Chapter 28
“What is that?” Raven asks, stopping to listen to something.
“What? I don’t hear anything.”
“It sounds like soft music coming from down there.” Raven points farther down the hall.
“I hear it too. I thought it was just one of the thousands of trinkets in this place.” Greyson shrugs.
Jayden cocks his head to the side. “Yeah, I think it’s a music box or something.”
“Who set it off? The others went in opposite directions.” I tense, scanning the area.
“Only one way to find out.” Raven steps toward the noise.
“What if it’s the queen? Everyone on your guard.” I tighten my grip on my weapons.
Should I have the shield out instead? What could we be facing with this strange music everyone can hear but me?
A door looms at the end of the hall. The soft melody finally reaches my ears from the other side. I straighten my spine and roll my shoulders back, ready for whatever comes at us from the other side.
“It’s louder inside there. I think we have to check it out or we could get ambushed later.” Raven glances at me over her shoulder.
“Do it. I want to hurry up and end this.” I nod to the door. “Be ready.”
Raven pushes the door open, and the music grows in volume, the melody haunting and almost sad. “What in Hades?”
The room is empty except for a single golden throne and a small table with an open music box sitting on it. I spin around but there is nothing else in the room.
“It’s the throne. But why is this room cleared of everything else?” Raven scratches her head with the tip of her blade.
“Is it a trap? The warning still stands. We can’t touch anything but the throne.” I smack Jayden’s hand away from the music box. “It could be a trap.”
“Very clever girl. Too clever for my liking,” an imperious voice whispers through the room.
I spin in a circle but don’t see the queen anywhere. “Did you guys hear that?”
“Yeah, B. The queen is here.”
“It was a trap all along.” I shake my head. “Show yourself, Hera.”
“Such disrespect from a dead girl.” Hera appears behind the throne.
Her pants suit is immaculate white on white and her jet-black hair is tied back in a severe bun on top of her head.
“I’m not about to die at your hand.” I adjust my grip on my sword.
“You think you’re more powerful than me? I set this whole thing up to trap you, little brat.” Hera sneers.
Jayden steps in front of me slightly but I step to the side. I won’t let him be my shield; I have one of my own.
“I’ve got this, Jayden.” I square my shoulders and bring magic to pool in my hands.
“You really think you can make me sit in that infernal chair?” Hera scoffs. “You’re delusional.”
“The only delusional one here is you. You think destroying the whole world is a good idea?”
“Am I, though?” She steps out from behind the throne. “You think we don’t need a reset? Look at the humans and the way they treat this world. Eradicating them would be a mercy to this realm.”
“And yet most of the gods who have power over this realm and the resources it holds stand against you. This isn’t about the humans’ destruction of the realm.
This is about your petty jealousy. As long as there are human women, your husband will stray, creating new demigods.
” I step around Jayden as she moves, trying to circle behind me.
“You think it’s jealousy? It’s not. Do you know how humiliating it is to be the goddess of marriage and have your husband break his vow anytime a pretty woman comes along? That is true disrespect. I’m the laughingstock of the gods.” She throws a bolt of power, but I block it with my sword.
“And I’m just the latest humiliation?” I shake my head. “You think destroying everything is the way to punish Zeus? You’re punishing everyone by doing this. Zeus won’t die. He’ll come back and everything will be completely fine for him.”
“No. That’s the brilliance of this whole plan. Zeus will be locked away in Tartarus for eternity and I will be the ruler of the gods.”
“You will only rule the gods if you destroy everything else. Don’t you survive on the beliefs of mortals? You’re signing your own death warrant if you destroy them all.” I roll away when her magic lashes out like a whip and narrowly misses me.
“You think I can’t just create a new better race of humans who value marriage and family? Who won’t destroy their home for the sake of progress?” Hera scoffs.
“You’re absolutely insane,” I shout at her. “You think flawed beings won’t find ways to destroy the land? It’s human nature but there is also good. You aren’t actually trying to help anyone but yourself.”
My magic crackles along my whip and I chance a glance at Jayden and Raven and nod at them. We need to end this now before she actually gets what she wants and destroys everything.
Raven stows her sword, opting for some throwing knives instead and lobbing one with perfect precision at Hera. Hera waves a hand and the blade clatters to the ground.
“You think your silly weapons will hurt me? That wasn’t even a gods touched weapon.” Hera scoffs. “Insulting.”
Shit. Why didn’t we think of that? I nod to Raven who inches closer to me and pulls the blade Ares gave her months ago. I stow my own sword and call the shield Hades gave me. Jayden steps up next to me with his obsidian blade raised in Hera’s direction.
“You really are that into yourself that you just gave us knowledge on how to defeat you. How did you survive as queen this long that full of yourself?” I ask.
I flick my whip, crackling with white and black electricity entwined around it. Hera steps back with a small gasp as her eyes widen. I open the link to Jayden as I stalk forward.
We need to herd her to the throne. Now that she’s spilled the beans that we can hurt her with our weapons from the gods, she’s going to be more volatile than before.
Agreed, Jayden whispers in my head. My shadows can help too but the nymph will get away.
It doesn’t matter now. She can’t hurt us anymore. Zeus will find her and punish her after we finish this.
Jayden’s shadows swirl and writhe along his arms as we circle the goddess. No matter how we move, she’s not letting herself get close to the front of the throne. I crack my whip, and it wraps around her arm. The goddess screams as the volts of electricity sizzle against her porcelain skin.
“You will pay for damaging me, child.”
“I don’t think I will, Hera.” I pull the whip back and move in for another strike to her body, but she disappears.
I spin on my heel and shove Raven to the side as Hera’s white power slices through the air. “Get down.”
I stow my shield and blast pure magic at the goddess, but it hits the wall behind where she was just standing.
“Form up,” Jayden says. “We need to be back-to-back.”
“Good idea. That way someone has eyes on her at all times.” I nod and press my back to Jayden’s.
“My side,” Raven whispers.
We spin so I’m facing Hera. This is my fight, and Raven doesn’t have magic the way Jayden and I do. She has weapons and she’s damn good with them. This is a magic fight more than anything, though.
I shoot a blast of white and black electricity at the goddess, and she screams, throwing her own shot at me. The two opposing magical bursts connect and explode in a shower of sparks. It reverberates back on me, and I fly back into the wall.
Fiery pain radiates down my back and my head. The walls shake at the impact and dust falls from the tall ceilings.
“We’re going to take the place down around us if we aren’t careful,” I shout.
I roll away from the wall to my hands and knees, but when I try to stand, I collapse back on the ground in a heap.
“Beth,” Jayden shouts, racing toward me.
“Jayden, watch out,” I shriek.
Hera’s magic shoots out at Jayden’s back, but he dodges right in time. Greyson rushes to me, facing Hera so she can’t shoot him in the back.
“Jayden, cover us,” Greyson says, pulling something out of his pack. “Open your mouth, Beth.”
He unstops the dropper, but I shake my head. “It’s only been a few days. It could make things worse.”
“You’re a sitting duck right here, Beth. You need this to defeat her.” He glares at me.
“Fine.” I open my mouth as another blast of magic hits the walls, shaking everything. “Hurry.”
Greyson puts three drops on my tongue and hands me a sandwich.
“Seriously?” I ask him.
“You were using a lot of magic. Eat it.” Greyson shoves the sandwich into my hand.
The magic from the elixir tingles through my system, healing all the injuries in my back and head as I scarf down the sandwich in just a couple bites.
“Thanks, snack mom. I’m feeling better already.” I clasp his elbow, and he helps me off the ground. “Let’s end this.”
Calling my whip, I square my shoulders and blast Hera with as much power as I dare to use. She’s distracted in her firefight with Jayden, so it hits her in the side. Hera flies across the room but vanishes before she can slam into the throne.
“Dammit,” I yell.
I spin in a circle, searching for any sign of her, but she’s either invisible again or she fled. If she fled, we’re in serious trouble.
“Where did she go?” Raven scans the room as well.
The music box stops and then starts again, even louder than before. What game is she playing with that damn thing?
“Don’t.” I grab Jayden’s wrist. “I think she wants us to touch it. There’s something wrong with that thing.”
“The music is inside my head at this point. I just want it to stop.” Jayden shakes his head.
“That’s what she wants us to do. We can’t touch the damn thing.” I spin around again. “Show yourself, coward.”
“She realized that she may not be able to get out of this and she’s running scared,” Raven says with a scoff.
“She won’t actually leave until one of us touches that box and triggers whatever nasty trap is attached to it.”
“You infuriating girl. Why won’t you just die?” Hera yells, her voice reverberating off the walls.
“Why won’t you just sit on your pretty throne and stop your bullshit?” I ask, flipping my hair over my shoulder.
“You cannot defeat me.” She pops in front of me, ten feet away. “I am the queen of the gods and you are nothing.”