The Promise of Hades (The Hades Trials #3) - Eliza Raine Page 0,41

more of me was grateful for his help. I mean, where the hell would I have found a chariot? Least of all had the time to learn to control one.

'Definitely,' I told him.

'Step aboard.' He gestured at the wooden vehicle.

This was it. I patted my dagger at my side, and stroked my hand over the pocket I had put Poseidon's pearl in, checking it was still there. I'd worn the leather corset today, deciding protection was more important than maneuverability. My hair was braided out of my face and my boots were laced tightly. I had nothing left to do. I was ready.

With a big breath, I gripped the side of the chariot and stepped onto the planks. Morpheus strode up beside me, positioning himself at the front, where the wooden sides met in a sharp peak. The prow, I supposed.

Hecate hopped on behind me.

'Hold on,' she grinned, and the chariot lifted off the rocky ground.

I suppressed the yelp that tried to escape my throat, and gripped the side hard. Just like the ships soaring around Mount Olympus, the boat shaped chariot was flying, on mind-power alone. We hovered for a moment, and Morpheus looked back at me, his skin sparkling.

'Ready?'

'Uhuh,' I replied, pulse racing and heart hammering. With a whoop from Hecate, the chariot raced forward.

For a terrifying moment I thought we were going to smash straight into the cavern wall, but as we approached it, an opening started to form in the rock. We burst through and shock stilled my nerves as the most incredible view materialized before me. With a jolt, I registered what I was looking at.

The Underworld.

All the time I had been living in Virgo I'd been flashed between rooms, and although I'd seen many places; my bedroom, the throne room, the training room, the conservatory, the ballroom, the breakfast room, even Tartarus, I'd never been able to imagine Virgo as an actual realm. It had just been a series of caverns and pits to me, and the way it was all connected had just been a vague description from Hecate.

But the view I had as we soared through the air in the chariot...

It was as though we were in a giant cavern, one as large as a city, and as mountainous as the Rockies. We were flying over a river of blue light, similar to the light that came from Hades when he was in god mode. The river was gouged from the dark rock and it seemed to have sources everywhere, waterfalls of light pouring down the many slopes into the main, rushing body of water. On my left and dominating the landscape was a towering mountain, and at its peak, a palace. Hades' palace. I felt my jaw drop further. Huge skulls, visible for miles, were carved into the walls and fierce gothic-style towers and balustrades were wrapped with thorned rose carvings. The very tip of the palace reached up past the ceiling of the cavern, and I realized with a start that that must be where the rooms with windows were, the rooms that were above ground. The breakfast room.

As I dragged my eyes down from the palace I saw a glowing band wrapped around the middle of the mountain, shimmering gold. As I squinted into the light I realized there was an island floating just off the mountain.

'That's Elysium, and the Isle of the Blessed. Where the good guys go,' said Hecate, reaching past me and pointing.

'I can't see clearly,' I said, and she laughed.

'The only way you can see into paradise is by dying, so be careful what you wish for. Over there you can just see the river of fire, Phlegethon, that leads down to Tartarus.' She pointed at the flicker of red far in the distance. 'And down there are the Fields of Asphodel and the Judgment Hall. Where the dead come to be judged.' She pointed below us. I peered hesitantly down, over the side of the chariot. My head swam for a moment, but I dragged my healing power up and around me, forcing out my body’s reaction to the height. I simply couldn't let vertigo affect me in this Trial. It wasn't an option. I was a damned goddess, and I was in charge of my own body. My vision steadied as I channeled my power, and I took long breaths as I focused.

Below me was a massive washed-out meadow. Hundreds upon hundreds of figures ambled slowly around, and though we were too high