Chapter Twelve
Chained

This time when I opened my eyes and saw Cronus’s cavern, it wasn’t a vision.

I froze as I took in the scene before me. I’d half expected to see the bloodbath Calliope had promised, except instead of me as the victim, she would have taken her rage out on Persephone.

But Persephone stood in the center of the cavern, completely unscathed. Her eyes were narrowed and her hands on her hips as she stood face-to-face with Calliope, and neither of them said a word. Why wasn’t she torn to pieces, or at the very least bloodied and broken? And where were James and Ava?

The eldest members of the council were still chained together in the mouth of the cave, and as far as I could tell, they were all unconscious. I only counted five though, and I couldn’t see any signs of Ava’s telltale blond hair.

Then I spotted Cronus. The fog swirled around the bars of its cage, and instead of going after Persephone, it moved upward toward the high ceiling, forming a pool at the top. Only a few feet below, hanging from their arms by tendrils of fog, were James and Ava.

Any question of whether or not I’d done the right thing vanished. At best, Calliope would hold them all hostage. At worst, they would be dead as soon as she dealt with Persephone. I squinted, searching for any signs of life from either of the two bodies dangling from the ceiling. Nothing.

“I don’t have all day.” Calliope’s voice cut through the silence, and a shiver ran down my spine. Her innocent, girly tone was gone, replaced by the all-encompassing voice of a deity, the same sort Henry used when he was mad. It was full of commands and demanded respect, and even though I was hidden, the urge to obey ran through me.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” said Persephone exasperatedly. What was she doing? “I’ve already told you I’m not saying anything unless you let them go. You can’t keep me here, and I’m perfectly happy walking back to my little slice of paradise and forgetting any of this ever happened.”

Calliope swore, and a jolt of pure power shook the cavern, blasting a chunk of rock out of the wall behind Persephone.

Instead of doing something sensible like falling down dead or crying out in agony, Persephone laughed. “Is that really all you’ve got? I have eternity to play these games, but if all you’re going to do is repeat the same thing, it’s going to get tedious quickly.”

“I will have Cronus kill them one by one until you tell me,” said Calliope, her voice rising until it all but crackled. “I will do it slowly, and I will make sure they know you’re the one responsible.”

“If you hurt a single one of them, the deal’s off, and you’ll be stuck babysitting a bunch of limp bodies forever,” said Persephone. “I’m sure Cronus wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”

The fog lashed out, but it went straight through her torso, and Persephone didn’t so much as flinch. For some reason, they couldn’t hurt her, and she must have known. That was why she’d gone in. This had been her plan all along. Unless she’d just gotten lucky.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” said Calliope, her words dripping with contempt. “I know exactly what will happen the moment I remove their chains, and it doesn’t end well for me.”

“It won’t end well for you no matter what happens,” said Persephone. “You’ve managed to get yourself stuck in an impossible situation, and the only person you have to blame is yourself.”

Calliope growled, and the walls around us shook. Worried the entire cave was going to collapse on us, I took a step back toward the gap in the wall. Getting buried alive—as an immortal, no less—wasn’t on my list of things to do.

At last the trembling stopped, and Calliope said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear her, “Bring me Kate, and I’ll let them go.”

“Let them go, and I will,” countered Persephone. “Forgive me if I don’t trust you, but you haven’t been very reliable as of late.”

Calliope scowled. “I won’t do it, not without Kate, and if you won’t bring her to me, then there’s no point continuing. She’ll come sooner or later, and until that happens, I’ll wait.”

Dammit. Of course the one choice I’d made on my own was the one thing that could screw up Persephone’s plan. I inched toward the exit. If I could find it before Calliope saw me, then I’d slip out and wait for Persephone to join me. Ingrid would hide me if I explained what was going on, and then the three of us could strategize. If Persephone could come inside the cavern, then so could Ingrid, and maybe Calliope wouldn’t be able to hurt her, either. They could distract her while I freed the others, and—

A hiss of energy made my hair stand on end, and the boulder I’d hidden behind exploded. I instinctively covered my head and ducked as the shattered rock flew through the air, but the pieces glanced off me, leaving my body unharmed.

Dead silence filled the cavern.

Everything inside of me screamed run. I clawed at the rock, and had I still been mortal, I would have scraped my fingertips down to the bone. But I couldn’t find the way out.

Calliope’s wicked laughter reverberated through the cavern, and I stopped struggling. It was pointless. She’d seen me, and there was no escaping now.

“That didn’t take long,” she said in a singsong voice. “You really can’t do anything right, can you, Kate? You can’t even rush in to save your precious Henry the way you wanted to.”

I clenched my jaw and didn’t say a word. That was exactly what Calliope wanted—to piss me off. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

“Hera—” said Persephone, but Calliope raised a hand to silence her. Persephone glared at me. I didn’t blame her.

“This certainly changes things, doesn’t it?” said Calliope cheerfully. She beckoned for me to come closer. When I didn’t move, she gestured, and an irresistible force pulled me toward her. No amount of digging my heels into the ground made any difference.

I was only a few feet from her when she lifted that surge of power, and thrown off balance, I collapsed onto the floor. Her foot connected with my stomach, and all the air left my lungs.

“That’s for being such an idiot,” she said. “You’re pathetic, you know. Not even a worthy opponent. It’s like picking the wings off a fly and watching it writhe around.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I wheezed. “I’m not a sadistic bitch like you.”

She kicked me again, and this time her foot connected with my chin. It stung, and my head whipped back; if I’d been mortal, I was sure it would have broken my neck. But she couldn’t win that easily anymore.

“Stop it,” said Persephone. “All she did was pass a stupid test. I know you love Hades, but there are better men out there. Trust me.”

“Trust you?” Calliope rounded on Persephone. “Why would I possibly trust you? You destroyed him. You took his love and shoved it back in his face, like Walter did to me. You couldn’t possibly understand what that feels like, you heinous—”

“Don’t,” I said, struggling to my feet. “She wanted to be happy. There’s no crime in that.”

“There is when you shatter someone else in the process,” said Calliope with a snarl. “Besides, it’s not about that, not anymore. Henry made his choice when he backed up your punishment. Do you really think I would have kidnapped him if I’d thought I still had a chance?”

“So you’re going to kill him because I decided you had to face the consequences for what you did?” I said. “Are you serious?”

Calliope grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back. “I’m serious when I say that you’re not getting out of here alive. If Persephone won’t tell me how to open the gate, then I’ll get Henry to do it instead.”

Across the cavern, in the mouth of the cave where the others lay unconscious, Henry’s body jerked upward. His chains rattled and separated from the others, dragging along the ground as he floated toward us. A knot formed in my throat at the sight of his bloodied body, even worse than it’d been in my last vision, but he was alive. As long as Calliope didn’t know how to open the gate, then she wouldn’t kill either of us. She couldn’t. Henry wouldn’t open it if I were dead.

“Wake up,” she growled, and Henry opened his eyes.

My heart skipped a beat, and for a long moment, we stared at each other. His eyes were the same bizarre shade of moonlight, but the spark was gone. I searched for any sign that he was in there, any indication that he could fight, but it was as if he didn’t even see me. He’d given up.

“Henry?” I whispered, and he blinked. “Henry, please—look at me.”

He was already looking at me, but he didn’t see me, and I didn’t know how to ask for that. He wasn’t there. Whatever Calliope and Cronus had done to him, he’d retreated so far into himself that the rest of the world didn’t exist.

Calliope grabbed the loose end of his fog-infused chains and whipped it across his face. I gasped and struggled against her, but she held on to me with inhuman strength. A bright red pattern blossomed across Henry’s cheek, and at last he shook his head and came to. He touched his face and winced, and I exhaled. He was in there after all.

Instead of looking at me, however, his gaze focused on something behind me, and his jaw went slack. “Persephone?”

I would have rather been sliced open by Cronus than experience the gut-wrenching pain that came with hearing her name before mine.

“Look who decided to join us,” said Calliope, tugging on my hair. Henry tore his gaze away from Persephone to focus on me, and the look on his face made my stomach turn. “Seems someone doesn’t have a brain in her head, but that’s no surprise, is it? You sure know how to pick them. I didn’t have to do a thing. They both waltzed in here all on their own, practically gift-wrapped for me.”

Henry’s expression hardened. “What do you want?”

“Do we really need to go through this again?” said Calliope. “Tell me how to open the gate, and I’ll let them go.”

“Henry, don’t,” I said. “It’s a—”

Calliope slapped her hand over my mouth. Without thinking, I licked her hand, exactly as I’d done to James. I would have bitten her if I could have, but saliva was enough. She made a disgusted noise and pulled her hand away, giving me enough time to finish. “It’s a trap,” I said. “She can’t hurt Persephone, and she’s going to kill me anyway.”

Calliope wiped her hand on my shirt, and her grip on my hair tightened. “Does it matter? We both know Henry has no choice but to risk it.”

I struggled against her, but it was no use. Calliope would sooner pull out every strand of my hair than let me go. “Please,” I said. “Henry, you can’t, it isn’t worth it—”

“All right, Calliope,” he said quietly. “I will tell you how to open it on the condition that you let Kate go first.”

Calliope sniffed. “Hardly.”

“You have to offer me some insurance,” said Henry. “What will it be?”

She caught me in a choke hold, her arm crushing my windpipe. “You tell me. The gate or your pretty little wife?”

The muscle in Henry’s jaw twitched, the same one that told me when he was on the verge of imploding. “Persephone, then,” he said. “You let Persephone go, and I will tell you what you want to know.”

“Done.” Calliope waved Persephone off, but Persephone made no move to go.

“You’re an idiot,” she said to Henry. “They can’t hurt me, and I’m not leaving.”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Calliope. “I’ve held up my end of the deal. Persephone’s free to go, and it isn’t my fault she doesn’t want to, so you still have to tell me how to open the gate. Fair’s fair.”

Henry was silent, and I opened my mouth to protest, but no sound came out. Calliope thought this was supposed to be fair? Releasing a Titan to destroy the world for revenge, killing everyone that got in her way—what part of any of this was fair? My vision began to blur, and I stomped on her foot, but she barely moved. I would’ve given anything to get my hands on Henry’s fog-infused chains.

“Chop, chop,” said Calliope, tightening her grip. “Kate’s suffocating.”

“She will wake up the moment you let her go,” said Henry coolly, and nothing Calliope said could possibly match the gaping hole his words left inside of me.

The room started to spin and bright spots appeared in my vision, though I wasn’t sure if it was from what Henry had said or the lack of oxygen in my body. Either way, using what little strength I had left, I clawed at Calliope’s arm and tried again and again to shake her off. Nothing worked.

“Persephone, leave,” he ordered.

She scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Power began to build up around him, every bit as dark and dangerous as Calliope’s. “You will do as I say and leave immediately. I am your king, and you will obey me.”

Persephone huffed and spun on her heel. “Fine,” she said as she stormed toward the other side of the cavern, where the crack in the wall waited for her. “See if I ever try to help you lot again.”

The tension in the air seemed to crackle, and once she was gone, Henry exhaled and refocused on Calliope. “In order to open the gates, a ruler of the Underworld must willingly sacrifice blood against each of the bars.”

He spoke monotonously, as if he no longer cared, and I wasn’t so sure he did. Calliope loosened her grip around my neck, and I fell to my knees. My lungs felt as if they were on fire, and I sucked in the cold, precious air as my body regained its strength.

“Interesting,” said Calliope as she looped the end of Henry’s chains around my neck. They burned white-hot against my skin, but at least she didn’t tighten them. “It seems you do have some level of intelligence after all. Must I even ask?”

For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw a hint of a smile on Henry’s face. When I blinked, it was gone. “You are asking me to release the most powerful being in the universe, who will undoubtedly wreak havoc on the world before wiping out humanity and killing us all?”

“Yes,” said Calliope, apparently unfazed by the future Henry painted. “In exchange for Kate’s life.”

“In exchange for the life of a girl I met a year ago and have only seen for a few minutes in the past six months.”

Something inside of me crumbled, and I forced myself to my feet. He was right. I wasn’t worth it. I’d known I wasn’t before he’d said it, but somehow hearing the words come from his mouth made it real. Even if he did love me, I was one person. I was one life. It would have been foolish for him to open the gate to save me no matter how he felt.

Calliope sighed. “You might have the rest of them fooled, but I know you better than you know yourself. Your bluff won’t work.”

“How certain are you that I’m bluffing?” said Henry. Calliope said nothing. “Very well. Since Kate insists you will kill her anyway, and since it is clear you have no intention of letting her go, why don’t I leave you with your bounty and instead offer up another trade? I will open the gate for you after you release the others.” He glanced up toward the ceiling, where James and Ava hung. “All of the others.”

Calliope’s eyes narrowed, and she drummed her fingers against her thigh. “You won’t put up a fight for Kate?” she said, and Henry nodded. “How do I know it isn’t a trap?”

“How could it possibly be?” he said. “Cronus is here, and Kate is of no importance to the council. Whether or not she lives or dies, you will have the upper hand. You of all people know we cannot win against him without you. I am merely asking that my family be returned so we can prepare to surrender with dignity.”

I couldn’t breathe, and this time it had nothing to do with the chains Calliope had around my neck. Henry meant it. Whether or not he’d been bluffing before, there was agony in his voice that jolted through me as if it were my pain, as well. He knew it was a lost cause. Calliope wanted me, and he wanted his siblings back. It was a fair trade, and all he would lose was a girl he barely knew.

I was really going to die. The countless hours I’d spent preparing myself for this possibility during our trek through the Underworld did nothing to cushion the gut-wrenching realization that I wasn’t going to exist any longer. I had no idea what happened to gods after they faded, but considering Persephone had had to turn mortal to join Adonis in the Underworld, I assumed there wasn’t any sort of afterlife. I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Not like this.

“Henry, please,” I said in a choked voice. I brushed my fingers against his, and despite his stony face, his Adam’s apple bobbed.

He didn’t look at me. I’d come here knowing this was a possibility, that Calliope would rip me apart and I would never go home again, but I’d never expected Henry to give his blessing. Before this, I’d managed to hold on to the hope that somewhere inside of him, he loved me, but that had vanished now. Along with every last bit of inner strength I needed to let Calliope steal the rest of my life all over again.

“How touching,” said Calliope. “Very well, Henry. You have yourself a deal.”

She waved her hand, and James and Ava began to descend. I heard a groan from the mouth of the cave, but before I could see who it was, my body moved involuntarily toward the gate and the menacing fog that swirled around it. Henry moved as well, his feet dragging along the ground.

“Please, don’t,” I gasped as everything inside of me drained away, leaving me with nothing but the overwhelming instinct to survive. I clawed at the chains around my neck, but they burned my hands, and it was no use. Whether I died at Calliope’s hand or Henry released Cronus and he ripped me apart for her, I didn’t stand a chance if Henry wasn’t going to fight. And he was opening the gate—he couldn’t. He couldn’t.

“By the time you’ve opened it, the others will be awake enough to leave,” said Calliope. “Unless you want me to change my mind and put them to sleep again, I would get started if I were you.”

With his mouth set in a thin line, Henry picked up a piece of fog-infused stone nearby. At first I didn’t realize what he was doing, but when he pressed a sharp corner against his palm and dragged it down, I covered my mouth, horrified.

Scarlet blood pooled in his hand, and he pressed it against the first bar of the gate, whispering something I couldn’t hear.

“Henry.” I was a sobbing mess now, but I didn’t care. He was going to get everyone killed. “Don’t do this. Please. I’ll do anything.”

He didn’t so much as flinch. As Henry pulled his hand away, the bar groaned, and the stone split through the middle of the mark his blood made. Calliope hovered, wearing a giddy grin, and as her excitement grew, her grip on the chain around my neck loosened. Wild hope filled me as I slipped my fingers between my neck and the links. Nothing I said could stop Henry, but if I could slip away—

“The next one!” cried Calliope.

Henry closed his eyes and pressed his hand against the second bar. As it too crumbled, I frantically worked myself loose from the chain while Calliope was too preoccupied to notice. Her entire body seemed to tremble with excitement, and the fog spilled out from between the opened portion of the gate, all but obscuring Henry. I could still see Calliope’s silhouette, but barely. Unlike the fog in the chains, this didn’t sting; like the desert, it felt like feathers against my skin.

Finally my head slipped out of the noose, and I was free. All I had to do was find the exit. If Henry continued to go this slowly, I’d have time to help free the others, and maybe they could talk some sense into him.

But my feet were glued to the ground. Not by some outside force, but because I couldn’t leave Henry. If he stopped, Cronus would destroy him. He would destroy all of us. And I couldn’t stand by and let that happen.

It was the hardest decision I’d ever made, but I stayed.

There were ten bars in all. With each one Henry opened, Calliope lost more of her composure until she dropped the chain completely. Jumping up and down, she clapped her hands and emitted a high-pitched squeal. My insides twisted into knots. This was it.

Time seemed to stop, the fog muffling everything. And in that moment, as the world grew silent, the sound of whispers snaked toward me from the direction of the cave. My heart pounded. The others were awake.

As a seventh crack echoed through the cavern, Calliope laughed gleefully, and in the fog, someone grabbed my wrist. I struggled to break their grip, but the cold metal of a wedding ring brushed against my skin, and I stilled. Henry. What was he trying to do? Had he changed his mind? He only had three bars left to go, and it would be a matter of seconds before Calliope realized he wasn’t doing what she wanted anymore. Cronus surrounded us, and all it would take was—well, I wasn’t entirely sure what, but he would kill every last one of us if Henry reneged.

And then he pressed a painfully hot chain into my hand.

Calliope’s silhouette stopped moving. “Keep going,” she demanded. “I can count just as well as you.”

“And if I don’t?” said Henry, an edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before.

“Look around you,” said Calliope. “Use that brain of yours, Henry. What do you think will happen? Cronus will crush you. He will slowly grind your bones into dust and paint the walls with your blood. He will do the same to your wife, your sisters and your brothers, and once he’s finished, he will do the same to the ones who had the sense not to come. On second thought, it’d be much more entertaining if we kept you alive to watch the whole thing, wouldn’t it? I was planning on making Walter watch, and I’m sure he’d enjoy the company.”

“They’re your family, too,” I said, the chain burning my hands, but I refused to let go. If I couldn’t see her, then she couldn’t see me. She couldn’t see what Henry had done. Cronus was everywhere though, and if he was paying attention—

“No, they’re not,” she spat. “Not anymore. The council has ruled for long enough, and they made a mockery of themselves and all I stand for. They tossed me aside as if I were nothing. Do you have any idea what that feels like? Of course you don’t, Kate. You won. You have everything you want.”

Not everything. I didn’t have Henry, and I wasn’t sure I ever would. But I bit my tongue. The last thing she needed was a reason to blow me to bits.

Her silhouette came into view as Calliope rounded on Henry. “You and Walter will suffer the pain you put me through for all of these eons, and I promise to enjoy every moment of it.”

I couldn’t see what she did to him, but Henry screamed, an ugly, twisted sound that swallowed me whole until everything ceased to exist except my burning need to stop it. I moved toward her without thinking. The chain was fire in my hands, and I swung it as hard as I could. A sickening crack filled the cavern as it connected with the back of Calliope’s head, and the links wrapped around her neck, burning her pretty face.

I expected her to scream or shout or fight back somehow, and I wasn’t going to hand it over to her that easily. I swung at her again and again, crazy with the need to make sure she never had another chance to hurt Henry or anyone else I loved, but finally someone caught my arm.

“Enough,” said Henry. “Look.”

My heart pounded as I inched forward, squinting through the fog. I clutched the chain, prepared to hit her again if she jumped out at me. Instead my foot hit something warm and solid.

Calliope.

Henry wrapped his arm around me and grabbed Calliope’s ankle. I stared at her limp body, torn between horror and satisfaction as blood dripped from a gash in her cheek.

“Leave,” he called out, his voice booming despite his injuries. A hissing sound echoed through the cavern, and the air grew so hot I felt as if I were being boiled alive. Tiny knives pricked me, burrowing underneath my skin and turning to molten lava.

I cried out, unable to handle the monstrous pain coursing through my body. My knees gave way, but Henry was there to catch me, and his chains clattered to the ground. He said nothing as he pulled me against him and buried my face in his chest. The next thing I knew, the stabs were gone, and cool air engulfed me.

“It’s all right,” said Henry in the soothing tone I’d wanted to hear so badly since stepping foot in the Underworld. Even though he must have been hurting, too, he ran his fingers through my hair comfortingly. “You’re safe.”

The agony of the fog seeping into my body hadn’t left me, but as I stood there trembling, it didn’t get any worse. I cracked open an eye, and when I saw the red wall, my stomach lurched. Who had Cronus killed? James? Ava? Or had he killed Calliope for failing him?

As my vision focused, I realized we weren’t in the cavern anymore. We stood in the entranceway of the palace, the one with the mirrors and scarlet walls, and Calliope lay on the carpet, blood seeping from the wound in the back of her head.

We were home.