Page 57 of The Catacomb King
My ankle screamed. The rough rock bit into my palms. But I kept going. When I reached the top, Hades was still there, still holding back the avalanche.
I pressed myself against the rock next to him. Uselessly, of course.
He looked down at me. His eyes widened in panic. “You were supposed to get out!”
“I got Mackr out.”
“No. No. You were supposed to be saved. You’re the only one —”
“You said they wouldn’t forgive me if I got Mackr killed. And no one even likes him,” I bit out. “So how do you think they’d feel if I got their beloved Prince killed instead?”
“Better thanI’dfeel ifyougot killed,” Hades said darkly. I felt a brief flush of pleasure at being valued like that — but of course, he needed me for his reservoir. “Get out. Now.”
“No.” But the rock sheet was finally slipping. The rockslide had built up too much behind it, like water in a pipe. My feet slid.My heart hammered. I looked around frantically for something, anything, that we could use to stem the tide. Another piece of rock. A shovel or something to use as a strut. Anything.
There was nothing.
My eyes fell on the divot that Mackr’s body had mashed into the earth when he fell. A couple of boulders filled it now. If I could clear the boulders out… the hole would be just big enough for two people.
Or one very small person, and one moderately large godling.
I let go of the rock sheet. I rolled the boulders out of the way and curled up inside the divot. The earth was coated in Mackr’s green blood. The blood glazed my skin like oil. I thought I could taste it.
I called up to Hades, “Let go of the rock sheet.”
He looked down at me. His jaw dropped. “Getup!”
“No. Let go and fall. You’ll fall right in here, on top of me. We’ll be safe.”
“I’m not letting go of this thing until you get out of the way.”
“Well, that’s going to be tough, because I’m not getting out of the way until you let go!”
I was shaking. But I was sure this would work. At least I was sure that according to the laws of physics, it wassupposedto work.
Hades shook his head furiously.
“Hades,” I called up. I was getting desperate. He was impossibly strong, but even he had a limit. Soon he would be crushed no matter what. “Prince. You’re trusting me with their lives, aren’t you? Try to trust me with yours.”
I watched as he started to shake his head again. “It’s not my life I’m worried about,” he started to say —
— and then his feet skidded on the rock.
We both froze.
Then I shouted, “I wouldn’t do it to Elke!”
“What?”
“I wouldn’t let you die, Your Lordship, because it would ruin Elke! I don’t give a shit about you, but Elke’s been kind to me. You can trust me to save you. Nowlet go!”
Hades looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes wide.
Then, to my astonishment, he did let go.
Just before his hot body crashed on top of me, I remembered that in the underworld, the laws of physics did not work the way they did back home.
But by then it was too late.
