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Orion nodded, but there was a pained look on his face. “I haven’t had many friends,” he admitted. “I never knew when I’d have to disappear, so I never saw the point, you know?”
He smiled cheerfully enough, but underneath he still looked troubled, like he was thinking a thousand things at once. Helen didn’t push him. He must have been terribly lonely his whole life. Her heart pinched at the thought.
She knew she was supposed to maintain some sort of barrier between herself and Orion. But every time she saw him she felt closer to him. And she didn’t want to block him out anymore.
What does it matter, anyway? she thought rebelliously. I’m not going to be alive long enough to commit myself to anyone, anyway. The Truce is not in any danger.
They kept walking in no specific direction, wherever their feet decided to wander. It wasn’t like they had a time limit or a deadline to meet. Technically, they could stay down there as long as they could bear being parted from food and drink, and although Helen already felt the beginnings of a serious thirst, she had gotten very good at doing without.
As they walked, Helen did most of the talking, telling Orion all about Claire and Matt and her father, Jerry. She should have felt more pressured to make progress, but she didn’t. She trusted that eventually she and Orion would find the blasted river they were looking for, and it would lead them to Persephone’s Garden.
Helen considered telling Orion about how she was sort of dying, but she couldn’t bring herself to spoil the moment. She was enjoying herself too much. And besides, what could Orion do to stop her from dying, anyway? What could anyone do about it? She had no guarantee that finding the Furies would end her descents into the Underworld and save her life. Helen had to accept the fact that this task might be the last she ever completed.
At l
east it’s something worth dying for, Helen thought.
She looked over at Orion and knew that there were worse things that could have happened to her. Hades was no picnic, but at least she’d found Orion down here. It just goes to show that Fate is nonsense, she thought wryly. Even if someone tells you the future, you never really know what you’re going to find until you get there.
A whimsical idea crossed Helen’s mind, and she laughed out loud.
“What is it?” Orion asked as he shot her a look.
“No, it’s nothing,” she replied, still snickering. Not looking where she was going, she tripped over some loose rocks in the sand and had to grab on to Orion’s arm to regain her balance. “I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be great if you and I randomly stumbled over what we were looking for?”
“Yeah, that’d be pretty great,” he said as he helped steady her. “Most people would want to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
“It’s not that,” she said, subdued. “I’m not thinking that I want our quest to be over right this second. But I do want Persephone’s Garden to magically appear in front of us.”
The scenery changed.
There was no warning, no gust of wind, and no freaky dissolve like in an old movie. One second they were walking down the infinite beach during the day, and the next they were someplace else. Someplace dark and terrifying.
Just to their left, a massive structure, made entirely out of a strange black metallic rock, soared up into the dead, starless sky. The parapets glared down on them like baleful eyes, and the outermost wall seemed to shift and change position in the haze of the far distance, as if it resented being looked at directly.
Behind the black castle, a thin curtain of fire shot straight up, illuminating the barren plain around it. Following the licking flames down to their source, Helen realized that she must be looking at Phlegethon, the River of Eternal Fire that encircled the Palace of Hades.
Directly in front of Orion and Helen stood what looked like a wrought-iron dome the size of a football stadium. It was made of the same black material as the castle, except instead of being formed into huge, solid blocks, the substance was tortured into decorative curlicues. Under the arching dome was a vast garden. It was as if the builder was trying to hide the fact that he or she had built a giant cage over the garden by making it look elegant.
The black material swam with colors. Blue and purple and even warm tones like red and orange surfaced and subsided on smokelike waves. It was like looking at a rainbow buried in soot—a wonder of light, forever trapped inside darkness.
“Wow,” Orion breathed. He was looking around, as astounded by the menacing castle and the cage next to it as Helen was. Then he looked down at her hands, still gripping his arm, and grinned mischievously. “Thanks for taking me with you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Helen whispered.
She was staring at the main gate of the cage in horror. The lock on it was bigger than her torso, but there was no keyhole.
“That’s not right,” Orion whispered when his eyes finally registered the lock that Helen was staring at so intensely.
“No, it isn’t,” Helen said angrily.
The whole thing pissed her off. This beautiful structure was nothing more than a prison to trap a young woman who had been stolen from her home and then tricked into a detestable marriage. Helen stormed up to the lockless gate and kicked it with all her might.
“Persephone!” Helen shouted. “I know you’re in there!”
“Are you insane?” Orion ran up behind Helen and tried to clamp a hand over her mouth, but she threw him off.
“Let me in!” she screeched imperiously, like she was channeling some prerevolutionary French queen. “I demand to be allowed into Persephone’s Garden this instant!”
