Sneaking around was going to be harder than I thought.
Since the wedding has been moved up to tomorrow, security around Jasmine is slightly tight so the guards aren't really worried about a former competitor sneaking off on her own little whim. Jasmine chose Harley for some quality girl time, so I quietly excuse myself after lunch to get the canister from Anna.
We meet behind a large pillar near the kitchen, and still are slightly scared of the guards making their rounds again. She hands the silver canisters over and I can see her gaze trembling. "Please be careful," she watches as I put her steals inside my satchel. "For the love of all the Gods, don't get caught."
"You worry too much," But even my voice shook a little with an uneven breath. "I'll be fine. Okay? I'll be back before you know it. This is Castiel's last day of freedom. I can't blow it and I can't lose." Anna held my hands before I pull her in for an embrace. She holds me tight. She smells like icing from working in the kitchens. "Stick to the plan . . . No matter what."
Since the front door is an obvious trap, I find myself walking in the direction of the library. Servants and kitchen staff alike are in a mad rush today to please their new almost-Queen. Not even the librarian notices as I quickly walk in, moving towards the back wall marked: HISTORY.
Where was the book?
I search and search through the high stacks of books and finally find the one I'm looking for: War of the Worlds — a regular enough looking first edition copy on the third shelf. I stand on tiptoes to attempt to pull it out, and jump back as the bookcase silently moves to reveal a secret passageway that Castiel pointed out on his handmade maps.
But I wasn't alone anymore, and cold fear drips through my stomach. This is all over . . . "Oscar." His name feels breathy against my lips. "Wh-what are you doing here?" He'd notice the satchel hidden underneath my hoodie and this would all be over.
I don't like the way Oscar smiles like that. "I think a better question would be what are you doing here?"
"P-please, I promise I'll do anything you ask. Please don't tell her I was here."
"Anything?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Anything." I beg with finality in my tone.
Oscar finally cracks into a smile. "Gods, Caverly. I'm just fucking with you. Did you actually think I was serious?" I take a step back, knowing that Oscar could still be on Jasmine's side, wanting to see what I'm up to. "Whatever you're planning, I want in. I can't just sit back and watch this tomorrow."
"How can I trust you?"
"That's a chance you're just going to have to take," Oscar says. "I wanted to see Jasmine be Queen. I really did. But I wanted her to be Queen with me by her side as her King. What she did to my best friend was wrong, and now they're about to force him into an arranged marriage and Xavier could be sent away. The Underworld will go to absolute shit soon if we don't stop her. She doesn't value my judgement anymore, and she thinks that she can do this alone and she can't. This place is so much bigger than her. Let me come with you."
"She'll know you're missing. You can't come."
"I wasn't asking."
Against my better judgement, Oscar does leave the palace with me. As soon as I meet him in the darkness, the hidden doorway slides back into place and only the dimly lit torches along the wall guide us forward. Despite Oscar never before being on my side of things, it was nice to have someone else coming along. I should just knock him out, and leave him here in darkness.
I'm still half-expecting guards to be waiting when we make it outside. The sticky hot Underworld air reaches out to great us, and Oscar leads us along the rocky mountains and across the unstable wooden drawbridge.
"Any chance you could take off Xavier's necklace when we get back?"
"I'd have to sneak the key from her room. You three are lucky that I erased the tapes and the audio in the ballroom last night. You have to be more careful." With a sidelong glance in my direction, HD lifts his shoulders in a small shrug. "Everyone always looks at me and automatically assumes that I'm the bad guy. Let me just prove to you that I'm not."
"Fine. But if you try to double cross me, Xavier will have your head on a stick."
Oscar holds up his hands in surrender.
We pass along the rocky cliffside with strange ease. Oscar helps navigate when some are too big to get over and I'm grateful when the dock comes into view with Charon waiting in his boat.
Charon didn't seem too surprised to see Oscar. The ferryman holds out a hand, his wisely dark eyes acknowledging both of us. "Toll please."
I produce the bag of drachmas Xavier was able to take from the throne room. Despite Oscar's eyes widening in surprise, he hands over his own small bag to Charon and we're allowed onto the boat.
The last time I was on this boat Xavier was with me to go to the palace for the very first time. As we take our seats, I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing now and if the boys were okay. It would take four hours to get to the River of Lethe, and another four hours to get home. I still didn't entirely trust Oscar, but what other choice did I have now?
The waters are dark and choppy today, and Oscar sitting so close nearby helps calm my nerves . . . But only slightly. I have to talk about something — anything — to keep my mind busy. "So you know where we're going, don't you?" I glance over at Oscar, "I never would have guessed that you'd be comfortable with your girlfriend losing her memory."
Oscar is holding tight onto his seat. "I'm not," he admits. "But if she loses her memory, she'll forget all the pain she's been through. I know you saw her file," he looks away with a sad gaze. "I-in the middle east at the time, men wanted sons and hundreds of little girls went missing. But Jasmine's family kept her since they already had a son, in hopes that they could sell her into an arranged marriage. I just want to make her forget all of the bad things that happened when she was alive, and I can always get her to fall back in love with me later. If the feelings are there between us, then I have nothing to worry about."
If they were threatening to take away Xavier's memories, I wouldn't be able to let them do it. What if this was just a trap? I had to keep telling myself to trust my gut. "Maybe the Gods will take mercy on you both if she doesn't have her memories." I try to comfort him, knowing that thought wasn't much comfort. "I'll make sure they do. They have to. Right?"
"They're Gods, Ariel. They don't have to do anything. Jasmine is out of control — she stabbed the Prince of Darkness — just because she doesn't remember what happened doesn't mean they'll forgive her for what she's done."
"Then why are you coming?"
"To try and get that chance at forgiveness," Oscar admits. "Look, I don't have to explain myself to you. I'm coming with you to help you. That's all you have to know. What's with the small talk here?"
When the waves grew calm, we pass along the great river Styx. There are things floating in the nearly crystal blue water, things rushing past us. There's money and drachmas and I can hear the endless whispering of words — promises — too hard to make out. I don't want to get up, but curiosity always gets the better of me. Is was strange to feel . . . A breeze maybe? I feel like I can breathe again, like I don't have to be afraid anymore. The sky is becoming a lighter shade of black and colors are starting to blur.
"What's with the whispering?"
"It's all people who have sworn on the River Styx and broken their promise. Their sworn oaths are now floating through these waters for seven years; no longer allowed to speak for that time."
Seven years of no talking for breaking an oath? It may not seem fair but a promise is a promise. The whispers are never ending, and it's easy to block them out.
There's a large stretch of caves and further in the distance in the shape of a heart. The sky above is deep purple and dark indigo blue, but there's still no sun or stars or moon. Time is endless. A lone figure waits near the mouth of a cave, and we're all silent as we move closer towards the caves . . . Towards her. Nervousness suddenly climbs through my insides, and sits in my stomach.
"This is as far as I take you," Charon has the boat near the very edge of the stone that covers this place. "Death waits for no one, and there are plenty of others who are going to be needing transport soon. Both of you better return in no less than thirty minutes."
I look at Oscar. "N-no, he's not coming."
Oscar raises an eyebrow. "You really think that I came all this way just to wait in the boat? I don't think so. Come on sugar tits, the Underworld needs to get its shit together."
Fear slowly begins to tug it's way through my chest, making my legs freeze in hesitation. What if he shoved me under in the cave? What if I forget Xavier and Castiel and getting the water from the river? He can't come. But I follow him off the boat anyway, and our sneakers crunch on the small rocks getting off of the boat.
We didn't let any of the water touch our feet. The waves wash out to shore, and glisten as though they're being touched by sunlight. I think I could hear my name, but Oscar takes my hand and leads me towards the woman waiting in front of the cave entrance.
She's beautiful with flowing ocean blue hair and otherworldly blue eyes. She looks young but is much wiser, and bore the same white gown the competitors had to wear upon arrival. "Only the worthy may enter here," she warns. Her gaze lingers on Oscar, who let's go of my hand. "If your intentions are bad, you will not enter my cave." She's the goddess of the River Lethe. "Don't explore the cave beyond the water and do not drink from it here."
I mouth a quiet thank you to the silent goddess, and she allows me to pass. An invisible barrier ripples as I pass through and all the breath immediately leaves my body. "Wow," I whisper, accidentally tripping to the ground as Oscar comes in behind me.
The inside of the cave is beautiful, and wide and our voices echo here. The water is still full of millions of tiny glistening diamonds and there is a small path that allows the water in. There are dripping stalactics, and a wide open mouth on the other side of the cave with jagged rocks. Outside the mouth of the cave, I could see endless colors that take my breath away: blues and orange and yellow and purple. Birds streak across the sky, no longer frozen in flight. I could see the sun setting against the horizon, and regular ocean waves that lap against the cave wall outside.
"Wow is right," Oscar doesn't offer to help me up. "Now . . . why don't you give me the canisters?"
"Just let me do this," I crawl away from him, feeling the cold wet stone beneath me. How did he get in here if he wasn't worthy? "Its all over, Oscar. Jasmine will never be Queen."
"Give me the canister, Ariel. I'm not going to ask again."
I reach into my satchel, only pulling out one to hand it over to him with shaking hands. "What about everything you said in the boat?" My voice is shaky. "You said you didn't want her to marry Castiel tomorrow. You said — "
"I meant everything I said in the boat," Oscar says, twisting off the top and going to lean down to gather some. "But this isn't for Jasmine, yet. This is for you." I crawl away from him and get on shaky feet. "You see, if she can't be Queen, then you don't deserve to be either. You'll be fine, Ariel. Trust me — "
"No! Oscar. That's not why we came here. That's not what we came here to do."
Oscar stands up with the canister. "Don't fight me on this. You felt it too. That barrier wouldn't have let me pass through if I weren't worthy, or whatever shit the Goddess herself said. Just stay still, come here — " he stalks forward and I step back. "They'll never forgive Jasmine or me anyway, may as well add to our bad Tartarus-worthy deeds."
"No!" I shout. "Please. Please . . . "
Oscar is strong but he didn't have enough strength to take down Xavier in a clean fight. He grabs me by the arm to pull me in closer. Xavier would never let him get away with something like this. They couldn't leave me here on this heart-shaped cave island with that creepy Goddess. I fight him off, grabbing his wrist with the canister to try to stop him. He shoves me backwards, and I fall down again.
"You know, I could tell you anything once you forget who you are." Oscar acts fast, climbing on top of me as I struggle to get away from him. "I could even be your boyfriend, sweetheart. You could be Evie or Allison, and they definitely wouldn't make you a Princess of the Underworld."
"No!" I scream. "Please, Oscar. Don't!" I try to punch him, or hit him but he's strong and he has me pinned down against the stone floor.
"Come on, dearie. Open up. All you need to swallow is a drop . . . Just a drop. Open your fucking mouth." Oscar tries to open my mouth himself, and I bite him. He smacks me, but I don't have time to react because I bring my knee up to his groin.
He doubles over, and falls beside me with the canister. It's still got a little bit of water in it, and I crawl on top of him to punch him again and again and again until I see blood.
A blur of black suddenly comes through the cave's opposite entrance and Oscar shoves me backwards off of him as it circles around the River Lethe, leaving behind dark smoke. The figure materializes as Gabriel — the man who escorted me to the Underworld from the land of the living — and he doesn't look happy. Despite his expression, relief floods through me and I reach up to embrace him. "Gabriel, I never thought I'd be so happy to see you."
Gabriel wraps his arms around me. "Perfect timing, right?" He holds onto my waist. "You've got one minute to roll that canister over our way. I've been sent as a messenger by Zues himself. They know about the troubles here in the Underworld. He heard Ariel struggling and immediately sent me here after her." He's still dressed in his cliche black robes. There was something different about him this time.
Oscar has blood gushing from his nose and lip, and I feel it running down my own lip from where he struck me. He sits up slowly with his hands up in surrender, rolling the canister over with his foot. I watch as the rest of the water drifts down onto the stone.
Gabriel picks up the canister, and together he helps me fill them all and return them into the satchel hidden underneath my hoodie. He notices my engagement ring, but says nothing. Instead, Gabriel's eyes travel to the marks on my wrist from where the shackles had been during my time in the dungeons. "You know . . . Forgetfulness isn't the only quality the River of Lethe possess." He holds my hand and places it underneath the cold water.
I longingly sigh from relief, and close my eyes. The water moves up my hand and to the wrist with the bloody scarring. The water made me feel safe, and its little sweet voice calls me out towards it. "It heals, too." Tears threaten to pool behind my eyes as I think of Castiel.
Gabriel pulls my hand out and shakes his head. "Certain side effects would begin to take place after you keep your hands in the water for too long. "I think we've both had enough excitement for one day. It's time to get you home." He helps me to my feet as we turn to face Oscar.
"Wait. I can explain," Oscar holds his hands out. Just like Jasmine, he's a lying manipulative little shit. How did the barrier let him in? "I can — "
"Nobody wants to hear your explanations," Gabriel narrows his eyes. "Get up. It's time to return to the palace."
With the canisters now heavy weighing down the bag, I take one long last look at the hole where Gabriel had come from. There are stars now twinkling upon the evening sky, and a full orange moon to illuminate the world below. I smile, only wishing that Xavier and Castiel would be here to see this with me. There's no way across the River of Lethe, and no way to get out there.
But why would I want to go back now?
"Oh, Princess," Gabriel has hold of Oscar, and both of them are lingering near the barrier. "Aren't you coming?"