It looked much like the last time I’d been in here. The furniture was broken and scattered across the room, curtains torn apart like there was some wild animal in here, not the soul of a scared girl who was murdered every ten minutes.
She was in the middle of the room now, collapsed and gurgling blood out of her mouth. Slowly, I inched toward her, remaining silent. When she finally fell completely still, eyes wide and glassy, I knelt down and scooped her into my arms.
Even though she was dead, Katrina was still solid in my grasp. All spirits in the Underworld were as if they had bodies, even if they were a Lost One. This was a place for the dead, but that didn’t mean they were all floating around like wispy clouds—that was only how they appeared in the mortal realm. It was a fact of this place that I was supremely grateful for in times like these, when I was able to hold her close to me once more.
Watching her beautiful face, I wiped the blood away from her chin, smearing it across my pants. Her hair still held some curl to it; the blonde locks shining faintly in what little light there was. Smooth, farm-tanned skin made my hands tingle as I rubbed her arm, leaning forward and kissing her on the forehead. Green eyes stared at nothing, though, every ounce of the woman I so desperately wanted to see gone from the spirit I saw now.
I knew it was morbid, keeping her here like this. Being almost certain that Zeus and Poseidon would help me, I had gone out and found her soul before even approaching them with my query. After they denied me, there was no way I could just let her return to the tunnels. She would be lost to me all over again, and I still fully intended to get her back, one way or another. So, I’d placed her in the room she’d stayed in when she was alive, and she had remained to this very day.
“We’ll be together soon, Hurricane. Cristos grows stronger each day. It won’t be much longer before he can control the lightning. Once that’s done, I’ll get him to convince Poseidon’s son to join us. It won’t be much longer after that, I’m sure.” It was barely even a whisper, the story I’d told her over and over again for weeks. Sometimes, I pretended she could hear me and talk back, offer opinions, tell me how to get Cristos to unlock his power. All that did was make me ache for everything to be done and over with even faster.
If Zeus and Poseidon had been good brothers, it would have been fixed years ago. They might have even won the war by now.
Thinking back, I relieved the moment in which my trust in my family had failed me. My exile had ended and Katrina was in my grasp, ready to be saved. All I lacked were the powers the Fates had taken from me, and the assistance of my brothers, to get the last pieces of the puzzle together. When I’d arrived at Olympus, I’d expected to be greeted by family who had missed me and were willing to help. Instead, I found siblings who were tired, scared, and ready to blame their shortcomings on someone else.
“Hades?” Zeus turned from the table used for war planning, which was now stationed in the middle of the throne room. “Has it been nine years already?”
“Ha ha, very funny,” I replied sourly. “You know exactly how long it’s been. The guards practically carried me in here because you ordered them to bring me right away when I arrived.”
Normally, Zeus would have at least cracked a smile, or shown some sign that he was genuinely happy to see me, but there was none of that now. As I looked over him, taking in his bedraggled appearance, I realized that the nine years I’d been away had been more than trying for him.
There were dark circles under his eyes, his skin pale and marked here and there with signs of a recent battle. His golden armor was dented, causing me to wonder just how recently he had returned from fighting if he hadn’t even had time to have the chest plate fixed. The frown fixed on his face seemed like an expression a beaten man would make, not Zeus.
“What’s happened?” I asked quickly, looking around the room to see who else was here. Poseidon was behind Zeus, looking just as worn out in his silver battle armor. Their wives, Karly and Audrey were also at the table, dressed for battle, but the number of remaining gods was staggeringly low.
“War,” Zeus replied roughly. “If you remember. Erebos just used your stolen helmet to chase off our forces while the other Titans created a tidal wave. We tried to get in and save the mortals it was aimed at, but—”
“We didn’t make it,” Poseidon interjected. “It was my fault. I should have been able to stop it, but the effects of the helm were too much. I was too weak to fight against it.”
“I could have tried, too,” Audrey added. “But I was in the same situation. They pinned us down hard, Sy. Don’t try and take the blame all on your own.”
“I agree.” Karly sighed, running a hand through her hair. “We all could have done better and we know it. There’s no use in arguing or trying to place blame at the moment. We need to focus on where the Titans are heading and how we can stop them.”
Zeus did smile then, turning to his love and kissing her softly. “Correct, as always. Thank you, dear.”
“You need to talk with your brother,” she said softly, patting the side of his face. “Audrey and I will go and check on Cristos and Arsenio. You three need to sort things out.” Smiling at me tightly, she nodded, turning to take her leave. I almost didn’t catch the last bit she whispered to Zeus as she left. “Stop blaming him for all this. We need his help and you need to put your anger aside for the meantime.”
“I know,” he murmured back.
The two women left, the other gods and goddesses in the room taking the hint and making their exits as well. I had the distinct impression that none of them wanted to stay and hear what my brothers had to say to me. Maybe they just wanted to rest and doctor themselves, who knew? At this point, I was feeling like I would rather just get it over with and skip whatever lecture had been prepared for me over the past nine years.
“I’ve come to join you.” The statement was loud, clear, simple, and straight to the point.
And completely threw my brothers for a loop.
“What?” Poseidon asked blankly.
Zeus just stared at me like I’d slapped him across the face.
“I’ve had a while to think about it and I’m ready to join the fight. That’s the only way I’ll get my powers back, since the Fates tied them to my helping you. If it takes me going out into battle to prove that I’m loyal to our family, then I’ll do it. Whatever you want.”
“What about Katrina?” Zeus stared at me pointedly, crossing his arms.
Hesitating, I laughed slightly, mostly surprised that he had bothered to learn her name while I was gone.
“We’ve been searching for a way to recuse her, too, Brother.” Poseidon spoke softly, looking to his king for reassurance. “Learning about her. We thought if we could get her back—give her to you—you would be more inclined to join us again. It’s unexpected that you’re offering without her already taken care of.”
“And did you find anything?” Suddenly, I felt angry, like they’d betrayed me somehow. The confession should have made me feel like they were on my side, but it did the exact opposite. They were using Katrina as a bargaining chip, trying to get what they wanted out of me.
“No.” Zeus responded calmly, but his change in stance warned that he had sensed my anger. He was ready for a fight, should it come to that.
“Well I did,” I replied, as coolly as possible. “And I need both of your help to do it.”
The silence of surprise stretched across the space once again. Not wanting to give them time to cut me off, I launched into my plan, speaking quickly and excitedly. They listened intently as I shared the steps, not interrupting me, thankfully.
This was it. I was going to get Katrina back at last.
“It will take all of our powers to bring her back. I already have her soul, so all we lack is the essence of what killed her—Erebos. Will you help me?” Finished with my instructions, I looked between the two of them anxiously, waiting for their consent.
“Do you have any idea what kind of implications t
his kind of magic will bring?” Poseidon asked carefully. “The gods don’t meddle with spells; we have enough power as it is. Who’s to say that this ritual won’t destroy Katrina completely, or change things that shouldn’t be changed?”
“What if it strips our powers from us?” Zeus chewed on his bottom lip as he thought. “The book calls for all of us to open a line of power to her soul. Will such an action cause our abilities to flow completely from us and into her?”
“That would be absolutely against the laws of our kind and how powers are assigned,” Poseidon agreed. “For all we know, such strength could shatter Katrina as well.”
“And if it didn’t, who’s to say that she would still be the same when she woke? She could be a monster bent on destroying the world.”
“What are you two talking about?” I interrupted. “This is Katrina! The book didn’t say anything about her changing or gaining our powers. All it said was that she would be alive, able to remember herself and her life.”
“She’d be a Katrina made from the essence of Erebos, though.” Zeus’s gaze was growing darker as he spoke, causing me to feel the first real strain of panic since I’d arrived.
“We would have to kill Erebos first.”
“That’s not an issue,” Zeus replied, brushing off Poseidon’s uncertainty. “But killing him and then bringing him back to life in another form? That I will not allow.”
“It’s not Erebos we’d be bringing back, it’s Katrina!” The room seemed to sway around me as I gaped at them, trying to find the words I wanted to say through my anger and confusion. “I love her. Please, whatever sacrifice we need to make, I will gladly pay the price for. Just please—”
I didn’t like begging. In fact, to my knowledge, I’d never actually begged in my life before then. Before I knew it, though, my knees hit the marble floor before them, and tears gathered in my eyes. “Please help me,” I whispered, my voice breaking on the last word. “I can’t do this without you.”
“Hades.” Zeus said my name with all the care a brother full of sorrow and pity could. When he spoke again, though, it was with the authority of a king. “No. There are too many risks and unknown factors. I’m sorry; you will get no help from us.”
And just like that, all the feelings that I had for my brothers were cut off, locked away in a deep, dark place inside of me that I would never visit again.
Swallowing hard, I nodded, rising quickly. There would be no use in arguing with him. I’d seen him make many a final decision before and could tell this was one of those times. Poseidon could maybe be convinced, but getting him on my side would be useless without Zeus to finish the circle.
“Fine.” Glaring at them, I let all the harshness I could into my tone. “When do we leave for the next battle?”
“You’re still going to fight with us?” Poseidon asked, shocked.
“Unlike some gods, I am still loyal to this family, despite what everyone thinks my last actions proved. Yes, I will fight with you.”
“Don’t be blinded, Brother,” Zeus said to Poseidon. “Hades doesn’t get his powers back unless he joins us in our fight. His attendance does nothing to prove his loyalty.”
“And your refusal to help with Katrina does everything to show your lack of loyalty to me. You don’t do anything unless it directly benefits you.” Turning my back on them, I made my way to the exit. “Send for me when you need me; I will be there and fire will rain from the sky.”
Chapter Nine
Cristos
Brontes deep voice rumbled from beside me, the words sounding like gentle cadences that rolled over the top of each other, soothing and calming even in a world of eternal hellfire. Even with my eyes closed, I could tell he was rocking back and forth again, feeling some type of energy I couldn’t seem to find.
“Are your legs crossed? Good, good. Focus on your center. That is where the lightning originates from. The gut. It is what sparked your life, choosing you from the instant you were conceived.”
Breathing in deeply, I relaxed my fingers, spreading them across my knees. Somewhat unconsciously, I began to match the cyclops’s swaying pattern, trying to feel the energy he did.
“Lightning is wild,” he continued, the volume of his voice rising up and falling quickly, over and over again. “It lives off instinct. Releasing it will be as easy as stretching forth your hand and as hard as pushing yourself through a key hole. As you progress, you will find that you are able to release it at certain times and not at others. This will fade with time, but without the bolts to guide you and help draw the power out, you will indeed face times when the power fails you. It needs to recharge, to build up the force that propels it forward.”
“Is that why I wasn’t able to use the powers again after I attacked my father?”
He clicked his tongue in annoyance at being interrupted, but then sighed softly, as if letting go of his anger. “Yes. If what you’ve told me of that battle is correct, you expended all of the energy in the beginning. It was not immediately available to you again. Once it had recharged, though, you were unable to unlock it because you did not understand how it worked.”
“And how does it work, exactly?”
“Hush!” Scolding me, he hummed slightly, pausing in his instruction for a moment. “You lack patience, Would Be King. It would do you well to find that ability as well.”
“I told you already, I don’t have any plans to be king,” I grumbled, opening my eyes to glare at him.
He was staring at me as well, his one eye seeming to regard me with curiosity. Finally, he shrugged, closing his eye and taking a deep breath.
“Plans, no plans—it is all the same. Only time will tell where your path leads.”
“Unless I manage to piss off some witches who tell me my fate again.”
Grinning at his responding laugh, I closed my eyes, focusing on centering myself once more.
“I will admit, Olympian, you surprise me. I’d forgotten what it was to be friendly with your kind in the years since I was imprisoned again.”
“Don’t get warm and fuzzy with me just yet,” I warned, half joking. “If I can’t get this lightning to manifest, I’m not going to be very nice anymore.”
“I’ve squashed gods bigger than you.” His tone was confident and easy, which probably meant he was either telling the truth or a really good liar. “But that’s not a conversation for now. Now, you need to focus. Feel the earth beneath you and the air around you. Feel the vibrations, how they move outside you. Then, concentrate on the vibrations inside you. Feel the lightning, spinning and moving around, searching for a way out. When the moment feels right, stretch out your hand and let it flow through you.”
Breathing deeply, I immediately did as he said, focusing on the area around me. The hot sand beneath me did seem to buzz somehow now, like it had a life of its own. The air was hot and stagnant, but, if I tried just hard enough, it felt as if there were tiny waves popping against me. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my face, every inch of my skin hyper aware of the moisture as it slipped down my jaw and fell off onto my shirt.
Using the drop as a visual for my mind, I followed the drop through my shirt, onto my skin, and visualized it entering me, sucked into the vibrations inside me. It was as if I could see the ball of yellow in my stomach, just as Brontes had said. It spun furiously, jabbing out in every direction. Distinctly, it reminded me of an animal trapped in a cage, fighting to get out.
Hello, I thought toward the power. Follow me and I’ll show you the way out.
My hands were shaking from the effort of my concentration, as I imagined the lightning dancing its way to my shoulder, then down my arm, gathering in my fingertips. Raising my hand, I pictured the floodgates opening and the lightning rushing through.
But nothing happened.
Frustrated, I opened my eyes, glaring at my outstretched hand. “What am I doing wrong?” I demanded, turning to look at him. “I did everything you said!”
“You can not cont
rol the lightning,” he said softly, having the gall to appear somewhat disappointed. “You must work with it. It’s not something you control; you must gain its trust before it will do whatever you ask of it.”
“I don’t understand. When I used it before, it just . . . came. I didn’t have to ask for it or anything. It happened without any of this effort you’re talking about.”
“You acted out of instinct before. The lightning understands that. You spoke out to it in fear and it answered, coming to your aid. You didn’t have to think about it. Until you can learn patience and how to listen to your body, the powers will not manifest for you.”
“Why? Why is it being so difficult? I’ve seen Zeus use the power without his bolts and it does whatever he wishes.”
“You have trained yourself to be a fighter, Cristos. All of your instincts don’t include the powers that were gifted to you by the lightning. Your body is conditioned to use other methods of survival. Those methods cloud your abilities and keep you from being able to use them. You have to let go of how you think it should be done and let it happen naturally. Until you do that, you will never release that light pent up inside you.”
Huffing in aggravation, I stood up, ready to be done for the night. Hades continued to leave me out of my cell again, but I knew there would be a guard who would come by and usher me back inside. It had happened the night before, and the night before that, when I’d first met Brontes. If I was already in my cell by the time he arrived, we could avoid the awkwardness of him ordering me into my prison.
“Do you think I can do it?”
The cyclops peered at me, surprise in his expression. “Of course. But it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is if you think you can do it. Until you believe that, you will get nowhere.”
It all sounded like a bunch of hocus pocus to me, to be honest. But I had felt something when I was concentrating, I was sure of that. However weird his coaching style was, Brontes was helping me discover something, whether it was the powers inside me or some other unknown force.
Exoria (The God Chronicles #5) Page 6
