I tried to conceal my horror. I’d desperately hoped that our enemies hadn’t heard about our losses. No wonder she was so bold. Not only did she have me vulnerable, in mortal form, but she’d learned that gods in mortal form could die. I had to play on whatever doubt she had about that, or I was as good as dead.
“I hope not,” I replied.
Which was true. I still wanted to believe Athena was alive somewhere, somehow. As for Zeus, I knew he’d returned to the Heavens. But I didn’t know how his recovery was going. It was unlikely he’d die with Hestia watching over him. But it wasn’t impossible. And there was no way I’d risk exposing him before he was ready. Ekhidna had a connection to the Heavens. A traitor.
But I had to be careful. I couldn’t lie to Ekhidna. Not just because I never lied. As a snake, Ekhidna had a keen ability to sense deception. She could taste it in the air. I needed to maintain whatever credibility I had if I was going to be any good to her as a source of information, which was the only thing keeping me alive.
“How awful for you all. To be ssso vulnerable,” Ekhidna said.
I hated her so much, I thought she might burst into flames from the sheer intensity of it. But, instead, she remained perched on her throne, lording herself over me, over all the gods.
“The others will come for me,” I warned her.
“I hope ssso!” Ekhidna smiled. “My children will be ready for them, and Zeusss and Athena could probably ussse sssome company!”
My face burned.
“They’re not the only ones you need to worry about,” I said. “The gods in the Heavens won’t forget what you do here.”
“Oh, I think there isss one god who might be persssuaded to overlook it,” Ekhidna laughed.
Lightning-fast, she unfurled her massive coils and seized me in them, lifting me to her face with surprising gentleness.
“Poor Hera,” she said. “Isss thisss what you’ve come to? Making weak threatsss? Where isss all your power now?”
I met her mocking eyes, but there was nothing I could say. I was at her mercy. And she knew it.
“If the godsss want to punisssh me, let them come. If they can find me.” She smirked. “But don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you. Why would I? You’re nothing! You’re no more a threat to me than any other mortal.”
Her words cut like a knife. But I couldn’t deny it. I was nothing compared to her now.
“Besidesss, no reassson to disssrupt hisss plansss when everything isss working out ssso perfectly,” she said.
His. A god then, not a goddess. But who? There were still too many possibilities. If only Ekhidna were foolish enough to give me some clue.
“He’s going to unmake the Universe,” I blurted out.
It was desperate. Maybe even stupid. But if there was any way I could drive a wedge in their alliance, I had to try, and it had to be now, before it was too late.
“What are you talking about?” Ekhidna snapped. But I’d caught her interest. I could see it in her obsidian eyes.
“Think about it,” I said. “It makes sense. Why else take the Fates? It’s such an enormous risk. The consequences of meddling with destiny are too extreme, too unpredictable. That’s why it’s never been done before. That’s why no one saw it coming. Who’d risk destroying the very fabric of reality? No one. Except someone who intends to shred that fabric anyway and start again. That’s why he has nothing to lose. Because he wants everything to be destroyed. No Order. No Chaos. Just his will, and his alone.”
“You’re lying!” Ekhidna accused. But there was a hint of fear in her eyes now. And in that hint, however small, was my salvation.
“I never lie,” I told her. And that much, she knew to be true.
“You’re wrong! It’sss impossssssible!” she snapped.
“Not for a god with the Fates,” I replied firmly. “Did he tell you he was just going to seize power? There have been coups before. Zeus and I overthrew the Titans. We didn’t need the Fates for that. Taking the Fates has to mean something else, something bigger. Bigger than anything that’s ever been done before. This isn’t about control. This is about wiping away everything that is. A clean slate.”
“He’d be destroyed, too!” Ekhidna protested.
“No,” I said. “If he’s at the centre of it all, he can preserve enough existence for himself and the Fates. A point from which everything else can be erased and remade. It’s possible. Insane, but possible.”
I took a deep breath. One final push. “Face it, Ekhidna. He told you what you wanted to hear. He was going to replace the old order and raise you up as his queen, right? What you’ve always wanted. Chaos ruling instead of Order. No more rules. Absolute freedom. He offered you everything, and you accepted. But he’s been lying to you. He will obliterate you along with everyone and everything else.”
There was excited hissing behind me. Ekhidna whirled and the hissing stopped immediately. She let out a scream of rage and frustration. Her rows of fangs unfurled in fury.
“Leave usss!” she commanded.
Her pythons slithered out quickly. She was enraged. They knew better than to be within striking distance when she was this angry.
I didn’t have a choice. I’d either gone too far. Or maybe, maybe, I’d gone just far enough.
“We can stop it,” I told her. “It’s not too late. We can find the Fates.”
“I don’t know where he keepsss them,” she snapped. “He didn’t tell me.”
“He’s keeping you in the dark on purpose,” I said. “So he can throw you away when he’s done using you. But we know how to find them. We consulted an Oracle. But we have to hide ourselves from whoever else he’s working with. They’re watching us and countering our every move. We don’t have much time.”
“You have one day,” she said bitterly.
Goosebumps spread across my body.
“If that’s true, we’re going to need your help,” I replied. “The traitor has a way of hiding from the gods. He put a cloud over this town that blocks out the Heavens. We need that spell so we can use it against the traitor’s mortal spy.” A sudden thought occurred to me. “Can they see you now?” If so, my efforts to turn Ekhidna against the traitor and his pet would be futile.
“No,” she answered. “The cloud over the town extendsss thisss far. The traitor can’t sssee usss from the Heavensss. Asss for hisss mortal pet, I wasss there when he casst the ssspell to create the cloud. I memorized it and then changed it. I cassst it myssslf to hide my nessst from mortalsss. Neither of them can sssee us.”
“Who is he, Ekhidna?” I asked. “Who’s the traitor?”
“I don’t know,” she hissed. “We’ve never met, and he never told me hisss name. I wasss only able to learn he wasss a god before he blocked my auguriesss. He told me he couldn’t risssk being exposssed to the other godsss.”
“How do we do the blocking spell?” I demanded.
“You can’t,” Ekhidna said dismissively. Her mind was on other things. Probably figuring out a way she could betray her traitorous ally. “It requiresss the blood of a god.”
“We . . .” I began.
“No, a real god,” she sneered. “Not one in a mortal body. The divine power mussst be completely pure.”
“He gave you his blood,” I realized, defeated. If Ekhidna was right, then even Sarah, a demigod, wouldn’t be enough. “Is there any other way to block the spell you’ve been using to spy on us?”
Ekhidna snorted. “He didn’t trust me enough to be hisss eyesss. Only his mortal ssspy has the watching ssspell.”
“Fine. We’ll just have to find another way to blind him ourselves. Let me go, and I’ll tell the others what you’ve told me,” I said. “We don’t have much time.”
Ekhidna loosened her coils, and then tightened them.
“On sssecond thought,” she purred, “I think I’ll keep you. For insssuranssse.”
“What? Why?” I demanded, struggling uselessly. She didn’t even notice.
“If what you sssay isss
true, then I may need you to bargain with,” she decided, nodding to herself.
“Bargain? How?” I demanded.
But before Ekhidna could elaborate, a flurry of knives hurtled through the air. Ekhidna was faster--but just barely. The first one landed in one of her coils, right between two scales, and she screamed in surprise and pain. But Ekhidna still didn’t drop me. Instead, she darted around her throne, using it as cover. To my surprise, she placed me behind her. The rest of the knives embedded themselves harmlessly in the island.
“Let her go!” I couldn’t see past the throne, but it was Justin. I tried to keep the smile off my face, but I couldn’t.
“Attack me again, and ssshe diesss!” Ekhidna snarled, squeezing me for emphasis. I let out a yelp of pain.
“Kill her and you die,” Justin countered.
“If I releassse her, I’m asss good asss dead,” Ekhidna snapped.
Silence. Then a searing blast of heat. The smell of sulphur filled the air. Dragonfire. Artemis had risked transforming again.
“That was your last warning!” Justin shouted. “The next time, Artemis will roast all of your eggs.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Ekhidna screeched.
“Every last one,” Justin assured her coldly. “Let her go, or you’ll have an army of ashes.”
Ekhidna was torn. But in the end, she unfurled her coils. I scrambled out, wheezing.
“This isssn’t over,” Ekhidna hissed as I walked past her.
I stopped.
“You better pray it is,” I shot back. “Now give me the blocking spell.”
Ekhidna opened her mouth, but shut it again quickly, a strange look in her eyes. A hunger.
I shook my head. “Fine. I’ll get it myself.”
I spotted Justin on the far side of the pool, seated on top of Artemis in dragon form. She couldn’t sustain the transformation for long. We didn’t have much time. We had to go. Now.
Justin leaned down and swung me onto Artemis’s back behind him. With a beat of her massive wings, Artemis rose into the air.
Ekhidna whipped out from behind the throne, bow in hand. She fired several arrows, but they glanced harmlessly off of Artemis’s scaly hide.
“Pythons!” Ekhidna shrieked. “Bring them down! But don’t harm Hera!”
But her calls went unanswered as Artemis lifted higher and higher toward the grates in the ceiling.
“Bend down,” Justin said, pressing his body against Artemis’s bulk. I followed suit.
With a final, powerful push of her wings, Artemis burst through the metal grates at the top of the pipe network. We lifted into the sky, just as a volley of arrows spewed through the opening. Ekhidna’s reinforcements had arrived, but they were too late.
“I learned some things,” I said. “But I didn’t get the spell. We have a lot of work left. And only one day.”
“One day?” Justin echoed in disbelief.
“One day,” I said. “Whatever we do, we have to do it now.”
“Then we make our move tomorrow,” he said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “It all ends tomorrow.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
“A day?” Hermes repeated. “One day?”
“That’s what Ekhidna said,” I replied. “And she has no reason to lie. She doesn’t want the world unmade any more than we do. Chaos and oblivion are two entirely different things.”
We were back in the relative safety of Justin’s house. I’d filled everyone in on what I’d learned from Ekhidna. It was bittersweet though. We were finally making progress, but what we’d learned was devastating.
“So it’s now or never,” Apollo murmured.
“God’s blood.” Demeter was shaking her head. “How are we going to get that?”
“We could call down Hecate again,” Sarah suggested.
“You can’t do witchcraft anymore,” Hermes replied.
“Could any of the other witches you know handle Hecate?” I asked.
Sarah thought it over. “I’m not sure. I do know some powerful witches. And we have to contact them anyway to do the blocking spell once we get it from Ekhidna.”
“Assuming we can even get the blood for the blocking spell,” Artemis said.
“But would Hecate’s blood count?” Justin asked. “I mean, she would be in a mortal. Like the rest of the gods here. And that’s not enough, right? Otherwise, we could just use blood from one of you.”
He was trying not to look at me. After our talk at the party, he was giving me space. It felt strange, him being so distant. He’d always been so close before, always looking at me, talking to me, as if I was the centre of his whole world. I never really realized it until it was gone, and I missed it.
“Actually, no,” Sarah said. “The divine ritual the gods use to borrow bodies dilutes their power, so that it doesn’t burn out the bodies or strain the worlds. That way, they can stay in the mortal world as long as they want. The spell to summon Hecate is different. If cast correctly, Hecate will come down in the fullness of her power. A literal god on earth. That’s why it doesn’t last very long, and why so few can do it at all. The strain is--”
“Excruciating,” I finished. “Call the witches. We need to move fast. We’ll have to work out the details as we go.”
Sarah obediently left the room. I could only hope that, this close to his plan succeeding, the traitor god would be too preoccupied to notice us. His hubris was our only chance.
Sarah returned a few moments later.
“They’ll be here soon,” she informed us.
“And so will Ekhidna,” Artemis warned. “There’s no way she’s giving up this easily. She found Hera once. She’ll find us again.”
“She only found me because she knew exactly where to look,” I replied. “The traitor’s mortal pet has been tracking us with magick since we got here and reporting everything we do. That’s why there’s no point in running anymore. Not until we cast the spell to blind mortals. They’ll just follow us wherever we go.”
We waited impatiently for the witches. But we didn’t have to wait long. The ring of the doorbell almost stopped my heart. I rose, feeling strangely nervous. I shouldn’t be nervous. Why would I be nervous? But I was nervous.
Everything hinged on our success. Ekhidna couldn’t be far, and I wasn’t even sure that the witches could do what we needed.
As they came down the stairs, I was struck by how ordinary these witches seemed. Plain, middle-aged women with plain, long hair wearing plain, earthy dresses.
Demeter quivered. These were her priestesses, not mine. She went over to them, embracing each in turn. It was so intimate and familiar.
More witches came down. Some tall and athletic, some short and stocky, some with shaved heads, many in leather. Artemis’s warrior-women.
Lastly, a cadre of smartly-dressed women. Immaculate hair. Immaculate makeup. Immaculate everything.
A severe woman in a pinstripe skirt suit headed straight for me.
“Queen of Gods,” she addressed me, eyes averted in deep respect. “I’m Sonia. We saw the signs that you’d come, but we didn’t believe them or we would’ve come sooner. I apologize. Just tell us what to do.”
I took a deep breath and pitched my voice to address the thirteen assembled women. Four each for Demeter and Artemis, and five for me. “Your world’s in danger. Our world, too. Someone plans to erase existence. I’m telling you this because you’re special. You’re witches. You’re not entirely part of the mortal world. Or the divine world. Or any world. You walk the line between them all. And we need you. If we’re going to win, we need you to do a spell to hide us from our enemies so we can strike back. The only one who knows the spell is a monster named Ekhidna. Beth will build me a bridge into her mind. I’ll go in and get the spell. And then you’ll cast it for us.”
“We don’t have much time,” Demeter added.
“Then let’s begin,” Sonia answered.
Incense. Bells. Vials. Jars of powders. Every colour, textur
e, and smell imaginable. One rather impressive black cauldron. The witches set down each object and ingredient with reverence.
“Ekhidna?” Artemis reminded me.
“Hermes, Apollo, Artemis,” I commanded. “Patrol. Nothing gets through until the spell’s done.”
They filed out. No arguments. No banter. There wasn’t time.
As Artemis began to head up the stairs to the main floor, one of the athletic witches handed her a quiver and a gleaming, fibreglass bow.
“In case,” was all she said.
They’d come prepared. I didn’t know exactly what Sarah had told them, but they knew they were at war.
Artemis clapped the woman on the shoulder. “Do you . . .”
Another athletic woman handed her a similar bow and quiver. “For your brother.”
Artemis beamed. And then, wordlessly, she joined the other gods upstairs.
“Which one of you is Beth?” Sonia demanded.
Her voice cracked like a whip. But no one stepped forward. Finally, Beth reluctantly put up her hand.
Sonia looked her up and down. “I don’t recognize you. Are you new?”
“Very,” Beth said.
Sonia gave me a questioning look.
“We need the thirteen of you at full strength for the blocking spell,” I explained. “So Beth will build the bridge to Ekhidna’s mind. Sarah will guide her.”
Sonia looked from Beth to me and back again. “This is going to be dangerous. More dangerous because you’re new.”
Beth paled, but nodded.
“You have power, did you know that?” Sonia asked.
Beth shook her head.
“Well, you do,” Sonia said. “And you’re going to need all of that power if you want to survive. You’ll have to fight. Can you do that?”
Beth nodded.
“I thought so,” Sonia said, approvingly. “We’ll help you if we can.” Sonia looked at me. “Sarah and I will run Beth through what she needs to do.”
I nodded and left them to it.
Sonia jotted something down on a scrap of paper, while Sarah described something to Beth in hushed tones. Beth’s eyes were wide, but she was nodding. She was trying. That’s all I could ask.
Hera, Queen of Gods (Goddess Unbound) Page 27
