Chapter 7
Andromeda was free-falling down through the darkness, helpless. Images rushed past her in rapid succession. Flashes of her previous lives, of people lost and found, loved and forgotten. She heard names she’d once had, names of people she’d known. All it roared in her mind. She tried to grasp it, cling to something in some vain effort to slow her rapid descent down into the depths of her past. Yet as the years blurred past her, she could only watch on.
Then, when it seemed that she might just fall forever, she crashed to a halt. With a groan she forced herself first onto her knees, then up onto her feet. The bright sun was blinding as it bathed the world. She lifted a hand up, shielding her eyes and squinted outwards.
Where am I?
It didn’t feel like the Underworld or even Tartarus. It didn’t feel alive, like the human realm, nor have that buzzing energy of Olympus. She cast her mind back to her time in the void and, whilst it had felt just as vacant, it didn’t have the same hollow feeling in her chest. She looked around. The vast meadows stretched on in every direction to the horizon, featureless.
She knelt down and pressed her palms to the ground, closing her eyes. The ground was cold beneath her hand. She gently nudged the ground with her magic, hoping for some kind of response. Nothing.
“What are you doing?” A familiar voice asked – straight from the depths of her mind.
She jumped up with a start, heart racing. No, no, no, it’s not possible. Shock tore through her, scars torn fresh open. Her heart split in two. She could only stare at the man in front of her, his face shifting between three different looks. Each face she knew, had loved with her whole soul until fate had torn them from her. Ragged breaths tore from her as she inched forward, one hand tentatively outstretched. She was terrified that, if she blinked, he’d vanish from her eyes and the promise of that threatened to push her over an edge she’d been dancing so recklessly near.
Yet as he looked at her, shock and confusion intertwined in equal measure, she knew he didn’t know her. His mind wasn’t whole. Of course, she’d known that if she ever saw him again – if she managed to find him in the vast wilderness of Tartarus – his mind would be shredded into ribbons. Where she had the fortune of her living fragments to find the trapped parts of herself, every part of his shattered soul was dead, trapped in Tartarus. A hell forged of memories and the broken shards of the minds destroyed within.
She stopped in front of him, grateful he hadn’t vanished. With a shuddering breath she raised her hand to his cheek. As she did, something miraculous happened. His shifting face became solid. His true eyes stared back at her, full of recognition. Then her hand brushed his skin, tentative and careful, a tear escaped and ran down her cheek. His hand came up and she felt as he wiped the tear from her cheek.
“Cerberus –“
He kissed her, hard, a dying man seeking salvation. His hands came to her face, holding it steady as he kissed her, deeper and more thoroughly. Power surged through that kiss, sending heat flooding through her whole body. This was no mortal kiss. It was the kiss of a God. She grabbed him for dear life, yanking him so close nothing separated them but the clothes on their skin.
When he pulled back, she tried to kiss him again but he pressed his lips to her forehead. Lingering. Then he looked down, his forehead against hers.
“This is a dream,” he whispered. “But Gods, it is a good one.”
His words broke her heart. She pulled back, holding him, as if that might anchor him to her.
“This isn’t a dream.” She glanced around. “It can’t be. I mean, it’s not mine. If it’s not, how are you whole right now? Your splintered soul is scattered across Tartarus!”
He closed his eyes, as if the past few thousand years were returning to him. A shuddering breath escaped his mouth. Then, as his eyes opened, his face began to shimmer again. The moment was fading before her eyes. She tried to hold on, fill him with her magic, as if that might stop it. He cupped her cheek.
“It’s okay, my love,” he said quietly.
“No, no, it’s not. I can’t lose you again! Not again,” she hissed.
He kissed her forehead slowly, as if the strain of his fractured souls was wearing him down. “If it takes me a thousand years, I’ll remake myself and I’ll find you.”
She stared at him, fire burning in her eyes. “You better.”
“I’ve found you before and I’ll find you again.”
“Just come to the Underworld. I’ll be there, waiting for you-“
“But Hades?” He ventured, shocked.
She smiled up at him. “I rule now. So, as Queen, I’m ordering you to come back to me.”
She kissed him again – and he dissolved from her embrace. A savage cry tore from her. Darkness exploded from her as she sunk to her knees, her own power roaring in her ears. With a shaky breath she reigned her power back in and forced herself to stand.
“You’re welcome,” announced a soft, musical voice.
Through the remnants of her tears Andromeda looked up. Io stood before her, as resplendently beautiful as she had been in the void. She was taller than Andromeda, than any of her siblings, and stood with the power and grace that she wielded as the strongest amongst them. With dark olive skin and long black hair that fell loose down around her hips, framing an ethereal heart-shaped fact, she was dizzyingly beautiful. Even the plain white dress she wore seemed impressive.
“Io you’re-“
“Still on Olympus,” she remarked with an arch look. “You’re testing my patience.”
“Cerberus – was that you?”
She nodded. “Yes and no. The connection between you two has always kept you tethered to each other. I simply drew your spirit here – easy right now, given you expended quite a lot of energy saving Persephone.”
Relief flooded Andromeda. “I’m glad she’s okay.”
Io shook her head. “You’re running out of time, sister. You need to end this soon or else everything will be lost.”
There was a desperation in Io’s eyes. A look of vulnerability that Andromeda had never seen in her usually indomitable sister.
“What’s happening, Io?”
Io went to reply but her face twisted in pain. She crumpled to her knees with a cry, clasping at her head as if her mind was about to explode. Andromeda rushed to her, a hand on her sister. With a snarl, Io shoved her away.
“I’m fine. Zeus has just been siphoning our powers and there isn’t much left to take.” Io’s eyes snapped up. “We don’t have much time. Now, you have to go.”
Io slammed her hands into Andromeda’s chest, throwing her into darkness – and downwards she went, falling until she lost all track of everything.
ns 15.158.61.16da2
