The Goddess Test Boxed Set: Goddess Interrupted\The Goddess Inheritance\The Goddess Legacy (71 page)

My mother shook her head. “I need you here with Kate, to make
sure she doesn't do anything stupid.”

Persephone rolled her eyes. “Of course she's going to do
something stupid. She's Kate.”

“I'm counting on you not to let that happen.”

After one quick squeeze of her hand and my mother's
admonishment to be good, their goodbyes were over. Persephone's eyes were dry.
How could this be so damn easy for her?

James touched my shoulder, and I spun around to hug him. “If
you die, I will be
so
pissed at you,” I said.

“Then let's hope that doesn't happen. If you wander into
battle, I'm going to be so pissed at
you,
” said
James.

“Then let's hope that doesn't happen,” I mimicked. “Do you need
a lift to Olympus?”

He snorted. “Nice try. Your mother's got it covered.”
Hesitating, he pressed his lips to the corner of my mouth. An almost-kiss full
of questions I couldn't answer and promises neither of us could keep. “Don't
forget—I get to be your first affair, and I'm holding you to that.”

“You'd better,” I said, and with that, he let me go for one
last hug with my mother. The knot in my throat grew unbearable, but I refused to
cry. I didn't want the last moments we had to be full of blubbering sobs.

Neither she nor James said anything. They smiled, no trace of
fear or anxiety on either of their ageless faces, and James offered my mother
his arm. She took it wordlessly, and together they faded until there was nothing
left but the breeze.

“Come on, let's get you some tea before you fall over,” said
Persephone. She took my elbow, and I didn't argue. If Cronus slaughtered
everyone I loved, Persephone would be the only family I had left. Not exactly a
satisfying consolation prize, but I didn't want to give her any reason to hate
me.

As much as I wanted to reassure myself that it wouldn't come to
it being just the two of us, I couldn't. It wasn't up to me, and I couldn't
change the outcome of the battle through sheer willpower and thought alone. I
could do something to help though, if I could only think of something that would
be worth the risk.

Something Persephone had said niggled in the back of my mind,
but before I could concentrate fully on it, she pushed the door open. “Adonis!
What did I say about feeding the dog peanut butter?”

Adonis, Persephone's boyfriend—husband?—rose from the floor,
and I gaped at the puppy at his feet.

“Pogo?” I knelt down, and the black-and-white dog Henry had
given me let out a bark muffled by a mouthful of homemade peanut butter.
Tripping all over himself, he scampered across the cottage and jumped into my
arms. One lick on the cheek, and I could no longer hold back the floodgates.

Persephone stepped around me as I clung to Pogo and cried. She
could give me all the nasty looks she wanted; she'd abandoned her family an eon
ago. I'd barely started to get to know mine.

By the time my sobs ended, she had a mug of tea waiting for me
on the tiny kitchen table. She sat in the chair opposite mine, and Adonis
lingered nearby, leaning against the wall and shuffling his feet. While I sipped
my tea with Pogo in my lap, neither of them said anything.

Several minutes passed, and I couldn't take the silence
anymore. “Aren't you afraid of what's going to happen?” I said, my voice rough
after my crying fit.

Persephone shrugged. “They've been at war with the Titans
before.”

“But it's different this time. They don't have Calliope, and
Henry—”

“What about Henry? What's wrong with him?”

With a sigh, I launched into everything that had happened since
she'd left the palace after the first battle. Calliope's plot to kidnap me, the
nine months I'd spent as her prisoner, Milo, my connection with Cronus, what I'd
promised him and what he'd promised in return—the attacks on Athens and Egypt,
Henry's fight for survival, his sacrifice to keep Milo and me safe.
Everything.

“And now they're going into the biggest battle in history down
two of their strongest fighters with no real hope of success.” I cuddled Pogo,
and he licked the crook of my arm.

Persephone drummed her fingers against the wooden table, her
expression distant. “And you're going to spend the entire time here, not even
trying to help them?”

“The only thing I could possibly do is distract Cronus and
Calliope, and you heard Mom. She doesn't want that.”

“If I were you, I'd be fighting like hell to keep every good
thing I had in my life,” said Persephone. “Not all of us had that chance. The
relationship you have with Mother, with Henry—you two made me an
aunt,
and you're sitting here like a lump instead of
doing everything you can to get them back.”

“You think I want to sit here? If there was something I could
do to help, I'd be doing it, but I
can't
—”

“Like hell you can't.” She narrowed her eyes. “Think, Kate.
Just stop and think. You're the girl who trekked across half the Underworld to
reach me on the off chance I might know where to find Cronus, and you're giving
up right now? I don't think so.”

Were she and James conspiring to make me feel like an utter
failure? I opened my mouth to protest again, but she held up her hand.

“There's always a way around a problem, and you have half an
hour to figure it out before the battle begins. So you tell me, Kate—after
everything you've been through and everything you've seen, are you going to sit
there, or are you going to fight?”

I took a deep breath. Persephone was right; there was always a
solution. There was always a way to fix something, even if it was hard. Even if
it was nearly impossible.

Anything is possible if you give it a
chance.

Henry's voice. Henry's words. He believed in me, even though
I'd long since given up believing in myself.

Think.
Think.
The weapons. Cronus's
bargain. The layout of the palace. Nicholas. Persephone.

My eyes flew open, and the pieces of the puzzle snapped into
place. “I know what to do.”

She grinned. “It's about damn time.”

Chapter 17

Final Stand

We arrived arm in arm in the middle of Persephone's
forest. The moment the ground underneath our feet shifted, she let go of me, but
I didn't care. For the first time in ages, I knew exactly what I was doing.

Grabbing her hand, I dragged Persephone through the trees,
toward a redheaded girl surrounded by the tamest animals I'd ever seen. A baby
deer rested beside her, a singing robin settled on her shoulder, and in her lap
she cuddled a litter of bunnies no bigger than my fist.

Persephone squinted. “Who is that?”

“Just let me do the talking,” I said, and once we drew close
enough, I called out, “Hi, Ingrid.”

“Ingrid? You mean the first girl too stupid to figure out how
to live?” said Persephone, and I elbowed her in the side.

“Kate!” Ingrid's squeal echoed, making the rock wall at the
edge of her afterlife obvious. “You really came! I thought you were just trying
to be nice, but you're really here!”

“Yeah, I'm really here.” As I knelt beside her to pet the tame
fawn, Persephone's forest melted into Ingrid's meadow of candy flowers.
“Unfortunately it's not for catching up.”

Ingrid's face fell, but before she could get too upset,
Persephone spoke up behind me. “You wouldn't happen to know how to handle a
knife, would you?”

She tugged nervously on a lock of hair. “Why?”

“Because Cronus is about to destroy the world, and the council
doesn't have much of a chance against him,” I said. “They need help. The dead
are the only people Calliope and Cronus can't hurt, and they've got a whole room
full of weapons that could take them down.” Or at least Calliope. If this didn't
work on Cronus...

It was worth a shot. It was our
only
shot.

“And you want me to help you?” said Ingrid.

“We want all of the girls to help us,” I said. “Persephone
doesn't know who they are, but we were hoping you might.”

Ingrid set the bunnies down and stood, brushing dirt off the
white dress that must have been the height of casual fashion back in the 1920s.
“As it happens, not only do I know who they are, but while Henry was trying to
figure out who was behind the murders, he even let me meet them. It's a bit of a
walk, but I can take you there.”

At last, some luck. “We don't have time to go on foot. The
battle's about to start,” I said. “I've got a faster way, though.”

With Ingrid's help, we gathered up eight of the other ten
girls. Two of them hadn't been in the sections of the Underworld Henry had
allotted for them, and we were running out of time. Eight would have to do for
now.

I stood before them, shuffling my feet nervously. Because
Ingrid lingered by my side, I saw the meadow in front of me, but every time one
of the other girls edged closer, the background shifted into their afterlives
instead. Forests, a white sand beach, an empty theme park—it was bizarre, but I
forced myself to ignore it. As long as the other girls could see me and each
other, that was all that mattered.

“I'm Kate,” I said. “Henry's wife.”

The word felt strange on my tongue, but it got an immediate
reaction from the girls. A whisper rippled through the group, and the ones in
the back jostled for a better position.

“That's impossible. You actually passed the tests?” said a girl
with curly auburn hair. “Like, survived and everything?”

I held my tongue. Of course they thought it was crazy. Calliope
had killed each and every one of them. After a while, even Henry had thought
it'd be impossible for anyone to make it. “Barely,” I said. “I got lucky.”

“Can't believe it was Calliope,” said the same girl. “The bitch
stabbed me in the back and threw me in the river. I thought it was James.”

“Yeah, well, turns out you aren't so smart, after all, Anna,”
said a dark-haired girl on the other side of the group. The top of her head
barely reached my chin.

The first girl—Anna—snorted. “Like you're any better, Emmy,
insisting Ava was behind it.”

“She's slept with every other god,” said Emmy. “Don't see why
she wouldn't go after Henry, too.”

“That's enough,” said Persephone. “Let Kate speak.”

For the third time in an hour, I explained everything that was
happening. No one interrupted me. “The battle's about to start, and our numbers
are dwindling,” I added at the end. “I wouldn't ask this of any of you if we
weren't desperate, but we are. We need fighters.”

“I don't know how to fight,” said Emmy, and the other girls
murmured in agreement. Anna, however, cracked her knuckles and stepped forward.
The background shifted into a garden that put Versailles to shame.

“A chance for a stab at Calliope? Count me in.”

One down, seven to go. “I can get us into the castle
undetected,” I said. “Calliope and Cronus can't hurt you.”

“Are you sure?” piped a voice from the back.

“Don't be an idiot, Bethany,” said Anna. “Of course she's
sure.”

“I am,” I said quickly. “I swear, if you do this, you won't be
in danger.”

“It's true,” said Persephone. “I faced off against Cronus and
Calliope a year ago. They tried their best, but I'm still here. Not a scratch on
me.”

Another murmur rippled through the group. “You're sure the
weapons will work, too?” said Emmy.

I hesitated. No, I wasn't sure. Even if one of us managed to
take out Calliope, I had no idea if this would work on Cronus. And what if they
weren't corporeal on the surface? What if they were ghosts, like I was in my
visions?

“We have to try,” I said. “If nothing else, we need to distract
them long enough to get Henry out of there. We need him on our side. The council
is heavily outgunned, and if we don't find a way to help, they will fall. Maybe
not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually Cronus
will
get the best of them. Of us,” I added. “And Henry will die with
them.”

Silence. I shifted my focus from one face to the next,
searching for any sign that they would agree, but none of them met my eye.
Before I could give convincing them one last shot, however, Bethany called from
the back, “Count me in.”

“Me, too,” said Emmy, and one by one, the others also
volunteered.

“Thank you,” I said. “I can't tell you what this means to—”

Crash.

The earth around us trembled, and several of the girls
shrieked. Ingrid clutched my arm, and we all looked up at the sky above us. Most
souls had no idea where they were and thought their afterlife was the real
thing, but Henry's girls knew the difference. They knew that the sun's warmth
was an illusion, and beyond the fluffy clouds was the ceiling of an enormous
cavern. And that was why they were the only ones who could help us.

The trembling subsided, but it didn't matter. The battle raged
above us, and we didn't have any time to waste. “I need a whiteboard and a
marker,” I said, and several of them stared at me blankly. “A blackboard and a
piece of chalk then.”

Nine of them appeared around me. Illusion or not, being dead
had its advantages.

I sketched the layout of Calliope's castle as best I could,
marking each important location—Nicholas's cell, the nursery, Calliope's room—as
accurately as I could. In three minutes, we had a plan. Whether it worked or
not, at least it would give the others a chance.

Getting them up to the surface would be tricky, but the gaping
hole in the cavern where Cronus had escaped the first time was still there. He
was trapped on the island, but I tested the exit twice. I could get in and out
without any trouble.

“You first,” I said to Persephone. She looked at my offered
hand like it was made of acid.

“How can I possibly be sure you know how to control it? You
trampled my tulips.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her wrist. The Underworld
dissolved, replaced by the stark white walls of my room in Calliope's castle.
“Happy now? Stay here.”

Persephone glared at me, but I disappeared before she could
insult me further.

I took two girls at once, and within a minute, we all clustered
together in the room. The girls fidgeted, and more than a few pairs of eyes
widened in terror as a tidal wave crashed against the cliffs protecting the
castle.

“Just stick to the plan,” I said. “And whatever you do, don't
forget that no one can hurt you. Not Calliope, not Cronus, no one.”

“Can they hurt you?” piped Emmy's voice.

“If we do this, I'll be fine,” I lied. No one could promise
anyone anything, but they needed to hear it, and it wasn't my job to tell them
the truth right now. “We don't have any more time. Trust me. Trust
yourselves.”

I pushed the door open and sneaked into the hallway, followed
by several pairs of hesitant footsteps. I didn't look back to make sure everyone
was following us. They had come; the best I could hope for now was that their
courage didn't fail them.

The hallway between my room and Nicholas's was suspiciously
empty. Did Calliope believe that no one could break into the castle, or did she
foolishly not care? I crept forward, prepared for any sort of traps she or
Cronus might have set, but we made it to Nicholas's room without interruption.
The door, however, was locked. “I have to go in there and get the weapons
myself,” I said, but Emmy elbowed her way through the group of girls.

“Let me.”

Pulling a pin from her hair, she knelt beside the doorknob. I
listened for any sign someone was coming, but five seconds later, the lock
clicked open.

“Piece of cake,” said Emmy with a grin, and I shot her a
grateful smile. Pushing the door open, I burst into the room, fully expecting
Calliope to be waiting for me. Instead Nicholas sat chained to the chair,
surrounded by his workshop of weapons.

“Kate?” he said, squinting through two black eyes. Blood
dripped down the side of his face from a nasty gash on his forehead. Calliope
must've been here recently. “Persephone?”

“Hello to you, too, brother,” said Persephone. Behind her, the
others poured into the workshop, their eyes widening at the sight of Nicholas
and the array of weapons.

I knelt beside his chair and inspected the glowing chains. “I
can't touch them,” I said apologetically.

“I know,” he said. “Don't worry about me. Go on and get
Cronus.”

“I'm not leaving you behind. Emmy, can you undo this lock?”

Emmy separated from the others and joined me, Persephone hot on
her heels. “That's more complicated,” she said. “But I think I can do it.”

“Try.”

“She'll get it,” said Persephone. “Go ahead without us. We'll
get Nicholas out of here.”

“Thanks,” I said, and Persephone waved off my gratitude.

“They're my family, too. Now go.”

A clash of metal against metal shook the very air around us,
and the other girls quieted. I took a deep breath. Time to be a leader. “You all
know what you're supposed to do,” I said with as much confidence as I could
muster. “Grab a weapon infused with fog, and go give them hell.”

Anna let out a whoop and, clutching a mace, she streaked out of
the room and up the narrow staircase that led to the rest of the castle. One by
one, the other girls followed, clutching swords and staffs and other weapons I
couldn't identify. I waited by the door until their cries diminished. The
chances of them succeeding were slim, but as long as their distraction gave me
enough time to rescue Milo and Henry, then at least our efforts wouldn't be
wasted.

“Seems like they're enjoying themselves,” said Nicholas
heavily. He grinned. Several of his teeth were missing. “Get that lock undone. I
want to join them.”

“Yeah, right,” I said, and I swiped a glowing knife with wicked
hooked teeth from the remaining weapons. “You're lucky to be alive.”

Persephone gave me a look. “He has a right to fight for his
family, just like you do. Now stop dictating and go get your son.”

Biting back a response, I nodded, and a second later Milo's
nursery replaced the workshop around me. Thunder echoed through the air. The
council had to be close.

“Milo,” I gasped, rushing toward the cradle. It was empty. Of
course Henry wouldn't let him out of his sight during the battle, but something
inside me withered. I'd hoped to get Milo out of there and safe with Adonis
before finding Henry, but that clearly wasn't going to happen.

I turned to leave on foot, but instead I crashed face-first
into a warm body and stumbled to the ground. My heart damn near stopped. Had
Calliope expected this? Was she lying here in wait while Cronus distracted
everyone else? I gripped the knife with hooked teeth, fully prepared to use
it.

“Kate?”

Not Calliope. Ava. “Where is he?” I said, scrambling to my
feet. She blocked my way out, her cheeks pale and her eyes round. Clearly she
hadn't expected me. Good. That meant Calliope likely didn't either.

“Milo?” she said. “He's with Henry.”

“And where exactly is that?”

Ava bit her lip. “I can't tell you. Calliope will kill
you.”

“Not if I get them away from her before she knows I'm there,” I
said. “Unless you decide to tell her.”

“What? Of course I wouldn't,” she said, stunned. “I'm on your
side.”

“Then tell me where Henry and Milo are.”

She swallowed, her eyes red and shining with tears. “She'll
kill all of us. Me, you, Henry, Milo, Nicholas—”