The Underworld (The Atlas Series Book 3) (16 page)

Rhea, like her husband, did seem to perk up at the expense of Kala’s misfortune. “It does a little.” Her stance tightened once again though. “But I still don’t know
why
he killed you. Hades wanted you here for a reason. He hates his brothers and sisters, so I can’t imagine he’d want you to save them, but that doesn’t mean his motives won’t conflict with my plans. He’s here in the Underworld somewhere and my spies can’t find him.”

“This
is
his domain. Just because you’ve been hanging here for a couple millennia doesn’t mean you own the place.” But Kala filed away what Rhea said. His own mother didn’t know why Hades had sent Kala here. If it wasn’t to help free his brothers and sisters, then why would Hades want Kala in the Underworld? It gave her a small chill down her spine. Motives for the god of death didn’t seem like they’d end well.

Nodding to the sky, Kala inquired, “So, is Asmodeus okay?” She tried to distract Rhea so she could move closer to the goddess.

Kala’s biggest and best weapon was the river Lethe flowing beside her. If she could just throw the goddess in, Rhea would lose all her memories. Kala could possibly convince Rhea to be an ally. She’d have to get closer to the Titan first. She’d try reasoning first, and if that didn’t work, Kala would provoke a fight. She was good at both, but she hoped her words would win in the end; she didn’t have much confidence in her fighting skills at the moment.

“What do you care of the Demon King? He cares nothing for you or anyone else. Asmodeus only looks out for himself,” Rhea spat.

Didn’t like Asmodeus. Good to know. And not surprising, Kala didn’t like him half the time, either. But one thing she did know: as self-obsessed as Asmodeus was, she couldn’t deny the fact that she cared about him on some level. He was like the friend that gets on your nerves, but somehow grows on you eventually. If Asmodeus hurt, Kala wanted to know about it. “That may be true, but I still want to know.”

Rhea shrugged dismissively and grunted, “He’s fine. I simply revoked his invitation to the Underworld.”

Kala slowly took small steps forward while she talked, so as not to alarm Rhea. “Look, can I be honest with you?”

Rhea watched Kala carefully, her face appeared confused as if Kala wasn’t what she expected. Finally she nodded, “Speak,
thing.
”

“We’re probably on the same page here. I
had
to perform my Atlas mission or the world would end. So, I’m stuck here. Zeus is the one who wants me to free his siblings. I could care less. I told him I’d try, but I honestly don’t feel like going through the trouble.” Kala tried to be as convincing as possible. At this point she had every intention of freeing the Olympians just to piss off Rhea and Cronus, but she wanted Rhea to let her guard down long enough for Kala to push her in the river. “I just want one favor. I want to bring back Jack Norbin. He’s in the Fields of Elysium. I had to kill him for my first Atlas mission, but now that we’re both dead, I think we can exist together in the outside world without it ending and all.” A part of Kala wanted to see what the Titan would say. Maybe as Hades’s mother she could free Jack and send him back to earth.

Rhea actually looked sad for Kala. “No. He’s the potential and you’re the Fated One. You’re still a
thing
to me, but you are the one from the prophecy, even I cannot deny that. Your lover has to stay in Elysium for all eternity: he won’t be allowed to reincarnate, not with you alive. It would tear the world to shreds. Not even Cronus wants that.” Rhea sighed, “No Atlas mission will have as vicious consequences as your first. If you don’t complete your next mission, the world will crumble, but it won’t
end,
unlike your first mission, which was a part of the prophecy. If you hadn’t killed your lover, the very earth itself would have torn itself apart and there would be nothing left for anyone. Not even the gods.”

In Kala’s stupor at hearing Rhea’s words, she hadn’t even noticed that the goddess had closed the distance between them. The Titan was inches away.

Rhea continued, “You’re a dangerous woman, Kala Hicks. I can’t have you destroying everything because you miss your boyfriend.”

Before Kala could reach out to throw Rhea into the river, Rhea’s hands were already clasped around her arms.

In that moment, Kala realized that Rhea had the same idea as her.

Feeling the air beneath her, Kala was surprised that she felt a sudden relief.

It would all be over soon.

And Kala could be at peace.

With a resounding splash, the water flowed over Kala’s body and all her memories washed away with it.

DAY TWO

Chapter Twelve

The woman woke up on the shores of the river Lethe, dry and tired. For a moment, she felt a surge of panic when she couldn’t remember her name, but it passed when she realized she didn’t care very much. In fact, she couldn’t remember anything. She didn’t even know where she was, except that the water flowing next to her was dangerous. She didn’t know why, she just knew it was true.

Examining her clothes and body thoroughly, she made sure that she was completely dry. A drop would be enough to hurt her, somehow she knew that as well. The gray landscape didn’t bother her, either, for it was peaceful in its own way. Part of her sensed that it was somehow wrong, though, that there should be…
colors
.

The word sounded strange in her head. What
were
colors?

A moment later the thought had dissipated.

It wasn’t important to her.
Nothing
was important to her. And that somehow felt very good.

Slowly, she stood up and tried not to look at the water. Her instincts screamed at her to stay away from the river. But a sideways glance betrayed her and she saw something strange on its surface.

Though she knew it was dangerous she stared at the water regardless, curiosity winning over safety.

Images formed of two women and four men in some big basement. One of the women she thought she recognized, but couldn’t quite place. White fire came out of the hands of three of them, encasing two of the men. The two men were then strapped down in wired chairs and locked in by the familiar-looking woman. The images repeated after that in an endless loop. She stared at it for hours, not able to pull her attention away.

Over time she began to see similarities in the familiar woman from the water to her own body. Legs, arms, hands, feet, they matched exactly. She realized that the woman must be her. She admired how the woman shot out white fire from her hands and wondered, if that was indeed her, where she had learned how to do that?

Was this the past or the future? Should she be worried? Should she figure out why she couldn’t remember anything?

She found that she didn’t want to know, and the longer she watched the images, the more distraught she felt.

Finally, the woman yanked her head away and began walking away from the river. It was much calmer now, walking amongst the dry shrubs and cracked ground. There was nothing to focus on and that felt right. It felt peaceful.

She must have walked for miles and miles, but her feet didn’t ache. It was good to walk. It gave her a strange sense of joy. As if she had a purpose.

A mission.

The word stuck in her brain and she couldn’t seem to let it go.

Mission. Mission. Mission.

She battled her own mind: the more she tried to push the word out, the louder her head would scream it.

MISSION.

It was as if her brain was telling her to do something that she had no understanding of. It surprised her that she knew the meaning of the word. She knew how to speak, she knew what things meant, she just simply couldn’t remember who she was or what she had done in her life.

“Kala?” A man’s voice sounded from behind her.

She turned to see who had spoken. It surprised her at first to see the man. He was in full color, which made her instantly know what colors were. Looking down at her own gray skin she found herself envious of his bright, flushed cheeks. Then she realized that he had called her a name. Was she “Kala?” Did he know her? As she examined the man, she realized he was one of the men from the vision she saw in the river. He was tall and nice to look at with light brown swoopy hair, blue eyes and a bone structure that accentuated every one of his perfect features. There was also a warmth about him that she immediately felt attached to. She must know him, especially if he was in her vision. How could she feel such a connection with a stranger?

“Do I know you?” she asked, hoping the answer would be yes.

As he stepped closer to her, she found that she wanted him to embrace her. It was such a powerful sensation the woman almost grabbed the man to pull him close, but as she didn’t know who he was, she decided to hold back.

His voice was soft and low, which comforted her even more, “Kala, it’s me, Talan. Don’t you recognize me?”

“I saw you in the river,” she said trying to be helpful. “But I don’t remember knowing you. Is my name Kala?”

The man called Talan reached out tentatively then pulled back as if he were overstepping some boundary. “Yes, your name is Kala. We’re friends.”

Kala
.

The woman rolled the name around in her head. Yes. She was Kala. That sounded right. “I’m Kala,” she repeated. Then to make the man Talan feel better, Kala reached out and touched his face affectionately. “And you’re Talan.”

Talan seemed surprised by her affection. “The Lethe really wiped your brain, didn’t it?”

“The river Lethe is dangerous,” Kala said the only thing she was certain of. The only true memory she had.

Talan took her hand and held it with both of his, making sure his eyes met hers. His touch sent shivers through her and she wanted him to kiss her. “The water took away your memories. We have to get them back.”

She pulled her hand away. “No, that doesn’t sound right. I don’t think that sounds right.” Maybe this Talan wasn’t good after all. One thing she was certain of, she didn’t want to remember anything.

Talan put his hands up as if declaring peace. “That’s a part of the spell the river puts on you. It makes you
want
to forget.” He gently took her hand in his again. “And Kala, you of all people deserve to forget. I wish I could wipe the pain away from you forever, but you have a mission.”

There was that word again.

“Mission?” Kala liked the way Talan’s hand felt in hers, soft yet strong. It helped her erase the pull of trying to remember.

“Yes, Kala, you have a mission. You’ve been in the Underworld for two days now, and if you don’t return to earth and complete your mission, the world will be destroyed.” Talan made sure she heard every last syllable. “You only have four days to complete it. Do you know what it is yet?”

She remembered the images in the water and knew instantly that this was the “mission” Talan spoke of. “In the reflection from the water I saw some men in chairs. You were there and we attacked them with white fire. It kept repeating.” It felt good to say what she’d seen aloud after watching the loop for hours and hours.

Talan nodded, but his face was disturbed. “White fire? Did you recognize these men?”

The woman shook her head, “No, but they seemed really upset.”

“That’s your Atlas mission. You only have two days left to complete it and we have to get you out of here. We have to rescue a few friends as well, but we’re going to need to you to get your memories back.”

The more Talan talked, the more he made sense. She didn’t like what he was saying, but her mind kept tugging at her to listen.

“How do I do that?” she forced herself to ask.

“I might be able to help. You just have to trust me.” Talan squeezed her hand slightly and she wanted to kiss him again.

So she did.

Talan pulled back at first, but the sensation became so intense he pulled her in close and his lips pressed against hers as if he could never stop. And she didn’t want him to. Nothing had ever felt so right. Even without her memories, she knew down to her soul that she was meant to kiss this man. They belonged to each other. It was almost as if they were one soul when they touched.

“This isn’t right.” Talan yanked himself away.

“But it feels right,” she answered, confused.

Talan’s eyes bore into her with an intensity that made her knees weak. “Let me give you back your memories.”

She could only nod. If Talan’s kisses felt this way without her memories, she could only imagine what they would feel like with them.

Talan placed his hands on top of her head and she could feel heat radiate off them. As his grip tightened, the burning grew. In a flash Kala was Kala again. She still had no memories, but she knew who she was. Kala. Talan finally released his hold, shaking his head. “The water from Lethe surrounds your memory cortex. I can’t remove it.”

“I’m Kala,” she confirmed.