by Aimee Carter
Getting them up to the surface would be tricky, but the gaping hole in the cavern where Cronus had escaped the first time was still there. He was trapped on the island, but I tested the exit twice. I could get in and out without any trouble.
“You first,” I said to Persephone. She looked at my offered hand like it was made of acid.
“How can I possibly be sure you know how to control it? You trampled my tulips.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed her wrist. The Underworld dissolved, replaced by the stark white walls of my room in Calliope’s castle. “Happy now? Stay here.”
Persephone glared at me, but I disappeared before she could insult me further.
I took two girls at once, and within a minute, we all clustered together in the room. The girls fidgeted, and more than a few pairs of eyes widened in terror as a tidal wave crashed against the cliffs protecting the castle.
“Just stick to the plan,” I said. “And whatever you do, don’t forget that no one can hurt you. Not Calliope, not Cronus, no one.”
“Can they hurt you?” piped Emmy’s voice.
“If we do this, I’ll be fine,” I lied. No one could promise anyone anything, but they needed to hear it, and it wasn’t my job to tell them the truth right now. “We don’t have any more time. Trust me. Trust yourselves.”
I pushed the door open and sneaked into the hallway, followed by several pairs of hesitant footsteps. I didn’t look back to make sure everyone was following us. They had come; the best I could hope for now was that their courage didn’t fail them.
The hallway between my room and Nicholas’s was suspiciously empty. Did Calliope believe that no one could break into the castle, or did she foolishly not care? I crept forward, prepared for any sort of traps she or Cronus might have set, but we made it to Nicholas’s room without interruption. The door, however, was locked. “I have to go in there and get the weapons myself,” I said, but Emmy elbowed her way through the group of girls.
“Let me.”
Pulling a pin from her hair, she knelt beside the doorknob. I listened for any sign someone was coming, but five seconds later, the lock clicked open.
“Piece of cake,” said Emmy with a grin, and I shot her a grateful smile. Pushing the door open, I burst into the room, fully expecting Calliope to be waiting for me. Instead Nicholas sat chained to the chair, surrounded by his workshop of weapons.
“Kate?” he said, squinting through two black eyes. Blood dripped down the side of his face from a nasty gash on his forehead. Calliope must’ve been here recently. “Persephone?”
“Hello to you, too, brother,” said Persephone. Behind her, the others poured into the workshop, their eyes widening at the sight of Nicholas and the array of weapons.
I knelt beside his chair and inspected the glowing chains. “I can’t touch them,” I said apologetically.
“I know,” he said. “Don’t worry about me. Go on and get Cronus.”
“I’m not leaving you behind. Emmy, can you undo this lock?”
Emmy separated from the others and joined me, Persephone hot on her heels. “That’s more complicated,” she said. “But I think I can do it.”
“Try.”
“She’ll get it,” said Persephone. “Go ahead without us. We’ll get Nicholas out of here.”
“Thanks,” I said, and Persephone waved off my gratitude.
“They’re my family, too. Now go.”
A clash of metal against metal shook the very air around us, and the other girls quieted. I took a deep breath. Time to be a leader. “You all know what you’re supposed to do,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “Grab a weapon infused with fog, and go give them hell.”
Anna let out a whoop and, clutching a mace, she streaked out of the room and up the narrow staircase that led to the rest of the castle. One by one, the other girls followed, clutching swords and staffs and other weapons I couldn’t identify. I waited by the door until their cries diminished. The chances of them succeeding were slim, but as long as their distraction gave me enough time to rescue Milo and Henry, then at least our efforts wouldn’t be wasted.
“Seems like they’re enjoying themselves,” said Nicholas heavily. He grinned. Several of his teeth were missing. “Get that lock undone. I want to join them.”
“Yeah, right,” I said, and I swiped a glowing knife with wicked hooked teeth from the remaining weapons. “You’re lucky to be alive.”
Persephone gave me a look. “He has a right to fight for his family, just like you do. Now stop dictating and go get your son.”
Biting back a response, I nodded, and a second later Milo’s nursery replaced the workshop around me. Thunder echoed through the air. The council had to be close.
“Milo,” I gasped, rushing toward the cradle. It was empty. Of course Henry wouldn’t let him out of his sight during the battle, but something inside me withered. I’d hoped to get Milo out of there and safe with Adonis before finding Henry, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen.
I turned to leave on foot, but instead I crashed face-first into a warm body and stumbled to the ground. My heart damn near stopped. Had Calliope expected this? Was she lying here in wait while Cronus distracted everyone else? I gripped the knife with hooked teeth, fully prepared to use it.
“Kate?”
Not Calliope. Ava. “Where is he?” I said, scrambling to my feet. She blocked my way out, her cheeks pale and her eyes round. Clearly she hadn’t expected me. Good. That meant Calliope likely didn’t either.
“Milo?” she said. “He’s with Henry.”
“And where exactly is that?”
Ava bit her lip. “I can’t tell you. Calliope will kill you.”
“Not if I get them away from her before she knows I’m there,” I said. “Unless you decide to tell her.”
“What? Of course I wouldn’t,” she said, stunned. “I’m on your side.”
“Then tell me where Henry and Milo are.”
She swallowed, her eyes red and shining with tears. “She’ll kill all of us. Me, you, Henry, Milo, Nicholas—”
“Persephone and Emmy are getting him out of there as we speak,” I said. “He’ll be fine.”
“Emmy? You mean Henry’s—”
“It’s a long story.”
Ava hesitated, and at last her expression hardened. “Come on. I’ll take you there.”
Alarm bells went off in the back of my mind. “Why should I trust you?”
“Because we were friends once,” she said. “And because I’d want someone to help me protect my son if our positions were reversed.”
Right. She’d mentioned her son before, and while I believed her, it seemed awfully convenient that she’d bring him up now. “You never told me about him.”
“Eternity’s a long time to cover between classes,” she said. “His name’s Eros—Eric now, I suppose. Are you coming?”
Searching the entire castle room by room would take too long, and for all I knew Henry and Milo were bunkered down in a place I’d never be able to find on my own. So before I gave myself time to consider it, I nodded.
We ran through the hallways, and I tried to ignore the rolling black clouds through the windows and the bone-shattering crash of water against rock. The council was getting closer. Maybe we’d have a chance, after all.
“Where are they?” I shouted over the roar, and Ava dashed up the staircase, pulling me along with her. The hooked knife nearly slipped from my gr
ip, but I hugged it to my chest. I couldn’t lose it.
“On the roof with Calliope and Cronus,” said Ava.
My heart sank. Persephone was supposed to cover that area, but she was undoubtedly still with Nicholas. If none of the other girls had made it up there yet after clearing their sections of the castle, we would be on our own.
It didn’t matter. Milo and Henry were on that roof, and I would’ve gone up there as naked and mortal as the day I was born if it meant having a chance to save them.
I followed Ava without question. She could have been leading me straight to my death, but I desperately wanted to believe that the Ava I knew and loved was in there somewhere, willing to give her all and risk her life for the greater good. She wouldn’t have led me astray, and I had to believe that this Ava wouldn’t either.
The door to the roof appeared, and I took a breath. I would know soon enough, one way or the other.
Chapter 18
Bloodshed
We burst into the open air, the afternoon sky blacker than night. The cyclone that had been Cronus was gone, spread across the sky and struggling against pinpricks of light that looked like stars. The council. I ducked my head. If my mother saw me and got distracted—
That had to be a risk I was willing to take. My mother was strong. She wouldn’t let Cronus get the best of her. If I had any chance of getting through this, I couldn’t doubt her. I couldn’t doubt myself.
Calliope stood at the edge of the roof, her hair whipping in the wind and her head tilted upward toward the heart of the battle. Henry stood at her side, his arms shielding a bundle of white blankets from grains of sand that cut through the air like bullets. What was he doing, bringing Milo up here?
I shoved aside my protests. Milo was immortal, and there was nowhere safer for him than with Henry. I couldn’t get distracted.
“Calliope,” I cried. My voice was nearly lost to the wind, but she faced me, her eyebrows raised in surprise.
“So you really are as stupid as I thought you were,” she said as she walked toward me, leaving Henry and Milo behind. “Come to die?”
“Not quite.” I gripped the hooked knife. It had to be as good as her dagger. “Let Henry and Milo go. This is between you and me.”
Calliope’s eyes widened innocently. “Henry’s free to leave whenever he wants. It’s not my fault he chose me over you.”
My blood boiled. “How does it feel to know that your reality is nothing more than a fantasy you’ve concocted and blackmailed your way into? Nobody loves you. Not your husband, not your children, not your brothers or your sisters—no one.”
The air around her crackled angrily. “Do you think I care? I win, Kate. I have everything you’ve ever wanted, and soon everyone else you love is going to be dead. You’re going to spend eternity alone, and no one’s going to be there to save you anymore.”
“It isn’t about winning.” I took a step toward her. “Even if you never let Henry go, somewhere inside him, he’s always going to love me—because he wants to, because we’re good together. Not because Ava forced him into it. And no matter how alone I am, I’ll always have the comfort of knowing that at least someone in the world loves me because they want to. But you—you’re nothing but a heinous, lonely, unloved bitch, and that’s all you’re ever going to be.”
Calliope screeched and barreled toward me. In the few seconds we had, Ava tried to push me behind her, but I sidestepped her and sprinted toward Calliope, clutching the hooked knife. I had one chance, and I was damn well going to take it.
We collided, immortal against immortal, and the force of it nearly sent me flying. Her nails scratched my face, her shrieks of rage rang in my ears, but her hands were empty. Mine weren’t.
“I’m going to beat your pretty face to a pulp,” growled Calliope. “Once I’m done, I’m going to make your son watch as I scoop out your eyes and peel your skin from your body. And maybe, once you’re nothing more than a lump of quivering flesh, I might let you—”
Her eyes widened, her words cut short as I sank the hooked knife into her side. “You might what?” I said. “You might let me die?”
Calliope fell off of me, her brow furrowed in confusion. She stared at the knife sticking out of her side. “How did you—”
“The weapons Nicholas forged,” I said. “You’re not the only one with brains, you know.”
She tugged on the knife, wincing as the hook ripped her skin apart, doing more damage going out than it’d done going in. Blood soaked through her pale blue dress, and she dropped the blade on the ground with a clatter. “But...”
Her eyes went blank, and without another word, she collapsed.
I stared at her body, and the way my hands shook had nothing to do with the bitter wind. After two and a half years of struggling to stay alive in her wake, that was it. I’d done it.
It felt too easy. I kicked her body to be sure, and when she flopped like a dead fish, I staggered backward. I’d killed her. I’d really, truly killed her.
I was a murderer. It was justified, but she hadn’t had her dagger. I could’ve given her a choice, and instead I’d killed her in cold blood. How did that make me better than her?
I wasn’t, not anymore.
Clenching my jaw, I turned away. I’d have time to hate myself later. Calliope might’ve been dead, but the whirling cloud of doom overhead hadn’t stopped.
“Henry!” I cried. Abandoning Calliope’s body, I dashed toward him through the violent gusts. “You need to take Milo and get out of here.”
He stared up at the sky, and at first I thought he hadn’t heard me. As I opened my mouth to repeat myself, however, he turned toward me, his moonlight eyes glowing. For a moment I thought I saw a flicker of something behind them, but it vanished. “Leave, Kate,” he said, his voice sounding like a thousand gods speaking all at the same time.
I gaped at him in horror. “Are you—are you helping Cronus?”
“You weren’t supposed to come.”
“Yeah? When has that ever stopped me?” I reached for Milo. “If you won’t take him to safety, then I will.”
He snatched the baby away from me, and a knot formed in my throat. This couldn’t be happening. Henry should have been in there somewhere, waiting for this, waiting for the moment he could finally break free. But I only saw the blank face of a powerful deity. Not Henry. Not my family.
“Ava! Whatever you’re doing to Henry, stop it!” I shouted over the deafening roar. No response. I looked over my shoulder. Ava stared at me, her mouth hanging slack-jawed and her eyes wide with fear, and it took me a moment to figure out why.
Calliope’s body was gone.
A girlish giggle echoed through the storm, mingling with the screeching wind and the crash of waves rising higher and higher. I froze. How was it possible? I’d watched her die.
“Funny thing about those weapons,” said Calliope, and I whirled around again. She stood beside Henry, his arm wrapped around her shoulders the way he always held me. Her dagger floated in the space between us. “They were discarded because they didn’t work.”
Behind me, someone screamed, and the glowing blade hurtled toward me. I scrambled backward pivoting in hopes it would fly past me, but it followed my movements without missing a beat.
My back hit something solid. The edge of the roof. The dagger pressed against my throat, and I leaned back as far as I could without falling. “Henry,” I choked. “Please.”
“Don’t listen to her, H
enry,” said Calliope in a sickly sweet voice. “She’s the enemy, remember? You’re loyal to me.”
“Only because she’s using her powers against you.” I gulped in the gritty air. “Come on, Henry, you’re stronger than this.”
“Yeah, Henry,” called out a voice from the other end of the roof. Persephone. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the other girls joined her. “I thought you were better than this.”
“Persephone?” Henry frowned. “What are you—”
“Don’t listen to her,” said Calliope. “You’ve got me now.”
Henry shook her off, and he stepped toward Persephone and the gang of girls. “What are you all doing here?”
“Rescuing your sorry ass,” said Anna, swinging her mace. “And taking down this bitch.”
She let out a war cry, and the girls took off across the roof, heading straight for Calliope and Henry—and Milo.
“Stop!” I shrieked. My cries fell on deaf ears though, and they only sped up. “Henry, get out of here! Take Milo and go!”
He ignored me and stared at the girls as if he’d never seen anything so strange in his life. Beside him, Calliope waved her hand, and the dagger flew from my neck to settle directly above my heart. The tip of the blade dug into my skin, and I winced as a drop of blood soaked into my shirt.
“Please,” I begged. “Just go.”
The sound of twisting metal drowned out my pleas, and half a dozen bewildered voices rose above the commotion. Though he was fighting a battle far above us, the fog that was Cronus had created a barrier in front of Calliope, protecting her. Persephone and the other girls pushed against it, roaring with outrage. Their weapons struck the fog again and again to no avail.
“Around,” commanded Persephone, and the others scattered. No matter where they moved though, they couldn’t get any closer.
Calliope smirked. “Here’s the deal, Henry.” She set her hand on his arm, and he flinched away. Was he back now? Had he come to his senses? “You’re going to send all of these pretty little nuisances back where they came from, and maybe I won’t kill Kate.”