“Khara, meet Dionysus, god of booze and partying,” Casey said, stepping closer.
I looked over the lanky god, his face swollen from the beating he had received in my absence. “He is not overly impressive.”
Casey let out a laugh that ricocheted throughout the stone basement. “He’s not exactly in his prime at the moment.”
“Why is he here?” I asked, turning my attention back to the shackled god.
“Because we hunted him down in the city,” Pierson said, drawing his special blade—the one that would strike the former god down for good. “When he realized he was facing true death, he said he had information we would want.”
“Information about you,” Kierson added.
“So we brought him here,” Drew said, stepping from the shadowed corner. “We’ve been working him over ever since to try and beat that information out of him.”
“The gods lie,” I said matter of factly. “It is their way. Lie, deceive, cheat, steal… they have no honor. That is why they were sent to the Oudeis.” Dionysus’ eyes went wide at that word, and I knew then what to leverage him with—the fate he dreaded most. “Tell me something, god of wine and debauchery, do you know who I am?” He looked me over and said nothing. “I am the one who released you,” I said softly, leaning in close to him, “and I am the one who can put you back.”
Though I did not know that to be true, it sparked the fear I desired in Dionysus.
“You’re the one,” he said, scrambling to reach me. “You are the one she fears.”
“She who?” I asked, stepping just out of his grasp.
He bit his lip, undoubtedly wondering how to work the situation to his advantage.
“What will you do for me if I tell you?” he asked.
“What do you want?”
“To be set free.”
I cocked my head at him. “Surely you know I cannot let that happen. But there must be a more attractive fate than forever death or eternity in the Oudeis. Perhaps that would be enough to satisfy you.” He shook his head. I sighed in mock resignation. “Then forever death it is,” I said, stepping aside for Pierson to strike. “I would have offered a more attractive realm of the Underworld for you to permanently reside in, but if your mind is already set—”
“Wait!” he shouted, thwarting Pierson’s impending blow with his bare, bloody hands.
“Yes?” I leaned in closer.
“I want to be in the Elysian Fields—”
“You do not deserve that honor—”
“My lover resides there,” he continued, undaunted.
“You are a god,” I countered. “You have had many lovers. Perhaps I will place you in a realm that will leave you in a state capable of finding a new one.”
“Please,” he pleaded, dropping to his knees at my feet. Oh, how the tables had turned. “Put me with him anywhere but the Oudeis, and I will tell you what I know.”
“I cannot guarantee your lover still exists,” I said plainly. “The Underworld is in upheaval, as you well know. Many of the souls who escaped have been eradicated.” I looked to Pierson’s blade to emphasize my point.
“No,” he argued, “he would not have escaped. He was not in the Oudeis. He must still be there.”
“Be that as it may, I cannot promise what you ask because I cannot confirm if he still exists in any form.”
His eyes darted around the room, looking at all of us before speaking. “Do you know what has happened to the fallen PC?” he asked.
I knew instantly where our conversation was headed.“Who is he?” I asked. “Who is the one you want?”
“Cassius,” he said, his eyes wide and wistful.
My brothers all looked to one another, confused.
“Cass wasn’t even alive before the gods met their collective fate,” Pierson argued, pressing his blade to Dionysus’ throat. “Try to fool us again and I will dispose of you without hesitation.”
“I chose as Ares did,” he explained, scampering away from the blade. “I roamed the Earth long after the others were sent to the Oudeis. I met my fate decades later.”
Pierson looked as though he were working through the timeline to see if his account was plausible.
“I know Cass,” I said. “I have seen him recently. He was well then.”
Dionysus let out a breath. “Then let me be with him, and I will tell you what you want.”
“You will tell me what I want first, and I will ask my brother if that is what he wishes. If yes, you will have your reward. If not, you will go to a realm of my choosing.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I silenced him with my words. “Protest, and it is the taste of this blade and nothing more. Your choice, former god. My patience is not infinite. Time is of the essence, as they say.”
“Fine,” he ground out through clenched teeth. “I accept your terms.”
“Excellent. Now tell us who fears me,” I said, stepping closer.
“Persephone…” A prickly sensation crawled down my spine. “She fears what you’ve become. Your place in the Underworld.”
“And how do you know this?” Casey asked, edging himself between the god and me. “You were locked away.”
“Until I was freed…”
“When did she say this?” I asked, needing to hear him say it aloud.
“When she met with Demeter after she escaped the Underworld. I was there, though she did not see me. Demeter told her of your encounter, and Persephone explained what happened in the Underworld before everything fell apart. She blames you for its fall.”
“This is hardly information I need,” I said. “If this is all you have, then there is no deal.”
“Did you know that Persephone found a way to break the pact that bound you to the Underworld?” he asked.
The prickling grew to a stab at his words. “How?”
“I do not know. She spared the details, but those were her words.”
“To whom?” I asked.
“Demeter…”
“Liar!” I shouted, slapping his face. “Why would she tell her mother this when she was the one Persephone would have gone against in severing the covenant?”
He spat fresh blood at my feet, then smiled. “Because she wanted Demeter to know before she let the others take her.”
“What others?” Kierson asked, his irritation growing, judging by the low tenor of his voice.
“The other gods, of course. Who else?”
“Jesus,” Casey muttered under his breath.
The wrenching of the basement door cut off any further sentiment he had and alerted us to Oz’s return.
“You and I aren’t finished, new girl,” he yelled, storming down the stairs to the unexpected sight. His hair was still dripping from his shower. “Would you care to tell me why you have a half-naked man chained to your wall, or should I let my imagination run wild?” He pushed his way past the others to stand next to me. His stare was full of anger as he assessed Dionysus. “Do I want to know?”
“This is Dionysus, god of—”
“Oh, we’re well acquainted,” he said, cutting me off. “You’ve looked better, Dion. Much better.”
“Ozereus…”
“The former god was just telling us that Persephone was the one to break the covenant,” I explained.
“How very forthcoming of him.” Oz’s dark eyes fell on Dionysus again. He shriveled under the weight of Oz’s gaze.
“Indeed.”
“Well, that’s great and all, and I’m sure we can find a spare moment to deal with her later, but for now, you and I need to go.”
“Why now?”
“Because a certain wing-footed messenger returned right after you took off and said that Hecate wanted to meet now—”
“Hecate?” Dionysus inquired, surprised yet again.
“Yeah. What about her?” Oz replied.
“She lives?”
“She does,” I said, stepping closer to the prisoner. “Why?”
“I am surprised, that’s all.�
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“Why would that surprise you?” Oz asked.
“Because she is the one best equipped to put us all back. If she is above, then why wouldn’t the others have gone after her as they have Hades and this one?” His angry eyes flashed to me. “Hermes is hardly loyal. I’m surprised he’s allowed her to live at all.”
“He has his own arrangement,” Oz said.
Dionysus’ expression fell further. “I’ll bet he does.”
Silence fell upon the room for a moment before Drew spoke. “So what should we do with him now?” His eyes drifted back and forth between Casey and me.
“What we did with the rest,” Casey replied, drawing his special blade.
“Wait,” I said, catching his arm. “Not yet.” Pitch black eyes met mine, assessing me as though I’d taken leave of my senses. “We may have use for him…”
“Like what?” Oz asked, but I ignored him entirely.
“Is he secure here? Can he escape?”
“No,” Pierson replied. “I have made sure of that.”
“Good,” I said, heading for the stairs.
“What’s your plan, new girl?” Oz asked, following behind me.
“When it is fully realized, I will let you know.”
I heard the smack of fist against face one last time before I crested the stairs to the living room. One by one, Oz and my brothers emerged from my room turned prison, then locked the door behind them.
“We should kill him,” Casey snarled, staring at me across the room.
“Unless we can use him against the others. His desire to be reunited with Cass is strong—strong enough to be leveraged.”
“You want to use him to sniff out the others,” Kierson said, a smile brewing.
“I want to find Demeter,” I said, my voice as cold as ice.
“We can talk more about that when we get back from our little meeting,” Oz said, taking my arm. But before we even reached the foyer, everything changed. I heard Kierson speak his brother’s name, concern plaguing his tone, and I turned to find Pierson staring blankly at the wall, his mind somewhere else.
My heart leapt into my throat.
Something wicked was coming.
24
We rushed back into the room where Kierson stood, trying to pull his brother from wherever he had gone. Pierson’s dead eyes never wavered, and I feared where this would lead. I moved to clamp my hands on his head to pull the vision from his mind.
Then Kierson let loose a mournful cry—the one reserved for the dead—and I knew devastating news was headed our way.
“What is it?” I asked, grabbing Pierson by the shoulders and shaking him until his eyes came back into focus.
“Phobos,” Pierson said, coming out of his magical stupor. “The in-between…”
“Oz!” I shouted, storming toward him. “You have to go to my father now!”
“We’re too late,” he said, pity in his eyes.
But Kierson disagreed. “Not necessarily, but if we’re not, we don’t have long.”
“I will meet with Hecate and take her with me to secure the Underworld,” I said, shoving him toward the entrance. “My brothers will meet you at the gates. Bring Hades there and keep him safe until we stabilize the veils.”
“I’ll head there now,” Aery said, rushing to the door. Kierson’s pained expression as he tried to find a convincing argument to make her stay made my chest hurt.
“Be careful,” I said. I did not say why.
She disappeared out the door with little more than a wink and a smile—one full of mischief and vengeance.
“And if that’s exactly what he wants you to do?” Oz said, stopping in the foyer as Aery slammed the door. I tried to push him forward, but he would not budge. “You’re not thinking clearly right now, Khara—”
“There is no time to think, only act,” I growled. “Phobos will eventually find me one way or another. At least this way, my father will live.”
“Maybe,” Oz argued, eyes full of rage and concern.
“He cannot get me in the Underworld, and he cannot be two places at once. Go and retrieve my father before we run out of time.”
Oz stared at me, his warring emotions plain in his harsh stare. He wanted to say something—convey a message of some sort. I stepped closer and squared my shoulders.
“Beings like you and me, we do not linger. We run headlong into the fight without pause or fear. We do what others cannot because we have little to lose and much to gain. My father is one of the greatest losses I could ever face, and I cannot imagine it. So I will see you in the Underworld when you return to the realm I will have righted for him with Hecate’s help. You can say what you have to say then, and only then.”
He shook his head slowly, at first in disagreement, then in amusement.
“Get that shitshow sorted, new girl. You don’t have long.”
A flash of his roguish smile was the last thing I saw before he disappeared through the door, speeding toward the in-between. Once he was gone, I turned to my brothers and gave them their orders.
“Have Trey bring you to the gates of the Underworld,” I said, strapping a blade to my leg. “Wait for Oz there. If he’s right and this is one of Phobos’ ruses, he’ll need your help.”
“What if you can’t do it, Khara?” Kierson asked, his tone as sad as his eyes.
“I will deal with that if it—”
“No,” Drew said, stepping to the front of the group. “You cannot leave this house until you tell us your plan—the whole plan.”
For the first time since Drew had been reborn, I heard an echo of the brother I’d once known in his words, his honor and compassion and desire to keep me safe shining through. My chest tightened as I stepped toward him and placed my arms around his neck, pulling him toward me.
“I plan to do whatever I must to ensure the safety of those I love.”
Before he could act, I shoved him away and bolted out the door, my wings unfurling with ease as I took to the sky. Hecate would be waiting for me at our meeting spot, and we had no time to waste.
Hermes looked suspicious as I landed and headed right for the necromancer at his side.
“We are going to the Underworld now,” I said, grabbing her arm. Hecate pulled away and stared at me, uncertainty in her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because Hades will die if we do not.”
Some form of understanding flashed in her eyes—as though a fate she’d feared had finally come.
“This will not be easy, Khara.”
“I will do it if it kills me, or you, or the both of us. But it will be done.”
She nodded to Hermes, who disappeared into the sky at his dismissal. I took her in my arms and, without preamble, launched skyward, headed for the gates of the Underworld and whatever chaos awaited us there.
I expected to find Phobos awaiting our arrival, but I did not. Only my brothers stood at the entrance to the Underworld. No Hades or Persephone. No sign of Oz.
“Keep an eye out for them,” I said, rushing past the four of them with Hecate. I barely noticed the glare in Casey’s eyes as his mother stormed by without so much as a second glance his way. “We have no idea what evil might be following them.”
“We’ve got this,” Kierson said, his hand over his heart. “Now go whip those souls into submission, sis.”
I flashed a wry smile at him, then headed inside without another word.
The souls lined the far side of the Acheron, awaiting my arrival as though they’d known it was imminent. Aery ran to us and threw her arms around me.
“You’re okay!” she yelled, squeezing me tight.
“Should I not be?”
She pulled away to assess me more closely, her eyes roaming over my body to be certain I was intact.
“I…I saw something…”
“Was it another trance or—”
“The King of the Dead is coming,” Hecate interrupted. “We have to secure the veils before he arrives.”
Aery turned worried eyes to me. “But my vision—it showed me something. You were surrounded by shadows and darkness. You were screaming—”
“We must hurry,” Hecate urged, pulling me toward the river. “We do not have time for this—”
“There was something else too!” she yelled, yanking me from Hecate. “There were mountains... and Dark Ones. Oz was bleeding—dying.”
My blood ran cold at her words.
“Aery,” I said, doing all I could to swallow back the fear I felt, “I need you to find Deimos, now!”
She flinched at the mention of his name. “But he’s not here…”
“Find him and bring him to me,” I said, clamping my hands down on her arms. “Use whatever means necessary to get him here. I need him to take me somewhere as quickly as possible. Lives may depend on it, do you understand?”
She nodded, the frantic beat of her head bobbing up and down a welcome distraction.
“Can I use—”
“Yes!” I said, cutting her off. “Whatever means necessary, just go. Now!”
Without further argument, the nymph sprinted toward the gates of the Underworld and disappeared from sight. I closed my eyes and prayed to whatever gods still existed that she would find him in time for him to take me to the in-between. Time enough to save my father and Oz from Phobos’ plan.
“Can you do this, Princess?” Hecate asked, looking me over. For the second time that night, I squared my shoulders, raised my chin, and walked right into a shitstorm I did not know I could stop.
With Hecate in my arms, I flew across the Acheron and landed amid the freed souls. They scattered at the sight of her, undoubtedly aware that the one who had helped empty the Oudeis had returned to imprison them all. But they dared not move against her with me at her side. They feared me. They respected me.
They wanted me for their leader.
“The Oudeis must be secured first,” she said, rushing off down the stony corridor that led to the home of the most heinous of all. The souls I had let out.
As we ran, I found myself joined by my fallen PC brothers. They followed as Hecate led the way through the twisted halls of the Underworld until we finally arrived at our destination—the place where the veil to the Oudeis had once been. The last time I had seen it, Persephone had placed its contents inside me.
Unspoken (Unborn Book 3) Page 19