“Thanks,” I said awkwardly. “I’ll try.”
Once she released me, I ran my hand over the stone, trying to find the crack. Just as my fingertips sank into the rock, Ingrid said in a small voice, “Kate?”
“Yeah?” I said, slowly sliding my whole hand inside. It worked. It really worked. My heart pounded, and my fingers curled around the cold stone as the meadow around me started to spin. All I had to do was step through, and then—
And then I would either come back or I wouldn’t, but at least I wouldn’t have to live knowing I hadn’t tried.
“Could you come see me sometime?” she said. “When you’re not busy, I mean. Calliope was the only company I had, besides Henry, and he doesn’t come by that often, either.”
Even if she hadn’t asked, I would’ve come. “Of course. Didn’t you have family?”
She shook her head, and for a split second, her face crumpled. “Henry was my family. I knew him for a long time before…” She cleared her throat and straightened, and this time her smile was forced. “Anyway. Now you have to live, else I’ll die of boredom down here, and you wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you?”
I laughed weakly. “Thank you for everything. I’ll see you soon.”
And without a second thought, without giving that voice in the back of my mind the chance to talk me out of it or say James and Ava knew what was better for me than I did, I stepped through the wall, and my world went black.
Chapter Twelve
Chained
This time when I opened my eyes and saw Cronus’s cavern, it wasn’t a vision.
I froze as I took in the scene before me. I’d half expected to see the bloodbath Calliope had promised, except instead of me as the victim, she would have taken her rage out on Persephone.
But Persephone stood in the center of the cavern, completely unscathed. Her eyes were narrowed and her hands on her hips as she stood face-to-face with Calliope, and neither of them said a word. Why wasn’t she torn to pieces, or at the very least bloodied and broken? And where were James and Ava?
The eldest members of the council were still chained together in the mouth of the cave, and as far as I could tell, they were all unconscious. I only counted five though, and I couldn’t see any signs of Ava’s telltale blond hair.
Then I spotted Cronus. The fog swirled around the bars of its cage, and instead of going after Persephone, it moved upward toward the high ceiling, forming a pool at the top. Only a few feet below, hanging from their arms by tendrils of fog, were James and Ava.
Any question of whether or not I’d done the right thing vanished. At best, Calliope would hold them all hostage. At worst, they would be dead as soon as she dealt with Persephone. I squinted, searching for any signs of life from either of the two bodies dangling from the ceiling. Nothing.
“I don’t have all day.” Calliope’s voice cut through the silence, and a shiver ran down my spine. Her innocent, girly tone was gone, replaced by the all-encompassing voice of a deity, the same sort Henry used when he was mad. It was full of commands and demanded respect, and even though I was hidden, the urge to obey ran through me.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” said Persephone exasperatedly. What was she doing? “I’ve already told you I’m not saying anything unless you let them go. You can’t keep me here, and I’m perfectly happy walking back to my little slice of paradise and forgetting any of this ever happened.”
Calliope swore, and a jolt of pure power shook the cavern, blasting a chunk of rock out of the wall behind Persephone.
Instead of doing something sensible like falling down dead or crying out in agony, Persephone laughed. “Is that really all you’ve got? I have eternity to play these games, but if all you’re going to do is repeat the same thing, it’s going to get tedious quickly.”
“I will have Cronus kill them one by one until you tell me,” said Calliope, her voice rising until it all but crackled. “I will do it slowly, and I will make sure they know you’re the one responsible.”
“If you hurt a single one of them, the deal’s off, and you’ll be stuck babysitting a bunch of limp bodies forever,” said Persephone. “I’m sure Cronus wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”
The fog lashed out, but it went straight through her torso, and Persephone didn’t so much as flinch. For some reason, they couldn’t hurt her, and she must have known. That was why she’d gone in. This had been her plan all along. Unless she’d just gotten lucky.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” said Calliope, her words dripping with contempt. “I know exactly what will happen the moment I remove their chains, and it doesn’t end well for me.”
“It won’t end well for you no matter what happens,” said Persephone. “You’ve managed to get yourself stuck in an impossible situation, and the only person you have to blame is yourself.”
Calliope growled, and the walls around us shook. Worried the entire cave was going to collapse on us, I took a step back toward the gap in the wall. Getting buried alive—as an immortal, no less—wasn’t on my list of things to do.
At last the trembling stopped, and Calliope said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear her, “Bring me Kate, and I’ll let them go.”
“Let them go, and I will,” countered Persephone. “Forgive me if I don’t trust you, but you haven’t been very reliable as of late.”
Calliope scowled. “I won’t do it, not without Kate, and if you won’t bring her to me, then there’s no point continuing. She’ll come sooner or later, and until that happens, I’ll wait.”
Dammit. Of course the one choice I’d made on my own was the one thing that could screw up Persephone’s plan. I inched toward the exit. If I could find it before Calliope saw me, then I’d slip out and wait for Persephone to join me. Ingrid would hide me if I explained what was going on, and then the three of us could strategize. If Persephone could come inside the cavern, then so could Ingrid, and maybe Calliope wouldn’t be able to hurt her, either. They could distract her while I freed the others, and—
A hiss of energy made my hair stand on end, and the boulder I’d hidden behind exploded. I instinctively covered my head and ducked as the shattered rock flew through the air, but the pieces glanced off me, leaving my body unharmed.
Dead silence filled the cavern.
Everything inside of me screamed run. I clawed at the rock, and had I still been mortal, I would have scraped my fingertips down to the bone. But I couldn’t find the way out.
Calliope’s wicked laughter reverberated through the cavern, and I stopped struggling. It was pointless. She’d seen me, and there was no escaping now.
“That didn’t take long,” she said in a singsong voice. “You really can’t do anything right, can you, Kate? You can’t even rush in to save your precious Henry the way you wanted to.”
I clenched my jaw and didn’t say a word. That was exactly what Calliope wanted—to piss me off. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.
“Hera—” said Persephone, but Calliope raised a hand to silence her. Persephone glared at me. I didn’t blame her.
“This certainly changes things, doesn’t it?” said Calliope cheerfully. She beckoned for me to come closer. When I didn’t move, she gestured, and an irresistible force pulled me toward her. No amount of digging my heels into the ground made any difference.
I was only a few feet from her when she lifted that surge of power, and thrown off balance, I collapsed onto the floor. Her foot connected with my stomach, and all the air left my lungs.
“That’s for being such an idiot,” she said. “You’re pathetic, you know. Not even a worthy opponent. It’s like picking the wings off a fly and watching it writhe around.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I wheezed. “I’m not a sadistic bitch like you.”
&n
bsp; She kicked me again, and this time her foot connected with my chin. It stung, and my head whipped back; if I’d been mortal, I was sure it would have broken my neck. But she couldn’t win that easily anymore.
“Stop it,” said Persephone. “All she did was pass a stupid test. I know you love Hades, but there are better men out there. Trust me.”
“Trust you?” Calliope rounded on Persephone. “Why would I possibly trust you? You destroyed him. You took his love and shoved it back in his face, like Walter did to me. You couldn’t possibly understand what that feels like, you heinous—”
“Don’t,” I said, struggling to my feet. “She wanted to be happy. There’s no crime in that.”
“There is when you shatter someone else in the process,” said Calliope with a snarl. “Besides, it’s not about that, not anymore. Henry made his choice when he backed up your punishment. Do you really think I would have kidnapped him if I’d thought I still had a chance?”
“So you’re going to kill him because I decided you had to face the consequences for what you did?” I said. “Are you serious?”
Calliope grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back. “I’m serious when I say that you’re not getting out of here alive. If Persephone won’t tell me how to open the gate, then I’ll get Henry to do it instead.”
Across the cavern, in the mouth of the cave where the others lay unconscious, Henry’s body jerked upward. His chains rattled and separated from the others, dragging along the ground as he floated toward us. A knot formed in my throat at the sight of his bloodied body, even worse than it’d been in my last vision, but he was alive. As long as Calliope didn’t know how to open the gate, then she wouldn’t kill either of us. She couldn’t. Henry wouldn’t open it if I were dead.
“Wake up,” she growled, and Henry opened his eyes.
My heart skipped a beat, and for a long moment, we stared at each other. His eyes were the same bizarre shade of moonlight, but the spark was gone. I searched for any sign that he was in there, any indication that he could fight, but it was as if he didn’t even see me. He’d given up.
“Henry?” I whispered, and he blinked. “Henry, please—look at me.”
He was already looking at me, but he didn’t see me, and I didn’t know how to ask for that. He wasn’t there. Whatever Calliope and Cronus had done to him, he’d retreated so far into himself that the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Calliope grabbed the loose end of his fog-infused chains and whipped it across his face. I gasped and struggled against her, but she held on to me with inhuman strength. A bright red pattern blossomed across Henry’s cheek, and at last he shook his head and came to. He touched his face and winced, and I exhaled. He was in there after all.
Instead of looking at me, however, his gaze focused on something behind me, and his jaw went slack. “Persephone?”
I would have rather been sliced open by Cronus than experience the gut-wrenching pain that came with hearing her name before mine.
“Look who decided to join us,” said Calliope, tugging on my hair. Henry tore his gaze away from Persephone to focus on me, and the look on his face made my stomach turn. “Seems someone doesn’t have a brain in her head, but that’s no surprise, is it? You sure know how to pick them. I didn’t have to do a thing. They both waltzed in here all on their own, practically gift-wrapped for me.”
Henry’s expression hardened. “What do you want?”
“Do we really need to go through this again?” said Calliope. “Tell me how to open the gate, and I’ll let them go.”
“Henry, don’t,” I said. “It’s a—”
Calliope slapped her hand over my mouth. Without thinking, I licked her hand, exactly as I’d done to James. I would have bitten her if I could have, but saliva was enough. She made a disgusted noise and pulled her hand away, giving me enough time to finish. “It’s a trap,” I said. “She can’t hurt Persephone, and she’s going to kill me anyway.”
Calliope wiped her hand on my shirt, and her grip on my hair tightened. “Does it matter? We both know Henry has no choice but to risk it.”
I struggled against her, but it was no use. Calliope would sooner pull out every strand of my hair than let me go. “Please,” I said. “Henry, you can’t, it isn’t worth it—”
“All right, Calliope,” he said quietly. “I will tell you how to open it on the condition that you let Kate go first.”
Calliope sniffed. “Hardly.”
“You have to offer me some insurance,” said Henry. “What will it be?”
She caught me in a choke hold, her arm crushing my windpipe. “You tell me. The gate or your pretty little wife?”
The muscle in Henry’s jaw twitched, the same one that told me when he was on the verge of imploding. “Persephone, then,” he said. “You let Persephone go, and I will tell you what you want to know.”
“Done.” Calliope waved Persephone off, but Persephone made no move to go.
“You’re an idiot,” she said to Henry. “They can’t hurt me, and I’m not leaving.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Calliope. “I’ve held up my end of the deal. Persephone’s free to go, and it isn’t my fault she doesn’t want to, so you still have to tell me how to open the gate. Fair’s fair.”
Henry was silent, and I opened my mouth to protest, but no sound came out. Calliope thought this was supposed to be fair? Releasing a Titan to destroy the world for revenge, killing everyone that got in her way—what part of any of this was fair? My vision began to blur, and I stomped on her foot, but she barely moved. I would’ve given anything to get my hands on Henry’s fog-infused chains.
“Chop, chop,” said Calliope, tightening her grip. “Kate’s suffocating.”
“She will wake up the moment you let her go,” said Henry coolly, and nothing Calliope said could possibly match the gaping hole his words left inside of me.
The room started to spin and bright spots appeared in my vision, though I wasn’t sure if it was from what Henry had said or the lack of oxygen in my body. Either way, using what little strength I had left, I clawed at Calliope’s arm and tried again and again to shake her off. Nothing worked.
“Persephone, leave,” he ordered.
She scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Power began to build up around him, every bit as dark and dangerous as Calliope’s. “You will do as I say and leave immediately. I am your king, and you will obey me.”
Persephone huffed and spun on her heel. “Fine,” she said as she stormed toward the other side of the cavern, where the crack in the wall waited for her. “See if I ever try to help you lot again.”
The tension in the air seemed to crackle, and once she was gone, Henry exhaled and refocused on Calliope. “In order to open the gates, a ruler of the Underworld must willingly sacrifice blood against each of the bars.”
He spoke monotonously, as if he no longer cared, and I wasn’t so sure he did. Calliope loosened her grip around my neck, and I fell to my knees. My lungs felt as if they were on fire, and I sucked in the cold, precious air as my body regained its strength.
“Interesting,” said Calliope as she looped the end of Henry’s chains around my neck. They burned white-hot against my skin, but at least she didn’t tighten them. “It seems you do have some level of intelligence after all. Must I even ask?”
For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw a hint of a smile on Henry’s face. When I blinked, it was gone. “You are asking me to release the most powerful being in the universe, who will undoubtedly wreak havoc on the world before wiping out humanity and killing us all?”
“Yes,” said Calliope, apparently unfazed by the future Henry painted. “In exchange for Kate’s life.”
“In exchange for the life of a girl I met a year ago
and have only seen for a few minutes in the past six months.”
Something inside of me crumbled, and I forced myself to my feet. He was right. I wasn’t worth it. I’d known I wasn’t before he’d said it, but somehow hearing the words come from his mouth made it real. Even if he did love me, I was one person. I was one life. It would have been foolish for him to open the gate to save me no matter how he felt.
Calliope sighed. “You might have the rest of them fooled, but I know you better than you know yourself. Your bluff won’t work.”
“How certain are you that I’m bluffing?” said Henry. Calliope said nothing. “Very well. Since Kate insists you will kill her anyway, and since it is clear you have no intention of letting her go, why don’t I leave you with your bounty and instead offer up another trade? I will open the gate for you after you release the others.” He glanced up toward the ceiling, where James and Ava hung. “All of the others.”
Calliope’s eyes narrowed, and she drummed her fingers against her thigh. “You won’t put up a fight for Kate?” she said, and Henry nodded. “How do I know it isn’t a trap?”
“How could it possibly be?” he said. “Cronus is here, and Kate is of no importance to the council. Whether or not she lives or dies, you will have the upper hand. You of all people know we cannot win against him without you. I am merely asking that my family be returned so we can prepare to surrender with dignity.”
I couldn’t breathe, and this time it had nothing to do with the chains Calliope had around my neck. Henry meant it. Whether or not he’d been bluffing before, there was agony in his voice that jolted through me as if it were my pain, as well. He knew it was a lost cause. Calliope wanted me, and he wanted his siblings back. It was a fair trade, and all he would lose was a girl he barely knew.
I was really going to die. The countless hours I’d spent preparing myself for this possibility during our trek through the Underworld did nothing to cushion the gut-wrenching realization that I wasn’t going to exist any longer. I had no idea what happened to gods after they faded, but considering Persephone had had to turn mortal to join Adonis in the Underworld, I assumed there wasn’t any sort of afterlife. I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Not like this.