Diary of a journey through Hell
Page 32
Kris glanced at his cousin, who shook his head. “No,” he said, then grinned. If that grin had been on anyone else’s face it would have been called evil, but on Ankou it looked a lot more pleasing to the eye. “Twenty years is nothing to a god. It should be two hundred, minimum.”
Kris and Rachel both looked around them at the family. One at a time, each one slowly nodded. They would all help out. Finally they looked at Hades.
“I will speak to my brothers,” he said. “I am sure they will agree.”
“But I did it for you,” Rhea said to Kris. She sounded like she was almost pleading.
“I know,” Kris said. “And that is what makes it worse. You honestly believe that you were protecting me, stopping me from having my heart broken by Rachel, but what you did hurt me far more than she ever could. It is time you realised the damage your interfering does.”
Rhea looked around her and was met with stony faces. Her actions had cost them all twenty years with one of their favourite relatives, so none of them were on her side. Only then did she begin to understand that sometimes it is best to leaves things alone and let people make their own decisions and their own mistakes.
“Alright,” she said, her attention on Kris once more. “I will make a bargain with you. I stay away from everyone for two hundred years and when I return you will let me back into your life. Deal?”
“That is not my decision to make,” he said and looked at Rachel. Everyone in the room held their breath, including Rhea.
“Deal,” Rachel said and the room filled with the sound of lungs expelling air.
Rhea walked up to Rachel and hugged her. “Thank you,” she whispered in her ear. “Look after Kris. I hope you will both be very happy, I honestly do.”
“I believe you,” Rachel whispered back, then stepped aside so that Rhea could say goodbye to Kris.
Kris, however, moved out of her reach. “No. I will treat you like my great-grandmother once more after you have served your time in solitude. Until then, you are nothing to me.”
Rhea did not argue. She may be the mother of the gods and have more power than her great-grandson, but she knew when not to fight. She said a teary farewell to the rest of her family and asked permission to see her other sons before leaving their realms. Permission was granted and she departed, leaving an uncomfortable silence behind her.
“That went better than expected,” Famine said eventually.
“Aunty Fam, Queen of the understatement,” Ankou said, grinning.
“Now we really must leave,” Kris said.
“One thing before you go,” Death said, stepping forward and addressing Rachel. “Please may I have my wife’s necklace back? You won’t be needing it anymore.”
“Of course,” she replied and reached behind her neck to undo the clasp. “Thank you for letting me borrow it,” she continued, placing it in Death’s outstretched hand and closing his fingers over it. “If it wasn’t for you I would not be here now. Well, not looking like this anyway.”
Death hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, then backed away. As time went by, she knew that she would grow closer to all of Kris’s family, but she would always have a special place in her heart for Death.
“Anyone else want to delay us or can we now go?” Kris asked in fake irritation. The irritation stopped being fake when Pestilence spoke up.
“Before you go I have to have the answer to the puzzle.”
“What puzzle?” Kris snapped.
“The one about the restaurant bill.”
Rachel grinned. She had almost forgotten that she had told him about that the last time they had seen each other.
“There is no answer. It is a mathematical anomaly. You are supposed to get to the 25 from the 30, not the other way round.”
Pestilence stared at her. “I have been trying to work that out for the last 26 years and now you tell me there is no answer. You little... little...” He could not think of a word to finish the sentence. Then he grinned at her. “You are going to make a great addition to the family. Come and visit me any time.”
Rachel promised she would, then Kris hugged her close to him and they both vanished.
“If great-grandmother is not going to be around for the next two centuries, does that mean we can break the rules?” Katana asked.
“No, it does not,” Ankou said quickly, knowing exactly where her mind was going.
“He’s right,” War said. “It just means you will have your parents and grandparents to answer to young lady. Now go home and go to your room. You are being grounded for asking the question.”
“Bother,” Katana said sulkily and vanished, quickly followed by War, Bo and Spatha.
With the excitement apparently over the rest of the family said their goodbyes and retired to their own houses, leaving Hades and Persephone grateful that their home was quiet once more.
“Where are we?” Rachel asked when they materialised on a beach. The waves were lapping onto the shore and she was sure she could hear seagulls in the distance.
“We are somewhere in my father’s lands. I created this little island just for us,” Kris said. “It cannot be seen unless you know it’s here. Nobody can disturb us, except for Ankou and he has promised to keep away for a few days.”
“It’s wonderful,” she exclaimed, looking around her at the golden sand and the palm trees behind them.
“Come with me,” Kris said, taking her hand and leading her along the shoreline. They rounded a bend and Rachel caught sight of a little cottage that looked a lot like Famine’s except the walls were made of brick.
“It’s amazing what you can do with magic,” she said, impressed with Kris’s handiwork. Kris, however, shook his head.
“I may have created the island from thin air, but the house I made by hand. I learnt how to do plumbing and thatching. I even created a kiln so I could bake my own bricks,” he said. “It took a long time, but I believe it was worth it. What do you think?”
Rachel was speechless. Before travelling through Hell with Robert she never imagined she could live anywhere like this, let alone with someone like Kris.
Concerned that she hadn’t answered, Kris took his eyes off his creation and looked at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s perfect. Just perfect.”
“Wait till you see inside,” he said enthusiastically, grabbing her hand and dragging her after him. He showed her around the house like a child showing off a new toy. It wasn’t very large, but was more than enough for their needs.
“I thought we could add a few rooms onto the back when we need them,” he said, grinning at her mischievously. “A nursery, for instance.” He winked at her, picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.
The next morning she was woken by the smell of coffee. Kris strolled into the bedroom, tray in hand, and served her breakfast in bed.
“I could get used to this,” she said in delight.
“I’m just making sure you don’t regret your decision to live in Hell, as you like to call it.”
Rachel moved the tray out of the way and pulled him close. “I think I have made the right decision. You were definitely worth waiting for.” She kissed him passionately.
“No time for that,” he said when he was able to pull away. “Eat your breakfast. We have a busy day ahead of us.”
“Really?” Rachel asked in disappointment.
“Really. There are a few gods I need to introduce you to. Zeus, Hera and Hermes, as you would like to call them, to begin with. Then I have been asked to take you under the sea to meet my aquatic relations. Everyone wants to meet you.”
Rachel leaned forward and began to unbutton his shirt. “They can wait. We have the rest of eternity to go relative visiting. Right now I want to work on needing that nursery you talked about yesterday.”
“Oh you do, do you?” he asked, pulling his shirt off his back and dropping it on the floor. He slipped under the covers, pulled h
er close to him and set about letting her know just how good living in Hell could really be.
From Trudie:
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