“I can’t,” I whispered harshly.
That wasn’t quite true. I could, for a few weeks at the most, but after that, I would quickly age into the ancient old woman that I should be by now. And then I would die.
“I know,” he nodded sadly. “And that is my point. We can’t have a happily ever after, so what is the sense in it? In all good conscious, how can we risk the entire world on something that we know we will probably fail at?”
My burning eyes filled with tears and I blinked them away. He was right. I knew he was right. But my heart didn’t agree. I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again. What was there to say? He was right. My head dropped and I stared dejectedly at the sand.
For just a scant moment until a vibrant glowing from my bracelet illuminated against the pale skin of my arm and snapped my head up. I gripped my wrist with shaking fingers.
“My father,” I stuttered, gazing around quickly. I was shaky and weak from the incident with Brennan, not an ideal time for an encounter with my murderous father.
Brennan immediately crouched into a defensive position in front of me, his alert eyes trained on the horizon. His bare torso was taut and glistened in the sun.
“He won’t lay a hand on you. I promise you that, Em.”
The protective tone in his voice constricted my heart, but I couldn’t dwell on it. Instead, I shifted my attention to the terrain around us. My mother materialized next to me, a shiny dagger in her hand.
“He will
not
touch you. I promise that, as well.” Her ivory cloak fluttered softly in the breeze around her, her blonde hair swaying in the wind. She didn’t look like a warrior, but I knew that she was very, very deadly. She turned her gaze to me and I saw determination in it.
“Empusa, join hands with Brennan. We’re going to need your combined power.”
“But mother, we don’t know how to harness it yet,” I started to protest, but she interrupted me.
“I know that, Em. But I’m here to help you now. Do as I say.”
She shoved me forward and I grabbed Brennan’s hand. Even in this moment, with danger surrounding us, I enjoyed the feel of his fingers. He squeezed my hand lightly and I knew that he shared the feeling.
“Show yourself, Mormo!” my mother shouted. “We know you’re here. And I know that you are not alone. Come out!”
In unison, Brennan and I turned to examine our perimeter, but the only thing moving was red sand blowing along the hardened ground. I couldn’t see my father’s cursed face anywhere.
“Where are you?” I shouted in frustration. “If you want me, you’ll have to come face me. Stop hiding like the coward that you are!”
“That’s it, sweetie, antagonize the bad guy,” Brennan said wryly without removing his gaze from the horizon.
“I can’t help it,” I muttered. “He’s made my life hell. It needs to end here. I can’t take it anymore.”
I could hear the pain in my own voice as it caught in my throat and Brennan froze for a second, his gaze meeting mine.
“Empusa… I—“ his voice caught as well and he cleared his throat.
“Empusa, I want you to know that I love you. No matter what happens, I love you and I need for you to know that.”
I squeezed his hand, almost unable to answer around the lump in my throat. “I know you do, Brennan. I love you too.”
“There’s time for that later, Empusa,” my mother admonished. “I need you to focus now. Do the seeking spell with me.”
But before either of us could utter a single word, a circle of women appeared high above us on the ledge of the canyon. Their fierce faces were trained on us, their muscles as large and toned as any man’s I’d ever seen. There must have been fifty of them, all dressed in thigh-length tunics and battle armor.
“The Amazons,” I breathed, as I focused in on the face of their queen, Ortrera. I’d met her once before in the Underworld when she was there with Harmonia searching for Raquel.
“Harmonia must have sent them, bless her heart,” my mother agreed.
I met the gaze of Ortrera and she nodded once in confirmation. Yes, Harmonia had sent them. They were here to help. Each of their arms was drawn back and I realized that they were each holding a bow and arrow, poised to shoot. I felt a tiny bit better. I had the goddess of witchcraft and an Amazon army on my side. My odds were looking up.
“The seeking spell, Empusa,” my mother reminded me hurriedly and I nodded. But once again, before we could utter a single word, we were interrupted.
“Empusa,” a loud and chilling voice boomed.
We frantically looked around us, but the voice had seemed to come from everywhere… and nowhere. Mormo was still nowhere to be found. I could see the Amazons searching from their higher vantage point, but not a one of us could see him.
“Did you really think you could hide from me, daughter?” the voice boomed again and icy chills shot down my spine, shivering into the depths of my soul. “The bargain that I made with Hades stands until it is changed and you aren’t strong enough to follow through with that. Your soul is mine.”
Brennan whirled me around and touched his forehead to mine.
“Don’t listen to him, Em,” he implored me. “Your soul does not belong to him. Are you listening to me? If it belongs to anyone besides you, then I would say that it belongs to me. And I was wrong earlier. I’m never going to let it go. Do you understand? We’ll handle whatever happens. Just stay with me. We’re strong enough. Fight with me.”
I stared at him in confusion. “What changed? Two minutes ago, you said we couldn’t be together. And now you want to stay and fight with me?”
He sighed. “We’ll talk about this at a… better time, but I can’t live without you. I don’t care how risky it is. I can’t physically do it.”
“That’s sweet,” my mother interrupted, “And I fully believe you, son of Apollo, but this is a conversation best left for later… when someone isn’t trying to destroy you.”
I swallowed and nodded. My mother was right and Brennan and I both knew it.
“I’ll fight with you,” I promised him. “I’ll fight for you until my dying breath.”
“No one is dying today,” my mother interrupted again, her voice grim and strong.
Your mother is right,
a voice said in my head and I recognized it as Ortrera’s. My gaze flew to meet her hawkish stare. She sat perched high above me, her body still poised for a fight
. But we need your attention here. Focus and stay strong. There is time for intimate conversation later.
I nodded in agreement and Ortrera appeared satisfied, returning her attention to the horizon, searching for Mormo…which is exactly what I should be doing. My eyes flitted along every rock, every plane, every hill. But I came up empty. He was nowhere to be found.
“Where is he?” I cried in frustration. “He’s here, but he’s not.”
“Your father has always been as a shadow,” my mother said quietly. “He flits in and out of reality as quickly as we walk through it. He’s skilled in that way. He is accustomed to balancing between the world of the living and the world of the dead.”
“Yes, I do operate very well in the world of the dead,” Mormo answered her, his voice still echoing loudly through the hot canyon. “And speaking of the dead, I have someone with me whom you might recognize, daughter.”
At his words, someone tumbled into the emptiness in front of us. I squinted to get a better look and gasped as recognition struck me. Gaia was tattered and torn, her hair unkempt and dirty, her gowns ragged and ripped.
“Gaia!” I gasped. Brennan was staring at her in horror and fascination.
“I can see her,” he said in amazement. “I am looking at a ghost.”
“It’s my blood,” I told him quickly. “You drank my blood, remember? You can share my gifts until the effects wear off.” He nodded quickly as I turned back toward Gaia, preparing to run to her, but my mother held out a hand.
“No, don’t,” she cautioned. “He won’t let you near her.”
My gaze met my best friend’s and hers was panicked. “Empusa, don’t!” she cried. “He’s using me to get to you. Don’t let him.”
At her words, Gaia went flying across the canyon and collided into a mound of rocks as though a giant had kicked her. I sucked my breath in. She was lying motionless in the dirt.
“She’s already dead,” my mother reminded me. “He can’t really hurt her.”
Blood trickled from Gaia’s mouth and her hand twitched. I flinched.
“Are you certain?” I asked my mother. She nodded. “He can’t truly hurt her,” she amended. “He can cause her pain, but it won’t be lasting. She’ll be fine. Don’t let him control you with this.”
“Your mother doesn’t always know as much as she thinks,” Mormo boomed. “I will arrange for Gaia’s soul to be imprisoned in Tartara, the very blackest of places in the Underworld. She’ll be sentenced to spending eternity with the most heinous of souls. Is that how you want your friend to exist?”
I gulped hard. Gaia was terrified of the Underworld and I had always told her that parts of it were wonderful, which was true. Her soul was good and I had known that she wouldn’t be sent to Tartara. But I had never considered that my father might arrange for just such a thing to be so.
“Don’t let him manipulate you,” my mother warned again. “He would need Hades’ permission for such a thing. I don’t see that happening. I will intervene—“
“Mother, we can’t trust anyone anymore,” I told her in frustration. “Especially not Hades. Why don’t you understand that?”
“Why can’t you understand that this is a trick?” she beseeched me. “It won’t matter what you do here for Gaia. His plans have already been laid.”
“What about Zeus?” I asked quickly as I remembered that my mother had gone to speak with him. “What did he say? Will he help me? Maybe he would intervene for Gaia!”
My mother’s face clouded over. “I am not sure of Zeus’ intentions,” she admitted. “I fear that he might wish to allow events to play out as they will simply so that he can see Hades’ true intentions for himself. I doubt he will intervene on your behalf until such things have been made clear. He will want to know for certain.”
At her words, Mormo laughed, a chilling and terrifying sound. Out of my periphery, I saw Gaia stand up shakily, her back to the rocks. She perched there uncertainly, not sure of what to do.
“Run!” I implored her. She turned and met my gaze, her eyes frozen on mine. “Run,” I told her again. She nodded, her face pale. She closed her eyes briefly and then was gone.
“Did you really think that Zeus would help?” Mormo asked, his voice amused as it came from nowhere. “Zeus only helps when it benefits him. You should know that by now.”
It was true. I did know that and I felt my shoulders drop slightly.
“Do not listen to him!” my mother hissed as she raised the dagger threateningly at the empty air in front of us. “That is not true and even if it were, there are ways around everything, Empusa. I have thought of a way that we might separate your soul from your moonstone. We may only need for Hades to reverse the curse…something that he has already pledged to do. Zeus has sworn that he will force Hades to uphold his word.”
At her words, Mormo suddenly appeared in the canyon in front of us, a swirling mass of black material as his cloak twisted violently about him like a tornado. When the dust around him settled, I stared into the eyes of my father for the first time in a long time...the eyes that were so like mine, yet still so different.
“It matters not!” he roared, his face contorting violently. “I will prevail. This will end today, woman!”
My mother stepped forward, her beautiful face a determined mask. She almost seemed to relish this moment and I realized that she probably did. She had been frustrated by her love for Mormo for a very long time. Perhaps she secretly wanted to end it. If he were to die, she would no longer be tortured by her conflicting feelings.
They marched toward each other, quickly closing the distance between them. I sucked in my breath. Somehow I knew that this wouldn’t end well. They couldn’t go head to head. Not right now.
“Brennan,” I murmured quietly. “Hold tight to my hand. We need to channel our energy. Focus. I want to create a geyser between them, one like we created earlier.” He nodded and we both closed our eyes in unison. I imagined the thick earth breaking apart and erupting into a liquid explosion.
The strength of our energy pulsed in my veins, flowing from me to Brennan and back again in a continuous circle. Everyone had been correct. Our energy was powerful. The sensations that it created were almost too strong to bear, too overwhelming. But they were effective.
As my mother strode toward my father, the ground in front of her broke into pieces, shooting toward the sky and throwing her backward. She watched in amazement as the earth continued to crack in a deafening, splitting sound.
“We need to stop,” I said frantically, yanking my hand away. The cracking ceased, but not before it had broken apart in a trench that was miles long. Pieces of earth and gravel fell into the deep crevice. Beneath my feet, the earth started to shake and my eyes flew to Brennan’s.
“Earthquake,” he said unnecessarily. “We must have disturbed a fault line.”
I stared helplessly at him as we both recalled our visions. In each of our nightmarish prophecies, we had seen that everything had started with a massive earthquake. My heart started pounding.
“We can’t let this happen,” I murmured, reaching out for him once again. But before our fingers could touch, I was wrenched away and thrown across the canyon by an unseen force. Momentum carried me farther than I would have liked and I dug my feet into the hard ground to try and stop. But it was no avail, I skidded right over the edge of the newly formed deep crevice. I threw my hands up and grabbed the edge, my fingernails digging into the packed sand.
I glanced below me and saw that the crevice in the earth was deeper than I had even imagined. I could see thick, flowing hot magma beneath me and I cringed. This did not bode well.
“Hold on, Empusa,” Gaia implored me. She had appeared at my side in a flash, her ghostly face glowing against the dark, jagged cliff. “Don’t let him win, Empusa. Don’t let it happen. I know you’re tired, but you are strong enough. Pull yourself up.”