Soren barked a laugh, “and you’re careful with them? You who turned them over to me the first time he got the chance to be rid of them?”
“I needed you to trust me.”
“I would’ve never.”
“I know that now. Just like I would never trust you.”
“You’re getting it,” Soren grinned and nodded at Gage, who hauled Valentina away.
“What are—” I started toward them, but Oliver held out his hand and a wall of fire suddenly blazed in front of me, making me stumble back.
“Valentina is insurance for me, Griffin. If I don’t win the fight with Aidan, I will not only take her powers, but I will drain her until her life is nothing but a dull flicker inside of a soul that no longer has an identity. So you better go and tell Aidan that he’s going to let me win, and I’ll let them both live. For now.” My jaw ached from how tight I was holding it, as I raised my hand and conjured my smoke, willing it to suffocate the flames that Oliver urged on. The smoke billowed from my palm, snaking toward the base of the fire, before slipping between the flickers, trying to douse it. For a moment it worked, I could see beyond the red, orange, and yellow, to where Gage was hauling Valentina through a building door. I had no doubt the door was a portal, but I didn’t know to where.
“You bring her to the duel in an hour. If she’s not there, we won’t play nice.”
“I can only hope you won’t play nice in the first place.” He grinned savagely at me, “because I don’t plan to.” He flicked his wrist at me, and my body was launched through the air as I fell through the portal I’d entered from, landing in the Olympus throne room in a heap.
“What happened?” Aidan grabbed my arm and picked me up, “it didn’t let you go through the portal?”
I looked up at him, frowning in confusion. “What are you talking about? I’ve been on Earth.”
“No, you weren’t.” I took a deep breath and shook my head. This had to be what Atlas meant about the time difference between the two realms.
“What happened?”
“You ran for the portal and went through it but immediately after, you came back out, and here you are.”
“Here I am,” I frowned. “Time works faster on Earth, then. Which means, the hour you’ve given Soren, could be days to prepare. It could be days of him taking powers off the other Titans or Gods that might be working with him down there. If he manages to steal the magic of the mythical creatures that could add to his abilities too.”
Aidan frowned, digesting what I was saying, before he shook his head. “It won’t matter. I’m going to win. Good always conquers evil, that’s what the books and movies tell us.”
“This time, it can’t,” I said grabbing his arm in a pleading gesture.
“He says he’s going to kill
Valentina if you don’t let him win. He’s not planning on playing nice either. He’s got trick up his sleeve neither of us are thinking about. He’s in New York, if we go to him, maybe we can kill him before it gets to the duel. Maybe trying to trap him now is too much of an idealist idea.”
“New York?” Aidan looked interested.
“Yeah, it’s scavenged. Completely desolated. I’d be surprised if there’s much of population there from the looks of things.” Aidan turned away from me and conjured up a screen, flickers of the ghost city appeared, but he wasn’t really looking at them. His fingers flicked from one image to the next, the city speeding by us like we were on a train. But whatever he was looking for, wasn’t there.
“We need to go back to the Underworld,” he said, turning back to me sharply. I frowned, not sure of why he was suddenly so focused on New York and not the problem at hand, but I nodded. If Aidan wasn’t going to help me now, I was going to have to get some advice from the other Gods. All together, we could come up with a plan; and this time, Soren wasn’t going to have the upper hand.
I turned to Asher, nodding at him as he came toward me, “think about the Underworld. I’ll draw the image from you and open the portal to it.” I nodded again as I thought about the dark, cavernous caves, picturing my throne room in candlelight.
The portal in front of me shimmered from black to gold again. I looked over at Asher from the corner of my eyes, “and don’t forget, we’re also going to have a chat as to why the portal went to New York instead of the Underworld.” I stepped away from him, feeling slimy and disgusted from his touch, before moving to the entrance and stepping into it.
The magic pulled at my naval, tugging me through until I stepped through the main door of the throne room and everyone standing there looked up at me unexpectedly.
“How did it go?” Surprisingly, Savannah was the first one to speak as I moved further into the room. I shook my head in disappointment.
“It didn’t go at all and Soren managed to kidnap Valentina from us. Aidan is going to duel him in an hour or so, but Soren said that if Aidan doesn’t deliberately throw the game, he’ll kill Valentina.
Royce and Zane shouldered their way over to me, “he wouldn’t.”
“Do you really think that?” I turned to look at them, seeing beyond their faces, the burnt memory of the two daughters Soren killed as a display for us of his inhumanity. I realized that’s what it was— the Titans were inhuman, despite their mortal soul fragments. This was the opposite of what Zeus had wanted when he sent us all to sleep until our needful return. He’d wanted us to have humanity so that we could fix the mistakes we’d made the first time and be better versions of ourselves. We were doing a shitty job of it so far.
“Are you okay?” Savannah reached out and touched my forearm. It was the first time we’d touched skin to skin since the incident in the bathroom, but she didn’t seem to be recoiling from me. I looked up at her, afraid for her of the things she would see behind my eyes. But she didn’t shy back, she stood there waiting patiently for an answer.
“I don’t know yet. I can’t feel her, generally I can feel her, even just a little bit, but right now… I feel… empty.” She smiled gently before reaching forward and wrapping her arms around me surprisingly.
“We’re going to figure this out. Aidan isn’t going to let anything happen to her. I promise. He loves her like she’s his daughter.” I made a noise somewhere between an ‘mhm’ and a grunt. Savannah pulled back just as Aidan entered behind me. His eyes scanned the room, looking for everyone, but seeing no one.
“Everyone out!” His voice was firm, commanding. He was angry about something.
But when no one moved, that was all it took. “OUT!” He bellowed making the walls around us shake and several chunks of the rocky walls fell, echoing in the silence that followed. Chaos erupted and everyone moved quickly toward their chambers, trying to avoid the wrath of Zeus.
“You too, Savannah,” He said with a command, pointing her toward the door. Her eyes flashed dangerously, Hera apparently disliked her husband commanding her about like cattle. Her mouth opened to argue, but he stopped her, “woman, if you have half a mind right now, get the hell out of here before I do something I regret.” She snapped her mouth shut and glared at him with a hatred that would never let you believe they supposedly loved each other, before leaving the room. I turned to go after her, whatever Aidan was up to, I wasn’t interested in being a part of it.
I’d had my daily dose of Aidan already, and if he was intently focused on not helping get Valentina back then, I would rather be with anyone but him.
“Not you,” he said, pointing a finger at me. I turned to look at him, cocking an eyebrow that almost challenged him to try and boss me around in my realm. He forgot I could send him out of here and separate him from the other Gods, punish him on Earth with the dwindling faith that would surely erase his powers before the duel. “I need you to conjure a session.”
“A what?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“A session, a tribunal…
Whatever it is Hades conducts when souls are brought here and their destination is unclear.”
“
Why?”
“Just do it for Gods’ sakes!” I glared at him, copying Savannah’s expression, before moving to my throne and sitting down. This is all it took last time, they’d swarmed the room as soon as I sat so I expected it to be the same. As soon as I was seated, they came, milling around as lost as they looked.
Aidan moved through them, his body lost, despite their opacity only because of the density of souls that were being forced into such a small space. He moved around and around, looking at each one before moving on to the next. Who was he looking for? It had to be someone in New York.
“Did you have a girlfriend in New York?”
“Shut up.” I shrugged, it wasn’t my business but if he had a mortal back on Earth, it would probably do that Savannah knew that her tiger never changed his stripes.
“This isn’t enough I need more.”
“These won’t clear out until they have been sorted, that’s just how it works.” I stood up from my throne and eased my way into the crowd. I shuddered every time one of their cold, lingering touches brushed me. With each touch, I was bombarded with memories of a life I didn’t live, sins and repentance I hadn’t done. I didn’t need to see those things.
A woman brushed me, she was wailing, but I couldn’t hear her voice. Her memory was so intense, I couldn’t help but see it. Her daughter was lying in her crib crying and screaming, I could feel the exhaustion sinking into my bones. I felt hopeless and despairing. I didn’t want to do this, but I needed to, I just needed to sleep for a few hours, then I would be okay. She just needed to be quiet for a few hours… So she set the pillow on top of her face and held it there, she waited until the wailing stopped and when it had, she tucked the pillow under the small babe’s head to sleep better. Then, she crawled back into her own and got a full night’s sleep. In the morning, when she got up to check on the baby, its skin was a blueish-grey.
I jerked my hand away from the woman, feeling the bile rise in my throat as I turned away from her and gagged on it before expelling the contents of my mouth.
“You’re disgusting. You belong in hell.” I turned back to her, not even thinking about my words. The room exploded as her wail suddenly filled it. The walls shook harder than they had with Aidan, and I could hear the cracks as they appeared in the ceiling above me. Something invisible reached out and hooked the woman around the waist, tugging her through the parted crowd, and she disappeared into the deepest, darkest hole set in the back corner of the room.
That must be Tartarus.
I stood there for a moment, surprised by my own ability, before I shook myself and remembered who I was. This was my job.
“Where is she?” Aidan drew me back into the moment as I turned to watch him. He hadn’t seen anything that I’d done, he was still frantically looking at each individual face.
“Who? If she’s in the Underworld, I should be able to summon her here.” I didn’t know for sure, but the confidence I felt in my words seemed to be backed by truth from Hades.
Aidan stopped walking and turned to look at me, “my mother.”
I nodded at him, “alright. I can try.” I waved toward the room, sending the spirits away before moving back to my throne and sitting down. I didn’t know for sure, but I felt confident that the throne is what gave me my ability to call the souls here. So I sat, feeling as empty as the chair next to me was, before focusing on what Aidan was asking. I didn’t know what this had to do with what we were going to do or not, but if it were something he needed to focus on saving Valentina, then I would do my best.
“What’s her name?”
“Rose Cartwright.”
“Okay, Rose Cartwright, I summon you to the throne room.” We both stared at each other, both waiting for something to happen. If she were to come, I had no idea whether it was going to be the right person, and I felt reasonably sure that Rose Cartwright could be a common name. Maybe I should’ve used a middle name. I shrugged my shoulders at Aidan after a few seconds. Hopefully, this meant she was alive.
Knock, knock, knock.
Aidan spun around to face the door behind him. There was another series of timid knocks before he all but ran to the door and pulled it open.
Beyond it stood a meek-looking woman, holding herself together barely.
“Mom.” Aidan moved to hug her, but his arms went through her. He turned on me quickly, “make her real.”
“I can’t. She’s…” I didn’t bother to finish, he knew what I was saying. I sat there awkwardly, watching Aidan’s shoulders slump slightly before he seemed to take a deep breath and turned back to me.
“She’s a good woman, send her to Elysium. Let her be happy there.” I nodded, not wanting to argue. I’d do the same for my mother despite her faults.
“Alright. Rose Cartwright, your sentence has been passed and you have been found to be a good and loving woman. May you spend your days happy in the Summerland.” She smiled, the brightness of it turning her body back from the greyish ghostly hue to a warm pink and her dress filled in as a bright green.
“Aidan,” she said, stepping toward him, “you’re alive.” She touched his cheek tenderly. I felt my stomach knot in desire. I yearned for a mother that cared about me like that.
“I’m sorry, mom. There was somewhere I had to be.”
“Your destiny,” she said with understanding.
“Yeah, destiny.” There was no mistaking the bitterness in Aidan’s tone when he spoke. Not that I blamed him. There was nothing to desire from this destiny we’d had thrust upon ourselves. She cupped both his cheeks and stared at him long and hard before smiling, reaching down and touching his chest where his heart was.
“You take good care of her. She deserves a real man, and I know I raised you as one.” She pulled him down to her height and kissed his forehead tenderly, “I love you, I’m so proud of you.” She pulled back and smiled at me before letting him go. She nodded at both of us before walking toward the doorway beside the one of the darkness, shining brighter than any light I’d ever seen. She didn’t seem afraid or upset at her untimely death as she walked through it. My eyes flicked to Aidan to make sure he was still in control of himself. He was still staring at the portal, even after it had closed and she was gone.
“Check for Jackson Cartwright.”
“Sorry?”
“Jackson. Now.”
I nodded uncertainly and leaned back in my throne, taking a deep breath, “Jackson Cartwright, I summon you.”
We waited again but this time no one came. In the silence, I tried to figure out the purpose of this activity but I couldn’t figure it out. These were his parents, but why was he worried about them now? Wasn’t it a bit too late?
“I knew it. That self-serving, self-absorbed asshole.” He punched the rock wall to his right, before cradling his hurt fist in his hands. “I’m going to kill him.” I hoped he meant Soren and not his father, because daddy-issues weren’t on the list of things to deal with today. I needed us to get Valentina back. However, we needed to do it; and if death for Soren was on the cards, I could live with that kind of guilt.
“Go and get everyone back in here. We have Titans to kill.” I exhaled the breath I was holding, glad that we were— seemingly—on the same page again. I nodded my head and moved from the throne to the doorway. Aidan apparently needed time alone, his mother’s death had to be recent. Even in ghostly shape, she had been opaquer than most of them. She had to be among the victims of New York if that’s who he had been looking for in the screens.
I selfishly wondered if learning about her was going to affect his ability to fight Soren later, or even now, when coming up with a plan. I needed the King of the Heavens in control of his uncontrollable emotions and working with us for a common goal. If he got distracted now… Well, I didn’t want to imagine what could possibly happen to Valentina.
I wasn’t going to, I resolved. We were going to find her, we were going to save her, and everything was going to be alright.
Chapter 22
> We gathered in the throne room to come up with a plan. We all agreed that giving Aidan’s powers to Soren didn’t mean that he would keep his side of the bargain and hand Valentina over to us. We also decided we didn’t want to do anything that might risk her safety. So a lesser god, Dolos the spirit of trickery, whose mortal name was Blaine, offered to change his appearance to look like Aidan so Soren would believe he was fighting the King of the Gods.
When he subsequently lost— because this was a part of our plan—Aidan would appear and throw the lightning bolt into Soren, hopefully killing him. Just in case, Zane offered to be nearby with his sword to finish it off. It was my job to get Valentina from Gage, but I was happy to use my powers against him to do it.
We just had to get Stirling, who is Hermes, to change Blaine’s appearance. Hermes was the trickster God, so only he had the ability to make those kinds of changes to appearances. And because Blaine was a spirit entity and not a true God, he didn’t have the kind of powers that Soren would take and grow stronger with.
The plan was solid and finally I felt more confident going into the battle with our plans thoroughly hashed out. I was confident nothing was going on… Except for maybe one thing.
“We need to talk about Asher,” I said to Aidan, interrupting his conversation with Savannah.
He turned to me and nodded, “he didn’t follow me into the Underworld when I came back.”
“No, and I don’t think he ever intended to. The portal he made didn’t bring us to here like he said it would. He was playing us and I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s been working with the Titans all along.”
Aidan frowned, looking around at the big group of Gods gathered around, “does anyone know anything about the God who called himself Asher?”
As I suspected, an uncomfortable silence followed. We were all realizing we had had a traitor in our midst, a traitor we’d blindly trusted, who’d helped get Valentina captured.
“No one?” Aidan double-checked.
“I’ve never even seen him before.” Jed moved through the crowd, where it parted to accommodate him, “and I’ve seen near enough everyone, I thought.” Aidan nodded, a deep frown creasing his forehead.
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