Lita was rocking Genni as they sat in the living room at the main house.
“I am absolutely certain that was a message from Val. She wants me to bring her back!” Alex said. “And I know that if there were not a way for us to leave the underworld, she would never call me away from Genni!”
Lars lifted a hand. “It isn’t that simple, Lexi—”
“Why not?” Paolo interrupted, as he gestured emphatically. “We have confirmed an entrance via the temple of the Cumaen Sibyl. Alex must bring her back to us. There is no time to waste!”
“Paolo, honey, we all want the same thing,” Ava said sympathetically. Paolo looked away and then took Daphne’s hand. She sat next to him with her eyes downcast to avoid
an meeting Alex’s gaze.
“But is it the right thing to do?” Camille asked. “Alex, you know that Val grew up alone...how could you leave this child?”
The room was silent and Alex thought for a moment. “I’ve thought a lot about that, Camille. If it weren’t for Genni, I would have been gone this morning.” He lifted his arms helplessly. “I...don’t have experience in this new realm of parenthood. So, I had to think of what my father might have done. And what I do know, without a shadow of a doubt, is that Ian would have gone to hell and back for my mother. And that is what I intend to do—bring back Genni’s mother!”
Lars sighed and went to the whiteboard near the fireplace.
“All right. Let’s see if we can figure this out then. We know that Alex can enter the underworld. What we don’t know...” he wrote as he spoke, “Can he find Val? Can they find their way out? And is it possible for either of them to leave the underworld? There is enough opposition to make extraction seem nearly impossible.”
“Yes, but we have conquered the impossible before!” Tavish said.
“Let’s list the possible adversaries, as this may be our show stopper,” Lars said.
“Cerberus,” Camille said. “Always hated dogs, but a giant three headed dog—”
“Who is Cerberus?” Olivia asked innocently.
“Dearest, he is ‘the Hellhound from Hades’ and guards the gates of the underworld, to prevent those who have forged the River Styx from ever escaping. It is said that he has only an appetite for live meat.”
“All right, Cerberus,” Lars said as he wrote it down.
“What if we exited from the temple? We might be able to get by Cerberus that way,” Alex said.
“Impossible,” Paolo said.
“Why?” Alex asked.
Paolo shrugged and looked away and so Lars said, “We’ll come back to that. What other obstacles?”
“Hades—he isn’t going to give up a soul or a body!” Ava said.
Lars wrote down ‘Hades’ on the whiteboard. “Any others?”
Caleb was absorbed in his computer game as usual.
“If we can find a way to get by those two issues, I believe Alex and Val can escape,” Jonah said.
Suddenly, Caleb’s eyes lit up. “Hey! What if Alex used the motor from before and swam out? Then he could get by Cerberus.”
“Might work,” Lars wrote that down as a possible solution. “But then, how would they get out of Delos? They have to exit at either the temple or Delos. It seems like the Cumaen temple is a more likely extraction point.”
“My sister—I mean, my mother—told me that an exit through the temple could only be completed with the assistance of Hecate. As
Hecate was a friend of my mother’s, I do not believe she will assist you.”
“Good point,” Lars said. “There may be other exits but the only two that we know will lead to a desirable destination are through the temple or Delos. If the temple isn’t an option, how can we get Alex and Val beyond Delos and the adamantine gates?”
Ava offered, “Looks like we’ll have to bring Shinsu in on this.”
“After our last trip into Delos, I think it’s too risky to have Shinsu open the gates for us,” Camille said.
Jonah leaned forward. “I have a thought...”
“Yes?” Camille said as she brushed her hand across his back.
“Don’t we have another issue that is just as pressing as bringing Val back? I mean, what happens after we bring her back? We’ll still have Jeremiah and his army working to destroy us,” Jonah said.
“What’s your point, Jonah?” Ava asked.
“My point is that resolving both of those issues at the same time might cause enough distraction that we may be able to get rid of Jeremiah
and
get Alex and Val out.”
Lars rubbed the crease between his brows. “How do you see that working?”
“I haven’t thought it through yet, but perhaps Shinsu could help us. There would have to be an innocuous reason for the meeting. I believe that with all of the revived oracles, we might have a chance to get Jeremiah removed.”
“Perhaps Daphne and I could announce our engagement,” Paolo said without looking at Daphne, whose mouth dropped open in shock.
“Yes! That might work!” Tavish exclaimed.
“You might ask me if I’m interested,” Daphne said coldly.
Paolo turned to meet her disapproving eye. “It is only for the sake of Valeria. If I wished to marry you I would propose properly. Perhaps I should do that.”
Daphne turned her head away from his in irritation. “
No...you should not
. Not now. Not while you are continuing your love affair with another woman and constantly willing to risk your life for her.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “
Aww, come on, Daph—you’re hardly one to talk!”
Paolo brushed her leg and she pushed his hand away. “Perhaps that is what makes us perfect for each other.”
“Or perhaps not so perfect,” Ava said with a laugh and then her voice grew serious. “Why don’t you two take your lover’s spat outside unless you have something constructive to add to this discussion?”
Daphne turned her head away from Paolo.
“Paolo, I don’t believe the council would be interested in flying in for another one of your engagements anytime soon. I think we need to talk to Shinsu,” Lars said.
“Sue...” Myrdd said absently.
“Next question is how will you find Val?” Lars asked.
“That is not an easy one to solve. There are no known maps of the underworld from the temple—other than Dante’s or Virgil’s descriptions.”
“Alex, you’re planning a walk through hell, but what if you never even find Val?” Daphne said.
With his eyes darting around the room, Paolo lifted his hand to his mouth, tapping his foot nervously. He crossed his legs and sat back and then leaned forward and crossed his legs the other way. Finally, he said, “I will go for Valeria.”
The others in the room stared at him in disbelief—except Daphne whose green eyes took on a woeful expression.
“You?”
Alex said. “What’s in it for you?” He glared at Paolo.
“Alex, Paolo did save Val several times. I think it is worth thinking about,” Lars said.
Slapping his hand down on the arm of the chair, Alex said, “Absolutely not!”
“Alex, I only wish to help! I do not wish to see Genesis alone...that is all,” Paolo said. With that, both men glanced to Lita who had turned Genni on her knee and was gently bouncing her and tapping on her back.
Staring longingly at his daughter, Alex immediately cooled down. “Sorry, pal. Didn’t mean to...well, you know,” he said, watching as Lita laid Genni in the cradle.
“Alexander must go!” Myrdd said, and Alex shrugged as if it was settled.
“Why, old man? You offer us these absurd statements of what must be—but, so far, your advice has cost us Valeria!” Paolo spat.
“Alright...alright.
Alex, it’s up to you,” Lars said.
“I believe that Val means for me to come for her. That’s what she said, and that was what was in Olivia’s vision. I can’t imagine that we were ever meant to be apart.”
“All right—it’s settled. Alex will go to the underworld. Next, is how will you find your way to the Elysian Fields, and then back out? There is no map. Everyone who has ever gone there and come back out was guided. We have no trusted guides. If only we could somehow conjure someone—well, an ally—to help us navigate it.”
“I can help you,” Paolo said as he fidgeted nervously.
“How? Kristiana may have given you a tour of the underworld—but she would have never taken you from the underworld to Delos! She’s technically a mortal and would not have had access. As an immortal you would’ve had access to Delos. But there is no way you went from the temple to Delos!” Lars eyes narrowed and then he stared at Myrdd. “Unless...”
Camille’s eyes widened as she stared at Paolo and then Myrdd. “Paolo, did Myrdd take Kristiana into Delos? Was she the mortal who cost him his life?” she asked
“Not exactly,” Paolo said as he stared at his tightly clenched fingers. “Though, I have gone from the temple to Delos.”
The rest of the oracles stared at Paolo suspiciously except Myrdd and Daphne, who were totally absorbed in their own worlds.
“Honey, we all appreciate your desire to help, but right now we need the truth. And I hate to be brutal, but why would you or Kristiana violate the rules to go from the underworld to Delos? It’s not like there was anything to gain from it! You were already a freak of nature with your mother as a mortal and your father probably—” Suddenly, Ava realized what she said and winced as she glanced at Alex and Genni and said, “Sorry...I’m better with boats!” Turning back to Paolo she continued, “Let me rephrase—You were already immortal and Kristiana obviously had nothing to gain from it. Seems like a helluva risk for a kick!”
Alex added, “Further, there are no oracles
whom have ever made that trek. The only mortal visitors to the underworld who ever returned had guides, and were most likely fictional!”
Paolo swallowed as he glanced up for a moment and then down at the floor. “As you have already surmised, I am not a god—or even a poor relation,” Paolo huffed, as he dipped his head and winced at the confession. “I do not know if my father was an oracle.”
“He had to be—you’re immortal!” Camille said. “So your father must be either an immortal, a god, or an oracle.”
“My father was not a god. And I am not certain that my father was immortal. I...” He swallowed again. “I swam in the River Styx as a child—that is why I am immortal.”
“You’re not...” Alex began, and then he understood. “You were born mortal?” he asked.
“Yes,” Paolo said, humiliated by the admission. Daphne stared at him as if he had suddenly grown horns.
“So you and Kristiana were the mortals who Myrdd brought to Delos,” Tavish said.
Myrdd looked up from his position by the fireplace. “Yes, I betrayed my oath. That is why I had to be punished.”
Alex shook his head. “Wait a minute—that doesn’t make any sense! Myrdd would have had no reason to go through the underworld to Delos,” Alex challenged.
“Myrdd did not take me to Delos,” Paolo said.
“Paolo, wasn’t that why Myrdd was executed—for bringing you into Delos?” Alex asked, feeling frustrated.
Standing, Paolo began to pace without making eye contact with anyone. “That is what... Kristiana told Jeremiah,” Paolo said. Camille rolled her eyes. “But that is not what occurred,” Paolo finished. “Myrdd did not take us.”
“Myrdd confessed to taking a mortal to Delos—I was there!” Tavish said.
“He...was confused.” Paolo faced the fireplace. “Mother counted on his confusion. She fed him the lie and threatened him for 2,000 years until he believed it.”
Suddenly, Camille stood and said, “You were a grown man when those charges were brought! You permitted his execution?”
“Yes, my mother and Jeremiah lied and I did not step forward,” Paolo said, and Myrdd looked up in surprise. “Myrdd refused to violate the agreements, and so mother went to Hecate and asked for her help. She agreed to distract Hades so that Kristiana could bring me to Delos, where she tied a rope around my ankle, connected it to a post and then she permitted me to swim. The only condition was that my mother could not enter the river herself and violate the requirements of the Fates. Hecate had already requested favors on my mother’s behalf.”
“Cassandra’s curse?” Lars asked.
“Yes. Mother used Envy’s poison to anger the Fates...and Zeus. But the Fates and Zeus refused to violate Apollo’s immortal creation—the oracle, Cassandra. Instead, they modified her immortality with the curse.”
“If you knew that—why didn’t you tell us?” Alex demanded.
Paolo shook his head. “I would have if the information had been necessary.”
“It’s been necessary, pal! All those years I’ve spent wondering who or what was responsible...and you knew!” Alex’s eyes widened in disbelief. “
You knew she would die when you married her!
All my warnings...” he shook his head in anguish.
“No!” Paolo’s eyes widened. “I did not expect that they would take her from me. My mother knew that I would marry Isabella. I expected that she would allow her to live.” Then Paolo looked away, unable to meet Alex’s angry gaze and muttered, “Besides, there was nothing that information could have done to protect Valeria.”
“We sat here—all of us—discussing the curse and pondering its origin, and all the while, you had the answers,” Alex said, his entire body shaking with anger.