“We’re performing the ritual under the freaking pomegranate tree?” I was incredulous.
Kai grimaced. “You didn’t know.”
“You think?” I brought my knees into my chest and then beat my head against them. “There’s a garden, isn’t there?”
“Not so much anymore.” Kai stuck his arm between my head and my knees. “Quit it. I don’t need you getting concussed.”
Instead of using them to beat myself senseless, I rested my head on my knees, this time pressing my cheek against my damp jeans to look at Kai more closely. “How did I not know this? I was the one who knew where the ritual was supposed to happen.”
“When did you start having the visions? How soon after you remembered?”
I’d been out of it for a while, healing from Bethany’s stab wounds. But the visions had started pretty much once I was back on my feet. “When Theo started getting the ritual details from me,” I said.
Kai nodded. “He never pressed you for more specific info on the location though, did he?”
“No. Why not?”
“Because back when you told us that we had to perform the ritual in Eleusis? We all knew exactly where. It was the only place near the Temple of Demeter that made sense. You did know,” he added gently. “Even if you didn’t, or couldn’t consciously remember it.”
I scratched at my jaw. “But you thought I actually knew and just wasn’t talking about it.”
Kai sat with his knees also to his chest, mirroring me. He propped a fist on top and rested his chin on his hands, staring into the flames. “Yeah. I mean, you were so freaked out by your visions. I thought that was part of the reason why.”
“No. They were disturbing enough on their own.”
He touched my arm, his face turned to mine. “It’s just a place. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means something.” I wrapped my arms tightly around my legs. “You weren’t in the vision. If things ended well and we did what we needed to, why weren’t you there? Why did I feel like I was dead? Or everyone was? Or both?” I gave a ragged laugh. “Ohmigod.”
Helplessness flashed across Kai’s face before he shrugged. “I don’t know.” He gripped my hands. “But I swear to you, Sophie, I won’t leave you.”
He had though. He’d left me back when we fought Delphyne, and he’d stolen Theo’s chain to go after Hades. He’d left me when Felicia told him about Persephone’s betrayal. Yeah, he’d come back but, not emotionally. Not completely.
I wondered if he held that crucial final piece of his heart back from me even now.
Sadness washed over me. My palms prickled. Not with rage, but nervous fear. Was Kai capable of loving me in the way I wanted? In the way I deserved? In the way I loved him? How much difference did me being human make to our fundamental understanding of how this relationship should go.
“What you thinking, Goddess?”
I tugged my hands from his. “You called me that, you know.”
He squinted at me. “What?”
“In Hades. You called me, Goddess. Well,” I laughed, kind of. “You called Persephone that. Seeing as you didn’t remember I existed.”
“Because of an enchantment,” he said, watching me carefully.
“Yeah, yeah. But see, I thought that was your name for me.” I was appalled to realize how much this mattered to me. My eyes misted up. “Not a left-over.” I waved at some smoke coming off of the fire, using it as an excuse to wipe my eyes.
“You have her memories.” Kai sounded exasperated. “Did I ever once call her that?”
I thought about it. “Not that I recall now, but—”
“Do you remember what I said that day when I first told you that I loved you?”
Every single word. “Maybe? What in particular?”
Kai’s amusement said he knew I was full of it. “That goddesses are easy. They’re vain and temperamental, but that I know how to handle them. When the truth was …” his voice twisted, “Seventeen years ago, Persephone was going to betray me. Kill me, for all I know, and I had no clue. No suspicion at all. I was totally played.”
“What’s your point?”
“I also told you that you were this mouthy human that I couldn’t figure out, and couldn’t make fall in line.”
I was starting to cramp in this position so I sat up, shaking out my shoulders. “Don’t forget how I kept getting under your skin,” I said.
“Trust me, I couldn’t forget that.” He straightened, and raked his hand through his hair. “These past few days? Five minutes with you and I knew something was wrong. You made me so angry and nothing about you was easy. It drove me crazy. I knew it wasn’t her. I called Persephone ‘Goddess’ for the first time ever because on some level, I recognized you.”
I wanted to believe him. He sounded sincere enough. Plus, he was giving me that look like I was chocolate and he just had to indulge his very serious sweet tooth.
Perhaps I could give him the benefit of the doubt.
I shifted so that I was facing him straight on and leaned in. I curled my fingers into his shirt and tugged him closer. “Kissing me is also so much better.”
He blushed.
It was simultaneously the sweetest and hottest thing I’d ever seen. My heart melted.
I kissed him.
Fireworks, earthquakes, fairy dust, it was all that and a heap of jaw-dropping magnificence.
“I love you,” I said against his lips.
He pushed me softly to the ground. His eyes heating up as he leaned over me. “So much and more. My phospherocious girl.” His voice was so tender.
Neither of us moved. Something profound had just shifted between us. The air itself felt weighted. Charged. Not with chemistry, but with something more real and scary and wonderful.
The heat was intense. And not from Festos’ fire.
This was the moment we should have had after Kai had first said he loved me. But maybe we had needed the misery of the past couple months to get here. Without the pain, we couldn’t have had the joy.
As I stared into Kai’s eyes, I was lost. My heart raced. Whatever this was, it was so precious. And I was suddenly so afraid. What if I’d finally gotten what I wanted only to have it snatched from me? What if the vision was right and soon I’d be dead, or alone or … “Kai—”
Kai shook his head. Almost violently. “Don’t talk.” He pressed into me for a kiss that was deeper and slower than any we’d ever had.
I was floating. Only the soft, gentle pressure of his fingers splayed against my stomach kept me from rising up and away. The kiss was sweet and heavy and longing. I trembled, twining my fingers into his hair to bring him closer. Make our two halves whole.
My skin flushed. My body tingled under the onslaught of this electrifying, spine-tingling, butterfly-inducing amazingness. Under this kiss of pure love.
Kai pulled away. “Try to sleep. We’re going to need all our energy.” He curved his body around mine, his hand resting across my waist.
I relaxed into him. I needed this. The rest, the closeness.
Us.
I woke up warm and sleepy, laying on my other side, still snuggled into Kai. We were face to face now. Our noses almost touching. He still had one arm flung over me and our legs were tangled up.
“Sleep well?” His voice sounded scratchy as his eyes crinkled in a smile.
I smiled back, too drowsy to speak.
He brushed the tip of his nose against mine. “You’re adorable when you sleep.”
I scrunched up my face and ducked my head, embarrassed.
Kai tipped my chin up with his finger. “You’re blushing.” He traced the curve of my jaw and along my throat.
I squirmed. “Well, you’re pretty cute when you sleep too.”
Kai propped himself up on his elbow. “You watched me?”
I mirrored his gesture. “Yeah. Back in Hades. You were beautiful, sleeping in the moonlight.” I looked at him, my heart in my eyes.
Kai ducked in for a kiss. A lovely wake up kiss.
“Ahem.” Festos cleared his throat.
I blushed for entirely other reasons and tried to twist out from under Kai.
He didn’t budge. “Go away.”
“Trust me, I’d love nothing more. But we have a problem.”
With a sigh, Kai rolled off of me. He got to his feet, held out a hand, and pull me up.
Festos strode over to me. He gave my shirt a sharp tug to straighten it and ran a hand over my hair, smoothing it down. “Just ratcheting down your wantonness,” he declared cheerfully.
I removed a twig from his hair. “Aren’t you in a good mood.”
He blushed.
Adorable.
“Follow the leader. I’m leader.” Festos pivoted and left the cave.
The air was cool and gray. What a surprise. Although, maybe, the sun really would come out tomorrow. Clear away our sorrows and all that jazz.
“What’s up?” I asked. I was glad I’d banked all that fireside time. Instead of feeling all goosebumpy, I was pleasantly cool. I stretched out my arms, feeling a tightness in my shoulders. “What time is it?”
“About 4:30,” Festos said. “We all crashed pretty hard.”
Theo stood in the distance on a slight rise, waiting patiently for us to arrive.
“I thought he didn’t want us out in the open.”
“Yes, well. Best laid plans blah blah blah.” We continued in silence until we had reached Theo.
I gasped. From this angle I could see that we stood inside an area ringed with flames. “What happened?”
“Hmm?” Theo peered at the fire. “Oh. No. That’s just their ward.”
“It hasn’t caused mass panic among the townspeople? That this ancient site is on fire?”
“They can’t see it,” Kai explained. “It’s magic. It doesn’t hurt them.”
Which would explain why the sky wasn’t filled with smoke. Why I couldn’t smell fire, just see it. “Then what’s the problem?”
Theo pointed over to his left. “Do you see a pomegranate tree?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Exactly.” He looked at Kai. “The ritual had a precise location. Care to guess where it was?”
Aw, jeez.
“How could our place marker disappear inside our own ward?” It didn’t make any sense to me. Yes, Zeus and Hades had set up a ward of their own but it ran outside of ours. “The entire point of our ward was to stop them destroying the location. So how did someone manage to do exactly that?”
“It’s not destroyed, exactly,” said Festos. “Just a wee bit harder to locate. The garden is still there.” He scrunched up his face in confusion and looked to Theo. “I could have sworn we saw the tree when we originally set up our wards.”
“Yeah. We did.”
“Felicia,” I groaned. “It’s her temple. She’s the only other person who could have gotten to the tree. She probably wrenched it out of the ground with her bare hands.”
“And ruin my manicure? Please.” We all jumped at the sound of her voice. She looked as perfectly groomed as ever. Her meticulously coiffed hair brushed the shoulders of her short, cognac-colored jacket with fur trim. It was odd seeing that color on her clothing instead of in her glass.
Felicia stretched out a hand to peer at her nails, as if to assure herself no harm had come to them. “Bethany and an ax worked just as well.” She smiled at me with glittering malice. “You know how effective mere mortals can be. Especially that one.”
I am the bigger person. I am the bigger person.
I shot my vines out.
Felicia laughed and sidestepped them easily. “Not very effective when I see it coming a mile away. Don’t telegraph so much, darling.”
“But I don’t.” Kai gave her his snake smile. “And I haven’t shown my displeasure at Sophie’s personal time with your knife.”
Felicia went pale.
Damn, that was satisfying.
“Blame it on Kiki,” she said, recovering quickly with a flippant wave. “It was her ridiculous enchantment.”
“Other than gloating, did you want something?” Theo asked. He stood in his usual slouchy stance, hands jammed in his pockets. But I was not fooled. His chain could be in his hand and doing serious damage in a second, if he thought the situation called for it.
Felicia smiled faintly. “Many things, dear boy. Right now I’m just curious to see how this all plays out.”
I wrapped my arms around my chest. Mostly so I wouldn’t blast her again. “If I lose, mother dearest, I’ll probably be dead. And while I’m certain you’ll enjoy celebrating my end, just remember that Zeus will be celebrating, too. With his beloved Hera at his side.” Apparently, despite my love for her, I still had more than my ongoing share of petty desire to hurt my mother.
I’ll give her credit. She didn’t even flinch at that barb.
It was a good speech. Too bad I’d trembled slightly as my tangle of emotions—around her, around us—got the better of me. I dug my nails into my sides and let the sting keep me steady. I had to ask. “Why would you destroy the tree and actively help him win?”
“It was a fit of pique.” Her eyes flicked down to my fingers, curved painfully into my skin, and back up to my face. “Things could have been different,” she said.
“Why weren’t they?” That came out a bit harsher than I’d intended.
My mother considered me for a long moment. Then she shrugged. “Despite your childish refusal to give me what you promised, I haven’t totally knocked you out of the game. Just made it more difficult. The tree may not exist, but the location most certainly does.” She glanced at her watch. “You have more than three hours to figure it out. Oh, and to say good-bye to Theo.” She patted my cheek and disappeared.
“Come on,” Kai said. “Let’s see if Bethany left any trace of the tree.”
We tromped down to the garden.
The sky grew dark. I looked up, knowing I wasn’t going to find storm clouds. Sure, it might look that way to humans, but I could clearly see the thousands of Pyrosim and Photokia hovering outside the second ward. More arrived every second. Well, we’d known they’d all be showing up. Dwelling on it wasn’t going to change anything.
I turned to face to the garden. I think I would have preferred to stare at the minions. That dead garden, wild and choked with weeds, was downright forbidding. Icy tendrils snaked through my blood. Every step closer left me with the irrational fear that, at any second, the ground beneath me would cave into a field of lava. My friends—and even the minions—would all disappear and I’d be left here. Alone.
The lack of a pomegranate tree didn’t relieve me at all. It just made me more anxious. As if I’d already lost. The sight of the flames burning from Pops’ ward made me feel worse. They came extremely close to the garden. With the pomegranate tree gone, I couldn’t help thinking that if anything was going to be consumed by flame, it would be me.
The terror grew like a weight until I stumbled under it.
Theo grabbed my elbow. “Steady, Magoo.”
I clutched his hand, my eyes focused on the garden. I could only manage shallow breaths. No matter how hard I tried to suck in oxygen, I felt like I’d never get enough air again.
Kai stepped into the garden first. He paced slowly through it, meticulously searching for any trace of the tree.
“It was along one of the edges of the garden,” I said. And so was I. I’d go in if I had to, but not a second before. It hadn’t occurred to me that I’d have to psych myself up to perform the ritual. I’d always just assumed I’d be so eager to defeat Pops and Hades that I’d be raring to go.
It’s just a place. I tried to hold on to that thought. It couldn’t hurt me. A lot of things in and around it most definitely could, but the garden itself couldn’t. Not unless I gave it the power to.
“Tree cutting and yoga, who knew Bethany was so multi-talented,” Theo said.
Festos limped into the center of the garden. “Demeter helped her with some kind of magic tool. Trust me. There’s no way that child could have obliterated every trace of the tree otherwise.”
Kai looked over at me. “Soph? Anything you remember that could help here?”
I forced myself to step into the garden. Nothing happened. I wasn’t consumed by lava. No stone grew from the ground to twist up my body and seal me into a sarcophagus.
Hang on. The stone that I’d stood on in my vision. “Look for a low flat rock. One wide enough to stand on comfortably. “
We all took a corner of the garden and started searching. My patch contained a lot of weeds, that yielded no stones underneath. There were a couple of boulders, but they weren’t the right size.
“Honeybunch?”
I looked at Festos. He held a tangle of vines aside with his cane, peering down. I hurried over to him. He’d exposed the edge of a stone that could be the one we wanted.
“Can you knock some more of the vines out of the way?” I asked. I bent down and scrabbled in the dirt to pull out some of the plants myself, while Fee hacked at the others.
In a few minutes, the rock was exposed. I squinted down at it. “I think that’s it. The one in my vision.”
Wimpily, no matter how much I assured myself that it was just a rock and not a tomb, I couldn’t step onto it. I stood in front of it instead. “Since I was facing into the garden when I saw the tree …” I spread my arms out in front of me. “Follow my arms. It was somewhere between them on the other side.”
Theo and Kai started walking. I held my breath until Theo looked up with a grin. “They were good. But not perfect. Come see.”
Festos and I hurried over.
Theo stopped us. “Look. There. Don’t disturb the ground. That’s the X-marks-the-spot placeholder.”
It took me a minute to see it. The rest of the dirt was untouched save for pockmarks of scrub, but there was a small circle, maybe three inches in diameter, edged out of the brush. It was too perfect to be random.
Kai squatted down for a better look. “Must have been where Bethany took out the root.” He scooped up a few small stones and made a little pile. “There.” Then he stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. “Solved. So, what should we do for the next two and half hours?” And then he gave me a look that made it abundantly clear what he thought the two of us should do.
I shivered. Sadly, it wouldn’t be good to get that distracted. Also, I wanted to stay with Theo. “We stick together,” I said.
We went back to the cave. None of us wanted to hang around and watch the minions gather.
It would have been nice if, during our last few hours, Theo and I had gone for lunch in Paris. Or swimming by moonlight on a tropical beach. Rode roller coasters and laughed hysterically. Even binged on too much cookie dough and watched dumb movies. Made one incredible memory that could sustain me after I said good-bye to Theo.
It wasn’t just that I’d never get to see him again. This deal with Felicia was going to change everything. I wouldn’t be able to see Festos if Theo was there. Hang out with Hannah if he was around at all.
Hell, even Kai could go hang out with him if he wanted. Not that he would now. But if he ever made up with Festos, then it could happen. I’d be cut off from it all, though. And yeah, Theo would too. In reverse. It would change the dynamic for all of us.
So no, hanging out in a cave wasn’t amazing in your typical memory-making way. It wasn’t what I wanted. But at least it was Theo and me. Stripped down to our essence.
When Kai said, “It’s time.” I wanted to refuse. Beg for five more minutes.
I was strong enough to take on any god that came my way. But I couldn’t let Theo go.
Tears ran down my face. I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop them if I tried.
Theo pulled me to my feet. “Love you, Magoo.”
“Love you,” I said in a broken whisper.
He pressed his lips to my forehead.
Festos turned away, wiping his eyes.
Theo stepped away from me. I felt colder already.
He looked at each of us in turn. “The second I take down their ward, the second I’m out of here, Festos will take down our ward and start the cleansing ritual. Soon as that happens, you become vulnerable. The minions will attack.”
I nodded and slipped my chain off of my neck. Fee’s re-charger ring was still threaded on it, next to the pendant. I took the ring off, slid it onto my finger, and put my sapphire back on.
“We good?” Theo asked.
Festos opened his mouth and then closed it again. “No.”
Theo took his hand.
I took Kai’s.
And for better or for worse, the four of us walked outside to begin the battle.
Sunset had hit. This didn’t mean the fight would happen against a backdrop of splendid oranges and pinks which might somehow have fueled our hope and courage. Nope, it just meant that the sky turned a darker gray.
Light leeched away with every second. Which sucked. Who wanted to fight in the dark? I’d gotten used to the lack of sunshine lately, but, psychologically, I found it way easier to do this with at least a little light on my skin. Night time was when the monsters came out. Literally and metaphorically.
I pressed closer to my friends.
Theo explained that it didn’t really matter where he took down their ward. But it made sense to do it where the two wards came closest to our ritual location.
We needed to be pretty much in place. Especially since, once the wards came down, we only had three minutes and thirty seconds for both the cleansing and the ritual. That was the maximum recharge on the ring. All the time I had to fire my full body shockwaves and hold the minions at bay.
Fifteen feet from where the pomegranate tree used to be, we stopped. The ward fire blazed. I couldn’t understand how humans couldn’t see or feel it, when I had to throw up a hand against the heat.
Fire is a slippery thing with many faces.
The fire that Festos had brought to life back in the cave, while no less magic’d than this one, had been cheerful. Comforting.
These flames promised power. And annihilation.
“Bring the fire, choke the spark, release the form.” I repeated Cassie’s words. Had it only been a few days ago? It felt like a lifetime. I looked from the flames to Theo. “So? How does this work?”
Theo gave me a tired smile. “Simple.”
See, I didn’t understand. Anything.
Not why Kai bowed his head as if he couldn’t bear to look.
Not why Festos moaned as if in great pain.
Not why Theo stepped into the flames.
No.
He held up a hand to us. Like a good-bye.
But … no. I started to hyperventilate. To shake my head harder and harder, as if one good snap of my neck could knock the image of the flames swallowing my best friend from my brain. Wake me from this grisly nightmare.
Theo was consumed.
The flames blared hot and bright and fierce and then winked out.
The fire was gone.
Theo was gone.
And all I was left with, in the gloomy night air, was the radiance of his memory.