“Are you all right?”
“You saved me.”
“I could say the same of you. It wasn’t me down there being tortured.”
I pulled her to me, crushing my mouth to hers. The kiss was brief—we had no time—but it filled me with the brightest light. I pulled away and looked down at her. “Thoughts of you kept me sane.”
Worry flashed in her eyes. “The pain you must have felt…I couldn’t bear it.”
Anything for you. “It doesn’t matter.”
There were so many things I wanted to say. So many things she made me feel.
“It matters. Come on,” she said. “We need to get to the Haunted Hound. There’s no time to waste.”
The things I wanted to say would have to wait.
“I’ll take us there.”
“Thanks.” She frowned. “You don’t want the crown for yourself, right? That’s what going to Tartarus was all about?”
“Going to Tartarus was to save you. Now that I’m free, the crown could be our best shot at defeating Chronos.”
“No.” She gripped my arm. “We have to find another way.”
“Do you know of one?”
Her jaw tightened. “I know that if you take that crown and spread darkness to the Earth, I won’t ever be with you.”
19
Seraphia
As much as I wanted to argue with Hades, there was no time left. The entire Earth was nearly frozen. I could feel it deep in my soul, like every bit of death that Chronos spread had made a mark on me. And my friends had confirmed it when I’d spoken to them on the comms charm.
Time was up.
Hades had said the crown could be our only way of defeating him.
“I’ll find another way,” I said. “Now we need to go to the Haunted Hound.”
He nodded, his jaw tight. “All right.”
I wrapped my arms around him, waiting for him to transport us. A moment later, we were tumbling through space and came out at the taproom of the Haunted Hound.
The dimly lit pub was half full of my friends and allies. Quinn, the auburn-haired shifter, was behind the bar serving up sandwiches and drinks as fast as he could. Mac helped, her eyes wild and her face rigid with stress. They all looked dirty and exhausted from the effort of holding back Chronos’s ice.
Mac saw me, and her face brightened. She launched herself over the bar and across the room, flinging her arms around me. “Thank fates you’re okay.”
I hugged her back. “You, too. Where are the others?”
“In the back.” She raised her head and shouted, “Shadow Guild! Get out here.”
A moment later, Beatrix, Carrow, and Eve raced from the back of the bar, Cordelia on their heels.
I hugged each of them. “How are you holding up?”
“Nearly everyone on Earth is frozen,” Carrow said. “Including our friends. And we haven’t been able to locate Chronos. He’s hidden by insanely powerful magic. It’s not looking good.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I know how to defeat him. And where to find him.”
Their gazes flicked to Hades, who stood at my side.
“You’re not planning to do a coup, are you?” Carrow asked.
“No. That wouldn’t help anything.”
“Good.” Carrow nodded, then gestured to those standing around the bar. “This is everyone. When you called, we gathered everyone who wasn’t frozen.”
My stomach dropped. There were only twenty people here. The Shadow Guild, some witches from the Witches Guild, and a select few from Magic’s Bend and the Academy of Magic in Scotland. “It’s going to have to be enough.”
Carrow nodded and turned to the crowd. “Everyone gather up, this is it.”
Quinn sprang onto the bar and sat with his legs dangling over the side. Everyone else crowded around. I climbed onto a table, taking in the faces of the people around me. These were the only people in the whole world who weren’t frozen. The horror of it chilled me to the bone.
I’d done this.
I’d released Chronos in order to save my friends, and now we were at the end of the line. If we were going to defeat him, it had to be now.
I cleared my throat and spoke. “Chronos seeks the Crown of Destiny, which is located at the top of a hill on a hidden island in the middle of the Mediterranean. Until now, only the stars have known the location of the island. When Hades and I arrive at that island, it will give off a magical signature so powerful that it will alert Chronos. He will come.”
“And then we’ll kick his arse?” Mac asked.
“Exactly. He’ll have reinforcements. Magic of some kind. If you can hold them off, Hades and I