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“Do you… Are you trying to put me to sleep?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Like a child?”
There was that indignant expression again, but he continued to brush his hand over my eyelids, forcing me to close them on instinct.
“This is ridiculous,” I muttered, my fear disappearing as I tried to squirm free. “I’m not going to sleep here. You have to take me back to Ephesus, T.”
I thought of Dare and the pit, and wondered if he was in Tartarus right now, or if the earth itself had rejected him because the prophecy hadn’t been his, it was mine.
“I want to help you, but I can’t stay. You have to take me back.”
If Wild and the Spartoi were readying themselves to fight, then I was going to prepare myself for battle too. A battle of wills, of prophecies, of power.
You may not be willing to give up, Gaia, but neither am I.
Chapter 18
Ifell,andfell,and fell. I fell for so long that my mind began to wander, my guilt at rendering Grace unconscious even for a moment making my stomach churn. I really hoped she could forgive me for being such a piece of shit, but ultimately I couldn’t find it in myself to regret it even if she didn’t.
Saving her from the terror of this fall and everything that followed it was more important than anything else.
Was that…
Was that the bottom?
It wasn’t what I was expecting. I’d assumed Tartarus was pitch black, but I was definitely heading for a bright red glowing light. A light that reminded me uncomfortably of fire.
Was I falling into fire?
Fuck.
I flailed in the air—panic getting the better of me for a moment even though I knew there was nothing I could do. Above me, a darkness seemed to be spreading, and I could only assume that the pit was filling in with earth, the pathway now blocked off since I’d jumped.
This is fine,I told myself. It was probably some kind of test of Gaia’s, just like I’d told Grace. And that I was falling face-first into it instead of her was a good thing, so there was no need to befucking terrifiednow.
Except there was becauseyes, actually, I was heading right for a waterfall made of fire that was spilling over into yetanotherpit, and no matter how much I kicked and struggled, I didn’t think I was going to clear the magma.
Of all the ways to go, burning alive was probably the least appealing for me.
Suddenly, the fire river morphed into the shape of a giant man, and I let out a terrified scream as its arms reached for me before I could drop into the second pit, snatching me out of the air and tossing me roughly toward the riverbank.
Everything hurt. I ached as though I’d body slammed a slab of solid rock, and I struggled to make my brain focus onwhyevery bone in my body felt broken.
This was like Plane Crash Two: Electric Boogaloo. I couldn’t catch a fucking break. Was it too much to ask that Inotbe regularly tossed around like a rag doll andput through a metaphorical blender? I just wanted a rest. A good night’s sleep, and maybe a giant mushroom burger.
“Do you live, Philotes?” a rumbling masculine voice asked.
I froze at the realization I wasn’t alone before attempting to speak, but only a pained sound came out. It wasn’tthatlong ago that I’d been healed from my last set of near-fatal wounds. And not long before that, I’d recovered the old-fashioned way on Rogue’s couch after receiving the beating of my life.
I was getting kind of sick of being on death’s door.
“Yes, you must live. Your mortal body remains intact, your soul housed within,” the voice mused.Cool, cool. Good news. It was great to hear my soul hadn’t up and left my body yet. I wriggled my fingers and toes—glad to find they still had movement—before analyzing my other aches and pains. My body felt like one big bruise, but hopefully that was the worst of it.
Though now that I was taking stock of my limbs, I noticed the weirdest sensation around one of my ankles. It was weirdlyhot.
My head spun, vague memories of a fire giant morphing out of a river of flames and batting me away from the second pit before I could make it through, swatting me down like a fly.
“Where am I?” I slurred, spitting out a mouthful of dirt and attempting to push myself up into a sitting position. I gave up after a few attempts, lying on my stomach on the ground.Soon.I’d get up soon.
“You are in the underworld, of course. The path to Tartarus has closed, it was only available to one.”
