Hecate's Spell (Monsters and Gargoyles #7) - Lacey Carter Andersen Page 0,49

lover.”

The blonde slowly speaks. “It’s true. Persephone and I are in love. In the months she’s allowed on the surface, we’re together and happy. In the months she’s forced to stay in the Underworld, I visit her as often as possible. But she had this path made for me, so that it was safer. The only restriction was that it had traps setup to ensure anyone escaping wasn’t evil. We didn’t want to possibly create a path straight out of the Underworld for all the monsters and terrible people.”

“That makes sense,” I tell her begrudgingly.

“So did we pass the tests then?” Orion asks, his voice hopeful.

“Well…” She taps her fingers. “If you had more hate than love in your hearts, you all would’ve killed each other when the flower’s poison was released. And if you were bad people, you wouldn’t have let even the illusion of a woman be taken and hurt at the bar. So you passed those tests, but I’m afraid you’re not free yet.”

Love in our hearts? I glance at Hecate and my blood races, but I don’t think she’s focused on the same part of the strange woman’s words as I am. And I remind myself that love should be the least important part of all of this. So, I try to calm my racing heart and focus on Hecate.

Hecate’s frowning at the woman. “There are more tests?”

The woman shakes her head. “No, we didn’t need much to restrict the bad people. They would’ve failed both tests. No one has even gotten this far. But, I’m afraid, there’s something far worse in these tunnels than my tests.”

A shiver crawls down my spine. “What?”

The woman is quiet for a long minute before she speaks. “Nothing should be able to enter these tunnels. None of Hades men. Not even Hades himself. But I felt something...something evil. It’s rushing up the tunnels. It’ll overtake you soon.”

“What is it?” Hecate asks, and I hate that there’s fear in her voice.

“Something capable of killing you all, I’m afraid, if you’re not too careful.”

I want to punch something. I want to scream. Isn’t it enough we’re escaping from the Underworld and that I can’t even look back to be sure my brother is there? Something evil is coming for us too?

“I just wanted to warn you,” she says, hopping off of the mushroom. “Persephone cares a great deal for Hecate. She has never forgotten how hard you tried to find her when Hades kidnapped her. I didn’t want you to mistake what came next with a test from me. If you see something in these tunnels, kill it first, ask questions later.”

“Thank you,” I say.

She gives a little nod, a frown on her lips.

But as she turns to go, I stop her with my question. “Can you tell me if my brother’s, Andros’s, soul follows behind us?”

The blonde looks back with a frown. “I can’t tell you for sure, but the rule is that he gets one chance to escape.”

Hecate staggers beside me and would’ve fallen if not for me catching her arm.

“What’s wrong?”

Hecate slowly looks up and meets my gaze, all the color drained from her face. “But Andros and I already tried once.”

“But did you reach the tunnels?” the blonde presses.

I hold my breath.

Hecate nods. “Once.”

The blonde’s entire body stiffens. “The rules aren’t known for certain. If his soul can only be brought up once, or once per person. He may still be behind you, if he’s following your men out this time.”

“But he could still be trapped in the Underworld?” Hecate asks, her voice small.

The woman nods. “I’m so sorry,” she says, then she turns and walks away.

For a moment I’m completely overwhelmed by the thought that we could’ve done all of this, and my brother isn’t even with us. The old instinct to curl up inside myself and give up...give up on everything, rears its ugly head, and I almost let it swallow me. But then I look at Hecate, and everything seems to freeze inside of me. I’ve never seen the kind of pain I feel reflected on another person’s face, but I see it now. The shock and horror that changes her expression calls to something deep within me, and I can’t help but reach out to her.

She jerks and her gaze goes to mine. Unshed tears fill her eyes. “If he’s not with us, we have to go back.”

And in that moment, I see it. I see just how much she loves my brother, and