by Aimee Carter
Henry was quiet for a long moment, and not even the rise and fall of Milo’s chest comforted me. This was impossible. Half-dead or not, Henry was as stubborn as ever. After caring for the baby all this time, he knew Milo even better than I did, and that was the part I didn’t understand. How could anyone look at that face and not want to rip the world apart to get him back? How could Henry not need to protect his own son and give him the future he deserved?
“We will discuss it once you have made contact with Rhea,” he finally said. “I will not promise anything, but if there is a way I can help, I will. As it stands, I am rather stuck.”
That was as much of a concession as I was going to get. I stood on my tiptoes to try to kiss him, but like he had every other time during our visits with Milo, he turned his head so I only captured the corner of his mouth. “Thank you,” I said, refusing to let his distance faze me. Maybe he was Sleeping Beauty, and a kiss would wake him up and take him away from his son. If only it were that easy.
“You are welcome.” He reached into the crib and picked up the baby. “We will be here waiting when you return.”
“You’d better be.” I held my hand above Milo’s forehead, as close as I could get without going through him. “I love you both so damn much. You know that, right?”
Milo waved his arms, as if reaching for me, and Henry kissed his hand. “We do,” he said. “And we cannot wait to be with you again.”
I poked him in the ribs. “You can count on it.”
“Kate?”
I opened my eyes. James leaned toward me, his nose inches from mine.
“There you are,” he said with a hint of relief. “You were smiling.”
I straightened and adjusted the sling wrapped around my burning arm. It was easier to ignore the pain as it became the norm, but when I focused on it, it made me wince. “I didn’t realize that was a crime.”
“It’s not.” James offered me his hand, and I took it. “I just thought you weren’t coming back. I’ve been calling your name for ages.”
My cheeks grew warm. I didn’t know how I acted during these visions—no one had bothered to explain it to me, and I was too embarrassed to ask. Could James hear everything? “Then why didn’t you break in like you did last time?” I muttered.
“What, you mean when I was trying to drag you back from total oblivion?” he said. “I am sorry about that, you know. It’s rude. But if I hadn’t, you’d still be in there, convinced Henry was dead. So all in all, I figure it was worth it.”
I scowled at him, but he was right. “How did you do that anyway?”
He tapped his nose. “My secret. Maybe if you’re good, I’ll explain it later. Are we leaving? I packed a bag for both of us. Actually, your mother packed yours. I figured Henry might smite me if I went through your underwear.”
“I thought Walter was the one who did the smiting,” I said with a faint smile.
James’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you or did you not see the black cloud of doom when Henry broke onto Cronus’s island?”
My smile vanished. “Of course.”
“And you still think he doesn’t have it in him?”
I frowned. James didn’t have to rub my nose in the fact that I didn’t know what my own husband was capable of. Or what I was capable of, for that matter.
“Come on,” said James, gentler this time, and he took my good arm. “Let’s go say goodbye.”
My mother wasn’t the only one waiting for us. Walter stood at her side, and his smooth expression didn’t betray whatever it was he was thinking. My stomach twisted. I’d avoided him since the council meeting, unable to forget how he’d addressed me—as his daughter.
It seemed impossible. It had to be. If I was the daughter of Zeus, I’d know it. But the more I thought about it, the less I could deny it. James and Ava had mentioned that only his children joined the council; and if I was a member, then the answer was obvious.
But regardless of the evidence, part of me wanted to stay in denial. I’d lived my whole life thinking my father had left my mother early on, that he may have not even known I’d existed. It was easier than facing the possibility that he’d known and just didn’t care. And if Walter was my father, then there was no question that he’d not only known I’d existed, but he’d been acutely aware of everything my mother and I had gone through, as well. And he’d never cared enough to help.
As I walked toward him and my mother, resentment made my blood boil. He said nothing as my mother embraced me, and I buried my nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. It didn’t matter who Walter was to me. I had my mother, and she was the only parent I’d ever need.
“Where are the others?” I said. Not that I expected them to care that I was leaving, but I figured they’d at least want to give James a decent send-off.
“Attempting to corral Cronus fully back onto the island,” said my mother grimly. “We will be joining them once you leave.”
Fear swept through me. I had never thought of her as a soldier—she’d fought hard against the cancer that had eventually taken her mortal life, of course. But this wasn’t cancer. This was war, and the thought of my mother fighting alongside the likes of Dylan and Irene and Walter made my head spin. She was the gentlest person I knew.
No one could afford to sit this one out, though. If I knew how to fight like they did, I’d be on the front lines, too, using every bit of power I had inside me to get my son back. As it stood, the only way I had to help was this. And that was why no one, not even Henry, would ever talk me out of it.
“Kate,” said Walter, and my mother let me go. “You understand that Rhea is equally as strong as Cronus, do you not?”
I eyed him. We looked nothing like each other, but when the gods could and did change forms, that didn’t mean much. “Yeah, I know. Isn’t that the whole point?”
“Yes,” said Walter, giving my mother a look I didn’t understand. “That also means if you press her to do something she is not willing to do, or if you upset her in any way, she has the potential to be equally as devastating to our cause.”
“So you want me to suck up to her?” I said. “We’re in the middle of a war.”
“Yes, I am aware,” said Walter dryly. “I am merely asking that you show her the respect she deserves. She is our mother. Your grandmother twice over—”
“Excuse me?” I blurted. My mother squeezed my elbow, but I shook her off. It was one thing for me to at least have the choice to pretend to be blissfully unaware of his role in my life, but for him to force this on me now...something inside me snapped. “If you’re finally going to admit that you’re my father—”
“Now is not the time, Kate,” said my mother.
“It’s never the right time,” I said sharply. “It’s a simple yes or no, Walter. Are you my father?”
He raised his chin and looked down at me. “Yes. I never thought there was a question.”
As if it was no big deal. As if the years I’d spent taking care of my mother on my own didn’t matter. I’d cried myself to sleep countless nights, terrified I’d wake up and be alone in the world, and all this time, not only had my father known about me, but he had known exactly where we were and what we were going through.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I never thought I needed a father,” I said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a Titan to find.”
“Kate,” said my mother, reaching for me, but I yanked my arm away. Her lips parted in surprise, and guilt gripped my
heart, more painful than anything Cronus could possibly do to me. But I stood my ground.
“We need to go.” I slid my hand into the crook of James’s elbow and took a step back, ignoring the way my throat tightened. I wasn’t going to cry. Not over Walter, and especially not in front of him.
For the first time in our friendship, James kept his mouth shut. Instead he nodded in Walter and my mother’s direction. My parents’ direction, I realized. For the first time in my life, I had parents.
That should’ve made me giddy with excitement, or at least it should have given me a glimmer of happiness during one of the worst times of my life. Instead it made me nauseous.
“Goodbye, sweetheart,” my mother whispered. Before I could say goodbye in return, golden light flashed from all directions, and bright spots of color burst in front of me as the sunset floors vanished.
James and I appeared on a grassy hill, and I blinked. Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park, the exact spot I’d met with my mother every night I’d spent in Eden. We were surrounded by people, but none of them so much as glanced up at our appearance. Could they see us? Or had James done something to make them think we’d been there the whole time?
“Why are we in New York?” I said. “Is Rhea here now?”
“Rhea? What would she be doing here?” said James, and he guided me down the hill. “She’s still in Africa.”
“Then why aren’t we in Africa?” I said, and James smirked. Clearly he was enjoying my ignorance.
“We’re here because this was where Olympus happened to be.”
I hesitated. “I thought Mount Olympus was in Greece.”
“Mount Olympus is, but Olympus, the council’s home, isn’t in a fixed spot. Well, no, it is,” he amended, gesturing to the sunset that stained the New York sky. “It’s caught eternally between day and dusk.”
Right. Hence the interior decorating. “So why can’t we just...appear there?”
“Because I miss traveling, and it happens to be what I’m good at.” James took my elbow, his hand warm even through my sweater. “We’re handling things the old-fashioned way and catching the first flight to Zimbabwe. It’ll give us some time to map out our game plan, and I figured stretching your legs would do you some good. Besides, only the six siblings can disappear and reappear in another place. And you now, too, I suppose, once you learn how,” he added. “I bet Walter would teach you once we get back.”
The mention of Walter turned my stomach. “Why can I do it, too?”
James raised an eyebrow. “You’re complaining?”
“Of course not.” I bit my lip. “It can’t be because both of my—my parents—” I could barely force the word out “—are part of the original six. Then Nicholas and Dylan could, too. So why?”
“Because otherwise you’re not going to be very good at traveling through the Underworld, are you?” James untangled his arm from mine and wrapped it around my shoulders instead. “I’m sorry, Kate. Walter should’ve told you ages ago.”
A bitter taste filled my mouth. Sorry wasn’t going to fix anything. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t need him.”
“He is a bit of a womanizer,” agreed James. “Definitely not a good role model for the baby. Thankfully Milo has Henry to look up to.”
For a moment I was silent. James didn’t know whether or not Henry would ever wake up again. We didn’t even know if he’d still be alive by the time we got back. “Your optimism continues to defy reality,” I mumbled.
“I was right about your mother,” he said, and I shook my head.
“No, you weren’t. She died. Her mortal form, anyway, and you had no idea I was going to pass the tests. You didn’t know if I’d ever see her again.”
James waved off my objections. “Either way, this isn’t optimism. This is fact. Henry’s going to make it.”
He was baiting me, the jerk, but no matter how badly I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had me hooked, I couldn’t resist. “Fine, I give. How can you possibly be so sure?”
Grinning, James leaned toward me, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “Because,” he whispered, “Rhea can heal him.”
Chapter 5
Underneath
“Did you know?”
I stood beside Milo’s crib, gazing down at his sleeping form as Henry stood across from me. He looked different—more distant somehow, as if he was somewhere else, as well. He barely looked at me, and he stared unblinkingly down at the baby.
“Did I know what?” he said after a long moment. Was he even listening?
“Did you know that Rhea could heal you?” I said, keeping a stranglehold on my temper. Everything that had happened wasn’t Henry’s fault, of course, but still. Had he known this whole time? Was Walter aware? Was my mother?
“I...suspected,” said Henry, and his eyes glazed over again. Wherever he was, I sure as hell hoped it was more important than his own life. “I did not want to give you false hope.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “You didn’t want to give me any hope at all.”
Several seconds passed, and finally his gaze met mine. “Are you going to try?”
“Try what? You’re her son, aren’t you?” I said.
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Then why would she say no?”
“She does not like to bother herself with our affairs,” said Henry.
“I’m sure she won’t mind pulling herself away from whatever it is she does in order to heal you,” I said. Why was he being so difficult?
Kate?
I froze at the sound of James’s voice, but Henry didn’t so much as frown.
Kate, come back, said James, the words no more than a whisper. It’s important.
It was always important. I sighed inwardly and leaned over the cradle to give Henry a kiss on the cheek. “I have to go. I’ll be back soon.”
“Of course,” he said distractedly, once again staring down into the crib. His gaze wasn’t focused on Milo’s face, though; it was as if he was looking through him. What was going on?
The nursery faded, replaced by the interior of an airplane. Despite the ample room first class provided, my arm ached from the way I leaned against the window, and I winced. These were the only tickets we could get, and James had insisted Henry would pay him back. During my first summer away, I had been reluctant to spend Henry’s money and forced James to fly coach. This time, I didn’t argue. I’d learned my lesson about spending twelve hours crammed between a screaming baby and a snoring passenger who treated my shoulder like a pillow.
“There you are,” said James. “Hungry?” He sat beside me, and on the tray table in front of him sat two actual plates of cheeseburgers and fries. Fancy. James hadn’t bothered with one of them, undoubtedly meant for me, but on the other he’d stacked the fries into a teetering structure.
“Depends,” I said, stretching my legs. “Did you pull me away from Henry just to ask for my fries?”
“’Course not,” said James cheerfully, and he pulled a plastic bottle of ketchup from his backpack. “If I wanted them, I’d steal them. Ketchup?”
“You really brought a bottle of ketchup on the plane? How did you get it through security?”
He grinned. “My secret.”
I moved my plate onto my tray table. Unlike coach, it came out of my armrest, and on the back of the seat in front of me was a wide screen playing a movie I didn’t recognize. “You’re crazy.”
“I prefer the ter
m resourceful.” He squirted a moat of ketchup around his French fry fortress. “Anyway, I woke you up because you were mumbling something. What were you dreaming?”
I picked up one of my fries and popped it into my mouth. Not half-bad for airplane food. Then again, the few meals I’d had on airplanes before hadn’t been served with white china and silverware. “I wasn’t dreaming. I was with Milo and Henry.”
James frowned. “How often is Henry there with you?”
“All the time. I asked him to stay, and he did.”
“Can you touch him?” said James, and I nodded. “What about Milo?”
“He can. I can’t.”
“Right.” His frown deepened. “What have you been telling him?”
“What, I can’t have a private conversation with my husband without you butting in?”
James set his bottle aside and faced me. “Did you tell him where we’re going and what we’re doing?”
“Of course,” I said. “Well, no, I mean, I told him what we’re doing and that we’re going to Africa. I didn’t mention Zimbabwe specifically.”
“Good.” He brushed his fingers against mine, and I pulled away, folding my hands together and setting them in my lap. Friends or not, he’d intentionally hurt Henry all those years ago by having an affair with Persephone. While Henry might’ve been willing to forgive, he undoubtedly hadn’t forgotten, and I wasn’t about to give him any more of a reason to worry. “How has he been treating you? Has he said anything strange? Done anything that didn’t seem quite right?”
“What is this, twenty questions?” I leaned back in my seat, leaving my plate all but untouched. “It’s none of your business.”
“Yes, it is. We’ve never had a situation like this before. During the first war—obviously I wasn’t alive back then, but Walter—”