The board had grown monstrous. Strings crisscrossed like veins, pinning scraps of paper, blurry photos, and half-legible notes into a web of desperation.
Hermes' hands shook as he tied another knot, his voice a low mutter spilling fragments of theories that even he barely understood.
"Pattern… must be a pattern. He wouldn't just vanish… not without leaving me something… Or maybe this is what he wanted? A final mindfuck…"
Xolotl whimpered from the corner, ears pressed flat. The three Grrberus pups, usually so rowdy, huddled together and begged Aphrodite in anxious little voices to make their Master stop.
Aphrodite tried. He placed a hand on Hermes' shoulder, soft and coaxing. "You need to rest. Please. You're burning yourself out."
"I will." Hermes rasped, his eyes raw and bloodshot. "Later. Just—later."
"Hermes…"
"I said later!"
His words snapped like a whip. Aphrodite flinched, then watched as Hermes shuddered, guilt cracking through the frenzy.
"…Sorry."
