by Aimee Carter
I made a face. “Fine, then let’s pretend this is all real, that magic is possible and the tooth fairy exists. And somewhere down the line I didn’t hit my head and you aren’t certifiably insane. What does your wife dying have to do with me?”
Henry was silent for a long moment. “As I said, she chose to die rather than to stay with me. I was her husband, but she simply loved him more.”
Judging by his pained expression, there was nothing simple about it, but I didn’t press him. “You know you look way too young to have been married, right?” I said in a sorry attempt to lighten the mood. “How old are you anyway?”
The corners of his lips twitched again. “Older than I look.” After a moment he added, “She may have loved me, but it was never her choice. It was my last gift to her, letting her go.”
There was a note of sadness in his voice that I understood all too well. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I am. I just—I still don’t understand why I’m here.”
“I have been ruling on my own for nearly a thousand years, but a century ago, I agreed to only a hundred more before my brothers and sisters take my realm from me. I cannot handle it on my own, not anymore. There are simply too many for me to do it alone. I have been searching for a partner ever since, and you are the last one, Kate. This spring, the final decision will be made. If you are accepted, you will rule with me as my queen for six months of the year. If you do not, you will return to your old life with no memory of this time.”
“Is that what happened to the others?” I said, forcing the question past my dry lips.
“The others…” He focused on something in the distance. “I do not mean to scare you, Kate, but I will never lie to you. I need you to trust me, and I need you to understand that you are special. I had given up before you came along.”
I clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking. “What happened to them?”
“Some of them went mad. Others were sabotaged. None of them reached the end, let alone passed the tests.”
“Tests?” I stared at him. “Sabotaged?”
“If I knew more, I would tell you, but it is why we have taken such extreme precautions to protect you.” He hesitated. “As for the tests, there will be seven of them, and they will be the basis on which it will be decided if you are worthy of ruling.”
“I didn’t agree to any tests.” I paused. “What happens if I pass?”
He stared at his hands. “You will become one of us.”
“Us? Dead, you mean?”
“No, that is not what I mean. Think—you know the myth, do you not? Who was Persephone? What was she?”
Fear stabbed at me, cutting me from the inside. If what he claimed was true, then he’d kidnapped Persephone and forced her to marry him, and no matter what he said, I couldn’t help but wonder if he would try to do the same to me. But the rational part of me couldn’t look past the obvious. “You really think you’re a god? You know that sounds crazy, right?”
“I am aware of how it must sound to you,” said Henry. “I have done this before, after all. But yes, I am a god—an immortal, if you will. A physical representation of an aspect of this world, and as long as it exists, so will I. If you pass, that is what you will become as well.”
Feeling dizzy, I stood as quickly as I could while still in those damned heels. “Listen, Henry, this all sounds great and everything, but what you’re telling me is from a myth that people made up thousands of years ago. Persephone never existed, and even if she did, she wasn’t a god, because there’s no such thing—”
“How do you wish for me to prove it?” He stood with me.
“I don’t know,” I said, faltering. “Do something godlike?”
“I thought I already had.” The fire in his eyes didn’t fade. “There may be things I will not—cannot—tell you, but I am not a liar, and I will never mislead you.”
I shrank back from the intensity of his voice. He really did believe what he was saying. “It’s impossible,” I said softly. “Isn’t it?”
“But it is happening, so maybe it is time for you to reevaluate what is possible and what is not.”
I thought about kicking off my heels, heading down the path to the front gate, and leaving, but the thought of my dream with my mother stopped me. As the part of me that wanted to stay for her overruled my skepticism, the temperature dipped twenty degrees, and I shivered. “Kate?”
I froze, my feet glued to the ground. I knew that voice, and after yesterday, I’d never expected to hear it again.
“Anything is possible if you give it a chance,” said Henry, focusing on something over my shoulder. I whirled around.
Not ten feet away from us stood Ava.
CHAPTER 8
AVA’S RETURN
I don’t know how long I stood there, hugging Ava so tightly that she couldn’t have possibly been able to breathe. Time moved slowly, and all I could think about was the way her arms felt around my shoulders as I struggled not to cry.
“Ava,” I said in a strangled voice. “I thought—James said—everyone thought you were dead.”
“I am,” she said, her voice soft, but still hers. “Or at least that’s what they tell me.”
I didn’t ask how. Henry had done it once, and even though he’d said he couldn’t do it again, maybe he’d tried. Maybe he’d discovered it wasn’t so impossible after all.
But if she were dead—really, truly dead—did that mean he’d been telling the truth after all? Was this how he was trying to prove it? The ground felt uneven underneath me. Even though every rational part of my mind screamed that this couldn’t be happening, Ava felt warm and real in my arms, and there was no way anyone would go to such lengths to pull off a prank. The whole school thought she was dead. James thought she was dead, and I trusted him not to lie to me like that.
“Kate,” she said, prying me off of her. “Calm down. I’m not going anywhere.”
I pulled away, tears stinging my eyes and blurring my vision. “You better not be. You get to stay?”
“For as long as you want.”
Over her shoulder I saw Henry standing to the side, his eyes averted.
“Henry? She can stay?”
He nodded. “She can stay on the grounds, but she may not leave.”
I looked at Ava again, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “This isn’t fair.”
“What isn’t fair?” she said.
“That I get to leave and you don’t.”
Ava laughed, the lighthearted sound of it jolting. “Kate, don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got about forty years before my parents get here and tell me what I can and can’t do, and I bet there are tons of cute guys here. I’ll have plenty of things to do.”
“Not too much, I hope,” said Henry. “Ava, would you mind giving us a few more minutes alone?”
Beside me, Ava grinned. “Yeah—can I get something to wear?” It was then that I noticed she was wearing nothing more than a long white robe.
“I’ve got a whole closet upstairs,” I said. “Ask for Ella. She’ll show you where everything is.”
“Thanks.” Ava gave me one last hug, whispering, “He’s cute,” in my ear, then bounded off toward the manor. I watched her go.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see her again.”
“Understandable,” said Henry. He stood so close to me that I could feel the warmth of his body. “Sometimes we misjudge what is possible and what is not.”
I looked up at him, a strange and unpleasant tension spreading through me. A dozen questions ran through my mind, but there was only one that was surrounded by a delicate bubble of hope. If I waited much longer before asking him about it, that bubble might burst. “Was it real then? My dream with my mother?”
Henry looked decidedly pleased with himself. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes.” I hesitated. “Was it—was it just once?”
“No.” He watched me closely, as if he was afraid I would pass out. I wasn’t so sure I wouldn’t. “For the
duration of your stay, you will get to see her every night.”
I studied the pattern in the marble fountain, my eyes tracing the jagged lines and swirls. “Thank you. So much.”
“There is no need to thank me.” He sounded confused. “I told you I would honor our agreement, and I will.”
“I know.” But I’d never thought it meant I would get to spend more time with her. Not by her bedside holding her hand and hoping she would wake up, but talking to her like she wasn’t sick, like the past four years had never happened. It was beyond everything I’d hoped for.
But him honoring his side of our agreement meant I had to honor mine as well, and it crept up on me, terror slowly penetrating my mind and body as I realized I was trying to do something no one had been able to do before. In a way, it felt like I’d signed my own death warrant. “What now? What am I supposed to do?”
“Just be yourself.” He set his hand on my shoulder, like he’d done for Ava. Unlike Ava, however, he seemed afraid to touch me, and the contact lasted for only a few seconds. “The tests will most likely come when you least expect them. I am not in charge of administering them, nor am I the final judge.”
“I’m not really good at pop quizzes,” I said.
He chuckled, and it washed over me, helping to dissolve some of my anxiety. “These are not the sort of tests any teacher would grade you on. They test who you are, not what you have stored in your brain. It is possible you will recognize them as they are happening, and it is possible you will not. But just be yourself. That is all anyone can ask of you.”
His fingers brushed against my cheek, lingering. This time I didn’t pull away.
“Why the tests?” I said. “Why are they necessary?”
“Because,” he said. “The prize is not something we give out lightly, and we need to make sure it is something you can handle.”
“What’s that?”
“Immortality.”
I felt a cold block of ice form in the pit of my stomach. So my choices now were live forever or die trying—or forget the last conversations I would ever have with my mother. Somehow it didn’t seem fair.
“You will do well,” he said. “I can feel it. And afterward, you will help me do something that no one else is capable of doing. You will have power beyond imagining, and you will never fear death again. You will never grow old, and you will always be beautiful. You will have eternal life to spend as you wish.”
A shiver ran through me, and I didn’t know if it was because of the way he spoke, what he said, or the way he looked at me. Eternal life without my mother wasn’t something I wanted to contemplate. But if he could bring Ava back…
“Perhaps,” he whispered, “you may even learn how to swim.”
That broke the spell. I snorted loudly, unable to help myself. “Good luck with that.”
He smiled. “Or perhaps some things are impossible after all.”
Once Henry returned me to the breakfast room, I ate so quickly that I could barely taste the food, despite how mouth-watering it all looked. Stacks of buttered toast, piles of bacon, even a side of pancakes with maple syrup, but Ava was somewhere in the manor, and I wanted to see her again. I needed to confirm that she was really here. It wasn’t until after I’d finished my eggs, cooked exactly like my mother used to make, that I realized for the first night in weeks, I hadn’t had a nightmare. I made a mental note to ask Henry about that, wondering if it was because of my dreams with my mother. It had to be. If anything, I’d expected Eden Manor to make my nightmares worse rather than chase them away.
Before I could see Ava, however, Calliope informed me that I had to meet my tutor. Once I’d finished my meal, she was the only one there to show me the way, with Ella conspicuously absent. I hoped it meant she was busy helping Ava, but given how much she already seemed to hate me, I expected her to stick around as little as possible.
On our way, we passed a bowl of fruit, and I remembered the question I hadn’t been able to ask Henry. “Why do you taste my food?”
Calliope held a door open for me. “To make sure no one’s trying to kill you.”
“Why would they try to do that?”
She gave me a look that made me feel like an idiot for not already knowing the answer. “Because if Henry relinquishes his control over the Underworld, someone else will take his place. Not everyone’s rooting for you, you know.”
“Wait, what?” I’d been so concerned about what would happen to me if I passed that I hadn’t stopped to think what might happen to Henry if I failed. “Who?”
“I can’t tell you that. Watch out!”
I stopped abruptly, narrowly missing a vase set on a pedestal. It looked expensive. And ancient. And handmade. I sucked in a breath and moved gingerly around it.
“In here,” said Calliope, gesturing toward another door. She pushed it open, and I stepped inside, focusing on the only thing worth looking at: a small wooden table with a matching chair on either end. Everything else was a dull white, and it smelled as if it had recently been painted.
“I’ll see you afterward,” said Calliope as she pulled the door shut behind me. I spun around and hobbled toward her, managing to trip over the thick carpet.
“Wait!” I called, but it was too late. The door was already closed, and to my horror, I noticed there was no handle. It would be impossible to open without someone on the other side.
I stood there like an idiot for the better part of a minute, trying to figure out how to get out. There was a large window on the far wall, but we were three stories up. Jumping wouldn’t likely be suicidal, but it’d hurt. Other than the door, there were no other exits, so the only thing I could do was wait.
Kicking my shoes off my aching feet, I took a seat at the table and crossed my arms over my chest. The chair was uncomfortable, and the room was hot, but at least I didn’t have to walk in those heels anymore.
The thick smell of incense filled the air, making me sneeze. Looking over my shoulder, I caught sight of a familiar face, and my eyes widened. Behind me stood Irene, the receptionist from the high school office, dressed in a white robe similar to Ava’s. It flowed behind her and was stunning, but it was nothing compared to her hair. While it’d been red before, now it was vivid ruby, so bright in the sunlight that it almost glittered. It couldn’t possibly be natural.
“Hello, Kate,” she said with a friendly smile. “It’s good to see you again.”
I hesitated. “Nice to see you again, too?”
She sat down across from me with the sort of grace that a dancer would’ve given their right arm for, and I couldn’t help but feel a stab of bitterness. What was she supposed to teach me, how to be beautiful?
“Is there anyone else from Eden here that I should know about?” I said. First Sofia, and now Irene—was Dylan due to mysteriously appear as well?
The corners of her lips twisted into an amused smile. “I suppose you’ll have to wait and see, won’t you? Sorry about the subterfuge, darling. I promise it was only for the best.”
“Yeah, I figured,” I grumbled. I didn’t like knowing I’d been tricked. “You’ll be tutoring me then? Calculus and science and stuff?”
She laughed, the sound of it like wind chimes. “Something cooler. Something much, much cooler. Henry wants you prepared in case you pass, and that means learning about people. How they work, how they see themselves and each other, why they make certain choices—psychology, mostly. Some astronomy and astrology as well. Aside from that, more importantly, you need to learn about this world. Not just the Underworld, but all of it.”
“Mythology?” The word felt heavy on my tongue.
“It’s not mythology here,” she said with a wink. “As long as you remember that, you’ll be just fine.” Seemingly out of nowhere she pulled a thick book and set it on the table, which groaned.
“I have to read that?” I said.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It has pictures.”
Somehow that wasn’t very reassuring. “Why
do I have to learn all of this?”
She didn’t have the chance to answer me. Instead, the door with no handle burst open, and unintelligible shouts filled the room. I stood so quickly I nearly knocked over my chair. Irene looked annoyed, but she remained seated and didn’t speak.
Ella, Calliope and Ava stumbled into the room, each seemingly determined to be the first one inside. Ava wore a pink dress that I would have rather burned than wear, and Ella stormed in behind her, irate.
“You can’t just take things that don’t belong to you!” shouted Ella, her face glowing with fury.
“Kate, tell her,” pleaded Ava.
“I’m sorry,” said Calliope, shoving her way to the front. “I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen—”
“She’s the one who wouldn’t listen,” said Ella, pointing at Ava.
“Excuse me? You’re the one who wasn’t listening to me.”
They looked like they were ready to rip each other’s throats out. Overwhelmed, I finally found my voice and stepped forward. “Stop it, both of you. Is this about the dress?”
Both fell silent, and I could feel the waves of resentment rolling off both of them. Calliope was the one who answered. “Your friend went into your room looking for something to wear, and Ella said she couldn’t. But your friend said you gave her permission, and she didn’t have anything else to put on, but Ella said there were other things, and if she just waited a little while she could—”
“I was naked, and this little bitch wanted me to leave!” said Ava, moving to stand by my side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her glaring at Ella, whose expression was perfectly smooth now that she’d quieted.
“She was in your suite,” said Ella coldly. “No one is allowed in there without my express permission.”
“It’s my suite,” I said. “Seems logical that if I say she can be in there, she can be in there, right?”
Ella was silent. I sighed. “All right, fine, listen—Ava can come in my room whenever she wants, okay? But she needs her own, if there’s one available for her.”
