I glanced nervously toward the doorway through which my friends continued to disappear. When my eyes came to rest on Caius standing by the edge of the door, waiting for me, I relaxed a little. Not that he could protect me from a god, but just knowing he was there helped. Returning my attention to Hades, I asked, “What do you need?”
“Need?” He asked in an affronted tone. “I did not ask for payment to heal you.”
“And I wasn’t referring to payment.” Good, despite what Bryson had done, and the pregnancy hormones making a mess of things, I could still sound braver than I was. “I meant that you helped me, so if there is something you need help with, I will return the favor.”
Hades surprised me by laughing, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Oh my, I forgot just how fantastic you are, my dear. There is nothing I need help with at the moment, although it would be nice if you could keep yourself alive. That I would like very much.” His mirth died away. “However, where you travel next and the course you must take may test your ability to do that.”
Unsure of what he wanted from me, I smiled and said, “I promise to do my best to not die. It really isn’t on my ‘to-do’ list anyway.”
“You are a gem.” Hades chuckled again then grew serious. “What lies ahead will test you; it will force you to make a decision that will shape the future no matter which choice you make.” He took my chin in his hands and bent his face closer to me as he whispered. “Do not think you have been abandoned. I did not save your life so you could perish so soon.”
He straightened and stepped back, leaving me confused. What the heck was that supposed to mean? I wanted to ask him, but something in his demeanor told me the time for conversation was over. Caius took my hand and before I could truly absorb the meaning of Hades’s words, we were stepping through the portal. The still rippling, liquid-like material parted around us and a cool metallic feeling slid across my skin.
Humidity swamped me like a wet blanket as I came through the other side. We stood on the flat top of a tall hill covered in bright green plants. Sunlight streamed through a giant hole lined in the earth above us. Tropical trees grew around the edge of the hole in the jungle above. The sound of moving water echoed off towering walls brightened by the natural skylight. Misty clouds drifted far below, obscuring the floor of what must be a cave. I had trouble comprehending the size it must be, its vastness lost to the darkness beyond the wide pool of light.
“What is this?” Lilly asked, frowning at the scenery in general.
“A cave. I would think that by the time you passed one hundred years of age you would be familiar with such a thing,” Hades said as he stepped through the portal. “Honestly, Caius, what are you teaching this young one?”
Lilly scowled and turned away. Hades chuckled. “You are too easily offended, young one. From what I understand, after investigating a few things with Caius, this is in what the mortals now call Vietnam.”
“Is this the one that is supposed to be the biggest cave in the mortal world?” I turned in a slow circle, taking in everything.
“No.” Hades pointed at one side of the cave. “That one is off that way. This has yet to be discovered by mortals. Likely a good thing. The mortals have already started traipsing all over the other one and the last thing you need is a bunch of them in the middle of what you are trying to accomplish.”
“Are you coming with us?” I asked. Is that why he said not to feel abandoned? Not that I did either way, but in the back of my mind, I was still trying to put together the puzzle he’d given me.
“No, my dear. This I am not allowed to interfere with.” He turned and pointed to a rune on the archway. “When you have completed the task, return to this place and touch this symbol. It will take you anywhere you desire. Be clear on your destination. The trouble with portals like these, they do not handle confusion well. If you are unable to decide and inadvertently think of two different places, the portal will do as you wish and quite literally rip you in half.”
I shuddered and instinctively stepped farther from the portal. “Well, that’s a pleasant thought.”
“It can be.” Hades looked directly at me. “Remember, whoever touches the rune will control the destination of the entire group. If you concentrate hard enough, you can send different people in your group to different destinations. A useful tool when sending armies to more than one front as long as one remembers that in order to end up in the same destination with one of the armies, they have to go behind that group and before the next. Once you step through, the second destination lines up. But that is neither here nor there.”
There was a subtext under his words that I almost understood. Somehow, Hades knew what was coming and despite his professed inability to interfere, he was going to anyway. But only if I could figure it out. He was saying one thing while telling me something else entirely.
While my brain worked to untangle the mystery, Hades turned back to the doorway. “Until I see you again. The doorway is set to activate but one time and only by members of this group. If you are not prepared to move everyone through it, do not activate it. It will disappear from this world once that single use is over.” He glanced at me. “It will stay open until the person that touches the rune on this side touches the same rune on the other.”
***
“I don’t know what Hades said to Jo before we stepped through the portal. His demeanor made it clear the conversation was for her alone.” ~Caius
Chapter 39
I watched him depart through the portal, still mystified by his words. Gods were truly confusing creatures. Caius pulled me from my thoughts by asking if I was ready. Which of course I wasn’t, not really. I mean, after the ominous things Hades had said, who would be? Not that I could shirk this either.
Why did I have to be all honorable or whatever it was that made you walk into danger in order to help? I could have been a selfish, evil person, but oh no, I was going to traipse my rear down this hill and wander through a cave of epic proportions because dead people needed me to.
With a sigh, I motioned toward the steep slope full of rocks and ledges. “No point standing around here. I doubt the key is going to deliver itself to us.”
“You’re probably right on that account,” Caius said as demonborn and reapers began shifting into ravens and eagles that were too big to exist in the mortal world.
Closing my eyes, I sought the raven. It came easily to my mind, but went no further. No matter how hard I tried for the one thing that had always been easy for me, I couldn’t bring the change on. Caius, still in his human form, was watching me when I opened my eyes.
“I could have told you that wouldn’t work. A raven’s body isn’t equipped to carry a baby any more than yours is to lay eggs.” He gave me a small smile and indicated those who had shifted. “Most of them will fly to the bottom. The rest of us will do this the hard way.”
As the majority of demonborn and reapers flew into the air, Malik was in a quiet argument with Bethany, the gist of which seemed to be his desire for her to fly down and her stubborn refusal. Dominic and his siblings remained as well. They had integrated into my band of merry men so well it was often hard to remember they had joined us after our visit to Nyx.
Caius turned to Lilly and frowned. “Why haven’t you shifted?”
“I’m not flying down.”
“Yes, you are. This isn’t going to be easy and I don’t need another person to worry about.” Caius glared at her.
She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “I can climb down as easy as you. If Aaron and James aren’t flying down, then neither am I.”
He turned and pinned the two men with the same glare he’d given Lilly. James shrugged. “We stay with Jo.”
“Talk some sense into them Rowen,” Caius growled.
Rowen gave him a flat look. “Have you not seen these young people together as a group? You aren’t going to separate them.”
“Fine.” Caius stalked toward the decline.
Just from the look on
Lilly’s face and the set of her shoulders when she refused to obey, I could have told Caius the only way he was going to make her fly was if he threw her off the side of the hill, but I didn’t. Mostly because watching him lose an argument with his little sister was amusing. So was watching Malik lose to Bethany.
Caius grumbled under his breath about people not listening as he led the way, picking out a path for us to follow.
It wasn’t as easy as it looked from the top. The ground was uneven, the rocks slippery, and the way often extremely steep. Our slow descent was punctuated with curses as people lost purchase, slid, and were grabbed by nearby companions. At one point, the path down was so steep, I wasn’t sure how we would all make it down without someone breaking their neck.
A pile of rope appeared in Caius’s hands. When he shook it out, I realized it was a ladder. He fixed it to the rock in the same way he tied off a fire. Although I knew it was more than secure, it didn’t look that way. Caius went first, climbing quickly down it until he reached the next, somewhat level-ish spot thirty or so feet below. Rowen stayed at the top, offering a hand to those getting onto the ladder that dangled along the path.
“Path” was a loose term. Nothing had walked here to create anything even resembling a path. It was more of a narrow, not-as-sheer-or-covered-in-plants affair that should probably be named Broken Bone Trail or something whenever the mortals found it.
I watched James make his way down the ladder, more than a little nervous for my friend and well aware the only reason we were making such a torturous trek was because I couldn’t shift. Not that anyone complained. In fact, they all seemed as happy about the pregnancy as I was. The demonborn because the baby was Caius’s, the reapers because children were treasured among them.
Aaron and Bethany were the next two down. I motioned Lilly toward the ladder, “Age before beauty?”
Lilly snorted and rolled her eyes. “Sorry, reapers first.”
I stuck my tongue out. She returned the gesture. Caius’s voice echoed up the almost-a-cliff-face, “What’s the holdup?”
“Nothing,” I yelled back. “I’m getting to it.”
I approached the edge where it went from being moderately steep to ridiculous. Stepping gingerly, I held onto Rowen with one hand and the rock with the other as I put my foot on the first rung of the ladder. It wasn’t the sturdiest feeling thing. Acutely aware of the barely perceptible change in my waistline and the flutter I’d felt earlier, I focused on the rungs and moved carefully while trying not to think about falling. Which of course meant all I could think about was falling.
After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the bottom. Bethany, James, and Aaron already waited lower on the path. I joined them, thankful that although the air was humid, it was at least cool. When Lilly and the rest made it down, Caius took the lead again and we continued. After a while, the clouds enveloped us making it both difficult to see and the rocks more slippery than they were. A steady stream of eagles and ravens flew past as they kept track of our progress.
The light coming through the natural skylight faded quickly and we were left with demonborn fire to show us the way. Thankfully, it didn’t take much light to allow us to see in such darkness. I let flames crawl around my hands, glad they wouldn’t burn anything unless I wanted them to. The last thing we needed was an inferno in there while we were essentially trapped in it. It took us a couple of hours to reach the cave floor.
A stream cut through the middle of an area large enough across to park an airliner. The water wasn’t fast here and a wide expanse of sand on either side allowed for a good place to rest. Those of us who had made the descent flopped down while Ryan handed out the traveling food. As I nibbled mine, I decided caves were stupid. Especially caves like this one.
After checking on his siblings, Caius came and sat next to me. “Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Other than hating this cave, I’m good.”
“According to what Hades and I could work out, the spot we are looking for is a little farther down this tunnel. It shouldn’t take long to reach it.” Caius finished his square. “We’ll get started as soon as you’ve rested enough.”
Startled, I swallowed my last bite and said, “You’re all waiting for me?”
“They just don’t want to push you too hard.” Caius indicated the group of reapers and demonborn spread out across the sand.
“They, huh?” I narrowed my eyes at him, pretty certain who the vague “they” was. I got to my feet and brushed the sand from the back of my pants. “Well, I’m good to go.”
Caius appraised me, but said nothing as he stood and called for everyone to continue.
***
“Whether she liked it or not, I wasn’t going to let her push herself like she had before.” ~Caius
Chapter 40
After slogging through both sand and water, climbing a small rockfall, and winding through massive stalagmites, we found what we were looking for. To a mortal, it would have looked like any other rock in this blasted cave. To the rest of us, it was easy to pick out. Something about it felt different. Caius walked over and pressed his hand against it.
Muted rumbling reverberated around the cave as part of the wall opened, revealing a dark hall paved in square white stones that were probably eight feet across. I sighed. Great, more Indiana Jones crap. Before we stepped into that hall, I gave Bethany and James a hug. The gods only knew what awaited us inside.
Bethany returned my hug with one that was almost too tight and James said, “Come back safe.”
“That’s the plan.” I pulled away and turned to face whatever lay ahead.
The darkness within the wide hall quickly swallowed us as it made a wide downward curve. Caius held out his hand, letting a flame dance on his palm. A sense of déjà vu washed over me. I just hoped I didn’t get poisoned with anything this time. I’d had more than enough of that.
As if echoing my thoughts, Caius said, “Seems like we’ve done this before. Let’s just hope nothing traps you and tries to dump you in a hole.”
I chuckled. The two of us had come a long way since then. If someone had told me as we entered the place of the first key that I would be in love with Caius and carrying his baby in a not-too-distant future, I would have told them they were crazy. Our journey hadn’t been easy, but if I could go back and tell Alaric to stuff it when he suggested all of this in the beginning, I wouldn’t do it.
The hall ended in a massive room that looked eerily similar to the first one. I groaned as Caius began to light the torches around the room. On a pedestal in the middle of the room rested a chest inside a cage. The same handle resided within a circle of iron.
Caius studied it for a moment after he finished with the torches. “I guess I’m supposed to turn it this time.”
“I did it last time,” I said quickly. “Your turn.”
Although my tone was joking, I couldn’t help the concern I felt as he stepped in front of the pedestal, reached in the cage, and twisted the handle. Runes glowed to life all over the walls. I spun around as a slab of stone slid down, blocking the hall and cutting off our only exit. I turned back to Caius.
He pulled his hand away from the handle and the cage without issue. “I guess it’s sure we share at least a partial bond.”
“Now what?” I looked over the runes on the walls.
Caius joined me. After a full circle of the room, he said, “It will take both of us. I move a rune then you move a rune until the pattern is complete, and both of us to open the door when it’s done. We came in together, we have to leave together.”
“At least this time, I’m not trapped by that stupid cage.” It was nice to actually be useful.
I waited for him to find the first rune that needed to be moved and swap it out. I took that one and studied the walls until I found where it went. We repeated it over and over as we moved around the room, taking turns and slowly revealing a pattern.
After the last two runes were swapped
out and slid into place, two quiet clicks were like an explosion. They were the first sounds the chamber had made. We froze. When nothing bad happened, we backed up until we stood in the middle of the room. Most of the pattern was artful scrollwork. It was the image of the open chest, with the key inside, that held our attention.
“You really think it’s in the chest this time?” I asked.
“Only one way to find out.” Caius turned to the cage. The top of it was slightly ajar. He lifted it slowly.
I held my breath, waiting for whatever trap it had in store. When it opened all the way up with only a minor protest from the hinges, another click sounded. A panel of wall dropped and a sharpened spike of silver about three feet long shot across the chamber at Caius. He dodged and it embedded itself in the wall. Startled, I jumped a little, my hands slapping over my mouth so I wouldn’t do something ridiculous like scream.
Caius inspected the spike. “Pure silver, not something that can be acquired in the mortal world.”
When I moved closer, he pointed to the runes worked along the shaft of the spike. “Pure silver is too soft to do much with, but this has been augmented with magic. Meant to keep it strong enough and sharp enough to impale someone, even punch through our armor, without interfering with the actual softness of the metal.”
“What does it mean?” The spike made me nervous. Silver and I didn’t have a good relationship.
“It means if it came into contact with either of us, it would melt into our bodies at a rapid pace, flooding us with it in a short amount of time. If removed quickly enough, I could probably overcome it.” He glanced at me. “You, on the other hand, would be even sicker than you were after the first key.”
He turned and eyed the open lock on the chest. “Can you please do me a favor and stay down? If there are any that will be triggered by the chest opening, I get the feeling they are going to come at a height to strike whoever is standing at the pedestal.”
Grumbling slightly, I sat on the floor as he walked to the chest. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Betrayed (Raven Daughter Book 2) Page 28
