The Eternity Key (31 page)

Haden follows Tobin’s lead and shakes my mother’s hand, then offers to do the same with Jonathan, but Jonathan doesn’t return the gesture.

“Haden Lord? I haven’t heard a
single thing
about you,” Jonathan says, giving him a suspicious look. Like Haden’s some secret boyfriend I’ve been keeping on the side. “Lord? I knew some Lords once. Where are you from?”

“Back east. New York.”

“Oh really? I hail from Manhattan. What part of New York—”

“Jonathan, what do you think of the set?” I ask, trying to get his mind on design to deter him from giving Haden the third degree. “A lot swankier than that time you and I put on our version of Cinderella on the back patio, huh?”

“It’s nice, yes. Where in New York?” he asks, undeterred.

“Upstate,” Haden says, and I wonder how much more about New York geography he knows beyond that.

“No visitors backstage,” I hear the stage manager call. “We’re five minutes from curtain.”

“Come on,” Joe says. “I’ll help you find your seats.”

“We’ll come find you right after,” Mom says, giving me another squeeze. “You should see the bouquet Jonathan brought you all the way from Ellis for curtain call.”

My heart sinks. I won’t be here for curtain call. How will my mom react when she finds out I’ve gone missing? How will I explain to them where I’ve been when I get back?

If
I get back?

“Yes. Bring all of your friends,” Jonathan says, still eyeing Haden. “We’ll go out for ice cream afterward.”

“Break a leg,” Joe says. I can tell by the look on his face that he’s not only wishing me luck for the play but also for our journey to come. He moves like he wants to give me a hug but isn’t sure I’ll let him, so I wrap my arms around his shoulder and give him a tight squeeze. All while my mom gives Joe the side eye.

When I release Joe, he ushers Mom and Jonathan out, and I almost want to cry for the three of them not to leave. I’d known all along that what we are planning to do tonight is dangerous. Foolish, even. But I hadn’t thought about how it will affect the people who love me if we don’t succeed. Failure is not an option I’ve allowed myself to dwell on. Now, having seen Mom and Jonathan again, knowing what I’d be missing and who would be missing me, I can feel the
possibility
trying to close in on me.

“Hey,” Haden says, giving me a little shake. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, but my voice sounds anything but sure.

“We’ll make it back. I promise.”

“You don’t know that.…”

“I do. Because this right here,” he says, indicating the stage, “this is your destiny. This is your plan. You’re going to kill it out there, and everyone is going to love you, and it’ll be the beginning of that big music-star dream you’ve always wanted. And I’ve made up my mind. There’s no way I’m not getting you back here so you can go on to live it.”

I look at him, warmth filling me because I know he means everything he says. My plans may have been derailed temporarily by all this Underrealm stuff, but it didn’t mean that the future I’d planned couldn’t be put back on track.

And the details might be hazy, but for the first time, I can start picturing Haden as part of it.

chapter forty-four

“You ready for this?” Dax asks during intermission. He adjusts the golden trim on the shoulder of my red toga, which came loose during the last scene before the break.

“I just hope I don’t forget the rest of my lines,” I say, rocking back in my sandaled feet. I’ve gotten so used to wearing twenty-first-century teenager clothes that it feels strange to be back in garb similar to what I wore in my former life. Actually, it feels almost ominous, considering it is the Eve of the Return. The night before the equinox, when the gate will open on its own.

“I was talking about later,” Dax says, pulling his hand away from my shoulder.

I take a deep breath. Through the curtains, I can see Daphne on the other side of backstage. She’s dressed as Eurydice in a flowing white dress, having just acted out her death on her wedding night. “I know,” I say to Dax. “Are you?”

He nods.

“Intermission is over in two minutes,” the stage manager whispers loudly as he comes through the curtains.

A phone starts ringing on the table behind us.

“Whose phone is this?” the stage manager growls, picking it
up. “Mr. Morgan will flip if you don’t turn it off. It interferes with the sound system!”

“Sorry, it’s mine,” Dax says, and grabs it out of his hand.

“I hit decline. You’ll have to take the phone at least three hundred feet from the stage before you call them back. Unless you want Mr. Morgan to kill you.”

“I hear you,” Dax says, waving at the kid as he crosses to the other side of the stage to inform the rest of the cast that we are about to go back onstage for the second half of the play.

“Who was it?” I ask Dax.

“I don’t recognize the number,” he says. The phone beeps, indicating there’s a message. Dax hits the play button and holds the phone to his ear.

“Aren’t you afraid of Mr. Morgan’s wrath—” I start to tease, but Dax holds up a hand to silence me. The look in his eyes tells me this is no joking matter. He clasps his hand over his mouth.

“It was Abbie,” he says, through his fingers.

“What?”

He hits the speaker button and holds the phone up as he replays the message. A garbled, frantic voice speaks like a ghost: “Dax? Dax? It’s me. I escaped. I’ve been running. I’m hiding at a place near my old town. Old Sutton Mill. Please, Dax, come. Before they find me again.” The message cuts off, and Dax looks as pale as a harpy’s underbelly. He hits the redial button, but the call doesn’t go through.

“That’s Abbie,” Dax says. “I have to go to her. I have to go now.”

“Dax, it could be a trap.”

“It’s not. I know Abbie. She wouldn’t have left that message unless it was the real deal. No matter how much duress she was under.”

“But how did she even get your number? It’s a trick: the Skylords messing with us because they know we’re up to something.”

“I don’t care. That was
her
voice. I have to go.”

I grab his arm. “You can’t go. What about …”
My plan. If Dax leaves, my plan is jeopardized. Who will protect Daphne as she gets the Key? Who will cross through the gate with her?
But I can’t bring myself to say any of it. Because I know that if it had been Daphne who called, if that had been her voice ringing with fear through that phone, nothing anyone could say would stop me from going to her. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way about me.

“I’ll come with you,” I say, pulling at the shoulder of my toga. “Give me a second to change.”

“No,” Dax says, clasping his hand over my shoulder. “If you leave, then the play can’t go on, and if the play doesn’t go on, then your plan is ruined. The mill is only about twenty minutes from here. I have to check this out even if it is a prank. I can get there and back before the play is even over. I
will
be back in time to meet Daphne in the grove; I swear it.” He gives me a look that tells me that if he had water from the River Styx, he would make an oath on it right now.

“Take Brim, at least,” I say, offering her up in my place. If I couldn’t be there to protect Dax, then she would willingly do it for me. “She’s in my duffel in the dressing room. Take her with you now so you don’t have to return here before going to the grove.”

“I will,” he says. “I’ll leave a message on your phone when we’ve made it back.”

“Places, everyone, places,” the stage manager calls. “One minute to curtain.”

I place my hand on his shoulder, returning his gesture. Behind
him, I can see Daphne and Tobin taking the stage. If something goes wrong, I will have to find a way to get the message to her that our plans have changed before she makes her grand exit and heads for the grove.

“Hades’s speed,” I say, and let Dax go.

chapter forty-five

I stand on the stage of the amphitheater, clasping a goblet that supposedly holds water from the River Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in the underworld. My character has died on her wedding night and found herself in the underworld when she should have been celebrating with her new husband, Orpheus. She is overcome with grief.

Two handmaidens of Persephone have offered me the goblet, promising that if I drink from it, I will forget my pain, along with my former life, and find peace in my death.

I sing my response to them—Joe’s words, written for me—in my most difficult solo of the night. The beauty of the song almost overcomes me as I channel Eurydice’s emotions. The song ends as I dash the cup away, choosing to keep my pain in order to retain my memories of true love—a plot point that will come in handy when Orpheus comes to rescue his bride.

The handmaidens scurry away with the goblet, ducking their heads, as Haden, in the role of Hades, enters the stage. My character stands her ground as he sings to me about the folly of my choice to try to defy the order of his world.

I can tell by the notes that swirl around Haden that he is
nervous, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the way he carries himself. He is strong and proud and unbelievably attractive as he commands the stage. I would never guess that he had no idea what music was only six months ago—that he comes from a place where it is forbidden.

I watch him sing, letting his song wrap around me like a warm cocoon. I feel as though I could curl up inside of it and find refuge from the world.

That there is no other place I would rather be.

But it’s not just the way he looks or the way he sings that has me so caught up in him. No, it’s who he
is
. After our conversation before the play—his apology—I’ve realized something about him that I hadn’t seen before. What he’d done by not giving me to his father hadn’t happened just because he’s in love with me. He didn’t do it
just because
he wants me. He did it because it was the right thing to do.

And he’d done everything he’s done since to see it through because it is what is right. Haden is good person … and I love him for that.

I love him
.

The realization is so stark and plain; I don’t know how I couldn’t see it before. But at the same time, it’s so overwhelming that I almost miss my cue as Haden’s solo comes to an end.

He points at me and vows that if Orpheus tries to come for me, then he will throw every obstacle in his power in my husband’s way.

I know I am supposed to look forlorn as I cast my eyes out over the audience, as if looking for Orpheus on the horizon, but my realization is so powerful that I am afraid everyone will be able to hear the swirling, tittering notes of happiness that radiate from my soul.

The lights go dark momentarily, indicating the end of the scene, and it’s then that I see Rowan watching me intently from the third row in the audience. In front of him, I notice Terresa and Calix. They would be impossible not to pick out in the crowd, considering they are the only ones not applauding as the scene transitions into the next.

Lexie joins Haden from stage right while I take my exit to the left, where I continue to watch Haden from the shadows of the side curtains. I had been such an idiot for the last few weeks. I can’t believe that I couldn’t see how important we are together. Can’t believe I’d thought clinging to my stress and anxiety was more important than letting myself be happy.

I love him
.

And I promise myself I won’t wait until we return from the Underrealm. I will tell him the words he’s been longing to hear from me the very next chance I get.

chapter forty-six