Gods Save the Princess (Grace of Gods Book 2) (27 page)

He nodded his head and coughed again, right into my palm. My face twisted slightly before pursing my lips and wiping the blood off on my jeans.

“Then leave me, I’ll be fine. My body will continue to heal, perhaps even my brethren will take pity on me and free me eventually.” He coughed again and then looked up at me, “but you need to understand Valentina, the longer you are on Earth...”

“I know, the more dangerous it becomes for us.”

“No, the more mortal you become and for Zeus and Hera especially that could mean something worse than just death.”

“What do you mean?”

He coughed again and shook his head; “you just need to get them out of there.”

“I will. And someone will get you out. If the Titans don’t, Griffin is still here and he’s on our side. He’ll help you.” I didn’t like the idea of leaving Atlas like this but he was right, I had to go and I couldn’t waste anymore time. “Your map, the one that finds the Gods, where is it?” Atlas coughed, looking around the room as if trying to remember before finally lifting his hand and pointing to the bookshelf, “It was on there.”

I rose quickly and started to search, pulling books off and flipping through them quickly for the desired piece of paper before moving on to the next. I was probably half way through the search when the door to his office started to open.

“You need to go Valentina!” Atlas hissed from the floor, making my heart skip a beat. He was right; I couldn’t get caught and be cast out.

“I need the map!”

“The black book, it’s in the black one I’m sure of it!” My eyes flicked over the bookshelf finding the book he was talking about. I grabbed it and stuffed it into my jacket just as the door opened completely and a guy, not much older than myself, walked in.

“Who are you?” He said suspiciously and I stepped away from him instinctively.

“Persephone.” I said trying to keep my chin held high.

“You shouldn’t be here, you should be on Earth with the rest.”

“I’m the consort of Hades.” I hoped this would buy me an excuse and for a second it seemed to work. He appeared to accept it and then he looked around the room.

“What are you doing here? This room is off-limits.”

I was running out of excuses, I wasn’t very good at lies and knowing I couldn’t rely on that if I needed it made coming up with something even harder, “uh...”

“The bookshelf Valentina.” I turned to look down at Atlas and the Titan in the door moved toward me.

“Don’t move.”

“The bookshelf, it’s a door.” I glanced back at the bookshelf and then at the Titan. Grabbing the side of the shelving unit I pulled it forward, watching it tip and start to fall toward him. As Atlas had said, on the other side was a threshold so I thought about my garden and quickly moved through it. On the other side I paused to worry that the falling furniture had hit Atlas but there was no going back. I had to get to Aidan before anyone else here figured out what I was doing. I hoped telling him I was with Hades didn’t get Griffin in trouble.

Pulling the black book out of my jacket I flipped it open and scanned through the pages looking for an insert of the map but it was empty. There was nothing there. Frowning and thoroughly disappointed I’d grabbed the wrong one I started to close the book again when a shimmer caught my eye.

I stared at the pages for a moment before closing it completely and thinking hard about needing the map. When I opened the book again there it was, sitting in front of me like it was nothing. I grinned in excitement, picking it up in exchange for the discarded book and flipped it open.

With Griffin on my mind the map zoomed in on him, he was no longer in the throne room but in Styx, talking heatedly with some other guy who was there with him. I didn’t know him, but then again I had been gone for weeks and before that avoiding everyone because of Persephone. I didn’t have time to watch the argument unfold and could only hope that he was going to be okay before I thought about Aidan.

The picture shifted to Aidan chained to a rock belonging to the mountain range. The wind tore at his skin, making him shiver and his skin turn an unsightly colour. On his side there was a massive wound, sinew and organs were exposed to nature while old blood dried to the trails that ran along his ribs. Aidan, ever the picture of control, didn’t even look phased by his condition. At least if he was, he wasn’t going to let the Titans know that.

I told myself that at the very least, on the bright side, he was alive and that was the important thing. But now I needed to figure out how to get to him. Folding up the map I looked around my garden for the first time since entering it.

In the time I had been in the Underworld almost all of the flowers had wilted and died, the soil had dried out and the entire place stunk of rot. My sanctuary had died without me here to take care of it, like the world had done when Demeter was without her daughter. I sighed softly and reached forward for a flower; picking it up gently in my hand and tracing the soft petals with my thumb but the moment I touched them they turned to dust in my palm. I frowned and dropped the ash, brushing my hand off.

Now wasn’t the time to be nostalgic for my lovely garden. I needed to get to the mountains, not that I even knew how to do it. Atlas had been able to move himself between worlds, counties, and countries with ease, so surely I had to have the same gift as a Goddess didn’t I?

“How do I do it Persephone?” I whispered aloud to myself, thinking about Aidan and his poor side as the eagle ravished him over and over again. But my Goddess didn’t answer, at least if she heard me she didn’t.

I wanted to believe the answer was inside of me like all the rest had been. It must be, I told myself mentally, wracking my mind for the answer I didn’t know. Maybe if I got back to the throne room there would be a portal there I would be able to use. Not that it would help me once I was on Earth, how was I supposed to get to England with no money and no transportation.

Whatever the answer was I couldn’t just stand there waiting anymore, the longer I wasted the less time I had to save Aidan before the Titans found me again. Presuming they were actually looking for me.

I stood, grabbing the book and tucking it back inside my jacket before moving toward the door and was midway to opening it when I gasped as an idea struck me.

What if Earth worked the same was as Olympus? At least worked the same way for a God? What if I just had to imagine where I wanted to go and open a door and it would take me there?

It was worth a shot because I didn’t have any other magical options.

Grabbing the handle I pushed the door open and thought long and hard about Aidan, picturing him clearly where he was chained to the rock and imagining myself entering the mountain. I stepped through and a blast of wind hit me, pulling at my clothes and threatening to send me over. I reached to grab something, ending up half bent on the side of the mountain clinging to the rocks to keep myself steady. I glanced up desperately; relieved to see Aidan up ahead in just as poor condition as he’d been in when I saw him on the map. I crawled slowly, fighting the wind and the cold that caused my fingers to stiffen with each movement.

“Aidan!” I called out to him but the wind merely stole my voice and carried it away to where it was useless. Each breath I took was harder than the last, making my lungs burn like there was a fire within them. I reached the base of his feet, touching them gently and drawing his attention down to me.

“Valentina? What are you doing here?”

“Saving you!” I said as I used the rock that held him to brace myself and rise to my feet. I brushed my knees off and then surveyed the damage to Aidan’s side.

“Looks painful.”

“I’ve dealt with worse.” He said nonchalantly making me stare at him in disbelief.

“You don’t need to act tough right now Aidan, no one is watching but me and I can tell you that looks extremely painful.”

“Only mildly painful.” He continued with the blasé act, making me shake my head.

“C’mon, we’ve got to get off here and find the others.”

“How did you find me?”

“I was in the Underworld when the Titans mutinied.” I explained for the second time tonight, Aidan shook his head like he didn’t understand.

“It’s a long story, I’ll explain once I’ve gotten you unchained.”

I grabbed the chains holding down his arms and started pulling at them. I recalled now that I should’ve thought to bring something with me to help with the task but what would break magically bound chains?

“I’ve tried pulling them.” Aidan said drily, staring down at me in a mixture of amusement and boredom.

“Any other suggestions then?”

He nodded his head, leaning back against the rock and closed his eyes for a moment. I stepped away, glancing to the sky in case the eagle was coming back. His ribs were almost fully healed now; it wouldn’t be long until the beast returned for its meal.

I looked back at Aidan whose face was a perfect mask of concentration and his hand began glowing, clenched in a tight fist. The light in his hand grew and suddenly he was holding a sparking and crackling lightning bolt.

“Take it.” He said through gritted teeth, holding it out to me.

I shrunk back, shaking my head, “I can’t. I don’t have the power to hold it.”

“Yes, you do. Zeus is Persephone’s dad, he won’t let it hurt her.”

“How…- How did you know I was Persephone?” Aidan opened his eyes at that point and gave me a look that immediately made me feel stupid.

“It was obvious Valentina, but everyone was under strict orders to let it play itself out.”

“Atlas knew that Hades would kidnap me again? He knew and he forced all of you to let it happen.”

“Well, we didn’t know that he would kidnap you and I wouldn’t have let it happen even if I did know. But Atlas said that certain things needed to happen in order for you to fully ascend to your Goddess. This isn’t the time to discuss it though, take the lightning bolt.”

Swallowing hard I reached out and took the lightning bolt from him, shuddering at first as I touched it. I half expected it to electrocute me but it didn’t do anything but warm my hand as I enclosed my fingers around it. Its power buzzed through me, making my whole body tingle.

“Okay, you should only need to touch it to the chains and they will break.”

I nodded, moving closer and choosing a point to touch that wasn’t close enough to his body to do damage, just in case no longer being in control of the lightning somehow also took away his imperviousness to it.

“So you’re my dad.” I said as I touched the bolt to the chain, watching the whole rock shudder in an attempt to fight its power.

“In a way.”

“My last dad kind of sucked at his job.” I said quietly, voicing something I had never once even let pass through my mind. I frowned to myself thinking about it and all the ways my mortal father had failed me.

“Apparently so do I.” I looked up at him and shook my head.

“You said it yourself you didn’t know that Hades was going to kidnap me. Besides, it looks like it all worked out for the best.”

“For now.” I touched the chains once more and they finally broke, a crack echoing through the mountains and I stepped back as Aidan pulled his hand free. I held out the lightning bolt to him to finish the job and with much less effort than I had used he freed the rest of his appendages.

The lightning bolt disappeared the moment he stopped needing it and Aidan collapsed forward, barely managing to catch himself on the rock before slipping down to his butt. He touched his ribs gingerly and closed his eyes with a soft sigh of relief.

“We don’t have a lot of time...” I said softly. I didn’t want to rush him but I didn’t exactly know if the Titans were going to follow me here or if someone had been charged with watching Aidan in case something like this happened. In either case, how much time did we have?

Chapter Twenty Three

“Where is Savannah?”

I pulled the map out of my pocket and flipped it open, the wind tugging at it and threatening to pull it away. I bent down and pressed it on the ground, thinking about Savannah and it opened up to reveal she was in a jungle somewhere. I swiped my hand over the image and it disappeared, leaving me a name: the Amazon.

“Uh, not safe.”

“How “not safe” is she?”

“I’d say if the anacondas don’t get her, the poisonous spiders will... Never mind any mythological creature lurking in the darkness.”

“What are you talking about Val?”

“She’s in the Amazon and the longer she is away from Olympus, the weaker her power is.”

“She has no power left.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Lincoln almost killed her she transferred what was left of her power to me in order to help me kill him. But her powers never regenerated and she’s been powerless since.”

“So she’s mortal?”

“She’s mortal when she’s not in Olympus.”

I bit down on my lip and held out my hand to him, “well, we have to get to her then and can’t waste anymore time.” He nodded and reluctantly stood, each movement sending another shadow of pain across his face. I hoped he would be able to make it down the mountain to the nearest house, and I hoped there was still enough belief in the world that would give him the necessary power to heal.