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It looked kind of… human? Like a human made of fire?
The empty hole in my brain gave me nothing, but gut instinct decreed that humans were not usually made of fire.
“I am Phlegethon,” a voice boomed out, seemingly coming from his chest since his fiery lips were pressed shut. “And you are the Spirit of Dreams.”
“Yup. That’s what people call me,” I replied in a daze.
Why was I talking to fire? Did people usually talk to fire?
No, right?
Phlegethon stared at me in silence for a moment, save for the sounds of his crackling flames.
“I am not a person.”
Nope, he definitely wasn’t.
“Right. You’re a… god?”
“I am Phlegethon.” He stared at me for a long moment, waiting for some sign of recognition I was guessing. “I am this river, and I am the god of this river.”
“And what is this place?” I asked, glancing at the pit in the hopes of distracting him from my faux pas.
“This is where Hades feeds his unworthy subjects to sate Tartarus’ appetite.” Now it was my turn to stare in confusion. “Hades, King of the Underworld. Tartarus, king of his realm even further in the depths, prison to the worst kind of creatures.”
“Liberate the treasure held in the deep,
Where no sweet-smelling smoke or prayer can reach…”
Why did I get the feeling that this pit was the ‘deep’ Persephone was talking about?
“Things have been falling into it for days,” Phlegethon continued, glancing distastefully at the sky above the pit where the denser purplish clouds were. “Hades has attempted to cover it, but there is a hole beyond those clouds. A yawning great chasm formed in the upperworld, courtesy of Gaia herself.”
“Wait,” I said slowly, frustration building behind my eyes that I didn’t understand. That there were pieces of my mind missing that Iknewwould have helped me. “There’s a hole behind those clouds that leads all the way up to the upperworld? Where the humans live? The alive humans?”
Phlegethon nodded once. My gaze tracked down to the ground, to the pit. “And that hole goes all the way down? Through the underworld and down to the… what did you call it?”
“Tartarus,” Phlegethon replied, unimpressed. “Yes, that is what I’m saying. Why do you think you’re here? Someone must go,” Phlegethon continued. “Someone who received the prophecy goes down there to fulfill the impossible task. Of course, Gaia hopes your mortalProphêtisin her fragile mortal body, or one of her soul bonds, will throw themselves in there and die in the process.”
Dare. Dare was going to jump into that death trap in Grace’s place.
I didn’t have a physical body. The jump wouldn’t kill me.
There was no hesitation. I leaped onto the nearest steep, jagged rock on the edge of the pit, attempting to clamber up the smooth surface.
“No need for that,” Phlegethon said in a bored voice. “I can make it so that my flames don’t burn you. I don’t much care either way, but your bonded’s fourth is on his way—”
“Take me there,” I demanded, falling off the rock and running for the flames.
I don’t know what I’m doing, Dare, but I’m doing it for all of us.
Chapter 11
“IsaidIwassorry, Grace. Are you still mad?” Estrella asked, towing me back toward Eirene’s house, using the scarf binding my wrists as a leash.
“Stupid question,” Vasileios muttered at the same time I replied, “Furious.”
Foster gave me an apologetic look, the boys boxing me in on each side while Estrella walked ahead, tugging me along like a rowboat. The journey was taking at least twice as long because I’d fought them the whole way. Milos had rejoined us at some point, and part of the reason I’dstoppedfighting so hard was because it was obviously distressing her.
