Promise of Shadows (7 page)

I throw the remainder of my fruit on the ground and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Why?”
She blinks owlishly at me. “Are you joking?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m not. Tell me why we should ditch him.”
She stares off into the woods. “I don’t trust him. Did you see his eyes? Brighter than new coins. How do we know he isn’t Æthereal?”
“He’s not. Trust me. His emotions stink way too bad for him to be a god. I wouldn’t be able to smell anything if he was Æthereal.”
“So you trust him?”
“Well, no. But I don’t distrust him. It’s more I’m just waiting to see what happens.”
Cass turns to me and stills. She’s strangely intense, more so than usual. For the first time since I’ve met her fear uncurls slowly in my belly. “What?”
“What do you smell from me?”
“What?” It’s not the question I’m expecting, and the sudden change in direction catches me off guard.
“You’ve been by my side for a long time, and I’m just now learning that you can smell emotions.”
Crap. I swallow a sigh. “That’s because it’s not really something Harpies brag about.”
Cass is still looking at me like I’m a bug under a magnifying glass. “How’s it work?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s a Harpy thing. Like our talons. Emotions have similar scents. Like fear? It’s usually some kind of spoiled citrus. And happiness? Always smells good, like cookies or cake.” I don’t add that I’m sort of uncomfortable about the gift. All Harpies can scent out emotions, but some are better than others. I may have failed at every last thing related to battle, but I rocked the sniffing out emotions part. The problem is most people don’t really like you to know what they’re feeling. It’s a bit like reading minds: It’s best if people just don’t know you can do it.
Just when I think Cass is going to let it go, she says again, “So what do you smell from me?”
I stand and wipe my dirty hands on my even dirtier pants. “Why, Cass? We’re friends. What does it matter?”
“I want to know. You’ve never asked me why you couldn’t smell my emotions.”
“I never said I couldn’t smell your emotions,” I say.
“Can you?”
I shift from foot to foot. “No. But really, it’s none of my business, Cass. I don’t care.” I don’t want to know why I can’t smell anything from Cass. Honestly, it’s nice to be around someone without knowing their every feeling.
“I’m not a god, you know.” She tugs at a loose string on her toga before dropping her arms down by her sides. “I’m a vættir.”
“Good. So drop it then. Blue’s going to be back at any moment, and I don’t want to have this conversation with an audience.” I might kind of like Blue, but that doesn’t mean I want him to know I can sniff out how he’s feeling.
Cass watches me, and then finally nods. “You aren’t going to ask me why you can’t smell my emotions?”
I want to ask her. I really do. Especially since she’s making such a big deal about it. But one of the things I love about Cass is that she reminds me so much of my sister. And after I discovered Whisper’s secrets, our relationship was never the same. Whisper taught me long ago that prying is a big mistake. So as much as I want to ask Cass why I never smell any emotion from her, I don’t. I’d rather have her friendship than her secrets, and I have a sinking suspicion that I can’t have both.
“Cass,” I say with a sigh. “I trust you. It isn’t important. Besides, just a few hours ago Hades pretty much told me that I’m dead meat. As much as I want to play twenty questions with you, we have bigger things to worry about right now.”
The words are no sooner out of my mouth than a scream rips through the air, like the sound of tires skidding across pavement. I know without a doubt it came from the direction Blue headed into the woods. But it didn’t sound like him.The noise was guttural and foreign, like it came from an animal. I begin to shake and Cass grabs my arm. She doesn’t look afraid, more concerned.
“You were saying,” she drawls.
“Ha-ha.” Another scream tears through my middle, leaving my heart pounding. The skin on my arms has pimpled, and I swallow thickly. “Tell me you know what that is.”
She shakes her head while tugging me away from the woods. “I think it would a good idea to start running.”
Another scream splits the day, and Blue comes running toward us through the tall grass. “Go! Go!” he yells, waving us ahead of him. I get a glimpse of blond hair and height before he sprints past us, not looking back to see if we follow.
We take off running, Cass quickly outpacing me. Blue weaves into a field of waist-high blue grass, and we follow. I feel clumsy as I run, like my feet are asleep. I trip and fall, and everything falls away as the voice in my brain yells,
Get up, get up, GETUP!
On the ground I can’t see anything but the blue grass, the red sky beyond an ominous warning. I try to climb to my feet, but it’s difficult. The ground shakes beneath my hands, causing small stones to jump.
Something very, very big is approaching.
I stumble to my feet and start running, glancing back over my shoulder as I do. Whatever is chasing us seems like it would be too big to hide in the tall grass, but I don’t see anything. That just makes me run faster. I’m not the world’s best fighter, but I’m an excellent runner.
Still, Blue and Cass have easily outdistanced me, their forms far ahead in the tall blue grass. We can’t see what’s chasing us, but we aren’t waiting to find out, either.
I finally catch up to Cass and Blue. He skids to a sudden stop, and I crash into him. His arm wraps around my waist to steady me, the sickly stink of his fear overwhelming.
“What is it? Why are you so afraid?” I gasp.
“Drakan,” he says.
I shake my head, not believing him. “No. Drakans aren’t real.” They can’t be real, otherwise I might just lose my damn mind. Drakans are the biggest, scariest thing in the Underworld. They supposedly created the Rift, but no one’s ever seen one before. Now I’m thinking maybe that’s because they don’t survive the meeting.
A drakan would be bad, worse than a manticore. I’m not sure I’m fast enough to outrun a drakan, if that’s what is really chasing us.
But the rotten-orange scent of Blue’s fear convinces me that he’s telling the truth, or at least thinks he is. “If you don’t believe me, feel free to stay here and get eaten by an imaginary monster.” He looks around, releasing me as he does. “Come on, this way.”
We start running again, the kind of flat-out sprint that spins a web of agony along my side. I push my hand into the hollow beneath my rib cage, hoping I can somehow will the stitch away. The pain grounds me, so that I don’t have a chance to let my fear paralyze me. That’s a good thing, I guess.
The tall grass thins out and the terrain changes to shining black rock. My bones rattle as my feet slam into the hard surface. I’m starting to fall back, Cass and Blue leaving me far behind. If I can’t kick it into high gear, I’m going to be monster chow.
I really, really miss my wings right now.
Far ahead of me Cass and Blue stop suddenly, and it doesn’t take long for me to catch up to them. When I draw up alongside them, I can see why they halted.
The black rock gives way to air. Far below us, yellow water crashes over jagged and deadly rocks. On the other side of the chasm are piles of bones that look sort of like buildings. I bend over, gasping for breath. “What now?” I ask.
Blue glances over at me. His eyes glow, they’re so bright. His Æthereal blood must be incredibly strong. He sighs, like he can’t believe he’s been burdened with such terrible luck. “I don’t know.”
“We don’t have all millennium, so we should probably decide on something sooner rather than later,” Cass says, her gaze locked on the way we came. She doesn’t even look winded, while I’m pretty sure I’m going to pass out if I don’t catch my breath.
Blue pushes his hand through his hair. He looks back at the cliff again and throws his hands up into the air. “We’re going to have to jump.”
Cass makes a choked noise.“We will never make that,”she says.
The blond boy grins, and my heart gives an unexpected leap. He’s gorgeous. “Well, it’s either jump or be eaten by the drakan. Me, I’m willing to give it a try.” He apparently has a death wish. Why are all the pretty boys insane?
Without any more discussion Blue backs up a few feet and sprints forward, jumping at the last possible second. For a long moment I have the aching fear that he’ll fall. I imagine his body twisted and broken on the rocks below. But then he’s on the other side, his feet skidding across the black rock as he slides to a stop. He stands on the far side of the chasm, and his laughter drifts back to us.
“As easy as pie!” he yells across the gap.
Cass looks at me and shrugs. “Good luck,” she says. Then she’s backing up while she hikes up the skirts of her toga, tucking them up between her legs so they don’t trip her when she runs. She sprints past me, her arms windmilling as she flies through the air. She moves so fast that she’s on the other side before I even have a chance to worry.
“Oh gods,” I say. I consider the jump, my stomach turning over. If I still had my wings, I would’ve already been across the chasm. But my wings are long gone and in their place is a newfound fear of going splat.
On the other side of the gap Cass’s waving arms urge me to hurry, and when the ground begins to tremble I know why.
I turn and look over my shoulder, but I still can’t see anything. After a second I finally figure out why. The monster bearing down on us matches the sky, its enormous body a shimmering mass that reflects its surroundings.The only sense I have of its size is the way the grass moves from its passage. From what I can tell the creature is huge, like an angry, invisible house moving through the grass.
Fear freezes me, and I fight to push the emotion away. I’m small and insignificant. Everything comes crashing down on me at once. Whisper and the way she looked when I found her, my trial, Hermes’s abandonment, the vague promise of doom by Hades. So much has happened to me in the past year, and I’m suddenly just so exhausted.
I’m tired of being afraid.
The entire mass of the creature regards me, waiting for me to do something. But I’m so sore and tired, and a wave of defeat washes over me. I just can’t see the point in fighting anymore.
I just have to face the fact that I’m not a survivor. Why should I even bother?
So instead of running, instead of fighting, instead of freaking out like I should, I just sit there and wait to be eaten.
No wonder I failed my Trials.
A strange sense of calm comes over me, and I study the creature as it studies me. It has no form that I can discern, but I can sense its massiveness. It looms over me, pressing down and invading the space. But it’s less a physical presence and more an awareness. The creature feels dark, even though it’s completely invisible. It is fear and anxiety given physical form, and I understand why Blue ran. He said it was a drakan, and if he’s right, then this is one of the fearsome creatures who separated the realms in the first place, using their might to divide up the universe. I guess I should be terrified just thinking about that.
But the reality is I just don’t care anymore. It’s hopeless. At least now I know how I die.
“Are you seriously going to sit there and wait for it to eat you, or are you going to cross the chasm?”
The voice comes out of nowhere, jolting me out of my pity party. I turn, and a boy with long dark hair and pale skin strides through the grass toward me. He stands straight, completely unfazed by the giant monster nearby. Like Blue, his clothes are modern and on the fashionable range of things. But it’s not the familiar smirk that makes my heart pound. It’s the way he’s looking at me.
I would recognize those fathomless dark eyes anywhere.
“Tally?”
He nods and drops down beside me. “Why are you sitting on the ground, Peep?”
“I . . . I was waiting for it to eat me.” I’m not entirely sure that I’m not already dead. How else do I explain my childhood friend suddenly appearing in the Underworld?
“That’s pretty dumb. Especially since it’s actually giving you a chance to cross.” He studies me, his jaw tight. His brows are pulled together in a scowl. There’s a hardness to him that was never there before, but that’s not saying much since it’s been almost ten years since I saw him last.
I look back at the drakan, and Tally sighs. “Well, come on. I’ll help you cross if you’re afraid.”
“It’s not going to eat me?”
He smiles. “Drakans don’t exactly eat people. But they don’t really enjoy them trespassing, either. They’re very territorial.”
“Oh.” I’m still having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that I am not about to be devoured. “How do you know all that?”
He shrugs. “I’ve learned some things in the past few years.”
I look from Tally to the nearly invisible monster behind him. “So you’re sure it’s not going to eat me?”
Tally sighs. “Yes. Now let’s go, Peep, before it changes its mind,” he says impatiently, holding out his hand.
I open my mouth to argue with him just like I would’ve in the good old days, but then the thing looming over us lets out a chuffing sound that may or may not be laughter. I clamp my mouth shut. It’s strange that Tally appears and all of a sudden the monster stops chasing me. But now isn’t the time to think about it. “Thank you,” I grit out.
I take his outstretched hand. The contact sends a tingle down my arm, and I snatch my hand back. He watches me, his frown disappearing and one eyebrow raising in question. “Problem?”
“No, uh, sorry.” I take his hand and he easily lifts me to my feet. The tingle where our hands connect spreads up my arm to my entire body. There’s a flash of cold, and then I’m standing next to Cass.
I snatch back my hand. “What in the hells was that?”
“Teleportation. It’s kind of Tallon’s specialty,” the blond boy with the too-blue eyes answers with a grin.
“Tallon?”
He shrugs. “I don’t really go by Tally anymore.”
I turn back to Tally—Tallon now—and shake my head. “You never did that when we were kids.”
He shrugs. “I grew into my talents.”There’s a hint of something in his voice, and I’m pretty sure that he’s not just talking about teleportation. My face heats but I barely notice it. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around a vættir who can teleport. That’s not exactly a normal talent.
And Tallon isn’t just any vættir. He’s the boy I used to chase through the woods of the Aerie. I clear my throat. My insides are in turmoil, but I’m determined not to let him see a single shred of it. “So, what brings you to the Underworld?”
Blue grins and throws his arm across Tallon’s shoulders. “The scenery, of course.”
Tallon rolls his eyes. “We’re here to rescue you.”