Heart

by Higginson, Rachel

  That was probably an important thing to remember.

  Dinner was cleared away by nymphs. They descended on our tables in skanky versions of our white robes. They flitted around us, flirting and laughing.

  I wondered if they were here by choice or if Hera kept her servants in the same kind of captivity the Pantheon was known for.

  Dessert was laid in front of us, followed by more wine. The other end of the hall had grown loud with laughter and shouting. I looked down at Ares as he sloshed wine down the front of his white tunic. His head tipped back and he bellowed his humor at the sky.

  The men sitting around him did the same, finding his clumsiness hilarious. Bile churned in my stomach and clawed up my throat. I wanted vengeance for Eva and Ana, for his part in murdering my friends.

  A chill slithered over me and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Turning away from Ares, I found Crete, also known as Hades, staring at me. His dark eyes held nothing in them but an unnerving emptiness I felt all the way to my bones. His thin lips pressed into a dissatisfied frown, as if he wanted revenge too. As if I’d messed up his life in an unforgivable way.

  A wind gusted through the room, whistling through the columns. I tore my gaze away from Hades and looked to the entrance where three figures landed on graceful feet.

  Orange and black hair whipped out from the middle woman, thrashing in the suddenly violent wind.

  Eryn.

  I recognized her immediately. She looked ethereal and dangerous in the low light of the lanterns. Her skin seemed to glow as bright as the candlelight and as subdued as the cloud-covered moon. She radiated danger and anger, barely restrained in her shocking face.

  If it hadn’t been for the jagged scar slashing down one side of her face, she would have been beautiful.

  Her sisters flanked her. The one to her left had red hair the color of a ruby. Her eyes never stopped flashing with lightning as they surveyed the room with keen awareness. The one to her right was taller than them both and seemingly made from granite. Her alabaster skin was as hard and muscled as the stone surface of the mountain and her silver hair wrapped around her waist in a complicated series of knots and bonds.

  One was named Meg and the other Alecta. I didn’t know which was which, but I knew they we deadly And I knew one would betray her.

  Eryn seemed to know it too, by the way she kept them just slightly in front of her. She watched them as closely as she watched the rest of the room. I read her expression as if it were my own. Nothing would get behind her. She would let nothing stab her in the back.

  Movement and chatter in the room stilled with their arrival. I saw several of the guards glance at Hera as if she would explain why they were suddenly here.

  She lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug and kept the answer tightly sealed behind an innocent smile.

  She’d obviously called them, but for who? Me? Ryder? Nix? Why were they here and what destruction had they been permitted to wield?

  Eryn nodded at her sisters and they moved through the room. They stepped over broken wine glasses and spilled food. They did not break stride even though Ares reached for them lecherously and the killing glares from the rest of the godhood would have had me cowering in the corner.

  Eryn did not stop until she stood directly in front of me. Her long finger extended to point directly in my face.

  “I will protect you, Siren, until you cross me. And when you do, I will be the first in line to slit your throat.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rage bubbled through me. It started in my toes and worked up through my legs, extending out to my fingers and filling my head with righteous indignation. My chest burned with the acid of the accusation.

  I jumped to my feet. The table next to me tipped over and tossed the food I had barely touched. The pretty silver serving tray clattered against the smooth marble floor.

  Embarrassment mingled with fury, but I refused to let these gods and goddesses intimidate me.

  I pointed my finger at Eryn and said, “That all depends on what side you’re really on.” Her face flushed with anger. Power rippled through her, darkening the sky overhead and bringing out the bright flashes of lightning that speared through the black clouds.

  “You doubt my loyalty to Olympus?” she hissed. Her sisters stepped forward and took arms at her sides. Light sparked at their fingertips.

  I licked my dry lips and ignored the room of deities watching me closely. “I couldn’t care less about your loyalty to Olympus,” I threw back at her. “My problem is your attitude towards me. As long as you’re not on his side, then there won’t be a reason for you to fear me.” I jabbed my finger in Nix’s direction. It took all of my will power to restrain myself from scratching his eyes out when his low chuckle followed my point.

  “You think I fear you?” she laughed haughtily.

  I took another step forward, placing myself directly in front of the three deadly Furies. “I think this entire mountain fears me.”

  She didn’t have a response for that. Her throat worked to swallow a bitter response, but she didn’t disagree. Somehow I knew she wouldn’t.

  Exactly why these gods had reason to fear me was slowly working itself into place, but I didn’t have all of the answers yet. I needed my mother for those.

  I looked back at Ryder. He’d slid to the edge of his seat, ready to jump in if I needed him. One foot bounced rapidly while he struggled to keep his calm but other than that, he remained the picture of cool and collected.

  “I think I’ve had enough dinner,” I told him with a jerk of my chin.

  “You and me both, Red.” He pushed up from his settee and managed not to knock his tray of food over. Linking his hand with mine, he led me out the back way.

  I chanced one glance back at the room I was leaving behind and wished I hadn’t. They watched me go with a communal aggression that became palpable frustration in the sky. A lightning storm like I had never seen before waged war in the churning clouds. Every color of lightning bolt cut through the sky in angry slashes. Sometimes they would run into each other and an explosion of sparks and light would vibrate overhead.

  It was awesome and terrifying all at once.

  I reminded myself that these were gods. I was just a mortal.

  And yet why didn’t they chase me? Or put me in my place? Why did they let me get away with so much?

  “What am I?” I whispered. We had walked for a while before I’d dared to make any sound. The question had been weighing on my mind for a long time, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words aloud until now.

  I was too afraid of the answer.

  “Ivy Pierce,” Ryder replied. “You’re just this girl I know from school.”

  I gave him a grateful smile. “Just this girl you know?”

  He nodded. “Just this girl I know that worships coffee and can play a pretty damn good keyboard.”

  It was pretty amazing how Ryder could take this horrific situation and turn this moment into something beautiful. I had been headed down a one way path to an epic pity party, but with a few honest words and sweetness that defied everything we’d been through, he had managed to flip my attitude around and make me feel infinitely special.

  “It’s a lovely night for a stroll,” he quipped after we had walked for a while.

  “It is, isn’t it?” We passed Hermes estate to our left without saying a single word about it.

  We didn’t exactly know where we were going, but we didn’t talk about it. Instinct pushed us both to keep moving and a silent agreement passed between us.

  We followed the road as it wound down the backside of the mountain and trusted intuition to lead us. We held hands the entire way, clinging to each other for support.

  The houses grew less prestigious the further along we traveled. The sprawling estates of the gods turned to ramshackle hovels that leaned on each other. The road suffered too. The smooth, glittering limestone became chipped and rough. We had to pay closer attention to every
step our feet took.

  The moon hid behind thick cloud cover. The only light that seemed to penetrate this side of the mountain was the stray lightning streak that bolted across the sky. We were submerged in a sinister darkness. The shadows moved; the air was heavy and aggressive.

  I couldn’t say for sure, but it definitely felt like we were on the right path to find the Fates.

  Unfortunately it was also the wrong path to safety.

  The housing stopped when the mountain jutted upwards abruptly. The road split the towering rock in two, creating two sharp points on either side of us. The mountain walls blocked out the little remaining light and hollowed out into a tunnel that would submerge us in darkness completely.

  All of a sudden, this became a very bad idea.

  I tried to swallow down my fear. “Do you think we should keep going?”

  Ryder rubbed his thumb over mine. “Seems like a good place for evil to hide.”

  “We didn’t even bring weapons,” I reminded him.

  He turned to face me. He grabbed my other hand and held it firmly with his reassuring grip. “Ivy, you are the weapon.”

  “All they have to do is cut a piece of thread, Ryder. That’s it. They could kill us both in less than a second.” My shoulders started shaking. The closer we got, the more right this felt. But also, the more dangerous it became. I couldn’t think beyond the fear and sense of dread poisoning my thoughts.

  “So what do you want to do? What are our other options?” His solemn gaze met mine and I felt the point he gently made.

  We didn’t have any other options.

  “Okay,” I told him. “You’re right.”

  “They’re probably expecting us anyway,” he reminded me. “I mean, what kind of future-telling witches would they be if they didn’t already know we were on our way?”

  “That is so not helping.” Panic flared in my chest.

  He pulled me close until we were nose to nose. His lips brushed over mine, giving me the slightest taste of him. I automatically leaned forward. I wanted more.

  I needed more.

  He didn’t hesitate to give it to me. His mouth met mine at the same time his hands dropped mine to grip my waist. His tongue slipped between my lips and I opened for him, deepening the kiss with a hungry sigh.

  I poured everything that was inside of me into that kiss. I let it be therapy and confession, hope and healing. I let Ryder’s touch, his intentions and his heart sweep away my fears and doubts and replace them with the promise that he would not leave me like I left him.

  He would not let me go through this on my own.

  He was with me.

  He would stay with me.

  Rocks skittered down the side of the mountain behind Ryder. They echoed through the too-still night and scared us both. We jumped apart and quickly surveyed the area, expecting the worst.

  Something flapped its leathery wings overhead and we pressed ourselves against the cold rock of the mountain.

  “There will be more time for that later.” Ryder nudged my side with his elbow. “You’re going to get us killed.”

  I smiled even though he couldn’t see me in the pitch black of the passageway. “Death by kisses. That doesn’t sound so bad.”

  I heard his smile as we inched along. “True story.”

  His hand slid down my forearm and took my hand again. He pulled me along the gravelly road, occasionally tripping over a large rock we couldn’t see.

  Bats, or something like bats, screeched overhead. In this kind of darkness, the rest of my senses were hyperaware of every little thing. My hearing picked up the flapping of their wings as they swooped from perch to perch and the scratching of their claws as they landed somewhere on the rock overhead.

  Ryder and I had to turn sideways to fit through the ever-narrowing tunnel. The mountain pushed in on us from either side. The sharp rock jabbed at my sides and exposed arms. My gown snagged more than once and I was afraid I would be standing in nothing but a rag if we ever managed to make it out of here.

  The darkness just got darker.

  I had never experienced anything like it. It weighed down on my skin, making my arms sluggish and numb. My feet tripped more often and I started to worry that there were drugs in the air.

  My mind spun with possibilities. Was this the Fates’ defense? Did they incapacitate intruders before they got anywhere important?

  Ryder’s grip on my hand grew weaker and weaker, his steps moving slower and slower. My stomach clenched with fear, but it was a muted reaction compared to normal.

  “Ryder,” I whispered, thinking we should go back. He didn’t respond.

  Was it just my imagination or had the bats creeped closer? Had something flown by just over my head?

  Ryder’s feet stumbled and our hands nearly slipped apart. His fingers slid from mine, but our pinkies linked and I felt that connection as strongly as I did the haziness in my head and the sluggishness in my muscles.

  I couldn’t let him go. This was my one lifeline to something real. Something lasting.

  I was completely blind in this place. My eyes never adjusted to the darkness. They couldn’t, there was no light to give them any reprieve. But after a while, I started to hallucinate that I could see things.

  Insidious images started to flash before me. I saw hideous creatures with bloodied talons and gaping mouths. I saw men beneath them with their guts spilled out. Their eyes were wide with agony, but their mouths curled into pleasured smiles.

  I saw serpents the size of humans with horned heads and forked tongues. Their bodies wrapped around more creatures made from nightmares. Their heads bobbed our direction as we walked by them.

  Instinctively I knew not to look in their eyes. I knew to keep my head down and my eyes on my feet as much as I could.

  A woman walked through their midst wrapped in dirty gauze. Her hair moved around her shoulders in thick, tangled strands as if it had a life of its own. I knew not to look at her face, but I watched her clawed toenails grip the harsh ground with every step she took.

  Medusa, my Greek brain told me.

  Her hair did have a life of its own. Or lives of its own. The slender snakes moved as one unit, but each had its own head, each had the power to kill.

  Another woman caught my attention. Her long, black hair reached her feet and wrapped around her ankles and calves like a vine. Her pale legs seemed to glow in the darkness, so frail and delicate that their weakness was a visible thing. Her thin arms wrapped around her too small waist and hugged her torso with a desperation I felt in my bones.

  I braved looking at this woman’s face and nearly stumbled off the path when I took in her lifeless eyes and slack jaw. Her dark eyes would have been pretty once, as well as her high cheek bones and heart-shaped lips. Once upon a time.

  Now, she looked like a living corpse.

  I stared at her long enough to see that her scalp was bleeding. Thick droplets of blood dripped from her hairline and streaked down her temples and into her eyes. As I watched, one of her hands snaked up to grip her hair as if she could rip it out. She clawed and scratched and opened more sores.

  Sickness roiled through me. Persephone, Hade’s bride. She had been a goddess once, until Hades kidnapped her and forced her to be his queen. Her story was one of the great tragedies that helped instill a healthy fear of Hades in every little girl in the Greek circle. Now, seeing her like this… she looked completely robbed of life. Hades hadn’t just stolen her life and her godhood; he’d stolen everything inside of her. He’d left her an empty husk that did nothing but suffer and feel pain.

  Had we accidentally wandered into the Underworld? But how?

  We had to get out of here.

  The horrors of this place somewhat woke me out of my stupor. I tightened my pinky against Ryder’s and tried to speak to him.

  Nothing came out.

  I opened my mouth again, but my voice box had been stripped. Or locked. Or… something.

  I couldn’t make a sound
.

  Ryder’s feet tripped over some unseen obstacle in the path and he almost stumbled off of it. I grabbed his shoulder with my free hand before his feet could step on ground I was certain would make him a prisoner to this place.

  I tried to speak again, but there was nothing. It was more than my voice though. It was like this place completely restrained my powers. I couldn’t speak or even whisper. But most importantly, I couldn’t sing.

  I shivered in the coldness of this hell, knowing that the heaviness in the air was death. I felt it creep over me, sink into my skin, slither through my hair and claw at my bones.

  The images around me flickered in and out of solidity. It was like watching a black and white movie that had a messed up tape. Everything appeared in stuttering sequences.

  Was that a dragon? But the image of a creature the size of a semi-truck exhaling fire was gone before I could truly grasp the image. The same with the next. I could have sworn I saw a three-headed dog, sleeping. But then it was gone.

  This place was nothing but pure evil. And I was afraid we would be trapped here forever. What if we were lost and never found our way out? Or we’d been sentenced to wander this path forever?

  I couldn’t do it! I would end up like Persephone, completely void and utterly deranged.

  Ryder stumbled again and I nearly started crying. I had to get him out of here! My own life be damned, I wouldn’t let him end up on the other side of this path. I wouldn’t let those creatures have him!

  Light.

  There was light up ahead.

  At first it came like pitch black darkness again. But I felt the change. The images started to come less and less. Then the darkness lightened to a soft gray. Moonlight pierced the oppressiveness.

  We were almost there.

  I squeezed Ryder’s pinky with mine and took a deep breath. He wandered forward unseeing and I couldn’t tell if he saw the end or if he was still under the heady influence from this place.

  It didn’t matter. If I could just get him back to fresh air, he would be okay. He would make it.