Hades Legacy (Hades Series #3)

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"Mum, I have a question." Jasmine announces the next morning as we enter the kitchen, hopping up onto the counter and grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. I silently follow her, but choose to sit down on a barstool beside her instead of the counter. I've barely uttered a single word since I received that text the night before, despite Jasmine's many, many attempts to get me talking. I'm sure she thinks that my conversation with Spencer was the reason I was even more reluctant to talk than usual, and I'm more than happy for her to continue along that path of oblivion. It was much more conventional than the actual reason I haven't been very vocal, and until I could figure out who exactly sent me that text, I'm going to continue pretending I never received it.

Jasmine's mother pauses, raising her eyebrows at my blonde friend. "Because that statement doesn't petrify me to my very core."

"It's not a bad question." Jasmine rolls her eyes, taking a bite from her apple. "This time, I mean."

Kenzie chuckles. "Alright. What's your question?"

"Can I get a tattoo?"

Kenzie doesn't even pause to consider it. "No."

"Why not?" Jasmine pouts. "You have one."

"Not willingly." Kenzie retorts, returning to her dish washing. "The only reason I have it is because it saved my life."

"How can a tattoo save your life?" I can't help asking, my curiosity getting the better of me. Immediately, I regret my curiosity, wincing as the rawness of my throat lets me know just how much it despises that small action.

"It's her nymph tattoo." Spencer announces, strolling into the room. "Which your father gave her when I ordered him to make her a nymph."

"You and I remember that day very differently Spencer." Kenzie says bemusedly, rolling her eyes at his dramatics.

"I don't know what you mean, dollface. We totally remember it the same way." He taps the side of his head. "We're in sync like that."

"Oh really?" She cocks an eyebrow at him, placing a hand on her hip and not really seeming to care that it's dripping wet. "So, when you say you ordered Hades, you really mean you practically begged on your hands and knees for him to let me live, right? Because that's how I remember it, and as you said, we're totally in-"

"Alright Kenzie." Spencer hastily shoves his hand over her mouth, giving her a look. I bite back a laugh. "What have I said about you knocking my ego around like that?"

"If you didn't leave your ego open for me to attack, then maybe I wouldn't knock it around." She retorts, yanking his hand off her mouth.

I slowly lean over to Jasmine, whispering under my breath. "I still don't understand."

Despite my attempt to speak quietly, Kenzie still overhears me, and she glances over Spencer's shoulder at me with a small smile. "All nymphs have a tattoo, or a mark of some sort that ties them to the type of nymph that they are. My tattoo is the symbol of my attachment to the ash tree as it's nymph; my life-force is intertwined with that of the ash tree's, and without that, I would be dead."

"And without me." Spencer coughs, and Kenzie elbows him sharply. "Ow! Jesus woman, stop beating me up! You're supposed to be my bloody wife!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kenzie blinks up at him innocently, flicking the soapy dishwater at him. "Am I hurting you?"

"Ew, guys. Stop." Jasmine wrinkles up her nose. "Save the flirting for when we're not in the room, please and thank you. It's weird enough as it is that you both look my age."