Chapter Forty
The main clearing was much bigger than the other. It had to be at least the size of a two bedroom house. The area was lit up by three torches, the goddesses alternating between them. They were tied to poles that were sunk deep in the ground, sitting on bales of hay, and they weren't fighting which surprised me. In fact, they seemed pretty out of it almost as if they were sleeping with their eyes open. The only one who knew what was going on was Persephone and she actually had the audacity to smile at me when I looked at her.
"Well don't you look lovely!" she said as we paused at the mouth of the path.
Yeah, because that's what mattered.
Both Chris and I ignored her as he led me to the center. The second we crossed into the circle, fire sparked high and then died down instantly. "Lay down," Chris directed. Unlike the rather convenient use of a hay bale, they actually had a stone alter in the center of the circle for me. It looked more like a bench than anything else and there was no way I wanted to lay on it. "Now."
"I would rather stand, thank you very much."
"Then at least sit." He put a hand on my shoulder and shoved me down so I was sitting. Guess the gentleness he was using before was over now. "This'll only take a second as long as you cooperate." He pulled out a wicked looking knife and held it over my shoulder so I could see it. "If you ever see the wolf again, thank him for giving me my knife back. Couldn't have completed this ritual without it."
Tears pooled in my eyes as he moved around so he was standing in front of me.
"He didn't mention that part, did he? Huh. Well, I guess he couldn't. He didn't know he was betraying you at the time. Actually, he thought it would get Allie back. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. At least that's what they say. Wouldn't know personally since I've never been there. Let's get started."
He picked up a tin cup that was sitting next to me and walked over to Salacia first.
"Blood from Poseidon." He untied her wrists from behind her back and cut a line across her palm, letting a good amount of golden blood fill the cup before dropping her hand to her lap. He went over to stand in front of Persephone with a really strange smile on his face.
"Blood from Hades."
She put her hand in his, the look on her face mirroring his. She didn't even flinch when he sliced open her palm. He let the same amount of blood fill the cup and he kissed her on the forehead before moving away. As he situated himself in front of Juno, Persephone smiled over at me and held up the hand he'd cut. There was no wound on her palm and she wiggled her fingers at me.
That instant healing cut...I wouldn't be as lucky.
"Blood from Zeus."
He untied Juno's wrists and slit open her palm. By the time he stood in front of me, the cup was a good two thirds full. He handed it to me with a casual smile. "Hold this for me for a second, would you?"
I wanted to say something rhetorical, something mean, but I knew it wouldn't help. He'd reverted back to the asshole who beat the crap out of me outside the wolf pen.
"Blood from the Elite."
He cut open his own palm and let just a little blood drop into the cup. He took a cloth out of his pocket and wiped off the blade before tying it around his hand. Before he started to mutter in Latin, he took the cup from me and put it down on the bench next to me. The language was tongue twisty but Chris managed it like a pro, almost as if he'd been speaking it his whole life. It was just a reminder that my friend was a lot more than I thought he was. He took one of my arms and drew a series of symbols down the inside of my forearm before taking the other and doing the same. The life lines came flooding back with a sting as the last symbol was drawn on my wrist and I almost winced at how intense the feeling was.
I heard the Latin word for scorpion as he drew some other symbol below the meeting of my collar bones. When he was done, he dipped his knife in the cup and then dumped the remaining blood at my feet. I tried to ignore the few drops that landed on my skin and it wasn't too hard as the ground below us shook a little.
Chris smiled.
At least we knew it was working.
Chris picked up my left arm and I pulled it away from him, the reflex instant. Tears were in my eyes, blurring my vision, and I almost missed it as Chris squatted down in front of me. I blinked and for the first time he'd seen in a long while, tears trailed down my face.
"It's ok to cry," he whispered. And in a friendly gesture he tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear before wiping one of those tears away. "You don't have to be strong."
I didn't want him to be nice to me. That would make this all the more worse. In an attempt to piss him off, I swatted his hand away as it lingered by my face.
"You don't know what it means to be strong," I whispered back. I wanted to drive my point home before I died and I was going to do it. "If you truly believe she loves you, you're fooling yourself. She doesn't know how to love. She's using you, Chris, and one day, when you wake up in your fake paradise, you'll realize it too. It'll all crumble beneath your feet and she won't save you. The woman you love so deeply will watch your demise with a sick satisfaction you won't understand. I hope you think back to this moment when the time comes. And I hope you realize what you've done." I leaned forward. "I'll see you in hell, my friend, because this time you're not getting out."
Chris stood up from his squat and sneered down at me. Maybe that was a little too much but I think he finally got it. Granted he didn't like what I said and I watched as his anger spilled over the edge. He smacked me across the face and grabbed my left arm, gripping it so hard I swore he snapped one of the delicate bones comprising my wrist. "What is it Cyrus said? Cut the particular life line before the torture begins?" He placed the blade against my skin. "Blood from the Oracle."
He sliced into my skin without remorse and this time I couldn't keep the pain inside. I cried out and tried to slap my hand across the cut. But it was to no avail as he caught my uninjured wrist in the process.
He cut into my other arm and then let go, dropping my limb like it was nothing more than dead weight. Which both of my arms were since he cut so deep. The muscles and tendons controlling my hands were severed. I couldn't move them or feel them. He swiped his fingers through the blood on the knife and disappeared behind me, chanting more Latin. I knew Caelus had entered the circle before Chris began but I didn't know he'd be standing directly behind me. I could feel both of them like they were a breath away.
I could feel something else too, a coldness that had first reared its head nine years ago. It was brushing its fingers up my back, making me shiver. I glanced at Persephone across from me and she was grinning from ear to ear. Her freedom was seconds away and she knew it.
"Ready to be a virgin sacrifice?" Chris whispered in my ear from behind.
"You don't know what's coming," I responded. "You're not ready."
"Oh I'm sure I'll deal." He showed me his knife again. "One last cut and from what I hear, it hurts."
"You have no idea."
I squeezed my eyes closed for this one, knowing it wouldn't be the last. It would be a hell of a lot shallower than he intended since he would be startled by...
"Tally!"
The blade went left as he stabbed down, only missing the femoral artery in my thigh by a millimeter. It was deep enough, however, to darken the white material with red.
Chris moved the knife to my throat and tugged on my hair so he could hold me in place. Cecil and Andrzej came to a sputtering halt on Persephone's right, just outside the ritual circle. I hadn't noticed but there was a path over there but they couldn't enter until this was finished.
"Chris—"
"Well, well, well, I guess what they say about the Time Twins is true. One gets in trouble and the other comes running. So predictable. Well, it's a good thing I guess. You get to see your beloved Tally die and what monsters her death will bring. You get a head start on what you're hunting. Good for you."
"You don't want to do this. Put—let her go."
"That's not going to happen. In fact, you're interrupting. I always hated the part in the story where the villain gushes on and on, giving the good guy a chance at victory. So we're going to skip right over that and finish this."
"No!"
The final cut I knew he'd make, came and went. Some people cut into their skin because they say it helps them release the pain, the anger, the feelings that were so bad it hurt to keep them inside. It's a feeling you never forget. It's not like accidentally cutting your finger in the kitchen or nicking your skin while you shave. Cuts you don't necessarily feel or notice until there's blood all over the place.
It's the intention behind it that makes it memorable. I didn't feel it, not really, but the look of utter surprise and horror on Cecil's face made me understand.
There was this high pitched buzzing in my ears as the blood soaked ground crept up to meet me. I didn't like this feeling, the way my whole body just turned numb and how sleepy I got.
The ground was shaking and the night sky suddenly lit up with lightning instead of stars. With my last breath, something else would be born. I tried as hard as I could to stay alive. But this wasn't a movie, this wasn't the last shot where the heroine lays on the ground with her hand in front of her face. She's looking straight at the camera and if she's good, you literally watch the life fade out of her eyes. She remains alive as long as needed in order to get the perfect shot.
I saw was Andrzej standing there with a disbelieving look on his face and Cecil not even pausing as he tried to rush forward. I couldn't hear anything but I watched as he screamed my name and the border of the ritual kept him away.
The darkness started at the edge of my vision before rapidly spreading to the center. I tried to keep Cecil in my sights but eventually there was nothing but a pinprick of an image of the world I knew and loved.
I blinked to make it go away, let out a breath, and it was over.
*
My eyes opened and closed a couple of times before the image before me became clear again. And what lay before me was totally different from the cornfield I'd just seen. I was standing on a stone terrace, looking out at this endless expanse of open space and field. There was no sun but if you looked out and up, there were little cracks in the stone façade that made up the ceiling that let light in. It was pretty in an odd sort of way, like looking at some very intense, abstract art and trying to decipher it. What really had my attention was the waterfalls directly across from me. They were huge and vaguely reminded me of this one Cecil and I found deep in the woods when we were kids. That one had dried up by now thanks to the droughts in the South but when we first found it, it took our breath away. The pair here surrounded a large opening in the rock face several yards up, a gap I didn't really remember coming through.
The waterfalls pooled into a river at the base and it twisted and turned, cutting a path through the landscape below. It was the only discernible feature that lay before me, the scenery blurring and shimmering in most places to conceal the particular afterlife within.
"Hello, Natalie."
The voice was soft, caring. So unlike the first time he spoke to me. So different, in fact, it caused me to pause and think. What did it mean and why was there a sad lit to his tone?
I turned away from the endless sprawl that was the Underworld and faced its keeper. His eyes were still a brilliant blue and assessing, his skin as pale and untouched by the sun as I'd ever seen. He was the exact same and I knew he'd never change. None of them did unless they wanted to.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon."
To Be Continued...