“You can’t stay here,” Cyrus said. “I don’t want you here. Can I make that any more clear?”
In the middle of his nearly empty living room, Melinoe shrugged at her younger brother’s anger. “I do what I’m told. And Mom and Dad told me that I had to come stay here with you. And by tell, I mean ordered under threat of far less favorable punishments if I didn’t. So you’re stuck with me.”
“You betrayed the entire world in an attempt to summon Caelus to this world. You wanted to bring about the destruction of mankind in order to get power.”
“Well, power and sex. Don’t forget the sex part.”
“Do you feel any remorse, Mel? Anything at all? This isn’t just a joke. In any reasonable universe, you would have been imprisoned forever for what you did. Instead you’re here.”
“I guess your dad thinks it would be good for me to spend some more time with the short-lifers. And you know more about them than anyone else I know. So I get shipped off to this little nothing town to be surrounded by you and your wannabe godling friends. It’s just about the most horrific thing I can imagine personally.”
Cyrus shook his head in disgust. He knew Melinoe well enough to know she was angry. But in his mind, she had no right to be. She brought this punishment down on herself when she betrayed their shared mother and Olympus. And like always, she didn’t care about anyone she hurt in the process. It was always her own gratification that took precedent to her. So he would have to teach her a lesson some way.
“I don’t have any money left, Mel. Mom and Dad didn’t seem to send any with you or me. So you will have to get a job.”
“A job? You can’t be serious. It’s bad enough I have to live around the short-timers. You want me to interact with them. That’s repulsive.”
“Neither of us have a choice, Mel. We’re going to be out on the street if we don’t bring in an income. You don’t have to like it, but it’s the way it is. And it probably won’t be anything either of us will like. I’ve found this country and this city to be magnificent, but it’s also built a system where the only people truly capable of success are those with greater educations. Mother and Father were wise enough to at least give us human documentation, but it doesn’t give us much to work with job wise.”
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