Chapter 19 – Orion #2
The blonde slowly speaks. “It’s true. Persephone and I are in love.
In the months she’s allowed on the surface, we’re together and happy.
In the months she’s forced to stay in the Underworld, I visit her as often as possible.
But she had this path made for me, so that it was safer.
The only restriction was that it had traps setup to ensure anyone escaping wasn’t evil.
We didn’t want to possibly create a path straight out of the Underworld for all the monsters and terrible people. ”
“That makes sense,” I tell her begrudgingly.
“So did we pass the tests then?” Orion asks, his voice hopeful.
“Well…” She taps her fingers. “If you had more hate than love in your hearts, you all would’ve killed each other when the flower’s poison was released.
And if you were bad people, you wouldn’t have let even the illusion of a woman be taken and hurt at the bar.
So you passed those tests, but I’m afraid you’re not free yet. ”
Love in our hearts? I glance at Hecate and my blood races, but I don’t think she’s focused on the same part of the strange woman’s words as I am. And I remind myself that love should be the least important part of all of this. So, I try to calm my racing heart and focus on Hecate.
Hecate’s frowning at the woman. “There are more tests?”
The woman shakes her head. “No, we didn’t need much to restrict the bad people. They would’ve failed both tests. No one has even gotten this far. But, I’m afraid, there’s something far worse in these tunnels than my tests.”
A shiver crawls down my spine. “What?”
The woman is quiet for a long minute before she speaks. “Nothing should be able to enter these tunnels. None of Hades men. Not even Hades himself. But I felt something...something evil. It’s rushing up the tunnels. It’ll overtake you soon.”
“What is it?” Hecate asks, and I hate that there’s fear in her voice.
“Something capable of killing you all, I’m afraid, if you’re not too careful.”
I want to punch something. I want to scream. Isn’t it enough we’re escaping from the Underworld and that I can’t even look back to be sure my brother is there? Something evil is coming for us too?
“I just wanted to warn you,” she says, hopping off of the mushroom.
“Persephone cares a great deal for Hecate. She has never forgotten how hard you tried to find her when Hades kidnapped her. I didn’t want you to mistake what came next with a test from me.
If you see something in these tunnels, kill it first, ask questions later. ”
“Thank you,” I say.
She gives a little nod, a frown on her lips.
But as she turns to go, I stop her with my question. “Can you tell me if my brother’s, Andros’s, soul follows behind us?”
The blonde looks back with a frown. “I can’t tell you for sure, but the rule is that he gets one chance to escape.”
Hecate staggers beside me and would’ve fallen if not for me catching her arm.
“What’s wrong?”
Hecate slowly looks up and meets my gaze, all the color drained from her face. “But Andros and I already tried once.”
“But did you reach the tunnels?” the blonde presses.
I hold my breath.
Hecate nods. “Once.”
The blonde’s entire body stiffens. “The rules aren’t known for certain. If his soul can only be brought up once, or once per person. He may still be behind you, if he’s following your men out this time.”
“But he could still be trapped in the Underworld?” Hecate asks, her voice small.
The woman nods. “I’m so sorry,” she says, then she turns and walks away.
For a moment I’m completely overwhelmed by the thought that we could’ve done all of this, and my brother isn’t even with us.
The old instinct to curl up inside myself and give up.
..give up on everything, rears its ugly head, and I almost let it swallow me.
But then I look at Hecate, and everything seems to freeze inside of me.
I’ve never seen the kind of pain I feel reflected on another person’s face, but I see it now.
The shock and horror that changes her expression calls to something deep within me, and I can’t help but reach out to her.
She jerks and her gaze goes to mine. Unshed tears fill her eyes. “If he’s not with us, we have to go back.”
And in that moment, I see it. I see just how much she loves my brother, and it only makes me care for her more. My brother was her guard, in the worst place in existence, and she still managed to see the goodness in him.
Whatever happened from here, I swear to myself that I will get Blaise and Hecate to the surface, even if afterwards I have to come back for my brother.
Even if I have stay in the Underworld with my brother.
But I stay quiet, hiding my thoughts from the others, and watching as Hecate’s gaze moves from mine to Blaise.
At last, he speaks. “But if we turn around,” Blaise begins softly, “and he is with us, we will lose him forever. If Hecate led him out once before, but Orion and I are this time, and we go back, then none of us can ever try to save him again.”
Blaise’s words make complete sense. So why don’t they make me feel any better?
“I can’t just leave him behind.” Hecate is breathing so hard that I’m worried she’s going to start hyperventilating.
I don’t know what I’m doing when I wrap her in my arms, but I say, “He’s behind us. I can feel him. Can’t you?”
She’s tense in my arms.
“I can feel him,” I say again, whispering it into her hair. “I can feel that he’s coming for us in my heart.”
Slowly, she looks up. Some of the tears have escaped and tracked down her cheeks. “That’s what he said about you. He was always so sure you were coming to rescue us. And he was right, so maybe you are too.”
I hold her for a while, and she slowly relaxes.
My gaze meets Blaise’s. I expect him to look jealous, or even to look left out.
But I’m pleasantly surprised when he just looks relieved, like he’s glad someone else can truly understand what it’s like to be scared that we aren’t rescuing the person we love.
And for some reason, this moment alone makes me feel like this thing between us is really possible.
As long as Andros is with us.
Without him, the string that ties us together might unravel. Then, I don’t know what we’d be left with. Definitely a mess. Definitely a strange connection. But also impossible heartbreak.
Hecate finally pulls back and draws her thin shoulders up, all evidence of her tears gone. “So, something evil is coming for us? Well, we’re going to be ready for it. And when we emerge on the surface, we’ll all be together.”
She straightens her spine, then strides toward the exit to the gardens.
Blaise and I exchange a smile, then follow after her.
Yes, we should probably just be worried and sad right now.
And there is some of that at the back of the mind, but Hecate brings something out in me.
A need to be brave and take care of her, but also a need to hope for the best. And, I suspect, it brings out the same for Blaise.
This strange witch...she is good for us.
So, we follow her. Because what else can we do?