Grace of Gods Boxset: Reincarnated Greek Gods YA/NA Series

by Kyleigh Castronaro

  “I can look for you. As for Aidan, how are you going to find the rock?”

  “The same way I find everything else around here, I’m going to summon it to me.”

  “I don’t think it’s that easy.”

  “It wouldn’t be if I asked the mountain to take me to Zeus, but instead I’m going to ask it to take me to Prometheus.”

  “How is that going to help? He’s probably here in Olympus.”

  “No, not the person. In the library, there are thousands of tomes that hold the histories of the Gods and Titans. If I ask to see Prometheus’s, the tome should be able to tell me where the rock was located.”

  “And what if it doesn’t?” Griffin, understandably, was a little skeptical. I shrugged; I hadn’t thought about it that far and frankly I was hoping that this plan would work. “Val.”

  Apparently, I needed to have a plan B to make him happy.

  I shrugged, “I don’t know, I never thought about it. Why wouldn’t the tomes hold geographical information? I mean, they’ve told me everything else I need to know.” Griffin wasn’t convinced.

  “Alright, well if your tomes can’t give you the information you need then.“

  “The computers!” I said with a bright grin, “I don’t even need to go to the library. I’ll go back to my apartment and use the Internet. Atlas said everything I’d ever need would be on there, why wouldn’t this? I have to change anyways...” I said with a frown, looking down at the dirtied and tattered dress lamely hanging off me.

  “I wasn’t watching you, you know.” “Huh?”

  “In the apartment, if you had changed we weren’t watching. We were preserving your dignity in that way.”

  “How thoughtful of you.”

  “I know.” He grimaced, it was still a touchy subject then. I laughed to ease the tension, reaching out and touching his arm gently to reassure him. We would talk about it later, but for now I wouldn’t let myself focus on anything that didn’t have to do with saving the Olympians.

  “And if I can’t find it on the computer I’ll go to the library.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then I go and find Aidan, and we’ll go back down to Earth.”

  “What about the key?”

  “The Erinyes told me that the key changes form, it might take me forever to find out where the key is and we don’t have that kind of time. You do reconnaissance and see what you can find. Then you can meet me on Earth.”

  “Where?”

  He was from England, London presumably from anything his history had told me. I was from the middle of nowhere Ireland; I’d never even left my county. Chewing down on my bottom lip I tried to think of somewhere I could meet him. Buckingham Palace, being the only thing I could think of, was not appropriate.

  “Stonehenge,” Persephone spoke for me, deliberately choosing such an ancient, magical location.

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” I grinned, unable to hide my excitement that my Goddess and I were working together. It was a welcome aid.

  “Okay, Stonehenge. I’ll meet you there.” I nodded, leaning in to hug him again quickly before pulling away and starting for the door.

  “Val.” He said my name softly, a hint of vulnerability lacing his tone. I turned back around slowly as Griffin moved toward me, pulling me against him and kissing me again. It was far different from the other chaste kisses we had exchanged. I felt my cheeks burn with desire and embarrassment before I finally, gently, nudged him away. “Be safe. Please.” He whispered, his lips brushing against mine with every syllable while his eyes remained firmly shut. I nodded my head, licked my lips and pulled back reluctantly.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “I mean it.”

  “So do I.” I kissed him again quickly before turning away, still feeling flushed from the sensation of his lips against mine, as I hurried to the door. I could sense Persephone’s disapproval inside of me and I understood where she was coming from, but resisting her husband all this time hadn’t worked either. It was time she tries my tactics. And far they were working, Hades hadn’t attempted to overpower Griffin yet.

  I crossed the destroyed throne room and pushed the door open, thinking hard about my apartment. It wasn’t hard to channel myself to get there, I had been longing for it in the two weeks I had been trapped in the Underworld.

  Crossing the threshold, I came out on the other side, breathing a sigh of relief as I saw my apartment door exactly how I had left it. I hurried over to it and the door opened in greeting, an exuberant Cerberus on the other side jumping at the thrill of seeing me.

  “Hey, buddy!” I ran my hand through his fur and kissed the top of his head, “how did you get back?” I wondered out loud before straightening up and turning to quickly shut the door behind me. I didn’t want any of the Titans to know I was here, even if I hadn’t seen any of them yet. Whatever they were up to, it was giving me enough time to move around freely.

  Hurrying into my bedroom I opened my closet imagining the simplest outfit I could: jeans, t-shirt, and running shoes. On second thought, I conjured a jacket in case it was raining when I got to Stonehenge.

  As I sat down at my computer, I suddenly remembered I didn’t exactly have a plan in place to figure out where everyone was on Earth. I suspected that the Titans weren’t stupid enough to place them all down in the same location; that was asking for trouble.

  With the early formation of a plan rolling around in my head, I logged onto the browser and pulled up a search engine. I was quite proud of how efficient I was getting on the Internet. Typing in Prometheus’ rock into the bar, I hit search. I wasn’t entirely sure if those were the keywords I needed to use, but it was as close to the point as I was going to get in a world that otherwise believed all these stories were fake. Scrolling through meta descriptions I found it: “Caucasus Mountains”. I managed to copy the name into a map generator and watched it pull up a large range of mountains between Georgia and Russia. I frowned to myself, they had cast Zeus out of Olympus.

  Standing up I grabbed a piece of paper and quickly copied down the name in case I would need it before sticking it in my jacket pocket. Staring at the map on the screen I remembered the map that Atlas had on his desk that he’d used to track all the Gods down. It had shown him all the various Olympians and where they were in the world he could watch them. If I could get back to Atlas’ office, I could use that map to find the others.

  I turned to Cerberus, who was a lot smarter than the average dog, “Can you take me to Atlas’ office?” Having a three-headed dog as your guard dog would be my safest bet against any Titans I might run into.

  Cerberus tilted his head to one side thoughtfully as he stared at me for a moment. Then when I thought maybe I was a little crazy for thinking I could talk to a dog and he would understand, Cerberus’ three heads barked, his tail wagged and he turned to the door, flouncing out. I followed him quickly, tugging on my jacket as I walked and grabbed the door, slowly opening it I could check the hallway to make sure no one was out there.

  “Okay, the coast is clear.” Cerberus led the way, heading into the hall and taking a sharp left turn. I followed where he went, opening doors where he needed me to and in a matter of moments he had led me to exactly where I wanted to be.

  “You’re such a good dog,” I said with a grin, rubbing between his ears, “now go back to the Underworld and meet me there. The Gods will be arriving soon.” Cerberus eyed me with uncertainty before barking reluctantly, turning and heading off as I’d told him. I steeled myself before walking further into the office. It was a lot messier than I remembered it had been. Things were thrown in the same way they had been done in the throne room and the desk was nowhere to be seen.

  “No,” I said breathlessly, feeling my heart and hopes fall.

  Chapter 22

  I moved through the mess, picking up what I could as I looked for the map or anything that might help but it was a disaster. I was lifting a chair when I heard a soft cough
from behind me. I felt my blood go cold and I immediately imagined that I was going to turn around and face Coeus. But as I turned around slowly no one was there. Another soft cough came through again and I realized it was coming from under me. I quickly bent and started sifting through the papers and strewn furniture, revealing Atlas’ battered body underneath it all.

  “What are you doing!” I exclaimed, pushing everything off him and holding out my hand to help him up.

  He shook his head, “I can’t move, they’ve bound me with invisible chains.”

  “Oh.” I felt foolish, bending down and trying to levy his weight I could pick him up for myself. Groaning with effort I managed to only pull his head into my lap.

  “Valentina, why are you still here? Why didn’t they cast you down to Earth with the rest?”

  “I was in the Underworld when the Titans mutinied.”

  “How lucky...” He said softly, coughing again, this time letting some blood out from between his lips.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ll be okay once the chains are removed. But they squeeze my lungs periodically, bursting them and forcing them to heal themselves again.”

  “That’s horrible!”

  “That’s the punishment of the Titans.”

  “What are they going to do to the rest of the world Atlas? Are we doomed?”

  “I don’t know, long ago I lost touch with my brethren. Where I evolved, they didn’t. They live in the past where I have always lived in the future.”

  I shook my head, wiping his mouth gently, “I’m going to find Aidan and gather the Gods again. We’re going to take back Olympus and fix all this.”

  He nodded his head and coughed again, right into my palm. My face twisted slightly before pursing my lips and wiping the blood off on my jeans.

  “Then leave me, I’ll be okay. My body will continue to heal, perhaps even my brethren will take pity on me and free me eventually.” He coughed again and then looked up at me, “but you need to understand Valentina, the longer you are on Earth...”

  “I know, the more dangerous it becomes for us.” “No, the more mortal you become and for Zeus and

  Hera that could mean something worse than death.” “What do you mean?”

  He coughed again and shook his head; “you need to get them out of there.”

  “I will. And someone will get you out. If the Titans don’t, Griffin is still here and he’s on our side. He’ll help you.” I didn’t like the idea of leaving Atlas like this but he was right, I had to go and I couldn’t waste any more time. “Your map, the one that finds the Gods, where is it?” Atlas coughed, looking around the room as if trying to remember before finally lifting his hand and pointing to the bookshelf, “It was on there.”

  I rose quickly and started to search, pulling books off and flipping through them quickly for the desired piece of paper before moving on to the next. I was probably half way through the search when the door to his office started to open.

  “You need to go Valentina!” Atlas hissed from the floor, making my heart skip a beat. He was right; I couldn’t get caught and be cast out.

  “I need the map!”

  “The black book, it’s in the black one I’m sure of it!” My eyes flicked over the bookshelf finding the book he was talking about. I grabbed it and stuffed it into my jacket as the door opened completely and a guy, not much older than myself, walked in.

  “Who are you?” He said suspiciously and I stepped away from him instinctively.

  “Persephone,” I said trying to keep my chin held high. “You shouldn’t be here, you should be on Earth with the rest.”

  “I’m the consort of Hades.” I hoped this would buy me an excuse and for a second it seemed to work. He appeared to accept it and then he looked around the room.

  “What are you doing here? This room is off-limits.” I was running out of excuses, I wasn’t good at lies and knowing I couldn’t rely on that if I needed it made coming up with something even harder, “uh...”

  “The bookshelf Valentina.” I turned to look down at Atlas and the Titan in the door moved toward me.

  “Don’t move.”

  “The bookshelf, it’s a door.” I glanced back at the bookshelf and then at the Titan. Grabbing the side of the shelving unit I pulled it forward, watching it tip and start to fall toward him. As Atlas had said, on the other side was a threshold I thought about my garden and quickly moved through it. On the other side, I paused to worry that the falling furniture had hit Atlas, but there was no going back. I had to get to Aidan before anyone else here figured out what I was doing. I hoped to tell him I was with Hades didn’t get Griffin in trouble.

  Pulling the black book out of my jacket I flipped it open and scanned through the pages looking for an insert of the map but it was empty. There was nothing there. Frowning and thoroughly disappointed I’d grabbed the wrong one I started to close the book again when a shimmer caught my eye.

  I stared at the pages for a moment before closing it completely and thinking hard about needing the map. When I opened the book again there it was, sitting in front of me like it was nothing. I grinned in excitement, picking it up in exchange for the discarded book and flipped it open.

  With Griffin on my mind the map zoomed in on him, he was no longer in the throne room but in Styx, talking heatedly with some other guy who was there with him. I didn’t know him, but then again, I had been gone for weeks and before that avoiding everyone because of Persephone. I didn’t have time to watch the argument unfold and could only hope that he was going to be okay before I thought about Aidan.

  The picture shifted to Aidan chained to a rock belonging to the mountain range. The wind tore at his skin, making him shiver and his skin turn an unsightly color. On his side, there was a massive wound, sinew and organs were exposed to nature while old blood dried to the trails that ran along his ribs. Aidan, ever the picture of control, didn’t even look phased by his condition. At least if he was, he wasn’t going to let the Titans know that.

  I told myself that at the least, on the bright side, he was alive and that was the important thing. But now I needed to figure out how to get to him. Folding up the map I looked around my garden for the first time since entering it.

  In the time, I had been in the Underworld almost all the flowers had wilted and died, the soil had dried out and the entire place stunk of rot. My sanctuary had died without me here to take care of it like the world had done when Demeter was without her daughter. I sighed softly and reached forward for a flower; picking it up gently in my hand and tracing the soft petals with my thumb but the moment I touched them they turned to dust in my palm. I frowned and dropped the ash, brushing my hand off.

  Now wasn’t the time to be nostalgic for my lovely garden. I needed to get to the mountains, not that I even knew how to do it. Atlas had been able to move himself between worlds, counties, and countries with ease, I had to have the same gift as a Goddess, didn’t I?

  “How do I do it Persephone?” I whispered aloud to myself, thinking about Aidan and his poor side as the eagle ravished him repeatedly. But my Goddess didn’t answer, at least if she heard me she didn’t.

  I wanted to believe the answer was inside of me as all the rest had been. It must be, I told myself mentally, wracking my mind for the answer I didn’t know. Maybe if I got back to the throne room, there would be a portal there I would be able to use. Not that it would help me once I was on Earth, how was I supposed to get to England with no money and no transportation.

  Whatever the answer was I couldn’t stand there waiting anymore, the longer I wasted, the less time I had to save Aidan before the Titans found me again. Presuming they were looking for me.

  I stood, grabbing the book and tucking it back inside my jacket before moving toward the door and was midway to opening it when I gasped as an idea struck me.

  What if Earth worked the same was as Olympus? At least worked the same way for a God? What if I had to imagine where I wanted to go and open
a door and it would take me there?

  It was worth a shot because I didn’t have any other magical options. Grabbing the handle, I pushed the door open and thought long and hard about Aidan, picturing him clearly where he was chained to the rock and imagining myself entering the mountain. I stepped through and a blast of wind hit me, pulling at my clothes and threatening to send me over. I reached to grab something, ending up half bent on the side of the mountain clinging to the rocks to keep myself steady. I glanced up desperately; relieved to see Aidan up ahead in as poor condition as he’d been in when I saw him on the map. I crawled slowly, fighting the wind and the cold that caused my fingers to stiffen with each movement.

  “Aidan!” I called out to him, but the wind merely stole my voice and carried it away to where it was useless. Each breath I took was harder than the last, making my lungs burn like there was a fire within them. I reached the base of his feet, touching them gently and drawing his attention down to me.

  “Valentina? What are you doing here?”

  “Saving you!” I said as I used the rock that held him to brace myself and rise to my feet. I brushed my knees off and then surveyed the damage to Aidan’s side.

  “Looks painful.”

  “I’ve dealt with worse.” He said nonchalantly making me stare at him in disbelief.

  “You don’t need to act tough right now Aidan, no one is watching but me and I can tell you that looks extremely painful.”

  “Only mildly painful.” He continued with the blasé act, making me shake my head.

  “C’mon, we’ve got to get off here and find the others.” “How did you find me?”

  “I was in the Underworld when the Titans mutinied,” I explained for the second time tonight, Aidan shook his head like he didn’t understand.

  “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you once I’ve gotten you unchained.”