Chapter 26 – Lamia #2
She takes a deep breath. “Before my mother freed me from the Underworld, she took this necklace from her mother and created a powerful spell. A spell that she pulled from the strength of all the undead in Hades’s realm.
All a person has to do is wear this necklace and think of the people or person that they love, and the necklace will hold every memory they ever had of that person.
When I touch it and close my eyes, I can see, like a movie playing in my mind, every moment I ever had with my mother.
I can feel her love for me. I can feel everything she felt when she was with me. ”
Tears choke my throat. “Em…”
And I realize it. The truth.
“Forget it,” I say, feeling hollow. “I could never take that from you.”
It’s immense, knowing that I’m making a choice that will take all hope from me. That will take me on a path where I might never see my children again, and a path that the gargoyles might never forgive me for. But I can’t take the only source of comfort from this woman.
Her eyes open. “No.”
I feel tears running down my cheeks, chilly in the cool night air.
“When they told you you’d need this to bring back the dead, they were right. If you wear it, you can put your memories of your children within it. And if you place the necklace on your children, they will remember too. It’s one of only a few ways to bring the dead back as we remember them.”
I shake my head. “Em—“
“What else have you had to collect?”
“The Goblet of the Dead and a gold coin.”
She inhales sharply. “If your children drink from the goblet, they will be restored.”
“And the coin?” I ask, hear pounding.
“It can restore your body to its prime. Like the fountain of youth, but it too is needed to bring back the dead. The coin is placed on their foreheads when the spell is made.”
She stares down at her necklace. “There’s only one thing more that you need to restore the dead.”
“What?” I ask, my heart pounding.
“Saplings from the tree of souls. If planted on the chest of a person, their soul will be restored.”
I stare at her. “There must be easier ways to bring back the dead.”
She shakes her head. “Bringing back the dead is always dangerous. They lose things on the way. If they don’t have their souls, they are shells of flesh and blood.
If you bring back their minds, they have nothing but crumbling bodies to contain them.
And without their memories, they can never be the people you remember.
“But the ability to bring back the living in this way, to truly restore them to their own forms, is not something the gods want. Hades never wants to give up his souls, and the gods want immortality for only themselves.”
“Many of the gods are working against me,” I tell her.
She nods. “I’m not surprised. They’re bored assholes.”
I laugh. That’s one thing we’ve always agreed on. “I’m just surprised this is actually all possible. I’d have thought I was chasing shadows.”
Then her gaze changes. “What are the gargoyles getting out of this?”
“What do you mean?”
She scoffs. “I know you see the world differently from me, but this I know for sure, no one would be risking their lives if it didn’t help them.”
Should I lie? “I may have killed them and brought them back as something like vampires.”
She stares. “And they want to return to their former selves?”
I nod.
“Then you should be careful.”
“Why?” I ask, frowning.
“Because once you find the Tree of Souls, they can get their true souls back and become human-like again. They don’t need to finish helping you bring back your children.”
My stomach turns. “They wouldn’t just abandon me.”
Would they?
She stares. “And where do you have to go to find the remains of your children?”
“In a place called The Cave of Blood.”
Her entire body stiffens. “Do not tell them about what the saplings can do. The Cave of Blood is dangerous, avoided by gods and our kind alike. If the gargoyles know the truth, they’ll abandon you, and you won’t succeed.”
The conversation makes me uneasy. “Em?”
“Yes?”
I take a deep breath. “Could these items make me…me again?”
Sorrow deepens her gaze. “You have a soul, Lamia, you’ve just been cursed. None of the items will do anything for you.”
I try not to feel overwhelmed by my disappointment.
“I’m sorry, Lamia, but if you can get your kids back, nothing else matters. At least that’s how I would feel if I ever got to see my mother again.”
My gaze moves to her necklace. “Em—“
“It’s strange. I grew up in the Underworld, surrounded by demons, prisoners, the undead, and worse.
But in her memories, I was like the sun.
I brightened every moment of her day. No matter how hungry or tired she was, even when they tortured her, her love for me dominated all else.
I know you were the same kind of mother. ”
Again, I’m ashamed to feel tears choking my throat.
Em slowly draws the silver chain off of her neck and holds it out in front of her. Her gaze roams over the large red stone and the etchings around it. Her fingers stroke the chain.
“With the necklace, I always had her.”
“I can’t take this from you,” I say again, chest aching with her pain.
She shakes her head, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “I still have her in my heart and my mind. That’s enough for me. At least it is if sacrificing this can bring your children back to you.”
Slowly, she holds it out to me.
I take it feeling horrible and strange all at the same time. This is what I need to get my children, but why did it have to come at such a cost?
When I look down at the gem, suddenly an image flashes into my mind of a woman with pale green skin and a kind smile.
There’s screaming somewhere close by. I’m frightened.
But the woman radiates a strange calm as she reaches out to me and pulls me into her arms. A minute later, she begins to sing softly and the screaming fades away.
I’m so tired. So tired it seems like forever since I last slept.
My eyes flutter closed, and I feel immensely loved.
I gasp, stumbling back. Staring between Em and the necklace, I feel tears gather in my eyes.
“You saw her?” she asks.
I nod.
A slow smile tugs on her lips. “I’m glad. But now you need to erase her and replace her memories with your own of your children.”
“Em…”
It feels strangely like I’m killing something beautiful.
“Just close your eyes and picture your children and press into the stone that you want it to remember them. It’ll copy every memory, every emotion you have, that’s connected to them.”
I stare at her. “I know what this is costing you.”
“That’s why I’m giving it to you freely. Now, close your eyes and think of them.”
I do, even though I feel tears running down my cheeks.
I picture my children the first time I held them, sweaty, crying, in my bed, the midwife and my husband standing near me.
They were the most beautiful children ever born.
So strong. So full of life. My mind shifts between their births, so similar and yet so different.
And then, I feel it. I feel the stone warm in my hand, and energy arcs between me and the necklace.
For a long time, I feel it tugging at me, whirling inside of me. And then, it stops.
My eyes flutter open. Silent tears stream down Em’s cheeks, and her hand touches the place where her necklace once was.
I open my mouth to tell her more, when I see a shadow detach from the trees. Then, more and more shadows.
“Em!”
She whirls around, then backs up until we’re next to each other. Fire explodes from her hands, and she widens her stance. I kick off my shoes and shift, becoming half-snake again.
As we watch the shadows approach, I prepare for anything and everything. Whatever the gods might throw at us next.
I’m shocked when an ash tree nymph steps out of the shadows of the woods. Her hair is woven with flowers, and her naked body has the lines of a tree on her skin, which is every shade of brown. Behind her, four more ash tree nymphs step free of the shadows.
Em and I exchange a confused look. Ash tree nymphs aren’t exactly dangerous.
The first nymph smiles. “Empusa and Lamia, welcome to our woods. I only wish we were meeting on better terms.”
Em speaks before I can. “What do you mean?”
The tree turns sad brown eyes onto her. “You know you’re never alone on these dark nights when you think you are. We are here, forever, mourning your curse just as you do.”
Em’s entire body stiffens.
“The gods sent you here, right?” I ask.
The tree nymph looks sad. “They promised they’d burn our woods to the ground if we didn’t assist them in their mission.”
I feel the color drain from my face. Tree nymphs are gentle, harmless spirits. The gods that threatened them truly have dark hearts.
“What did they want you to do?”
“They wanted us to lead your gargoyles into the woods and imprison them in wood, unless you agreed to give us the necklace.”
My heart lurches. “They’re safe, far from here.”
She cocks her head. “They followed you through the woods…”
“Where are they?” And I realize I’m shouting.
She jerks her head toward the darkness.
I don’t think, I just act, racing into the woods. Somehow, I know just where to go, like the woods themselves are guiding me. I explode out into a clearing with a lake. Near the lake are my gargoyles, and sure enough, wood is climbing up their legs, wrapping them.
And I know from every tale that should the wood cover them completely, they will slowly turn into the trees themselves. They’ll be rooted here for an eternity.
“I’m sorry, Lamia. We wanted you to succeed in your task.”
I whirl to the nymph, who has somehow come to stand next to me. “I can’t let you do this.”
“I don’t think you have a choice.”
Turning away from her, I rush to my gargoyles. They’re using their swords to hack at the wood, but it’s of no use. The wood continues to grow.
“Lamia!” Ryker says. “Get back! It’s a trap!”
I shake my head. “It’s not a trap. It’s a deal.”