Heart (22 page)

Now, she looked like a living corpse.

I stared at her long enough to see that her
scalp was bleeding. Thick droplets of blood dripped from her
hairline and streaked down her temples and into her eyes. As I
watched, one of her hands snaked up to grip her hair as if she
could rip it out. She clawed and scratched and opened more
sores.

Sickness roiled through me. Persephone,
Hade’s bride. She had been a goddess once, until Hades kidnapped
her and forced her to be his queen. Her story was one of the great
tragedies that helped instill a healthy fear of Hades in every
little girl in the Greek circle. Now, seeing her like this… she
looked completely robbed of life. Hades hadn’t just stolen her life
and her godhood; he’d stolen everything inside of her. He’d left
her an empty husk that did nothing but suffer and feel pain.

Had we accidentally wandered into the
Underworld? But how?

We had to get out of here.

The horrors of this place somewhat woke me
out of my stupor. I tightened my pinky against Ryder’s and tried to
speak to him.

Nothing came out.

I opened my mouth again, but my voice box had
been stripped. Or locked. Or…
something
.

I couldn’t make a sound.

Ryder’s feet tripped over some unseen
obstacle in the path and he almost stumbled off of it. I grabbed
his shoulder with my free hand before his feet could step on ground
I was certain would make him a prisoner to this place.

I tried to speak again, but there was
nothing. It was more than my voice though. It was like this place
completely restrained my powers. I couldn’t speak or even whisper.
But most importantly, I couldn’t sing.

I shivered in the coldness of this hell,
knowing that the heaviness in the air was death. I felt it creep
over me, sink into my skin, slither through my hair and claw at my
bones.

The images around me flickered in and out of
solidity. It was like watching a black and white movie that had a
messed up tape. Everything appeared in stuttering sequences.

Was that a dragon? But the image of a
creature the size of a semi-truck exhaling fire was gone before I
could truly grasp the image. The same with the next. I could have
sworn I saw a three-headed dog, sleeping. But then it was gone.

This place was nothing but pure evil. And I
was afraid we would be trapped here forever. What if we were lost
and never found our way out? Or we’d been sentenced to wander this
path forever?

I couldn’t do it! I would end up like
Persephone, completely void and utterly deranged.

Ryder stumbled again and I nearly started
crying. I had to get him out of here! My own life be damned, I
wouldn’t let him end up on the other side of this path. I wouldn’t
let those creatures have him!

Light.

There was light up ahead.

At first it came like pitch black darkness
again. But I felt the change. The images started to come less and
less. Then the darkness lightened to a soft gray. Moonlight pierced
the oppressiveness.

We were almost there.

I squeezed Ryder’s pinky with mine and took a
deep breath. He wandered forward unseeing and I couldn’t tell if he
saw the end or if he was still under the heady influence from this
place.

It didn’t matter. If I could just get him
back to fresh air, he would be okay. He would make it.

We
would make it.

We were so close. I could feel the outside. I
could sense the clean air from beyond this awful place. It floated
over my skin like a summer breeze.

I wanted to weep tears of relief.

Just a few more steps and we would be free of
this place. And we would
never
come here again. We would
find a new way back. No matter how long it took or what we had to
do.

I would scale the mountain before I ever
stepped foot in here again.

The moonlight infiltrated the darkness and
landed on the path in front of us. Three more steps and we would
reach it.

We were
so close
.

The moonlight disappeared beneath a huge
shadow. I would have cried out if I could make any sound.

“Leaving so soon?” Crete’s cold, sleazy voice
boomed through the cavern, directed at us.

I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came
out. If Ryder’s pinky hadn’t squeezed mine so tightly, I would have
toppled over.

This was the Underworld. And Hades was
king.

Somehow Ryder and I had wandered straight to
the gates of hell and Hades had come to greet us.

“That won’t work here,” Hades chided me. “I’m
afraid powers are restricted once you cross the threshold. Could
you imagine if this place fell into the wrong hands?” His sick
amusement twisted my insides. I remembered what happened to Evaleen
when she had spent time with him last year. He hadn’t even taken
her virginity before she lost herself in agony and despair.

Images of her unseeing eyes and catatonic
state made me shiver.

“I have to say,” Crete continued. “I’m
pleased to see you here. You’ve simplified so much.”

Chapter Eighteen

I grabbed at my throat with my free hand,
desperate to get my voice to work. My face turned red and my eyes
bulged as I tried to force sound from my mouth.
If I could just
sing..
.
If I could just use these stupid powers at my
disposal…

My other hand still clutched Ryder’s and I
refused to break that contact between us. I wouldn’t let Crete take
him. I refused to let him suffer here for the rest of eternity.

Crete sneered at us. His soulless eyes full
of greed and possession examined me unflinchingly. He watched me
struggle to speak with a sadistic amusement that churned my
stomach. I wanted to be sick; I wanted to purge myself of this icky
feeling that infected my entire body.

“Betraying Nix already?” Ryder rasped. It
sounded like it was an effort for him to speak too. Not because the
ability had been stripped from him, but because it was hard for him
to focus his thoughts and turn them into words. His mind was half
lost to this place already.

My heart clenched and frustrated tears
pricked at my eyes. Crete reluctantly tore his attention from me to
Ryder. I could see the utter distaste Crete felt for him. Hades did
not want to possess Orpheus.

Hades wanted to
murder
him.

“You wandered into my realm, Musician. You
basically gift-wrapped her for me. Poseidon will understand.”

I wanted to roll my eyes.
Sure he
would
.

Nix was well known for his understanding
nature.

Ha!

Ryder turned his head to the side and took in
the ugly creatures lining up to watch the show. Centaurs, Ogres,
Harpies, Dragons, giant carnivorous animals and all kinds of
nightmarish monsters that would tear us limb from limb if we
stepped within their reach.

Ryder’s voice was stronger when he spoke
again. He sounded clearer, more awake. “What do you want with her
here?” Ryder demanded. “What can she do for you but rot and
fade?”

Crete’s thin lips curled into a smile. “You
think this is where I want to spend eternity?” His hand swept to
the side. “You think I want to be trapped down here with these vile
creatures? I deserve more than the dead for patronage. I
deserve
the souls of the living too. I deserve Olympus.”

“You would take the mountain?” Ryder stepped
forward, pulling me with him.

“I would storm the mountain,” Crete
grinned.

“And this is your army?” Ryder looked at the
monstrous crowd again and his whole body jerked with disgust.

Crete canted his head to the side and looked
at me again. There was a calculating gleam to his careful
expression, but there was also more. There was ambition there.
There was a hunger so deep and permanent I thought he must be
rotting from the inside out from it. I understood his empty eyes
now. He was an empty husk too. His Underworld had scraped away
whatever soul he started with and left him a mindless vessel that
would do anything to breathe fresh air again.

If Medusa was filled with murderous rage,
then Hades was consumed with it. If Persephone had succumbed to
madness, then Hades had drowned in it a long time ago. These
creatures had been here a long time, but Hades had lived here the
longest. They were still in the beginning stages of what this realm
would do to them, Hades had long since submerged himself in every
horror the Underworld offered.

“It could be,” he explained. His army
bristled beyond the path. A ripple of anticipation washed over them
and sent fear tearing through me. Hades smiled at me and said,
“With the right persuasion.”

Oh, my god.
He wanted me to control
these… these
things
? He wanted me for this?

No.

I would never unleash these things on the
world. Not even Olympus.

They belonged here. With him.

I wasn’t sure if they had any humanity to
begin with, let alone after centuries trapped in this place. They
would destroy Olympus without hesitation, but that would never be
enough for them. The Underworld had fed off their fear and pain for
who knew how long. They were empty and desperate. And they would
turn that hunger on the rest of the world.

Hades wouldn’t stop until he dominated every
last living thing on this planet.

Nothing could make me give him what he
wanted.

But if he captured me now? If he took me
against my will and trapped me down here?

I thought back to Persephone. Would I really
have a choice? What if he sucked out my soul and left me an empty
shell?

He could use my powers and I wouldn’t be able
to do anything to stop him.

“No,” the word was the barest whisper on my
lips.

Not even Ryder heard me. But it was
something.

Ryder wrapped his free hand around my waist
and pulled me tight against his back. “You will not touch her,” he
growled at Hades.

Hades’ grin became deranged. “And who is
going to stop me? You?” His sharp crack of laughter punctuated his
point. “I am a god!” he roared. “What are you?”

Ryder’s shoulders jutted back, readying his
body for the fight. “I am Orpheus,” he declared. “And you are only
the first god I will kill today.”

I sucked in a sharp breath while time
simultaneously slowed down and sped up. Ryder’s hand pulled from
mine. My arm was left dangling straight out in front of me while I
grasped for his fingertips in horror.

Crete met him halfway. They crashed together
on the narrow path, lightning shooting from their fingertips and
ricocheting off the cavern walls.

Screams erupted from the dead watching. They
shrieked ugly words and terrifying wagers. They wanted a body. They
wanted blood.

It was everything I could do to keep my eyes
open and watch the battle between a god and the man that I loved.
Hot tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let
them fall.

I refused to believe that Ryder didn’t have a
chance.

Power vibrated through the cave. It pressed
down on my skin and vacuumed the air from my lungs. I wanted to
scream out for Ryder to be careful. I wanted to sing and force them
all under my authority so I could give him half a chance, but I
couldn’t move.

And I couldn’t speak.

Crete hit Ryder with a blast of lightning to
his chest. Ryder flew backwards catching himself just before he
landed on me. His toes scraped across the loose gravel,
miraculously keeping his body from falling backward.

He landed on his heels and then launched
himself at Crete, shooting lightning from his fingertips as if he
had been able to do that his entire life. Bolt after bolt left his
hands in rapid succession, barely giving Crete a chance to block or
protect his own body.

Crete’s face flashed with surprise before the
promise of victory slammed down on him. He believed he would win.
He believed there was no other outcome than Ryder’s dead body and
my unwilling, but eternal servitude.

A low flash of power hit Ryder in the thigh
and he stumbled to the right. His toes skidded off the path,
shooting up gravel and dirt. He pulled back just as a mammoth
Centaur swiped the air with a battle ax and narrowly missed Ryder’s
leg.

My mouth opened in a hysterical scream but
nothing came out. The Centaur had been standing to the side a
second ago, but the moment Ryder’s body crossed the line, the
Centaur had been there. He missed Ryder by a millisecond.

I wanted to weep.

All it would take was one more misstep and
they would have Ryder. I realized then that Hades didn’t even have
to kill him. All he had to do was get Ryder over the line. His army
of dead monsters would do the rest for him.

I looked down to see that I had sunk to my
knees and hadn’t even realized it. I moved to stand up, when Ryder
threw his hand behind me and a bubble of something thick and
unrelenting landed on top of me.

A shield.

It was the same thing he had thrown to
protect me against Nix last fall. I was safe behind Ryder’s
protection.

I just didn’t know if I wanted to be.

I could help him if he would let me out of
here. I tentatively touched the force field and reared back when a
hot jolt of electricity zapped through me. My bones vibrated from
the strength of it.

What the hell, Ryder? Let me out!

Please!

He couldn’t hear me, obviously.

Crete hit him on the shoulder with a knife of
electricity. The blade of light tore at Ryder’s exposed skin,
cutting a huge gash over his collar bone and down to the center of
his chest.

Ryder retaliated with a bolt of his own, just
in time to keep Crete from plunging the lightning into Ryder’s
chest.

Ryder’s lightning hit Crete dead center in
the torso, pushing him back several steps. Crete wobbled off
balance. His dirtied toga flapped over the line of the path. The
subtle whip of clothing screamed through the cavern. The Centaur
from before flashed to where Crete stood, slicing his ax through
the air.