The Unfortunate Souls Collection

by Stacey Rourke

  “What price?” Fear of the answer made the words burn from my throat.

  To my surprise, the demi-god’s features softened. “Dear boy, didn’t you know? Vanessa endured the Kiss of the Kraken.”

  Five words, and I understood Hades’ curse to be unable to breathe on dry land.

  The Kiss of the Kraken. The ultimate punishment among my people. So feared was it, that few dared to speak of it. Beaching went for death. The Kraken’s kiss was spawned in the deepest pits of pain and suffering.

  “Is she—” I couldn’t bring myself to utter the word. As if enunciating its syllables could bring about the unthinkable.

  “Dead?” Hades prompted. Clapping his hands before him, he rubbed his palms together until azure sparks flickered from his fingertips. “Oh, no. She tried to die. I simply couldn’t allow that. I denied her passage, and forced our girl to … endure. I’m afraid she will never again be the maid you once knew.”

  Legs failing me, I sank to a squat, my head cradled in my hands.

  “Amphrite was the cause of that pain being inflicted on my child. Meanwhile, I—once again—was powerless to protect one I hold dear.” Seemingly oblivious to my mental implosion, Hades paced a trench into the earth before us. “And I did care for her! If I had it to do all over again, I never would have left. I would have stayed, for Vanessa. Even if I couldn’t announce myself as her father, I could have been there for her. So, she had someone.”

  Chin jutting out, Sterling bristled on my behalf. “She did have someone. She had him.” His thumb jabbed in my direction. “Yet, you tore them apart just the same.”

  Hades’ hand shot out in Sterling’s direction, palpable ire crackling down his steaming forearm. Nostrils flaring, he forced the threatening limb to his side. “There was nothing he could have done short of watching the woman he loves be torn to ribbons. I spared him!”

  Their words were a distant echo down a long hall—my mind locked in the prison of this newfound knowledge. Every thought was consumed with the anguish she must have endured as the venom coursed through her veins, attacking her body with its fatal poison.

  “Now, this same villainous enchantress has taken Queen Evelyn’s identity in her search for a way back to her own child. This ...” flames licked up Hades’ cheeks; with a roll of his neck, he was able to subdue them, “I can’t allow. I—”

  Snapped from the moment, his shoulders sagged.

  “Are you listening? Is he listening? I’m not really feeling heard, here. And, if there’s one thing I can’t tolerate—”

  Glaring up at him from under my brow, I pulled myself up to full height. “Amphrite is Queen Evelyn, and seeks the mirror. Why wouldn’t you want me to keep it far from her grasp?”

  “Because, dear boy,” Hades purred with a devilish grin. “Far more fun can be had if you give it to her straight away.”

  “What in this is fun?” There was something Hades was leaving out of this. One remaining cog in the wheel that would glide us to his true intent. “Why would we help her, when we could give it to her husband so that he may vanquish the fiend who destroyed his family?”

  “Aw,” Hades pursed his lips like I had just graced him with the most adorable display he had ever witnessed, “you still think you’re the heroes here. No, no, lad. You’re glorified errand boys. You will give the mirror to Amphrite so that she may use it to get where I need her.”

  “And where is that?” I pressed.

  Snapping a twig off a branch, Hades rolled it between his fingers. “Your time on Marooner’s Rock surely must have showed you that powers, of any kind, work differently in various realms. I have found one in particular where I am my most rancorous self.” Sparks sizzled from his fingers, igniting the stick in an indigo blaze. “Twice the size of the land’s twisted, towering trees, the beat of my spike-covered wings against the air drives the bravest of folks to their knees. Skin covered in emerald scales, a row of spikes trails down my spine.”

  A gasp seeping from his parted lips, Sterling stumbled back, eyes wide with fear. “The … Jabberwock.”

  Crushing the flames he created in his fist, Hades swung toward Sterling with a toothy grin. “You’ve heard of me. How fabulous.”

  “Can’t go back! Don’t make me go back!” Sterling pleaded, gaze lobbing in every conceivable direction in search of escape from ghosts of the past closing in. “Don’t know where I’m going. Can’t be lost. Not really here. Not really there. Beware the paint, or it’s off with your head!”

  “The mere mention of my name broke your friend,” Hades snorted, gleefully biting his lower lip. “This is a strangely proud moment for me.”

  With a purposeful sidestep, I positioned myself between Sterling and the demi-god. “Give me one good reason we should involve ourselves in this matter at all, when it would be far easier to stand aside and let you rip Amphrite apart?”

  The humor vanished from Hades’ face, leaving behind a conniving chill. “Besides the fact that you swore fealty to me? I can think of three that answer to but one name.”

  “A reflection sometimes exposes more reality than the object it echoes,” Sterling whimpered behind me.

  Holding out one hand to calm him, I showed Hades no quarter. “I’ve seen your three-headed strumpet, and find myself far from intimidated.”

  “That’s because you haven’t seen what a bitch they can be.” Sticking two fingers in his mouth, Hades blasted a loud whistle that resonated all around.

  The forest itself seemed to answer his call. Branches snapped. Spooked birds took to flight. The ground quaked beneath our feet.

  Arms locked out to his sides, Sterling blanched. “J-Jabberwock?”

  Instead of clarifying, Hades taunted him with a wink.

  Pushed to the limits of dread, Sterling’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted dead away.

  He was spared the jarring sight of Cerberus crashing through the tree line. Her feminine physique had been replaced by a lupine one that towered over us. Black coat gleaming, the three-headed wolf growled and snapped in ominous warning.

  Striding to the side of his pet, Hades lovingly scratched her shoulder. “See what I did there? With the bitch comment? It was a fun play on words! Seriously, though, she’ll tear your friend limb from limb if you don’t deliver the mirror. Don’t believe me? Come give her a scratch. You’ll get a flash of what she’ll do to him, and she’ll get some lovies. It’s a win all around.”

  Cerberus lowering her heads was the only kindness she would show as her snouts curled into menacing snarls.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I spat at his rather effective intimidation tactic.

  “Thank you, my sweet.” Patting Cerberus on the side, Hades jerked his head in the direction from which she had come. “You’re free to go, while Alastor and I finish our chat.”

  A reluctant snort, and Cerberus turned in a wide circle to make her retreat.

  “So, you see,” Hades made a grand display of throwing his arms out wide, “you can believe me, or don’t. Check with the mirror, or don’t. It really makes no difference to me, either way. My only stipulation is that, when the time comes, you give the mirror to Amphrite. Elsewise, newly acquired scars will pale in comparison to the torture inflicted on your colorful little friend.”

  A roll of blue flame, and the Lord of the Underworld … vanished.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “He was known as one of the most admirable and kind royals Atlantica had ever been blessed with,” I muttered into the silence left in Hades’ wake. Turning to Sterling, I blinked hard in my search for understanding. “Now, look at what he’s become. A monster willing to kill and manipulate to claim his vengeance.”

  “In the name of those he cared for.” After coming to in a heap, Sterling found an aloe leaf moist with dew to treat his wounds. Snapping it in half, he gently pressed it to the puffed blue lines marring his face, wincing at the first touch. “Many have done far worse for love. Not that it justifies cruelty.”

 
; “You okay?” I asked, jerking my chin at the wounds he gingerly tended to.

  “I will be. I wager it looks worse than it feels.” A slathering of nature’s healing applied, he cast the broken leaf aside.

  The vivid stripes had faded to faint shadows. Even so, that didn’t change the fact that Hades disfigured Sterling without so much as a touch. We stood no chance against that caliber of power. We were trapped, utterly at the mercy of the demi-god. Still, I had made a promise to young Phin. A stipulation required to honor the lad’s sacrifice. Stare drifting to the beckoning gold frame cradled in the grass, my feet floated me closer to it under their own accord.

  “I … have to know the truth. If there is yet a way to save Queen Evelyn, we owe it to Phin and the royal family to discover it.” Crouching down beside the mirror, I traced my fingers over the peaks and valleys of its elaborate frame. Careful not to shift my gaze to its surface quite yet. “I don’t know what awaits within the looking glass—”

  Pressing his damaged lips into a thin line, Sterling nodded his saddened understanding. “You need your peace to focus. My presence is a bit … off-putting. I’ll go, and leave you to it.”

  “No!” I yelped before he could shuffle even one step away. “Please, last time it was so real. So enveloping. I fear if the reflection draws me in too deep, I’ll never find my way out again. Will you act as my tether?”

  Eyes narrowed with suspicion, he considered my plea. “How would I do that?”

  Palm raised, I showed him the stone. “Hold tight to this, pressing it into my skin to remind me of what’s real. If it looks like I’m in distress, grind it to the bone if you have to.”

  “Such a task would require a high level of … trust,” Sterling pointed out, pushing a pebble with the toe of his boot.

  Knees settling into the dirt, I spoke the truth he needed to hear. “Yes, Sterling, I trust you. And, I need your help. I can’t do this without you. That said, I need your word you won’t get distracted by butterflies, shiny objects, or your own mind. Can you swear that to me? That you’re able to maintain focus?”

  Narrow chest swelled with purpose, he marched to my side. Plopping down cross-legged beside me, his back stayed straight with rock-solid resolve. “No distractions,” he vowed.

  Gripping the top of the mirror, I tipped it toward me and found my mouth suddenly parched with fear. “Then I suppose there’s no need for further delay.”

  Laying his hand over mine, Sterling squeezed the stone into my palm for a quick pulse. “Trust me with this charge, and know I will not fail you. It’s been too long since anyone believed in me for me to take such a thing lightly.”

  With the gleam of the mirror’s face staring back at me, my skin crawled. “My friend, my hesitation has nothing whatsoever to do with you.”

  “Oh,” Sterling’s grip eased a bit. “In that case, take your time.”

  I swallowed hard, trying to pry my gaze up to the reflection, and made it as far as the frame. Lingering in the swirls and gold-etched foliage, I accepted the moment for the brief reprieve it was. The calm before the storm. The pallet cleanser before the main course. The clink of the locking shackles before the lashings began …

  Realizing I was purposely stalling, and making matters worse, I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste the coppery rush of blood, and forced myself to face the center of the glass.

  I locked stares with my reflection, and felt a tug from within. A pull on the line, reeling me closer. Before I could blink, an energy seized hold and dragged me under. Sterling’s screams fading behind me, I fell victim to the mirror’s unyielding demand.

  Thrust into the howling abyss within the looking glass, the unrelenting hold of my faithful tether was all that prevented me from being swallowed whole. A sea of truth raged all around, slamming me from all sides with more than I ever wanted to know.

  A baby born.

  A tapestry torn.

  A curse invoked.

  A prince croaked.

  An apple bit.

  A perfect fit.

  A magic kiss.

  Ever after bliss.

  A heart stolen.

  Heads a rollin’.

  A spinning wheel.

  A yearning to be real.

  So many stories, ebbing and flowing in the ceaseless current of life. I felt every torturous horror inflicted on Vanessa. Watched Sterling’s spiral into madness. Heard the crunch of Evelyn’s bones as the life was squeezed from her. Learned the deadly secrets of those anointed as gods, and what they would do to anyone that discovered them. Knew how everything would play out until the end of days, and the significance each thread of life held in the intricate tapestry of fate. All of these answers—to questions I never wished to ask—were splayed out before me.

  Anguished wail swelling in my chest, I screamed my throat raw into the void. Nothing touched me. Nothing had to. Millions of shallow cuts of truth sliced away who I was, and all that I believed. That pain scarred far deeper than any flaying of flesh.

  Breakers of knowledge pounded the fight out of me. Falling slack, my fingers slipped from Sterling’s hand. I resigned myself to let go, if only to make the hurt stop.

  The lad on the other side of the glass, however, was not prepared or willing to lose me without a fight. Jerking my arm with a force that threatened to dislocate my shoulder, Sterling wrenched me from the mirror with a deafening roar.

  It would be a vast understatement to say I came out of the mirror a different man than the one that went in. Jaded by how the play would unfold before the first line was uttered.

  Falling to my hands and knees, I struggled to catch my breath. Damp hair clung to my skin, sweat streaking down my back. “Thank you,” I panted.

  “No thanks are required. I’m simply glad I had the strength to pull you out. What did you see?” Sterling asked, his tone cautiously apprehensive.

  A maniacal laugh bubbled up my throat at the mere thought of where I would begin. The harsh mallet of reality pounded down a choked sob before it could seep from my lips. Searching the lifetimes of information that ravaged me, I fought for the memory of what it was I had been looking for. I fell forward, my forehead in the dirt, and let my head loll in Sterling’s direction.

  “The queen?” he helpfully offered. “Can she be saved?”

  Pushing off the ground, I dragged my palms over my grime-covered face. “Old magics were used to snuff the life from the fair queen. Had they not, the sickness blackening Evelyn’s innards would have claimed her by week’s end. There was nothing we could have done, from the moment we entered that kingdom, to save her. Now, another wears the face of Caselotti’s queen.” The clip of my words reflected no emotion, only harsh fact.

  Slumping back with his rump on his heels, Sterling hung his head. “So, that’s it then. Our only option is to give the mirror to Amphrite as Hades commands.”

  “It’s far from the only one,” I rasped.

  Rolling on to my hip, I tucked one leg under me and let my forearm dangle over my shin. While my mind ticked through every possible route we could take and where it would land us, I noticed the sorrow behind Sterling’s eyes. I had borne witness to it many times before, but only now understood the twisted roots beneath it.

  “You will see Alice again,” I promised. Watching his face brighten, the knowledge of the circumstances of said encounter gutted me. He couldn’t know the truth. The cost was too high. Instead, I battled to keep my expression a placid neutral. “Just as I will be reunited with Vanessa. We will find them, Sterling, I promise you that. Shortly after handing over the mirror.”

  Chin quivering, Sterling’s jade eyes swam with tears. “I can make no such guarantee, sir. The shift of time and space between jumps makes it nearly impossible to—”

  I reached over and clamped his hand with mine, the bite of my infliction a nonissue. No new vision could hurt me, I had seen them all. Catching his stare, I held firm. “What hindered you in the past soon will not be a concern. Of that, you hav
e my word, as long as you trust me. Can you do that?”

  Blinking back the grips of emotion, Sterling bobbed his head in resolute confirmation. “It’s been years since I’ve said this of another soul. But, yes, I put my faith in you, my friend.”

  Inhaling a lungful of purpose, I pushed from the ground and fixed my gaze on the castle looming in the distance. “You will jump us to the private quarters of King Liam. I will handle the rest.”

  “You know of my concerns jumping!” Sterling bolted to his feet, panic bulging the tendons of his neck. “I can’t control it. It’s not in jest when I warn of us ending up with two asses!”

  Armed with the knowledge of the exact outcome, I found myself paralyzed to do more than blink in his direction. “That was before you were gifted the essence of the Menehune. It won’t be long before you find yourself able to harness your affliction like never before and steer it where you see fit. I simply ask, before you surf off after your heart’s desire, that you help me finish what we started in this realm.”

  “Then, you’ll help me find Alice?” he asked, chewing on his lower lip.

  “Then, you won’t need my help in the least to find her,” I corrected. Balling my fist, I swung back and connected with a corner of the mirror. A lone shard, barely bigger than an oak leaf, popped free from the frame. Scooping it from the ground, I offered it to him. “Consider this my vow. Keep it with you as a reminder of what you did for me, and all I owe you in return.”

  “You owe me nothing. We will finish this, together.” Accepting the shard with one hand, the other clamped onto my wrist. As the dizzying blur of distorted motion began, I grabbed hold of the frame of the mirror to ensure it made the journey with us. We steadied in the parlor of the king’s private quarters. The beginning of the end … aglow in a beautiful blaze.