Hades (The God Chronicles #3) (22 page)

As I stared around the room, a few of the
pieces caught my attention and I wandered in, looking over each one
slowly, wondering what type of significance they held for Hades. I
walked around the room, taking it all in, before coming to the
large wardrobe. Opening it softly, I gasped at what I found sitting
on the shelf.

It was a helmet. Not just any helmet though,
the
helmet. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about it that
made me so sure, but Erebos had been right when he’s said I would
know as soon as I saw it.

Staring at it in awe, I didn’t even know what
to do. There was no way I could take it now, no way I would want
to. Doing so would betray Hades, a crime I didn’t think I could
ever do now. If I didn’t take it though, the lives of my family
were at risk, if Helios had been speaking the truth when he
lectured me. Something told me I could rely on his word in this
instance.

As I looked into the shiny, golden metal, I
suddenly realized something was wrong with my reflection. Leaning
in, I could see that the black veins had extended down even
further, touching my cheeks like an angry black web. That wasn’t
all though—some of the veins in my eyes had darkened as well, my
irises having become somewhat deformed, like they were stretched
out in several directions. It looked like I was some kind of
monster with soulless eyes, staring into nothing.

Panic started to overtake me, the knowledge
that I didn’t have any way to hide now hitting me full in the face.
Hades was going to know something was wrong with me and I would
never be with him the same way again. Telling him I loved him,
succumbing to my feelings had destroyed the one defense I had
here.

“Persephone?”

My head whipped around quickly, my heart
jumping into my throat as I looked at him, standing in the doorway
in only his pants from the night before.

“What the hell?” he said in confusion, looking
at me like he was ready to pounce.

“I can explain,” I said, trembling, taking a
step back and bumping into the wardrobe.

The helmet wobbled on the shelf, falling
forward in what seemed like slow motion, right into my ready
hands.

A hissing filled the air, smoke pulling from me
and the ring on my finger and wrapping around the helmet greedily.
In an instant, I was knocked to the ground, my disguise completely
ripped from me and Erebos standing in the room with us, lovingly
stroking the helmet in his hands.

“Thank you, dear Katrina,” he cooed down at me,
a sick, twisted smile on his face. “I couldn’t have done it without
you.”

“Erebos,” Hades hissed, grabbing one of the
swords off the wall next to him.

“It’s too late,” Erebos laughed. “I have the
helmet now. The Olympians have lived their last days at the
top.”

Hades lunged forward, not waiting for him to
explain anything, swinging the sword down fast and hard, and
knocking the helmet from his hands.

Erebos was just as quick though, smoke reaching
out around him to suck it back to him.

My brain clicked over in an instance. Jumping
to my feet, I grabbed the helmet and yanked it from the wispy grasp
of the Titan. Before my better judgment caught up with me, I was
running from the cabin as fast my mostly naked body could go,
heading for the door back into the Underworld, praying I could lose
myself in the trees fast enough.

There was a large explosion behind me, one wall
of the cabin disintegrating under a massive wall of fire, and I
heard the terrible, angry cry of Erebos, mixed in with the
frightened horses who were now out in the open and running for
cover.

Fear and adrenaline fueled my flight and I
pushed myself faster, breaking through the secret door and into the
trees.

“Darkness can not hide from its master,” Erebos
roared behind me, moving much faster than I was able.

“Erebos!” Hades yelled angrily after that,
revealing we were all in the woods now.

I ran for a little more before I felt I had to
stop and breathe or die right there. Hiding behind a wide tree
trunk, I gasped down a couple of breaths, looking all around me for
the path I should take. I had no idea what I was going to do,
especially with the helmet, but I knew I couldn’t let the Titan
have it, deal or not.

“You,” a voice hissed behind me and I jumped,
turning around to find Hades, fire whip in hand, advancing towards
me.

“Wait,” I pleaded quietly. “I can explain, I
promise.”

“I’m not interested in explanations,” he said
grimly, hurt in his eyes.

“But I am.”

Erebos materialized out of thin smoke around
us, dropping right in front of me and spinning around towards
Hades, scythes in hand. A scream tore from my throat as the blades
landed soundly, slicing across Hades’s chest like it was
butter.

A pained cry left his lips as he fell to the
ground, hands groping at the wound as his face contorted in
pain.

“Dipped in the river,” Erebos said in a sing
song voice. “You should be down for a while. Lucky you, I missed
your heart on purpose. That would have destroyed some of the
fun.”

He then turned to me, his eyes going dark and a
frown covering his face.

“Katrina, Katrina,” he said sadly, clicking his
tongue. “You went back on our deal. Care to explain?”

I remained silent, clutching the helmet to me
as he slowly advanced, my eyes darting between him and Hades, who
lay on the ground watching me silently.

“All you had to do was get me the helmet,”
Erebos said simply. “But instead you took it and ran.”

He stood right in front of me, obviously
waiting for an answer, but I had nothing to say for myself. His
presence clouded me with fear, especially now that I had nothing to
hide behind. He could easily take the helmet and end me
now.

“Did I not warn you about double crossing me?”
he suddenly screamed, grabbing me by the throat and hoisting me
into the air.

The helmet fell from my grasp as my fingers
fought for his to release me. Instead of clattering to the ground,
though, more smoke simply caught it, pulling it into the darkness
that was Erebos, and hiding it from me forever.

“I couldn’t go through with it,” I coughed,
trying to breathe through his grip. “I don’t know what you want
with it.”

“That’s because it’s none of your business,” he
said simply, releasing me and letting me crumple in a heap at the
roots of the tree. “No matter, though. I have what I came
for.”

“You were with me the entire time?” I asked,
watching as he turned to walk away.

“Of course, my dear,” he said in surprise. “You
didn’t think I’d actually trust you to get it done? I thought for
sure you would be discovered and killed right at the beginning. I’d
planned on taking your spot as soon as it happened. With one
traitor having already been discovered, Hades wouldn’t have
suspected another. Isn’t that right?”

He turned to smirk at Hades, who was still
lying on the ground, trying to staunch the bleeding of his wound
with his hands.

“Did you even do anything you promised me?” I
asked in horror, not able to believe I’d made a deal with such a
monster.

“Oh yes, of course,” he said, acting as if I’d
highly offended him. “I never go back on deals. I took the darkness
from your mother so she would feel guilty, and then I put it in
your father to make her suffer with it even more.”

“What do you mean?” I asked slowly.

He nodded to something behind me and I turned
carefully, afraid to see whatever was behind me.

He looked just as he had every day at home, tan
and well worked. But something was wrong with the way he moved,
like he had no idea where he was going.

“Daddy?” I asked, tears filling my
eyes.

He looked up at me, a blank expression on his
face before a small smile appeared.

“Katrina?” Daddy asked.

That was as long as the recognition lasted,
though. Without another word, Daddy turned and began to wander off,
one of the lost souls of the Underworld.

“You killed him!” I yelled, turning back to
Erebos, tears falling down my cheeks. “You lied to me! You never
said anything about him!”

“Please, Katrina,” Erebos said, rolling his
eyes. “The darkness had to go somewhere. How was I to know that
depression was one of the side effects? It’s not my fault at all.
In fact, it’s yours. After you ran out of town, he thought you’d
killed the man the police came to question you about. I guess you
could say he died of a broken heart. And a bullet in his
mouth.”

“You killed him!” I cried, my heart breaking as
I lunged towards him, every intention of hitting him until I
couldn’t feel my own fists.

He dissolved into smoke around me, his laughter
melting away with him as he disappeared, apparently done with the
whole confrontation.

I fell to the ground, tears flooding my eyes
and hate eating at my heart. What could I do to make things right
again?

My gaze fell on Hades, who was slowly sitting
up, a grimace on his face. Wiping my eyes with the back of my
hands, I stood and walked over to him, knowing he needed help with
the bleeding.

Bending down, I ripped a long piece from his
pants, and set to work trying to stop the bleeding from his
chest.

“What are we going to do?” I asked quietly,
trying to keep my hands from shaking as the white cloth immediately
became soaked.

“Get out,” Hades said quietly, pushing my hands
away from him.

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“Get out!” he yelled vehemently. “Leave! Don’t
come back!”

“Y-you need help,” I stuttered, motioning to
his wound.

“I don’t want your help,” he spat out. “Your
help is what got me in this mess in the first place. I should have
known you weren’t to be trusted. I should have listened to my gut
that said you were a lying witch, just like always.”

I backed away a step, stung by his
words.

“You were probably laughing at me all night,
weren’t you?” he said bitterly, getting to his feet and throwing
the bloody cloth on the ground. “Thinking I must be so stupid to
not realize you weren’t who you said you were.”

“Last night was the best night of my life,” I
said defensively. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the
world.”

“Not even your Daddy?” he spat out, his fire
whip forming in his hand.

“Stop it,” I said, backing away slightly again.
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I didn’t know what I was saying last night,”
he growled. “I didn’t know I was falling into a trap. One set by
you.”

“You love me!” I yelled at him, not able to
take everything falling down on me. “You said so
yourself!”

“You are a lie!” he roared. “How could I love
that?”

“Those things you said had changed about
Persephone, those were all me,” I argued back, tears rolling down
my face. “I’m the one you fell in love with, not her. I never lied
to you about any of those things, just my name.”

“It’s not the same,” he said, advancing towards
me. “Because of you, our entire world is at stake. I should have
known better.”

“Please,” I begged him. “Let me explain to you.
Let me show you I’m still that girl.”

“Get out!” he screamed, snapping the whip in
his hands.

The fire shot out towards me, falling on the
side of my face and I screamed as my flesh burned and blistered
under it. My knees gave out from under me and I crashed into the
ground, twitching from the impact of the fire.

My eyes landed on Hades, who looked like he
might be sick before he started towards me again. I didn’t need any
more encouragement.

I got to my feet and ran, stumbling over the
branches and roots on the ground, my tears washing down my front,
stinging at the wound stretching from my hairline to my chin. I
didn’t stop though, getting up every time I fell, keeping my
anguished cries inside as I fled from the man I loved so
much.

Without Hero, getting out of the forest took
much longer than normal. By the time I broke free from the trees,
my knees were weak and I felt I could fall over at any moment.
Still, I pressed on, not wanting to be run down by Hades and have
to face his anger again. Eventually, I came upon the mass of souls
outside the castle, all of which immediately pressed in on me,
knowing that I didn’t belong. Perhaps they always had and that was
why they stared at me. It didn’t matter now.

Hours had probably passed by the time my weary
feet fell into the maze. It was then that I allowed myself to
crumble for a moment, in pain and misery. The burn on my face hurt
more than anything I’d ever felt before, except for knowing Hades
was the one who gave it to me. After a few minutes, though, the
voices and faces started appearing around me, their cries driving
me insane.

I needed to get out of this place
now.