Chapter 4

A loud rap on the door startled me awake. Deep inside of a mountain, without windows, I could only assume that the knock indicated morning. Except I sure didn’t feel well-rested. While seeing Callie happy and healthy had been awesome, the whole experience of dream-walking had left me feeling hung-over.

I grudgingly shifted to slide out of bed, but the arm wrapped around my waist tightened and held me in place.

“Not yet.” A night of not enough sleep had turned Nathan’s voice into the gruffest, sexiest sound I had ever heard that close to my ear.

Goosebumps danced across the back of my neck, effectively waking me completely.

I shifted just enough to roll my head over my shoulder. Nathan peered back at me with one eye. His arm tightened to pull me snugly into his chest as he grumbled, “They’ll come back for us.”

“And if they don’t?”

His lips curled into a grin that suggested he wouldn’t mind. He inched forward to brush them against mine in a soft and fleeting kiss. Enough to remind me of what we had been doing in this room just a few hours ago. Despite his firm grip, I managed to wiggle around so that I could face him.

“Stay still.” Though his eyes were shut, the tease of a smile on his lips suggested that he was just as awake as I was. I planted a kiss to his scruffy chin, and was rewarded with a dimple. “You’re really not going to go back to sleep, are you?” he grumbled.

“Nope. But I’m not getting out of this bed either.”

Just in case he didn’t already know my intentions, I gave his shoulder a shove, forcing him onto his back, as I propped myself on an elbow above him. As I moved in to kiss him, he did the next best thing. His arm snaked around my waist, and he pulled me on top of him so that my body was flush against his. His hands fisted into my hair as he drew my mouth to his. The kiss came with no preliminary warm ups. Oh, no. His kiss was hard, and full of demands and wants from the start.

And I was more than happy to give what he obviously wanted. My soft body wedged against his much more solid one, and we were wrapped up in the sheets like our very own unique Kris-and-Nathan burrito. As much as I enjoyed it, I had one complaint. I couldn’t touch him.

I shifted until I was straddling his legs, and pushed myself up far enough to run my hands across his firm shoulders and chest. His grip on the back of my head wouldn’t allow me to go any farther, but I managed to run an exploring hand across his rippled abdomen until I met the waistband of his boxers.

“Dammit, Kris,” Nathan growled.

In one fluid motion, he flipped me onto my back. He rose above me, and trailed a line of kisses along my jaw as my hands gripped his shoulders tightly.

“They’re going to come back,” he murmured into my ear. Despite his warning, he gave no indication of stopping.

He was right. I knew we didn’t have much time . . . not for what we both wanted to do. But that didn’t mean I wanted to stop kissing him now. Especially when we hadn’t had much time to be alone lately, and we likely wouldn’t again for the unforeseeable future.

Reconnecting with Nathan was what I needed to face that future with confidence. It reminded me of why I needed to fight, and that I had something worth fighting for. That was exactly what he did for me now . . . especially after the disaster last night.

But we did have a mission to get to today, and someone reminded us of that with another series of knocks at the door. Louder than the last.

Nathan sighed as he dropped his forehead to mine. His eyes squeezed together tightly.

“Back to the real world,” I whispered ruefully.

“I’m afraid so.” His voice was deep and gruff, signaling his own remorse.

I traced my fingertips down the side of his face, forcing his eyes to flutter open. “It’s nice to escape with you every now and again.”

“Speaking of escape . . .” He shifted to reach a hand under my pillow. He withdrew the rosemary leaf, and shot me a curious look.

“I wanted to pull Callie into a dream,” I shrugged.

And I had . . . sort of. Except it had been more of a memory, and she had no recollection of the current events. Maybe I hadn’t done it right?

“How did I get there?” Nathan pondered.

“Because you’re the man of my dreams, of course,” I answered with a hint of sarcasm. While true, I wasn’t corny enough to mutter that cliché without laughing.

“Smartass,” Nathan muttered before kissing me again.

“You love it,” I returned between kisses.

A few seconds later, another knock at the door broke us apart. I groaned my frustration as Nathan planted a fleeting kiss to my lips.

He stilled, and his eyes held mine intently. “Soon.”

The meaning behind that one word was evident, and sent the butterflies already in my stomach soaring. As Nathan and I finally parted to prepare for the long day ahead, I held on to his promise.

Soon. But not soon enough.

~ ~ ~

Our first stop upon returning to Litochoro was a cheap clothing store. Though they had both initially balked at the suggestion of wearing anything other than their robes, Isatan and Permna eventually understood the need to blend in. Not that the clothes necessarily helped them much.

I stifled a smile at the horror on their faces as they observed a teenage boy dressed in baggy jeans and a hoop in his nose dart past us on a skateboard. I suspected that they hadn’t gotten out much lately and were not comfortable outside the walls of the mountain. Though Isatan was a born and skilled leader, he graciously took on a secondary role when it came to dealing with the humans we encountered.

With the rest of us, he was still his bossy self.

After shopping, we stopped at a small cafeteria-style restaurant on the coast for a late lunch. By the time Bruce, Lillian, and I collected the large order of food, the rest of our group were all engrossed in deep conversation at a table in the corner. Isatan’s finger was pointed at a spot on the large map spread out in front of them.

“We’ve pinpointed four of the demigods here,” he explained. “Hades’ demigods will be found somewhere near the Diros Caves, but we haven’t determined an exact location on them yet.”

“Diros Caves?” Alec questioned. “The entrance to the underworld, right?”

“One of the entrances,” Isatan returned with a dismissive wave of his hand because, apparently, that wasn’t important right now. Only the spot on the map covered by his finger was.

Alec hooked an eyebrow at me, and I barely restrained erupting in laughter. Isatan was an ass . . . but he was an ass to everyone. It wasn’t just me.

“So where are we going now?” I asked as I slid into the bench seat next to Nathan.

“Corinth,” he said to me as he claimed one of the sandwiches from my tray.

“In relation to Athens?” Considering that was the only Greek city I was familiar with, I used it as a starting point for all of our adventures.

“About an hour west of Athens.”

Nathan gave my knee a gentle squeeze under the table before he ripped into his sandwich. Over his shoulder, I caught Isatan’s impatient glare leveled on me. I chose to ignore him, in favor of my lunch.

“What about this help you mentioned getting?” Isatan barked as he swung his attention to Jared, who sat on the other side of him.

Jared glanced at Nathan. “I suppose we could gather up some Kala from the Australian base.”

Nathan nodded. “No supervisors. Don’t know who we can trust.”

“Most of the members of the rogue army in allegiance with Circe should have left their bases by now,” Permna volunteered. “We don’t know where they are hiding since I can’t use my powers, but I doubt you will encounter any traitors in your midst now.”

“I could go to Australia and get some volunteers,” Jared offered. “If Circe is going to be under the binding spell, it shouldn’t take all of us to get the compound. We could split up to save some time.”

“Isatan and Permna need to get us there,” Nathan said. “Kris needs to do the bind. I’m going wherever she goes.”

“Me too,” Alec added around a bite of food in his mouth.

“I’ll go with Jared,” Bruce volunteered. “The rest of you can go on to Aeaea.”

“Thank you.” Jared said the words with emphasis as he glared at the others. Though it didn’t look all that scary with his lips relaxed one step below a grin. He turned the map around to study it more closely. His finger skimmed over a spot not far from the spot on the map Isatan had indicated, and he looked up at Nathan. “Didn’t the Kala used to have a safe house around here?”

Nathan chewed on his sandwich as he studied the map quietly for a moment. “I think so. But wasn’t it abandoned after World War Two?”

“Abandoned, yes. But it should still be there.”

“If it didn’t crumble, or it wasn’t demolished.”

“We need a rendezvous point,” Jared returned with a shrug, “and it is close to where the demigods are hiding.”

After everyone agreed to Jared’s suggestion, another thirty minutes were spent going over details as we finished our meals. It was decided that Jared and Bruce would go to Australia to gather soldiers while the rest of us went to Aeaea. Nathan and Jared pinpointed the location of the safe house, and plans were made for us all to meet there in a few days.

Jared and Bruce were dropped off at the bus station, where they would board the next bus to Athens, and the airport. Then the rest of us filed into our large rental vehicle for the long trip to Aeaea.

Along the way, Isatan and Permna gave us all a crash course in Greek history. I learned that Aeaea wasn’t a real place . . . at least not in the human world.

In the human world, it was a mythical, magical place located near Cape Circeo, on the western coast of Italy. We spent the remainder of the day driving to the western coast of Greece, before stopping for the night. In the morning, we took a five-hour ferry ride to Italy, then continued the remaining five hours in the car to the tiny coastal village an hour south of Rome.

The isolated narrow strip of sand on the shore was deserted by the time we arrived at dusk. Half a mile from where we parked, the beach ended abruptly at a large rock formation that jutted out into the sea. According to Isatan, that was where the entrance to Aeaea would be found.

Nathan retrieved my backpack from the vehicle. “You should probably do the binding spell now,” he suggested. “Before we get any closer.”

I took the bag and sat in the front passenger seat as I removed the materials that I would need. I rolled the paper out on the dashboard, dipped the pen into the Black Nightshade Ink, and began to copy the spell down as I referenced the opened notebook in my lap. As I was writing Circe’s name in the proper location, I heard a wrap on the window.

Lillian peered in at me as I rolled it down. “Do you need any help with it?”

My eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”

She looked down at her feet with a sigh. “I’m sorry about the other night. I just . . .” She looked up with a defeated shrug. “A lot of hard memories hit me, and I thought I needed someone to blame. But I was wrong in blaming you. You were right. You were only a kid when this all started.”

Despite the fact that she was apologizing, I didn’t miss the slight undertone in her words. As if she were highlighting the fact that I was only a kid. Like she still considered me a kid.

And what right did some kid have to take away the most important person she had lost during her ordeal?

I acknowledged her backhanded apology with a nod before I returned my attention to the spell. Lillian hovered by the door as I finished and rolled the paper up.

I shot her a reluctant glance. “How specific does the nail placement have to be?”

“Through the center,” she instructed. “As long as it pierces her name, it will work.”

I followed her directions, and placed the nail precisely through the center of the scroll. After confirming that it was done correctly, we moved to the back of the vehicle where the others were waiting. From there, we walked down to the beach and dug a deep hole, into which I placed the scroll. I had to be the one to cover it up. Once finished, I stood to wipe the sand from my hands.

“Is that it?” I asked no one in particular.

“That should do it,” Permna responded.

The walk to the rock formation took only minutes, but felt like an eternity thanks to the smothering silence that accompanied us. I knew I wasn’t the only one nervously anticipating what came next. This was the first real test of my abilities, and I really hoped I hadn’t screwed it up.

The rocks were slick from moisture, which only worsened as we moved toward the point that jutted into the sea. The surf crashed into the rocks beneath our feet, creating a water spray that had dampened my hair and clothes by the time we rounded the corner. As we climbed across the rocks on the other side, I saw our destination.

Hidden between two boulders was the narrow entrance to a cave. Water lapped at the opening, and a few of the larger swells pushed water through.

“What about the tide?” I questioned.

I certainly didn’t want to get trapped inside a cave as it filled with water. That would scare most people, but considering my intense fear of water, the thought nearly paralyzed me.

“It’s waning right now,” Permna told me. “We have about a two-hour window.”

“And if we’re not out in two hours?”

She glanced at me, but didn’t respond.

“So we drown,” I muttered her unspoken answer under my breath.

Night had crept up on us during the climb, and the faint glow from the moon spread only a few feet inside the entrance. Three flashlights clicked on simultaneously, allowing us to see the tunnel ahead and the trickle of water that seeped out of the walls and ran under our feet.

I had never been one to fear enclosed spaces before. Until now. I had never been in an enclosed space that could fill up with water before either.

Nathan’s hand found mine, and he kept me close as we followed Isatan and Permna through the dark cavern. An eternity passed, and my breathing grew more labored with each step, before the first glimpse of light appeared in front of us.

“Circe would have placed wards to keep trespassers from entering her realm,” Permna explained as she slowed at the opening. “The bind should have weakened them as well.”

I held my breath, waiting to see if my magic had worked, as Permna stepped through the opening. She appeared on the other side of an invisible wall. Though she looked blurry to my eyes, she was unscathed, and ushered us through with a wave of her hand.

I felt a weak hum from the wards, and the zap of a faint electrical current, as I stepped across into Circe’s realm of Aeaea.

Though night had fallen on this part of the world, the sky in Aeaea was lit in an unnatural orange glow as if permanently frozen in an impressive and vivid sunset. The oddly colored sky was curved, and I had the impression that we were tiny figurines placed inside of a snow globe—without the snow. There were no clouds, no moon, no sun . . . just orange, and a small cottage that sat atop a small island surrounded by marsh.

“Looks like we have to walk through the marsh?” Nathan’s voice lifted as if questioning what he was seeing. I suspected we all were as confused—and amazed—as he was.

“She normally would have the marsh patrolled by her creatures,” Permna stated, “but the bind should have rendered them powerless as well.”

I exchanged a wary glance with Alec. “I better not get eaten by some sea creature, Kris,” he muttered in my ear before he took a gigantic leap of faith . . . straight into the murky knee high water.

Sandwiched between Alec and Nathan, I pushed through the shoulder-high grass and clumps of floating algae. Our steps were slow and cautious, as if we all anticipated a sudden bite from a toothy, flesh-craving monster.

As we approached the other side without being eaten, my eyes settled on the cottage with trepidation. Getting through this marsh was one thing, but I feared what may await us inside.

Had the bind really worked, or were we walking into a trap? What about the two demigods who remained unaccounted for? Had they been hiding with Circe all along, and now waiting to ambush us?

All around me, weapons were drawn. I channeled the magic I had restrained, letting it slip a little closer to the surface. Just in case. Isatan entered the cottage first. The rest of us, all rigid with expectation, followed. But nothing ominous or dangerous waited for us inside.

The cottage looked like a cross between a charming vacation rental and a witch’s lair. Tables covered with herbs, candles, and potions sat along one wall, which held more books than some small libraries. Between the tables were several comfortable-looking chairs that promised a relaxed read followed by an even better nap. Across the open room sat a small, neat bed adorned in black scarves and trinkets that I knew held magical properties. Beyond that was a kitchenette, and a small adjoining room.

Alec ventured through the open door first, and his eyes swept from the floor to the ceiling as he took in the mountain of organized potions and powders that lined the walls inside.

“If that compound is here, it’s going to be in this room,” he declared.

Isatan and Permna moved to join him. The room was too small to accommodate all of us, so I turned to study the tables behind me, and the array of magical ingredients that covered them.

She had almost as much as Hecate had in her chambers. The things she could conjure here . . .

“See anything?” Nathan asked as he came up behind me.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for.”

“Me neither,” he admitted wryly. One arm wrapped around me from behind as he pressed his lips to the top of my head. “Just look for a powder.”

Though most of the containers I saw contained fluids, I also saw several that could qualify as a powder. Finding the exact one we were looking for would be impossible.

“It will be shiny red. Hard to miss.” Lillian glided up alongside us, and Nathan’s arm around me slipped away. Though he gave me a small squeeze first, I didn’t overlook the distance he placed between us at her sudden appearance.

I told myself he did so only to not rub our relationship in her face . . . as I tried not to do around Alec. Regardless, I resented her a little bit for it.

“How do you know that?” I questioned her.

“The ingredients include diamond and centaur blood,” she responded coolly, as if I should know that that combination would produce a shiny red powder.

And if I were a practiced Incantator, I probably would have known that.

“Like this?” Nathan lifted a container off of one of the tables and turned to us with it.

The powder inside it was a bright, perfect red, enhanced by tiny sparkles that reflected the candlelight. I instinctively reached for it, but he snatched it away before I could touch it.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said to me before turning toward the small room, where the others were still looking.

“He’s very protective of you,” Lillian muttered. “But then, he always has been.”

Again, I picked up on her condescending tone. To her, I doubted I would ever be more than the little girl Nathan had taken upon himself to protect.

“Things change,” I reminded her before walking away.

As I approached the room where the others gathered to look at the powder, I heard Isatan’s deep voice.

“This looks like it.”

“The only way to know for sure is to have one of us touch it,” Permna added.

Nathan shook his head at me as I stepped into their circle. Before I could say anything—or volunteer—Permna took the powder out of Nathan’s hands.

“Wipe it off right away,” she said to no one in particular, and then she stuck her hand into the container.

The moment her fingers touched the powder inside, her knees wobbled. Isatan moved to break her fall, and tossed the container to Nathan. His eyes shot to mine with an order.

“Get a towel! Quickly!”

I hurried to the kitchenette and started opening cabinet doors in a frenzy. The first few I came to contained jars of things that didn’t belong in a kitchen, but I didn’t slow down to register what they were. Finally, in a drawer near the sink, I found a stack of towels. As I turned with one, I spotted a figure standing outside, behind the cottage, through the window.

“Where’s that towel?” Isatan barked.

I rushed back to the room, and handed the towel to Isatan. He immediately wiped the substance from Permna’s hand, and helped her into a sitting position. Her lips were parted, her eyes glazed, as she stared past me, at nothing.

“How long does it take to wear off?” Alec questioned.

“A few minutes,” Isatan responded tersely.

I backed away from them, and bumped into Lillian as she stepped closer. I slid past her quietly, and no one noticed as I moved toward the back of the cottage, and opened the door I found there.

The woman I had seen was still standing in the same spot. Her back was to me, permitting me a view of her long black waves as they flitted in the light breeze. She wore a multi-layered dark gown, but the thin material left little to the imagination.

I maintained a safe radius as I came up beside her, and her porcelain face came into view. Her head and body remained frozen in place, but her eyes shifted to take me in and her lips curled into a sly smile.

“I’m pleased to know you have reached your potential,” she said to me.

“Circe?” I rasped.

She nodded once. “As your dear sister, I’m deeply wounded by your bind.”

“I’m sure you know why I found it necessary to do.”

Her eyes penetrated mine with such an intensity, I was forced to look away. After a long moment, I glanced back to find her still staring at me.

“You confound me,” she finally said. “Apparently, you have too much of our mother in you.”

She said it as if that were a bad thing. To her, I supposed it was.

“Why are you doing this? What are you trying to achieve?”

The insincerity of her cold laugh sent a shiver down my spine. “I want it all, sister.”

“All of what?”

“I’m tired of being known as the lesser goddess of magic,” she explained. “I thought it would get better after I lured our mother into Hades’ waiting arms, but it didn’t. I gained nothing from it. Everyone pined for Hecate, and I got nothing.”

I ground my teeth at her confession that she had been responsible for my mother being held captive by Hades. I couldn’t let that revelation rattle me. I needed information first. Revenge could wait.

“You want power? Is that what you want?”

Circe smirked as her gaze drifted over my head, as if she were looking into her future—the future she desired. “Once my immortal army helps me to destroy the gods, and I arise into the role I deserve, I will have it all.”

I scoffed, and her eyes hardened as they shifted to mine. “There’s one problem with your plan,” I told her. “You need me to help you get there.”

“Yes. Unfortunately, you are more powerful than I. For now.”

I didn’t ask for her to elaborate. I knew that once Circe got what she wanted, she would get rid of me. With Hecate and me out of the picture, Circe would then be the most powerful manipulator of magic. That was exactly what she wanted.

“I’m not going to help you,” I told her.

Circe’s eyes lifted to the sky. “Yes. Well, I have a theory as to why you have managed to resist your evil influence thus far.”

Sensing that we were no longer alone, I glanced over my shoulder to find Nathan and Alec in the doorway, watching us cautiously. I put a hand out to let them know I was okay, and stop them from coming any closer.

“I had no idea love between two evil souls could have the impact it has had. Of course, there are ways to fix that,” Circe continued in a threatening voice.

I took a few steps toward her, and lowered my voice with a threat of my own. “I will destroy you before I ever let you hurt him.”

“You can’t destroy me, and you can’t bind me forever.” Circe laughed humorlessly. “No. Once he is gone, you will finally join me.”

The breath I hadn’t realized I was holding hissed as it slipped between my clenched teeth. Lillian had been right—Alec and I had a connection that kept us from succumbing to the evil within us. Worse, Alec’s theory that Circe would set out to be rid of him as a result of that connection was right.

I dropped my chin to pin Circe with a hard glare. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

I turned and walked away without waiting for a response. Her icy laugh followed me to the door.

“You were right,” I told Alec. “We’re helping each other somehow, and she’s going to come for you.” I turned to Nathan. “We need to destroy these demigods now.”

Nathan nodded as he cast an uneasy glance at Circe. “Permna just came to. She confirmed it’s the right compound. We’re ready to get out of here.”

“Can’t be soon enough,” Alec muttered. “I hate looking like the victim of a cheap fake tan gone wrong.”

Despite the sobering conversation I’d just had with Circe, Alec managed to force a laugh out of me as I entered the cottage ahead of him and Nathan. The faint smile on my lips fell as I came face to face with Isatan’s taunting smirk.

“Family reunion?” he leered.

“Knock it off, Isatan,” Permna reprimanded. “She’s with us.”

He turned away without another word, but I didn’t miss the skeptical curve of his eyebrows.

“What’s his problem with me?” I whispered to Nathan.

He slung an arm across my shoulders, and gave them a squeeze as we moved toward the front door. “He doesn’t know your heart like I do,” he murmured in my ear. “Don’t let him rattle you.”

“I’m trying,” I muttered. But that was hard to do when he looked at me with visible disgust on a daily basis. I sure wouldn’t trust him to have my back in any situation . . . yet we were supposed to be allies up against nine demigods.

Being rid of Isatan served as further motivation to destroy these demigods, and move on with my life. The simple life . . . free of evil, curses, death, and leering assholes.

“We have less than an hour before the tide turns,” Permna reminded us all of our limited time.

A knot twisted in my gut as I recalled how long it had taken us to pass through the cavern to get here. Would we make it back in time, before the incoming tide filled it with water?

Nathan must have seen the concern on my face, because he offered me a comforting smile. “We’ll get through in time,” he assured me before he opened the door and stepped outside.

From directly behind him, I had an up-close view of the shiny blades that spiraled through the air toward us . . . and the two demigods who had thrown them.

I shot my hands out in front of me, stopping the first blade in midair, mere inches from Nathan’s chest. The second blade kept coming, and I split my concentration between the two, managing to hold the first blade in place while I slowed the second one enough that it fell to the ground at Nathan’s feet.

With another wave of my hand, I spun the blade suspended in the air around, and fired it back at the demigod who had thrown it. Someone shouted a warning behind me, and Isatan and Permna flew out the door, their own weapons drawn. They clashed with the second demigod as the first fell from the blade that had pierced his heart.

Nathan shoved me against the side of the cottage as diamond-coated metals clashed around us. From under his arm, I watched Isatan and Permna push the demigod to the edge of the marsh. There, the water rose up behind him until it towered over them like a small tsunami.

“Asleon,” Lillian announced from the doorway.

Poseidon’s son, the water manipulator.

“Nathan,” I grunted as I tried to push past him. “They need my help.”

His arm tightened, prevented me from getting any closer. As the wall of water spilled over top of Asleon and rushed toward Isatan and Permna, I let my magic slip free, and pushed against it. I couldn’t stop the wave, but I did slow it down. Just enough to cause Asleon to dart a look in my direction.

That was the opening Isatan needed. He thrust his knife into Asleon a second before the wall of water washed over them. When the water receded into the marsh, only Isatan and Permna were left.

They were soaked and shaken, but alive. As Isatan rose to a stand, he met my gaze, and for the first time since we had met, he didn’t scowl. I supposed that was the limit of his appreciation of my help. Not much, but I would take it.

Besides . . . we had just taken out two demigods.

My triumphant smile faded the moment I turned and saw the ashen look on Nathan’s face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

His hands rose to cup my face fiercely. “I love you,” he gasped.

My brow wrinkled in confusion when he fell to my feet. His face buried in the dirt as he groaned and fisted the short blades of grass in agony. I dropped to a knee beside him in stunned confusion as he rolled onto his side. Only then did I see the tear in the leg of his pants, and the blood that oozed from a gash near his knee.

A gash made by a diamond-coated blade.