Avenging Heart

by Desni Dantone

  Nathan muttered a series of colorful words under his breath as he rubbed a hand down his face. He didn’t do that often, only when he was particularly frustrated. I zapped off to get Jas before Nathan suggested leaving him to climb, to spare me from traveling again.

  We landed close to another lava pit, and Jas jumped away from me with a series of ballet dancer moves. He dropped a few words that I assumed were Australian slang, because I had no idea what they were, or what they meant.

  “That’s everybody,” I stated the obvious as I walked away from the edge of the pit to join the others.

  “Thank the gods for that,” Nathan muttered. His irritation over my close calls evaporated as a whole other reason to worry surfaced.

  Hades’ palace loomed above us. Separating us from the front entrance was a hundred yard obstacle course, a trail composed of crumbling stone bordered by pockets of lava. The languid fluid bubbled, firing bowling ball sized globs of skin melting lava into the air at random intervals.

  Above our heads, a mirror image of the underworld reflected back at us. The rivers, the abyss, The Vale of Mourning . . . it was all visible. Breaking up the reflection were black dots that plummeted toward us. They looked like large birds as they swooped and flew above us.

  I watched as one fell nearly to the surface, before it darted toward the palace. A streak of black. In its wake, a blast of ice cold air blew over us.

  “Please tell me I’m not the only one who saw that,” I gasped.

  “No, you’re not,” Nathan assured me.

  “What the hell was that?” Jas wondered.

  “Alec,” I called tentatively.

  In an instant he stood in front of me. I flinched, and took a step back. My hand rose to my fluttering heart. “Don’t do that.”

  The corners of his mouth quirked. “It’s fun.”

  I realized how crazy I likely looked, talking to nobody, as far as the others were concerned. Though they knew he was there, and they believed that I was communicating with him, I realized our one-sided exchanges probably looked ridiculous to them. I ignored their stares as I focused on Alec.

  “Any suggestions for what’s next?” I asked him.

  He spun to observe the palace with a calculating look, and it dawned on me that he hadn’t seen it up close yet.

  My stomach churned with unease. “Please tell me you know how to get in there.”

  “Sorry, sweetheart. Strictly off limits to all inhabitants,” he responded. “Only his protection can enter. I’m talking about demons—mean sons of bitches.”

  “Is that what the black streak was?” I mused.

  Alec’s eyes were wide when they met mine. He nodded.

  “So how do we get around them?”

  He hadn’t said anything to me about demons. As if this adventure wasn’t already impossible enough.

  He shrugged his shoulders, and I narrowed my eyes at him. To the others, I muttered, “He doesn’t know how to get us in. That black streaky thing was a demon, the only thing allowed in the palace.”

  So close to my mother . . . yet so far away.

  “What about a spell?” Jared suggested. “Could you make us invisible? Or glamorize us as demons?”

  My head snapped up at the word invisible. I could make myself invisible, but had never tried to expand it to the others yet. Damn, why hadn’t we thought to practice that?

  “I can try,” I muttered. If I could expand the glamour spell to include them, I couldn’t think of a reason why I shouldn’t be able to do it with invisibility as well.

  I whispered the words to the spell under my breath, and closed my eyes as I surrendered to the magic. Once the buzzing sensation came over me, letting me know I had succeeded, I pushed the wave out toward the others. My skin hummed as it enveloped them, and I felt their energies merge with mine. I knew I had succeeded before I opened my eyes and saw the results.

  Standing between me and Hades’ palace were the blurry outlines of the members of the group. Based on their reactions to each other, I suspected I was the only one who saw their faint outlines. They were completely invisible to each other, and I hoped to the demons.

  Already Jas and Jared were bumping into each other, while Bruce paced around with his arms stretched in front of him like he had lost his own sight. They looked like lost ducklings.

  Alec shot me a grin. “This is going to be interesting.”

  “Yeah, a ball of fun,” I returned wryly.

  I worried that someone would get inadvertently bumped into the lava that surrounded us. I—hopefully—fixed that by positioning them all side by side in a straight line while explaining that I could partially see them all. I walked behind the group as we approached the palace, to thwart a fatal collision before it occurred.

  The stony pathway was dangerous enough. Wide fissures below our feet permitted lava to bubble up in spots. Rocks crumbled beneath our feet, threatening to swallow the group whole. After several yards, we adjusted into a single file formation for safety.

  Jared took the helm, with Nathan close behind. From the back, I watched with trepidation as they navigated the deadly terrain ahead of the rest of us. All it would take was one weak spot, and they would be gone, into the river of lava.

  My attention was momentarily sidetracked as a flash of black flew toward us from the direction of the palace. I feared the invisibility spell had not hidden us from the demons. It was coming straight at us.

  Jared halted, forcing the others to skid to a stop behind him.

  “Alec?” My voice trembled as I searched for him. He was already there, watching the streak approach with fear in his eyes.

  It wasn’t slowing.

  “Get down,” Jared whispered urgently.

  We all dropped to the ground as the streak flew over us. I rolled away from a bubble of lava inches from my face, and turned to watch as the demon rocketed straight up.

  It disappeared into the abyss reflected above us.

  “They’ve been coming and going,” Alec offered in explanation. “Back and forth to earth. I know they’re one step below a demigod. Very pure-blooded, and very strong. I don’t know what they were like before, but they don’t seem to be affected by the loss of the demigods like we were.”

  “Really?”

  Alec nodded. “They’ve been extra busy lately. I’ve wondered if it has anything to do with the fact that the demigods are gone.”

  “No matter what happens, there will always be evil on earth,” I concluded. Destroying the demigods hadn’t gotten rid of all of it.

  I supposed there was always supposed to be evil, as well as good. The demigods under Hades’ rule had multiplied the amount of evil in the world. Perhaps now that I had destroyed the demigods, it would be more . . . normal? Not Hades-driven, without the use of the Skotadi to thrust unnecessary evil upon us.

  “What?” Bruce turned to ask me.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. Just talking to Alec.”

  His eyes swept over the spot beside me, where Alec stood, and he nodded.

  With the demon gone, we were free to resume our hike. The rock under our feet grew less stable the closer we drew to the palace, forcing us to run the remaining few yards. As a large section gave way beneath Bruce and me, I wrapped my arms around him and jumped us to safety. We rolled to the ground, taking out Jas’s legs in the process.

  “Everybody make it?” Jared shouted.

  I glanced around as a chorus of voices spoke up. It was impossible to pick them all out.

  “Everybody’s here,” I confirmed.

  We stood at the threshold of the palace. Towering over us was a large shiny black door. It was anyone’s guess what awaited us inside.

  “Where do we go once we’re inside?” Jared pondered.

  Good question. I turned to Alec for answers, only to remember that he didn’t know. He hadn’t figured out what spell Hades had used on my mother, let alone how to break it, nor where Hades was keeping my mother.

  “Did your research tu
rn anything up?” he asked me.

  “I think so.” I turned to Lillian for confirmation, only to remember that she had no idea what Alec and I were talking about. “Lillian thinks he probably used a coercion spell.”

  She nodded along as I continued to explain to Alec. A coercion spell was the only spell strong enough to give Hades the hold over Hecate that he had. With that spell, she would be forced to kill Asclepius if she were ever near him. During our research, we learned that Hades would have had to bury a wooden box containing objects belonging to the two subjects within the roots of a snakeroot plant. The plant required near constant nourishment to keep the spell alive.

  That was when things got weird. It fed off the blood of Kobalos.

  I, of course, had no idea what they were until Lillian described them to me—mischievous gnome-like creatures with a knack for tricking mortals.

  Alec snorted softly. “Kobalos?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what the spell said. If that is the right spell.”

  “It’s the right spell,” Alec reassured me. He bypassed the door, and started around the side of the palace.

  I dropped my invisibility briefly, for the benefit of the others. “This way,” I called as I scurried after Alec.

  The narrow strip of ground surrounding the side of the palace was loose and slippery, and gave way beneath us as we climbed over it. Below us was the judges’ pit. A long fall awaited anyone who slipped. I rounded the corner of the palace behind Alec, and landed on solid ground. I spun to watch as the faded out images of the rest of the group clambered after us.

  I didn’t breathe until everyone had safely passed. Then I spun on Alec. “What was that all about?”

  “This way,” he responded.

  He continued along the side of the palace, with us trailing after him. Our backs splayed to the cold, smooth wall as we avoided a small stream of lava that flowed through a crack in the ground. Again, small chunks of rock gave way beneath our feet.

  “Alec,” I pressed impatiently.

  He ignored me, and we followed several more yards at a slow and steady pace. Finally, Alec stopped and pointed. I looked in the direction he indicated, and let out a small laugh.

  “How did you know they were here?” I asked Alec.

  “Gossip gets around in the underworld,” he offered in explanation.

  Behind me, Jas blurted, “Are those dwarfs?”

  “Kobalos,” I corrected.

  At the sight of us, the two-foot tall creatures bounced off the side of the cage that held them. They moved like monkeys, but had old-man faces with stringy white hair and pointy elf ears. There were hundreds of them, all chattering at once.

  “The snakeroot should be near,” Lillian offered.

  That made sense. Hades would want the plant near its source of nourishment. I eyed the Kobalos sorrowfully. If only we could rescue them . . .

  “Don’t even think about it,” Alec warned. I turned to him with feigned innocence, and he shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “So? Look at them.” A few had climbed the side of the cage. Their tiny claws held them up while their eyes penetrated mine. “They look so pathetic.”

  “They’re devious little things,” Alec returned quickly. “You can’t—”

  Alec’s arm suddenly shot out to move me against the side of the palace. I spotted the source of his alarm over his shoulder. An incoming steak of black.

  “I have to go,” Alec told me urgently. “They can see me.”

  “What if they—” I started to ask what we should do if the demon saw through the invisibility spell, but Alec zapped out before I could finish my question.

  I swiveled my head to make sure I had maintained invisibility over the rest of the group. So far, so good. Everyone’s eyes were on the demon as it swooped down. A breeze of cold air followed as it struck the ground, and formed into a solid human shape. His back to us, the demon approached the cage on two feet while the Kobalos chirped and chattered in a frenzy.

  Too terrified to move, I held my breath and watched as the demon withdrew one Kobalo from its prison. Shutting the door on the others, he walked past the cage and disappeared into a curtain of fog.

  “Come on,” I ordered the group.

  I gave the cage a wide berth as I passed, not trusting the tiny creatures with their long, slender arms. As the fog enveloped us, I felt Nathan’s fingers graze mine. A glance at his shape beside me showed a rigid jaw and determined, acute eyes.

  A shrill cry arose in the distance, silencing the chatter from the Kobalos left in the cage. We turned in the direction it had come from, and emerged from the fog in time to witness the demon suspending the Kobalo’s corpse on a wooden post. Its blood dripped to the ground, saturating the leaves of a plant with thick, twisted vines that rose ten feet into the air.

  I recognized it from the picture I had studied earlier today. It was the snakeroot.

  The demon’s job done, he turned, shifted into a black cloud, and flew away.

  “That’s it,” Lillian confirmed.

  Bruce, Nathan, and Jared withdrew the small gardening shovels we had purchased that afternoon from their backpacks. They began the task of digging while the rest of us kept watch. Not that we had a plan if a demon came—other than run like hell.

  We had no idea how often they fed the plant. I eyed the steady drip of blood from the dead Kobalo. It hadn’t slowed yet. Hopefully that meant we had some time.

  “The ground is too hard,” Bruce muttered as he tossed a rock to the side.

  We hadn’t considered that the snakeroot would be planted within a bed of stone. The time spent digging through it was time lost. Time we didn’t have.

  “I hit soft ground,” Jared grunted.

  Nathan and Bruce moved closer to Jared. The three of them dug in a frenzy, taking turns tossing soil aside in a desperate attempt to uncover the box before we ran out of time.

  Behind me, the Kobalos in the cage began to chatter loudly.

  “Hurry up, guys,” I pleaded.

  I heard a soft thud as one of the shovels hit something. Nathan tossed his shovel to the side, and reached inside the hole. Behind me, a series of shrieks erupted from the cage. Either a demon was snatching another Kobalo, or something else had them riled up.

  “Grab the other end,” Nathan grunted to Bruce.

  Together, they wrestled a large wooden box from the hole. They set it to the side, and I dropped to a knee in front of it.

  “It’s locked,” I exclaimed.

  “Burn the whole box,” Lillian suggested urgently. Her head whipped over her shoulder at the shrill cry that came from behind us. “Something’s coming.”

  I started to reach for my backpack—I was the one who carried the matches—when Nathan’s hand stopped me.

  “The lava,” he suggested. “It will be faster.”

  He lifted one end of the box, Bruce grabbed the other, and we ran. We slipped into the cover of the fog, making sure to avoid the Kobalos’ cage. Whether or not a demon came, whether or not it discovered the hole in the ground, we would never know.

  We didn’t stick around long enough to find out.

  We tossed the box into the first pit of lava we found big enough to swallow it. No ceremony. No words to chant. The box, and its contents, needed to burn. That was what it took to free Hecate from Hades’ curse.

  I wondered if she would know that the spell was broken. Would Hades?

  Would they feel it somehow?

  I sighed, and leaned against the outer wall of the palace. Now that the deed was done, I realized how exhausted I was.

  “You’re losing energy,” Nathan observed.

  I nodded reluctantly. It wasn’t luck that the demons hadn’t spotted us yet. My magic was hiding us. Dropping the invisibility spell would leave us exposed. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold it, but the group’s safety wasn’t something I was willing to gamble with.

  “Drop it, Kris,” Nathan insisted.

>   “Nathan . . .”

  “Drop it,” he repeated. “We’ll be okay.”

  I shook my head, but dropped the invisibility spell—only because we were hidden along the back wall of the palace. Instantly, I felt a surge of relief. Maybe if I rested for a few minutes, I would be able to hold it for a while longer. At least long enough for us to find Hecate.

  We needed an idea of where to go. I didn’t have enough energy reserved to pull off a long search. The palace was too big to cover while maintaining invisibility for all of us.

  Unless only I went in?

  I didn’t see that going over well with a certain someone. We needed a plan—a good plan.

  “Alec,” I called softly, then jumped at his sudden appearance. “Do you know where Hecate is being held?”

  “I have a theory.” He didn’t look, or sound, convinced.

  “How far is it?” I asked. “I’m losing steam fast.”

  “That’s not good.” He gave me a once over before frowning. “Come here. I’ll show you.”

  He took my hand, and pulled me away from the group. At their grumblings, I explained, “Alec is showing me something.”

  He stopped us, and pointed to a section of the palace, only visible to us from the angle we had now. A large box-shaped section had been chiseled into the side of the rock. It was separated from the rest of the palace by a wide chasm. No steps, no bridge, nothing. Impossible to get to unless you were capable of flying, like demons, or teleporting . . . like me.

  “Does that look like a good place to keep a prisoner to you?” Alec asked.

  I nodded. “We’ll start there,” I agreed.

  Alec turned toward the group, where they hovered along the wall of the palace. I trailed behind him as we passed a doorway hidden in shadows—perhaps a good point of entry? Alec suddenly stopped and turned to me, eyes wide with fear.

  “Wha—” I started.

  An arm reached out of the shadows to rip a handful of hair from my scalp. I glimpsed a black robe and long dark curls in the second before I was thrown into the wall head first.

  Chapter 21