Alec nodded and I raced over to Cole, shaking him awake. I figured that if I tried to tell Cole the plans right away, he would just start freaking out because I was invisible and end up giving away my position. So, as soon as he opened his soft brown eyes in confusion, I stood up and moved on to Demeter and Hermes in the opposite corner of the room. “It’s me, Athena,” I informed them in a hushed voice as I began to loosen the ropes that bound their arms to the old wooden chairs. “I’ve got a plan to get you all out of here.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Hermes muttered gratefully once I had removed his gag. He opened his mouth to say more, but just then, Hades stormed into the room, slamming the heavy door behind him.
“Now . . . where were we?” Hades mused to himself as he strode over to Alec again, twirling the small knife around in his hand like it was a child’s toy. He wore an awful smirk which made me despise him a thousand times more so I decided it was about time to escape that hellhole for real.
“We were right at the part where you surrender,” I announced brazenly, tearing off the helm of invisibility with a confident smirk and thus allowing my long, wavy hair to ripple in wet, matted strands down my back. Hades whirled around and glared at me furiously, but he, as well as everyone else in the room, was slightly taken aback at the sight of my many bruises, bloody tank top, armor-free torso, and bare feet. He was confused just long enough for Demeter, Hermes, and Alec to break free of their remaining restraints, and Hermes shot off into the next room faster than a rocket. Meanwhile, Cole was still sitting on the floor in a daze. Poor kid.
“Well, I have to admit I was wondering when you’d show up,” Hades growled at me with a shrug, completely ignoring Alec and Demeter as they raced over to retrieve their bronze armor from a large pile near the empty hallway. Hermes returned to the scene moments later, he and the abused Persephone leaning heavily against each other for support.
They all looked at me expectantly, ready to sprint out of the palace right away, but I knew they needed a head start since they were all beat up pretty badly and would be much slower together. Plus, I wanted to talk to Hades alone. “Just go without me,” I ordered over my shoulder, keeping my eyes on Hades in case he tried to attack me when I wasn’t ready. “I’ll take Cole and meet you guys up there. I’ve got this. But if I’m not back at camp by later tonight, you have permission to worry.”
I heard Demeter, Hermes, Persephone, and Alec grumble together in a quick discussion, trying to decide whether or not leaving me behind was really the best idea. However, I heard the sound of running footsteps fade away less than a minute later after Alec told me to stay safe then silence ensued. I could only hope that Hades didn’t have a troop of bloodthirsty monsters on their heels already.
“So, this entire war’s come down to just you and me again,” Hades began smugly, wiping off Alec’s blood from the knife using his own T-shirt. I frowned, not sure if Hades was really that disgusting or if he was just trying to intimidate me. Personally, I was betting both were true.
“I knew it would eventually,” I responded impassively, pretending to be more interested in picking at the tip of my spear than in anything else. The first one of us to show fear would be the first to break.
Hades just frowned impatiently, though, and drummed his fingers against his chin. Getting straight to the point, I said, “I have a proposition to make. I want to end this war, Hades. We all do—”
Hades laughed, interrupting my speech. “I don’t mind continuing the war. It’s not like my side is suffering any casualties, since . . . well, my soldiers are already dead.”
I rolled my eyes and let out a fatigued sigh. “Sometimes I think you’re more selfish than Aphrodite,” I murmured, more to myself than to Hades. Then I pointed out, “You know, you should be more careful. One of these days when you’re strutting around in the forest, you might get wounded accidentally. In fact, I almost killed you once today already.”
Tucking the knife under his arm, Hades crossed his arms over his chest and hissed defiantly, “Death is not the worst thing that can happen to men.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise and scratched my head. “You just quoted Plato,” I observed, an idea already formulating in my mind, though Hades simply shrugged, as if this fact was insignificant. But it proved to me that he might actually have a slight soft spot or an interest for something besides Persephone, who didn’t even love him back. If he wasn’t going to listen to me, maybe he would listen to his literary hero.
“Ashley? What’s going on?” I heard Cole’s shaky voice, speaking in English, come from somewhere behind me. But I just ignored him for now.
“The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light,” I quickly quipped in Greek, in response to Hades. “Plato said that too. So are you afraid of the light, Lord Hades? Are you afraid that I’m correct in believing this war is a complete waste of time? That things will just go back to the way they were before? Because Plato also wrote, ‘courage is knowing what not to fear.’ And right now, you should be fearing whether or not you’ve dug a hole too deep for yourself to climb out of.”
I met Hades’s gaze and held it for as long as I could, knowing I had almost convinced him. He gulped and rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously, realizing he had been beaten in our little war of words before he could even respond with a counterattack. But I was the all-knowing goddess of wisdom, so what did he expect? Besides, I wasn’t even sure he knew the specifics of what he was actually fighting for.
When Hades didn’t say anything, I declared confidently, “Anyway, my proposition is this: you stop sending out so many monsters.” Hades immediately opened his mouth to object, but I threw one hand into the air, signaling for him to wait for me to finish. “Leave everyone alone except for us gods. Let them return to their camps. Zeus and I were wrong to involve the Knowing. I’ve realized that while the Knowing have an inalienable right to their homes and must protect them from being annexed by your monsters, you and I are really arguing over who has the right to reign, something far more debatable and intangible. This war is just between you and the Olympian Council, and we don’t need any more lives lost. That being said, feel free to send as many monsters as you’d like to attack the rest of the gods and me until either you or Zeus surrenders. Fair enough?”
Hades tilted his head sideways, mulling over the idea in his head. After a moment of silence, he asked, raising his voice, “And what do I get if I win? Because I know I’ll win.” His voice cracked slightly so he sounded a lot less confident than he meant to.
“Well,” I began. “That depends on how everything plays out. You obviously can’t take over the entire world—”
“No!” Hades interrupted firmly, almost shouting. He sounded like a child throwing a tantrum. “If I win and beat all of the other gods, I should get everything I fought for, fair and square! You yourself said we’re fighting over reign. So, no, I won’t accept your stupid proposition. You can leave now.” He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me with his cold eyes. Impatiently, he started tapping his foot on the floor, but I didn’t move a muscle. Now growling, Hades pointed the knife at me and threatened, “Get out of here now or I’ll throw this knife at your stupid friend and I promise I won’t miss.”
“Hades, if you get everything, the world will be thrown out of balance,” I calmly started over yet again, but Hades continued grumbling so I raised my voice. “You’ll lose control. Trust me; I know. It’s happened over and over throughout history, even to Zeus, and this time will be no different. As far as we can tell, the Council’s had control for thousands upon thousands of years so why change it now? Why let Chaos return?”
“You have fifteen seconds to compromise with me. If not, take your friend with you and get the hell out of here before I send fifty monsters to this location, Athena. Even you aren’t good enough to beat those odds,” Hades hissed, raising the knife, and my mind began to race at top speed, searching for a quick, temporary solution to the problem.
“No? Then your time starts now. Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten . . . .”
“FINE!” I yelled desperately, throwing my hands into the air. “Fine. You’ll get the forest, okay? If you win, you’ll get the forest and the rest of the gods and I will never go in again.” My voice, as well as my hands, shook violently as I wagered my true home with a mere promise. Just thinking about my life without the woods made my mouth go dry and my head start to hurt. There would be no more swimming in the river, no more playing reverse hide-and-seek, no more of anything involving the beautiful forest. I watched my life flash before my eyes; to be honest, I felt like I had just sold my soul to the devil. Unfortunately, that wasn’t far from the truth.
“I’ll have to think about it . . . but that was a much better offer,” Hades said reluctantly as he lowered the knife and his chapped lips triumphantly peeled back into a grin that was both hideous and handsome. After all, it wouldn’t really matter if he had the entire world because everyone who actually believed in the myths lived right there in the woods or at various Knowing camps. More important, however, was that taking away the rest of the gods’ happiness by closing off the forest would only add to his own satisfaction.
Determined to get in the last word after what I had just done, I grumbled unhappily, “Meet Zeus and I by the cave where we first saw you at noon tomorrow. We’ll discuss whatever you decide then. But don’t bring more than two monsters for backup unless you want to be severely punished.” Hades nodded in agreement, though he was also frowning doubtfully.
Then, after a moment of tense silence, he gave a small cough and motioned to the invisibility helmet, which I was still gripping with sweaty hands. “You still have something that belongs to me,” he whispered quietly.
Realizing what I had to do, I sighed and reluctantly tossed the bronze helm back to its owner. After all, the archers and swordfighters would be spread out all over the forest the next day and if they saw Hades wandering about, their first instinct would be to shoot, possibly to kill. I wanted to keep the meeting a secret from everyone except the gods and Alec just in case something went horribly wrong. And on the other hand, even if Hades didn’t show up at the meeting, nothing about the war would really change.
“No funny business, Hades. Just get to the cave without being seen, and maybe then we can all put away our weapons long enough to agree on peace terms,” I said seriously. I wasn’t sure he heard me, however, because he only grinned down at his reflection on the shiny metal helm in his hands. Before Hades could say anything more, I spun around on my heel and dragged the confused Cole out of the dark palace.
I have to admit it was lucky that Cole was friends with Hermes—well, Josh—because he was fit from running everywhere around town and, therefore, was able to keep up while I ran as fast as I could to get out of the Underworld. Thankfully, Hades had opened the iron gates of his palace for us this time, which was good because I really wasn’t in the mood to climb all the way up and over them again.
As we sprinted through the dull Fields of Asphodel filled with wandering souls and headed for the rocky shore of the River Styx, I noticed Cole looking around wildly and could tell he was struggling to understand exactly what he was seeing. Even though he had been unconscious for most of the time, he was down in the Underworld surrounded by mythical beings long enough for the thick fog in his head to clear, for his Sight to be uncovered. In other words, he no longer had the rigid mindset of regular humans in which monsters didn’t exist so he saw the mythical creatures clearly now, in their true forms.
Sure enough, he asked, “Where are we, Ashley? What’s going on? And who was that guy with the knife? He looked like he was seriously ready to kill someone.”
I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, trying to decide the best way to explain everything to him. “Cole, do you remember anything we learned about the Greek myths in ninth grade?”
“I think so,” he said slowly, his eyebrows knitting together as he tried to recall the information. “There were a bunch of different gods and monsters and heroes and stuff, right?”
“Yes,” I answered him as we slowed to a stop near the barking Cerberus. “So the short version of this story is that the myths are true and a bunch of kids from school are reincarnations of the gods, including Josh and me. That guy in the palace was Lord Hades, the ruler of the Underworld. The rest of the gods and I are in a war against him.”
Cole’s expression was blank, but I knew he was in a state of utter shock, which tends to happen when someone finds out everything he or she previously believed was a lie. “Th—that’s impossible . . . but you’re not kidding are you?” he whimpered after a minute or two. “Wait—does that mean there really are monsters in the forest? Is that why only the Monster Watch survived? Because you’re all gods?”
I nodded, relieved (and quite surprised) to see that he was catching on remarkably well. “And the war . . . that’s why Hades was torturing Josh’s cousin. What’s his name again? Alex?”
“Alec,” I corrected Cole. “But he’s not a god. He’s a hero. And he’s not really Josh’s cousin, either. We just made up that lie so he wouldn’t look too suspicious wandering around the Woods. It’s a long story.” I let my voice trail off since I didn’t particularly want to tell Cole all the details about what Alec and I had been through together.
Cole frowned, but he didn’t say anything more as we stepped up to Charon and his little boat. I wasn’t really surprised at Cole’s silence because Alec had been a touchy subject ever since I had picked up his phone call in the middle of my conversation with Cole at the Fire Pit. Plus, Cole was acting a bit fidgety under the blank gaze of the creepy Charon. Still, the peace and quiet gave my brain a much-needed rest and, even better, Charon didn’t make me pay the fare for bringing us across the river. I thought his small act of kindness was very strange, but I didn’t complain.
As soon as we landed on the opposite side of the river, Cole and I hopped off the small black gondola and he followed me up the long, rocky staircase I had come down earlier. Although the other staircase was a lot shorter, my armor and shoes were at the end of this one so we didn’t really have a choice. Hopefully, the other gods weren’t panicking too much because I was gone for so long.
“Be prepared for the darkness,” I muttered to Cole. “I forgot to bring a flashlight.” He just nodded as we climbed up the final steps, leaving behind the colossal cavern lit up by the lone lantern, and were forced to slow our pace when we could no longer see what was ahead. At least I still had my spear to use as a walking stick, but Cole didn’t have anything.
A little more than half an hour later, Cole finally broke the awkward silence and said, “So you said you were a goddess. Which one?”
“Athena, goddess of wisdom, war, and skills,” I stated emotionlessly. “But I suppose you can still call me Ashley, if you prefer. I know it’s hard, trying to understand all of this.”
I heard Cole chuckle weakly from behind me. “Yeah, just a little bit,” he replied sarcastically, and I smirked. Cole then proceeded to ask me about all of the other gods and I did my best to explain who was who. He didn’t bring up Alec again, and I was glad. Cole did, however, ask me how he got down to the Underworld in the first place, but I could only guess that Hades had a few of his monsters knock Cole out and kidnap him earlier in the day or perhaps after he had left my house the night before.
Time seemed to pass much quicker now that we were talking a little bit and the only bad part was that I kept accidentally stubbing my toes. Even better, Cole and I could see a bit of dim light up ahead, signifying the end of the tunnel. Not ten minutes later, we came across my combat boots, armor, and shield right where I had left them under the small hole in the ground.
After I had put on my shoes and armor once again, Cole and I managed to muster the strength to start climbing out of the hole even though we were dead tired from walking and running so far. As I gave Cole a leg up, the walkie-talkie suddenly crackled to life so
I knew we were no longer out of range of the others’. Unsurprisingly, Zeus’s and Alec’s worried voices were already calling though the speakers in Greek, “Athena, are you there? Answer us. Athena, are you okay? Can you hear us? Are you safe? Is Cole safe? Are you out of the Underworld yet?”
Their pestering went unanswered as I stood up on the grassy forest floor next to Cole and breathed in the comforting smell of pine trees, but the sound of their voices was ruining my moment of gratitude. Annoyed, I yanked the walkie-talkie off my belt loop and snapped into it, “Can you guys just shut up for a second? You’re giving me a headache.”
“Oh my gods . . . Athena? You’re okay!” The other gods seemed to ignore my request to keep quiet and continued to babble excitedly, so I just shut off the walkie-talkie completely. I would reach them soon enough.
It was pretty dark, especially since we were under the cover of the trees, and I estimated it to be around six o’clock at night, maybe even later. Although I didn’t hear any thunder, I realized Zeus’s storm was still brewing because a few large raindrops splashed onto my head and face. The heavy rain had, indeed, been going on almost all day so part of me wondered with worry if the entire town was flooded yet. What a mess.
I handed my round shield to Cole so he would have some protection in case a monster attacked us from out of nowhere, although it was a little too heavy for his liking. Then we silently started to trudge southwest toward the river and tiny army camp. Thankfully, we didn’t run into any monsters, which led me to assume that Hades was giving us a break until we made final decisions on peace or war the next day.
A few minutes later, however, we passed through one area of the forest that was littered with a dozen dead bodies of centaurs and Knowing warriors alike. But these bodies weren’t bleeding out—they were steel gray in color and rock solid, still wearing their last expressions of fear. I immediately recognized the frozen bodies, either lying on the ground or standing in a battle stance with swords raised, as the infamous handiwork of my old enemy Medusa. Knowing the frightful gorgon with eyes that turned people to stone could have been nearby, I turned to Cole and ordered, “If you hear any movement in the bushes, close your eyes.”
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