They Will Not Be Silenced

by Nicole Thorn

  I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see a goddess, and then Aster with wide eyes. “Who would?” Hecate asked me. “No one wants death, but sometimes, the ends justify the means. Look at all those around us. Look at how they hurt and know that the gods don’t care. Understand that they live their lives like we’re all game pieces for them to play with. Even me. I’m a goddess, but I mean nothing to those twelve.”

  My heart continued to pound harder. I wanted to reach inside and hold it still. “Apollo cares about me,” I said in another whisper. “I know he does. He told me he would protect me.”

  “And maybe he would,” Hecate said. “Because you’re one of his favorites. The gods favor those who they can use, but there is no love there. Just usefulness. If you stopped being useful, then you wouldn’t matter anymore. Do you think he loved the oracle that came before you? Because she’s dead now. All he did was replace her. He would do the same if you died.”

  I couldn’t even say I didn’t agree. He needed his Oracle, and I couldn’t get angry with him for that.

  He’d tried to protect Aster as best he could, though it often ended in danger. Was that something I could hold against the god? Was it a disregard for life, or Apollo’s lack of understanding on how it worked for us? Ignorance or apathy?

  “You would be safe,” Hecate told me. “I don’t want you in danger. I don’t want you fighting. That’s not what you’re for.”

  “What am I for then?” I asked flatly. “What would you use me for, since I’m such a help to you?”

  She didn’t get angry with my tone. “There’s a difference between an understood deal and being taken advantage of. I wouldn’t lie to you. I haven’t lied to you.

  “The only way those of us under the Olympians can ever make this right, is to rise up together. To fight against those who think that we are worthless. And yes, a lot of innocent people could die. But we have some people on our side that can help us win. We’re trying to gather as many as we can. The stronger our side is, the faster we can end this. The less lives lost.”

  “And who would join in on a suicide mission?” Aster asked.

  Hecate glanced in his direction. “People who know this isn’t a suicide mission. Not anymore. Not with who we have gathered. The giants, who’ve only been rejected by the gods. The overlooked gorgons. We might have Erebus, if we entertain him enough. Morpheus.”

  My eyes widened, knowing the names she mentioned. With Morpheus alone, she could have put armies to sleep. “How, how did you get them?”

  She shrugged, rising up to her feet again. “It doesn’t take much for people to realize that the Olympians would throw them under the bus if needed. That goes for almost everyone.”

  “And why do you want me?” I asked. “I don’t have magic. I’m not a god.”

  “No, but you can do something else for me. Until you die, there will be no other Oracle. You’re Apollo’s one and only. If I get you on my side, it’ll shake him. Better still if I could get his son.”

  When she cast another look to Aster, he only had fury for her. “What in the hell makes you think we would be turned that easy?”

  “You wanna live, right? The war is happening no matter what you say. If you come with me, I can promise that you’ll make it out alive. You stay with the other gods, and you’re as good as cannon fodder. You’re tools, like those seers are. Do you think we didn’t all feel that kind of power being given over? We did. Can you imagine what’s coming for them now? Do you think the Olympians care? They’ll use them like soldiers, then cast them aside once they’re finished.”

  I couldn’t pretend like I wasn’t frightened. When gods started battling, the rest of us got caught in the middle. Who would I lose when that happened? The seers had all died and I didn’t even know it until I heard the chatter in my brain. I couldn’t protect them.

  “Come with me,” Hecate offered. “All three of you, because I know that you’re loyal, Callie. Unlike the gods you admire. You have honor where they don’t.”

  I did have honor, and she should have known that honor would result in me refusing anything she offered. “I don’t want to be a part of this war.”

  “You don’t get a choice in that. You’re on one side or the other, and you can’t avoid it just because things are about to get bloody. Apollo is arrogant enough to decide that you’re automatically on his side. Shake him. Tell him no. Do you want to die like your friends did? Do you want the gods to play with your life?”

  The gods did play with our lives. They used us. They lied. They’d been aware my friends would die, and they didn’t do anything about it. But I saw how it ended. They’d become gods themselves, and that could protect them. Apollo knew how this would end, and I believed that was why he didn’t tell me. For all intents and purposes, things ended as well as they could have. My friends had been spared.

  “I trust them,” I said. “And I do not trust you. I never will, no matter what you offer me.”

  Aster breathed out as if he hadn’t known what I would say. It had been tempting, knowing it would have gotten us out of here if I said yes. But then the gods would have turned on me, and that fate would have been far worse than whatever Hecate decided to do to us.

  Hecate sighed, staring down at the ground. “I know that you’re young and stupid, so I’ll give you one more chance to agree that the gods will only make you suffer in the end. My side is the only place where someone like you can be safe. There really is only one option.”

  And I knew what that was. Still, I looked to Aster. I couldn’t ask him what he thought I should do, and the choice seemed to lay squarely on my shoulders. I felt like I had no right to be in that position, definitely not the one most able to handle something so important.

  With absolute certainty, I said, “My choice is to ally myself with the Olympians, where I’ll remain until my dying day.”

  Again, the goddess sighed. “I guess you’ve made a liar out of me then. One more chance to see the truth.”

  She snapped her fingers, freeing the boys of their bindings. They both got onto their feet fast, same as me. We scrambled to find Hecate, who had vanished before our eyes. She couldn’t have left us there to our own devices.

  “Are you okay?” Aster asked me, his hands gripping my shoulders. “She didn’t do anything else, did she?”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t say yes. I couldn’t.”

  “It’s okay. There wasn’t any choice. Not really.”

  No, there hadn’t been a choice. The gods might have taken us down the moment we went topside if it had been up to them. Though I did feel a sad twinge in my chest when I realized that Hades didn’t come for us. He’d been the one to bring my friends up to speak with the gods, so it felt like he was on our side. He had to be aware of everything that happened in the underworld, so I didn’t know why he hadn’t come to get us.

  I looked behind me, praying I would see some kind of salvation coming. We didn’t have a way to get out of the underworld again, which would have scared me so much more if I couldn’t feel Aster’s hands on me.

  When I turned to look back at him, I saw a different face. Different hands touched me. Apollo smiled, and I moved backward, trying to pull free. The grass tickled my legs unpleasantly. Micha was nowhere to be seen either, leaving me alone with the god.

  “How are you . . . how are you here?” I breathed, my chest feeling tight.

  Apollo smiled still. “I’m in your head, Callie. I live there. I own you. Wanna see what I can do to you?”

  In a blink, everything turned bright white as my mind burned. I screamed. No help could find me, and I knew that because I wasn’t anywhere anymore. I existed in the light, out of time and any kind of reality. Maybe Apollo had destroyed my eyes, leaving me nothing but white light.

  I shut my eyes, still screaming as I tried to will myself to a better place. I wanted to feel the grass against my legs again. I wanted to see Aster and Micha when I looked ag
ain.

  My eyes opened, and I saw a throne in the whiteness, though I moved forward to the only color around me. The throne sat between four pillars, the seat bright red and gold. In a blink a girl appeared, sitting there, her legs swung over the side and a bow hanging from the corner. She couldn’t have been much older than me, but I knew her. Artemis.

  “Hey there,” she said. “Are you having fun?”

  I shook my head. “Where am I?”

  “You’re where you were before, but that doesn’t matter. Nothing really matters. You find that out when you get to be as old as me. If you survive it, then you’ll start to understand why we love our games so much. It’s the only way to avoid madness.”

  “Are you playing with me now?”

  She waved her hand, and the bow was suddenly in her grasp. Artemis took aim at me, but held it. “We’re always playing.”

  She let the arrow fly and it came at me. I didn’t have time to move before it hit me. I flew backward with the impact, and the world changed around me. The white faded to brighter colors, and then back to white as I realized what I had been standing on.

  Clouds.

  I fell through the air, I ripped right through the sky on my way down. My throat burned raw as I screamed out to no one. No one there to save me. No one to hear me scream.

  When I landed, it sounded like a boom of thunder. Pain consumed me when I hit the ground, but I forced myself to sit up. That fall should have killed me, but my body seemed fine. I pulled myself to my feet, looking around.

  I smelled blood. I shouldn’t have been able to, but I did. It came from my left, where the Nelson house stood. I moved to the broken door. When I pushed it open, I saw a body on the floor.

  Another scream ripped from me as I rushed to Jasmine. She wasn’t moving. Her chest remained still as I shook her shoulders. Gone. I knew it in my soul. She hadn’t bled, but I knew there would be some in the house.

  In another boom, thunder came from above, followed by the sound of rain hitting the house. As the wind howled at me, I walked through the home and followed the smell of blood.

  The kitchen looked . . . nothing like I’d seen before. Not an inch had been spared of broken dishes or bloodied counters, and another body lay on the floor. Juniper, torn open and limp. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been.

  I heard giggles from the other room, making me run again. When I returned, Jasmine laid exactly where I’d left her, but there were two new people in the room. Aphrodite and Demeter sat on the couch, both with teacups in their hands and a small plate of cookies between them. They chatted, still giggling about something. Their words didn’t sound like words. They didn’t even look my way.

  Something tugged me in another direction. I didn’t want to move. I wanted to stay perfectly still, hiding from whatever would come for me later. I didn’t get a choice.

  I walked into the studio garage, hearing a scream as soon as I stepped inside. A body hung up; Jasper, dead as he swung. In a brief flash and like a foggy imprint over this scene, I saw Jasper on the ground as Kizzy begged for help. She pumped air into his body, but it did nothing. Already too late.

  The garage opened up, and I moved along again. When I stood in the driveway, something exploded in the sky above me. Lightning cracked the concrete, splitting it open. Dirt broke through as my feet started to sink. I couldn’t fight it off as my legs sank into the dirt that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

  When I was chest deep, I tried clawing my way up from underground. My nails scratched desperately at the concrete, trying to find purchase. I shredded my nails, the blood making me lose what little grip I had.

  I fell through the air again, darkness all around me. I fell into water that hadn’t been there a moment before. Water that burned me, yet felt like ice scratching at my body. Something had my legs, trying to pull me down. I didn’t let it.

  A boat passed me by, the ferryman swimming along with his souls in tow. When I called to him, he said nothing. He did nothing. He left me on my own.

  That something from underneath pulled me deeper into the River Styx, but I did all I could to fight off the dead. I kicked and thrashed, trying to free myself from the hands. I only needed to find land, and then I could pull myself to safety.

  I felt sand under my feet as I got closer to the shore. I could see it when my head reached the surface again. I could only manage it for a few short breaths, but I spotted the dock even closer than the shore. I went for it, reaching my hand out until I felt wood against my skin.

  As I tried pulling myself up, I saw a figure kneeling down at the end of the dock, only a foot from me. Hades, finally come to save me. I reached out for him, sure I would feel his hand take mine. Hades reached toward me, putting his hand on the top of my head.

  He pushed me back under the water.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:

  Give Me a Reason to Fear

  Aster

  CALLIE FELL TO her knees, her eyes distant and empty. Hecate’s gaze locked on Callie before she fell, so I knew she must’ve been doing something to her. I wanted rush to my girlfriend and pull her out of danger. I didn’t think I could move more than an inch, though. As hard as I pulled on my new bindings, I couldn’t break free. Hecate had trapped us just before she did whatever she had done to Callie.

  Micha tried even harder to break free than I did. Blood had started to leak from his wrists, he struggled so hard. He shouted and screamed every few seconds, too, in an attempt to aid his breaking free. I didn’t know what that did for him.

  Hecate walked closer to Callie, kneeling on the ground. “I want her more than I want either of you, to be honest,” she said. “An immortal Oracle? That’s something completely knew. A hero that’s been made more than he is?” She turned to stare directly at Micha. “That’s nothing new and so boring that I find it hard to believe the Olympians got into such a snit about it. And a demigod? You are a dime a dozen. A son of Apollo?” She shrugged. “You aren’t as common as the children of Zeus, but you aren’t as rare as a child of Demeter. Neither of you are worth much, unlike her.”

  The goddess brushed past Callie, who had started to make a sad sound in the back of her throat. I pulled against my bindings again, hard enough that I felt them digging into my bones.

  “But I’ll take either one of you. Maybe you could even convince the girl that this is the best option.” She glanced over her shoulder at Callie.

  In the blink of an eye, Hecate stood in front of me, her hand curling around my chin. I hadn’t even seen her move. “You are the weaker of the three. I could make you strong. I could make it where you never have to rely on your father again, or these two to keep you safe. you won’t have to burden them anymore.”

  Her words felt like knifes across my mind. Weak, pathetic, a burden. I’d heard those words my entire life. Hearing them now didn’t make it any better. I could argue that Hecate wanted me to turn against my father, so she said the exact words that would do it. But right at that moment, no amount of logic could beat the thoughts in my head. The ones saying that this woman didn’t even know me, and yet she could tell that I made everyone’s life harder by being around them.

  It felt like a confirmation of every horrible thought I’d ever had about myself. Every terrible thing that my mother had said, every painful thing that had crossed my mind . . . all true.

  Hecate smiled, her fingernail starting to dig into my cheek. “Just think about it. You could be a hero too. One that gets put in books and legends for the rest of your time. We haven’t had heroes like that for so long. We’ve had to hide from the world, and that means that people like you don’t get the recognition they could. Don’t you wish to be a hero?”

  Callie made another small sound. I started to look over, but Hecate grabbed my face harder. Her nail punctured holes into my skin, making it hard for me to think. She took up so much of my focus.

  Micha’s grunts of pain became more intense as he fought against his binds even harder. I wondered what he though
t. Did he think that I listened to everything that Hecate said and took it to heart? Did he think that I would let Callie get hurt? Did he think that I would abandon my father, the only parent I had left?

  Because I wouldn’t.

  I’d rather be a broken, pathetic burden than to join this woman who would hurt my girlfriend in front of me and act as if that shouldn’t affect me.

  Light blasted from my hands. I didn’t even care where it went. I just needed this bitch to peel herself off me before my brain couldn’t handle it anymore. She screamed in surprise when sunlight slanted into her eyes, burning her face. Hecate backed off so fast that she almost tripped over her dress.

  “Point up!” Micha shouted at me.

  I didn’t think. The light slashed across the meadow, making all the lost souls scream in terror and pain. I pointed it directly above us, so that it lit up the entire sky. The brightness burned across the world, shining where it shouldn’t have.

  Hecate stared up at the sky, her mouth slightly open. “Put it out,” she said.

  I pumped more energy into the light, hoping that it would burn even brighter, until it had eaten up every bit of darkness around us.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Micha said.

  “Put it out!” Hecate shouted, throwing her arm forward. Something hot slammed into my chest and then started to eat through my clothing and skin alike. The pain chewed and bit at me. I had to clench my teeth to keep from screaming, but that didn’t work. The sound worked its way through my throat, and I couldn’t stop it.

  The light started to dim as I lost focus on it, unable to pay attention to anything but the pain eating through my flesh. I could vaguely hear Micha screaming and Hecate chanting something, but it all seemed so distant, so irrelevant. I started to fall as the pain lessened. My flesh healed around the injuries, but not fast enough.

  A thrum of power started to vibrate the air, drawing my attention. Hecate stopped her chanting, her eyes turning toward the river. “No . . . ” she growled and began chanting again.