Page 97 of Raising Hell
Literally. No one could. But I hoped he would as much as I hoped he wouldn’t. What if he remembered everything and looked at me in disgust? What would I do when he sent me home like I’d wanted all along?
I withered a little on the inside.
He looked at Megan. “If this does anything to me, guard her with your life until I return. Do you understand?”
Megan nodded.
He uncorked the vial and tipped it back. I watched his throat work with his swallow. He lowered the vial, frowning at it.
Then he convulsed once and fell forward onto his ham sandwich.
“Father,” Zotera gasped.
I jumped up and reached for him. Megan grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
A familiar feeling tugged in my middle as the throne room closed in on itself and re-expanded into the blue-lit sky.
“Shit,” Megan breathed as I felt a sickening flip in my stomach.
Before I could fully register that we were falling, that tug returned, and we were standing on the same wall Hades and I had stood on the day before. Only a different section of it. This one overlooked the lava river just before it disappeared into the mountain.
I clutched Megan’s arm for balance while I panted through my nausea at the back-to-back portalling. As soon as it passed, I released her and stood on my own.
“What happened?” I asked
“I tried hellgating us back to Earth, but it didn’t work. You’re still pale. Are you okay?”
“You tried taking me home?” I asked, my eyes wide. “Why?”
“Don’t you want to go home?”
“Yes. But if you haven’t noticed, he doesn’t want to let me go.”
“I noticed, and that’s exactly why I had to try.”
“Why would you risk making him angry like that? What about the earthquakes and all the people who’d die?”
She shook her head. “That’s exactly why we need you on Earth. Mom, Grandma, and I have eyes. We saw how obsessed he is with you. Do you really think he would do anything that might potentially hurt you? If you’re on Earth, we’d have more time to figure out how to put him back to sleep.”
Facing the lava river, I watched its slow flow for a long moment as the hopelessness of my situation sank in.
“We both know there’s only one thing that he wants. One thing that will appease him. Me. All of me.”
I glanced at her and saw her shaking her head, but I held up a hand to stop her.
“He was chained to the bedroom wall. She was on the bed, laid out like a sleeping princess. There was a key in her hand. I think she chained him there, locked the door so no one could get in to help him, and just died. Do you know why? She hated having sex with him. Based on bits of conversation I’ve had with Zotera, I think he hurt Persephone during sex early on. She hated him for stealing her from her home and even more for that pain. The hate grew the longer she was here.
“He was insane when he first woke. Babbling about wanting my skin. I thought he meant to eat me like the trolls, you know? But that wasn’t it at all. The longer he followed me, the more rational he became. But one thing never changed. His absolute obsession.
“He only wants one thing, Megan. Her—Persephone—the way she was when he first saw her. Sweet and innocent. Still capable of loving him.”
“What about what you want?” Megan asked.
I gave a humorless laugh.
“What I’ve wanted has never mattered. I was Uttira’s training dummy, locked away in my house for my own safety and dying on the inside more every day. Lonely doesn’t even begin to describe what I felt. At least here, I won’t be lonely, right?”
“No, you’re not giving up and settling for the least shittiest situation. We’re going to figure this out. We’ll find a way—”
