A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone 2)

When he was gone, the elevator doors opened, and Persephone found the whole newsroom gathered in front of the doors.

“What the fuck are you all staring at?” she snapped.

“Persephone,” Demetri was at the front of the group and jerked his thumb toward his office.

“A moment.”

Grudgingly, she obeyed his direction and followed him. Once the door was closed, her boss took a seat beside her instead of behind his desk.

“You don’t have to tell me what’s really going on,” he said. “But you cannot act this way at work.”

“What way?”

“The elevator, the profanity,” he said.

“The elevator wasn’t my fault—”

She didn’t even want to imagine what people thought about the elevator. It was the dining room all over again.

Demetri held up his hand. “Look, I saw the Divine this morning. I know you’re going through some stuff. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”

“No, I’m fine. I need the distraction,” she said.

“No, Persephone. You need to deal with your problems. Seriously. Leave.”

Persephone obeyed, feeling dazed as she left Demetri’s office, gathered her things, and heading to the first floor. She halted, seeing the crowd waiting outside. She couldn’t face them or rehash what was in the paper today, so she entered the elevator again and chose to go to the basement.

She found Pirithous in the maintenance office. He sat at his desk, distracted by something in front of him.

“Hey,” Persephone said.

Pirithous did a double take. Clearly, he hadn’t expected to see her in the doorway of his office. He rushed to cover what he was working on, and Persephone rose on her tiptoes, curious.

“What are you up to?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, and stood awkwardly. “Can I help you?”

He seemed nervous, rubbing his hands on his uniform, so she smiled.

“I need help,” she said. “Can you get me out of here?”

“S-sure,” he said. “You want the get-away vehicle again?”

“It’s not my preferred method of escape, but if it’s the only choice…”

He smiled, more at ease now. She wondered what had him on edge.

“I might have something better.”

Pirithous grabbed his keys, shut off the light, and locked up before leading her to an unmarked door at the end of a hallway.

It was the entrance to an underground tunnel.

She glared at him.

“You made me get into a trash can when you knew this existed?”

Pirithous laughed. “I didn’t have a key then.”