Chapter 20
Ryan’s eyes rolled back into his head he fell to the side, out cold. Fay touched his shoulder and drew him from the prison. The wolves started to close in but she stood, held out a hand, and met their thunderous eyes. Still, she wasn’t afraid. The
demon within her had already retreated, leaving her cold and detached.
“This is over. We have not attacked your wolves. Our interest is simply to find Amanda, stop this army and clean up this mess. So, when your Alpha wakes up, tell him, either help me when I make the call or stay out of my way. Got it?”
She spun away, her body glowing with energy. Mel glanced at her, then back at Abe, her eyes considering, cautious. Fay stopped and half-turned back to her partner. The kindling of old feelings stirred but they flickered out quickly. Her life was hurtling in a direction where even he couldn’t protect her. The actions of the past few days had effectively destroyed her job and would mark her to be hunted, likely executed, by the council. She was now a rogue hellhound, bond or not.
For the moment, her focus was on Amanda, on the immortal hounds and the intensifying link to Andromeda. Her life was spiralling out of control but she didn’t trust Abe anymore to have her back.
“You can remove the seal. Abe owes me that much,” she said and turned to him. “Don’t you?”
Mel snapped her fingers and the seal on Abe’s mouth dissolved. Her partner made no sound, nor did he move closer. Instead, he stood there, watching her with ancient, grieving eyes. With a deep breath, she walked away.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Mel asked as they walked through the forest.
Ben was a little way behind them, little more than an occasional flash of fur, patrolling. Fay glanced over, trying to peer into Mel’s mind. Out of everyone she was probably used to shows of power like that; still, she’d run from that. Would she run from Fay, sensing what she might be capable of, or would she stay for Amanda?
Frowning, she looked ahead. “I want to find Amanda and fix this mess. What happens after that, I’ll figure out. I’m a survivor.”
“But where you can run? The council has its claws in every continent, you can’t turn to Olympus and the Underworld-“
“I’m acutely aware of my options,” said Fay tightly. “Maybe I’ll just have to make my own place. I don’t know but I can’t drive myself crazy over that when I don’t understand what’s going on with me. I need to know what this power is before I decide where I’m going.”
Fay held out her hand. Threads of energy tangled around her fingers, dancing, writhing. It tickled, filled her with warmth, steeled her erratic nerves. Mel’s luminous eyes flickered warily over Fay’s hand, then turned ahead, distant in her own thoughts, as though a world away. After a few minutes she seemed to drift slowly back into reality.
“I’ve seen what my mother can do, what my aunts are capable of. It’s never worried me, never made me feel scared but that? It’s different. Your power is different. It feels…” She seemed to be searching for the right word, as though it hovered just out of reach.
“Feels?” Fay probed, her voice softer, kinder as well.
Mel stopped and turned to Fay. “Ancient.”
They walked for a couple more hours across thick forest as it rose and fell through the hills. Fay kept focused on the scent, which thickened on their downward descent, the air chilling. A strange mist slowly trickled in, as though conjured from the depths of the Underworld itself, and all light from the bright sun above, seemed to dissolve into a gloominess. Trees seemed to curl in on them with tangled, gnarled limbs like mangled hands. Reaching, warning, too.
“Well, isn’t this homey,” murmured Mel but her quiet voice betrayed unease, a restlessness as her eyes flickered back and forth.
Ben uttered a guttural growl from beside them, closing in from the misty whirls like a spectre. He, too, was on edge as his sharp eyes darted back and forth, eyeing the wild, gloomy landscape as if something was about to jump out.
“Easy, the scent is old. They haven’t returned yet,” murmured Fay, her eyes bleeding ice blue.
The mist took on a new look; threads of black wove through it, dancing like creatures of their own minds. They moved in time with an energy that thrummed in the air, beating a drum in her chest. It stirred within her the curious feeling like she was going home, as though something close by, as though a part of her soul, was crying out: here I am! Come find me! It drew her on, like she was being lulled into a trance.
Even Mel’s musical ramblings faded away, bleeding into that hum in Fay’s ears. Before her, the trees thinned and a clearing emerged. Dozens of small cabins cluttered chaotically around a central well before a larger cabin, ornate by the standards of the others. A thin, misty film clung over it all.
She paused by the tree line but detected no one around. No one at all. It was quiet, too quiet. Unease gnawed at the fringes of her mind, at her body, holding her still.
“I don’t like this,” declared Mel. “We should go. We know where they are. We can get numbers and come back.”
Ben trotted up beside them, growling softly.
“You both should go,” said Fay absently.
Mel snorted. “Without you? Uh, no.”
Fay turned to both of them. In the bleeding darkness around them she dissolved in and out, little more than a mirage for a moment. When she stilled, her form clear, she arched an eyebrow.
“I can escape here in a blink if they come back, which means I can look around with any problem. You can’t – neither of you can. It’s safer if you go, gather forces and meet back at the cabin. Let me scout out what’s here so we know what we’re after,” she said reasonably. “And if I find Amanda, if she’s trapped here, I can escape with her. I can do all of this if I don’t have to worry about keeping you guys safe if they come back.”
Mel and Ben shared a long look. Neither of them wanted to concede Fay was right, that if the army came back they’d be outnumbered and only Fay would be able to escape in a flash, if necessary. Fay might be able to carry one of them back using shadow travel but two? One had drained her dry, two would break her.
“Fine but you come back, okay? We’ll talk to the wolves. Maybe we can get that wraith to help too,” said Mel, ignoring Ben’s low snarl.
She turned back to the trees without waiting for Ben, leaving Fay to stare at her until she left. The girl looked more like a regal queen than she probably would’ve liked; then again, she was technically a princess, a descendent of a Titan. With a small smile Fay glanced down at Ben.
“You have to go, Ben. I’ll be fine,” she said.
He glanced up at her with his far too keen eyes, as if to say, don’t do anything stupid. They might not have known each other as they’d become for long but he seemed to know of her reckless, wild streak. She brushed her hand through his soft fur.
“Go,” she said. “I’ll come back.”
He nudged her with his snout and she didn’t need the pack mind to know what he was thinking. Somehow, she just knew. You better, or else, he seemed to say before he darted off after Mel. Fay turned back to the camp and dissolved, bleeding into nothing, reappearing at the front door of the main cabin.
She raised her hand over the front door, trying to tense magic, a protective charm – anything but there was nothing. Gingerly, she pushed the door open and stepped into the darkness. Her eyes cut details in the gloom; the dominant table strewn with maps, letters, books and even several empty mugs; the kitchenette in the corner, immaculately kept; a small couch set before a cold fire; at the back, there was a narrow hallway. Fay walked down it, counting three doors, two locked. The end one wasn’t.
Curious, she pushed the door open and stairs descending into a dimly lit basement, well furnished. At the bottom Fay saw it was a fully set up room, like someone –
A shift of feet against the ground. Fay spun around, her hands crackling with energy, poised to fight. A girl stood in front of her; as tall as Fay, firm muscles, dark hair and eyes that mirrored Fay – an icy blue. Shock pulsed through Fay. Her eyes darted to the girl’s collarbone and there it was. The mark. Not the mark of Hades, nor of anyone she knew. A new mark. Fay’s eyes flickered up, met those cautious eyes – there was no fear there.
“Amanda?”
“You must be Fay.”
Suddenly, the unlocked door made sense. “Your master used a Command to keep you here, didn’t she?”
Surprise flickered quietly in those eerily pale blue eyes. In the files Fay had on Amanda her eyes had been a muddy brown. The new look was eerie, haunting.
“You know who my master is?” Amanda asked.
Strangely, Amanda didn’t move closer. She seemed to keep her distance and remained poised – to fight? Fay wondered, idly, what training the girl had and which one of them was stronger.
“A witch. You made quite a spectacle in the Underworld,” said Fay, amused. “You tried to get into Tartarus. Not a lot of people do that. No one sane, anyway.”
Amanda straightened up. “You’ve been to the Underworld?”
“I visit,” said Fay casually.
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll take you?”
Fay snorted. “Oh, they’d love me. I’m somewhat of a celebrity. Hell, partly because they thought I was the only one not part of their club. You’ve stolen a bit of my thunder there.” She glanced around suddenly, aware that time was of the essence. “She’s preparing for a war, isn’t she? She won’t win against the Gods, even if she had the help of one. Don’t suppose you can tell me who that was by the way?”
“Athena.”
The goddess of wisdom had granted favour to a witch? Gave her increased abilities for what, a war, revenge? Fay’s mind clawed for reasoning. Out of everyone she expected, she didn’t think Athena would, or even could, do it. Thanatos had, and really was, still at the top of her list. He had to have some hand in it in order to get that many souls out of the Underworld undetected. So how did he play into it with Athena, given they were from, quite literally, different worlds?
“Huh.”
“Not who you expected?”
“No, not really. You’re not lying, are you?” Fay asked, eyeing Amanda carefully.
The hellhound smiled back at her. “Can’t tell you if I was. I’m Commanded, as you said. My lips are, well, mostly sealed.” The smile fell away. She glanced to the stars behind Fay. “She’s almost here. You better go.”
Fay turned, looked to the stars, then to Amanda. “I’ll free you.”
Amanda stared back, guarded, not at all hopeful. “If you kill her my soul is for Hades to claim. I won’t go to him.”
A frown furrowed on Fay’s face. “You’d fight me? Protect the one who wants to start a war?”
“If it means I’m free of the Underworld, then what do you think? If I’m going to be free I want my own master. Until then, I protect her until my last breath,” said Amanda with a shrug, a dismissive smile. “Such is our life. You better go before I get her attention.”
Fay stared at Amanda as she dissolved into darkness, bleeding into the void. She let herself spiral down into the Underworld.
Yet, rather than appear on the path to the palace she stood at the Gates of Tartarus.
A voice exploded in her mind, sending her careening into the past. She stood in a lantern lit cave, cluttered with tables and stools and jewelled chests. Maps were pinned along the walls, threads connecting them all. Several weapons hung on a section of wall; swords, a spear, two shields. The way they gleamed whispered of Olympian Steel. Behind Fay cloth rustled, a figure strode in, heavily robed. They strode to the table, pushed down the hood. Andromeda.
Another figure followed. Amon.
It was strange to see the assassin slash warlock slash whatever he was. He pushed back his cloak and removed a sword strapped to his hip, hung it up by the other weapons. As he did Andromeda grabbed a small carved bird and moved it across the map. She stepped back, arms folded, seemed pleased.
“Everything is falling into place,” said Andromeda.
Amon turned. “This will be a long plan. Are you sure all will be in place? It’s quite a time to pray to the gods nothing will change.”
“I have things in place,” she said, glancing at him. “Is this a lack of faith I hear?”
There was a surprising amount of warmth in Andromeda’s voice, a teasing lilt that Fay hadn’t seen before. She looked to Amon, watched as he moved to Andromeda’s side, restrained and careful in his steps and surveyed the map.
“How are you not afraid?” He asked.
Andromeda reached out and plucked a simple carved girl from the side of the table. She drew it close, eyed it critically, then set it back down. “I was afraid, once. That fear controlled me, made me a slave to the whims of others. Then, I had no control, no direction where I saw my life going. I was bound by the prophecy. My friend, Antiope, was right. As was Eris, though I loathe to admit such. Now, I have my mission, my fight as they so delicately call it.”
“A cause so riotous you are willing to endure hell for? Or is it love?”
Andromeda stilled, as if struck or wounded. Her gaze grew unfocused, lost even in the depths of her mind, of a long-forgotten memory. She blinked, returned to the cave and frowned down at the map. There was pain in her eyes.
“I fought for love, once but Antiope is right. If I’m to be a Goddess, to be a queen, I have to be more. So, I plan, I prepare,” she said quietly, intensely.
The whole time Amon’s dark eyes never wavered from Andromeda; when she finished, they flashed briefly with what Fay thought was disappointment. He eventually looked away.
“I will tend to the horses.”
He was gone. Andromeda turned, too slowly. She, too, had apparently realised something and simply stared where he’d once stood. Fay looked down at her hands. They were clenched. With a deep breath Andromeda slowly released them and pressed them flat on the table.
“Remind yourself of the damage inflicted when you cared the last time, Andromeda,” she whispered to herself. “You have to be strong, resolute, or failure will follow.”
The vision dispelled. Fay stood before the Gates of Tartarus, the pulse of the entity itself pounding in her eyes. She slammed her eyes shut and dissolved into darkness, casting herself back to Earth, straight to the cabin.
The silence of the darkness calmed her mind but Andromeda’s face was still there, staring at her, searching.
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