A flickering line, like a bolt of purple lightning, rippled into existence on the far side of the room. It looked like someone was ripping apart light itself. A tear in reality. A vortex to the Void.
I could feel it instantly. Ekhidna could too: her excitement was palpable. And so was the Alchemist's fear.
Apparently even he had his limits. It was one thing to experiment. It was another to be inside the experiment, especially one as insane and dangerous as this one.
I began to crawl to Justin. He couldn't feel my love. But maybe he could feel me.
Energy was already rushing out of the room, even though the vortex was barely formed. The Void devoured everything. Light. Thought. Emotion. Body. Desire. It fed on existence itself.
And as it fed, it grew. When it was large enough, it would consume us all.
"Get ready to throw her in," Ekhidna screamed over the growing roar of the Void, "before the Void getsss too ssstrong."
"Where are the waters?" the Alchemist countered.
"You fool! If the vortexss opensss fully, it'll be too late for all of usss!" Ekhidna shouted angrily.
The Alchemist said nothing.
With a screech of fury, Ekhidna gestured, and a box of vials appeared next to the Alchemist.
"There! Now get her ready!" she ordered.
The Alchemist came and grabbed me roughly by the arm, hauling me to my feet. I started to struggle, and then I stopped. Not because it was useless, which of course it was: he had uncanny strength. But because the Alchemist met my eyes. The hint of a smile curved his wan lips. He knew I understood at last.
With all my strength, I hurled myself backwards, tearing myself out of the Alchemist's grip. Impossible, except that the Alchemist let go of me at the same time.
I hit the ground hard, but that didn't matter. Because I landed near Justin. I clawed my way toward him.
And just as I was about to reach him, I felt myself being dragged backwards. I closed my eyes.
"You idiot!" Ekhidna raged at the Alchemist, as she hauled me to my feet again. "Can't you do one thing right? Ssshe'sss not even a god anymore. Ssshe'sss jussst mortal!"
I headbutted Ekhidna directly in her face as hard as I could.
I didn't need to hear the crack to know I'd broken her nose. She howled and dropped me in surprise. I braced myself and did my best land as close as I could to Justin.
Ekhidna was on me almost instantly. She flipped me on my back and raised one of her hands. Her fingers shifted into the claws of her true form, dripping with lethal, paralytic poison.
But I'd seen that coming too, and already my legs were up, knees pressed against my chest before she could pin them down. I kicked her off of me as hard as I could, aiming for her face again.
Contact. With her jaw. She flew off me, dazed.
It bought me seconds.
I didn't waste them. I finally made it to Justin. I whispered his name. Then I kissed him.
If that didn't work, at least I'd gotten to say goodbye.
I felt Ekhidna's fingers in my hair. She jerked me painfully to my feet. Her face was mottled with rage.
"Don't damage the sacrifice," the Alchemist warned in a detached voice.
Ekhidna snapped her head towards him, snarling.
"We need her as intact as possible so she has all her power to contain the Void," he continued. His eyes flicked to the growing tear. "I'd say we have a few minutes. At best."
Ekhidna gritted her teeth so angrily, I thought they'd shatter. But instead of slitting my throat with her claws, she squeezed my hair until I gasped in pain and then threw me at the Alchemist.
"Don't let her get away thisss time," Ekhidna warned. "Or you'll be going into the Void with her."
Ekhidna whirled back to the Void, wiping the blood from her nose. Then she raised her arms.
With Fire,
I bring light to the consssuming darknessssss.
With Water,
I awaken my love.
With Air,
I gather hisss piecssesss.
With Earth,
I reform hisss ssshattered body.
And by Promethean Fire,
I breathe life into him whom I lossst!
As she spoke, the points on the star flared and streamed energy into the Void. And when the last point ignited, the star exploded and was gone.
"Did it work?" Ekhidna whispered. She cleared her throat and spoke louder. "Did it work?"
"I can't say," the Alchemist replied. "But the Elements are returned to their rightful places."
"I don't care about the Elementsss!" Ekhidna fumed. "Where isss Typhon?"
"We have to throw her in now," the Alchemist replied. "If we don't, we risk the Void being too strong for her to close. We'll all die."
"Then we all die!" Ekhidna raged. "I have to be sssure. There hasss to be a way to know if he'sss back! I didn't rip open the Void jussst to ssshut it again! We wait!"
I closed my eyes. Images.
"It worked," I answered.
Ekhidna didn't hear me. She was too fixated on the vortex.
"It worked!" I said again, louder this time.
"What?" Ekhidna whirled to face me. Blood still trickled from her nose. "What did you sssay?"
"It worked," I repeated.
"How can you be sssure?" she demanded. But her anger was fading. She was desperate. Hopeful. Weak.
Though I hated them both, Typhon was to Ekhidna what Zeus had once been to me, what Justin was to me now. I'd never thought about it until Nicksa brought it up, because I'd never cared. Ekhidna and Typhon were my mortal enemies: their loves and hates were irrelevant to me. But the pain Ekhidna must have been in since they were separated was indescribable, especially knowing the agony that Typhon must have been suffering: a war between his immorality and the endless destruction of the Void, constantly being ripped apart, then reforming only to be ripped apart again. Never able to die. No moment of peace. There was no word for that kind of torment. He'd been that way for millennia, and Ekhidna had known the entire time.
No wonder she was insane.
"I can see it with my powers," I explained. "Typhon's been reformed."
"Then we can pull him from the Void!" Ekhidna cried, beaming.
"If you hurry," the Alchemist interrupted. "He'll have begun to disintegrate again the moment you reformed him. He can't fight off the Void for long."
Ekhidna paled. She turned back to the Void.
"Thisss better work," she warned. "For all our sakesss."
She pulled a vial from her pocket.
"Throw her in," Ekhidna snapped.
"Not yet," the Alchemist shouted back.
"We mussst ssstabilizsse the Void!" Ekhidna argued.
It was almost impossible to hear over the roar of the vortex. The warehouse began to shake. The vortex had reached the ceiling. Now it was spreading out to the edges of the room. After that it would expand outwards and swallow the rest of the room. Then the building. Then the city. Then the world.
Unless it was shut.
"Typhon has to come out at the same time she goes in," the Alchemist explained. "If she goes in now, she'll collapse the portal before he can escape."
"Then get ready!" Ekhidna snapped. "Ssshe goesss in the moment he appearsss."
And with that, she hurled the vial into the vortex.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
An explosion, like thunder, so loud it flung us all backward with its sheer force. Then, there was a light so bright I had to shield my eyes or I'd be blinded again.
When I risked a look, I saw a stream of light steadily pouring into the vortex. The shining ribbon didn't dim, or narrow, or disappear. It just flowed into the Void as if it could go on forever.
"Infinite light," the Alchemist murmured loud enough that I could hear. "The only way anything lost in the Void could hope to find an opening to escape."
"How long will it lassst?" Ekhidna demanded, as she shakily stood back up.
She swayed on her feet.
She'd been closest to the vortex. When the infinite light exploded, it had hit her hardest. Good. The weaker, the better.
Seconds away from annihilation, but I hadn't given up. I couldn't.
'Come on, Justin!' I prayed silently. To myself. To him. To anyone who was listening.
"Not long," the Alchemist admitted. "But long enough. If Typhon's alive, he should see it instantly, and ..."
There he was.
Not Justin.
Typhon.
Our seconds were up.
Just the sight of him stunned the Alchemist into silence.
Typhon was caught between two worlds now. In the Void, he was in his pure form, the most powerful monster of them all, even more powerful than Ekhidna.
The part of Typhon trying to manifest in the mortal world, the physical part, was terrifying. He was enormous. He could barely fit in the vortex, even though it reached to the ceiling and walls of the warehouse. His current form was even worse than the one I'd seen in the witches' well. At least that one had been more or less human. But this one was pure chaos. It had no human head at all, but countless dragon heads, grinning madly, their maws belching fire and poison through endless rows of razor teeth. Instead of legs, there were gigantic coils of vipers. Their eyes burned with malevolent fire as they writhed and danced in the darkness.
Typhon.
Chaos incarnate.
The feel of him was worse still. Like Ekhidna, but more intense. The feel of rot, weakness, despair, and death. A mad spiral of emotions. Random. Vicious. Insane.
As he began to pass through the vortex, he changed. He shrank. He became mortal. Still huge, but human at least, except for his blazing black eyes.
"Typhon!" Ekhidna exclaimed.
She rushed forward. But then she stopped. She knew better. If she touched the vortex, she would go through.
"Bring Hera!" Ekhidna shouted. "Typhon'sss almossst through. When he emergesss, it'll dessstabilizsse and ssswalllow thisss world whole!"
The Alchemist grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the vortex.
"There's no other way," he said.
That was the closest I'd get to an apology.
"I just need more time," I whispered as he dragged me to the Void. To Typhon.
I pulled against him. But it was useless. He was too strong. He had my wrists in an iron grip. This time, he wasn't letting go.
"I gave you all the time I could," he answered quietly. "I couldn't care less who wins or loses your petty little war, as long as existence remains. If you'd stopped her, we wouldn't be in this mess at all. But you failed. And you have only yourself to blame."
We were there. At the threshold of oblivion. The Void.
I could feel its pull. From the look on the Alchemist's face, so could he. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flicker of movement.
"You understand this is for all of existence," the Alchemist continued. "If you don't make this sacrifice, everything you love, everything you're sworn to protect, will be consumed. It's time to do you duty, Queen Hera."
Another flicker.
"I understand," I answered quietly.
I closed my eyes and bowed my head.
"Goodbye, Queen Hera," the Alchemist said.
"Goodbye, Alchemist," I replied. "I appreciate everything you've done. And everything you're going to do."
He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. Then he pushed.
Just as he did, I grabbed his arms and swung myself to the side, redirecting the force of his shove to fling him into the Void instead.
But he was too strong. He stumbled. But he didn't fall inside.
Instead, we both teetered dangerously on the edge of annihilation.
The Alchemist was surprised. Off-guard. But not for long.
"Really, Queen Hera?" he asked witheringly, peeling my hands off his arms. "Desperation doesn't suit you. Ekhidna was right. You are disappointing. I thought you'd see the bigger picture."
"Oh, I do," I assured him. "I'm all about the big picture. It's about sacrifice."
"So glad we agree," he murmured.
"And on behalf of existence, thank you for yours," I smiled.
The Alchemist's eyes went wide. But it was too late.
Justin flickered behind the Alchemist and tossed him into the vortex. He barely had enough time to scream.
Justin grabbed my wrist and hauled me back from the brink.
With a gesture, the ropes around my hands and ankles unwound themselves.
"No!" Ekhidna screamed.
She rushed at us, enraged, but Justin flickered, and we vanished. She skidded to a stop inches before the vortex.
We reappeared on the far side of the room. As I watched, the vortex shrank. It wasn't much. But it gave us time when we needed it most. I really did appreciate everything the Alchemist had done.
"You fools!" Ekhidna shrieked. "You'll kill usss all!"
As she spoke, Typhon stepped out of Void and into the world.
The ground vaulted underneath our feet. I would've fallen if Justin hadn't held me up. To him, the pitching ground was like nothing. I felt a chill. I looked up at him.
Red. Everywhere. Only a small black pupil in the centre of his eyes now. The madness was so close, so very close, and we were far from finished.
Typhon and Ekhidna were embracing.
The last time I'd confronted them together, Zeus had been with me. For once, I'd been grateful for his power. It'd taken both of us to fend them off. Now it was just me and Justin.
"Hera," Typhon boomed, turning to face me.
I hadn't heard his voice in so long. I did my best to keep from shivering.
"It'sss over!" Ekhidna laughed.
The ground shifted again. Not as violently as before, but enough that she had to catch herself on Typhon to keep from falling.
"From where I'm standing, there's two of us and two of you," I replied imperiously.
Ekhidna laughed. "Pleassse. You in mortal form, and that human?"
More shaking. Above us, rafters began to splinter and crack. This whole place was going to come down soon.
"There isssn't time for thisss," Ekhidna growled, looking up nervously. "The vortexss isss unssstable. The Alchemissst wasssn't enough to clossse it. It'sss growing again. It wasss never meant to ssstay open."
"Because you were going to throw me inside," I finished. "Forgive me if I'm not sorry your plan failed."
"Enough!" Typhon rumbled. "The Void must be closed, or it will destroy existence, Order and Chaos both."
"Feel free to step back in and shut it, Typhon," I snapped.
The thought actually made him flinch. I'd never seen him flinch before. I'd never seen him show any weakness at all.
But it was gone almost as soon as it happened. His face darkened.
"I will never go back," he swore.
And I knew he meant it.
"Then we have a stalemate," Justin said with surprising calm.
But his voice was distorted, fading in and out. The Dreamlands were calling him. He was having difficulty staying in this reality, staying sane.
Ekhidna laughed again. "I don't sssee how. We can jussst throw Hera in ourssselvesss."
She looked up at Typhon and started to head toward us. But he didn't look back, and he didn't follow.
He'd locked eyes with Justin. Neither moved. I wasn't even sure either of them was breathing.
"You're welcome to try," Justin answered in a dreamy voice.
Another earthquake. Fissures split the walls of the warehouse. Spiderlike cracks fanned out. Chunks began to fall. Justin swept me out of the way with one hand before a beam landed exactly where I'd been standing. Another beam almost crushed Typhon and Ekhidna, but Typhon caught it just in time with one hand and broke it in half, tossing away the pieces like they were nothing.
"Time is ticking," Justin finished.
"You'd kill us all?" Ekhidna screamed. "Your friends? Your family? You're mortal! This is your world!"
"Wr
ong," Justin replied. "She is my world. This world doesn't matter to me."
"But it matters to me," I said.
Justin said nothing. He didn't even look at me.
"I can't let this world burn," I continued, trying to sound stronger than I felt, "even if they can. Even if you can. I love you. But protecting this world is who I am. And if I live, and it dies, I won't be me anymore. I might as well have gone into the Void anyway."
I took a deep breath. I swallowed back my tears. I leaned up and kissed Justin on the cheek.
Or at least I tried.
But I couldn't move. I was frozen, glued in place.
"Justin?"
"You can't let this world burn," he replied. "But I can. Protecting you is who I am. And if I live, and you die, I might as well have gone into the Void."
"Justin, let me go!" I ordered desperately.
But he wouldn't even meet my eyes.
The betrayal cut me so deeply, it took my breath away. He was ignoring what I wanted so he could get what he wanted. He was putting himself first. Above me. Above the world. Above everything I worked for, everything I lived, everything I'd sacrificed for.
"I will hate you forever if you do this," I told him furiously, my voice shaking.
"And you will be alive to do it," he murmured.
The ground ahead of us split, just like it had for Demeter, only this time, it didn't stop. It kept splitting. The fissure continued under the walls and out of sight. For all I knew, the whole world was slowly splitting in two.
More rafters fell. Typhon brushed them away like flies. The ones near us simply flickered and vanished.
The building was collapsing.
"The vortex is approaching critical mass," Justin observed. His voice didn't waver. It was barely even his voice.
"If it isn't shut soon, it won't be," he continued. "Ever."
"Close it," Typhon ordered.
Justin didn't move.
"CLOSE IT!" Typhon roared.
The thunder of his voice shook me.
But Justin didn't move.
Typhon rushed towards us, bellowing ferociously. Ekhidna followed close behind, shrieking.
Justin lifted a hand.
They kept coming.
Until Justin pointed.
Typhon turned. And gaped. He skidded to a stop. Ekhidna slammed into him and fell back. When she turned to see what had happened, she wailed in fury and horror.
Hera, Queen of Mortals (Goddess Unbound) Page 29
