“Great. Just great.” I shut the blinds so fast they nearly break, yanking the curtains practically off the wall in an attempt to cover up what lies outside.

“What is it, Zeussical the musical?” I can feel the sparks begin to scamper across my skin, electricity raising the hair along my arms. Ever since I had that one-off with a bloody middle school drama teacher, Poseidon has added that moniker to his arsenal of nicknames for me.

“We’re stuck you idiot! In a snowstorm!” I throw up my hands.

“No way,” Hades drawls from the living room. His eyes are glued to his mobile, even though there’s no service up here. Probably playing some kind of offline game. Between the hideous posture, the eyeliner, and the dark gray hoodie, he looks like the grumpy lil’ gremlin I always knew. It makes me want to put him in a headlock because I know how much he’d hate it.

“Are you done sitting in the corner being emo?” Poseidon sneers from the kitchen, where he’s trying and failing to cook salmon properly.

“Shut up,” Hades spits out, then pauses as if to rethink his response. “And if anyone’s the emo cousin in the family, it’s Apollo.”

I look up at the ceiling, and back at my brother, and sigh, the wrath bleeding out of me. “Touché.” I slump into the couch just as I hear Poseidon let out a stream of swears.

Hades gets up and I’m suddenly reminded of how freakishly tall he is. I sit there as he walks over to argue with Poseidon over blackened fish.

For a moment, my heart swells. We never get to have this. Ever since we cast lots for which kingdom we’d each get, a kind of divide appeared between us. We were so close knit when we dethroned our tyrannical father, but all that’s shifted. Hades’ line of work hasn’t exactly helped his depression, and Poseidon and I are both trapped in failing marriages. My kids have been pushing for Hera and I to get a divorce for centuries.

Marriage can be too complicated sometimes.

But now we’re all here, together. (Persephone’s idea by the way. She wanted the three of us to have some kind of family reunion in this snowy cabin in the middle of nowhere. Thought it might take some of the stress and pressure off of Hades if he had a little vacation with his closest [read: most hateful] siblings.)

And somehow, I think Persephone was onto something. Maybe this weekend can be a way for us to look past differences and insignificant—

“Zeus!” Poseidon roars in between curses. “Get over here!” I groan, readying myself for the argument I’m about to join.

(But underneath it all, I think I’m smiling. Just a little bit.)