Chapter 15 #2
“He shot me through with silver arrows,” Thanatos spat bitterly, “over and over until I was forced to return to the Underworld. There, I demanded an audience with Hades, of course. And he was as furious as I.”
He turned away from my sisters, looking directly to me. “This was some eighteen years ago,” he revealed. “You would have been seven.”
He paused to let his words sink in before continuing.
“Hades promised me retribution on the spot, but I was not to be involved in his plan. I asked him once what he had done, but he told me nothing—only that the score would be settled. I would have kept my fury for years had I not trusted his judgment, but I believed him. I trusted his rage, and now I can see the pieces of his meddling falling into place.”
“Thanatos, I don’t understand,” I said softly.
“Well, Hades must have decided to make a point,” he explained.
“Steal the boy, hide him from his father, let him grow up as a mortal—and then face him with a challenge fit for a demigod. Make him earn the right to keep his borrowed life. If he fails, he dies in agony and Apollo’s heart is broken once again, even more fully than the last time.
And Hades certainly expects the child to fail. ”
Thanatos shrugged and nodded to himself. “Yes, that sounds like something he would do. Hades would consider it generous, I am sure, letting the boy have a few extra years. I suppose I should thank him for the sight he gave to you.”
I twisted my hair anxiously and shook my head, still not following. “But why would he do that?” I pressed. “What does all of this have to do with me, with prophecy?”
“Well, Hades isn’t a complete asshole,” Thanatos said, chuckling to himself. “Usually, anyway. If he plans to stage a violent trial for the soul of one man, surely he means to give the people a warning before he does it.”
A stone dropped in my stomach, and I groaned loudly, anger mounting along with my desire to disbelieve. “Are you serious?” I demanded. “What kind of warning is this? How was anyone supposed to figure that out?”
“I mean, we figured it out just now.”
“No, you figured it out,” I emphasized, “and you needed Alex’s talent to do it. I would never have known! And somehow I don’t think our meeting was part of Hades’ plan.”
Thanatos shrugged again, way too calmly for my liking. “Well, I mean…it’s prophecy. Divine thought passing through mortal lips. Are they not all like this?”
“Like insensible riddles with no purpose but to soothe some god’s conscience before they start destroying shit?” I fumed. At this, Alex raised an eyebrow at me, and I let out a long, irritated sigh. “Ugh! Well…fine. Actually, yeah. They usually are.”
He nodded to me sympathetically. “Regardless of the morality of it, we now know what is meant to happen. What is more important,” Thanatos considered, “is the identity of this child. You know your parishioners by name, do you not? It should not be too difficult to make the determination.”
“You say that as if I would recognize a demigod upon meeting him.”
“Perhaps not, but we know much more now than before,” he countered. “Your hero is a boy of eighteen, an orphan with golden hair. He would be exceptional in life. An archer, maybe? A warrior, or a healer? You must know of someone like that.”
I strained to conjure a list of young soldiers, wishing I had a better memory of faces and hair color. All of our best archers were far too old, and I had no better luck considering the healing arts. Fortunately, Alex was quicker than I was.
“It’s Leon,” she said quietly, first to herself and then again to the rest of us. “It’s Leon. It has to be.”
At first thought, it didn’t make any sense, but the longer I dwelled on it the more certain I became that it was him.
Leon the young musician, whose skill delighted anyone who listened.
He lived with the other collectively raised children.
He had to be about eighteen. And his hair…
I’d always thought those curls to be annoyingly pretty.
“Yeah, it’s Leon,” I agreed, surprising myself with my confidence. “Holy fuck. He has no idea. And he’s not a soldier.”
“He is probably doomed, then,” Thanatos remarked. I glared at him, but he persisted. “What? He is. Do you want me to lie to you?” he asked rhetorically.
“We’ve got to tell him,” Zoe said at once. “He deserves to know.”
“You cannot tell him, nor anyone else,” Thanatos warned, an edge of panic in his voice. “Apollo did not give this knowledge to you, so spreading it could alert him to the impostor in your midst. Who knows what he would do then.” His gaze softened as it fell upon me.
“Well, what if we just warn him without being specific?” Zoe asked. “The three of us have sensed auras of danger before. That much wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.”
“I suppose that would be safe.”
“Then we’d better hope he comes to pray really soon,” Sophie pointed out. “None of us can go to him. We can’t leave the grounds.”
Alex nodded. “You could tell him,” she said, glancing fearfully at Thanatos. “You can go anywhere.”
I knew that he wouldn’t do it, and I was right, of course. He let out a patronizing chuckle before he shut her down. “You want me to interfere in Hades’ plan? The one he created on my behalf? That will not be happening. I have probably already done too much, telling you these things.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” she shot back. “We can’t just do nothing!”
“You are supposed to be safe,” he answered. “This is but a warning to take shelter until the storm has passed and Hades has claimed what belongs to him. Cyrie herself is a warning. The city understands it as a warning. Heed it.”