by Aimee Carter
With his mouth set in a thin line, Henry picked up a piece of fog-infused stone nearby. At f irst I didn’t realize what he was doing, but when he pressed a sharp corner against his palm and dragged it down, I covered my mouth, horrif ied.
Scarlet blood pooled in his hand, and he pressed it against the f irst bar of the gate, whispering something I couldn’t hear.
“Henry.” I was a sobbing mess now, but I didn’t care. He was going to get everyone killed. “Don’t do this. Please. I’ll do anything.”
He didn’t so much as f linch. As Henry pulled his hand away, the bar groaned, and the stone split through the middle of the mark his blood made. Calliope hovered, wearing a giddy grin, and as her excitement grew, her grip on the chain around my neck loosened. Wild hope f illed me as I slipped my f ingers between my neck and the links. Nothing I said could stop Henry, but if I could slip away—
“The next one!” cried Calliope.
Henry closed his eyes and pressed his hand against the second bar. As it too crumbled, I frantically worked myself loose from the chain while Calliope was too preoccupied to notice. Her entire body seemed to tremble with excitement, and the fog spilled out from between the opened portion of the gate, all but obscuring Henry. I could still see Calliope’s silhouette, but barely. Unlike the fog in the chains, this didn’t sting; like the desert, it felt like feathers against my skin.
Finally my head slipped out of the noose, and I was free.
All I had to do was f ind the exit. If Henry continued to go this slowly, I’d have time to help free the others, and maybe they could talk some sense into him.
But my feet were glued to the ground. Not by some outside force, but because I couldn’t leave Henry. If he stopped, Cronus would destroy him. He would destroy all of us. And I couldn’t stand by and let that happen.
It was the hardest decision I’d ever made, but I stayed.
There were ten bars in all. With each one Henry opened, Calliope lost more of her composure until she dropped the chain completely. Jumping up and down, she clapped her hands and emitted a high-pitched squeal. My insides twisted into knots. This was it.
Time seemed to stop, the fog muff ling everything. And in that moment, as the world grew silent, the sound of whispers snaked toward me from the direction of the cave.
My heart pounded. The others were awake.
As a seventh crack echoed through the cavern, Calliope laughed gleefully, and in the fog, someone grabbed my wrist. I struggled to break their grip, but the cold metal of a wedding ring brushed against my skin, and I stilled. Henry.
What was he trying to do? Had he changed his mind? He only had three bars left to go, and it would be a matter of seconds before Calliope realized he wasn’t doing what she wanted anymore. Cronus surrounded us, and all it would take was—well, I wasn’t entirely sure what, but he would kill every last one of us if Henry reneged.
And then he pressed a painfully hot chain into my hand.
Calliope’s silhouette stopped moving. “Keep going,” she demanded. “I can count just as well as you.”
“And if I don’t?” said Henry, an edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before.
“Look around you,” said Calliope. “Use that brain of yours, Henry. What do you think will happen? Cronus will crush you. He will slowly grind your bones into dust and paint the walls with your blood. He will do the same to your wife, your sisters and your brothers, and once he’s f inished, he will do the same to the ones who had the sense not to come. On second thought, it’d be much more entertaining if we kept you alive to watch the whole thing, wouldn’t it? I was planning on making Walter watch, and I’m sure he’d enjoy the company.”
“They’re your family, too,” I said, the chain burning my hands, but I refused to let go. If I couldn’t see her, then she couldn’t see me. She couldn’t see what Henry had done.
Cronus was everywhere though, and if he was paying attention—
“No, they’re not,” she spat. “Not anymore. The council has ruled for long enough, and they made a mockery of themselves and all I stand for. They tossed me aside as if I were nothing. Do you have any idea what that feels like?
Of course you don’t, Kate. You won. You have everything you want.”
Not everything. I didn’t have Henry, and I wasn’t sure I ever would. But I bit my tongue. The last thing she needed was a reason to blow me to bits.
Her silhouette came into view as Calliope rounded on Henry. “You and Walter will suffer the pain you put me through for all of these eons, and I promise to enjoy every moment of it.”
I couldn’t see what she did to him, but Henry screamed, an ugly, twisted sound that swallowed me whole until everything ceased to exist except my burning need to stop it. I moved toward her without thinking. The chain was f ire in my hands, and I swung it as hard as I could. A sick-ening crack f illed the cavern as it connected with the back of Calliope’s head, and the links wrapped around her neck, burning her pretty face.
I expected her to scream or shout or f ight back somehow, and I wasn’t going to hand it over to her that easily. I swung at her again and again, crazy with the need to make sure she never had another chance to hurt Henry or anyone else I loved, but f inally someone caught my arm.
“Enough,” said Henry. “Look.”
My heart pounded as I inched forward, squinting through the fog. I clutched the chain, prepared to hit her again if she jumped out at me. Instead my foot hit something warm and solid.
Calliope.
Henry wrapped his arm around me and grabbed Calliope’s ankle. I stared at her limp body, torn between horror and satisfaction as blood dripped from a gash in her cheek.
“Leave,” he called out, his voice booming despite his injuries. A hissing sound echoed through the cavern, and the air grew so hot I felt as if I were being boiled alive.
Tiny knives pricked me, burrowing underneath my skin and turning to molten lava.
I cried out, unable to handle the monstrous pain coursing through my body. My knees gave way, but Henry was there to catch me, and his chains clattered to the ground. He said nothing as he pulled me against him and buried my face in his chest. The next thing I knew, the stabs were gone, and cool air engulfed me.
“It’s all right,” said Henry in the soothing tone I’d wanted to hear so badly since stepping foot in the Underworld. Even though he must have been hurting, too, he ran his f ingers through my hair comfortingly. “You’re safe.” The agony of the fog seeping into my body hadn’t left me, but as I stood there trembling, it didn’t get any worse.
I cracked open an eye, and when I saw the red wall, my stomach lurched. Who had Cronus killed? James? Ava? Or had he killed Calliope for failing him?
As my vision focused, I realized we weren’t in the cavern anymore. We stood in the entranceway of the palace, the one with the mirrors and scarlet walls, and Calliope lay on the carpet, blood seeping from the wound in the back of her head.
We were home.
CH APTER TH IRTEEN
SH A DOW
As the seconds ticked by like hours, the others appeared around us. Ava was f irst, with Sof ia. Their wrists were rubbed raw. James showed up next with Phillip, who held a bloody cloth over his eye, and f inally Walter and my mother appeared. She was clutching Persephone’s hand.
The moment I saw my mother, pale and shaken but in one piece, I wanted to dash toward her. An invisible force held me back though, and I couldn’t move, not while she held on to Persephone.
My mother caught me staring. Her grip on Persephone tightened, and to my astonishment, she dropped her hand and moved toward me instead.
That was all the encouragement I needed. I rushed forward and hugged her, burying my nose in her hair. Even after all that time in the cave, she still smelled like apples and freesia. The faintest hint of smoke clung to her as well, but she was okay.
“Where is she?” said Walter, pushing through the cluster of dazed council members. Dylan, Irene and the others wh
o had remained behind were nowhere in sight, but they were probably working on the surface. I hoped.
“Here.” Henry stepped aside and gestured to Calliope.
Walter knelt beside her—his wife, I reminded myself. I stared wide-eyed at the sight of the two of them together, him so old and her so not, and he brushed a lock of hair from her eyes.
“Oh, my dear,” he whispered, but that one tender moment was gone as quickly as it’d come. His expression hardened, and he gathered her in his arms with no more care than he would have shown a pile of rags. “Henry, have you anyplace to keep her?”
Henry gestured for Walter to come with him. I wanted to follow, but my mother clung to me, and I didn’t want to let her go.
“Are you all right?” she said, pulling away enough to look me over head to toe.
“I’m f ine,” I said, even though that was a lie. I ached all over, and my blood was practically boiling, but there was no use complaining about it when the others must have felt the same. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” She shook her head. “I’m all right. It was a very brave thing you did, coming to f ind us.”
I averted my eyes and stared at the spot of blood on the carpet, where Calliope had been moments before. “It was stupid. I’m sorry. I never meant for any of that to happen, but I couldn’t—I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”
“Of course you couldn’t, sweetheart.” She gently wiped my dirty face with her sleeve and pressed her lips against my cheek. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t do something.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Persephone step toward us, and my mother straightened. I refused to let go of her hand, and to my relief, her grip on mine didn’t loosen, either.
“Kate’s very brave,” said Persephone without a hint of resentment. My hostility began to melt, and I opened my mouth to return the sentiment when Persephone added,
“A bit stupid and shortsighted, and completely naive, but brave.”
That same sourness toward her solidif ied inside of me again. As much as I wanted to hate her though, I couldn’t, not when she’d risked everything to help. Had she really known Calliope and Cronus couldn’t touch her? Now that it was over, I was sure she hadn’t, not when Calliope herself hadn’t known. And the way she’d reacted back at her cottage when she’d found out Cronus had been following us—no, she hadn’t known, but she’d done it anyway.
“We never would have found it without you,” I said reluctantly, and my mother—our mother—reached out to take her hand.
“I’m so glad you two are getting along,” she said. “I never meant for you to meet under these circumstances, and I’m sorry I wasn’t with you for it.”
At that moment, it didn’t matter that she hadn’t told Persephone I existed. While I couldn’t completely forget the nagging part of my brain that reminded me again and again that I was Persephone’s replacement, second-best, nothing more than a spare part, for now I ignored it and forced myself to smile. After the ordeal our mother had been through, I couldn’t deny her that bit of happiness.
“Persephone.”
Henry’s voice was barely louder than a whisper, but even in the buzz of the foyer, it cut through me. He stood in the hallway, his arms covered in blood and his clothing torn, but like he’d done in the cave, he stared past me and focused on Persephone instead. It was as if none of the past few weeks had happened. As if none of the past thousand years had happened.
“Hello, Hades,” said my sister. “It’s been a long time.” Henry slipped through the crowd to join us, and though he set his hand on the small of my back, he didn’t look at me. “Are you all right?” he said, and Persephone rolled her eyes.
“Of course I am. I can’t die twice.”
Henry hesitated, and my mother’s grip on my hand tightened. She knew what he was going to do before he did it, but her warning didn’t help. Henry pressed his lips to Persephone’s cheek tenderly, and as Persephone kissed back, a wave of nausea swept over me.
“Come,” said my mother to me. Neither Henry nor Persephone spared us a second glance as my mother led me through the foyer and into the hallway, and she wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “It has been a very long time since they’ve seen one another.”
“I know,” I whispered, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. Simply placing one foot in front of the other was torture, but I kept moving forward, needing to put as much distance between me and them as I could. When we reached the bedroom, I hesitated, but my mother pushed the door open anyway.
“You need to rest,” she said, leading me toward the bed.
I wanted to resist, but she looked almost as frail as she had while she’d fought cancer, and my intense fear of losing her spread through me, leaving me no chance to shake it off.
“You, too,” I insisted. I perched on the edge of the bed, but that was all I was willing to give until she took it easy, as well. “Sit.”
She didn’t argue. Together she and I curled up on the bed like we had a thousand times before, whenever I’d gotten scared or lonely as a child, or when she’d gotten sick and I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her alone for an entire night. I’d been so afraid she would close her eyes and never wake up; it was diff icult to reconcile that fear with the knowledge that she was immortal and wouldn’t fade until she no longer had a purpose in the world, or until Cronus killed her. And I would go down f ighting before I let him hurt anyone else I loved.
We lay there together as time seemed to freeze around us. I counted each breath she took, and she rubbed my back in circles. For a moment I managed to forget we were in the Underworld, and I imagined we were in New York, a mother and only daughter with nothing particularly special about them. I would be attending NYU by now, or maybe Columbia. Maybe if my mother hadn’t gotten sick, I would’ve met someone, Henry would’ve never broken my heart, and I’d never have to know what it was like to live in the shadow of my sister.
I could have been happy. My life would have been tame and short, but uncomplicated. And when I died, I would have come here, one more soul for Henry to watch over.
None of this would have ever happened.
As much as I wanted it, I knew it was only a fantasy.
I would’ve never existed if it hadn’t been for Henry and Persephone. No matter what happened, no matter what choices I made, my life would have never been simple. Even if I’d never known that gods really existed, my mother wouldn’t have survived her cancer, and I would have been more alone than I was now.
With Henry, my life was different. My life had purpose.
But no one had ever stopped to consider if it was the life I wanted to lead. No one but James.
No matter what choice I made, I couldn’t compete with the soul-crushing love Henry felt for Persephone, and now that he had her back…
I didn’t know what the right choice was anymore.
“Mom?” I whispered. “Why did you decide to have me if all I was going to be was Persephone’s replacement?” She opened her eyes, and for several seconds she said nothing. Enough time passed that I feared she wouldn’t answer, but f inally she kissed my forehead. “Do you really believe all you are to me is a replacement for your sister?” I nodded. I didn’t want to believe it, but after everything that had happened, after being plagued by doubts for so long, I couldn’t help it.
My mother sighed. “If we’re going to talk, let’s at least get cleaned up a bit.”
She slid off the bed and disappeared into my closet, and I said nothing. I knew she loved me as much as I loved her, but what would have happened if I hadn’t passed the test?
Would she have let go of my hand, too?
When she returned, she had a change of clothes with her, and I reluctantly got off the bed. Despite Ava cleaning them regularly, the jeans and sweater I wore were ruined, and as soon as I took them off, my mother vanished them.
“Now,” she said as I dressed in the pajamas she’d picked out for me. “Tell me what’s bothering you.” I didn’t know how to beg
in. Everything had gone wrong from the day I’d arrived in the Underworld, and as often as the likes of Ava and my mother wanted to reassure me that Henry loved me, he didn’t, not really. He couldn’t. I wasn’t Persephone.
It was more than that though. So much more, and the only place to start was the beginning. “Every part of my life was planned,” I said thickly. “When I was born, how I was raised, what you taught me—it was all to pass the tests, wasn’t it?”
She nodded slowly, as if she wasn’t sure what was so wrong with that. “Of course, sweetheart. I wanted to give you the best chance of success you could have, especially after what happened to the others.”
I tugged on the hem of my pajama top. “You knew someone would try to kill me, and you let me go anyway.”
“I—” She furrowed her brow. Finally she seemed to get it. “Kate, honey, I would have never allowed it if I hadn’t been sure that every possible precaution was being taken.
Before you, only a few of us oversaw the tests. With you, that all changed. I insisted, and so did Henry. He wanted to protect you. We all did. That was why one of us was always with you—that was why we all watched you go through the tests.”
My mother hadn’t been there in Eden Manor, but I’d talked to her every night in my dreams. I’d thought it was a gift from Henry, a chance to allow me to say goodbye to her, and maybe part of it was. But she’d pressed me to share everything, and I had—almost. It was the parts I hadn’t told her that had gotten me killed.
She settled behind me and brushed my hair in slow strokes, working her way gently through the tangles. “From the moment we drove into Eden, you were protected.
James, Ava, Sof ia, even Dylan and Irene—that was why they were there. Partially to guide you, but mostly to be sure nothing happened to you. We’d watched eleven other girls die because of us, and don’t think we were so callous that we didn’t care. We all did, especially Henry. From the moment the council ruled that I could have you—”