Elementals 5: The Hands of Time

by Michelle Madow

  I glanced around at the others, and they looked as torn as I did.

  “Why are you looking at each other like that?” Rachael’s face creased with worry, and despite her monstrous appearance, she was just a scared girl who needed answers. “What’s going on?”

  “Rachael,” I said her name again and shuffled my feet, stalling for what was coming next. “Like I said, a lot’s happened since we saw you last. I think it’s best that we start from after the incident in the hydra’s cave.”

  “You mean after I died?” she asked, surprising me by how easily she said the words. “It’s okay. I know I died back in the hydra’s cave. You don’t have to pretend that I didn’t.”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “We’ll start from after you died.”

  From there, we filled her in on everything.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Rachael stared at the portal to Kerberos, saying nothing. I couldn’t blame her. What we’d told her was a lot to soak in. And even though we’d explained that we had no choice—we had to kill Ethan to stop him from killing us—I wouldn’t blame her if she never forgave us for what we did.

  Finally, she turned back to us, her eyes filled with tears. “Just answer one question,” she said, her voice quivering as she spoke. “Why did you kill Ethan in there?” She pointed to the portal, making it clear that by “there,” she meant Kerberos. “Why couldn’t you have brought him back to Earth first? At least that way, he would have been sent to the Underworld. Now he’s in the underworld of Kerberos, going through who knows what kind of torture, and he’ll never see anyone he loved again.”

  Her question broke my heart. Because she was right. Ethan had done terrible things, but did he truly deserve to be sent to the underworld of Kerberos? Now that I was thinking about it, I didn’t think so. If he’d been sent to the Underworld of Earth, he would have been sent to one of the realms there and paid for what he’d done.

  But when I’d exited the time portal and seen Ethan and Blake, there had only been one thought going through my mind—I had to kill Ethan before he killed one of us. So that was exactly what I did. In the original timeline, Ethan hadn’t hesitated to kill Blake in Kerberos. It hadn’t struck me to hesitate in doing the same right back to him.

  But that still didn’t make it right.

  “You’re right,” I admitted to Rachael. “We should have brought Ethan back to Earth first. I’m sorry that we didn’t.”

  “So get Chronos here,” Rachael demanded. “Get him to create another time portal, so you can go back and fix this. I can come with you and talk to Ethan. I’ll get him to see everything clearly. I’ll bring him back to our side, and you won’t have to kill him. I promise you won’t.”

  “It doesn’t work like that.” Danielle spoke calmly, trying her best to soothe Rachael. “What Chronos did for us… it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. And we set the path right again. He won’t risk having the past go any other way.”

  Rachael’s eyes filled with tears, and she looked away from us again. I didn’t know what to say to her. What could possibly make all of this better? I glanced over at Blake, but he seemed as unsure as I did.

  “We need to remember why we came here,” Chris finally spoke up. “We have to find the ambrosia so we can bring back Kate, and every minute we spend talking is another minute closer to Typhon’s return.”

  “I’ll help,” Rachael said, which took me by surprise. She must have noticed my shock, because she added, “I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for killing my brother in Kerberos. But what he did to you these past few weeks… I don’t agree with it. I know he wasn’t thinking clearly, because he was grieving my death, but what he did was wrong. He shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened to me. And if it weren’t for him slipping that gray energy into your drinks, Kate would probably still be here right now. The least I can do is help you bring her back.”

  “Thank you,” I said, humbled by her offer. Going to the Underworld must have changed Rachael—she was definitely different than the girl who had impulsively run to the hydra and gotten herself killed. Or maybe I simply hadn’t had enough time to get to know her before she’d died.

  Either way, I wanted to do something to show her my appreciation.

  “I can try to heal you,” I offered, hoping it would be a start toward earning her forgiveness. “It won’t take long. Afterward, we can search for the ambrosia.”

  “That would mean a lot.” She ran a finger across her cheek and grimaced, apparently reminded about how monstrous she looked. “Thank you.”

  I walked toward her, and she met me in the middle of the cave. The others gathered around, watching. Up close, Rachael looked even worse. I could see every detail of her swollen, discolored veins, just as I had when I’d tried to heal her in the hydra’s cave and failed. Even the whites of her eyes looked puffy and purple.

  I couldn’t imagine the amount of pain she’d been in when she’d died.

  “What should I do?” She held her hands out, waiting for instructions.

  Normally I put my hands on the part of the person that had been injured. Rachael’s whole body was affected, but I guessed it would make sense to start with the source of the injury—the place where the hydra’s fang had entered her body.

  “You don’t have to do anything,” I told her. “I’m going to put my hands on your injury and call on the white energy to heal you. I’ve gotten pretty fast at this, so it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

  I reached for her shoulder, hesitant to touch the wound. Usually when someone was injured, the blood was bright, fresh, and flowing out. Hers was dark, coagulated, and still.

  The blood was dead. So was her skin. Gray and sickly, like she was a walking corpse. Which, I supposed, she was.

  I pushed away my hesitation and reached for the wound, closing my eyes and laying my hands on top of it. Her body felt room temperature—as if I were touching an inanimate object. No warmth emitted from it at all. I had to open my eyes to verify that I was touching Rachael and that I hadn’t accidentally reached for the cave wall instead.

  “Well?” she asked. “Did you start?”

  “Not yet,” I told her. “I’m about to.”

  I closed my eyes, reaching out with my mind to gather the white energy around me. As always, the energy came to me immediately, filling my body with its familiar warmth.

  I tried to send it toward Rachael, but it was like hitting a wall. The energy couldn’t sense her. It was like she didn’t exist at all.

  This had only happened to me three other times—when I’d tried to heal Blake after Ethan had killed him, when I’d tried to heal Kate after she’d been turned to stone, and the first time I’d tried to heal Rachael when she’d died in the hydra’s cave. There was only one common denominator. All those three times, I’d been attempting to heal someone who was already dead.

  Trying to heal Rachael right now was no different.

  I pulled my hands off of her and opened my eyes, unsurprised to find that her appearance was unchanged.

  “Did it work?” she asked. “Do I look normal again?”

  I shook my head, my heart sinking as her hopeful expression disappeared. “I tried,” I told her. “But I can only heal people who are alive. My best guess is that Helios kept his word on bringing your soul back from the Underworld, but he didn’t reanimate your body.”

  “What do you mean?” Rachael stepped back, her mouth open in horror. “He put me back into a corpse?” Her hands flew to her arms, to her stomach, and to her face, understanding dawning in her eyes. “I’m cold,” she realized. “My body… it’s not alive.”

  “It’s not,” I agreed, watching her sadly. “I’m so sorry. I did everything I could. I tried to heal you… but I can’t bring back the dead.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “What does that mean?” she asked. “I’m going to be a walking corpse forever?”

  “I believe t
he correct term is ‘zombie,’” Chris chimed in.

  Rachael sat down and buried her face in her hands, as if she were too ashamed to look at any of us. “What am I supposed to do?” She raised her head again, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m hideous. I’m a monster. I’ll have to live in hiding forever. My life is ruined.” She pulled her legs up to her chest and lowered her head in her knees, crying.

  I looked at the others, not knowing what to do. I’d already tried to help her—there was nothing I could do to fix her.

  “I have an idea,” Danielle announced.

  Rachael’s head shot up, and she wiped away her tears, waiting for Danielle to continue.

  “As you know, we came to the cave to search for ambrosia so that we can turn Kate into a goddess,” she said, pacing back and forth. “According to Apollo, the apotheosis process rids the soul of its previous body and provides a new, immortal body. Once we find the ambrosia, I don’t see what harm it would do to have Rachael test it out first. If it works for her, then we’ll know it will work for Kate.”

  “That should work,” Blake said. “If there’s enough ambrosia for both of them.”

  “And if there’s not?” Rachael asked.

  “We’ll deal with that if it comes to it,” I said, since the answer I was sure we were all thinking—that Kate would get the ambrosia no matter what—was not what Rachael would want to hear.

  “Okay.” Rachael stood up, a newfound life in her step. “Where do we find the ambrosia?”

  I looked to Danielle, since this had been part of the plan we’d created back in the New Alexandrian Library.

  “Ambrosia is liquid,” Danielle explained to Rachael. “And it’s consumable, which makes me think there must be water in it. My power allows me to sense all water nearby. I should be able to sense the ambrosia, and will be able to lead us to it.”

  With that, she kneeled down and placed her hands palms-down on the ground. She closed her eyes and scrunched her forehead, clearly deep in concentration.

  No one spoke—I worried that even a whisper would distract her from her task.

  A few seconds passed in silence. Then the ground started to shake, and I heard something crack in the nearby basin—the one I’d fallen into when we fought the harpy last winter.

  I turned to look at it, and saw that a geyser had erupted in the center, yellow liquid spurting out and up from its vent.

  “Well, guys.” Chris rubbed his hands together, staring excitedly at the basin as it filled up with the liquid. “It looks like we found the ambrosia.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The geyser eventually finished exploding, and now we stared down at the basin full of ambrosia. The liquid shined and shimmered, as if it were molten gold itself.

  Rachael stepped forward, smiling down at the basin. “This is it then,” she said. “I’ll drink the ambrosia, and turn into a goddess.”

  “It might not be that easy,” I warned her, since she deserved to have all the information before she made the attempt. “We did a lot of research on apotheosis last night. The ambrosia works best on people who have divine ancestry, so as a daughter of Zeus, you have that part covered. But the majority of those who drink ambrosia don’t survive the process.”

  “The ambrosia will turn your blood to ichor,” Danielle added. “Ichor is the blood of the gods. But ichor is toxic to mortals. If the transition to being a god doesn’t take, the ichor will still be in your blood, and it will kill you.”

  “I’m a daughter of Zeus,” Rachael reminded us—as if we needed reminding. “Of course the transition to being a god will take. And it’s worth the risk. I would rather die than live in the body of a corpse. What kind of life could I possibly have if I stay like this?” She motioned to her monstrous body for emphasis.

  “We could try to find another solution,” I said. “This might not be the only way.”

  “But this is the only way for me to become a goddess?” Rachael asked.

  “From our research, it seems like it,” Danielle said.

  “Then I’m doing this.” Rachael straightened her shoulders, staring down at the ambrosia. “I want to be a goddess. I was brought back from the Underworld, put back into my mutilated corpse, and placed in this cave where the ambrosia can be found. This is my destiny. It has to be.”

  She kneeled down next to the basin, cupped the golden liquid in her hands, and drank it. Then she dipped her hands in again and drank more.

  “How much do I need to drink for it to work?” she asked us.

  “One cup,” Blake said. “At least, that’s what it said in the books we read.”

  She filled her hands twice more with the ambrosia and gulped it down. Then she stood back up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Was that enough?” she asked.

  “We’re as new to this as you are,” Danielle answered. “I suppose we can wait and—”

  She was cut off by Rachael’s earsplitting scream.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “It burns!” Rachael scratched at her arms, as if she were trying to dig into her flesh and drain out the ambrosia. Chunks of her skin came off with her nails. She held her hands up in front of her face, staring at the shreds of her skin attached to them, and screamed again.

  There were gaping holes in her arms where her skin used to be. But it wasn’t blood that seeped out of the wounds. It was a thick, glowing, metallic liquid.

  Ichor.

  The ichor burned through her flesh as it poured out of her body and fell onto the ground, melting her skin and leaving sizzling trails in its wake.

  Her screams echoed through the cave, and through her cries, she begged us to help her.

  I wanted to run to her and try to heal her, but after my last failed attempt, I knew this would be no different. If the apotheosis process was failing, there was nothing I could do.

  Her tears were also made of ichor, and they ran down her face, joining the growing puddle of melted gold on the ground. Her feet melted into the puddle, disappearing until there was nothing left of them anymore. With her feet gone, she fell to her knees, reaching forward to brace herself with her palms and screaming again. Her skin was literally melting off her body now, dripping to the puddle below. The ichor was burning its way through her, leaving nothing in its wake—not even bones.

  I watched in horror, hating that there was nothing that I could do to help. All I could do was watch her melt away.

  Her final screams echoed through the cave, and then she was silent.

  Rachael was gone.

  All that remained was a glistening puddle of ichor.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  We were all silent, staring at the place where Rachael had been standing. Even though she was gone, I could still hear her awful screams in my mind. The way she’d begged for help. I didn’t think I would ever forget her cries for as long as I lived.

  “Maybe she’ll be okay,” Chris finally said, although from the way his voice wavered, I doubted he believed it. “Maybe this is just the first part of the apotheosis process. The ichor is still there. She could rise from it as a goddess…”

  “She’s not going to rise as a goddess,” Blake said, his eyes locked on the puddle that used to be Rachael. “We all saw what just happened to her. The ichor burned through her body. She rejected the transition.”

  “We can’t do that to Kate.” Chris’s eyes were wide, locked on the puddle as he backed as far away from it as possible—as if he was afraid that being near it would burn him, too. “What if the same thing happens to her? Hasn’t Kate been through enough already? Maybe there’s another way… something else we can do to save her…”

  “There’s no other way,” I said. “If there were, Apollo would have told us. And we have to trust that he told us about apotheosis because it’s the best and possibly only way to get Kate back.”

  “All Apollo told us was to learn about the apotheosis process,” Chris said. “He didn’t specifically mention ambrosia. And Kate can’t even drink t
he ambrosia! We would have to submerge her in it completely. And we all know from our research that that’s never been done before. Maybe we should just go back to the library and try to figure out another option.”

  “Kate’s soul is stuck in the stone,” Danielle reminded him, her voice soft. “We know that ambrosia has the power to turn mortals into gods, and the ambrosia is right here in this cave. If the worst happens, and Kate suffers the same fate as Rachael, then at least we’ll have freed her soul from the stone. At least she’ll be able to find peace. We owe it to her to at least give her that.”

  “And I don’t want to speak badly of the dead, but Kate has a much better chance of surviving the process than Rachael,” Blake added. “She has more qualities of a goddess.”

  “She does,” I agreed, although I was glad that Blake had said it first. “We also can’t forget that Apollo is the one who recommended this method to us, and he’s the god of prophecy. He wouldn’t lead us in the wrong direction.”

  “I know that you’re right,” Chris said. “It was just—seeing that happen to Rachael… I’ve seen a lot of scary stuff recently, but that took the cake.”

  I nodded, since I understood what he meant. I saw a lot of terrifying stuff in Kerberos, but seeing Rachael melt into a puddle of ichor was worse than most of the things I saw while there. The only thing worse had been walking into the cabin and finding Blake’s mutilated corpse.

  I shivered from thinking about it and stepped closer to Blake, taking his hand in mine. I was more grateful that he was here now than I would ever be able to explain out loud.

  “So we’re still in agreement?” Danielle asked. “We’re moving forward with the process for Kate?”

  We didn’t get a chance to answer, because a huge orb of fiery light appeared in the middle of a cave, a man materializing in the center. And judging from his angry expression and his eyes that blazed with fire, I doubted he was here to help us.