Dark Goddess (25 page)

Hartley shot a knowing look over her shoulder, smirking.  “Yeah.  You’re not hearing things baby.”

Shock slammed into my chest at her words.  They weren’t just saying Hartley’s name.  They were saying
mine
.

A crowd swarmed us, grinning and bursting at the seam with happiness.  Most reached out to touch Hartley, congratulating her.  A few met my gaze, flashing uneasy—but not fearful—smiles.

Holy shit.  What had Hartley done while I was gone?

An older female soul approached, squeezing Hartley’s hand.  “I knew you could do it.”

Hartley nodded.

Suddenly the woman turned to me, reached out a hesitant hand, and patted my shoulder.  “Welcome back sir.”

In dumb shock I simply stared until Hartley nudged me in the ribs with her pointy elbow.  “Uh… Thanks.”

Davis, the boy Hartley had accidently injured, jumped through the mass of souls, careening into my chest with an
oomph
.  “You’re a sight for sore eyes Hades.”  He clapped my shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.  “That psycho douche imposter Ixion makes you look like my fairy god mother.”

Gasps sounded and eyes showed white in fear while the souls uneasily backed away, expecting an angry outburst.  Instead I snorted on a laugh, drunk on Hartley’s presence.  “You think if I sported a pair of shimmery fairy wings the souls might not be so afraid of me?”

Davis chuckled.  “Only if you want them to laugh at you.”

I shrugged noncommittally and glanced at Hartley.  “You think Callie will let me borrow a pair?”

Her head titled back as deep laughter pealed from her mouth.  The tension around the souls eased, bringing smiles our way.

A lump formed in my throat at the unexpected—sort of—acceptance from the souls I never thought possible. 

Hermes stepped through the crowd and pounded my fist.  “They need you boss man.  It just took losing you to figure it out.”

I silently nodded, taking a moment to swallow the lump blocking my airways. 

Hartley squeezed my hand.  “You’re back.  It’s over now Hayden.”

My thoughts turned to the impossible plant life I found in Tartarus, my smile slipping away.  “Not quite yet.”

Hartley

I could tell this was a first to have all the Olympians gathered in Hayden’s—well our—throne room in the Underworld.  Most of them appeared uneasy from the beginning, riding a few at a time with Charon.  Even Persephone and Hercules were here only after being promised by Zeke no harm would come to them.  Persephone realized Zeke’s protection didn’t mean jack in our domain.  Finally after Hayden promised they could go free once he was done with his impromptu meeting did they agree to come.  I had to promise too.  They were all aware of my new goddess title.

Athena was the only one smart enough to bring Charon a coin for passage.  He reluctantly ferried the others, grumbling the entire way.

Hermes was looking right at home, sitting on the gray chaise in front of the fireplace.  The first thing Hayden and I did when we arrived at the castle was return all the original furniture and burn Ixion’s ugly modern crap.

Reese, having spent so much time here these past few weeks, was comfortably sitting next to Hermes, absentmindedly cleaning his fingernails with a wicked looking dagger. Hera was standing regally next to Zeke who kept shooting covert glances my way, which I returned with an eye roll.  It did nothing to curb his little habit. 

Aphrodite and Poseidon were playing the slap game, their hands a blur.  He won every time until she flashed him, his attention immediately straying from the game.  Dionysus was swaying in the corner drunk with a red wine stain on his teeth and lips.  Hercules and Persephone were huddled near Athena, trying and failing not to look as uncomfortable as they felt.  The last time they were in this room I captured them in a ring of fire and that was
before
I was a goddess.

Demeter was on the outskirts of the group, absentmindedly weaving a small green vine together, looking bored.  A few other gods were spotted around, gazing at their surroundings with a mixture of fear and awe.

“All right everyone.” Hayden stood in the center of the room.  “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here.”

“Yes.  Here of all places.”  Demeter crossed her arms against her chest, her stony blue gaze glaring at Hayden with enough hatred to slice through diamonds.

His icy eyes cut to her, matching her coldness.  “I’m sorry Demeter.  Do you have a problem with my domain?”

“You know damn well I do,” she hissed.  “My daughter should never have to enter this forsaken place again.  Neither should
I
.”

Hayden’s brow lifted, his gaze flashing ominously with flames.  “You didn’t have a problem entering my domain to help Ixion escape, now did you Demeter?”

Sharp inhales penetrated the cavernous room, including mine.

Demeter simply scoffed and tossed her bronze hair over her shoulder.  “That’s ludicrous Hades.  Has your stay in Tartarus made you even more insane than you already are?”

“Oh Demeter.  You should really watch where you plant your seeds.”

Surprise flashed in her face, but she quickly hid it with a humorless laugh.  “Dear Hades, you’re not even making sense.”  She motioned her hands toward the crowd of gods.  “He’s obviously not well.  Right?”

They remained silent, unsupportive of either.

I on the other hand trusted Hayden blindly.  I stepped beside him and squeezed his hand.  “Go on.”

An uneasy change settled through the crowd as they realized the
villainous
god of the Underworld now had a true partner, an equal.  We could even be as powerful as Zeke and Hera, if not more.  We actually got along.

Demeter shifted uneasily.  “How could I have helped Ixion out of Tartarus when I can’t even cross the border of the Underworld without alerting you?”

“With this.”  A handheld seer’s mirror suddenly appeared clutched in Hayden’s fist, setting off a chorus of confused murmurs.

“Hades, what’s going on?”  Zeke asked, stepping forward.  “If what you’re saying is true…”

“It is true,” he interrupted.  He pointed at Demeter with the mirror whose cheeks were a few shades paler than usual.  “She cloaked this within a soul that would be sent to Tartarus.  She then used her spectral form to seep out and untie Ixion.  I’m sure she happened to inform him since I didn’t put him there and he wasn’t a soul he could simply walk out of purgatory.”

The gods stood gaping at Demeter with their jaws nearly hitting their chests. 

Her fingers nervously fiddled with the vine she was no longer braiding.  “T-This is simply ridiculous.”  She shoved it into the pocket of her white flowing dress and tossed her head, holding her chin high.  “I don’t have to listen to this.  I’m leaving.”  She spun around and attempted to march toward the doors, but the gods gathered together, blocking her.

Bitch
.  Anger coiled through my chest, igniting my eyes.  “
You
did this!” I snarled, my voice lowering threateningly.

Hayden put a hand on my shoulder, halting my impending attack on the goddess of seasons.  “That’s not all she did,” he growled.

Zeke’s blue eyes shifted warily from us to Demeter, suspicion darkening them to light navy.  “Brother, what do you know?”

“Yeah.”  Poseidon stepped beside Zeke.  “What did that sneaky, holier-than-thou tree hugger do?”

“Excuse you?”  Outrage showed on Demeter’s face, scarcely masking the trepidation peeking through. 

“ENOUGH!”  Hayden’s eyes were flaming now, tiny fires igniting on his shoulders.  “Persephone, whose idea was it for you and Hercules to steal my souls?”

Her blue eyes flickered to her mother, blinking several times in confusion.  “We were simply talking one day and she mentioned all I need do was find someone to take my place… and the missing souls would distract you and weaken…”  Her finger went to her bottom lip, her cheeks draining of color.  “Surely not mother…”

Demeter stood in the center of the room, head held high and face carved out of stone.  “Fine.  I helped my daughter escape the confines of a monster.”  She looked toward the gods.  “Would any of you blame me for that?”

A flame ignited in my hand.  “Watch what you say Demeter.”

“Cheers to you Demeter.”  Dionysus hiccupped. 

Hera shot him a narrowed glare.  “Shut up you drunk.”

“Surely Zeus, you can see why I wanted to free my daughter,” she pleaded.  “Maybe I went about it the wrong way…”

“And what were you trying to do when you gave Ares Pandora’s jar?”  Hayden asked.

Zeke’s head snapped in Reese’s direction.  “Is this true?”

He shrugged from his spot on the couch.  “Yeah.  She’s the one who gave me the jar and the idea to steal the Underworld.”

Reese told Hayden and me that months ago, but at the time I paid it no attention.  Maybe if I had we would have discovered who was behind Hayden’s screwy powers in the first place.

Zeke’s expression turned pensive, deep in thought for a moment before he glared daggers at Demeter who was growing paler by the second.  “You’re the one who mentioned Hecate the day I was trying to come up with a way to get Hartley.”

“You did what?”  Hera stalked toward her, her features suddenly predatory like a dangerous animal on the verge of attack.

Athena stepped in front of her.  “Calm down Hera.”

Her nostrils flared.  “Calm down?”

Fortunately everyone was watching my mother.  Unfortunately for Demeter they weren’t watching me.  I quickly gathered a flame in my palm, tossing it at her with an easy flick of my hand.  Screams erupted as it collided with her shoulder, leaving behind a scorch mark.

Pain flashed in Demeter’s face, but it didn’t sate this unquenchable thirst for vengeance.   

“You are the reason behind all the crap that’s happened lately.”  I marched toward her with Hayden on my heels.

“Throw another flame at her Hartley,” Hera urged.

“Shut up,” I snapped.  “You did your part too, remember?”

She didn’t deny it.

“You are the reason my friends were hurt, why Hayden and I kept getting torn apart.”  When Demeter tried to run I held her in place with an invisible force.  “Why?”

Rage washed over her features, morphing Demeter into something more akin to a monster than goddess.  “Because I wanted him to pay!” She pointed a trembling finger at Hayden. 

Persephone stepped forward, confusion scrunching her deceptively sweet face.  “Why didn’t you stop with the soul theft?  I was already free.”

“Yes, but Hades wasn’t supposed to find happiness.  I wanted him to pay for what he did to you.”

Persephone rolled her eyes.  “It was forever ago.  I’m free and happy.  Let it go.”

“NO!” Demeter yelled while struggling against my hold.  “Not until he’s as unhappy as you were.  Not until he’s left with nothing but an empty, soulless body.”  Her harsh eyes landed on me.  “And that means getting rid of
you
.”

Cries of shock mingled with alarm echoed from the other gods.  Everyone expected Hayden to violently react to her threat.  Instead Zeke was the one who invaded the mounting panic. 

“SILENCE!”  A lightning storm flickered in his eyes as he moved for Demeter, gripping her arm.  He tried dragging her without success, her body still held by my invisible power.  He looked at me, his face softening for a moment.  “A little help here Hartley.”

My jaw clenched as I showed my reluctance to release her.

Zeke and Hayden suddenly shared some unspoken communication. 

Hayden nodded and gripped my hand in his.  “It’s okay baby.  Trust me.”

I sighed and released the goddess who’s been behind so much chaos in my life.  I didn’t think I could hate anyone more than my mother.  I was wrong.

Zeke dragged her to the center of the room, motioning for us to step back.  “You’ve disgraced us all.”

Demeter scoffed.  “Oh please.  You are constantly at war with Hades.  Why would you care…?”

“I’m the king of you.  I don’t need to give a reason!”

Demeter cringed and cowered under Zeke’s powerful voice that boomed through the room so loud my ears rung for several seconds.

I shook the effects off, my brows lifting in surprise.  I hoped he was kinging out on Demeter for the right reasons and not simply to get on my good side.

“You will be stripped of your full power,” he continued, his muscles straining beneath his clothes as if trying to hold in his own fury.  “You will no longer be goddess of the seasons.  You will simply be a demigod.”

Shockwaves were palpable through the silent, tension filled room while Demeter’s face blanched a sickly shade of green and her blue eyes glistened with terror.  “No.  Don’t do this Zeus.”

Persephone scurried forward, biting her bottom lip anxiously.  “W-Will this be permanent Zeus?”

Zeke seemed to ponder this for a moment.  “Maybe.  Maybe not.”  He glared at Demeter as she shakily slid to her knees.  “If she can truly repent for her behavior.”

A sigh of relief drooped Persephone’s rigid body.  “Thank you.”

“Thank you?” Demeter screech.  “He’s still going to take…”

Her words were cut off as an invisible force hit her chest, stealing her breath.  Her tendons protruded and body frozen in a silent, hopeless struggle.  Shimmering waves every color of the rainbow flowed out of her, directly into Zeke’s chest, disappearing as quickly as they emerged. 

Shock twisted my insides, filling them with seeds of anxiety.  Was this the reason Zeke was the king of gods?  Because he had the ability to strip our powers away?

As if reading my mind Hayden squeezed my hand.  “He can’t do that to Poseidon, Hera, or me.  I doubt you either.”

“You
doubt
he could?”

“You’re just as powerful as me.”  He shot me a wry smile.  “And I doubt he
would
.  He’s in love with you.”

I sighed, unable to deny it.

Demeter crumbled to the ground, broken and defeated.  Her face had lost some of the harshness, replaced by an echo of pain and loss so deep it darkened the blue in her eyes. 

Zeke tilted his chin toward Hermes.  “Get her out of here.”

Persephone scurried over to help her mother with Hercules on her heels.  Soft, childlike sobs resonated out of Demeter.

“Where should I take her?” Hermes asked.

“I don’t care,” Zeke replied.  “Just get her out of here.”