Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
Thea
Blinking rapidly, I lifted a hand to my brow, struggling against the searing pain in my eyes as I adjusted to the unnatural brightness.
There was so much light.
Everywhere.
And yet, there was nothing else.
I spun, searching wildly, but Clay and Ayanna were gone. Whirling on my heels once more, this time in the opposite direction, I squinted, searching for something, anything, but there was only this unforgiving, brilliantly glowing light. Above me and below. It coated my skin like mist.
“I must admit I am surprised.”
My heart lurched at the voice echoing both around me and inside me, and I turned once more, this time locking gazes with a woman.
No, not a woman. A Goddess.
I wasn’t sure how I knew. There was nothing in her outward appearance to give it away.
Her short black hair, curling under her chin, and dark, almond eyes looked entirely normal.
Her mahogany skin didn’t shine or shimmer with some unnatural power.
I didn’t even feel that suffocating amount of power radiating off her that I sometimes felt around Hyrax.
She looked... well, normal.
And yet, I knew, deep in my gut, that I was speaking to another member of the divine.
She tilted her head as she examined me, the ghost of a smile pulling at the corner of her lips.
“I had heard of your appearance, of course,” she continued, stepping towards me with her hands folded neatly behind her back. The flowing lines of her ivory gown trailed behind her. “And still it is remarkable. You look so like her.”
My chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. “Isidore?”
Her lips quirked again, amused. “We call her Queen.”
The Goddess walked in a circle around me, taking in my appearance with careful appraisal and a hum of approval. When she stood in front of me once more, she sighed, eyes darting to the bands on my palms for the briefest of moments before she met my gaze again.
“You do have his eyes, though. Hers are green, like the purest of emeralds.”
I nodded. Caldrius had guided Hyrax in creating me as a near identical replica of Isidore, but one only had to look at my father to see the shared resemblance between our eyes. It was as if he couldn’t help but gift me one part of himself.
“I am Athene,” she introduced herself.
Quickly, I scanned through the memories of the mythology and history lessons I had endured to prepare for my trials.
“And you have come for your Forging.”
Her identity locked into place with sudden force. Once more, I nodded at her, struck mute as I recovered from realizing that I was standing before the Goddess of Wisdom.
Athene rolled her neck, her voice taking on a cadence of warning.
“It is not a simple process. The Forging will force you to face things that are sometimes better left unknown. The truth, the fear, and the possibility. You should consider carefully whether you can face those things before beginning.”
My brow lowered into a frown. “You make it sound as if I have a choice.”
She smirked. “Don’t you?”
“Hyrax is in the Mortal Realm,” I snapped, irritation leaking into my words. “I don’t see you or any of the other Gods coming to help us.”
Athene laughed, a small, bell-like sound that sent my blood boiling.
What about any of this was funny?
“Are you not the Goddess of the Veil? Yet, you are shocked that we remain blocked by it?”
The Veil.
“The Veil still exists?”
She lifted her head and lowered it in one single, meaningful nod.
The Gods were blocked by the Veil.
Which could only mean that when I had freed Hyrax, I hadn’t lowered the Veil at all, at least not permanently. My portals had been nothing more than temporary gateways to the Underworld, allowing him to walk free while the other Gods remained sequestered in the Upperworld.
They weren’t ignoring us. They couldn’t help us.
“And so, the question remains,” Athene cleared her throat, stealing my attention once more before I could unravel that line of thinking any further. “Will you embark on the Forging?”
I swallowed. Her question remained, but my answer was unchanged.
There wasn’t another option.
She tilted her head to the side, somehow reading my thoughts though I hadn’t spoken a word. “This will not bring your powers back.”
A wave of ice rushed over me, sending a chill racing down my spine.
No.
No, that couldn’t be true.
This had to be what would bring my powers back. It had to work because I couldn’t accept that they were gone forever. I couldn’t—
“They did not leave you, dear girl,” Athene sighed, brows lifting as if she were speaking with a child.
“Did you not feel them when you recognized the power in your friend, Camilla? Did you not feel them when you read the pain in your friend Kent? Even now, did you not feel them when you looked at me and knew who I was?”
Frowning, I shook my head at her, taking two steps back. That sounded far more like her domain than mine. “That’s not my power. I can’t do that.”
Athene crossed her arms over her chest. “You are a Goddess, yet you expect your magic to behave like that of a Descendant.”
“My powers are gone,” I insisted stubbornly, frowning at her. “I’ve tried to use them.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Have you?”
The brightness around us flickered for a moment, tiny tendrils of darkness beginning to seep into the empty space we inhabited. In the distance, I could almost hear my name being called.
“We do not have long,” Athene mentioned, drawing my focus once more. “You must decide if you wish to proceed with the Forging. Not every God does.”
“And if I don’t?”
Athene considered. “You need only trust yourself. You need to trust that your powers are not the enemy that released Hyrax against your will. They are a part of you. Your will. Your decisions.”
The light flickered again. That was Clay’s voice. Clay was calling my name in the distance.
He was screaming my name.
“What happens if I do it?” I asked her, eyes wide with desperation. In this strange place, in between realms, I felt the passage of time like a weight bearing down on me.
Athene’s dark eyes bore into mine. “You will change.”
Without breaking my stare, she uncrossed her arms and extended one hand, palm up, towards me in silent invitation.
I could return to the Mortal Realm, embrace my magic, and fight Hyrax as I was.
Or I could stare my own divinity in the eye and face the truth of what it meant to be a Goddess.
Fear was alive inside me, present in my pounding heart and trembling fingers. It wasn't a foreign sensation, though. Fear had been my constant companion since the second I had first opened my eyes.
I had feared the Dragon. I had feared the life the Council would force upon me. I had feared Hyrax. I had feared George and his men.
I had feared so much.
I didn’t want to be afraid anymore.
Especially not of myself. I didn’t want to fear the powers that coursed through me.
If change was the price for the bravery I craved, then it would be worth it.
I placed my hand in hers.