?
I bit into Medusa’s hand she pulled away with a yelp. “Loki, she’s lying. She can’t possibly know that! Your mother even said no one can know who their mate is except for her! How could Medusa even know?”
Medusa’s tail slithered up around my body as fast as a viper, wrapping me, suffocating me until it reaches up my neck.
“You may think that,” Medusa sang. “But I have something most of you have forgotten even exists in between the gods’ realms.” She gives off a fanged smile that Loki cannot even see. Two sharp fangs descend and her eyes that I once saw as something evil contort into reptilian slits.
She leaned forward, her lips grazing my ear. I shiver in revulsion as her tongue slips over the shell of my ear. “I have a seer.”