comforted me. Always. Calling to me. Telling me the way out.
“I don’t know why your connection is so fierce, sostrong. I suppose it’s a bit like your father and me. But he’s of that world, Iris. He’s an immortal.” Her face grows cloudy. “I can tell you that if you two are determined to be together somehow, it can only mean trouble and a great deal of heartache. I know the pull of that world. Of the gods. I know it all too well. I wish you two weren’t drawn to each other. I want you to have a normal life.”
“Um, Mom . . . maybe you should have thought of that before you conceived me with the god of dreams.”
Annie shakes her head. “This is some of the weirdest but coolest stuff I’ve ever heard in my life. To think, my best friend is half goddess.”
Mom eats spaghetti, and I try to absorb what she’s told me. Then Mom stands up and says, “I’ll be right back.”
She walks to her room and returns a few minutes later. She’s holding a business card. She stares down at it and crinkles her nose, as if she’s trying to decide what to do.
“I was hoping, I really was, that you weren’t like me. It’s part of why I never told you all this. Part of why I hid it from Grandma and Grandpa. You know, Grandpa’s guessed some of the connection, but I’ve never really talked about it. Not completely. Butyou’ve always known you were different. Haven’t you?”
I nod. My dreams have always felt so real. I remember sitting in the cafeteria while this girl on Annie’s soccer team was blathering on about a dream, and it sounded so . . . boring, flat, even. Not like mine. And now? I think of my ankle. Of the tree trunk. I’m not sure where my dream world ends and the real one begins—or even if there’s a difference for me.
“I was hoping you could be normal. Like every other little girl in the world . . . normal. But when you started with your insomnia, I had a feeling you were different. Then, though he hated to upset me, about six months ago your father said you’d been spotted in the Underworld. The Keres chased you out.”
I shiver. “The Keres?”
“Your aunts. Death spirits. Mist. They hunger for human blood and still hover over this world sometimes, searching for dying souls. They are vicious—and very jealous.”
“Jealous? Of what?”
“You are of both worlds. And you don’t realize that you are so, so lovely, while they . . . thirst for death? I don’t know, Iris. I can only guess.”
“What can I do? I don’t know how not to go there.I just . . . go. I don’t know what to do.” And though I don’t say it out loud, part of me doesn’t care if it’s dangerous. I need to see Sebastian again. My head hurts from all of this.
Mom hands me the business card. “You can go see one of your relatives.”
“But you just said my relatives want to kill me.”
“A different relative. She left the Underworld. She came to live among humans.”
I look down at the fancy vellum card. It smells faintly of exotic perfume.
A PHRODITE M ATCHMAKING S ERVICE
F IND Y OUR T RUE L OVE M ATCH
A PHRODITE C YPRIS , M ATCHMAKER TO THE S TARS
I look at Mom.
She shakes her head. “Your father and I are doing everything we can to protect you in the Underworld. But the men with mirrored glasses, Epiales, Cerebus . . . Iris, they’re coming here. That man who attacked you and Grandpa is the god of nightmares. And I promise you, Iris”—she shivers slightly—“what he did here is just a hint of what he’s capable of. But go see Aphrodite. She’s also fromthe Underworld. She can guide you, Iris. Even better than I can. She can help you. Go see her, please.”
I look down at the business card.
I may have been scared by the man with the evil eyes, but I know that I need to find out more about my father. About who I really am. About Sebastian.
I look at Annie. “You’re coming with me, right?”
She grins. “Like you could keep me away. I mean, I thought it was
“I don’t know why your connection is so fierce, sostrong. I suppose it’s a bit like your father and me. But he’s of that world, Iris. He’s an immortal.” Her face grows cloudy. “I can tell you that if you two are determined to be together somehow, it can only mean trouble and a great deal of heartache. I know the pull of that world. Of the gods. I know it all too well. I wish you two weren’t drawn to each other. I want you to have a normal life.”
“Um, Mom . . . maybe you should have thought of that before you conceived me with the god of dreams.”
Annie shakes her head. “This is some of the weirdest but coolest stuff I’ve ever heard in my life. To think, my best friend is half goddess.”
Mom eats spaghetti, and I try to absorb what she’s told me. Then Mom stands up and says, “I’ll be right back.”
She walks to her room and returns a few minutes later. She’s holding a business card. She stares down at it and crinkles her nose, as if she’s trying to decide what to do.
“I was hoping, I really was, that you weren’t like me. It’s part of why I never told you all this. Part of why I hid it from Grandma and Grandpa. You know, Grandpa’s guessed some of the connection, but I’ve never really talked about it. Not completely. Butyou’ve always known you were different. Haven’t you?”
I nod. My dreams have always felt so real. I remember sitting in the cafeteria while this girl on Annie’s soccer team was blathering on about a dream, and it sounded so . . . boring, flat, even. Not like mine. And now? I think of my ankle. Of the tree trunk. I’m not sure where my dream world ends and the real one begins—or even if there’s a difference for me.
“I was hoping you could be normal. Like every other little girl in the world . . . normal. But when you started with your insomnia, I had a feeling you were different. Then, though he hated to upset me, about six months ago your father said you’d been spotted in the Underworld. The Keres chased you out.”
I shiver. “The Keres?”
“Your aunts. Death spirits. Mist. They hunger for human blood and still hover over this world sometimes, searching for dying souls. They are vicious—and very jealous.”
“Jealous? Of what?”
“You are of both worlds. And you don’t realize that you are so, so lovely, while they . . . thirst for death? I don’t know, Iris. I can only guess.”
“What can I do? I don’t know how not to go there.I just . . . go. I don’t know what to do.” And though I don’t say it out loud, part of me doesn’t care if it’s dangerous. I need to see Sebastian again. My head hurts from all of this.
Mom hands me the business card. “You can go see one of your relatives.”
“But you just said my relatives want to kill me.”
“A different relative. She left the Underworld. She came to live among humans.”
I look down at the fancy vellum card. It smells faintly of exotic perfume.
A PHRODITE M ATCHMAKING S ERVICE
F IND Y OUR T RUE L OVE M ATCH
A PHRODITE C YPRIS , M ATCHMAKER TO THE S TARS
I look at Mom.
She shakes her head. “Your father and I are doing everything we can to protect you in the Underworld. But the men with mirrored glasses, Epiales, Cerebus . . . Iris, they’re coming here. That man who attacked you and Grandpa is the god of nightmares. And I promise you, Iris”—she shivers slightly—“what he did here is just a hint of what he’s capable of. But go see Aphrodite. She’s also fromthe Underworld. She can guide you, Iris. Even better than I can. She can help you. Go see her, please.”
I look down at the business card.
I may have been scared by the man with the evil eyes, but I know that I need to find out more about my father. About who I really am. About Sebastian.
I look at Annie. “You’re coming with me, right?”
She grins. “Like you could keep me away. I mean, I thought it was
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