I sent out a full-body shockwave of light.
It did nothing. To the storm. To the giants’ approach. Nada. Just temporarily lit up the sky so I could see where I was about to die. I swallowed, my throat dry and sticky with terror. I edged backward, clutching Kai’s arm.
Sky and earth clashed. I was losing all sense of what was up and what was down, and it didn’t matter because every direction promised death. I crept farther behind Kai. I hate to admit it, but I probably would have thrown him under the proverbial bus at that moment, if it had meant keeping me safe from those monstrosities.
You face enormous walls of teeth and grabby hands, and then give me crap for poor behavior.
It may have felt like hours but it was seconds between the storm’s reappearance and the first enormous hand grabbing at my head. I shrieked and flung my arms around Kai, holding on for dear life.
I felt him sigh. And in the blink of an eye, with me still clinging to him like a baby koala, he slashed through all three Hekatonkheires with his deadly black light. Toxic ash fell on the field.
I gasped.
“Are you insane?” sputtered Fee, sidling up alongside us with Prometheus. “I didn’t mean kill them. Great. Hades is so going to be on your fat ass, and my pretty one, now.”
Kai’s cheeks flushed with anger. “What exactly do you think the alternative was?” He took a step toward Festos. “Bitch at me for chaining Prometheus up, or bitch at me for helping to free him. Make up your damn mind!”
Insert squabbling here.
I tuned them out, still kind of shocked that Kai had just destroyed those giants in order to help Theo. Because that’s really what it was about. I slid out from behind Kai to peer at the ash before swiveling to look at my boyfriend.
“What?” he demanded.
“Boys who slay monsters for their friends are dreamy.” Shoot. Had I said that out loud?
Kai gave a cocky grin. “That’s more like it.”
Festos grunted, shifting Prometheus’ weight. “His breathing is erratic.” Fee’s voice was barely controlled panic. He gave Kai a pleading glance.
Kai nodded. “We’ll have to risk it.” He grabbed all of us, transporting us away from the crater and back to the palace.
We landed in our bedroom.
The ball was still going strong. Thumping music vibrated through the stone walls and shook my floor. None of us had been missed.
“You blinked us here. What are the consequences?” I asked.
“Expect a visit as soon as Hades can be roused from the party.” Kai’s mouth twisted in a wry grin. “We may have a bit of time.” He motioned toward Prometheus, and Fee laid him gently down on the bed. “We need to get him some help.”
“No kidding.” I jumped as a new voice spoke. At first I thought it was Hades. Or Demeter. But as she walked farther into the room, I was relieved to see that is was Oizys, framed in the early rays of dawn.
The gown of flowers was gone, replaced by her usual black sweater, fitted skirt, and combat boots. She scathed at me. “Took you long enough,” she said, and shouldered past me to stand beside Prometheus.
“Um, hello?” Festos sounded totally unimpressed as she elbowed him out of the way. “You would be whom, exactly?”
Oizys took Prometheus’ hand in hers. “His best friend. Which is a lot more than I can say about you.”
Oooh, girlfriend had attitude.
“Best friend?” Festos shot me an incredulous glance. “Are you hearing this?”
I gave him my best “shut up” look, since Oizys had no clue as to the real situation. Also, I didn’t really want to debate when my time with Theo was seriously running out.
Riiiip. Oizys tore open the tattered remains of Prometheus’ shirt. The raw, chafing wounds did nothing to detract from his magnificent six-pack. Although this was not the time to drool. “What are you doing?”
She pulled out a small jar and uncapped it. “I brought a salve with both medicinal and magical properties for when you returned. This should get him back to normal in no time.”
Smart thinking.
Oizys scooped out some of the amber cream and began to smooth it over his body in firm circles.
Fee made a strangled noise.
I moved over to our dresser and fished out some of Kai’s clothes for Prometheus to change into once he recovered.
It took a while for Oizys to cover him with the salve, but it healed his skin instantly.
With a quiet moan, Prometheus finally began to stir. His color, his breathing, the lack of burns, it was all good. He looked around the room, confused, then sat up groggily, holding his side. “What …?” He saw Kai and lunged.
Instinctively, Festos grabbed him.
Prometheus stiffened like he’d been jolted with a thousand volts and shoved Festos off him.
“That’s it,” Fee declared. “We’re going. Now.”
“Good riddance,” Oizys said, as she helped Prometheus into the clothes. The salve had obviously helped a lot but he still winced.
“Yeah,” Fee retorted. “To you.” He jerked a thumb toward Prometheus. “He’s mine.”
“In no universe whatsoever,” Prometheus growled, as he stood up fully dressed.
“You’d be amazed.”
The situation was turning ugly. “A little help,” I said to Kai.
“Oizys, return to your room. Prometheus, you’re coming with us,” he ordered.
“No,” they both said at once.
“For Olympus’ sake,” Festos muttered and grabbed Prometheus’ arm.
Prometheus retaliated with a fist to Fee’s jaw. The craaccck was deafening, knocking Festos back several feet.
Fee rubbed at the red spot. “You get one. And only because you’re currently clueless. Now we’re leaving.” He stepped toward Prometheus. And then Oizys jumped on Fee’s back.
I let my vines loose and wrapped them around her, yanking her off of him. She struggled like a fish in a net.
“Enough!” Kai thundered. “Goddess, release her.”
Reluctantly, I did.
“Return to your room,” he told Oizys.
She didn’t move a muscle.
“Now.”
Yikes. That was every ounce the Prince of Hades and more. I’d never heard Kai sound so commanding.
Guess Oizys hadn’t either because her eyes widened. And with a last a petulant glower, she stomped out of the room.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
She ignored me.
Kai turned to Prometheus. “If you’re well enough to hit him, you’re well enough to move.”
Prometheus stuck his chin out, his expression hard. “Or what? You’ll chain me up again?”
Festos tossed him back his chain.
“No.” Kai’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll leave you with Hephaestus.”
Prometheus’ defiance turned to distaste. “I’ll move.”
“Thanks so much, Koko,” Festos muttered. “I wouldn’t have given him back the chain.”
“He agreed, didn’t he? Let’s bail.”
“It won’t work,” I said glumly. “I can’t leave the Underworld until Demeter shows up. As per Hekate’s decree, I can’t go anywhere until she makes her appearance. Which means no ritual.”
“What decree?” Prometheus looked at us, expecting to be filled in.
Kai ignored him to speak to me. “Then we go find her. The more people providing distraction when this all goes down, the better.” He looked at me like he wanted to say something, or shake me, then his shoulders sagged and he flung open the door, waiting for us to step into the hallway.
“What’s his problem?” Prometheus asked quietly, hesitating to get too close to Kai.
“He’s worried that he’s going to see his girlfriend murdered,” Festos answered.
So was I. But not the girlfriend they thought. I hadn’t shared the fact that if Demeter managed to take Persephone down again …
It was bye-bye Sophie.
Thus did it suck wh
en I took the lead, strode from the room, and walked directly into the point of Demeter’s poisoned blade.
Twenty-one
I froze. Demeter had managed to grab me and spin me around, the knife pressed against my neck.
She edged me out into the corridor.
Kai’s fingers twitched.
“Try it.” Sounding amused, Demeter pushed the tip of the blade into me just hard enough to break skin. “One of you could probably take me out. But you risk the knife slipping that half-millimeter. To the coated poison part.”
I felt a dot of blood bead on my skin and remembered the sensation of that poison killing me the first time. I tensed. Didn’t want a recap, thanks.
“All you have to do is swear on the Styx to give me what I want and no harm will come to you,” Demeter soothed.
“You think there is any chance of that happening?” When I spoke those words, something inside me broke. I’d been fighting Persephone’s fury for so long, but now it rose to claim me. It settled on my skin like a shield and I spat her hatred at Demeter. “You were supposed to put me first. Me. Your child. But you abandoned me here because it suited your purposes.”
My voice boiled with bitterness. The more I spoke, the more I knew that it wasn’t just Persephone talking to Demeter. It was me pouring out my hurt to Felicia as well. For a lifetime of being abandoned, and neglected, and kept in the dark about who I really was. And who she was to me.
“For what?” I continued with a sneer. “A man who doesn’t even care that you exist? I cared. But all you did was use me. And you think I’d return that favor by handing you your heart’s desire? I’ll die before I see you rule Olympus.”
Demeter tensed against me at these words.
Prometheus gasped. Fee sighed.
But Kai? His eyes burned with sympathy for me.
I looked away. I wanted my anger right now. Needed it. And that look threatened to undo me.
I always came second. But no more.
In that moment, I realized that Persephone and I had something fundamental in common. Persephone never truly believed in her mother’s love. Not the all-encompassing love she’d wanted. The love we’d both wanted. And needed. And that every kid had a right to.
My entire understanding of Persephone’s life rearranged itself with a sickening lurch. Persephone hadn’t been prized. Demeter had judged her value based on how close she kept the two of them—Demeter and Zeus. At least that’s how Persephone saw things.
And me? Well, Felicia seemed to think that I had no value at all. I’m not sure which was worse. But one thing was clear. As Demeter or Felicia, this woman had done a number on us both.
Meantime, behind me, Demeter had gone still. Too still.
I knew that in the next second, she’d strike.
Kai’s fingertips sparked black.
I gave him a tiny shake of my head. This problem was mine to solve. One way or another.
I knew what Persephone wanted. My green glowing palms were evidence of that. But I couldn’t kill Demeter. I covered the hand holding the knife with my own. “My father is a jerk who will never love you properly.” Using all my strength, I pulled the knife slightly away from my neck. “I’m sorry about that. But asking me to betray Kyrillos is not the way.”
I couldn’t wriggle free of her. But she hadn’t killed me yet, so at least she was hesitating. I’d gotten through to her on some level. “Please.” I squirmed, turning around just enough to meet her eyes. “I love you so much.”
I did love her. Even now.
Persephone did too. That’s why she was so mad. That’s why all these gods were willing to do whatever it took to come out on top. Not because they didn’t care, but because they cared too much.
They just didn’t understand the right way to show it.
The knife clattered to the ground and Demeter disappeared.
I shuddered violently. Shock probably. But before we had a chance to process what had just happened, footsteps thundered toward us.
I took a sharp breath. Hypnos, Thanatos, a bunch of minions, and Hades himself were all approaching at once. “Kill them,” Hades said. He gave Kai a dismissive glance. “All of them.”
We ran for our lives. It was too risky to try and transport out while we were under attack. We had to get somewhere quieter for at least a couple of seconds. Because if one of us was hit, that could keep all of us from going anywhere. Make us sitting ducks for a deadly instant.
The violent shudder I’d felt when Demeter disappeared must have been me returning to my real form. Sort of annoying since Festos and Kai retained their godness, while Theo and I reverted to human state and fell quickly behind.
Fee and Kai doubled back for us, firing lava and black light down the hall, and buying Theo and I time to get away. We were wearing the clothing we’d been in back at Felicia’s place. For Theo, the typical baggy black skater clothes. But I’d gone back to rocking my Phospherocious T-shirt and Kai’s jeans.
Theo and I had to race full out to keep up with Festos and Kai in their god forms, but there was no way either of us would let ourselves by picked up like babies. That also meant I had no breath left to talk to Theo. I kept looking over at him, until I finally felt a squeeze on the hand he was holding. It would have to be enough for now.
I pressed a hand to the stitch in my side as we skidded around a corner, milliseconds ahead of everyone else.
It was enough. Kai grabbed us and we blinked out.
Our next steps put us outside a cave entrance. Kai and Festos had returned to human height. They still wore the same clothes but they’d shrunk to appropriate size.
Oizys awaited us, blocking our path, and with every inch of her thirteen feet, denizen of the Underworld that she was.
I tensed. Was this where she raised the alarm? Killed me herself and brought me back to Hades back like a prized trophy?
She hesitated for a fraction of a second as she saw me in Sophie form. “Told you I’d figure out your secrets, Springtime.”
I edged closer to my friends. “Question is what are you going to do with them?”
She looked at me for a long moment, her eyes unreadable, before turning to Theo without answering me. The two of them were frozen, staring at each other, like they’d just lost their best friends. Which they were about to do. Again.
“Was it worth it?” she asked.
One side of his mouth quirked up. “Guess we’ll find out.”
“I could order you to move,” Kai said.
I glanced over at him. He watched her carefully but didn’t look particularly alarmed at her presence.
“You could,” she said.
“But you won’t,” Theo added. He stepped forward, closer to Oizys. “I didn’t get to say good-bye last time.”
“I hate you.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Her face twisted with an instant of hurt, then she crushed Theo to her, bending down to hug him. It was a fierce hug. And Theo returned it.
I didn’t begrudge them. Nor did I think about whatever good-bye he and I would be saying later today.
It was all very sweet until Kai reminded us. “They’ll be here any second,” he said, and I knew we had to move.
I grabbed Theo’s hand and tugged him away. “Oizys …” There was so much I wanted to say to her, but she cut me off with a sharp shake of her head.
“Get out of here,” Kai instructed her. “Don’t let them see you.”
Oizys looked surprised at this, but she nodded. Then she turned to Festos. “Take care of him.”
Festos snatched up Theo’s hand. “Always.”
I waved. “See you soon, Goth Girl.” It came out more wistfully than I’d intended.
She left me the ghost of a smile. “Not if I see you first, Springtime.” With a final nod to me, she blended back into the shadows around the cave. And just in time. It seemed like half of the Underworld was stampeding toward us.
We raced into the cave. “Demeter kept her word,” Ka
i said, pointing to a glowing light in the next chamber. “The entrance to her temple is open.”
She had to, I thought with grim satisfaction. She was bound by the oath. I wondered how Demeter felt about almost killing me all over again. Did it matter to her at all? Was she glad I lived? Or sorry she’d failed a second time?
My chest felt tight. Sorrow spread through me like a virus. Settling into my bones. Add it to my nervous breakdown list for later. I wasn’t being flip. I just didn’t have the luxury of grief right now. Because if I started, where would it stop? With Demeter? Zeus? Theo? Hannah? The cyclone that was Kai and me?
And what would be left of me in its wake?
So no. No grief. Anger-fueled determination. That was good. I could work with that.
Still, I felt a brief pang as I wondered if the time I’d spent with Demeter in the Underworld would have any effect on the next time I saw Felicia. Right now, I had to get to the battle site. Which meant going through the exit into the Temple of Demeter in Eleusis.
My stomach turned as I stepped into the next chamber in the cave and stared at the light. Of course, it wasn’t some nice portal to just jump through. Nope, we’d have to dive into a pool of water so deep and dark that light only highlighted the shadows, and potential shadowy monsters, beneath the surface. I jerked away from the pool.
“Nothing to be afraid of.” Kai pointed to a lip of rock overhanging the water. “All you have to do is swim under that ledge, and through a short tunnel. When you surface, you’ll be inside the Temple of Demeter.”
“I’m not afraid. Just understandably cautious.”
“Thesi first,” Festos said, kicking off his shoes. “Safe and sound. Go.” He’d obviously had enough of Theo being in danger in the Underworld.
“Festos,” Theo began. He sighed and rubbed his hands roughly over his face.
Poor Theo. He’d had no time to process. No time to deal with seeing Oizys again, or transition from a world in which he hated Festos to a world in which he loved him. Not to mention the torture.
Again.
“Sorry.” I knew how hard it was for Kai to say that one word to Theo. But it was clear that he meant it.
Theo acknowledged the apology with a slight nod, but kept his distance from Kai.
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