“Where is Deimos, Hades? When did you last have contact with him?” Oz asked my father.
“I have not seen him since Zeus banished him with his lightning.”
“Perhaps he is below, fixing this mess,” Persephone offered.
“So you are saying that it was not he who told you of Zeus?”
“Correct. It was Hermes,” she explained. “I did not wish to alert you to his presence if you did not already know.”
“And why would you not want us to know?” Casey drawled, wiping his blade across his pant leg.
“I did not wish for you to know because I planned to use him as a last resort.”
“If we didn’t help you,” Kierson interjected. “You were going to use him if we wouldn’t help you.”
“Yes, though it seems a moot point now, given that I have located who I wished to find.”
“There is validity to her story,” I added, though it was not without pain. Coming to Persephone’s defense was not high on my list of things I wished to do, but despite my desire for revenge, even I could not ignore the possibility that she was telling the truth. “When Oz and I returned to the Underworld to look for her, we found it as she has stated. It was chaotic. The souls were running rampant.”
“Aery could have told her about Zeus,” Casey said, clearly unconvinced of Persephone‘s innocence.
“No, she could not have, because she learned of it from Oz and me. Persephone was already gone by that time. Their paths would not have crossed.”
“So you’re trying to tell me that this bitch had nothing to do with what happened?”
“I’m saying that there appears to be a strong possibility that that is the case.”
“Motherfucker...”
Persephone turned hopeful eyes to her husband, silently pleading for his pardon.
“There is still so much uncertainty,” he said under his breath.
“Why are you here, my love?” she asked, pain in her voice. “Why have you not returned?”
His expression hardened. “I cannot,” he replied, turning away from her and storming toward the glass doors that led outside. He slammed them shut behind him, the whole room vibrating in his wake.
“What does he mean?” She turned, silently demanding answers from me. She looked then like the dark queen she was. A ruler of the Underworld. I found a small amount of solace in her reaction; she appeared truly angry at the injustice.
“He means that he can’t fucking go home,” Oz replied, now hovering over her petite form.
“That makes no sense. He is the Underworld and it is he. They are connected. One. They can no more be separated than you can from your soul,” she argued.
Oz smiled wide. “Bad example, Queenie. Try again.”
“Ugh,” she sighed, “you know what I am saying.”
“The Underworld has cast out its king and queen,” Pierson said as though he were working through a problem aloud. “What magic is capable of such a thing?”
“None,” Persephone and Oz answered in unison.
“And yet it has happened.”
“Does this mean we’re not going to kick her ass?” Kierson asked, sounding deflated. “I really was looking forward to kicking her ass...”
“There would have been nothing left for you once I finished with her,” Oz retorted.
“What makes you think you would have had a chance, Oz?” I asked him, hoping to keep him from further baiting Kierson. “It was not you whom she betrayed.”
His heavy gaze fell on me. “Close enough, new girl. Close enough.”
“We must fix this at once,” Persephone ordered, pulling my attention away from the Dark One. “His rule must be restored—”
“Yeah. We know,” Oz said, doing little to hide his irritation.
“And yet here you stand, doing nothing.”
“We were not doing nothing,” I argued. “We were hunting the escaped souls—and you.”
“Both of which have done nothing to help him.” Her eyes were murderous. “You have failed him.”
“As have you,” I countered.
Her expression fell in an instant. “Perhaps…” She looked out to the backyard where Hades stood staring at the dark night sky, undoubtedly pondering both his fate and his trust in his wife. “I need to speak to him alone,” she said, heading for the door.
I stepped in her path, blocking the way. “No.”
“If you would like to keep him safe, then you will let me pass.”
“It is because I wish to ensure his safety that I will not.”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Send him with me,” she said, pointing to Drew. “Wait…shouldn’t you be dead?”
“Hades was able to return him after all,” I said.
“Draining what little remaining power he had in the process, no doubt,” she replied, her tone acerbic and sharp.
I looked to Drew, his unease with the situation plain in his countenance.
“Kierson will go with you—”
“Fuck that,” Casey shouted. “We all will. She makes one wrong move and she dies.”
“Those are the terms,” I said, staring her down.
Without argument, she hoisted her silken robes and made her way to the yard, followed by my four brothers and Oz.
“Are you coming?” Oz asked, looking back over his shoulder.
“I will be there momentarily. I have something I need to do first.” He hesitated by the door. “I can assure you, Oz, I do not need assistance in the bathroom.”
His eyebrow quirked in response. “I’ve helped you in the bathroom once before—”
“In it, yes, but not to use it.”
His irritating smile overtook his expression. “If you’re not out here in five, I’m coming after you.”
“I shall be sure to hurry, then.”
7
I was exiting the bathroom off the kitchen when I heard the tap of pebbles against the stained glass window. I peeked through a tiny clear pane but saw nothing other than open lawn before me and the bright moon above. No one was there.
Confused, I opened the door, wondering if this had been Oz’s way of telling me my time alone was up. As I walked out, I heard the noise yet again.
I quickly made my way to the front door and slipped out into the night, prepared to deal with Oz. But I did not find him waiting. My eyes scoured the surrounding area for him but still found nothing. I could feel a presence, though—a heavy, assessing gaze on me as I stood on the front step, vulnerable to attack. I had felt that gaze before. It was impossible not to recognize the edge of madness it held.
“Hermes,” I called out, my words carried by the cold Detroit wind. “I cannot imagine any sane reason why you would deliver yourself to your end. Perhaps you could come out and tell me.”
“My end?” He laughed heartily. “Silly girl… you will not kill me. At least not tonight.”
“Perhaps not. But my brothers will once I alert them to your presence.”
“By then I will be gone, carrying with me the purpose of my visit. What a shame that would be, for you to not learn what I know.”
“And what do you know?” I asked the darkness, no inflection in my tone at all; nothing but bored indifference.
It was then that I saw the massive spruce tree across the street rustle just a touch more than the wind should have caused. A mischievous face popped out from the branches near the top, smiling down at me maniacally.
“I know many things, Princess of the Underworld. But today I will tell you only what I must. I shall keep the rest of my secrets to myself—for a rainy day, so to speak.”
“Come down from there and tell me, then. It is not as if I cannot fly up there to meet you if need be. You have no advantage from that position. Not with me.”
Irritation tainted his expression, souring it completely.
“But your brothers cannot reach me here, so here I shall stay…Princess.”
“As you wish.” I exhaled those words with
the annoyance I felt, letting him know that my patience was far from infinite. “Tell me what you came here to tell.”
“I have a message—from Hecate.”
I steeled my features against the surge of surprise I felt. I suppressed every question begging to escape me and let him continue.
“Go on.”
“She wishes to talk to you. Alone.”
“Where is she? Last I heard, she was unaccounted for in the Underworld.”
“She has come above. That is all I will say.”
“Why does she wish to speak to only me? She and I share no bond; no loyalty to one another.”
“She is loyal to your father though, is she not?” I left his rhetorical question unanswered.
“What information does she have for me that is important enough for you to risk bringing me this message?”
“She has news of the Underworld—and Persephone.”
The set of my features gave nothing anything away, though my heart raced in my chest, a thundering beat that I feared Hermes would hear even from that distance.
“I have seen the Underworld,” I replied, boredom thick in my tone, “and I have spoken to Persephone.”
“You will want to hear what Hecate has to say,” he continued. “Lives may depend on it.”
“So you say…”
“Will you meet her, then? Under those terms?”
“I will meet her, but I cannot guarantee that I will be alone. You have seen my dark shadow; he is nearly impossible to evade. I will not make a promise I cannot keep. If she can accept the inevitability of Oz showing up, then we have a deal.”
He cocked his head and stared down at me from his high perch. Amusement slowly bled back into his countenance. A game was afoot in his mind; that much was plain. But the players would remain a mystery for the time being.
“You shall hear from me soon, Princess…”
With that, the former messenger god took to the air, his winged feet propelling him into the dark of night. Just as he disappeared from sight, the door behind me opened. I turned to find Oz hovering in the entrance, his smug smile highlighted by the waxing moon above.
“This doesn’t look like the bathroom.”
“I was interrupted.”
“By whom?” he asked, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe.
I saw little point in lying, knowing that he would either badger the truth out of me eventually or follow me around until it availed itself to him.
“Hermes.”
His smile fell. “Does he have a death wish?”
“No, a message. From Hecate.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing. He told me that she wants to speak with me about the Underworld and Persephone. Alone.”
He scoffed his dissension. “You do realize that’s not going to happen, right?”
“I have had the pleasure of your overbearingness long enough to acknowledge that fact.”
“Good. So what did you tell him?”
“I told him to share that with her: that I could only meet with her if she agreed to your presence, either planned or uninvited. He said he would return with her response soon.” He remained in the doorway, his eyebrows pressed together, creating a crease above the bridge of his nose. I had never seen him look more thoughtful about anything in the time I had known him. “Something vexes you…”
“I’m trying to figure out what that old bitch could know that requires such secrecy.”
“Perhaps she knows the truth of what happened—about how to return my father to his throne.”
“If she did, why would she come to you? Why not go to Hades directly?”
“Perhaps she does not know where he is.”
“Maybe. But if Hermes knows, then she must.”
“Surely she must know that my father is powerless at the moment. She knew what was happening to him in the Underworld...”
“Either way, there’s no love lost between you and Hecate, so why trust you with whatever information she has?”
“Maybe she has learned of my power. That I destroyed Zeus. If she requires such power to restore the Underworld because she and Persephone could not, I would make an excellent ally.”
“Maybe…whatever it is, she clearly doesn’t want anyone else to know about it, and that’s never a good sign, new girl. Never.”
“And what of your secrets, Oz? You keep so much locked away in your mind. Things about my mother—my past. Is that an ominous sign?”
He pushed off the doorframe and stalked toward me, shrouded by the two massive black wings that had erupted from his back. Unfurling them to their full capacity, he all but blacked out the Victorian from my sight, cutting me off from my home. From my family. Was it a metaphor for what he had been trying to do all along? An attempt to isolate me from those who cared for me the most; the voices of reason that had my ear in his absence? Though my mind wanted to explore that possibility, his sudden, formidable presence only inches from my body made that almost impossible. I could not focus on anything but the Dark One.
“Are my actions ominous?” he asked, his voice so low that it was little more than a rumble in his chest. “If you were to judge me on those alone, would you be so quick to throw me in with the likes of Hecate—someone you have shown little more than disdain for? You find her treatment of her son loathsome. I wonder if you would feel the same about your mother if you knew the truth. Perhaps that is why I keep my secrets, new girl. Perhaps your worst-case scenario isn’t not knowing, but the harsh slap of reality that would accompany the truth.” His chest heaved in front of me, his body tight with anger. I lifted my chin a bit higher in response. His words had reached me, but I would not let him see that; see that I did hold uncertainty about what I would learn when I finally unearthed the truth surrounding my birth.
“And if that is to be my fate, I am sure you find solace in the fact that you will undoubtedly be there to witness it. My pain will be reward enough for your trouble, I am certain.”
His wings twitched with agitation as he leaned in close, his face only a hair’s breadth from my own.
“I am not interested in your pain, Khara…” I felt my body flare at the sound of my name on his lips. He pulled away just enough to look down upon my face and see the flush of rose in my cheeks. The corner of his mouth turned up in satisfaction. “But I am interested in finding out what Hecate has to say. Be sure to let me know when you receive word from Hermes.” He turned to head back toward the Victorian, carefully pulling his wings in tight behind him. “And don’t bother trying to hide that information from me. Let’s not play those games this time.”
He emphasized his point by slamming the front door behind him, leaving me alone in the quiet, abandoned neighborhood. There had been no need for his warning; I had already resigned myself to full disclosure in the matter. But Oz’s insistence on it was confounding. I could not help but think that he was testing me somehow. That my handling of the situation was a tipping point, though I had no idea why. Why now? Why this?
A cool breeze swept down the street, lifting my hair wildly around me, just as it had the night I had awakened in the alley when I arrived in Detroit. The night I had met my brothers. The night I had met Oz. So much had changed since that moment, and yet so much remained the same. Oz’s connection to me, and mine to him, was still a question mark amid an ever-changing sea of mysteries—including the possibility of amending his black wings. I needed resolution where he was concerned, or I felt my mind would never have the clarity needed to sift through the facts I was slowly amassing and find the answers I sought. Answers about my mother. Answers about my past.
For whatever reason, Oz appeared to be both the figurative and literal gatekeeper to those answers. If I needed to play by his rules to get what I wanted, I decided that, from that moment on, I would. I was the Princess of the Underworld, raised to navigate its tensions with a façade of bored indifference. I could appear to give Oz what he desired—my obedience—if it meant getting
what I wanted in the end.
First, my father on his throne.
Then, answers about my mother.
8
I walked inside to find my father sitting on the couch, a doting Persephone draped across his body, smiling at him like he was her world. Whatever suspicions he had possessed earlier had been washed away by their backyard conversation. I looked to my brothers for understanding but found none. Kierson and Drew looked confused. Pierson and Casey looked angry. Oz just looked tense.
“I see your concerns have been assuaged,” I said, fighting hard to keep the disbelief I felt from my tone. Hades looked at me, an apology in his eyes. Persephone, however, looked at me as though she’d won a war I had not yet begun to fight, a fool’s move given what Hermes had implied—that Hecate had information about her.
“Whatever has happened to the Underworld, it was not Persephone’s doing,” my father said. It did nothing to break the growing tension between his wife and me. “She is committed to helping restore the Underworld, as are you, my princess.”
“I am certain of that,” I replied, forcing a pleasant smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I wish to go back out to hunt the souls—to right my wrong.”
My father’s brow creased but I ignored it, turning my back on him to leave without another word. Oz fell in behind me, as I knew he would, and followed me outside. Before he could even ask, I offered the answer to his question. “We cannot wait to speak to Hecate,” I said as we stood in the middle of the seldom-traveled street. “Persephone has done what she does best, and my father has fallen victim to her charms once again.”
“So you want to leave him here?” he asked, looking back at the Victorian. “That seems like a shit plan, new girl.”
“My brothers will not leave him alone with her.”
“Yeah,” he said, pulling out his phone, “I’m going to make sure of that.” He typed a message, then tucked his phone in his pocket. “I told Casey to kill her if she made one wrong move. That’s an opportunity he can’t possibly turn his back on.”
Unspoken (Unborn Book 3) Page 5