15. Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
Corre
T he chill that encompassed the field after Theron’s departure lingered on Corre’s skin. The wind rustled her bed of flowers, but the light of relief was gone. The air was warm, but she still felt cold. Her dress draped across her legs as she fell to the ground, her hands tightly wedged in the crooks of her arms.
Despite the chirping birds and fruity aromas traveling through the air from the trees of the nearby wood, something was very wrong. It crawled beneath her skin and squiggled through the blood in her veins.
What’s going on?
She knew lying like this would only make the odd sensation intensify, trapping herself in the spiral of thoughts continuously going back to that voice, but she couldn’t move. Something was constricting her. Something unseen but completely real.
Before long, the moon rose to the middle of the sky and the temperature finally met what Corre was feeling on the inside. Her head throbbed.
That voice.
‘You dare lie to me, boy?’
‘Get back here at once!’
She shivered, but that menacing, unseen presence wasn’t what was haunting her the most. It was the fear so deeply embedded in Theron’s eyes, the horror etched in every line of his face. That voice meant something to him. It terrified him. Him . The God of the Underworld.
The thing that bothered her most—the question that wouldn’t leave her mind—was why Theron hadn’t hurt her and why he kept coming back to see her.
‘I don’t know why I came.’
Corre let her face fall into her hands. What’s going on? What do I do?
Anxiety gripped every inch of her skin. It throbbed in her ears and pulsed in her veins. It took a few tries before Corre finally heard Phineas calling her name. “CORRE!” She looked up.
Sweat lining the ridge of his eyebrows, Phineas peered down at her, frowning. His shirt was dirty and worn. Great . The last thing she wanted to do right now was pretend everything was fine.
She sat up. “Hey, Phineas. Just got back from training I see.” She forced a smile, trying hard to hide the unevenness in her voice. She didn’t need him asking questions, especially ones she didn’t know the answers to herself. Something that she realized was becoming increasingly more common these days. “Hey, why didn’t you go to the coronation tonight? I didn’t see you there.”
He sat down in front of her and crossed his legs, ignoring her question. “I’m worried about you.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “Ever since you ran into Hades, it seems like something’s off about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like right now, for example. When I got here, you were lying here, in the middle of a field, in a sleeveless dress when the sun has fully set.”
She shrugged. “I like contemplation.”
“I know you better than that.”
“Honestly, Phineas,” she said. His frown deepened. He did know her better than that.
He lowered his voice. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”
“What? No, he didn’t. I’m fine, really.”
“He’s dangerous, you know?”
Corre rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know. I’ve heard.”
“Then why aren’t you more scared? I mean, are you scared? I can’t tell what you’ve been thinking these last few days.”
Corre tried to ignore his concerned expression, but it was hard to. What could she say? That—for whatever reason—she wasn’t frightened of Hades? That maybe there was someone more lethal thanTheron of Tartarus? Someone worse than death.
It was best for Phineas not to know.
“Of course I’m scared,” she said. “But he didn’t hurt me, and I’m okay. You don’t have to worry about me.” She gave him a soft, reassuring smile, which finally broke the tension.
“I’ll never stop worrying about you,” he said, placing a hand on her knee. “We’ve got each other’s backs, remember?”
Corre’s face brightened, remembering the pact they’d made as kids. They were both newly re-homed orphans in new lives in unfamiliar places. The world around them had been moving so fast, and everything was scary. They were so little. So terrified. But they’d found each other. And after weeks of adventuring the many nooks and crannies of the hills and mountains of Olympus, Corre had given Phineas her pinkie and said , “Let’s make a pact, okay?”
“A pact?” Phineas said, wiping the dirt from his hands onto his shirt.
“Yeah!” she said, sticking her pinkie closer to him. “We’ll always have each other’s backs. No matter what. Promise?”
He gave her a wide grin, one of his teeth having recently left a gap in his smile. “Promise,” he said. He laced his pinkie in hers, and they both giggled the way only kids know how to.
The adult Phineas lifted his pinkie for her to take. “Do you still promise?”
“Of course,” she said, linking her pinkie with his. “I promise.”
“Good. Me too. So no keeping secrets, okay?”
Corre’s smile fell. She took her hand back. “Well, I mean, we can’t tell each other everything .”
“I didn’t meaneverything. Just things that could get us hurt, you know?”
Corre looked down at her hands. She couldn’t lie to Phineas, but she couldn’t tell him the truth, either. She had to keep this one thing from him. It was for his own good. For his safety.
This is how she could keep her end of the deal. This was her having his back.
“Corre?”
She looked up and nodded. “Yeah, I get it. I know what you mean.”
“Good,” he said, but his eyes narrowed again.
Before he could say anything else, she got to her feet and offered him her hand. “Were you training with Athena?”
“Yeah, and you weren’t there.” He grabbed hold of her hand and hoisted himself up.
“I was at the coronation with everyone else on Olympus.”
“You hate those things. We both do. Hence why I wasn’t there.” He lifted an incredulous brow. “What made you go this time?”
Panic rose in her chest. “I-I decided it would be a nice change of pace. Mother’s not here and I wanted to get out of the glen for a bit.”
“You could have come to Athena’s and trained with me.”
“I don’t need to,” she said, gesturing to the flowers. “This is my battlefield.” Her heart fell just saying it. “My personal war.”
“This doesn’t have to be your only thing, Corre. You can fight, too.”
“I understand that, but it’s not what I’m supposed to do right now. I’m supposed to focus on this. You’re supposed to focus on that. You don’t need me—”
“Of course I need you!” he blurted, then quickly added, “As a friend. I need you beside me.”
Corre focused on the woods surrounding the field. Tall trees, varying in height and width, checkered the woods circling the clearing where her cottage sat. A palace of vibrant green. Every creation her mother made was so grand. How could she ever live up to it? And why was it so much easier for Berenice than it was for her?
“Corre?”
Her eyes settled back on his wary expression. “Yeah?”
He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You seem tired, and it’s getting late. Maybe we should call it for today. But this isn’t over.” He gave her a teasing look, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“I get it, I get it. Thanks, Phin. You’re a good friend.”
His smile flickered slightly when she said it, which she found odd, but he was still smiling as he left. “I’ll see you soon. Don’t give up on our training, all right?”
“I won’t. Don’t worry.” She waved and watched him leave. Her expression was just about to settle back into how she really felt when he flipped back around down the path.
“Remember our promise, okay?”
She forced another smile. “Okay.” He beamed at this and turned back toward the woods, picking up his pace as he fell out of sight.
By the time Corre made it inside, she was exhausted. And racked with guilt.
Theron
Theron resisted the urge to spit out the blood spilling into his mouth from the fresh cut sliced across his face. It stung worse than usual today.
“How dare you defy me, boy?!” Thanatos roared.
Theron kept his head down, but he couldn’t stop his legs from shaking. Please, don’t notice. Please, don’t notice.
Thanatos growled. “Have you learned nothing ?”
The young Hades stood up, evening his breaths and forcing himself to look straight at his master. “I know what I’m doing. That’s why I went up there. That—”
“Don’t even try to lie to me!” Thanatos yelled, his coarse voice echoing across the chamber. “I feel your intentions. Your desires. You wanted to see the girl.”
“Yes, because she’s important!”
“How would you know? You’re just a pathetic boy who still shakes in his boots when reprimanded.”
Theron kept himself steady as best he could, but his fingernails were already cutting into his palms. Any kind of pain to distract from the emotional guillotine was more than welcome.
“If you want pain, you know where to go,” he said, waving his hand in the direction of the corridor and lounging against the back of his throne.
“No,” Theron said. The word sounded so much louder coming from his mouth than he’d expected. He wished it’d stayed trapped behind his lips.
“ What? ” His master sounded like he was regurgitating a small animal.
It was too late to back down now. “I’m going to be the ruler of the Underworld soon,” Theron said, swallowing the acidic substance bubbling up his throat. “I should have been given the throne five years ago. I have every right to follow my hunches, and I know this is an important hunch to follow.”
“You know absolutely nothing !” Thanatos swung a long arm against the thin, gold-crested lantern standing next to his throne. The top hit the ground with a tink ,and three guards hurriedly patted out the flames before the room caught on fire.
“But isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? Isn’t this what you’ve been training me for? To be a leader? To face my fears?” Theron strained to keep his voice strong, despite the violent tremors in his legs.
“Look at yourself, child . You are nothing more than that. A child. Cowering in fear, pretending to stand up to Father.”
“I—” Theron started, but tears welled in his eyes. He looked away and swallowed the shaky words before Thanatos laughed him out of the room.
“Go,” his master bellowed. “Before I think of a worse punishment than the one I have in mind.”
Theron’s chest clenched, and his fists re-formed at his sides.
He lost.
“And . . . what punishment is that?”
Thanatos smirked. “I think you know.”
At first, Theron looked at him blankly, but then his blood turned cold. “No. I haven’t been there since I was a child.” A shriek split through Theron’s head. It made him jerk, but he suppressed the urge to grab his skull.
Thanatos’s expression didn’t change. “Go, now . Before you make me angry.”
Hands seized Theron’s biceps from behind. The guards turned the young Hades around and forcefully guided him to the door. “I know the way!” he growled, shaking them off. The demons grunted and moved back to Thanatos’s side.
He felt the eyes of his master follow him as he walked to the cavernous labyrinth. He only hoped that Thanatos didn’t sense how fast his heart was racing or how much he wanted to cry.
Like a child , he thought.
I’m still like a child .