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But then I listen, Eric insisted I listen for my mother for direction. And so, I do. I close my eyes and push away all other sounds, the moaning demons in the distance and the blazing fires to the east and west. I force them away and listen for my mother.
Fight for love, with your dying breath.
It’s the only thing that will set you free.
I don’t know why these words circle me again, but they do, and I follow them deeper down the path until there is a fork in the road. I want to speak, to call her name, but I’m scared of drawing attention to myself.
I try to remember what my half-sisters and mother said in the kitchen. I am needed here. I am exactly where I am supposed to be. So, where is she?
I close my eyes. Listen to my heart.
There is a faint weeping in the distance, I hear it because it matches the own cry of my heart. A sorrow I know since I’ve lost the loves of my life. The one who weeps in the distance knows the same pain as I.
“Mother?” I whisper.
“Daughter?”
My heart catches. My soul rejoices.
How can I be glad when I’m broken over so much?
One day can change everything.
This day wrecked my world and also made it whole.
“I’m here,” she beckons me, and I begin to run toward her voice, my bare feet carrying me, my heartbreak propelling me forward.
There she is.
In a gilded cage, her silver hair spilling over her shoulders, her eyes so clear I can see through them.
She looks nothing like me, but Charon said our hearts carried the same kindness.
Is it true?
I long for it in ways I wouldn’t have expected. The need to be the same as the woman from whom I was born. A woman I never even considered a day ago.
But now I see her, and I understand what my heart has always craved.
Her love.
“Daughter?” she whispers as I reach the cage. “Is it you, Shade?”
I nod. “I am yours and you are mine.”
“At last.”
Just then, a great crack breaks through the sky and fire begins to rain down upon the field.
“What is it?” I cry.
“It’s your father. He knows you’ve come for me.”
I nod, reaching for the lock in her cage, but realizing I don’t have a key. “How will I free you?” I ask, terrified as the blazing fire scours the meadow.
She isn’t scared. She reaches through the bars and grips my hand, and a shiver of remembrance covers my skin at her touch.
And our touch breaks the bars, melts them to nothing, and she is able to step through.
“Love breaks all barriers,” she tells me. And I nod, collecting my thoughts, feeling lost and found all at the same time. “There is much to discuss, of course, my daughter. But first, we must go to the safety of Mount Olympus. We will finally take our place in the palace. Where you belong.”
It sounds heavenly. A palace after a life spent in the near dark.
But I can’t go with her. Not if there is a chance, an hour, a minute, a moment that I might have with the men I love.
“I can’t go.”
“You must.” She clutches my hand in hers and begins to push the flames away and draw a cloud, which hadn’t been there a second before, to her.
“I need to return to Styx,” I say as she begins to move to the cloud that is now at our feet. “I need to return to my men.”
Her face softens then. She understands everything, intrinsically.
“Oh, child,” she whispers. “You’ve found love.”
“I have. But I’m going to lose it. Lose them. They are fading to the Elysium Fields.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Please,” I cry. “Let me return. I need to be with them as they pass.”
“I don’t have to power to go to Styx. No God or Goddess does on their own.”
My eyes widen. “That’s why I was there for so long.”
“You’ve been in Styx?” My mother’s face falls.
“Since I was four. I think Gaia took me there. There was a crack in the sky, lightning and then... I was in Styx. Stuck until this week, when everything changed. Hawthorne, Lennox, and South confessed their love and we all began to fade.”
“Your love set you free.”
“No,” I cry, tears welling up in my eyes. “Love killed us.”
She nods, as if she understands. “Love will find a way... or it will die trying.”
“It’s not fair. They were good, true men. And I love them so much it hurts.” I cover my face with my hands, sobs wracking my body.
“Shhh, child. Let me fix this.” She presses her hands together. “I’ve been waiting decades to show you how dearly I love you and now I can.” She looks at me with bright eyes full of hope. “What is the point of all of this if love doesn’t find a way?”
