Grabbing the mane of the horse, I turned her in the direction I wanted to go, throwing my pistol at the head of the closest Titan since I’d ran out of bullets for it. My shotgun was still ready to go, though, so I grabbed it, pointing it at the form of Erebos in the smoke, and fired.
The buckshot hit home and I heard a shriek of anger as cold eyes landed on me. Behind the Titan, I could see Hades freeze up for a second at seeing me as well. Thankfully, his surprise didn’t last long, though, and he attacked Erebos from behind, trying to dislodge the helmet from his head.
I felt sick, knowing it was my fault this whole battle was happening, but seeing that helmet suddenly gave me a purpose in the whole thing. All I had to rely on was Hades keeping the Titan busy, which he was sure to do.
I rode closer to the two of them and a wave of terror washed over me, so strong that my horse reared up and threw me, bolting back the way we came.
Dazed, I stood up, looking around for my target again, so terrified that I felt sick.
“It’s the helmet,” I muttered to myself. “Causes . . . Fear.”
I held onto that thought as tightly as I could, urging my feet forward when I so badly wanted to turn and run. I could see the fear in the eyes of those around me as well, and suddenly it occurred to me why the good guys were losing. The helmet was making it hard for them to fight to their full ability, urging them to run and hide instead of stand their ground. The closer I got to Erebos, the worse it got. I didn’t even know how Hades was still fighting against him.
I inched forward, circling around the other fights going on around me, until I was right behind the pair I wanted. With shaking hands, I raised the shotgun once more and fired off two shots, one into Erebos’s back and one right at the helmet.
He cried out in pain, spinning around to face me with murder in his eyes.
I balked, feeling the bile rising up in my throat, but fired another shot all the same, hitting him in chest.
He advanced closer and I fell to my knees, almost blacking out from dread.
Another shot fired and hit its mark.
He came closer and closer, scythes raised high, and my head wouldn’t stop spinning from the force of his stolen power.
Another voice roared out next to me and Hades filled my vision, fire shooting out from him and burning Erebos.
“Run!” Hades yelled, turning to look at me, fear filled eyes pleading with me to listen without question.
That wasn’t all I saw, though.
Behind him, Erebos raised his scythes high, a wicked grin on his face, death in his every movement and look. Hades, who was still looking at me, had no idea what was about to happen.
With my last bit of strength, I grabbed the edges of the armor of the man I loved more than anything or anyone in existence, and I threw him to the side, putting myself in the place where he would have died.
The blades plunged into my chest and I felt my breath stop, blood fighting its way up my throat and out my mouth, dripping back onto my torn chest.
Chapter Twenty Two
I heard frantic yelling coming from somewhere as the blades pulled from me, saw fire snapping against them and pushing the Titan back a few steps. Lightning flashed down around me, pushing him back even further, and I saw Zeus out of the corner of my eye, his own face bloody and tired.
Erebos snarled at him and was suddenly gone, having used the other perk of the helmet to disappear from the fight. The wave of fear that washed over me again was so strong I choked on the blood already in my mouth, bile trying to push past it.
“Katrina?”
Hades scrambled into my vision, terror on his own face as he tried to stop the bleeding from the gaping hole in my chest.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said, his voice shaky. “Relax, I’ll take care of you.”
He looked around us at the fighting, true fear in his eyes, before looking back down at me.
“Hades, no!” Zeus commanded, pushing away another Titan as he tried to keep the area clear for us.
Hades wasn’t listening, though, gathering me up into his arms and looking around in desperation.
“You can’t leave,” Zeus yelled, still tied up with the Titan. “We’re losing as it is!”
Cradling me to his chest, I saw Hades look at his brother and a single tear slid down his face.
“I’m sorry,” he said simply.
He turned around and ran, dodging through the crowd, his brother’s enraged cries fading in the din behind us.
It felt like time slowed down as he ran, his hands crushing into me so tightly I was probably going to have bruises. All I could look at was his face, war worn and scared, the trail from his tear still showing in the dirt on his cheek. Even when we broke through the edge of the fighting, he didn’t stop running, carrying me into the trees that surrounded the area.
“Hang on, Katrina,” he kept saying, over and over again.
The tremble in his voice told me the truth, though. There was no way I was going to live through this, no matter how long I held on.
Finally, when we could no longer hear the carnage behind us and the forest looked peaceful and undisturbed, he stopped running, falling to the ground and holding me in his lap.
“Why would you do that, Katrina?” he asked sternly, the fear still in his eyes even though he was far from the helmet’s reach.
Out of all the things I could have said or done, I think my laughter surprised him the most. It was weak and sounded as painful as my whole body felt at the moment, but I laughed anyway, enjoying the happy sound in my last moments.
“What’s so funny,” he asked in confusion, his fingers tracing down the unburned side of my face.
“You said my name,” I coughed out. “You always called me Persephone before.”
“Well, I know now that your name is Katrina,” he laughed humorlessly, tears forming in his eyes. “Why shouldn’t I call you by your name?”
“I like it,” I said, coughing some, blood splattering out onto my chin. “Say it again?”
“Katrina,” he said softly, his lips trembling.
“I’m sorry,” I said weakly. “I shouldn’t have kept the truth from you. I was afraid of what you would do if you found out.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, clearing his throat and hugging me tighter. “It’s old news. No big deal.”
“Liar,” I laughed again. “I destroyed the planet.”
“No,” he laughed. “I’ll take care of it. I promise.”
“I did love you, you know,” I said, feeling like I needed to say it now or he would never know. “That wasn’t a lie.”
“I know,” he said, hanging his head and closing his eyes for a moment.
When he’d finally composed himself, he looked back into my eyes, a sad smile on his face.
“And you were right. I am in love with you. You were what was different, all of the things that made me head over heels. I only wish I wouldn’t have waited so long to tell you.”
“It won’t be so bad,” I said, coughing again as I stumbled through the words. “We’ll still be together. Maybe I can come work in the castle. That way I’ll remember everything and we will work out.”
“That’s not how it works,” he said, another tear escaping from his eye. “You’re not going to be able to come in to the Underworld.”
“Why not?” I asked in confusion, my vision started to go slightly foggy.
“You were murdered,” he said, his voice shaky. “And died too young.”
“A Lost One,” I said softly, taking a much longer than average blink.
“Yes,” he said softly, clutching me to him tighter.
“That’s okay,” I said weakly.
“No it’s not,” he argued. “I promise, I’ll find a way to change it. We’ll be together.”
“Okay,” I said, closing my eyes. “I feel so tired.”
“Rest,” he urged me, but I could feel the shaking in his hands. “I bet if you sleep it won’t hurt a
s bad. I’ll still be here when you wake up.”
It took me a few seconds to round up the strength to reply, my eyes opening slightly so I could look at his face one more time.
“I love you,” I said again.
“I love you, too,” he said, lifting me just enough to kiss my lips softly. “So much.”
I closed my eyes again, letting my body go limp as the last of my energy left. Everything felt so cold, so empty all the sudden. It was like cotton balls were shoved into my ears, muting everything around me as I slipped into the darkness. I could hear crying, but it seemed far away, like it was coming through a fuzzy radio channel in the other room. The sound was so heart breaking, like whoever was making it had lost the only thing they ever cared about. I wanted to open my eyes and find who it was, to comfort them and tell them it would all be okay, but my body wouldn’t respond to my orders.
Finally, I gave up and surrendered to the sleep that so desperately waited to claim me.
Epilogue
Hades
I couldn’t move. Her body had long gone cold in my arms and still I waited, hoping that she would wake up.
Maybe if I waited long enough I would wake up and discover it had been nothing more than a nightmare.
I didn’t know if the battle was over, I didn’t even care. It felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest and stabbed through just as Katrina’s had been. Nothing else mattered any more.
I knew as soon as I’d stupidly overreacted and struck her with fire, I’d made a mistake. She had come to steal from me, but in the end had tried to stop it, proving she wasn’t the villain I so desperately wanted her to be. My hurt heart had gotten the better of me and before I could stop her and apologize, she’d run from me.
I was the monster everyone thought me to be, truly now.
Following her, as I should have done, was suddenly not an option. As I’d hurried through the woods after her, the gates to Tartarus had been blown open, ripping apart the very seams of my realm and crumpling the order that had been here. The very guards I’d trusted to help keep something like this from happening revealed themselves as some of the masterminds, the leaks in the system who’d been helping my enemies escape right under my nose.
Those who remained loyal, joined me in a futile attempt to keep the chaos under the ground. With all of the things that had been locked in the prison coming forth at once, though, we were soon overrun. All I could do was keep fighting and hope that help was coming from my brothers.
They arrived too late. The mass of Olympians tried to lock down the maze and push the adversary back, but the massive amount of doors fought against them. Countless Titans vanished through the portals, escaping into the world. Finally, in desperation, I blew one whole gateway open and we pushed the remaining foes into the field.
Before Katrina had arrived, we were losing badly. I knew Erebos remained to fight only because he was enjoying seeing our great loss. Even if I’d stayed, the odds didn’t look good for my siblings and I.
Katrina’s sacrifice was going to go unnoticed and forgotten.
Eventually, I knew I would need to get up and take care of her. She deserved to be put to rest somewhere beautiful, somewhere she loved. There was only one place I could really think of that I thought would work.
I carried her body through the woods, to another entrance to the maze I knew of, away from the battle field. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up in that again and have her beautiful body marred even more. The burn on her face stung at me, a constant reminder of how cruel I’d been. If only I’d put aside my own anger and listened to her. I would have realized how sincere she was, just as I did when I first saw her on her horse, riding through the fight. It had been the bravest act I’d ever seen someone commit.
When we entered into the Underworld, it was apparent that things were not well. The doors were broken, allowing spirits to come and go as they wished. It was residual, from the unlocking of Tartarus. It’d taken powerful magic to destroy those doors, so powerful that they might not ever be fully fixed. I didn’t care anymore, though.
I carried her to our garden. That was the only way I could think of it now, after the time we had spent there together. The cabin had been destroyed in my first initial fight with Erebos, but the beauty remained everywhere else. I carried her around the whole space before deciding where to bury her.
I laid her on the ground next to me, digging her grave in the spot the cabin had stood, the place where we had truly been one and celebrated our love for each other. After I laid her body in the ground, I placed a coin from the rubble in the pocket of her shorts, for when I would finally figure out how to break the seal keeping her from staying permanently and she would pay the ferry to bring her back to me.
A desperate wish filled me as I looked down at her broken body. If only the magic that had broken the gates could have also broken the curse on the Lost Ones. She could come and go as she wished now, but she would never remember anything except the gruesome moments of her death.
Covering her with the dirt was the hardest. I knew she would be happy here, among the flowers and trees, but I didn’t want to leave her alone. She needed me to fight for her, though, to not forget about her. So I covered her beautiful form with dirt and made her a headstone from one of the biggest rocks I could find, carving out the inscription with fire.
The perfect finishing touch was found in the rubble from the cabin as well—the candles from our makeshift wedding, still burning brightly as I intended.
“I promise,” I said as I set them on the headstone.
Standing by the mound for a few moments, I looked around at my sanctuary, the last place in the Underworld to be marred by the sting of death. I knew I would never come back to this place, not until I had Katrina by my side.
“I’ll find a way.”
The Story Continues…
Please enjoy a teaser from Adrastia, the first book in the spin off series, coming soon!
My whole life, we have been at war.
It happened just before I was born, The Undoing. Maybe it was the foolishness of gods who’d held power too long that enabled the Titans to break from their prison in Tartarus. Maybe it was simply fate, too tired of seeing the scales continually tipped in the favor of the Olympians. Either way, the moment it happened, everything changed.
The Olympians did their best to act quickly, but to no avail. Those who should have come to our aid revealed themselves as villains, smashing through the gates and releasing the greatest enemies the world has ever known.
A battle ensued, with both sides refusing to give ground. Slowly, the Olympians fell under the burning hands of their predecessors. When Hades fled the scene, his dying lover in his arms, all was lost. The remaining Titans took it as a sign of fear and attacked with more vigor, driving back the forces of good and escaping into a universe that had long forgotten what they were capable of.
I was born soon after, into a panicked and changing world. The Olympians were still trying to track down any Titans they could, locking them back in Tartarus. The prison was on high alert, being watched by much more than the fallen God of the Dead now. Even with the extra precautions, it seemed that all but Olympus had fallen in the catastrophe.
Things started changing in the mortal realm, fear seeping into the minds of humans and turning them against each other, wars exploding into being across their lands. The Titans were using their stolen helmet to drive them to extinction, the magic of the helm spreading terror everywhere it went. It wasn’t hard for the Olympians to discover their plan. By destroying the very people the Olympians needed worship from to survive, they would overthrow our tiny hold on power and once again become the rulers they used to be.
From a very young age, I was trained to find the monsters and return them to their prison. It has been my life’s mission and calling, to honor my parents and restore the order that was lost from them. As I aged, I became more and more adept at my task, earning the honor and respect of
the Ancients I lived among.
To the Titans, I am Adrastia, the Inescapable. To the Olympians, I am Cristos, Avenger, and son of Zeus.
About The Author
Kamery didn’t grow up thinking that she would be an author. She loved to sing and act! She dreamed of the day that she would perform on Broadway. She also loved books and had an active imagination. She could come up with a story in no time and tell it to her friends. Over time, she realized that she could follow both dreams.
Now Kamery writes when she can, weaving tales in every direction imaginable. When she’s not working on her latest manuscript, she is at home with her kids, taking pictures, and enjoying life to the fullest.
Currently, Kamery lives in the White Mountains of Arizona with her handsome husband and beautiful daughter, as well as expecting a son that will be born any day. They are her whole world!
It’s fun for Kamery to be so close to family and friends. If it weren’t for them, none of her stories would have ever made it on to paper.
Where To Find Me:
Website: http://kamerysolomonbooks.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KamerySolomon
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KamerySolomon
Hades (The God Chronicles #3) Page 17
