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If I wasn’t now feeling this weird, foreign sad emotion for the island of ghosts.
“I have to talk to three goddesses,” I said, miming speaking before holding up three fingers. “Er,tre.Dio.” That definitely wasn’t right—it was a singular, masculine god, but I remembered the word from Mom’s prayers and hopefully she got the gist. “Help me talk to them. And I will help you, all of you—” I pointed at her and then gestured around at where I knew other spirits were hiding, before motioning up to the sky again, “—Cielo.”
She stared at me blankly and I cursed silently under my breath that I hadn’t paid more attention to what my mother had taught me, or made any effort to learn some Italian on my own.
Suddenly, she was gone.
Fuck.
I’d blown it. That had been the only idea I had, and I’d fucked it up.
Sighing heavily, I made my way back inside the building, trying not to panic. Maybe I could pray to the Fates, leave them some kind of offering that would entice them out? Except the only thing I had on me was my now-empty lighter, the one I’d taken after my mom died that I carried more for comfort than practicality. Itwassentimental, and immortals were assholes who liked to see us suffer, so maybe it would work. Maybe giving up something that I didn’t want to part with would be enough to pique their curiosity.
I found myself standing in what I was pretty sure was a chapel, a bunch of broken, discarded pews stacked up in a pile. It seemed like as good a place as any to make an offering in, and I reluctantly pulled the lighter out of my pocket, running my thumb over the engraved dragon carved into the metal.
Before I could figure out how to sacrifice an empty lighter, my ghost buddy appeared again, scaring the shit out of me. She was followed by roughly a million other ghosts—maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but really, only slight—all crowding around me in the rotting Chapel of Sadness.
Ghost Lady nodded at me, gesturing at her ghost crew.
“You’ll help me if I help all of you,” I translated, gesturing at the assortment of specters then at the sky again. I really hoped I wasn’t fucking them over—I’d seen the underworld for myself; I knew it was better than this place. At the same time, I was guessing that the bodies of these souls hadn’t been properly laid to rest, and I wasn’t sure what that meant for them. Surely, they’d suffered enough? Surely, freaky King Hades could cut them a break?
An old dead dude with a gnarly scar and an empty eye socket materialized right in front of my face, leaning in with a menacing scowl that needed no translation. There was a reason this island was deserted. If I failed to deliver, I was going to end up as one of these lost souls while my flesh rotted in the abandoned asylum.
“Message received,” I croaked, holding up my hands in what I hoped was a pacifying gesture. I had no intention of trying to screw them over, but I was banking on Thanatos’ ego and I hoped I hadn’t overestimated it.
But first, we had to capture the Fates.
Chapter 8
Iwokeupwithheavy, scratchy eyes, the morning sun filtering in through the window already, even though it felt as though I’d just laid my head on the pillow. I supposed I could have closed the curtains, but both Dare and I had been hesitant to. After what had felt like forever without sunlight, we both wanted to absorb every second of it we could.
“You’re awake,” Dare mumbled, sleeping face down on the pillow, his arm thrown across my middle.
“I am, good morning.” I rubbed gentle circles into his forearm with my thumb, liking that he always kept hold of me in sleep as well as when we were awake, even if it did make it harder for me to escape. We’d been here three nights due to a combination of getting the others settled somewhere they could camp out for the time being, and my reluctance to leave when Riot and Wild were still missing.
I’d prayed. I’d yelled. I’d begged for some kind of deity to respond to me, to just let me know that they were safe, but I’d been met with silence.
Iwantedto return to the pit; I needed to enter it and follow the path the Fates had laid out for me, to face the monster if that’s what it took, but…
What if I never came out of that hole?
Was it too much to ask, that I get to say goodbye first? To see Riot and Wild with my own eyes, and know that they were safe before I left? Given how much was at stake, it was a selfish, immature desire, but I’d already lost Bullet, perhaps forever. The grief was raw and painful, and it was hard to accept that I might have to take on more of it soon. To somehow convince Dare to stay behind, and to perhaps never see Riot or Wild again.
We may not have a bond connecting us, but I knew they needed me, at least a little. At least right now. Wild had completely fallen apart after Thanatos had taken Bullet away, and I just wanted tohughim, to justbeand exist in our grief together.
Dare was procrastinating here, waiting for Wild and Riot to return too, but he mostly just didn’t want me to jump in the pit alone. If getting the others settled here and scavenging what food we could meant delaying me, Dare was more than happy to take the lead on it.
Except we were running out of food to scavenge. There were thirteen of us here, plus Milos, and what looked like had once been a bountiful vegetable garden in Eirene’s backyard was just a desolate wasteland.
“Well, today is a new day that brings with it almost no hope. What do you want to do?” Dare turned his head to the side, looking up at me where I leaned against the headboard. His black hair stuck up in every direction, and I leaned over to push it out of his eyes, smiling in spite of myself at his nonchalant assessment of our dire situation. No one could roll with the punches quite like Dare could.
“I don’t think we can put off the inevitable any longer,” I said quietly. “It feels like a betrayal to leave when Riot and Wild are still missing, but we have to go back to the pit. If not to enter it,” I tacked on hurriedly before Dare could argue. “Then at least to check on it. And to enter the ruins. If Sophia won’t answer my prayers from here, then maybe she needs another blood sacrifice to do it.”
I still wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but something about pressing my blood to the base of Sophia’s statue had brought her to life, at least temporarily.
Dare groaned. “Or I could tie you to the bed and you stay in the nice, safe-ish house forever. Away from the giant fire-breathing monster.”
There was no point arguing with him over this. I’d already accepted that I was going to have to go against Dare’s wishes to enter Tartarus, as well-meaning as they were. While I couldn’t lie, cheat or steal, I could keep an open mind and look for an opportunity to present itself. That was theonlything I could do.
