Abruptly it began to slow and she swayed on her feet, slightly unbalanced as she tried to regain her equilibrium. The first thing she noticed was that it was no longer dark. She glanced up into the sky which was ablaze with great swirls of purple and pink, as if she were witnessing a sunset. Heavy storm clouds drifted across the skies, punctuated every so often by a micro spike of lightning. The air felt heavy with expectation but also dry and charged with static electricity.
Her gaze dropped from the sky to where the three of them were standing. They were in some sort of passageway, only there was no roof and she could still glance up to the sky. They seemed trapped between two walls made up of large heavy sandstone blocks, which stretched up several meters in height. There were no doors or exits but the passageway stretched in either direction for miles. Frowning in confusion, she noticed a few meters from them heavy vines climbing the wall to the top. She wandered towards them, with Theo helping Sam along behind her.
‘Is this the Crossroad?’ Theo asked dubiously.
‘I don’t know’ she frowned, stopping in front of the thick toughened vines, ‘we need a better vantage point.’ She tugged the vines a couple of times experimentally, before starting to climb.
‘Stay here,’ Theo told Sam as he dropped him down to the dusty stone ground and propped him against the wall. ‘We’ll be right back.’
Sam nodded slowly, he still looked weak but some color was starting to return to his face and his breathing wasn’t quite so harsh and labored.
Theo climbed quietly up behind her. By the time he had reached the top she was already standing on the top edge of the wall. He pulled himself up beside her.
‘I thought you had a problem with heights?’
‘It isn’t that high,’ she looked down to where Sam sat tiredly, ‘besides, before you wanted me to jump the Void. That’s completely different.’
She turned back to the view in front of her, her gut churning in a mixture of awe and frustration. Laid out below them, stretching out endlessly, was a giant circular maze of sandy colored walls.
‘It’s a labyrinth,’ she breathed turning to Theo who was looking out in confusion. ‘I’m guessing a David Bowie reference would be equally lost on you.’
‘Who?’
She shook her head and sighed, ‘you know if we ever get home, we are going to snuggle in bed for a month and have a movie marathon.’
He took her hand comfortingly and squeezed, smiling down at her. ‘Sounds good to me.’
She turned back to the labyrinth laid out in front of them, her eyes narrowing as she studied something in the distance. ‘There…’ she pointed to the center of the labyrinth.
Theo squinted slightly as he looked in the direction she indicated.
‘What is that?’
‘It’s the Crossroad,’ she murmured, ‘that’s Epsilon.’
‘You mean we have to find our way through this giant puzzle to get to the Crossroad?’
‘Maybe…’
‘What is it?’
‘I don’t know,’ she mumbled absently her attention fixed somewhere on the twisting stone passageways.
The sky churned and lit above them with the oppressive heaviness of an approaching storm. She had a strange sort of feeling, a kind of prickling of the skin, not enough to make her feel cold but more like an awareness. Something pulled at her, tugging deep inside, something familiar. Everything in her yearned towards it filling her with helpless love and bone deep sorrow. The kind of deeply scored pain that only one person had ever made her feel. A lump began to form at the back of her throat, burning painfully as she tried to swallow past it. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her hands gripped tightly into fists, forgetting she was holding Theo’s hand as her nails dug into his skin.
‘Olivia?’ he called to her softly, ‘what is it?’
She blinked back the sudden sheen of tears blurring her vision.
‘I can feel her,’ she whispered, ‘she’s down there…in the Labyrinth.’
‘Who?’ he asked in confusion.
‘My mother…’
Chapter 24.
Isabel looked at the giant blocks of sandstone, her gaze absently drifting upwards to the top and to the sky which swirled and rumbled, crackling with energy. It was as if it knew they stood right at the precipice of an event, so huge it was going to shift the balance of everything. It hung poised, holding its breath, waiting for the right moment to unleash all of its fury.
Nathaniel watched Isabel carefully, a small smile curving his lips. It was almost too easy to manipulate the witch; he’d been doing it ever since she was sixteen years old. Ever since she’d been old enough to understand her own power and the legacy of her family. Of course she wasn’t as powerful as some of the West women that had come before her, but that lack had only made it easier to plant the ideas in her mind. It was pathetic really, she’d actually believed she held the upper hand, that he would allow her to get her hands on Infernum. His eyes narrowed as she stood, staring blankly, waiting for him. He’d feel sorry for her but she was a human and his lip curled in disgust. They were maggots, crawling across the face of their world, infesting and devouring everything in their path.
‘Nathaniel?’ Zachary appeared behind him, ‘they approach.’
Nathaniel turned away from the witch and focused on the two men as they stopped a few meters from them. Both tall and with a slim elegant build, they looked like they were more suited to Wall Street than a labyrinth in the deepest darkest pit of the Underworld. Although some might argue there wasn’t much difference between the two.
The taller of the two had dark hair just slightly too long, so that it brushed the arch of his dark winged eyebrows. He had startling eyes, so pale they looked like blue ice. He wore a dark grey suit with a black shirt open at the collar, revealing the line of his throat, his skin a pleasing golden color. His companion was dressed much the same in an expensive looking tailored dark color suit but his hair was lighter, more of a golden brown, as were his eyes.
‘Ash’ Nathaniel greeted him, his lip curling in barely concealed disgust.
Ash turned his pale blue eyes on the demon, his black hair gleaming in the dying light. His gaze swept over Nathaniel, noting his ragged and torn clothes, the tattered and rotten flesh hanging from his frame, until he reached the ruins of his face. Part of his jaw had been eaten away by the magic contained in the blade Theo had stabbed into his throat and the damage had now spread. The decay had crawled up the side of his face and eaten away, until he had no ear left on that side of his head. The hair was also gone, his scalp now covered in sparse tattered chunks. The damage had also spread downwards, eating away the skin of his neck and shoulder revealing nothing but gaping wounds and raw sinew.
‘Nathaniel’ Ash replied coolly, his lip curling slightly in revulsion.
A sudden growl had Ash looking across to Zachary who was glaring at the man at his side, his black eyes blazed and his lips peeled back in an angry animal-like snarl. Ash looked down to his associate, who in turn was glaring daggers at the younger demon, with barely concealed hatred.
‘Oh,’ Ash mused mildly, ‘I’d forgotten about that unpleasantness between you two.’
Zachary took a step towards them and Ash’s gaze hardened.
‘You might want to call off your dog,’ he warned coldly, ‘or the consequences will be severe.’
‘I could say the same to you,’ Nathaniel rasped in a strange grating voice, almost as if his vocal chords were rotting away.
Ash gave a cool smirk before addressing his associate. ‘Cyrus,’ he spoke smoothly, ‘that’s enough.’
Cyrus looked up to Ash and straightened, unfurling his clenched fists, but his eyes still blazed with contempt as he continued to watch Zachary warily.
‘Now, shall we conclude our business,’ Ash looked to Nathaniel. ‘I have upheld my end of our bargain, I gave you the locations of the five Crossroads. Is everything in plac
e for me?’
‘It is,’ Nathaniel replied grudgingly, ‘they are ready to move on your orders.’
‘Good,’ he inclined his head in acknowledgment.
‘There is just one more thing,’ Nathaniel answered.
Ash raised a perfectly winged brow questioningly, ‘there always is with you demons.’
‘I need to get to the center of the labyrinth.’
‘That was not part of the deal.’
‘I’m making it part of the deal, or the deal is off. Hades draws near, I can feel him. If he interferes now, neither of us get what we want.’
‘Not afraid of a God are you?’ Ash asked in amusement. ‘Very well,’ he shrugged after a moment, ‘but as it was not part of our original agreement you now owe me a debt.’
Nathaniel glared hatefully at him, through one empty socket and one filmy white eye.
‘Agreed,’ he grated from between clenched blackening teeth.
‘Nathaniel!’ Zachary hissed, not at all happy with the thought of a debt being owed to them.
‘Silence!’ he snapped as he turned back to Ash and nodded.
Ash slipped his hand into his pocket and when he withdrew it he was holding a strange glowing blue sphere.
‘Isabel,’ Nathaniel commanded, watching in satisfaction as she wandered over to him unquestioningly and stood beside him.
Ash held the bright stone up and unfurled his long elegant fingers so that it sat in the palm of his hand. It was round and smooth, about the size of an orange. It seemed to be constructed of some sort of transparent glass, allowing an unhindered view of the magnificence at its center, as it pulsed and throbbed like a beating heart. Deep inside the sphere was a deep blue churning primordial mass of energy, which lit with micro bursts of electricity.
‘Incredible’ Nathaniel murmured, his gaze hungrily fixed on the jewel.
‘Focus demon,’ Ash replied in amusement, ‘the sphere was not part of the agreement.’
He held up the round glowing object and as he turned it, a deep crack gouged into the surface of the glass could be seen. It seemed to be missing a small shard. Nathaniel didn’t have time to dwell on that little detail as the giant stone wall began to shimmer. It disappeared and in its place stood an archway, which led into an endless tunnel dimly lit by occasional torches.
‘This will lead you straight to the center of the labyrinth and to the eastern entrance of Epsilon,’ Ash told him.
Nathaniel nodded begrudgingly, as he entered the archway followed obediently by Isabel. Zachary cast one more disdainful look at Cyrus and followed the others.
Cyrus watched silently until they disappeared into the gloomy tunnel, before turning to his companion.
‘I hope you know what you are doing Ash,’ his voice was laced with disgust, ‘consorting with demons. You know their kind cannot be trusted.’
‘Of course I do,’ Ash smiled coolly, ‘why do you think I brought the Sphere. It was no easy task to smuggle it out without its absence being noted.’
‘You knew he would alter the details of your agreement?’
Ash shrugged, ‘now he owes me a debt, which could prove useful.’
‘I still think it’s a mistake, especially having anything to do with that carrion Zachary,’ he spat in disgust.
‘You need to let that go Cyrus’ Ash replied, his eyes narrowing. ‘Jerusalem was a long time ago.’
‘Not nearly long enough,’ he hissed.
‘And when this is all over you can do whatever you want to Zachary, but not until then. Do I make myself clear?’
Cyrus nodded grudgingly.
‘I still don’t understand why you had to give him the locations of all five Crossroads. He’s already destroyed four of them…you do know he’s going to start a war, and that the war will spill over onto Earth? Azariel will be furious.’
‘Azariel and Thomas are too busy trying to destroy each other to even notice what is happening on Earth and that’s exactly what I am counting on.’
‘We need to be careful’ Cyrus warned, ‘if Nathaniel gets his hands on Infernum…’
‘He won’t,’ Ash shrugged, ‘do you really think he has what it takes to go up against Hades? To go against the will of a God?’ he rolled his eyes. ‘Hades will exterminate him like the insect he is.’
‘But Infernum is no safer in the hands of a God than it is in the hands of a grasping, conniving demon.’
‘Hades has no interest in the book,’ Ash replied coolly, ‘and neither do I. What would I want with that poisonous filth? All I care about is Caelum.’
‘It’s a dangerous game Ash.’
He tucked the throbbing blue sphere back into his pocket and rolled his shoulders. ‘It was never a game,’ he smiled slowly. His pale blue eyes glittered as he straightened and his huge wings unfolded, stretching and spanning several feet in length. Smooth and incredibly soft to the touch, they were covered in jet black feathers.
‘I think it’s time the Angels once again walked the Earth,’ he smiled.
Olivia and Theo walked slowly, with Sam between them. Although he no longer needed their assistance and could move unaided now they were not running, it was still difficult for him to keep up with them and the strain was showing clearly on his face.
‘We should probably let you rest again’ Theo frowned, looking at Sam in concern.
‘No,’ he shook his head, ‘we don’t have the time. We’ll never make it to the center of the labyrinth if we keep stopping.’
‘Theo’s right Sam,’ she told him absently, ‘take a minute.’
‘What is it?’ Theo asked her, sensing the change in her mood.
‘I’m not sure’ she murmured, her attention someplace else entirely. She could feel a strange hum of power. Something had shifted inside the labyrinth, something was different. She couldn’t explain how or why she knew, it was as if she was somehow connected to it. For a moment the compass had burned hot against her skin, hot enough for it to sting. She lifted it from her collar and turned it over in her hands, flicking the lid open. It was now pulsing with a strange blue glow, like it had woken from a long slumber.
‘Show me the way to the center of the labyrinth,’ she whispered impulsively.
She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting but the wall in front of her suddenly shimmered and changed. When she looked up her mouth fell open in surprise. A huge archway had opened up in the sandstone before them.
‘How did you do that?’
‘I didn’t’ she replied, ‘the compass did.’
She looked down at the compass in her hand. It felt strange, alive somehow, throbbing in her hand like a heartbeat and pulsing with light.
‘Did it glow blue last time?’ Theo frowned.
‘No it didn’t’ she answered, slightly puzzled.
She studied the face of it which still looked the same. The dials and hands were all motionless, but somewhere underneath was where the strange pulsing light was coming from. She laid her fingertips lightly against the face of the compass and twisted. It turned and released a tiny secret mechanism, flipping open the whole face which held the dials and hands. Beneath it was a tiny secret compartment and set at its center was a very strange looking precious stone of some sort. It looked like a deep blue sapphire, but it seemed to hum as if it were somehow alive. It didn’t look like any jewel or precious stone she’d ever seen. It wasn’t cut or smoothed into a pleasing shape but rather was a jagged shard, as if it had split away from a larger piece.
‘Olivia?’
She looked up from her curious inspection of the shard and compass to see what he was staring at. The strange long corridor which had opened up, was now lit by torches and seemed to run deep into the labyrinth.
‘Looks like it leads directly to the Crossroad.’
‘Yeah,’ Olivia muttered thoughtfully. ‘I guess it’s time to call some back-up.’
‘Hades?’ Theo asked.
She nodded,
‘he’s going to be pissed if he doesn’t get first shot at Nathaniel. Besides if he can keep the demon busy, I’ll deal with my mother.’
‘And you’re okay with that?’ he asked softly.
‘I’ll have to be,’ she answered quietly, looking up at Theo. ‘I didn’t ask for any of this, but she has to be stopped. If it’s not me it’ll just be someone else.’
‘Then let it be someone else,’ he stroked her arm comfortably. ‘No matter how okay you think you are with this Olivia, she’s still your mother.’
‘I’m not okay with this,’ she shook her head in frustration, ‘I’m not okay at all, but she’s my responsibility.’
‘We’ll see,’ Theo murmured. ‘Go ahead, you may as well call Hades.’
She gave a small nod of agreement and closed her eyes, lifting her face to the sky and sending out the thought.
‘Hades,’ his name echoed in her mind loud and resounding, like a bell.
‘You don’t need to shout Olivia,’ the smooth voice came from behind her. ‘I can hear perfectly well.’
‘Hades,’ she greeted him dryly, noting that he still wore battle armor, which was even more dented and stained than the last time she’d seen him.
‘Olivia,’ he replied his tone just as acerbic, ‘I hear you have been stalking through the Underworld like a natural disaster.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she shrugged innocently.
‘Is it true you shouted at the judges?’
‘I didn’t shout.’
‘But you did treat them disrespectfully.’
‘Where I come from respect has to be earned.’
‘Not here it doesn’t. They are thousands of years older than you and when I left them Minos was a rather unhealthy shade of purple and Aeacus was almost having an apoplectic fit.’
‘I’m sure they’ll get over it.’
Hades mouth twitched slightly.
‘And what about Hecate?’
‘What about her?’
‘You threw her in her pool of contemplation.’
‘Is that what it was called?’
‘So you don’t deny it?’
‘It wasn’t so much throwing her in as dunking her a few times.’
Crossroads Page 33
