spun me through space, but Hades held on tight. A few moments later, it spat us out on the rocky shoreline of Cyprus.
Moonlight glittered on the waves, illuminating the hills around me. Next to me, Hades’ form flickered. Fear stabbed me.
If he disappeared, he’d be gone.
I don’t want him to be gone. The deepest grief gripped my chest, so strange and unexpected, yet also unsurprising.
I’ve fallen for him.
And he might not make it.
He held out his hand. “Give me the potion your friend Eve made you. The one that will allow you to leave the underworld.”
My jaw slackened. “You’re going to give your approval?”
“If you do as I ask, yes.”
My brow lowered. “And you ask that I spread the darkness to the earth.”
“It is the same as it always has been.”
Disgusted, I dug the vial out of my pocket and shoved it at him. Frankly, I was grateful to find it there, given that he’d done a magical costume change on me.
Of course, I wasn’t going to spread the darkness, but there was no point in holding onto the vial. Maybe he would change his mind.
I turned from him, looking for Carrow, Quinn, and the Devil. They stood a dozen yards away, and I caught Carrow’s eye as I pointed up the hill to my right. She nodded, and we all began to climb.
“How far away are we?” Hades asked.
“If I remember correctly, there is a field near here. It’s the one that Chronos told me about. There should be some trees and boulders to hide behind so we can scout it out.”
He nodded, keeping close by our side. Our small group moved silently up the hillside, and the entire place felt oddly empty. The sea breeze blew my hair into my face, and I shoved it back, using the bright moonlight to guide my way.
“There’s no one here that I can sense,” Hades murmured.
“Same.” It was weird enough to send a shiver of nerves up my spine. Shouldn’t I be able to feel my kidnapped friends’ life forces?
Finally, we reached the edge of the field that I remembered vaguely from my childhood. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized it. But then, why would I? I’d hardly ever come here.
Hades and I stayed behind the cover of a large boulder while the other three stuck to the trees nearby. I peeked around to see if I could spot my friends or their abductors. Almost immediately, I spotted three bodies lying prone in the middle of the field.
They were alone.
My heart leapt into my throat, nearly strangling me. I lunged out from behind the boulder.
Hades grabbed my arm, trying to yank me back. “It may not be safe.”
“I don’t care!” I tore free and raced forward.
There was no one else there. I’d have felt their life force.
I fell to my knees at the side of the first body. Mac. A sob tore from my throat. She lay so still and pale. Dead.
Carrow landed next to me, and her voice was strangled when she spoke. “Why them?” Frantically, she looked around. “Where are they? Who did this?”
“Gone.” The dark mist wasn’t here. Chronos wasn’t here. I’d have felt him, and I didn’t. Whoever had taken them had killed them and tossed them here.
My heart twisted, and tears blurred my eyes as I crawled over to Beatrix, spotting immediately that she was as still and cold and Mac. The same for Eve. Each of my beautiful friends, laid out like they were at their funerals. I drew in a ragged sob.
At some point, Hades appeared. It might have been seconds or hours.
His soft voice cut through my grief. “There’s the faintest bit of life left in them.”
“What?” Shock lanced me. I felt nothing coming from them.
Hades raised Mac’s limp wrist, his fingertips pressed to her pulse. “It’s very faint, but it’s there.”
“They sound dead.” Carrow had her head pressed to Eve’s chest, clearly listening for a heartbeat.
I reached for Mac’s wrist and tried to feel a heartbeat. “I feel nothing.”
“Death has not fully taken them,” Hades said. “I would know.”
He would. But if they weren’t fully dead…
My mind raced as I frantically tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Only sort of dead? I could work with that. Just like I had back in the forest in the underworld. Those trees had been sort of dead, too.
Until you’d commanded them to suck the life from bunnies.
That was true, and bad, but this would be the other way around. A little