Page 33 of Guided by the Stars
I get to my feet and walk out of the hut as Kai disbands it. We’re dirty and dusty, but who knows how long we’ve been out here in the dark and green mist? We could all use a shower. Kai and Jax are on either side of me and I huff, “So is today the day we get to where we are going?”
Jax looks at Kai, and then his eyes move to me. “We have one more area to pass. It appears Hades wants you to have the grand tour.” Kai looks at him and his eyes harden a bit.
“Yay me!” I say sarcastically. “Pulling out all the stops for little old me?” I walk off but I can make out their footsteps beside me. “Don’t I just feel so special now.” I try for a southern belle accent. “Bless your daddy’s little heart.”
Kai glares at me, and I smirk. “This next place is right up ahead in the forest,” he says and touches my arm softly. Tingles go through my body. What does this god do to me? I move my arm away from him even though I would love nothing more than to keep it on me, and have his hands on other parts of my body.
I stay quiet and no one else says anything when I glance up. There is a forest up ahead filled with souls. Something is pulling me towards it, I can sense their misery like they are crying out for help. I am not sure when I noticed this sensation taking over my body. When I was younger, my father died overseas and my mother turned to drugs to cope with the heartbreak. There was no limit to what she’d do in order to earn money to feed her habit, and since the day I found her dead on the couch, I’ve shut my feelings down.
Never were we promised a simple life. Take what you get and make the best of it.
But since knocking my head in the ocean that night with Nora, something has changed. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I am dreaming, or maybe I nearly drowned and I am in a coma. Maybe this is my test to find out what happens to my soul.
If that is the case, no wonder I am traveling through hell, or, well, the Underworld.
I make out crying and moaning and as I gaze up ahead, there are so many women wandering around the forest. None of them are going anywhere in particular, all they seem to do is walk aimlessly. This place is full of sadness. My tears are building and my eyes burn.
“These are the Mourning Fields,” Kai says gruffly. I turn my eyes on him and he is staring into the forest at the women. “This is their punishment for loving someone who didn’t love them back. It’s reserved for the people who wasted their lives on unrequited love.”
I gasp. “How is that their fault? You can’t help who you love!” I say and cut my gaze back to the forest, seeing some men, but mostly just women. “Why are there hardly any men?”
Kai laughs cruelly. “Men are not like women. Most men don’t love, and when they do, they normally stay with that woman.” What he just said solidified exactly why I lived my life the way I did. He brings my attention back to him and his steel-blue eyes go hard, cold like ice. “Do you think this is where you will end up?”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, I learned long ago, people like me don’t find love like that. Plus, why would I want someone who will just leave? It’s not like anyone promises forever. At the end of the day, we’re always alone, so why would I end up here? Greek gods, from what I remember, all use people, so what chance do we mere humans have to find genuine love if you immortals can’t even find it?”
I can’t stand this sight anymore. I quickly shove past him and walk into the forest. It is as dark and cold as the rest of this place. My skin prickles from the intense cold, someone grabs my shoulder and I jerk around. There is a woman crying and her blue eyes remind me of my mother. “Please help me,” she says. I take her hands in mine and swallow hard. What comfort can I offer this poor woman who has been damned here for loving the wrong man? How is it her fault?
Kai grabs her and she shrinks back. I notice the tears in her eyes and the ones running down her cheeks, and I want to be sick. Why do they punish people for loving someone? Thewoman slowly fades back into the forest and I want to help her. There is a need in me to reach out. Jax reaches out to me and I take his hand because I need the comfort, this place is starting to tear me open, forcing its way under my skin. It’s making me have feelings, something I can’t afford to do. I can’t be one of these people lost here, always wondering and mourning for a lost love. I have to make it back to my best friend.
Jax leads me out with Kai at my side. My heart is bleeding for the people in this field. What kind of sick, twisted god or goddess finds pleasure in this? But again, from what I remember they are prideful, vengeful beings. My ears are ringing and I’ll never get the crying out of my head. Nor how that woman looked and the way her eyes were filled with hopelessness; she will always haunt me. That could be my mother. That could be me if I allow myself to feel.
***
“So why can’t you make the palace appear? You’re his son!” I say, anger bubbling my blood.
“Hades likes his games. He will make it appear when he is ready,” Jax says softly behind me. Kai had wandered ahead and I could see him sitting on a boulder with that stupid smirk on his face. The moment I was free, I would wipe it off.
That is when I see it. It appears out of thin air, a huge black palace. My eyes go wide, and I stop walking. Jax runs into me and Kai turns around to see what I’m looking at.
“Hades has summoned us,” Kai says darkly, and his eyes flash with fear, but they quickly change back to hard, ice-blue steel. He snaps his fingers and Jax grabs my arm.
“Sorry, Beautiful. Nothing personal,” Jax says. I elbow him in the stomach and he releases a groan.
“Oops, I tripped,” I say sarcastically and both of them chuckle as they lead me toward my doom. Kai grabs my other arm.
The closer we get to the palace, the more details I take in. It’s massive, made entirely from black onyx marble, and there is an enormous garden surrounding it, with all black flowers. Black roses and black tulips, gray-black grass, and trees that look lifeless. Fear grips me, but I’m also in awe that this palace is something no one will ever get to see. It is a gothic princess' wet dream.
“Whenever Hades summons you, I would keep that smart mouth of yours shut or you might be worse off than what he already has planned for you,” Kai says, and I glare at him.
“So that’s it then, huh? You kidnap me and hand me over to your father and fuck what ever happens next?” I ask, not expecting an answer. I mean, Kai never promised me anything. He went to Earth and snatched me, so what comfort could he really offer me?
“Nothing personal, Red, but you’re my ticket out of here,” he says, and tightens his hold on my arm. I spit at his feet.
I hold my head up high and square my shoulders. Of course the two guys only tighten their grip, and continue walking towards the entrance. Then Kai stops. My vision darkens as I notice something light and silky cover my eyes. Kai ties the blindfold behind my head.
This is great. I am walking into the God of the Dead’s lair, and I am going in without sight and handcuffed.
Fuck. Me. Sideways.
