Destined (Goddess of Fate Book 4)

by Tamara Hart Heiner

  I turned around and hugged her fiercely, willing myself not to cry. “Be safe.”

  Her slender arms tightened around my back. “I will.”

  I left her there, hating myself for doing so. My stomach churned with anxiety. We slipped away from the fighting, and the horrifying noises disappeared as we gathered outside Laima’s house. Meredith pressed her hand to the door, her brow furrowed in thought.

  “Hurry,” Trey said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

  “I am,” she said. She looked at me. “The underworld is vast. It is eternal. I need you to concentrate on Aaron. Focus your energies on him so that I can open a pathway near his location. Otherwise you could wander endlessly trying to find him.”

  “I can’t get stuck down there, can I?”

  “No, you can’t,” Trey said. “Only if Velns captures you. Otherwise you can create a pathway to return whenever you’re ready. Slitere is your home.”

  “Finding Aaron is another matter,” Meredith said. “I don’t know where he’s at, I don’t know how to find him, and I don’t know where to send you. There are so many possibilities.”

  “Jayne, find his life energy,” Trey said. “The ones you’ve been seeking out to summon visions.”

  “I can’t find his,” I said, remembering my experience in the underworld last time. I’d been able to summon a vision of Aaron’s life once by looking into his eyes, but in the underworld he’d been closed to me. “He’s an adult. His energy is visible to Beth, not me.”

  “Was,” Trey said, softening his tone. “Was visible to Beth and not you. You have Laima’s powers now as well. You can see the life forces of all beings.”

  I gasped as that realization sank in. Closing my eyes, I concentrated, searching for the light of Aaron’s soul. He was not in this world, which made it so much harder. I couldn’t see into the underworld with ease. But I knew Aaron. I could find him.

  I saw a small flicker on the edge of my vision, and I focused my immortal eyes in that direction. The flicker danced out of sight, and the more I tried to see it, the harder it was to find. I cemented the location in my mind, grasping it with my mental fingers.

  “There,” I said. I opened my eyes but kept my gaze focused. “I know where you need to send to me.” I took Meredith’s face in my hands and peered into her eyes, passing the location into her head.

  Meredith took a pen out of her pocket and wrote on her arm, the solid black lines of a marker crisscrossing over a myriad of faded marks and a few recent scratches.

  “Why a marker?” I asked.

  “The thicker the lines, the stronger the spell. So Trey took me to Walmart and we bought a fat marker.”

  “They have a Walmart here?”

  Meredith smirked. “On the mortal plane. Trey and I can use the portal at Cape Kolka to go anywhere we wish.” She pressed her hand to the surface of the door and whispered, “Into the depths.”

  Bright green lines flashed across it as vivid as a laser light show, and then it returned to normal.

  “That wasn’t a poem,” I said, shooting Meredith a suspicious look.

  “I’m branching out.”

  Trey crowded behind me. “Go,” he said.

  Then, taking a deep breath, I faced the door and opened it.

  A stairwell very similar to the one I had descended last time stared up at me. The dark, ominous chill blew my hair out of my face. Last time I needed Trey to help me with my descent. This time I was a goddess all on my own, and I could do this.

  I could do this.

  I stepped through the door and closed it behind me. The inky blackness nearly swallowed me up, but I summoned some of my life force into a ball and let it hover over my shoulder, illuminating the way.

  How interesting. Using my powers was as natural as breathing now. It was as if I’d learned how to use them the same time I learned to walk.

  My confidence grew as I made my way down the steps. I sensed the same debilitating time warp around me, but the light of my soul kept it at bay. Worry for Aaron flickered in my heart. How had he managed the descent? I thought of the tokens given by each of the gods, and I hoped he’d been able to use them to help him succeed.

  What had felt like an eternity the first time passed in less than half an hour for me this time. I couldn’t be certain how much time actually went by, especially since time reckoning was different for individuals not living a mortal existence. My chest constricted as I thought of the fighting up above. How long had it been for them? If the Tree of Life was destroyed, would I suddenly cease to be immortal?

  The staircase ended abruptly, and I found myself standing at the opening of a cavernous hall. Tunnels led off in different directions. I studied them, trying to decide which to take first. I took a step forward, and my bare feet stepped on hard, packed dirt instead of stone steps.

  The soul light hovering at my shoulder winked out.

  What the heck? I summoned it forward again, but nothing happened. I turned around, panic rising in my throat. I couldn’t even see the stairway behind me. Pitch blackness surrounded me.

  Where was my power? I tried one more time to call forth the light. No use.

  I sat down on the hard ground, taking deep, slow breaths. Had I already lost? Was the Tree of Life gone?

  Water dripped around me, echoing with little splashes and pinging against the ground, and moisture soaked into my gown from the ground beneath me.

  Aaron was still down here. Had Jumis found him yet? Immortal or not, quest or no, I needed to save him. I inhaled deeply as a cold shiver ran down my spine. How would I find Aaron without being able to see?

  “Up, Jayne,” I murmured, giving myself a pep talk. “You don’t need eyes to make it through here.” I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled forward, hands outstretched, feeling for the tunnels I’d glimpsed briefly before my light went out. Just as I was about to play eenie meanie minie moe and decide which one to attempt first, a rushing noise like a tidal wave barreled toward me. I stepped back just as a blast a fire burst out of one of the tunnels, illuminating the hall.

  Alarm shot through me. I froze beside the tunnel, fear paralyzing me. If I was mortal again, that fire could kill me.

  Aaron, I reminded myself. Save Aaron. I clapped my hands over my head to transform into a bird. Nothing happened. Not even a feather drifted from between my fingertips. My heart dropped. Was this how it would end for the gods?

  Beth. Tears leaked from my eyes, and I prayed that somehow she was all right. Then I ran into that tunnel.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Small pieces of debris and roots had caught fire in the wake of the blazing maelstrom, leaving embers and flickering flames to light my way.

  The stench of rot reached my nose as I hurried along. I nearly gagged when the smell became strong enough to taste. My foot caught on something and I tripped, thrusting out my hands to catch myself. My body fell on a large, soft object, and I pushed back up, my hand scrambling for a hold. I grabbed something hot and fleshy.

  I lifted my eyes and squealed. Body parts still burned on the creatures lying in front of me, smoldering cloth revealing the charred bodies unmoving on the ground in the chamber I’d entered. They were vadatajs, eyes closed over their twisted features, mouths turned down in a grimace. Many still held swords in their hands. Maggots wreathed in and out of their flesh like they’d lain there for weeks.

  Oh, gross. My stomach turned over. I straightened up, filled with disgust and relief at the same time. They were all dead. At least two dozen of them. Had the fire killed them? My curiosity overrode my nausea, and I kicked a few more bodies hard enough to verify none of them were alive.

  A horrible, unearthly scream echoed into the chamber, and I jerked my head up. The chamber continued in front of me until it grew too dark for me to see the end. I took off in a run.

  The darkness gaped open in front of me, but a small glowing object laying on the ground caught my attention, and I paused beside it. It was a bracelet.
My heart stuttered as I recognized it: Meness’ bracelet, the one he gave to Aaron. The little rocks tied onto the band gave off a soft light. I grabbed it and straightened, my eyes straining for any sign of Aaron. How could he see without this? I put it on my own wrist and tightened it, then took a step.

  The ground beneath my foot crumbled. I nearly pitched forward but caught myself, my arms cartwheeling before I could fall into the depths. I managed to scoot away from the ledge. I knelt and shown the dim light of the bracelet, revealing a chasm too deep for me to perceive the bottom. A few pebbles skated away from my knees and clinked against the rock walls until they fell silent.

  Aaron had been here. How had he gotten across? Scorch marks marred the walls and ground around me, and gouges deep enough to stick my finger in tore up the granite at my feet.

  What kind of beast made these marks?

  I lifted my gaze and looked across the chasm. The light on Meness’ bracelet grew brighter, or maybe my eyes adjusted, and I saw something hovering over the gorge. I stood up, but when I did, it vanished. Crouching again, I saw not one but several spheres suspended in midair, almost like stepping stones in a river of air. Only by keeping my eyes directly on the one nearest to me was I able to still see it when I stood. I could reach it if I took a giant step.

  But what if I fell? Fear hammered in my heart. Even if a fall into the chasm didn’t kill me, I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to claw my way out.

  Pushing those thoughts aside, I took a deep breath and stepped onto the first hovering sphere.

  It dipped slightly at my weight, and I held my breath, afraid I would tumble. But then it steadied, and I trained my eyes down to my feet. I crouched and ran a finger over the surface. Something clung to my skin, the disc vanishing beneath me where my finger had wiped it clean.

  The glowing light of the bracelet illuminated the thin layer of dusty brown film on my finger when I held it up. I sniffed it, then dared to taste it with the tip of my tongue.

  Dirt. I looked down at the disc in wonder. A thin layer of dust and dirt covered it, just enough to make it visible. Curious, I knelt again and wiped clean half of the sphere. It appeared to vanish, as if only half of it remained. And yet it still felt solid beneath my feet.

  I straightened and examined the floating discs with new eyes, realizing that each one had been covered with a thin layer of dirt.

  Zalktis had given Aaron a bag of dirt. This had to be his work. The hope that ignited in my chest made me so giddy that I laughed out loud.

  I had to jump onto the next disc. I teetered a little bit when it wobbled. My arms flew out to adjust my balance, and I held still a moment, waiting for my heart rate to slow.

  Somewhere deep beneath my feet, a low moan echoed from the depths.

  Oh no. What now? There were still fifteen or so rounds in front of me, but now I was worried about what was underneath me. I hurried to the next one.

  The moan came again, louder this time, so low and guttural that the wall vibrated with the sound. I hopped onward, banishing thoughts of bone-crunching ogres and flesh-eating giant spiders.

  A sound like fingernails scratching down a chalkboard grated up the walls, and it took all my will power not to clap my hands over my ears. I jumped to the next disc, then the next, refusing to look down.

  Several spheres in front of me, a large scaly hand with wicked claws reached over the top of the ledge, startling a scream from my lips. The scales glowed slightly as if giving off their own incandescent light.

  I stared. I forgot to move to the next disc. If anything, I wanted to turn around and run back the way I’d come.

  Attached to the hand was a massive, scaly arm. Even as I watched, another arm reached out and grabbed the edge of the chasm. Muscles rippled as a creature pulled its body out, revealing what looked like a cross between a goat and a lizard. It turned an orange head with two twisted horns toward me, dark blue striping from its chin like a goatee. Was this the leviathan kept prisoner here in the underworld? Would it try to roast me next?

  I held my breath as vertical pupils focused on me. And then the creature leapt, arms outstretched.

  That spurred me to action. I crouched as it landed on the disc behind me, and then I jumped as well, evading its massive claws to get to the next disc. Now I jumped across them as quickly as a child playing hopscotch, desperate to get away.

  The disc behind me trembled, and I felt hot breath on my ankles. Faster, faster, Jayne, I urged.

  The creature jumped again, and I crouched instinctively as it flew overhead. It landed in front of me, its body sprawled across and supported by the four hovering spheres between me and the far wall.

  What now? I could turn around and run back, but that wouldn’t get me to Aaron. There was possibly another way across the chasm, but I didn’t know what it was, or how long I would have to travel to find it. Which left me only one option: climb over the creature.

  We stared at each other, a serpentine tongue flicking out of the goat mouth. Its huge arms hung over the sphere into the chasm. It lifted them and grabbed at me. But I was too far away.

  The arms dropped back down, dangling. The creature might lay across my path, but it was useless.

  My courage grew. As long as I avoided its mouth, I could scramble over the top of it and reach the other side.

  The creature’s eyes turned upward, looking at me as its claws grappled at the empty air. As if it knew what I was about to do. It tried to get its claws around the disc beneath it.

  I didn’t wait to see if it would succeed. Instead I bolted forward and jumped, landing cleanly on the ridge between the two horns on top of its head. It roared its displeasure and shook its head, trying to throw me like a bull rider in the rodeo. I threw myself belly down and gripped the scaly skin, inching my way forward. Its tail curled back on itself, two sharp claws extending from the end. They thrust blindly toward me, intent on impaling me even if it meant injuring itself.

  I needed to hurry if I was going to escape this guy. I stood up, keeping at a crouch to avoid the stabbing tail, and ran forward.

  The cliff edge was in sight. I imagined myself flying, even though I had no abilities to do so, and threw myself forward, leaping from the back of the creature.

  I almost didn’t make it. My fingers scrambled for purchase against the firm stone, and my legs kicked against the cliff wall, seeking a foothold. The monster screamed in frustration behind me, and I risked a glance over my shoulder to see it twisting on the disc, trying to spin itself around.

  My heart rate quickened, and I grew more frantic. I didn’t want to die here. I began to cry, soft weeping sounds escaping my throat. I pressed my palms down on the granite, trying to use my forearm muscles to lift myself up, but I was too low. If I could just get an elbow on the surface . . . I reached one hand forward and nearly lost my grip with the other hand. It was all I could do to cling to the cliff face.

  This was a lousy way to go.

  The beast behind me wasn’t having much luck either. It had stopped moving, and I shot a look behind to see what it was doing. The head twisted toward me, one eye focused on me. It was thinking. Calculating. Then its protruding eye turned downward, looking into the abyss below, and then back at me.

  My heart leapt into my throat. I knew what it planned to do. I dangled here, helpless. The creature could do nothing from where it was; however, if it dropped itself back into the abyss from where it came, it could start again, scramble up this cliff side, and capture me.

  I was in trouble.

  I tried to pull myself up the rock, but my fingers could find nothing to grasp. I felt the loss of my powers as the human weakness of fatigue began to weigh me down. How much longer could I hold on? Would it be easier to just let go now?

  How could I even consider that?

  The beast made its move, leaning its body to one side and tumbling from the floating steps. And if I had any moves to make, now was the time to do them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

/>   I didn’t hear the creature reach the bottom, but I knew it wouldn’t take it long to climb up to the top. My ears strained for the sounds of claws digging into hard stone. Even though I was expecting it, it still sent my pulse racing when I detected the minute noises beneath me. I let out a cry, one of pure frustration and fear. Maybe Aaron would survive without my help. Meredith had said the underworld was vast; maybe Jumis would never find him. I hoped Aaron would draw comfort from knowing I had come down here to help him.

  The scrambling was faster now, closer, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the creature caught up to me.

  A hand clamped down on mine, startling me enough to elicit another scream. Then it lifted my fingers and curled around them. Another hand gripped me lower, around the forearm.

  “You could help me out here.”

  It was a good thing he had a hold of my hand, because Aaron’s voice shocked me enough that I let go of the ledge. He seized the opportunity to release my forearm and grab my other hand.

  “It would be easier if you used one hand to push up at the same time I pull you, but we can do it this way also.”

  “How can you joke at a time like this?” I sputtered, trying to aid him in lifting me while feeling like I wasn’t doing much.

  He heaved me over the ledge. I tried to collapse to my knees in relief, but he wrapped his arms around me tightly and continued moving backward.

  “We’re not out of the clear yet,” he said.

  I straightened up and cried out when I saw a giant, winged lizard sitting on its haunches behind Aaron. Fire curled out of its mouth with each breath, lighting up the cavern around it. A thick chain dangled from its neck, and webbed toes clutched the ground. This time I had no doubt, and my heart stuttered. “Aaron! It’s the—”

  “Leviathan,” he said, his voice clearly amused. “And you better get behind it.”

  Only then did I see the rope tied around its leg. The magical rope that Beth had given Aaron also wrapped around his forearm, connecting him to the leviathan.