The Immortals (22 page)

Cora slapped him playfully on the arm. “Oh, you.
Bubbly
is exactly right! Just like me! And you love
me
, don’t you?”

As the couple jabbered on, Selene began to form an idea: If
Dionysus had taken the cult once before, perhaps Selene could seize it now. Not for herself, but for Leto. She could create a new ritual with Leto’s attributes, remove the gratuitous human sacrifice, and maybe… just maybe… bring her mother a little more strength.

“Ooh!” Cora exclaimed, interrupting Selene’s musing. “I’ve got it! Maybe the hierophant is your twin! Asclepius was his son, after all, and the Bright One was always poking around Eleusis, trying to figure out what we were doing. Oh, I do hope it’s him!” Cora clapped her hands with delight. “If he’s so worried about bringing back his powers, then he must already be fading! How wonderful!”

It’s true,
Selene realized with a shiver. Paul was the perfect suspect. He still retained much of his own strength, but at the hospital, he’d made his terror of death clear. He’d flatly refused to succumb to the fading. Also, he already had a ready-made cult of thanatoi musicians following his every move. Most telling, he was the only god who might care enough about Selene to include her in the ritual. And he said he’d do anything to help Leto—maybe this was his attempt.
But kill innocent women? He must know Mother would never allow that—not even to save herself.

Cora turned to Aiden. “Do you hear, dearest? The God of Music will be here soon! And to think, I was so worked up about having enough entertainment.”

“Whoever the hierophant is,” Selene said, “whether the Bright One or the Wine Giver or some other deluded relative of ours, he must be stopped. He’s turning my city into a charnel house.”

Cora giggled suddenly. “You were always so funny. A
charnel house
. So doom and gloom. I mean it’s in very bad taste, of course, but a few dead mortals… what’s the difference? They all die anyway.”

“These are innocent women. They’re under my protection. I will stop the hierophant—whatever it takes.” There was work
to do. Make a new cult to save her mother, then destroy the murderous one terrorizing the innocents. Selene had no time to waste. She rose to go.

“Silly Huntress! You can’t leave!” Cora pushed Selene insistently on the shoulder until she reluctantly sat back on the chair. “And why would you want to? See how cozy it is here?” She crossed to the fireplace, warming her hands over the flames despite the uncomfortable heat in the room. “You can just stay here beside the fire, we’ll drink a little wine, have a little chat, and you can just wait for your Athanatoi hierophant to show up on his own. He’ll be here soon for the Great Gathering, along with everyone else. You can confront him then. It will add such drama to our little party!”

Selene cleared her throat, beginning to wonder if Cora and Aiden were more deluded than truly dangerous. “There hasn’t been a Gathering of the gods since my father summoned us to announce the Diaspora from Mount Olympus.”

“But now the gods are dying,” Aiden intoned, “and when they do, they will come here, to our realm in the Underworld, just as all the dead do.”

Surely there
is
no real Underworld anymore,
Selene thought.
We die and we disappear into nothingness. And there’s
definitely
no way dead gods wind up in the waiting room of a defunct pneumatic subway.
Then again… she had a sudden image of all the nymphs and long-forgotten minor gods, whiling away their days among the flowers and the music. If there was any chance, however unlikely, of seeing her companions once more…

“So those who have died already,” she couldn’t help asking, “they’re here somewhere?”

“They pass through for a while,” said Aiden with a grave nod, “then disappear into Elysium, or Tartarus, or Khaos.”

She was almost afraid to ask her next question. “And… Orion?”

“He was denied an afterlife among his own kind.”

Her heart sank. “Then where is he?”

“Where you put him. In the stars. At least to begin with. Who knows where his spirit resides now? I have no control over the fate of those you give to the heavens,” he said with a touch of pique. “But the rest, as soon as they die, will arrive in my realm. And when they do, they will be under my power.
I
will become the King of the Gods,” Aiden continued. He spoke with the confidence of one either very wise or completely delusional. “Your father stole the crown long ago when he divided the universe among his brothers. He made me Lord of the Underworld and seized the Sky for himself. Now, finally, I can rule over him, over his children, over all the Athanatoi.”

“And I’ll be your queen.” Cora batted her eyelashes. “You, Huntress, can be my first handmaiden,” she added, as if granting a great boon.

Selene scowled, more sure than ever that she needed to get out of Aiden’s lair, and soon. The Gathering might just be a figment of his imagination, but she didn’t want to stick around to find out. “Sorry, but I have things to do on Earth before I’m ready to consign myself to the Underworld.”

“
Consign
yourself? She speaks as if our home were a prison,” Cora said. “And I worked so hard to make it beautiful. Tell her she can’t leave.”

“Oh no, I have to,” Selene said, thinking quickly. “If the cult is actually working, and the hierophant tells the other Athanatoi, then the fading will stop. We’ll all remain in the world above. You don’t want that to happen, do you? Who will come to your party? It’ll be just the three of us for eternity.”

Cora wrinkled her nose. “How awful.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Selene stood up and slung her backpack onto her shoulder.

She’d nearly made it to the open door when she heard Cora humming thoughtfully. “Oh bother, I’ve changed my mind. You can at least help me pick out the new drapes. Sit back down, Huntress.”

“Sorry, Cousin.” Selene smiled politely and kept walking. “Next time you want me to come to a party, send me an invitation.”

Cora gasped. “What’s she doing? Make her stay!”

“You
will not leave
.” Aiden pressed a button on his desk. The iron-studded door slammed shut in Selene’s face. She whirled toward her uncle. He rose once more from his desk. “Will you obey your elder,
Artemis
?”

“Not unless you make me,
Hades
,” she seethed.

“Make her! Make her!” Cora shrieked, tugging on her husband’s arm.

The Lord of the Dead smiled faintly, the red sparks now unmistakable in his eyes. Selene wondered if the flames might leap forth, charring her to a husk. He raised his hand in a gesture of command.
“Come, Cerberus!”

Uh-oh.
Selene spun toward the sound of clattering nails on the floorboards, expecting to see the enormous three-headed hound who had guarded the exit from the Underworld in days of old. Instead, she faced something far more monstrous. Racing through a small hatch in the wall were a wolfhound, a pit bull, and a Doberman, their collars lashed together. The tangled, scarred, slavering trio lurched toward her, their eyes rolling with pain and terror. Before she could free her bow, the pit bull lunged, snapping razor-sharp teeth inches from her thigh.

With a growl, Selene aimed a knee squarely in the pit bull’s chest, cracking its rib and knocking the dog loose. The instant she was free, she lifted her arms above her head, leaned forward, and hollered,
“I am the Lady of Hounds!”
Then she snarled, low and long, until she could feel the foam frothing at the corners of her mouth. The three dogs cowered before her, whimpering as they lowered their heads. She placed one booted foot firmly on the pit bull’s head, pressing it into the ground. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out her bow, assembled it in an instant, and nocked an arrow. The other dogs tried to get away, their legs
scrambling for purchase, but the rope around their necks held them tight. The sight of their drooling mouths enraged her. No hound could attack its Mistress and live. She raised her bow for a killing shot.

The Doberman let loose a long, piteous howl. Selene shot the arrow.

The point sliced neatly through the rope. Whining, the three dogs struggled free and skittered back through their hatch and out of the room. She wheeled toward Aiden’s desk. “How dare you—” she began, her bow at the ready.

But he wasn’t there. Selene’s gaze flew to the glass case that held his helm and scepter. Empty.
Oh, Styx.

Searching the room in vain for any trace of her uncle or his bird-tipped staff, Selene backed up until she could feel the heat of the hearth on the backs of her legs.

Cora skipped to the corner of the room, where she could watch the proceedings from safety. She giggled maniacally. “Oh, this is just
thrilling!
Get her, my love!”

Selene ignored her and sniffed deeply, trying to catch the Hidden One’s scent, but the stench of dead flowers and moldering fruit overwhelmed her senses. She aimed at the center of the room and hoped for the best. “Not another step, Uncle. My arrows might not kill you, but they’ll hurt like hell.”

“Like
hell
!” Cora squealed. “Do you hear? As if the Lord of the Underworld is scared of
that
!”

“If I can’t see you, I can’t aim,” Selene warned. “No guarantee I won’t take out an eye.”

Aiden’s voice came from somewhere ahead of her, thrumming with the power only a son of Kronos could command. “
Sit down.
You may not leave until I allow it.” With only the slightest movement of air as a warning, something sharp and hard struck
Selene on her arm just as she loosed an arrow. The shaft flew wide, clattering harmlessly against the stone wall.

With a curse, she snatched another arrow from her bag and held it behind her back, dipping the tip into the fireplace.

“She’s going to set us on fire!” Cora screeched.

“Not quite,” Selene muttered. Without bothering to use her bow, she flung the flaming arrow toward the ceiling, where it struck one of the sprinkler heads. A fine mist of water filled the room—revealing an Aiden-shaped outline of raindrops. Howling with rage, he swung at her, but she noticed the gap in the water move toward her and raised her bow to block his staff. She parried another blow, and another, her gaze fixed on the twisting path of the droplets.

“My dress! It’s silk!” Cora whined, patting at the dark stains spreading across her gown.

If I’m here another second, I’m going to throttle her,
Selene thought as she blocked one more strike, then swung for Aiden’s head with all her strength. Her gold bow clanged against the invisible bronze helm, sending a numbing shock through her bruised arm. Aiden’s watery outline swayed before her—then collapsed to the ground with an unmistakable
thud
. Seizing her chance, Selene shot an arrow at the button on Aiden’s desk, and the iron-studded door swung open. She dashed out of the stone chamber, into the gaslit waiting room, and past the ghostly piano—now playing a mournful dirge. Then she heard the squish of wet footsteps fast approaching. Aiden was back.

She sped toward the exit, slipped into the airlock, and slammed the heavy door closed behind her.

Dash, leaning casually against the wall of the tunnel, jerked upright when he saw her.

“Don’t say a word,” she warned him. “Just
run
.”

Dash didn’t need to be told twice. “Hope you’re still the Swiftly Bounding One!” he called over his shoulder as he sprinted ahead.

As they tore down the tunnel, Selene could hear the pneumatic door swing open behind them. Dash glanced backward. “I don’t see anyone!”

“That’s because he’s wearing his Helm of Invisibility!”

“
What?
It still
works
? My winged sandals are about as useful as a pair of heels!”

Selene could hear Cora faintly whining and then, so loud it sounded like he was only steps behind them, Aiden’s sudden roar: “This is your home, now, Huntress!
You must return!
”

“This is
not
good,” Selene called up to Dash.

“Don’t sweat it!” He spun around to talk to her, running backward all the while. “We’ve just got to get aboveground. Father’s old curse still works—Aiden’s powers fade when he leaves the Underworld.” His smile dissolved as he looked past her. “Oops. Wet footprints. He’s gaining on us.”

“Then turn around and run like a normal person!” she snapped. Dash obeyed, picking up speed as they neared the spiral staircase. Together, they clattered up the five stories and back into the abandoned City Hall subway station. They shoved the secret door closed behind them, knowing it would only delay Aiden for a moment. Selene pointed up to the faint light trickling through the foggy, century-old skylights.

“We’re not exactly aboveground, but will sunlight do the trick?”

Dash gave her a pained smile. “Maybe?”

Selene drew her bow and shot a single arrow high overhead, knocking one small pane from the intricately leaded skylight.

“Hey, watch it!” Dash cried, shielding his head from the tumbling glass shards.

“Watch the door instead!”

She shot out a second pane right beside the first. The thin stream of sunlight grew an inch thicker. Dash threw himself against the tiles, but his boyish frame was no match for Aiden’s
strength. An instant later, he tumbled aside when the wall burst open—just as Selene shot out a third pane of glass.

For a moment, the sunbeam streamed directly into the doorway, illuminating only the empty passageway beyond. Then, with a strangled cry, Aiden materialized. He raised his staff as if to ward off the light and glared at Selene, his eyes still fiery beneath his helm. But even as she watched, his strength ebbed. His posture grew stooped; the flesh of his hands withered. He lowered the staff, as if it had suddenly grown too heavy for him to wield. Then, as the sparks faded from his eyes, he pulled off his helm as if it crushed his skull. Beneath it, locks of gray now streaked his black hair.

Even in his weakened state, Selene stood firm, a single arrow aimed directly at her uncle’s throat. He squinted in the light, his eyes flicking from the skylight to her. “I’ll see you before long,” he hissed, stumbling backward into the tunnel. As he stepped out of the sunlight, he donned the helm once more—and disappeared completely.

Dash struggled to his feet and slammed the door shut.

Only then did Selene lower her bow.

Dash grinned at her. “So not a heartwarming family reunion, I take it?”

“You think?” she flared, breaking down her bow and stowing it in her pack.

“Do I want to know why you’re soaking wet?”

“No.”

“And is that blood on your coat?”

She looked down at the hole in the arm of her leather jacket. “Just a scratch from that stupid bird scepter.”

“But a scratch from a divine weapon. Doesn’t heal like other wounds do.”

“Great. I’m so glad I came down here. Super productive.”

“Come on, sourpuss. You didn’t learn
anything
useful?”

“Only that I can cross Uncle Aiden off the list. He’s too weak aboveground to be the hierophant. He’s also gone completely mad. He and Cora think we’re all going to wind up joining them in the Underworld for some huge party when the fading kills us. They wanted me to stay and become a guest.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “He never did learn to take the whole ‘Lord of the Dead’ thing less literally. Don’t worry, I’ll sort it all out next time I visit,” he went on, as cheerful as always. “They like me. You, on the other hand…”

“The feeling’s mutual, trust me.” She leaped down onto the subway tracks and started walking back toward the Brooklyn Bridge station. “I’ve got no reason to ever speak to them again—they don’t know anything about the cult. Too obsessed with their party preparations. I need to find the Wine Giver and the Bright One instead. You’ll need to take me to them.”

Dash trotted along beside her. “Sorry sweetpea, the Wine Giver’s the one brother who’s managed to slip past me. I don’t even know what he’s called these days, much less where he lives.”

“Maybe he’s just been too drunk to bother reaching out?”

“Yeah, or too distracted in other ways. They don’t call him ‘The God with Balls’ for nothing.”

One half brother with a huge penis, another with giant testicles. No wonder I’ve never gotten along with my family.

“Then what about my twin?”

“You don’t know where he lives?”

“We haven’t been close.”

“Still? Well, then, sweetie, I don’t think I can tell you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want me giving out
your
address to every immortal who asks?”

“Of course not.”

“Exactly. He’s a minor celebrity in the indie music scene in case you haven’t noticed, so his address isn’t exactly listed. I have to check with him first. Do you want me to do that?”

“No,” she answered quickly.

“Ah-ha! The Delian Twins are at it again!”

“Well, you’ve been a real help,” she grumbled. She was beginning to find Dash’s rules suspiciously arbitrary.

“You asked me to bring you to Cora, and I did.”

“What happened to her anyway? I thought she was supposed to
hate
being mistress of the Underworld! You should’ve seen them cooing over each other.”

“She didn’t change, I don’t think,” Dash replied. “Prissy and vain like always. What changed was the Receiver of Many. After centuries of living with a woman who hated him, he finally mended his ways. He repented. He tried to respect her. And she forgave him.”

Selene snorted. “I’d never forgive someone for doing what he did.”

“That’s the thing about living for millennia. A mortal couldn’t forgive—they don’t have enough time. But when you’ve been around as long as we have, sometimes there’s a way to make peace.” He looked at Selene pointedly.

“If you’re talking about me and my twin, forget it.” She picked up her pace. “Now if you could move a little faster, I’ve got things to do aboveground.”

“I’m just saying, Cora and Aiden probably have the best marriage of anyone in our family.”

“I guess we just aren’t made for commitment,” she shrugged. “We’re good at celibacy or promiscuity. Not much in between.”

“I used to think the same thing. But times are changing, Selene.
We’re
changing.”

“I’m not about to give up my virginity,” she seethed.

“Not even for that new bad boy associate of yours?”

Selene refused to even respond. But she couldn’t help the sudden image of Theo that sprang to mind. Sitting beside him in the movie theater, she’d wondered what it would feel like if he grabbed her hand. At the same time, she was horrified that he might try.

The subway track beneath her feet began to vibrate. She shot Dash a worried glance. “You got a plan for not getting us run over?”

“It would be awfully humiliating to escape the Underworld only to get flattened by the Number 6 train,” Dash agreed. “Thankfully, the Conductor of Souls wouldn’t let that happen.” Across the tracks, a single dim bulb illuminated a battered metal door. He grabbed the handle. Then paused, rattling the padlock. “Um.”

“What happened to all your powers, God of Thieves?”

“Fine.” He gave her a petulant frown. “The turnstile trick is an electronic transmitter I got from the Smith.”

The subway train’s headlight appeared ahead of them, a white pinprick growing steadily bigger.

“Move.” Selene retrieved her lock picks from her backpack and set to work.

“I mean, if I’d brought my picks, I could totally have done that.”

Selene snorted as she sprung the lock. Just before the light from the train could reach them, she hauled open the door and slipped through. They climbed a ladder, heaved open a manhole cover, and emerged on a quiet side street.

The Goddess of the Moon blinked in the sudden sunlight, grateful for once to emerge from the dark.