My Life From Hell

by Tellulah Darling

  Which would explain why the sky wasn’t filled with smoke. Why I couldn’t smell fire, just see it. “Then what’s the problem?”

  Theo pointed over to his left. “Do you see a pomegranate tree?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “Exactly.” He looked at Kai. “The ritual had a precise location. Care to guess where it was?”

  Aw, jeez.

  “How could our place marker disappear inside our own ward?” It didn’t make any sense to me. Yes, Zeus and Hades had set up a ward of their own but it ran outside of ours. “The entire point of our ward was to stop them destroying the location. So how did someone manage to do exactly that?”

  “It’s not destroyed, exactly,” said Festos. “Just a wee bit harder to locate. The garden is still there.” He scrunched up his face in confusion and looked to Theo. “I could have sworn we saw the tree when we originally set up our wards.”

  “Yeah. We did.”

  “Felicia,” I groaned. “It’s her temple. She’s the only other person who could have gotten to the tree. She probably wrenched it out of the ground with her bare hands.”

  “And ruin my manicure? Please.” We all jumped at the sound of her voice. She looked as perfectly groomed as ever. Her meticulously coiffed hair brushed the shoulders of her short, cognac-colored jacket with fur trim. It was odd seeing that color on her clothing instead of in her glass.

  Felicia stretched out a hand to peer at her nails, as if to assure herself no harm had come to them. “Bethany and an ax worked just as well.” She smiled at me with glittering malice. “You know how effective mere mortals can be. Especially that one.”

  I am the bigger person. I am the bigger person.

  I shot my vines out.

  Felicia laughed and sidestepped them easily. “Not very effective when I see it coming a mile away. Don’t telegraph so much, darling.”

  “But I don’t.” Kai gave her his snake smile. “And I haven’t shown my displeasure at Sophie’s personal time with your knife.”

  Felicia went pale.

  Damn, that was satisfying.

  “Blame it on Kiki,” she said, recovering quickly with a flippant wave. “It was her ridiculous enchantment.”

  “Other than gloating, did you want something?” Theo asked. He stood in his usual slouchy stance, hands jammed in his pockets. But I was not fooled. His chain could be in his hand and doing serious damage in a second, if he thought the situation called for it.

  Felicia smiled faintly. “Many things, dear boy. Right now I’m just curious to see how this all plays out.”

  I wrapped my arms around my chest. Mostly so I wouldn’t blast her again. “If I lose, mother dearest, I’ll probably be dead. And while I’m certain you’ll enjoy celebrating my end, just remember that Zeus will be celebrating, too. With his beloved Hera at his side.” Apparently, despite my love for her, I still had more than my ongoing share of petty desire to hurt my mother.

  I’ll give her credit. She didn’t even flinch at that barb.

  It was a good speech. Too bad I’d trembled slightly as my tangle of emotions—around her, around us—got the better of me. I dug my nails into my sides and let the sting keep me steady. I had to ask. “Why would you destroy the tree and actively help him win?”

  “It was a fit of pique.” Her eyes flicked down to my fingers, curved painfully into my skin, and back up to my face. “Things could have been different,” she said.

  “Why weren’t they?” That came out a bit harsher than I’d intended.

  My mother considered me for a long moment. Then she shrugged. “Despite your childish refusal to give me what you promised, I haven’t totally knocked you out of the game. Just made it more difficult. The tree may not exist, but the location most certainly does.” She glanced at her watch. “You have more than three hours to figure it out. Oh, and to say good-bye to Theo.” She patted my cheek and disappeared.

  “Come on,” Kai said. “Let’s see if Bethany left any trace of the tree.”

  We tromped down to the garden.

  The sky grew dark. I looked up, knowing I wasn’t going to find storm clouds. Sure, it might look that way to humans, but I could clearly see the thousands of Pyrosim and Photokia hovering outside the second ward. More arrived every second. Well, we’d known they’d all be showing up. Dwelling on it wasn’t going to change anything.

  I turned to face to the garden. I think I would have preferred to stare at the minions. That dead garden, wild and choked with weeds, was downright forbidding. Icy tendrils snaked through my blood. Every step closer left me with the irrational fear that, at any second, the ground beneath me would cave into a field of lava. My friends—and even the minions—would all disappear and I’d be left here. Alone.

  The lack of a pomegranate tree didn’t relieve me at all. It just made me more anxious. As if I’d already lost. The sight of the flames burning from Pops’ ward made me feel worse. They came extremely close to the garden. With the pomegranate tree gone, I couldn’t help thinking that if anything was going to be consumed by flame, it would be me.

  The terror grew like a weight until I stumbled under it.

  Theo grabbed my elbow. “Steady, Magoo.”

  I clutched his hand, my eyes focused on the garden. I could only manage shallow breaths. No matter how hard I tried to suck in oxygen, I felt like I’d never get enough air again.

  Kai stepped into the garden first. He paced slowly through it, meticulously searching for any trace of the tree.

  “It was along one of the edges of the garden,” I said. And so was I. I’d go in if I had to, but not a second before. It hadn’t occurred to me that I’d have to psych myself up to perform the ritual. I’d always just assumed I’d be so eager to defeat Pops and Hades that I’d be raring to go.

  It’s just a place. I tried to hold on to that thought. It couldn’t hurt me. A lot of things in and around it most definitely could, but the garden itself couldn’t. Not unless I gave it the power to.

  “Tree cutting and yoga, who knew Bethany was so multi-talented,” Theo said.

  Festos limped into the center of the garden. “Demeter helped her with some kind of magic tool. Trust me. There’s no way that child could have obliterated every trace of the tree otherwise.”

  Kai looked over at me. “Soph? Anything you remember that could help here?”

  I forced myself to step into the garden. Nothing happened. I wasn’t consumed by lava. No stone grew from the ground to twist up my body and seal me into a sarcophagus.

  Hang on. The stone that I’d stood on in my vision. “Look for a low flat rock. One wide enough to stand on comfortably. “

  We all took a corner of the garden and started searching. My patch contained a lot of weeds, that yielded no stones underneath. There were a couple of boulders, but they weren’t the right size.

  “Honeybunch?”

  I looked at Festos. He held a tangle of vines aside with his cane, peering down. I hurried over to him. He’d exposed the edge of a stone that could be the one we wanted.

  “Can you knock some more of the vines out of the way?” I asked. I bent down and scrabbled in the dirt to pull out some of the plants myself, while Fee hacked at the others.

  In a few minutes, the rock was exposed. I squinted down at it. “I think that’s it. The one in my vision.”

  Wimpily, no matter how much I assured myself that it was just a rock and not a tomb, I couldn’t step onto it. I stood in front of it instead. “Since I was facing into the garden when I saw the tree …” I spread my arms out in front of me. “Follow my arms. It was somewhere between them on the other side.”

  Theo and Kai started walking. I held my breath until Theo looked up with a grin. “They were good. But not perfect. Come see.”

  Festos and I hurried over.

  Theo stopped us. “Look. There. Don’t disturb the ground. That’s the X-marks-the-spot placeholder.”

  It took me a minute to see it. The rest of the dirt was untouched s
ave for pockmarks of scrub, but there was a small circle, maybe three inches in diameter, edged out of the brush. It was too perfect to be random.

  Kai squatted down for a better look. “Must have been where Bethany took out the root.” He scooped up a few small stones and made a little pile. “There.” Then he stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. “Solved. So, what should we do for the next two and half hours?” And then he gave me a look that made it abundantly clear what he thought the two of us should do.

  I shivered. Sadly, it wouldn’t be good to get that distracted. Also, I wanted to stay with Theo. “We stick together,” I said.

  We went back to the cave. None of us wanted to hang around and watch the minions gather.

  It would have been nice if, during our last few hours, Theo and I had gone for lunch in Paris. Or swimming by moonlight on a tropical beach. Rode roller coasters and laughed hysterically. Even binged on too much cookie dough and watched dumb movies. Made one incredible memory that could sustain me after I said good-bye to Theo.

  It wasn’t just that I’d never get to see him again. This deal with Felicia was going to change everything. I wouldn’t be able to see Festos if Theo was there. Hang out with Hannah if he was around at all.

  Hell, even Kai could go hang out with him if he wanted. Not that he would now. But if he ever made up with Festos, then it could happen. I’d be cut off from it all, though. And yeah, Theo would too. In reverse. It would change the dynamic for all of us.

  So no, hanging out in a cave wasn’t amazing in your typical memory-making way. It wasn’t what I wanted. But at least it was Theo and me. Stripped down to our essence.

  When Kai said, “It’s time.” I wanted to refuse. Beg for five more minutes.

  I was strong enough to take on any god that came my way. But I couldn’t let Theo go.

  Tears ran down my face. I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop them if I tried.

  Theo pulled me to my feet. “Love you, Magoo.”

  “Love you,” I said in a broken whisper.

  He pressed his lips to my forehead.

  Festos turned away, wiping his eyes.

  Theo stepped away from me. I felt colder already.

  He looked at each of us in turn. “The second I take down their ward, the second I’m out of here, Festos will take down our ward and start the cleansing ritual. Soon as that happens, you become vulnerable. The minions will attack.”

  I nodded and slipped my chain off of my neck. Fee’s re-charger ring was still threaded on it, next to the pendant. I took the ring off, slid it onto my finger, and put my sapphire back on.

  “We good?” Theo asked.

  Festos opened his mouth and then closed it again. “No.”

  Theo took his hand.

  I took Kai’s.

  And for better or for worse, the four of us walked outside to begin the battle.

  Sunset had hit. This didn’t mean the fight would happen against a backdrop of splendid oranges and pinks which might somehow have fueled our hope and courage. Nope, it just meant that the sky turned a darker gray.

  Light leeched away with every second. Which sucked. Who wanted to fight in the dark? I’d gotten used to the lack of sunshine lately, but, psychologically, I found it way easier to do this with at least a little light on my skin. Night time was when the monsters came out. Literally and metaphorically.

  I pressed closer to my friends.

  Theo explained that it didn’t really matter where he took down their ward. But it made sense to do it where the two wards came closest to our ritual location.

  We needed to be pretty much in place. Especially since, once the wards came down, we only had three minutes and thirty seconds for both the cleansing and the ritual. That was the maximum recharge on the ring. All the time I had to fire my full body shockwaves and hold the minions at bay.

  Fifteen feet from where the pomegranate tree used to be, we stopped. The ward fire blazed. I couldn’t understand how humans couldn’t see or feel it, when I had to throw up a hand against the heat.

  Fire is a slippery thing with many faces.

  The fire that Festos had brought to life back in the cave, while no less magic’d than this one, had been cheerful. Comforting.

  These flames promised power. And annihilation.

  “Bring the fire, choke the spark, release the form.” I repeated Cassie’s words. Had it only been a few days ago? It felt like a lifetime. I looked from the flames to Theo. “So? How does this work?”

  Theo gave me a tired smile. “Simple.”

  See, I didn’t understand. Anything.

  Not why Kai bowed his head as if he couldn’t bear to look.

  Not why Festos moaned as if in great pain.

  Not why Theo stepped into the flames.

  No.

  He held up a hand to us. Like a good-bye.

  But … no. I started to hyperventilate. To shake my head harder and harder, as if one good snap of my neck could knock the image of the flames swallowing my best friend from my brain. Wake me from this grisly nightmare.

  Theo was consumed.

  The flames blared hot and bright and fierce and then winked out.

  The fire was gone.

  Theo was gone.

  And all I was left with, in the gloomy night air, was the radiance of his memory.

  Twenty-three

  A sound tore from my throat. Not a scream. Something darker. Inhuman-cry. I lunged toward the spot where Theo had just stood, my arms reaching out.

  Festos grabbed me. I registered it dimly, and only because I felt his cane bang against my shin.

  The world around me began to pound under the assault of endless minions.

  Bring the fire … Prometheus had brought fire to mankind. Choke the spark … Theo had done that, dousing the flames with his own life essence.

  Release the form …

  I twisted away from Fee and screamed, “How can you stand there?”

  Why wasn’t he raging too? The love of his life had just died. But it wasn’t like it didn’t matter to Festos. The pain on his face was raw and real, and agonizing to watch.

  Then I saw the flash of guilt. “You knew,” I said and kicked away from him, wild-eyed. That’s why Festos had been so upset, so furious, after Cassie had made her pronouncement.

  “Sophie,” he said quietly.

  I threw my arm across my stomach, as if I could stop the pain knifing through me. “You. Knew.”

  “Leave him alone.” Kai pushed between me and Festos. His voice was harsh. “You think this was easy on him? You think Fee wanted to know that he was going to watch Theo die?”

  Ohmigod. I stuttered out a sob. “You knew too.” When Kai had left me, back in Delphyne’s cave, I thought I’d understood the pain of betrayal. But now? They had both known what Cassie’s words meant and not told me. No wonder Theo had made the deal with Felicia. It hadn’t mattered. He wasn’t going to be around anyway.

  I stood there. Unable to move. Unable to breathe. Unable to do anything except feel the torment pounding inside me in time with the onslaught from above.

  “Don’t let Theo’s death be for nothing,” Kai snapped. “Honor him. Honor your friend who is standing here dying.” He motioned to Festos, who looked shell-shocked, “And fight.”

  I stared dumbly at the spot where Theo had been and a memory overtook me.

  “That new kid?” Bethany threw her thick braid over her knit dress. She snickered at Veronica who was, as usual, stuck to her side. “Weirdo.” They walked past us, on the school’s back field.

  I hoped she wasn’t going to bug us. There wasn’t much time left in long recess and I just wanted to play with Hannah.

  Yay. The girls ignored us and headed over to the rest of their dumb friends, like Anil and Jackson. So annoying.

  I stuck my tongue out at Bethany’s back.

  Hannah looked up from trying to coax an earthworm back into the glass jar filled with grass that she’d made as its home, and grinned. “At least
she’s in Miss Cohn’s grade two class. Not ours.”

  My stomach growled even though we’d just had lunch. I flopped down and prodded the worm.

  “He looks lost.”

  “Huh?” I scrunched up my face, not sure who Hannah was talking about.

  She stared off across the field. “That boy. Maybe we should say hi.”

  I looked over at where she was staring. The new kid. Bethany was kind of right. He was sort of weird looking. His dark hair stuck up like he’d shoved his finger in a socket. He wore a T-shirt with a robot picture on it. And the black glasses on his face kept sliding down his nose.

  It didn’t seem to bother him, because he just kept pushing them up to look around.

  “Come on.” Hannah bounced to her feet and headed toward him, expecting me to follow.

  I rolled onto my back. Didn’t want to move. I wanted to lie in the sun. And not talk to strangers. I had Hannah. I didn’t need another friend.

  I waited for her to come back so we could keep playing. But she brought him with her.

  “This is Theo. He’s going to be our friend.”

  We’d see about that. Groaning and moaning, I pulled myself up and looked at him.

  He tilted his head, kind of studying me.

  I didn’t like that. So I gave him my best prickly look. Imagining I was a porcupine with my quills standing up.

  “Yeah. You’re okay.” He grinned and folded himself down beside me.

  Hey, wasn’t I the one who should decide if he got to stay? He was the new kid.

  But then he peered at the home we’d made for the worm and said, “You need to make a better hole in the lid. Get some rocks and leaves and stuff.” It just felt right for him to be here then. With us.

  With me.

  I relaxed and listened to him talk about the worm.

  Bethany skipped past and rolled her eyes. “Figures.”

  “Shut up, Bethany,” I warned. “Theo’s our friend.”

  Yeah. We had our group now.

  Bam!

  The air vibrated hard enough to jostle me sideways, knocking me back into the battle. I wanted to stay in that happy past, not this horrorshow present.