Emblazed (17 page)

“Not much. Zane is the mythology buff, not me. I don’t know that much about the lower
Gods,” Jace answered.

“Well, he can’t be as powerful as Hades or Hermes, right? And we’ve faced both of
them before, so it might not be that bad,” I remarked.

Jace ran his hand through his damp hair, causing it to stick up all over the place.
He blew out a breath before answering, “Yeah, but we still have to go back to the
Underworld. Hades and Hermes are probably salivating at the chance to get you back
down there. Then, we will have to deal with all three of them.”

“So what do you think we should do?”

“I don’t know yet. We should talk to everyone about it first. See what Zane knows,
and what they all think we should do,” Jace replied.

I nodded as I grabbed my phone. I dialed Kimber, who answered after a few rings, “Hey,
Brie.”

“Hey. Do you think you guys can come over later? We have something that we need to
discuss with you,” I told her.

“Sure. How about half an hour?”

“Okay, see you then. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I ended the call before rising to grab some clothes from the closet. “They’ll be here
in about thirty minutes,” I informed Jace as I rummaged through the clothes on my
side of the closet.

I grabbed a strapless, pink and gray chevron print maxi dress and returned to the
bedroom, where Jace had already changed into a pair of blue running shorts and black
muscle shirt.

Gods, how can he look so hot in everything?

Turning around, he smirked at my thought as I headed to the bathroom to brush out
my hair. Once I finished towel-drying my hair, I quickly braided it on the right side
of my head before making my way back to our room.

I assumed Jace went downstairs since he wasn’t in the bedroom, so I headed down to
the living room, where he was sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Where’s Kiera?” I questioned.

Jace shrugged his shoulders as he kept his attention glued to the TV. I rolled my
eyes at his typical masculine behavior and made my way to Kiera’s room.

The door was slightly ajar when I reached it, but I still knocked, respecting Kiera’s
privacy. I didn’t ever want her to feel awkward or out of place in our house.

Several seconds passed with no response. I knocked and waited again, but she still
didn’t respond. “Kiera?” I called out as I knocked for a third time.

When I was met with silence again, I pushed the door open to find Kiera’s room empty.
As my eyes searched for her, they landed on the bed, where a torn out sheet of notebook
paper lay in the center.

I walked over and sat on Kiera’s bed before picking up the paper, expecting to read
a note saying that she had gone to the beach or something, but what I read was the
last thing that I expected:

You may be protected on that island, but your sister is not. Give yourself to me,
or she will take your place.

The paper fell from my hand before floating to the floor. I didn’t need to see who
had signed it; I already knew it was that fucking bastard Hermes. I sat in stunned
silence for several moments before bolting off the bed and running into the living
room.

“Kiera’s gone! Hermes took her!”

Jace’s head jerked towards me, “What?”

“Hermes took Kiera. He left a note on her bed demanding I give myself to him or she
would take my place.”

Jace stood and came over to me. “You are not giving yourself to him,” he growled in
frustration.

“We have to get her back, Jace. I can’t let another person suffer because of me.”

“We’ll get her back, but you are not giving yourself to Hermes. You are mine.”

As I was about to argue back that I wasn’t a piece of property, a knock on our front
door interrupted my retort. Jace stormed to the door angrily before opening it and
letting Kimber and Zane in.

Kimber glanced between us, noticing our aggravated demeanor, and asked, “What’s up
with you guys?”

“Hermes took Kiera. He wants me in exchange.”

“What? Where did he take her?” Kimber questioned.

“I don’t know. He left a note, but it didn’t say where he had taken her,” I replied
before turning around and heading back to Kiera’s bedroom.

Everyone followed me into the room as I led them to where I had dropped the note.
They took turns reading it before handing it back to me. “What are we going to do,
you guys?” I inquired.

“We can’t do anything if we don’t know where she is,” Zane pointed out.

“Well, we can’t just sit here and do nothing. Hermes could be raping her as we speak,”
I spat in anger.

“Calm down, Brie. We’ll find her. Rescue is like our specialty now, right guys?” Kimber
quipped. She received a tight smile from Zane, but Jace and I maintained our serious
expressions.

“We need to brainstorm. Think of places he could take her, and who we could get information
from,” Zane suggested.

“Hermes is the God of Travels, he could take her practically anywhere,” Jace interjected.

“The Underworld is a viable option. He does spend a lot of time down there,” Zane
commented.

“Wouldn’t that be too obvious?” Kimber asked.

“I don’t think Hermes gives two shits about being obvious. He wants Brie, and it seems
like he’ll stop at nothing to get her,” Jace stated.

“Does Hermes have any enemies? Maybe another God that might help us?” I asked.

“I’m sure Hermes has pissed off a lot of people with his antics, but how would we
contact them?” Zane asked.

Damn, that was a good question.
The only way I had ever made contact with a God was when they showed up of their
own accord. I could only hope that one with a personal vendetta against Hermes would
come to us soon.

“So what are we going to do? Just wait for some God with a grudge against Hermes to
show up?” I questioned.

“What else can we do, Brie?” Kimber replied.

I sighed in frustration. “I don’t fucking know! I don’t want to sit and wait for some
God that may or may not come to help us. My sister is in danger, and every minute
wasted is a minute Hermes can use to torture her.”

“I know, baby, but we don’t have many options besides going back to the Underworld,
and there’s no guarantee that Hermes will have taken her there. Plus, it’s not safe
for you to go back when Hades and Morpheus are after you, too,” Jace voiced.

“Morpheus is after you?” Zane inquired at the same time Kimber asked, “Who’s Morpheus?”

Jace directed his attention to Zane as he asked, “What do you know about Morpheus?
We figured you would know the most out of all of us.”

“Morpheus is the leader of the Oneiroi, the Gods responsible for dreams. He and his
brothers weave the dreams of Gods and mortals alike, but Morpheus oversees them all.
Going up against Morpheus means that we will also have to fight his brothers, and
maybe ever their father, Hypnos. Even though most people don’t know much about them,
they are extremely powerful and dangerous. Morpheus and his brothers will be able
to create anything they want in our subconscious, including our worst nightmares,”
Zane responded.

“Looks like going to the Underworld is out of the question. I don’t want Morpheus
to hurt you more than he already has been.”

“Earlier you said that we would have to go back to the Underworld to solve this problem
with Morpheus, and now you’ve changed your mind?”

“Things have changed, Brie. Hermes ha—”

“Nothing’s changed! We can go to the Underworld, take out Morpheus, and possibly eliminate
Hermes while rescuing Kiera. Then, we can be done with all of this shit,” I remarked.

Just as Jace was about to argue back, a beautiful woman with long, golden blonde curls
and bright blue eyes appeared in front of Kiera’s bed. Kimber squeaked with surprise
as Jace blocked me with his body.

His hands lit with flames as he gruffly asked, “Who the fuck are you?”

“I am Persephone, Goddess of the Underworld,” the gorgeous woman replied in a sultry
voice.

“You don’t look like Persephone; she has brown hair and eyes,” Jace replied apprehensively.

Persephone, or whoever she was, laughed at Jace’s comment. “You are referring to my
other form. During the fall and winter months, when I am stuck in that hellhole, I
take a darker appearance. I take this form in the spring and summer months, when I
am free.”

Jace looked to Zane, who nodded. When he directed his attention back to Persephone,
he asked, “What do you want?”

“I thought it would be obvious, given what you were just discussing. I am here to
help with your predicament.”

“Why would you help us?” I asked suspiciously. She certainly hadn’t helped when her
husband tortured me.

“Other than the fact that you are my great-granddaughter?”

“That didn’t seem to matter when your husband was torturing me,” I curtly replied.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t offer any assistance. I knew you could take care of yourself.
Plus, I like to stay away from the Underworld when I’m not obligated to be there.”

Whatever.
“So, why are you helping us now?” I repeated.

“Hermes gave Hades the idea to trick me into eating the pomegranate seeds, thus trapping
me in the Underworld as Hades’ wife. I wouldn’t mind thwarting his plans, especially
since it involves you.”

“Why would pomegranate seeds trap you in the Underworld?” Kimber asked.

Persephone scoffed in irritation as Zane answered, “If you eat anything in the Underworld,
you are bound there. That is why she must go back for half of the year.”

“So, how do you plan to help us? Can you rescue my sister from him?”

“I will take you to where Hermes has your sister, but I cannot interfere otherwise.
I know you have become familiar with the Gods’ politics throughout your endeavors.”

“Yeah, we know. No interfering in the lives of mortals, and all that bullshit,” Jace
replied with attitude. We both had more than our fair share of Godly political crap.

“How do we know this isn’t some sort of trap?” I asked. I wasn’t sure that I could
trust Persephone, especially given the fact that she was Hades’ wife. How could I
be sure that she wouldn’t just take us straight to Hades?

“My hatred for my husband isn’t enough?”

“He is still your husband, and you’re the Queen of the Underworld. Not exactly a title
that’s associated with trust.”

“I have this bad reputation for everything my husband does, but I take no part in
his affairs. He tricked me into being his Queen, and I’d leave in a heartbeat if he
would release me.”

I didn’t exactly believe that, but the little hope that I had that Hermes hadn’t raped
Kiera yet dwindled the more we wasted time talking. I had to trust that Persephone
would keep her word. “Can you take us now?”

“I can, if that is what you wish. Join hands,” Persephone instructed.

We did as she requested, and within seconds, we were in a dank, dark cellar. Persephone
transporting us felt so different compared to when the Oracle teleported us. There
was no nausea, dizziness, or disequilibrium. Maybe the fact that Persephone was a
Goddess had something to do with it, but I couldn’t be sure. I had been unconscious
when Hades transported me to the Underworld, so I couldn’t compare with that experience.

“Where are we?” Kimber asked.

“The cellar of Hermes’ residence in Mount Olympus.”

“We’re in Mount Olympus? The Mount Olympus?” I asked in excited shock.

Muffled shouts to my right snapped me out of my awe. Kiera was restrained by handcuffs
on a huge bed, and duct tape covered her mouth. I ran to the side of the bed before
climbing on and crawling to the center where Kiera lay. Tears streamed down her cheeks
as I broke the chains of the handcuffs with my Akasha.

“Everything’s going to be okay, Kiera. We’re here now,” I attempted to calm her as
she threw her arms around me. Her body trembled as she clung to me, and I silently
cursed Hermes for doing this to her.

Everyone had gathered around the bed as I scooted Kiera and I to the edge. Jace pried
her off of me so that he could carry her, and Kimber gingerly pulled off the duct
tape covering her mouth. Before I could rise off the bed to join them, Hermes suddenly
appeared and pinned me back down.

Blackness flooded my vision as I was pulled into nothing.

Movement in the corner of my eye drew my attention back to the bed, where Hermes had
Brielle trapped beneath him. I shoved Kiera into Zane’s arms before rushing back towards
them as Hermes sneered, “I told you that she would be mine.”

They disappeared into thin air, only to reappear in sparks of purple light seconds
later. Hermes and Brielle flickered in and out of sight as the purple light pulsed
and sparked around their elevated forms. “Let her go, Hermes,” Persephone ordered
sternly, her arm raised towards him and Brielle.

“Damn you, Persephone! You should not be involving yourself in this!”