"Something's wrong," I said. "I feel ... sick. I ... don't want to go inside."
"Witchcraft," Ares growled.
Steeling myself, I tried to walk into the store again. The same wave of nausea slammed into me. My instincts screamed at me to turn back. The longer I resisted, the worse it got. It was unbearable.
It was just a spell. Magick. Mind tricks. It wasn't real. I knew that.
But it felt real. And horrible. Like dying.
Memories started to flood my mind. I'd felt like this before. When I'd died in the Dreamlands. It was terror and agony unlike anything I'd ever felt before.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't. I had to go back. I'd find another way. There had to be another way.
Then, it stopped.
I was inside.
But I was alone. Everyone else was still outside. Trembling. Staring.
I didn't tell them I'd almost failed too. They needed someone to believe in. And that someone was me. I had to be invincible.
"I'll talk to the witches alone," I told them. "Keep an eye out for Ekhidna and her monsters. Or, you know, a fourth Hero if one happens to stroll by. And for Heavens' sake, practise your powers."
And with that, I shut the door.
I looked around. I'd worked with witches before. I'd seen how powerful magick could be. Witches could accomplish wonders. They had a dizzying assortment of hexes and curses. They were limited only by their creativity, and witches could be very creative, especially when they were pissed off. Any of those spells could be lurking around this shop, just waiting for me to stumble into the wrong place. I had to be careful. Very careful.
I extended my divine senses. With any luck, I'd feel the latent power of any spells before I set them off.
But it was hard to zero in on anything in this store. Now that I was inside, I could sense that it was full of magick. It radiated from everything, from all directions. From the long, low glass cabinets filled with strange objects. From tables littered with necklaces, knives, rings, and crystals. All radiating energy. Even the walls were covered with bookshelves, mirrors, and tapestries that sent wave after wave of power into the room.
It was like being in the middle of a thunderstorm. Not on the ground, but in the sky. Invisible lightning streaked all around me.
There had to be a safe path.
And then I felt it. Power. Not the lightning. This was different. Steady. Coming from a tapestry between two of the bookshelves.
Not the tapestry. Behind it.
I took a deep breath and walked toward it, careful not to disturb any of the cabinets or tables. As I got closer, I heard the muffled sound of voices.
Witches.
I pulled aside the tapestry. It concealed a room as big as the storefront, empty except for a circle of witches kneeling on the ground. In the centre stood a single witch. Tall. Regal. Proud.
At first, none of them noticed me. I realized it wasn't talking I'd heard, but chanting. I could feel the growing power. They were reaching out, calling to the cosmos, casting a spell.
The woman in the centre of the circle opened her eyes. She looked directly at me, no surprise on her face.
I shivered. I hadn't come to fight. I'd come to save their world. Hopefully, somehow, they would sense that.
"I know you, Hera, Queen of Gods," the woman in the centre of the circle said.
"Well, that should speed things up then," I replied.
None of the other witches opened their eyes. They kept chanting. The world around me was growing hazy. Soon it was a spinning blur. I couldn't fight their magick. I just had to ride it out. I had to trust them.
"My name is Sabine. I'm High Priestess of this coven," she said. "Why have you come to us?"
"I need to find someone," I answered. "Someone with the seed of divine power inside them. I need them to help me fight an enemy who seeks to destroy your world."
"He returns," Sabine murmured.
"What did you just say?" I gasped. "How could you..."
"Look around," she replied. "You will find the answers you seek."
Sabine gestured. The spinning stopped.
We weren't in the back room of the shop anymore. We were in a forest. The air was filled with the fresh, clean scent of pine. In the middle of the grove where we stood was a crude, stone well, exposed to the starlit sky.
Sabine walked to the well, gesturing for me to follow. Wordlessly, she pointed.
Leaning on the cold, rough stone, I looked into the well. Its black waters were perfectly still. Before I realized what I was doing, my hand was caressing the icy water of the well.
"Where is the Hero we need?" I murmured, though I wasn't sure why I said anything at all.
Images flickered on the surface of the water. I saw a girl walking down a street, arms wrapped around herself. The wind whipped up her hair. I caught a glimpse of her face. It was all I needed. I'd recognize her again.
The waters rippled, and my head began to swim. I started to fall. Sabine caught me.
"The visions are draining," she warned. "Most cannot hold them long enough to learn anything at all."
"I've seen our final Hero," I said. "But I have other questions. 'He returns?' What does that mean?"
Sabine said nothing. She just pointed to the well.
I reached down.
But all I saw blackness. Then something moved in the darkness. It began to spin. A brilliant red-orange glow lit the surface of the water.
It wasn't darkness I was staring at. It was a head, massive and black, wreathed by a wiry, matted mane. The vision pulled away to reveal a creature with the body and head of a man but two massive vipers instead of legs and two enormous bat-like wings. Instead of hands, it had masses of writhing snakes. Its eyes opened, flashing with green fire, and it roared, revealing a mouth of fangs. The terrible power of that yell chilled me to my very core. I hadn't heard that roar in millennia.
I smashed the surface of the water with my fist, and the vision rippled and disappeared. I dropped to the ground.
"What was that?" Sabine hissed, recoiling from the well.
"It's forbidden to even speak its name," I murmured. "A memory we all wanted to forget."
"A memory of what?" Sabine asked.
"Typhon," I whispered. "The Lord of Chaos."
Sabine said nothing. She just stared.
"So that's what Ekhidna's up to," I continued. "We knew it was something big. We just never realized how big."
"I don't understand," Sabine said.
"Typhon was banished," I explained, "during our last great war with the forces of Chaos, long before the mortal world was created. It was a battle we almost didn't win. We couldn't destroy Typhon - he was just too strong - but we managed to lock him away in a world of nothingness. An empty void where he couldn't destroy anything anymore and he couldn't escape. He's been there ever since."
"She wants to bring him back," Sabine guessed.
"And if she does, there will be another great war," I said. "An open battle between all the forces of Chaos and the armies of Order. The destruction would be ... unimaginable. The mortal world might not even survive it. And if Chaos wins..."
I didn't finish.
"What?" Sabine pressed.
"Hell on earth," I replied. "Every nightmare you could imagine would become real." I shuddered. "These ... things, monsters, they feed on pain. Fear. Hate. Grief."
"Ask the well," she urged. "Ask it how to stop them."
I took a deep breath. I pulled myself up. But I was too weak to stand on my own. I had to lean on the well.
"How can we stop Ekhidna from freeing Typhon?" I demanded.
The moment my finger brushed the water, I felt the life draining out of me. I didn't know how much longer I could hold on. Every second was pain.
But the images came. Flames. Ice. Sand. Clouds. They dissolved in a blinding flash. Then there was nothing.
Disoriented and weakened beyond words, I tipped into the well. My face plunged into the icy cold
water. The life poured out of me. The light faded. My world grew dim.
Sabine hauled me back. I fell to the ground with an enormous gasp. A moment longer, and the spark of life inside me would have winked out.
Sabine knelt beside me, as I lay there without the strength to even lift my head.
"I'm bringing us back," she told me.
And as she spoke, the world began to fade.
"I have what I need," I replied.
And then I passed out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Justin's face was looking down at me.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," he said.
I gave him a death glare.
"Not in the mood for joking. Got it," he said. He helped me to my feet.
He was even more translucent than before. Even the colour was draining out of him now. He was becoming a faint, faded shadow. How many dreams before he vanished completely? Two? Three?
"You okay?" he asked.
I wanted to ask him the same thing. But I already knew the answer. He wasn't okay. He was dead. And now this small pathetic piece I'd managed to cling to was dying too.
But I wasn't going to waste these last few precious dreams we had together. I forced myself to breathe, to smile back, to pretend that I didn't know what was happening.
"I thought Sabine was bringing me back to the mortal world," I said.
"I guess you wanted to make a pit-stop," Justin answered. "Can't say I'm complaining. But you wouldn't be here if you didn't want to be. Hell, I wouldn't be here if you didn't want me to be. It's your dream."
I didn't say anything. I was tired. The well had almost sucked me dry. But it was more than that. Seeing Justin exhausted me now. It drained the happiness out of me. It reminded me painfully of how happy we'd been, how happy we could have been.
"It's bad," I finally said.
"What Ekhidna's up to?" he guessed. "Worse than eradicating all of existence? Because I kind of thought Hephaestus took the cake, as far as evil plots go."
"Let's call it a tie," I replied. "He was going to destroy it all. Ekhidna's just going to ruin it all. She's going to make life ... There's no word for how agonizing it would be."
"Can she really do that?" Justin asked.
"Not alone," I admitted, "which is why she's trying to get Typhon back."
"Typhon?" Justin echoed.
"The Chaos version of Zeus," I explained. "He's imprisoned in a void dimension. If she gets him out..."
"But you fought him before, right?" Justin reasoned. "You obviously won. So, push comes to shove, you could do it again."
"Things are different now," I said. "We barely managed to beat him the first time. And we were united then. Now, Hephaestus is gone; Hades has gone completely rogue and cut his realm off from the Heavens; I have no idea how many of the others would even listen to me if I tried to call them to war."
I sighed. "She's picked the perfect time to make her move. I'll give her that."
"She just caught you off-guard," Justin said. "But don't underestimate yourself. You can't just give up."
"I'm not," I replied. I paused. "But I couldn't save Athena. Or you. Or Teresa."
"But you did save the world," Justin argued. "Casualties happen. People die. It's not your fault. And you can still stop Ekhidna before she frees Typhon. I know you can."
"Not if I don't know what her plan is," I reminded him. "All I have are four images from a vision: flames; ice; sand; and clouds."
"The four Elements," Justin guessed. "Fire, water, earth, and air."
"That's what I figure," I agreed. "But what do they mean?"
"Okay, don't the four Elements usually mean magick?" Justin said. "Gods can't do spells, but monsters like Ekhidna can. She must be working on some kind of spell."
"Yes, but a spell to access the Void?" I replied. "I had no idea such a thing even existed! We're talking about tearing a hole into a dimension of pure nothingness. The Void is unreachable. That's why Typhon hasn't escaped."
"Okay, but if it's unreachable, how'd you send him there?" Justin asked.
I didn't say anything.
"Well?" Justin pressed.
I sighed. "It was sort of ... an accident."
"What?" Justin replied.
"I don't know how it happened exactly," I said. "It was war, a war that almost shredded entire worlds. Nothing was going according to plan. Things just ... happened."
"But something specific must have happened," Justin argued. "Walk me through what you remember."
I bit my lip. "Zeus and Typhon were fighting. Ekhidna and I were fighting. Not in mortal form. In our true forms. Pure energy against pure energy. It was blinding. Typhon was gaining the upper hand. And so ... I ... I called for help."
"Help? From who? Who could help you?" Justin asked.
"I didn't care," I said. "Anyone. Everyone."
"So, did anybody help you?" he asked.
I searched my memories. So many millennia. All contained in this tiny mortal brain. It was like sifting through a beach, trying to find a specific grain of sand. It was all so long ago, and there were so many memories I'd rather have left forgotten.
"The Elements!" I remembered. "None of us had thought they'd take a side. They're not part of Order or Chaos. They're neutral. They just exist. But when I called, they answered! They chose a side!"
"So you're saying the Elements are ... alive?" Justin asked.
"Everything's alive," I replied, "in a way."
Justin shook his head. "Wow. You're losing me."
"Each of the four Elements represents a kind of energy present in each and every thing," I explained. "So the Elements are connected - they're present in everything - but they're also opposed. They each push against each other. A sort of ... balance is kept as long as Order reigns. There's stability: no one Element overwhelms the others."
"Okay, so the Elements helped you defeat Typhon," Justin said. "They opened up the door to the ... void place?"
"Yes!" I replied. "That has to be it! The Elements have tremendous power. It's their energy that sustains all life."
"The energy of the Elements combined creates life," Justin mused. "So together, it can also ..."
"Do the opposite," I finished. "Make ... nothing. A void. Which means Ekhidna has to get the energy of all the Elements. Justin, I have to warn them she's coming."
"Warn the Elements?" Justin said.
"They have incarnations," I said absently. "In their own worlds, they're not just energy. They're physical. Like you or me right now."
"Sounds like you have a plan," Justin said, smiling.
"I have a plan," I agreed, smiling back.
"What would you do without me?" Justin teased.
My smile disappeared. From joy to heartbreak in a second. He had so much power over me. Too much.
I waited until I could speak without my voice breaking. "I'm still trying to figure that part out."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I woke up to Demeter looking down in concern and Ares growling at the witches huddled together on the other side of the room.
"You saw Justin again, didn't you?" Demeter whispered to me as she helped me up.
I nodded. I hated that she could read my expression and know exactly what it meant. But at least Ares didn't seem to notice. I wasn't quite sure what his reaction would be if he found out about Justin, or more specifically, about how I felt for Justin. But it wasn't going to be pretty. Ares used mortals for two things, and two things only, and one of those was killing.
"I know what Ekhidna's planning," I announced. "She's going after the Elements to free Typhon."
Silence.
"And you know that how?" Ares demanded.
His temper was especially short. Could he have been worried about me?
"It doesn't matter," I replied. "We need to talk to the Elements. Face-to-face. Which means we need to get to the Elemental Realms. "
"Translation for the mortals in the room?" Darren asked.
&
nbsp; He and the other Heroes stood against the wall. The witches must have found them, along with Ares and Demeter, and brought them all inside.
"The four magickal Elements: earth; air; fire; and water," I explained. "They're the building blocks of reality. Not just in the mortal world, but in every dimension."
"And we're going to what? Collect them before Ekhidna gets them?" Carson asked.
"Not exactly," I answered. "We're going to talk to them. Warn them she's coming."
"Talk to building blocks?" Jason replied.
"Everything is alive in its own way," I explained. "And in their own worlds, the Elemental Realms, the Elements are fully alive. Aware. Like you or me. Each one has a symbol, something that contains their very essence. If Ekhidna gets her hands on it, she'll have the power of that Element."
"And that would be bad," Darren concluded.
"Very bad," I agreed.
"So, let's just take her out," Ares suggested. "Grab the last Hero and finish her off. Done. Don't even have to worry about the Elements."
"We don't have any way to locate her," Demeter argued.
"What about the witches?" Ares countered.
"If Ekhidna's smart enough to hide Heroes from me with her magick, you can bet she's already hiding herself," I reminded him.
"It's still worth a shot," Ares insisted.
"It's too risky," I said.
"Besides, the last time…" Demeter started.
I cut her off with a look, but it was too late.
"The last time ... what?" Carson asked.
"The last time we used witches against Ekhidna, they all died," I replied quietly.
"They died saving their world," Ares argued. "Noble deaths. It was worth it then, and it's worth it now."
"Not when we have other options," I said.
"I…" Ares started.
But I didn't give him a chance to finish. "Unless things have changed and no one bothered to tell me, I'm still your queen, and you will do what I say."
Ares glared at me sullenly. The silence between us was gasoline. In a second, it could ignite and explode.
But I had danced this dance before with Zeus. I wasn't afraid of confrontation, not even with big, scary men. Especially not with big, scary men. Big, scary men were my specialty.
Hera, Queen of Mortals (Goddess Unbound) Page 14
