Unspoken (Unborn Book 3)

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  “He’s trying to tie up a loose end, I imagine,” Oz said, coming to stand beside me. “Once he realizes her mind has been set free, he’ll know it’s too late—that she’s already informed us of his presence.”

  “Then he must think Deimos is his ally—that he would not tell us what he did.”

  “What he told you, new girl,” Oz corrected. “He didn’t tell me shit.”

  “If you two could keep your flirting to a minimum for the next few minutes, it would be greatly appreciated,” Muses said, staring over his shoulder at us. “Now, if you’d be so kind, I need to focus.” He turned back to Aery and stroked the side of her face. “If you can hear me,” he whispered to her, “this may hurt.”

  His grip on her turned violent in an instant, his fingertips digging into her skull. Kierson lunged at him only to be dragged away by Pierson and Drew. Like it or not, Muses was likely Aery’s greatest hope to be freed from Phobos’ thrall. Kierson’s observation of what would happen to her if he did not was too accurate to think about.

  I did not want that fate for her.

  The group looked on in silence as Muses’ arms shook and his brow sweat. The concentration he poured into her, searching her mind for whatever bound it, was draining him by the second.

  “Almost…have it…”

  “He does not have the strength for this,” I said aloud to Oz.

  “And you don’t have his powers, so stay put and wait,” he replied.

  “No,” I mused, “I do not. But perhaps I could…”

  I ran to Muses’ side and pulled him from Aery, much to the dismay of everyone watching. I ignored their shouts as I grabbed Muses by the face, his body limp with exhaustion, and stared into his eyes.

  “Pull something from my mind,” I said. He looked at me through half-open eyes.

  “What?”

  “Do whatever it is that you do to me,” I explained. “I can help you if you do—”

  “No way!” Oz yelled, storming toward us. “That’s not happening. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell you’re letting him rummage around in your head. Not even to help Aery…”

  “It is my mind and my friend, not yours. So I will make this decision without your input, understood?”

  “You cannot let him in,” he cautioned again. “You don’t understand what he could do.”

  “And you do not understand what will happen to Aery if we do not stop this madness,” I replied, my words curt and sharp. “If letting him do whatever it is that he does to me will help, then I am happy to let him, consequences be damned.”

  “Oh, they could be, new girl,” Oz all but growled in response. “They could be…”

  While we argued, Muses appeared to regain some of his strength. He looked at me with keen eyes, as though he had awakened from a thrall all his own.

  “You are sure about this?” he asked. Through his mask of amusement, I could see the hint of surprise poking through. It was clear that few if any volunteered for such a deed.

  “Do what you must. Once you have, I should be able to help.”

  Without further request, he grabbed my face, as I held his, and closed his eyes.

  “Show me the day you were born,” he said softly, looking at Oz behind me. The Dark One cursed and lunged for me, but the Dragon and Casey caught him before he could pull me away.

  I simply closed my eyes and tried to do as Muses bade me.

  “Interesting…” Muses said as I felt the press of whatever magic he possessed against my mind. It was a soft caress of sorts—a silent request to enter. I let out a breath and held still as he sifted for whatever he sought. Moments later, a vision of my mother looking down at me flashed in my mind, the tears in her eyes so clear I could practically feel them as they spilled down her cheeks onto my face.

  “Please keep her safe,” she said to someone I could not see, my infant focus solely on her—the one whose blood ran in my veins.

  “I swear it,” a male voice replied. “With all that I have, I will see her safe.”

  A rush of cold washed over my head, and I sucked in a breath as though I had not for years. My eyes shot open to find Muses staring back at me, disbelief in his eyes.

  Before he could say a word, I rushed to Aery. “Now tell me what you want me to do.”

  16

  Muses came to my side and resumed his grasp on Aery’s head.

  “However he’s holding her, it’s jamming my ability to get past it. I can find it and isolate it, but I cannot break it. If I push too hard, I fear I may damage her.”

  “Then all would be for naught,” I said.

  He nodded. “Once I get hold of the frequency again, I need you to step around it, so to speak. To cut it off.”

  “All right,” I replied, having no idea if I could accomplish the task he’d set forth, but determined to try. If she died as a result of our efforts, then at least that death would be quick. Wasting away in the clutches of Phobos’ magic sounded like a torture I would not wish on many—apart from the being himself.

  Without delay, Muses resumed his attack on the faceless evil who held Aery’s mind hostage. With my hands placed over his, I could feel the energy pouring out of him as he tried to inspire his way past Phobos’ magic. The output was immense, and I wondered how he was still standing after all he’d already done. For a warrior as lithe and sleek as he, he was far more formidable than many would have thought.

  “Now, Khara!” he said, grunting out the words between ragged breaths.

  With the feeling fresh inside of me, I reached out with that power into Aery’s mind. Though expecting to hit a wall of sorts inside, I was still surprised at the feel. I found the barrier that Phobos’ thrall had placed around her brain, then Muses’ hold on it, like fingers prying open a door. He held on by fingertips alone, but the tiny breach was there. With all the grace I could muster using an ability not truly my own, I slid through that crack to find a glorious network of flashing lights and electrical impulses.

  But I had no idea how to navigate them.

  Muses had told me what he wanted, and my brain seemed to oblige his request. But we had made no such request of Aery, so I did not know how to reach her.

  “Aery,” I called aloud as I searched the inner workings of her mind for some clue.

  “Not out here,” Muses said from beside me. “In there—you must tell her in there.”

  I fumbled for a way to do as he’d commanded. “Aery!” I shouted with my mind, wondering if that was where the connection truly lay. “Follow my voice. You have to come to me so I can break you out.”

  “Khara?” Her voice was weak and thin and barely audible, but I heard it ring through my mind as clear as a bell.

  “Do you see the breach?” I asked. “Can you follow my voice somehow?”

  “I can’t see you!” she shouted back.

  “I can’t hold this much longer,” Muses said, his voice strangled as he fought against Phobos’ power.

  “I cannot see you either, Aery, but your voice grows stronger. Keep coming this way,” I said, pressing my forehead to hers. “Run now!”

  “It’s slipping!” Muses shouted.

  “Run, Aery!”

  Flashes of memories started to show themselves the longer I stayed, and I hoped that meant we were taking back control.

  “Khara…” Muses warned.

  Then an idea occurred to me.

  I slipped back toward the opening that Muses grappled to maintain and pressed my newfound ability against his, trying to force it open wider; to push Phobos back. Immediately, I felt the brutal force Phobos applied. I gasped as I tried to break that barrier open, wedging my mind into it even further.

  But it would not budge.

  “We will not yield!” I shouted through our connection, my voice resounding through Aery’s head. “You will let her go, Phobos, or I will hunt you as you hunt me, and I will find a way to end you so full of pain and destruction that you will beg for mercy yet find none.”

 
The press of the barrier hesitated, as if the magic were unsure—like it understood my threat.

  So I pushed further. “Release her now!”

  My voice boomed, and the crack in the wall flew open. I felt Muses rip it wider still, his grip on it far stronger now. He pulled and pulled until there was nothing left but the remnants of an energy that did not belong—a smudge on her mind that might never disappear. I felt my mind come back to my body, and I staggered away from Aery, breathing hard. Strong arms caught me as my legs gave way, holding me against a solid body.

  “Did it work?” I gasped, forcing my eyes to focus. One look at Aery was answer enough.

  She stared at me, her hollow, vacant eyes now sharp and full of disbelief. They darted back and forth between Muses and me.

  “Are you all right?” Kierson asked her, stepping into her line of sight. One look at him and her gaunt face lit up, as much as it could.

  “Thank you,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.

  “Yes, Kierson,” Muses drawled, “thank you so much for holding her here until I arrived and little more.” Kierson did not bother to respond. Muses looked over at me. “You see the thanks I get, Khara?”

  “I did not do it for praise,” I said, pulling out of Oz’s grip.

  “I heard you,” Aery said, looking over Kierson’s shoulder at me. “I heard you calling me. Your voice…I’ve never been so happy to hear something in all my life.”

  “You should thank Muses for that, too, since he seems desperate for adulation,” I said, shooting him a sour look. “He used his power on me so I could in turn help by using it on you. If it were not for his hold on the power of Deimos’ brother, I could not have gotten you out.”

  She turned to Muses, who stood only paces away, working to slow his breathing. Much to Kierson’s dismay, she disentangled herself from him and walked over to Muses. She took his face in her hands and kissed his lips.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, staring into his eyes with such intensity that he nearly pulled away from her.

  Hades stirred, drawing her attention. Her eyes went wide, a sheen overtaking them in seconds. Even in her weakened state, she hazarded a shallow bow to her king.

  “Rise,” he said, nearing us.

  She did as he asked, smiling at the knowledge that he was well—or at least alive.

  Then she turned to me.

  “I do not require the same sort of thanks as Muses,” I said to her. She hesitated for a moment until my words fully registered in her addled mind. Her smile widened and she let loose a laugh that rang through the church.

  “I like it,” she said, walking toward me. “Playing hard to get suits you, Khara.”

  “Does it ever,” Oz muttered under his breath as the nymph approached.

  “Then I shall thank you like this,” she said before she wrapped her frail arms around me and pulled me close. “What you have done for me—I owe you a life debt.”

  “That will not be necessary—”

  “And yet you shall have it,” she countered, heat in her tone that I was unaccustomed to from the flighty nymph. It was so easy to forget that she was deadly in her own right. That she was a force to be reckoned with.

  But just as quickly as her fierceness had come, it left, leaving behind the wasted shell that we had rescued from the Underworld. Whatever rush of adrenaline she had experienced after being pulled from Phobos’ thrall had worn off, and she wavered on her feet, her eyes fluttering closed. Kierson caught her before she hit the ground.

  “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, holding her tight to his chest.

  Hades stormed toward her. One touch of her skin and his eyes went wide. “She’s dying…”

  “We need to get her home,” I said. “We will explain everything there.”

  “Here,” Oz said, reaching to take Aery from Kierson. My brother gripped her tighter.

  “Let us take her,” I said gently, stepping in front of Oz. “We will keep her safe, Kierson. I swear it.” After a moment’s hesitation, he placed her in my arms with such reverence that I felt a tug at my heart. I handed her to Oz, and he raced out the door without a word. “Get home as quickly as you can,” I said to them. “We may need all the help we can get to heal her.”

  As I strode to the door, I stopped just before the Dragon, who stood a few paces from the group. “Though this may not have any bearing on the tension between you and my brother, thank you for saving Aery from her fate.”

  He looked at me, golden eyes flaring. “I just want to make things right.”

  I looked back at Casey’s shadowed expression. “I am not certain that you can, but your efforts are appreciated by some of us. And they will not be forgotten.”

  What remained of our party left the Catholic church together, passing Azriel in the alley outside. He ran quickly into the building, presumably to check on the Dragon, while I took to the sky and my brothers loaded into their SUV. At the speed Kierson peeled out down the street, I wondered if they might not beat me there.

  I ran into the Victorian to find Oz hovering over Aery as she lay on the couch, skin pale and pasty and cool to the touch.

  “She looks worse,” I said. Her hand was like ice; her forehead, clammy. Whatever Deimos had done had only been made worse by his brother’s attack on her mind. I wondered how much time she had left if we could not figure out a way to heal her.

  “Let’s hope Hades knows what to do,” Oz said, looming over us both. “We’re going to need her if we hope to fix his realm…we need all the help we can get.”

  The others arrived just as Oz spoke those words. They rushed into the house in a flurry, calling for me as they did.

  “We are here,” I yelled. I looked down at Aery and realized we had not had a chance to fill them in on our latest Underworld adventure—on just how dire the situation had become.

  Hades led the charge into the living room, followed closely by my brothers and Persephone.

  “What happened to her in the Underworld?” he asked, voice full of concern and frustration; the former for Aery, and the latter at himself.

  “Deimos had her locked away in his bedroom,” I explained.

  “In a hole in the floor of his bedroom, to be exact,” Oz said, correcting my oversight. “I’m assuming he tortured and starved her in the process, which is why she looks like this.”

  To that, my father said nothing.

  “But she can be healed, right? I mean, she was just wide awake and coherent, talking about life debts,” Kierson said, panic rising in his voice. I turned to find him staring at her fading body. Then those deep blue eyes, so full of pain and longing, fell on me. “Khara…?”

  “I do not know, Kierson. But we will try.”

  “Her power is driven by what she is—by what fuels her magic,” Persephone said, joining her husband. “She is a being of sex and desire, albeit a darker one than some. Deimos surely starved her of those by locking her away…”

  “Could it be that simple?” I asked, looking at my longtime ally in the Underworld—my friend. “Could that be all it takes?”

  “Well, she’s not exactly in any shape for sex,” Casey said, “so that’s not going to work.”

  “But love might…” Kierson’s voice was distant and hopeful as he spoke those words, then rushed to the couch. He scooped Aery up in his arms with a reverence utterly foreign to me and carried her up the stairs, careful not to jostle her any more than necessary. He disappeared, leaving the rest of us behind.

  Pierson quickly lost himself in a book, undoubtedly looking into ways to ward against the remaining gods, while the rest of us sat in silence, wondering if whatever Kierson was doing upstairs was helping the dying nymph. Even Oz had nothing off-color to say; it was a rare moment indeed.

  “I think it’s working!” Kierson shouted from upstairs, the hope in his voice so thick it pained me to hear it.

  “No fucking her until she’s conscious,” Oz yelled up at him. “Consent is a thing now, apparently…�
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  Muses looked up the stairs, then at Oz, and finally at the room as a whole. “Is now a convenient time to fill me in on all that happened?”

  “Not really,” Pierson said without looking up from his books.

  “The gods that Khara let out of the Underworld came for Hades. Shit went sideways. We killed them all. The end,” Oz replied. “Oh, and Deimos tried to kill Aery because she knew that his batshit brother is back and after Khara.”

  To Muses’ credit, he did not let the surprise he must have felt show in his face. “I think I need to put in for a transfer,” he said, plopping down on the couch next to me. He pulled a white box full of noodles from his takeout bag and began eating them. “Detroit is way more interesting than Chicago.”

  17

  Once the chaos of Muses’ briefing finally settled down and it was clear that Aery was on the mend, I escaped to my bedroom. All I wanted was to close my eyes and slip into the darkness that only sleep provided. I was weary, both mentally and physically. Concern for my father—as well as my brothers—grew with every hour he was above. Our trip to the Underworld and subsequent fight with the returned gods had only heightened that worry.

  If his rule could not be restored, he would perish. It was as simple as that. And I wondered how many others would fall in our attempt to stop that from happening.

  I heard the subtle creak of the basement door as it opened; the fall of boots on the wooden stairs soon followed. I turned to see Oz lingering on the final step, arms folded tight across his chest as if he were trying to withhold his emotions.

  “Do you think it’s true?” He pushed off the wall and hopped off the final step, headed toward me.

  “Do I think what is true?” I asked, letting my confusion taint my tone.

  “That Demeter sold Hades out? Sold you out?”

  “She resents and fears me, Oz. And her misguided attempts to reunite with her daughter would be much easier if Hades and I were dead, would they not? Who better to accomplish that task than bloodthirsty gods and goddesses who had nothing but time to dream of vengeance? She would have had to do no more than mention his name before a legion of newly undead showed up here, ready to off the King of the Dead and his adopted child; the one capable of putting them back in the Oudeis.”