After Life

by Jacquie Underdown

  Theron crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine.”

  “The pantheon told me you were dead. I want to know why? But mostly, who? Could it be Marcus behind all this?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I believe so. And I’ll tell you why.”

  Chapter 45

  Betrayal moved through Zoe like splintered glass, so viscerally present. But when that betrayal came hand in hand with injustice, it created a tight tormenting anger.

  That was how she viewed what had happened to her and Theron. They had been betrayed and as of yet, there had been no justice.

  “I have my own thoughts on Marcus,” Zoe said. “But I want to hear what you say first. And see if our stories fit.” She crawled off Theron’s lap and sat on the armrest beside him.

  “Before I was reincarnated—”

  Zoe shuddered to hear him speak of it. With that one phrase, every bad consequence of that reincarnation, that human life, sucker punched her.

  “You had spent the day recovering souls, many souls. More than usual. I believe there had been a tsunami on Earth killing thousands of people.”

  “I remember.”

  “Marcus had dropped off yet another boatload, and I ushered the souls through to the judging chambers to stand before the Underworld Judges. Afterwards I walked along the shores watching the sun set, hoping I’d see you for a brief moment before you left again. You had said to me earlier in passing that you had something urgent to tell me. Something you had overheard.”

  Zoe nodded, recalling with clarity the moment he spoke of. She had overheard a conversation between Marcus and Dionne. “A weather event that will end many human lives.”

  “Exactly,” Theron said. “Marcus was speeding away from the shore on his boat when I glanced at him. He smirked at me, and I knew he was up to something. I’ve never trusted him. He’s not like us. He’s like the old gods.”

  “I agree.”

  “Not once did I feel the presence of anyone else around me. I thought I was completely alone on that shore until I was attacked from behind…” He stopped and snarled, the sound ripping from his throat. An echo of thunder cracked in the distance.

  “How?”

  “I don’t want to say it because the possibility is small, but the implications are enormous if it is true.”

  Zoe’s heart thud against her ribs, her breathing accelerated. “A … a weapon?”

  Theron sighed. “The only thing I can assume is whoever it was that attacked me was wearing the invisibility helm—”

  “No! Can’t be.”

  “I have no other explanation.”

  She laughed a little shrilly. “I locked it away myself. And it’s been kept under lock and key.”

  The invisibility helm, originally a gift to Hades, was dangerous because it had the ability to turn those who wore it invisible. After the Last War, all weapons like that, including destructive artefacts, were either demolished or those that couldn’t be were locked away at the palace.

  It still shook her to her core to remember recovering the weapons and devices that had destroyed so many lives.

  With the god’s increasing mortality, it gave way to torture devices and weaponry she could have never even conceived of let alone used.

  The lengths the old god’s had taken to gain power was a direct sign of their depravity. To think that there might be gods here now, who were that depraved, walking among them under the guise of peace, was gut-wrenching. Frightening.

  He shrugged. “We’ve been led to believe it’s locked away. But I swear to you, there was no one visible behind me. And I certainly didn’t see what struck me with such force—”

  “I can’t believe this—”

  “Next minute my head was in the river, my mouth full of forgetfulness. I don’t remember anything else before early human childhood.”

  Zoe shook with anger—an emotion she didn’t experience much in this realm. She stood and paced the length of the room. She closed her eyes, trying to quieten the turmoil, attempting to draw the connection between the scattered information she held.

  She cast her mind back to that day he was referring to.

  Zoe eased into the shadows behind a boulder. Waifs staggered along the dusky shoreline around her, pale and wasting.

  Dionne stood with Marcus on the shore beside his boat. They were whispering, heads close together.

  Her ears pricked, picking up pieces of words here and there. Mass destruction. Catastrophic event on Earth. Wipe out humans. Bring them back to The Underworld.

  Zoe gasped, and the sound of that echoed through the silence like a foghorn.

  Dionne and Marcus snapped their heads toward the rock she crouched behind, unseeable in the dim light. Then they turned back to each other as though they hadn’t noticed her. But intuition told her that they had.

  She related the event to Theron.

  “Why?” Theron asked when she was finished. “Why would they want to bring millions, if not billions of human souls back here? How would it serve them to do so? It would be chaos.”

  Zoe agreed, it would be utter chaos. “I don’t know. And I wish this didn’t make me so angry, but it does. Marcus is just so smug. They knew I would tell you what I’d heard. It’s easy enough to deny what one witness says but to have two, especially the King of the Underworld with all your stern but level-headed judgement. It would have had them worried.”

  It had taken Zoe a long time to see the deeper cancer that was Marcus. At first, she fell for the shell that was charming and sexy. Became his girlfriend for a while. But she learned that he was innately manipulative and had been for so long, it was difficult to challenge that.

  When someone had weaved a web of lies and realities so removed from the truth, it was hard to express an opposing viewpoint. Marcus was loved and respected by the ruling gods.

  How can you point to someone and speak of their faults, when their faults were so neatly hidden and covered by lies that people could no longer see them for who they truly were?

  He spoke lies like the truth. Breathed out malice like air.

  But all armour had a weakness, even if it was hard to spot. She just had to figure out what his was.

  “Dionne must be involved. Who else but Dionne could create a climactic event like they spoke about?”

  Theron rubbed his face with his palm and nodded. “I agree. She’s definitely involved.”

  “They are lovers,” she blurted.

  Theron’s brows lowered. “They are?”

  She nodded. It had hurt her pride so damn much, shamed her to the core, to see Marcus with Dionne all those years ago. Deceit was illegal in this kingdom, and there was no other way to describe Marcus’s actions as anything other than deceitful.

  And that’s what made it sting all the more. For Zoe, her vows meant everything. Everything. Ensuring that this world didn’t slide back to be the Gomorrah it once was, was a huge purpose in her life.

  To see Marcus and Dionne act out deceitfully, in the way that they had, was utterly shameful. Had Marcus found Zoe to be so lacking that he was willing to break his vows to find someone more pleasing elsewhere?

  All those years ago, she should have reported both of them. But she couldn’t bear the humiliation. So she didn’t, and had never, told anyone about what had happened. Not even Theron.

  She wasn’t sure if their affair had continued, but she was sure of it now. And Dionne was Marcus’s link to the Pantheon. They were in this together. “I caught her in bed with Marcus while we were in a relationship. That’s why I ended it with him.”

  “I see,” he said. “So, there’s past behaviour contrary to our vows.”

  Zoe nodded.

  Silence played out between them until she asked, “Aren’t you going to ask why I didn’t report it?”

  Theron shook his head. “It’s irrelevant. Let’s just stay focused on what truly matters.”

  Zoe stared at him for a long moment. His exterior was composed, as always, despite her knowing that un
derneath his flesh, bone and blood, he was a deeply passionate, emotional soul.

  Theron’s brows arched high. “Could Marcus be amassing an army of souls to create a war like the times of old?”

  “Could be. But how would they convince them all to fight? And they still need me to bring them here…” She stopped and shook her head. “I just don’t understand. What could they possibly want?”

  Theron scoffed. “Power.”

  “But why? How?”

  “He’s not technically a god. He’s a primordial. He doesn’t hold positions like we gods do. He’s not in charge.”

  Zoe nodded. “You know, you could be right. He hated being on the outside. He wanted his place in the Pantheon without a doubt.” Marcus would never outright admit it, but she could tell by his fits of jealousy he was unable to completely conceal. “So he can never become a god …”

  “But he can obtain the power of one.”

  “Yes. But how…” she stopped and sucked in a breath as an image flashed in her mind of Marcus fervently biting down on a coin, the crazed lust in his eyes as he did. “Oh no.”

  Theron stood now too. “What?”

  She shook her head. “No. No. No. What’s the one thing Marcus loves more than anything?”

  Theron shrugged.

  “Money,” she blurted.

  Theron nodded slowly and glanced off in the distance, in thought. “I saw him one night on his boat when he didn’t think I could see him, whispering to a coin …” He abruptly stopped speaking and blinked. He pawed a hand through his hair and growled. “He couldn’t be?”

  “I think he is. He wants to kill millions of people so he can earn the money.”

  “That’s why they’ve implemented a monetary system,” he said.

  “Exactly.”

  “Pathetic fool!” Theron roared. Lightning streaked across the sky. The clouds blackened and pooled over The Underworld.

  “If Dionne is involved in this, then the weather event will be catastrophic.”

  “Has to be,” he agreed.

  “But what the hell would Dionne be doing this for?”

  “Just because the majority of us agree to peace, doesn’t mean all the gods are going to accept it.” Zoe sighed. “But that type of superficial power is so unstable. Surely she knows that.”

  “Motivation isn’t always rational.”

  “I guess not. Do you think there is anyone else involved?” Zoe asked.

  “I don’t believe so.”

  Zoe was silent for a moment, running through the details they had managed to piece together. “I put a big stop to their plans by reincarnating myself. There has been no one to bring the souls here. Marcus had no one to carry out my end of the plan.” No wonder Marcus wanted me to come back so badly.

  Theron’s fists squeezed, his muscles were so rigid his veins were visible over his forearms. “He’s lucky I don’t damn him for eternity in Tartarus. I gave him a position in The Underworld, and he has betrayed me.”

  Zoe placed her hand on his chest, feeling the sturdy incline of muscle beneath. “We can’t lose our path, Theron. And we need to be smart about this. We must beat Marcus at his own game and quickly. Now that I’m back, and they know we have a hint of what they’re planning to do, they’re going to hurt us or they’re going to rush their plan through. My parents are on Earth. My brothers. Your aunt. I won’t let this happen to them.”

  “But how? How the fuck do we deal with this?” His neck was strained, his voice deep and gravelly. “We don’t have proof. It’s our word against them. Frankly, I’d like to just do away with them. Be done with it. How else are we going to stop them?”

  No, the new age of gods didn’t resort to deceit or violence, but when the stakes were this high, surely trickery was acceptable.

  Zoe’s great grandfather, Hermes, was known for his practical jokes; trickery must be running through her veins too. It wasn’t ideal to go to such lengths, but these were not ordinary circumstances.

  Zoe had a plan forming in her mind, and it was going to hit both Marcus and Dionne where it hurt the most.

  Chapter 46

  Zoe stormed through the big double doors that led out of The Underworld. Dressed in a black long-sleeved mesh shirt and black tights, she ran through the Elysium marketplace, tears streaking her cheeks. Up the stairs, she bounded two at a time, needing to get to the palace as quickly as she could. Sobs were bellowing from her as she burst into the Great Room.

  Darian, Agnes and Dionne, hearing her noisy entry, marched into the room, expressions a mixture of question and concern.

  Theron charged in after Zoe, fury pulsing outwards from him and filling the room with chaotic tension. The gods turned to face him and looked from Zoe to Theron, back and forth, eyes wide.

  “Someone must be held accountable,” Theron roared. “I will not stand for this injustice.”

  Agnes stepped forward and spoke in a soothing voice. “Theron, please calm yourself. This is no way for a god to act. I know you’ve been through an ordeal—”

  “An ordeal?” he yelled. “Is that what you call being sent to Earth against my will and then coming back to…” he faced Zoe and snarled, “to this.”

  “I can’t help the way I feel. I can’t. Gods, I tried,” Zoe said.

  Dionne stepped forward and held Zoe’s arm gently. “What’s going on?”

  Tears streamed down Zoe’s face. “Something’s changed between Theron and I. I don’t—”

  “Don’t you dare say it,” Theron said, the anger fading and sadness taking over. His shoulders slumped and he frowned.

  Zoe’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I don’t love him anymore.” The words burned her tongue, but she said them with as much conviction as she could muster. The stakes were bigger than her true feelings at the moment.

  Theron groaned as though she had ripped his heart out. The god’s gasped, shook their heads.

  “I can’t stay there with him,” she said pointing across the rivers toward The Underworld. “It’s not right, not when my feelings have changed.”

  Theron marched forward, so he was standing in front of Zoe. Dressed all in black, his shirt clinging to his muscled frame, he looked dark and foreboding. He pointed at her chest. “You will stay with me. You don’t just leave. You don’t walk away from me.”

  Darian stepped between them and pushed Theron, moving him away—not a forceful action, but assertive. “I would have expected this from Hades, but not from you. Zoe has the right to change her mind, and she is allowed to move freely between the kingdoms.”

  Theron groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe this. I can’t fucking believe this. How is this fair? Tell me, how?” His voice was a roar.

  Zoe’s bottom lip trembled as she watched his face overcome with intense emotion—it was breaking her heart to do this. She only hoped that their performance was believable.

  “Come, sit down,” Dionne said, gesturing toward the thrones spaced around the room. Twelve of them, though only five were ever filled now. This was how they handled disagreements, not with violence and anger, but with rational communication.

  Zoe nodded and found her seat, while Theron begrudgingly sat across from her, a circle of space between them.

  The Palace of Mount Olympus was enormous and was home to the ruling gods. It once was Zoe’s home too, along with her true parents. The emptiness that had become a part of the fabric of her soul since she learned of their death seemed to expand at that moment, as though their souls still whispered in this place.

  A stillness found her along with new determination. Her parents had paid for peace with their lives; she would not let it be destroyed by two power-hungry villains. And she would not let her human family become flesh fodder in this game of chess.

  There were rules now—rigid modes of operation and ethics—to prevent anything so destructive from taking place again. All the old weapons, relics, clothing, stones, and treasures were locked away or destroyed.
r />   But mostly, the mindset of the new era of gods, from living through such destruction, pain, and horror, was dramatically different now.

  The new era knew better. At least until Dionne and Marcus put their heads together to conspire against all that Mount Olympus had become.

  Zoe peered out the big windows at the pale blue waters in the distance. A hazy outline of Marcus’s boat could still be seen as it ventured across to the other side of the expansive rivers.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?” Dionne asked, taking a seat beside Zoe.

  Zoe forced more tears to flow, using the pain of losing her parents as fuel. “When I was in human form, the more I came back to Olympus, the more I remembered. The River Lethe didn’t wipe some of the older memories I possess.”

  Dionne nodded. “Such as?”

  Zoe lowered her eyes to her lap, then looked across to Theron. He was watching her, frowning deeply. She peered, one by one, at the other gods, men and women whom she trusted with her life, and she knew they felt the same about her.

  Using this type of trickery stirred in the pit of her belly like foetid food. But, this was what was needed.

  The fact that Dionne and Marcus were such respected members meant that coming out directly to the Pantheon about their suspected plan was likely to be met with doubt, particularly when all the evidence Zoe had was hearsay.

  No one had seen who attacked Theron that night on the banks of the river, not even Theron himself. But Zoe knew with all her soul that what she had pieced together of Dionne and Marcus’s power play was right—she had to convince the others now that she was right too.

  “You’re safe here,” Agnes said. “Explain to us all what you mean. I’m sure Theron wants to hear the truth, even if it’s difficult.”

  Zoe held Agnes’s gaze as she told the story she had rehearsed earlier with Theron. “Memories of my relationship with Marcus surfaced. I felt emotions again as though they were happening now, rather than all those years ago.” Her words were slow and tentative, cautious of portraying her resignation to speak this way in front of Theron. Believability was vital.