by P M Cole
“Everyone inside!” I shouted. As they climbed onboard carrying Gloria inside, I looked at Lucas. “Can you get us to Holborn and my shop?”
He nodded and jumped up to the front of the carriage, taking the reins. I moved up the steps, closing the small door behind me and sat heavily. We surged forward, parting more of the crowd as coppers appeared, pushing through those standing around.
We careened around the corner, the wheels sliding on the freshly laid snow and onto the wide main road. The streets were strangely deserted of traffic, while a deathly white blanket of snow had rounded all sharp edges, apart from the ones it created itself on ledges. Most shops were boarded up, and those that braved the icy conditions were hidden beneath their multiple layers of clothing.
As Lucas encouraged the horses to move us through the desolate streets faster, there was mostly silence in the carriage, with Melanie silently sobbing while holding her sister. A part of me wanted to do the same, but other emotions within me were more powerful. I needed revenge for all the misery my father had brought upon myself and so many others.
I started to recognise some of the buildings moving past, and just as I leaned forward to get a better look we stopped. We were parked in the side road which the alley to the back of my shop came from.
I jumped out onto the frozen street and held the door open for the others to help Gloria down. I then led the way into the alley and pushed open the back gate. I half expected some new horror to be waiting in the yard but, thankfully, it was only full of shadows. I ran forward, feeling my way through the gloom, then opened the back door with the key which was hidden under a nearby slate. We all moved inside, and they placed Gloria down.
I knelt before Melanie who had found Mr Gladwell’s old chair. “I don’t expect you to forgive me. All of this is my—”
She shook her head. “No… no… this is his… your father's fault.” She looked more directly at me. “You are not to blame. You have been trying to stop him all this time. I think a part of me thought it was all a game, but I was so very wrong.”
“You can stay here with your sister. I think you will be safe.”
She stood as I did. “Just promise me when this is over, Hades will be dead or banished from this realm?”
I held her hand. I wanted to lie, to tell her what she wanted to hear. But all I had left was honesty. “I will do everything I can to make that happen.”
Colin appeared with a blanket, which he dropped over Gloria’s body.
“We shouldn’t stay here for too long. They will probably be coming,” said Lucas.
I looked around the four ashen faces. “I think we should split up. I’ll go with Colin.” I looked at Lucas and Melanie. “Both of you make your way to the cathedral.”
“We can take the tunnels, there are—”
Lucas shook his head interrupting Colin. “They will expect us to take the tunnels. We should all go over ground but keep to the shadows. Use the back alleys wherever possible. St Paul’s is no more than thirty minutes, even in these conditions.”
“We should take different routes as well,” I said. “I’ll go directly down Holborn and over the viaduct and come in to the Cathedral from the north. You both come in more southerly with Daniel. If I’m right about what’s there, it will be heavily guarded.” I looked at the tall blonde man who had been leaning on the frame between the rooms, looking away from us, and into the shop. “Are you prepared to fight Cassandra and the others?”
He nodded without looking at me.
I looked at Lucas. “And can you do the spell?”
Melanie moved towards him. “I will lend my magic to his, but I have to find Katerina. Do you think she will be there?”
“I don’t know, but if she’s not we will find her after.”
She nodded.
“I need some of your blood…” said Lucas.
I looked around the worktop where I had prepared food, and pulled one of the knifes from the wall. I drew it across a part of my palm until the blade contained a trickle of blood and handed it to him.
He stashed it inside his coat. We all took one final look at each other then left.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Colin and I moved into a sliver of an alleyway, the end of which gave us a glimpse of our destination. Pillars, stone arches, and a huge dome majestically receded into dark clouds. A myriad of shops, most with their windows covered with wooden boards sat to the left and right of us, and there was no sign of any living thing in any direction.
Our journey from the shop hadn’t been long but the recent death had made it arduous. Each time I felt grief come upon me, threatening to drag me down to a place I would not recover from, I dug my nails into my palm, the pain bringing me back to my surroundings.
“They gotta have some monsters guarding the main entrance,” Colin said, his breath forming small puffs of white mist. “Could do with some of the Ratters right now…”
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “When this is over, we will find them. You should maybe hang back here—”
His expression turned to derision. “I’m not leaving your side!”
I sighed. “I might not be able to protect you!”
“You might be some goddess, or something, but you can’t do everything, see everything. That’s where I can help!”
Auto chirped from the window ledge above. I looked up and smiled. “Yes, I’m lucky to have you too.”
I nodded. “OK, but please be careful."
He nodded.
We walked forward, keeping as close to the walls and boards and in shadow as much as possible. The soft snow masked the sound of our footsteps, but that made the silence even worse. We arrived at a junction at the end of the row of shops, the Cathedral now only tens of yards away. On the other side of a small alley which ran across us, was a small wall, with hardly any snow on it. Something looked odd about the scene, then I realised it should have had iron railings as well, but they had all been stripped away, no doubt in preparation for my arrival.
I looked at the northerly entrance to the building. A wooden door stood at least twelve feet in height, behind six pillars and a series of stone steps. It appeared firmly closed, and I had no intention of breaking through it, at least not yet.
Colin nodded to the right of the steps. “I think there’s an entrance to the crypt over there.”
“We’ll try that.”
We ran forward past where the iron fence should have been, and onto the icy stone slabs. A series of small windows sat at the base of the building. From one of them, a dim glow emanated. We fell to our knees and tried to see inside, but the glass was covered in frost. I looked around and quickly spotted a staircase descending into the ground.
The steps were slippery, and we made good use of the handrail as we made our way down to another wooden door, this one more human-sized in its dimensions. It also had an iron handle and lock which I broke without hesitation. Pushing the door back revealed a narrow space of stone walls. Before entering I looked back to Auto perched on the steps we just came from. “Find the others; if they see you, they will know we are here. Try not to be seen by our enemies!” He fluttered into the air as flakes of ice fell around us.
I looked back to the doorway and swore, realising I was alone. Colin had gone on ahead. I walked into the crypt, closing the door quietly. A single lantern cast the stone arches, alcoves, and sarcophagi containing the heroes from the past, into stark relief.
I looked around, but still could not see any sign of the young man I had come with. “Colin!” I whispered as loudly as I could.
“Over here!” he whispered back.
I followed the sound, to another door, this one already open, revealing a new set of stairs, these leading up. He was at the base, ready to ascend. I held his arm. “I should go first.”
He rolled his eyes, and I moved past him, taking each step as quietly as I could. Looking up revealed a vaulted ceiling a storey or more above. This had to be one of the main aisles. I
neared the top and strained my human senses for any sounds, but there was only my heartbeat. I then turned to the gifts I was born with and pushed my other non-human abilities out into the stone and marble structure, instantly feeling something I had not felt before. An object of incredible weight. Something constructed, not naturally occurring was ahead of me, within the Cathedral. It had to be the bomb.
“Finally, you made it here!”
Hades' voice echoed from all of the hard surfaces around me, and I instinctively crouched ready for an attack, but none was forthcoming.
“Don’t hide in the shadows, daughter!”
Hearing the word ‘daughter’ leaving his lips made me feel weak. It was a label I did not care to have.
“Tonight is a time of celebration. You know—” I looked back to Colin who was on the step behind me and waved my hand for him to stay there. I hoped he would, “— I have tried and tried to make the humans, or casuals as the magically inclined of us like to call the wretches, see how magnificent this realm could be.” I took a deep breath then rose up the final step. I looked along the hallway, which ran along the side of the huge open space in the centre of the building. He wouldn’t be here alone. The others must be with him. Hades continued. "How it could be once again like the times of old, where gods would walk freely amongst them, giving them what they needed. Direction and meaning to their short lives.” I walked quickly to a square pillar. Rows of wooden chairs were visible on the other side. “For hundreds of years I have tried their way of doing things. I even created you and the others to help them. Create beings that were hybrids, one part human, the other having the powers of my own kind. But even that was not enough for them… Come, come, daughter. I know you are here, I can sense you! You and I are connected, you must know that by now!”
He was right, no matter how much I hated the idea. There was no point hiding. I straightened my back and walked around the pillar into the nave, moving in front of the first row of wooden benches. Hades in all his natural demonic glory stood just twenty yards from me, and behind him a wooden construction supporting a metal cylinder, with a series of pipes flowing from it. Next to him and it, as if they were awaiting my arrival for some special family event, were my godly kin. Cassandra stood to his right, dressed in overalls, with Heather dressed in her usual black, next to her. To his left, stood Byron, recovered from his ordeal. Still though, I noticed one of the clan was missing.
“No Alex?” I posited.
Byron sneered at me then looked up at the demonic figure of his foster father towering over him. “Let me kill her now. Get this over with before she causes mischief!”
Footsteps echoed around the hallowed walls from somewhere behind me. “She’s not alone,” said Daniel.
“You side with her!” shouted Byron. “After what she did to Grace!”
I briefly turned to Daniel, his eyes aflame. He walked to my left side.
“You think I wanted her to die! You think I want any of this?” Daniel's pain was obvious, and it was not physical. “We never asked for the trial! And Grace made her choice to fight!”
I had no idea where Lucas and Melanie were, but I hoped they were going to start the spell soon because I wasn’t sure how long this strained conversation was going to last.
“Where’s my mother?” I shouted at Hades.
“Somewhere safe. Far enough away that when this little innovation of human ingenuity goes boom—” He opened his arms like this was just a carnival side show to him, ”—she won’t be affected.”
I was glad for that at least.
I looked at Heather, who tilted one of her heels back and looked at her nails. “Heather, you can’t want this?” I had no idea what went on in her crazed mind, but I hoped, unlike the others, she didn’t completely despise me.
“Hmm if it’s what father wants, then… I guess it’s what needs to happen.”
Hades smiled, his eyes not having left me. “You can’t stop what’s about to happen, daughter.”
“Stop calling me that! You had the only man who had a right to that word murdered seventeen years ago!”
The god of the underworld, who stood at least seven feet tall looked angry. “Whether you like it or not daughter, my blood runs through those veins of yours!”
“What is the point of this! We don’t have long!” said Cassandra.
“I can sense the metal your bomb is encased in; I will destroy it!”
She raised one eyebrow as if the notion of me doing so was preposterous. “And then it will detonate…”
I visibly sighed. They needed to think that was why I had come. To stop the detonation. “Then why are you here! It will kill us all!”
“Oh, we will be leaving soon,” said Hades. “As soon as you are taken care of… I have given this much thought, and even your mother agrees, for us to survive… you must not.”
His words struck deep. “You lie! She would never let you—”
There was a faint breeze. I knew what it meant. Byron was on the move. I threw myself to the side, just as a blur moved past my vision. He reappeared for a fraction of a second, but it was enough for me to track his trajectory. The wooden benches that filled the nave had iron supports, obviously missed by the others, but it was enough for me. The iron bars broke free and flew to my aid, surrounding me in a swarm of constantly moving metal. There was a blur, then Byron fell back, holding his face, he tried again, this time doubling over in pain as the rods sliced through his shirt.
“Take care of her, Heather,” said Hades.
I looked desperately to the youngest-looking of us all, hoping some kind of sense would spawn in her disturbed mind, when a wave of fatigue hit me. I tried to move forward, but I could feel my life draining away. Just as I was about to drop to the ground, my lungs labouring, the feeling stopped. I looked at Daniel, walking towards his foster sister, she keeled over, her skin becoming covered in red blotches, but still angrily looking at him. He too was in pain, his skin tightening around his bones. He fell to one knee. I had to act.
A piece of my artificial tornado detached, flew across the nave, and sliced through Heather's dress and arm, causing her to fall backwards, as she did, Daniel fell to the side, with only one of the seats stopping him from falling all the way to the floor. Even from a distance of some yards I could tell he was no longer a young man.
He looked over to me, the light in his eyes fluctuating. “Keep going!” He then switched his attention to Hades who was about to storm forward but fell backwards when Daniel's glare fell upon him.
There was more metal high above and across the almighty doors which secured the building, all of it now detaching and flying through the air towards me. As it did the ground shook and dust fell. The tiles across the floor began to crack, the gaps quickly widening.
Cassandra was waving her hands as if in the midst of an exotic dance. Dark grey reeds burst through the foot-wide ravines which littered the floor, all heading in my direction. But, unlike the night of Byron’s ball, I was ready. The newly salvaged metal sliced them apart just as they were about to touch me. I looked across at their master, her face one of frustration, her hand movements becoming more aggressive. Windows shattered as more flora came from every aisle, tearing through the wooden seats, doing its best to reach me. A fury of metal fragments swirled about my person defeating her attempts, but this was all a distraction. I needed to get to Hades who was fighting Daniel's fading abilities, and then to the bomb.
I went to direct an iron spike at Cassandra, but a reed caught my boot, then quickly wrapped around my ankle, pulling me to the ground. The metal around me moved to cut the offending reed from my person, but not before I saw a blur nearby, and blood flew from my mouth. I fell back against one of the pillars, pain already shooting across my jaw, and my wall of metal protection fell to the ground. Gathering my senses, I looked at Byron materialise just a foot away, in his hand a plank of wood from one of the benches. He raised it high in the air, meaning to bring it down upon my skull, when th
ere was a clunking sound. His eyes closed and he fell to the cracked tiles. Colin was standing behind him, with an iron pot in his hand. Near him were Lucas and Melanie, but they were already engaged in their own fighting.
Streams of blue fire flew from Lucas’s hand, cutting a swathe through Cassandra's plants and hit her square in the chest, causing her to scream in pain. He then looked at me, pointing to the knife with my blood on its blade sticking out of his coat pocket.
“Start the spell!” I shouted.
He nodded and grabbed Melanie’s hand, both starting to murmur arcane phrases.
I looked back to Hades and my heart sank. He had made it to Daniel and now held him by the neck with his large clawed hand. He turned to me and grinned. In his other hand was his walking stick. “You will never defeat me, daughter, I am a god, whereas you will always be held back by your human weakness.”
I started to scream for him to stop, even before the crunch of bones in Daniel’s neck rang around the stone arches and pillars. Daniel's body fell to the ground, as all the metal around me sprung back into the air and launched itself in Hades' direction.
The ghastly figure of a god slammed his stick into the broken tiles and my projectiles slammed into the hide of a beast standing twenty-feet high. Cerberus roared then stormed towards us. We scattered in all directions, as the three-headed monster crashed into the nearby pillar knocking the masonry from it and creating an explosion of thick dust.
I ran into the southern aisle, peering around another of the huge columns. Daniel's body lay stretched out, his foster kin, seemingly left for dead by their ‘father’. Hades was nowhere to be seen, but I didn’t need to see him. He was right, we were connected, and I could feel where he was heading; towards the eastern part of the building. On seeing all three of the snarling heads were looking in the other direction, I sprinted forward, keeping to the shadows. He was not getting away. Not this time. A roar rang out, and I knew the giant canine was about to descend upon me, but then it growled and looked the other way. Fiery explosions and howls of pain from the creature told me Lucas and Melanie were distracting it.
