Prison of Hope (10 page)

“These trips are an effort to make the truth known. Tartarus is not a prison, nor is it the living embodiment of hell. It’s a separate realm to our own, much like Shadow Falls or Olympus. It contains those who do not mesh well with our world; those who seek to usurp Avalon or create their own power, which would upset the balance we’ve created.”

Hades used a clicker, and a bunch of photos all arrived instantly on the screen in front of us. “The first placed in the realm were the Titans. That was shortly after the Titan Wars, in which Zeus and the Olympians raised up to defeat the Titans. There are far too many reasons for why we went to war, but it was prudent to place those who lost in a place that would keep them secure and safe.”

Hades turned to face the screen. “These lovely people are the Titans—not all of them, mind you; only nine of the original twelve titans live there. But in there you have Cronus, Rhea, Atlas, and Phoebe. All of these people now live in Tartarus.”

A boy’s hand shot up.

“Yes?” Hades asked.

“What do they do there?”

“A good question. There are, at last count, over twenty thousand people who live in Tartarus, excluding the guards. Yes, guards. It’s not a prison, but that doesn’t mean we want people living wherever they like, and also some of the people there hold grudges against one another. An immortal’s memory is quite apt at recalling people who have pissed them off.”

Everyone laughed, while Hades glanced over at me.

Touché, old friend,
I thought.
Touché.

“The people here live and work as a community. There are farmers, artisans, builders, poets, and people holding jobs that you’d find in any society. They have electricity, clean water, and food, and are completely self-sufficient. We want you, the schools that arrive here, to see that these are not impoverished people, nor are they downtrodden and treated as criminals. They live their lives in Tartarus because they chose to. The other option would have been someone watching them for the rest of their lives. Everyone in Tartarus is there through his or her own volition. In exchange for all criminal charges being removed from their files, they have agreed to live their lives in peace in a place where they can genuinely make a difference.”

Another hand shot up, this time a young female teacher’s.

Hades nodded in her direction.

“Is it true that any non-humans taken to Tartarus will lose their abilities?”

“Not entirely,” Hades said. “The realm of Tartarus is a natural dampener of power, so their abilities are much lessened from what they had elsewhere, but they still are able to access and use them as they wish.”

Hades continued to talk for about forty-five minutes. He was a natural with the teenagers and adults alike, all of whom hung on his every word. He spoke about the compound, how the realm gates worked and who and what they would be talking to once through to Tartarus. He warned everyone not to wander off, as anyone left behind might not like some of the nighttime wildlife.

It wasn’t until Hades was beginning to wind down the presentation that I noticed Mara stand and clear her throat. Everyone in the auditorium glanced in her direction, and I saw Chloe’s head drop into her hands.

“Yes?” Hades asked.

“How many witches do you have on staff, Mr. Hades?”

“Just ‘Hades’ is fine,” he said with an easy smile.

“So,
Hades
, how many is it?”

“Off the top of my head, I have no idea,” Hades said.

“What a crock of shit. Clearly you deem us less worthy than the rest of your workers.”

“Mrs.?”

“Range,” Mara said.

“Mrs. Range. I can’t tell you how many witches I employ out of a staff that easily tops five million people worldwide. I also can’t tell you how many werewolves, sorcerers, trolls, or vampires I employ. I simply don’t know off the top of my head. I do, however, know that out of the few hundred people who work full-time at this facility, six of them are witches. All of them do excellent work.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because along with Cerberus, I personally pick every single employee to work here. I know their names, ages, where they were born, and their children and significant others. I know their abilities and, in many cases, their weaknesses. I know all of these things because it is my job to know them. Every single person who works here is of the highest caliber. If you’re trying to suggest that I wouldn’t use witches for whatever reason, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“I think you use them as scapegoats to further your own agenda,” Mara snapped as she stormed toward Hades. “Demeter was right about you. You brainwash people into thinking you’re a good man, but really you’re just a bully and a thug who would even go so far as to manipulate Demeter’s own daughter to further your ambitions.”

Hades took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, but he needn’t have bothered.

“If you say one more thing to my husband, I will personally have you hog-tied and flung out of here by catapult,” Persephone said as she entered the auditorium alongside Sky and Cerberus. “Cerberus, will you kindly escort this lady out of the facility? If anyone wants to go with her, he or she is more than welcome to follow her out. A word of warning, though: If anyone dares
to sugg
est in my presence that Hades is anything other than a loving father and husband, you will discover why my mother no longer talks to me.”

The air in the room turned ice-cold as Cerberus motioned for Mara to leave. A few of the other witches, and their children, stood in solidarity, but most stayed seated. Mara motioned for Chloe to join her, but Chloe looked away, embarrassed either
for her
self or her mother—it was hard to tell.

I left my seat and walked over to Hades. “Are you okay?” I asked.

He nodded to me. “I am sorry for that,” Hades said to
everyone
.

“It’s not your fault, Dad,” Sky told him as she joined us, kissing him on the cheek before turning to give me a hug. “Can I go kick her ass?” she whispered.

Sky and I had been close friends for well over a century. For a while, there had been a possibility of something more
happening
, but that was a long time ago, and we’d settled into a friendship born of mutual teasing and enjoyment of kicking the asses of people who crossed us. “Probably not on a school trip, no,” I whispered back.

“I think now is probably a good time to take our trip to
Tartarus
,” Hades said. He smiled, but I could tell Mara’s outburst had bothered him. The perception of him as the man who had stolen Persephone away from Demeter and the embrace of the light had always gotten to him. Thousands of years of stories about his evil ways and how he was responsible for the darkness that had settled within the Olympians didn’t bother him as much as they probably had when he’d first heard them, but some lies continue to sting, especially when they involve those you love.

The school group stood and got ready to leave. And then the alarms sounded.

CHAPTER
9

A
good five minutes of frantic action took place immediately following the alarm. Hades made a call and walked off to the corner of the room to find out what was happening, while teachers and guardians tried to keep everyone calm despite the obvious concern on their own faces.

“What’s happening?” Tommy asked as he left his seat and joined Sky and me at the front of the auditorium.

“It’s a proximity alarm,” Sky told us. “Unauthorized access on the compound.”

“Any chance someone just got drunk and staggered through the perimeter?” Tommy asked with all the hope of someone who knows that’s not what happened but who desperately wants it to be.

“There’s a
situation
above that I need to deal with,” Hades told us. “A krampus attacked two guards and got onto the
compound
.”

“A krampus?” I asked, unsure I’d heard him right the first time. “In daylight?”

“It doesn’t sound right to me either, but I’ve been assured that’s what’s happening. I’ll be heading topside.”

Persephone nodded. “Go stop whatever’s happening. I’ll stay with our guests here and make sure people don’t start panicking or trying to get up top for themselves.”

Cerberus re-entered the auditorium and rushed over to Hades. “There are reports of guards being attacked by other guards,” he told us. “We need you up there. Comms are down throughout the complex. Something bad is happening.”

“Someone’s attacking the compound?” Tommy asked, disbelief in his voice.

“Looks that way,” Cerberus agreed.

“Cerberus, take Sky and go to the security room,” Hades told him. “I want to know what’s going on. I want comms back on, and I want eyes on anything that looks suspicious. On your way, get a squad stationed on this floor. I don’t want any surprises.”

Sky and Cerberus both nodded and then ran out of the
auditorium
.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Hades said, his words stopping the increasingly loud chatter in the room. “My apology for the incredibly loud alarm, but there appears to be a fault on the system. My people were running a test to ensure all was right for you on the Tartarus side, and it has unfortunately tripped something. It’ll be a short while before it’s fixed, but as we now have to complete a full security check, I’ll have to ask you all to stay here with my wonderful wife. We’ll ensure some refreshments are brought to you, and it shouldn’t be long before this problem is resolved. We’ll resume the tour once we’ve figured out which hamster fell off which wheel.”

There was laughter at his words, although it was the kind you get when people are relieved that something isn’t more serious than they originally thought.

Kasey arrived next to us. “What’s happening?” she whispered.

“As I said—” Hades began.

“Don’t,” Kasey said, her voice soft. “We both know it’s more than that. I saw the look on my dad’s face when that alarm went off. So, what’s really going on?”

“You don’t need to worry,” Hades told her.

“I only worry when people don’t tell me the truth. I’m fourteen, not blind. I can help keep people calm. I
want
to help.”

Hades smiled. “Persephone will explain everything, but I really do need to leave.” Hades left the room at a slight jog, which I was sure would turn into a full-on sprint once he was out of sight.

Persephone told Kasey about the alarms and possible attack. She left nothing out, nor did she try to give a better account than what we knew.

At the end of the explanation, Kasey nodded and turned to Tommy and me. “Do you need to go?”

We both shook our heads.

“They have it in hand,” I said. “We’d only get in the way.”

“But you want to help anyway, yes?” Persephone asked with a smirk. “In that case, there will be sandwiches and drinks in one of the other meeting rooms. We were going to have lunch here instead of having to take everyone out just to bring them back. Can you get all the food and bring it here?”

“No problem,” Tommy said.

“Glad to help,” I agreed.

As we left, Persephone began telling the class that instead of letting them sit around being bored, she was going to put a film on for everyone to watch.

We used the directions that Persephone had given us to find the room in question. Thankfully, the food was still on three
massive
trolleys, so we didn’t need to make multiple trips to carry it all back.

The corridors were empty of people, and only the squeak of the trolleys broke the silence.

“Do you find it odd that Persephone offered to stay behind?” Tommy asked.

“For all of Hades’s leadership qualities, Persephone is the one more likely to calm people in a stressful situation. And besides, no one will get through her to those kids unless an entire army gets thrown at her, and even then I’d give Persephone good odds. There’s no one better to protect people.”

It wasn’t long before the squeaky-wheeled trolleys were back at the auditorium.

Tommy went through the door first, to discover that the guests inside were being treated to Robert Downey Jr.’s version of Sherlock Holmes. Hopefully, two hours would be enough for Hades to fix the problem.

I stepped into the auditorium and closed the door behind me. “I’m just going to get an update,” I told Tommy, who nodded and had Kasey help him distribute the food and drink.

As I left the room, Persephone was right behind me. “Going somewhere, Nate?” she asked softly.

I nodded. “Just want an update on what’s happening.”

“I’m sure Hades will update us when he can.”

“I know . . . I’m just—”

“Concerned? Unable to sit still? Bored? Which one best describes you?”

“Okay, you got me. I’ll feel better if I know what’s happening. The fact that the comms were shut off concerns me. And if
Cerberus
was right and your own guards are involved . . . I just want to check. I’ll be five minutes and then right back, I
promise
.”

Persephone grinned. “Good. It means I don’t have to do it. Give my husband a swift kick for me; I’d like to know what to do with these people once the film finishes. I think a second movie might make a few people suspicious about what’s happening.”

“I’ll get him to contact you,” I promised and then set off toward the main lifts a few corridors away.

As I got closer, I noticed that two guards stood outside the lift that went down to the floor where the realm gate lay. There had been no other guards on the floor, and while I’d heard other people inside the rooms—presumably having been told to stay there—I’d expected to see several more deployed by Cerberus
or Hades.

“Are you two it?” I asked them.

Both carried silenced MP5 submachine guns. One was a younger man with a few days of dark stubble, while his companion was much older, although clean-shaven, with some nasty scarring on his bottom lip.

“Can we help you?” The younger of the two asked.

“Are you all that were stationed for this entire floor?”

“What did you expect?” the older man asked, his voice betraying his nerves slightly.

“Hades told Cerberus to deploy a squad here. That’s seven people. Where are the rest of them?”

“They’re checking all the rooms,” the younger man said. “We were told to wait here until they got back.”

“Any word on what’s happening above?”

Both guards shook their heads. “You’d best go back to your room, sir,” the older man said. “We know what we’re doing here.”

I gave them a thumbs up and turned back the way I’d come, only to hear a radio noise from the guards. I turned back as the younger of the two placed his hand to his earpiece and whispered something back.

“Comms back on?” I asked.

“Spotty,” the older man said.

“Best of luck then,” I called out and walked off, turning down the next corridor before sprinting the rest of the way to the
auditorium
.

I burst through the doors, startling those closest to them. They hushed me when I whispered for Tommy, who got up from next to Kasey and joined me outside, followed by Persephone.

“What’s wrong?” Persephone asked.

“I just need Tommy’s nose,” I told them both.

“My nose? Why?”

“I want to check out a hunch. Also, Persephone, why would people be guarding the lift to the realm gate?”

Persephone took a moment to think. “There’s no reason. In the event of an emergency, that lift stops at the bottom. It won’t go anywhere without authorization from someone with a blue wristband, and each one is linked to someone’s genetic code—only that person can wear that wristband. Apart from you, Hades, Sky, Cerberus, and me, there aren’t many who have one. Those who work on the realm gate floor do; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to get down there, or leave the floor once they were there.”

“How does it work?” I asked.

“You have to wave it in front of the reader next to the lift.”

“So my wristband lets me access the lift?” I confirmed.

Persephone nodded. “Yes, but don’t go down there unless it’s an emergency. That lift is locked down for a reason.”

“The lift normally stops on this floor, yes?” Tommy asked.

“That lift goes from here to the realm gate below. That’s it—there’s no other stop. You have to use the main lift to go between floors.”

“So there’s literally zero reason to stand guard in front of it. The main lift—sure, I’d expect that—but not one out of use.”

“You think something’s happening?” Persephone asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to go find out,” I said. “They had comms use. They said it was spotty.”

Persephone removed her earpiece from her ear. “This one hasn’t gotten anything since Hades went up. It’s not spotty; it’s off.”

“Tommy, can you sniff out people for me?”

“The runes that stop you from using your magic in this place make my senses a little weird, but they’re good enough to smell people.” Tommy wore a similar wristband to mine, although his was red in color. He still had some of his strength and other special attributes, but wouldn’t be able to turn into either his wolf or beast forms.

“We’ll be back soon,” I told Persephone.

“I’ll keep everyone here. You be careful.”

Tommy and I set off, walking around the empty corridors as Tommy sniffed out which rooms contained people. There weren’t many that had anyone inside, and we opened each room in turn, finding several workers in them. We told them we were just doing a sweep to get numbers of people on this level, and told them to stay put.

We stopped outside a door marked “Tokyo,” and a low growl emanated from Tommy’s throat. I pushed the door open and found several prone people inside. We both darted into the room and closed the door behind us. It didn’t take long to check all of them, three men and two women, each of them alive, but
unconscious
.

“How did someone take out a whole team?” I asked. “There were no shots fired; we’d have heard them. And there’s no blood or obvious damage to anyone here.”

“They all have strong pulses,” Tommy said as he checked on the guard in the far corner of the room.

Tommy and I rolled the guards into recovery positions, just in case, and as I finished, I spotted something unusual on the floor. A chrome sphere lay partially under the hand of one of the guards. I picked it up and turned it over. It was about the size of a chicken egg, but completely circular and warm to the touch. It had a ridge around the circumference, about halfway down.

I ran my fingers over the item, trying to figure out what t
he hell
it was. I found another and picked it up, comparing the two. They were almost identical in every way, but I discovered an indentation on the side of one of them. I pushed it and the sphere slid open along the ridge, revealing runes inside, which I instantly recognized.

“Are these concussion grenades?” I asked Tommy.

“Looks like it. New ones, though, pretty state of the art.”

“If these are concussion grenades, I’ve never seen anything like them. There are no serious injuries here.” Concussion grenades were designed to be thrown at something. Once one struck, it opened and activated the runes, throwing kinetic energy in a ten-foot radius. They’re designed to knock out trolls, giants, and things that usually like to tear the arms off people who get too close to them. I was working for Avalon when the idea was first conceived; that’s why I recognized the rune work. Unfortunately, the first grenades created had the slight side effect of causing
anyone
in the blast radius to suffer some horrific injuries, like losing limbs. Apparently, the item had been perfected, because all the people in the room were still attached to their body parts.

“Avalon has been trying to perfect them for a while now. Apparently someone else got there first. You think they’re Hades’s own equipment?”

I shrugged. “No idea, but if Hades’s own staff are involved, then yes, probably.”

“Those two guards you saw—they’re not on our side, are they?”

I shook my head. “I think they’re probably the other two members of this team. Which means we need to go ask them a few questions.”

“They’re armed,” Tommy said, “and I didn’t find any weapons on these guys, did you?”

“No,” I had to admit. “We’ll wing it.”

Tommy grinned. “So, the usual plan then.”

“You want to go back to watch the rest of the movie?”

“No, I want to kick the shit out of the people who did this.”

We left the room together and walked back toward where I’d last seen the two guards, who thankfully hadn’t moved an inch from their earlier position.

“Hi,” I said and waved. “We’re just coming to ask if you guys want any food. There’s a lot left in the auditorium.”

“We’re not allowed to leave the post,” the younger man said.

“We’ll bring it here—we just wanted to check first,” To
mmy said.

We were within arms’ reach of them now, but the younger one worried me. He appeared more wired than his older friend, more alert to possible issues. That meant he had to go down fi
rst. Hard.