Avenging Heart

by Desni Dantone

  Jared and Bruce were dropped off at the bus station, where they would board the next bus to Athens, and the airport. Then the rest of us filed into our large rental vehicle for the long trip to Aeaea.

  Along the way, Isatan and Permna gave us all a crash course in Greek history. I learned that Aeaea wasn’t a real place . . . at least not in the human world.

  In the human world, it was a mythical, magical place located near Cape Circeo, on the western coast of Italy. We spent the remainder of the day driving to the western coast of Greece, before stopping for the night. In the morning, we took a five-hour ferry ride to Italy, then continued the remaining five hours in the car to the tiny coastal village an hour south of Rome.

  The isolated narrow strip of sand on the shore was deserted by the time we arrived at dusk. Half a mile from where we parked, the beach ended abruptly at a large rock formation that jutted out into the sea. According to Isatan, that was where the entrance to Aeaea would be found.

  Nathan retrieved my backpack from the vehicle. “You should probably do the binding spell now,” he suggested. “Before we get any closer.”

  I took the bag and sat in the front passenger seat as I removed the materials that I would need. I rolled the paper out on the dashboard, dipped the pen into the Black Nightshade Ink, and began to copy the spell down as I referenced the opened notebook in my lap. As I was writing Circe’s name in the proper location, I heard a wrap on the window.

  Lillian peered in at me as I rolled it down. “Do you need any help with it?”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”

  She looked down at her feet with a sigh. “I’m sorry about the other night. I just . . .” She looked up with a defeated shrug. “A lot of hard memories hit me, and I thought I needed someone to blame. But I was wrong in blaming you. You were right. You were only a kid when this all started.”

  Despite the fact that she was apologizing, I didn’t miss the slight undertone in her words. As if she were highlighting the fact that I was only a kid. Like she still considered me a kid.

  And what right did some kid have to take away the most important person she had lost during her ordeal?

  I acknowledged her backhanded apology with a nod before I returned my attention to the spell. Lillian hovered by the door as I finished and rolled the paper up.

  I shot her a reluctant glance. “How specific does the nail placement have to be?”

  “Through the center,” she instructed. “As long as it pierces her name, it will work.”

  I followed her directions, and placed the nail precisely through the center of the scroll. After confirming that it was done correctly, we moved to the back of the vehicle where the others were waiting. From there, we walked down to the beach and dug a deep hole, into which I placed the scroll. I had to be the one to cover it up. Once finished, I stood to wipe the sand from my hands.

  “Is that it?” I asked no one in particular.

  “That should do it,” Permna responded.

  The walk to the rock formation took only minutes, but felt like an eternity thanks to the smothering silence that accompanied us. I knew I wasn’t the only one nervously anticipating what came next. This was the first real test of my abilities, and I really hoped I hadn’t screwed it up.

  The rocks were slick from moisture, which only worsened as we moved toward the point that jutted into the sea. The surf crashed into the rocks beneath our feet, creating a water spray that had dampened my hair and clothes by the time we rounded the corner. As we climbed across the rocks on the other side, I saw our destination.

  Hidden between two boulders was the narrow entrance to a cave. Water lapped at the opening, and a few of the larger swells pushed water through.

  “What about the tide?” I questioned.

  I certainly didn’t want to get trapped inside a cave as it filled with water. That would scare most people, but considering my intense fear of water, the thought nearly paralyzed me.

  “It’s waning right now,” Permna told me. “We have about a two-hour window.”

  “And if we’re not out in two hours?”

  She glanced at me, but didn’t respond.

  “So we drown,” I muttered her unspoken answer under my breath.

  Night had crept up on us during the climb, and the faint glow from the moon spread only a few feet inside the entrance. Three flashlights clicked on simultaneously, allowing us to see the tunnel ahead and the trickle of water that seeped out of the walls and ran under our feet.

  I had never been one to fear enclosed spaces before. Until now. I had never been in an enclosed space that could fill up with water before either.

  Nathan’s hand found mine, and he kept me close as we followed Isatan and Permna through the dark cavern. An eternity passed, and my breathing grew more labored with each step, before the first glimpse of light appeared in front of us.

  “Circe would have placed wards to keep trespassers from entering her realm,” Permna explained as she slowed at the opening. “The bind should have weakened them as well.”

  I held my breath, waiting to see if my magic had worked, as Permna stepped through the opening. She appeared on the other side of an invisible wall. Though she looked blurry to my eyes, she was unscathed, and ushered us through with a wave of her hand.

  I felt a weak hum from the wards, and the zap of a faint electrical current, as I stepped across into Circe’s realm of Aeaea.

  Though night had fallen on this part of the world, the sky in Aeaea was lit in an unnatural orange glow as if permanently frozen in an impressive and vivid sunset. The oddly colored sky was curved, and I had the impression that we were tiny figurines placed inside of a snow globe—without the snow. There were no clouds, no moon, no sun . . . just orange, and a small cottage that sat atop a small island surrounded by marsh.

  “Looks like we have to walk through the marsh?” Nathan’s voice lifted as if questioning what he was seeing. I suspected we all were as confused—and amazed—as he was.

  “She normally would have the marsh patrolled by her creatures,” Permna stated, “but the bind should have rendered them powerless as well.”

  I exchanged a wary glance with Alec. “I better not get eaten by some sea creature, Kris,” he muttered in my ear before he took a gigantic leap of faith . . . straight into the murky knee high water.

  Sandwiched between Alec and Nathan, I pushed through the shoulder-high grass and clumps of floating algae. Our steps were slow and cautious, as if we all anticipated a sudden bite from a toothy, flesh-craving monster.

  As we approached the other side without being eaten, my eyes settled on the cottage with trepidation. Getting through this marsh was one thing, but I feared what may await us inside.

  Had the bind really worked, or were we walking into a trap? What about the two demigods who remained unaccounted for? Had they been hiding with Circe all along, and now waiting to ambush us?

  All around me, weapons were drawn. I channeled the magic I had restrained, letting it slip a little closer to the surface. Just in case. Isatan entered the cottage first. The rest of us, all rigid with expectation, followed. But nothing ominous or dangerous waited for us inside.

  The cottage looked like a cross between a charming vacation rental and a witch’s lair. Tables covered with herbs, candles, and potions sat along one wall, which held more books than some small libraries. Between the tables were several comfortable-looking chairs that promised a relaxed read followed by an even better nap. Across the open room sat a small, neat bed adorned in black scarves and trinkets that I knew held magical properties. Beyond that was a kitchenette, and a small adjoining room.

  Alec ventured through the open door first, and his eyes swept from the floor to the ceiling as he took in the mountain of organized potions and powders that lined the walls inside.

  “If that compound is here, it’s going to be in this room,” he declared.

  Isatan and Permna moved to join him. The room was too small to accommodate all o
f us, so I turned to study the tables behind me, and the array of magical ingredients that covered them.

  She had almost as much as Hecate had in her chambers. The things she could conjure here . . .

  “See anything?” Nathan asked as he came up behind me.

  “I don’t know what I’m looking for.”

  “Me neither,” he admitted wryly. One arm wrapped around me from behind as he pressed his lips to the top of my head. “Just look for a powder.”

  Though most of the containers I saw contained fluids, I also saw several that could qualify as a powder. Finding the exact one we were looking for would be impossible.

  “It will be shiny red. Hard to miss.” Lillian glided up alongside us, and Nathan’s arm around me slipped away. Though he gave me a small squeeze first, I didn’t overlook the distance he placed between us at her sudden appearance.

  I told myself he did so only to not rub our relationship in her face . . . as I tried not to do around Alec. Regardless, I resented her a little bit for it.

  “How do you know that?” I questioned her.

  “The ingredients include diamond and centaur blood,” she responded coolly, as if I should know that that combination would produce a shiny red powder.

  And if I were a practiced Incantator, I probably would have known that.

  “Like this?” Nathan lifted a container off of one of the tables and turned to us with it.

  The powder inside it was a bright, perfect red, enhanced by tiny sparkles that reflected the candlelight. I instinctively reached for it, but he snatched it away before I could touch it.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said to me before turning toward the small room, where the others were still looking.

  “He’s very protective of you,” Lillian muttered. “But then, he always has been.”

  Again, I picked up on her condescending tone. To her, I doubted I would ever be more than the little girl Nathan had taken upon himself to protect.

  “Things change,” I reminded her before walking away.

  As I approached the room where the others gathered to look at the powder, I heard Isatan’s deep voice.

  “This looks like it.”

  “The only way to know for sure is to have one of us touch it,” Permna added.

  Nathan shook his head at me as I stepped into their circle. Before I could say anything—or volunteer—Permna took the powder out of Nathan’s hands.

  “Wipe it off right away,” she said to no one in particular, and then she stuck her hand into the container.

  The moment her fingers touched the powder inside, her knees wobbled. Isatan moved to break her fall, and tossed the container to Nathan. His eyes shot to mine with an order.

  “Get a towel! Quickly!”

  I hurried to the kitchenette and started opening cabinet doors in a frenzy. The first few I came to contained jars of things that didn’t belong in a kitchen, but I didn’t slow down to register what they were. Finally, in a drawer near the sink, I found a stack of towels. As I turned with one, I spotted a figure standing outside, behind the cottage, through the window.

  “Where’s that towel?” Isatan barked.

  I rushed back to the room, and handed the towel to Isatan. He immediately wiped the substance from Permna’s hand, and helped her into a sitting position. Her lips were parted, her eyes glazed, as she stared past me, at nothing.

  “How long does it take to wear off?” Alec questioned.

  “A few minutes,” Isatan responded tersely.

  I backed away from them, and bumped into Lillian as she stepped closer. I slid past her quietly, and no one noticed as I moved toward the back of the cottage, and opened the door I found there.

  The woman I had seen was still standing in the same spot. Her back was to me, permitting me a view of her long black waves as they flitted in the light breeze. She wore a multi-layered dark gown, but the thin material left little to the imagination.

  I maintained a safe radius as I came up beside her, and her porcelain face came into view. Her head and body remained frozen in place, but her eyes shifted to take me in and her lips curled into a sly smile.

  “I’m pleased to know you have reached your potential,” she said to me.

  “Circe?” I rasped.

  She nodded once. “As your dear sister, I’m deeply wounded by your bind.”

  “I’m sure you know why I found it necessary to do.”

  Her eyes penetrated mine with such an intensity, I was forced to look away. After a long moment, I glanced back to find her still staring at me.

  “You confound me,” she finally said. “Apparently, you have too much of our mother in you.”

  She said it as if that were a bad thing. To her, I supposed it was.

  “Why are you doing this? What are you trying to achieve?”

  The insincerity of her cold laugh sent a shiver down my spine. “I want it all, sister.”

  “All of what?”

  “I’m tired of being known as the lesser goddess of magic,” she explained. “I thought it would get better after I lured our mother into Hades’ waiting arms, but it didn’t. I gained nothing from it. Everyone pined for Hecate, and I got nothing.”

  I ground my teeth at her confession that she had been responsible for my mother being held captive by Hades. I couldn’t let that revelation rattle me. I needed information first. Revenge could wait.

  “You want power? Is that what you want?”

  Circe smirked as her gaze drifted over my head, as if she were looking into her future—the future she desired. “Once my immortal army helps me to destroy the gods, and I arise into the role I deserve, I will have it all.”

  I scoffed, and her eyes hardened as they shifted to mine. “There’s one problem with your plan,” I told her. “You need me to help you get there.”

  “Yes. Unfortunately, you are more powerful than I. For now.”

  I didn’t ask for her to elaborate. I knew that once Circe got what she wanted, she would get rid of me. With Hecate and me out of the picture, Circe would then be the most powerful manipulator of magic. That was exactly what she wanted.

  “I’m not going to help you,” I told her.

  Circe’s eyes lifted to the sky. “Yes. Well, I have a theory as to why you have managed to resist your evil influence thus far.”

  Sensing that we were no longer alone, I glanced over my shoulder to find Nathan and Alec in the doorway, watching us cautiously. I put a hand out to let them know I was okay, and stop them from coming any closer.

  “I had no idea love between two evil souls could have the impact it has had. Of course, there are ways to fix that,” Circe continued in a threatening voice.

  I took a few steps toward her, and lowered my voice with a threat of my own. “I will destroy you before I ever let you hurt him.”

  “You can’t destroy me, and you can’t bind me forever.” Circe laughed humorlessly. “No. Once he is gone, you will finally join me.”

  The breath I hadn’t realized I was holding hissed as it slipped between my clenched teeth. Lillian had been right—Alec and I had a connection that kept us from succumbing to the evil within us. Worse, Alec’s theory that Circe would set out to be rid of him as a result of that connection was right.

  I dropped my chin to pin Circe with a hard glare. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

  I turned and walked away without waiting for a response. Her icy laugh followed me to the door.

  “You were right,” I told Alec. “We’re helping each other somehow, and she’s going to come for you.” I turned to Nathan. “We need to destroy these demigods now.”

  Nathan nodded as he cast an uneasy glance at Circe. “Permna just came to. She confirmed it’s the right compound. We’re ready to get out of here.”

  “Can’t be soon enough,” Alec muttered. “I hate looking like the victim of a cheap fake tan gone wrong.”

  Despite the sobering conversation I’d just had with Circe, Alec managed to force
a laugh out of me as I entered the cottage ahead of him and Nathan. The faint smile on my lips fell as I came face to face with Isatan’s taunting smirk.

  “Family reunion?” he leered.

  “Knock it off, Isatan,” Permna reprimanded. “She’s with us.”

  He turned away without another word, but I didn’t miss the skeptical curve of his eyebrows.

  “What’s his problem with me?” I whispered to Nathan.

  He slung an arm across my shoulders, and gave them a squeeze as we moved toward the front door. “He doesn’t know your heart like I do,” he murmured in my ear. “Don’t let him rattle you.”

  “I’m trying,” I muttered. But that was hard to do when he looked at me with visible disgust on a daily basis. I sure wouldn’t trust him to have my back in any situation . . . yet we were supposed to be allies up against nine demigods.

  Being rid of Isatan served as further motivation to destroy these demigods, and move on with my life. The simple life . . . free of evil, curses, death, and leering assholes.

  “We have less than an hour before the tide turns,” Permna reminded us all of our limited time.

  A knot twisted in my gut as I recalled how long it had taken us to pass through the cavern to get here. Would we make it back in time, before the incoming tide filled it with water?

  Nathan must have seen the concern on my face, because he offered me a comforting smile. “We’ll get through in time,” he assured me before he opened the door and stepped outside.

  From directly behind him, I had an up-close view of the shiny blades that spiraled through the air toward us . . . and the two demigods who had thrown them.

  I shot my hands out in front of me, stopping the first blade in midair, mere inches from Nathan’s chest. The second blade kept coming, and I split my concentration between the two, managing to hold the first blade in place while I slowed the second one enough that it fell to the ground at Nathan’s feet.

  With another wave of my hand, I spun the blade suspended in the air around, and fired it back at the demigod who had thrown it. Someone shouted a warning behind me, and Isatan and Permna flew out the door, their own weapons drawn. They clashed with the second demigod as the first fell from the blade that had pierced his heart.