“I presume you do not touch the money my daddy give to you either, for some reason.” She said. “Or at least if you do, then you spent it all years ago somehow.”
Shannon snorted. “I used enough to get us set up as cheaply as possible, in the worst neighborhood I could find. There was no chance John would come looking for me here, even if he somehow found out I wasn’t dead.”
My girl nodded. “So where does your money sit?”
“In offshore accounts for my children. They get it when they marry or hit thirty.” Shannon explained. “I figured by the time they were old enough for both John would be dead and it would be safe.” She sipped her tea. “So if you are thinking about trying to bribe me for information, it’s pointless. And not just because if I wanted to be rich, I would. But because I truly have nothing to offer you.”
“Is there anything you know about Cassie at all? Things that are like important or could tell us why she does these things to my family?” I could see Sapphire getting more frustrated with each passing second.
I got it. Even if there wasn’t a promise that we could have gotten any information here, it was still annoying to confirm we had mostly wasted our time in our travels, and that we were still exactly where we had been for weeks – absolutely nowhere.
Shannon nodded as she finally gave us a little piece of information that would help our search. “Cassie went through a bunch of horrible stuff when she was young, and she developed something called D.I.D. She had to take meds for it to keep her other personalities in check.”
There was a creak on the stairs and a soft voice called out as Shannon startled.
“Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Hades padded down the stairs, a pair of boots and a backpack in her hand. “It’s a rare condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present and can control someone. Some people describe it as an experience of possession.” She sat down on the stairs, stuffing her feet into her boots without a care for the fact her mom was a little freaked. “It was called multiple personality disorder up until the mid-nineties, when the name was changed to reflect a better understanding of the condition—namely, that it is characterized by fragmentation or splintering of identity, rather than by proliferation or growth of separate personalities.”
I grinned at her. “It’s entirely separate personalities, each one as different as you or I.”
She nodded and glanced at her mom. “The personalities will have their own likes, dislikes, and emotions. One could love the taste of citrus, the other could despise it. It’s very interesting to study, even if I’m not sure why you’re talking about it.”
Shannon sat up straighter. “You were meant to stay upstairs, my love. We’re just talking nonsense.”
Hades pouted and she tugged at her shirt as she sassed her mother. “I have my piano lesson shortly. Maddox said he would walk me down to my tutors and wait until I’m done.”
“I forgot about that. But okay – we’re just finishing up here.” Shannon bit her lip and once more I was curious about what her problem was.
“You wanna come help me wash up these mugs? I don’t know how to use your tap – it’s got two separate handles, not just the one.” I moved towards the mostly empty mugs on the sleek wooden coffee table, trying my best to offer a distraction to Hades so that Sapphire and Shannon could keep talking without fear, and partially so I could attempt to quiz Hades about what she knew.
If she had such an excellent memory and was smart, my logic was she might know more than her mother, even if it was a long shot.
“Sure.” She nodded, and happily helped me carry the dishes into their small but clean kitchen, decked out in orange woods and colourful tiles.
“You wash and I’ll dry?” I asked, as she turned on the taps and made the water warm enough to let out steam.
“Fine with me.” Hades instantly started soaping up her sponge, as she pointed me to the towel I could use to dry with and I debated my best route to starting a conversation with her, eventually settling on what seemed like a hobby she had.
“I like your shirt. Are you into science?” She’d swapped her pyjama’s out and her new top had a cartoon picture of the Earth on and the phraseround eartheremblazoned on it.
“Yeah.” She smiled. “But I’m not allowed to do it much anymore, so I have to live vicariously through my clothes and homework.”
“How come?”
“Mum got a visit from the police last year because they were concerned I was building something dangerous.” She rolled her eyes. “They didn’t seem to appreciate my craft and so I’ve beenbanned from doing anything outside of school until I get older and can learn the difference between fun and danger.”
“Did you try to build a bomb?” It was the first thing I could think of that would warrant such a reaction from the people around her. Plus, I knew it wasn’t that hard to do it.
Logan had done it once in high school, just for fun.
“Nothing so simple.” Hades sighed. “It was basically a high-powered laser. I was trying to harness the power of the sun to set stuff on fire with a ray gun of sorts.” She shrugged like it was nothing and missed the look of surprise on my face as she stared into the soap bubbles, like they held the meaning of life in them. “I like fire and it seemed fun to try and make myself a gun to burn stuff with when I get mad. Maddox said it sounded cool too, and Ares found it funny. Only mum and dad were worried about it.”
The fact the police had come around to speak with her told me that she hadn’t been unsuccessful with her test. Or at least if she had, then she was close to figuring it out.
I was both terrified and in awe.
“You’re smart.” My head bobbed as I carefully dried a mug.
“Smartness is subjective, so I don’t know about that.” She corrected. “When it comes to facts about stuff, then I’m good. But with everything else, like people, I’m not so great. It’s why Ares always hovers around me and beats up the mean kids at school.” Her eyes rolled. “They say I’m weird, but that’s fine. They think because they’re less intelligent than me that somehow makes them inferior, but I’ve never said it, so it’s their own thoughts that they hate me for.”
