It was what was on the floor.
Apollo was on his knees, his hands outstretched, and he wasn’t alone. Aiden was there, his back to me as he held something— someone—to his chest, his body bowed over the still form as he rocked back and forth, his broad shoulders trembling. There was another person in the room, but their form and image was too hazy to make out.
Unease slithered through me like murky fog as I focused on Aiden, wanting to reach out to him. I called his name, but I had no voice. The anxiety grew and I felt cold—too cold. Something wasn’t right. I felt like I was there but detached, as if I was watching what was happening from a great distance.
Aiden was saying something, but it was too low for me to make out. All I heard was Apollo’s response.
“I’m sorry.”
Without warning, Aiden straightened and threw his head back, letting loose a roar full of pain and fury.
I jerked awake to the low sound of Aiden singing along to The Maine’s “Saving Grace,” slamming my knee into the dashboard.
“You okay?” he asked.
Dragging in a deep breath, I nodded as I pushed loose strands of hair out of my face. My heart pounded in my chest. I’d seen the lifeless body Aiden had been holding and I’d understand that scream that tore from the depths of his soul.
It had been me in his arms.
I slumped back against the seat, staring out the window. It was just a dream—only a dream. And could I be surprised that I was having messed-up dreams like that? All the stress and crazy stuff going on had to foster some whacked-out nightmares, but…
There had been something to the dream that made it hard to shake, that had left behind a chill deep in my bones. It took a lot to push the dream out of my thoughts. I settled back against the seat, watching Aiden from behind my lashes, picturing us going somewhere else—anywhere other than a freaking cemetery. Like maybe if we were driving to Disney World. Okay, maybe not. Maybe a beach for a sunny, romantic weekend, and I could almost see it. I could tasteit.
Us being normal, living among mortals like we’d talked about, having a future where we weren’t doing crazy stuff like this, where I wasn’t connected to a psychotic Seth. We’d have a house, because I couldn’t picture Aiden in an apartment or a townhouse. He’d want space—a yard—and even though a dog was out of the question because of the power daimons had over animals, it was my perfect future, so we had a Labrador that ran along the fence.
And I’d have a cat that curled in my lap, a fat tabby that ate Aiden’s leftover sandwich buns. We’d have a deck where we’d sit out on the evenings. Aiden would be reading a comic or some boring historical text written in Latin, and I’d be doing everything in my power to distract him.
I could get behind a future like that.
“What are you thinking?” Aiden’s quiet voice startled me.
“How did you know I was awake?”
There was a pause. “I just did. So tell me…?”
Feeling a bit foolish, I told him about my fantasy future. Aiden didn’t laugh. He didn’t poke fun at it or ask why a cat would be eating sandwich buns. He looked at me—looked at me so long I started to worry about crashing. Then he looked away, a muscle popping along his jaw.
“What?” I asked, squirming in the seat. “Did I divulge a little TMI?”
“No.” That single word was hoarse.
“Then what?”
Aiden’s eyes were so bright and luminous when they met mine again—shiny and strong like the titanium daggers we wore. “Only that I love you.”
CHAPTER 19
Kansas was… flat and grassy.
As far as the eye could see, was nothing more than flat fields with yellowish grass and tall reeds. In the distance, the horizon seemed to meet the land, a dark and ominous blue-gray as night neared, bleeding onto the brownish tall grass and white wildflowers.
“Prairie land”, according to Aiden’s impromptu history lesson, but what I picked up was that we were driving straight into Tornado Alley. All things considering, probably not the best place to be, especially when I got an eyeful of some of the most recent destruction caused by the bipolar gods.
Entire towns leveled. Debris-strewn fields and streets. The aftermath of so many lives uprooted, and knowing that it had something to do with me—the response to my initial inability to fight Seth’s influence.
It was hard to look past that, but I knew I couldn’t drown in the guilt right now or analyze the dream I’d just had like I was rocking a mad case of OCD. I needed my A-game. We were too close to Stull Cemetery.
Nervous energy hummed through both of us. Even with Apollo’s insight on the gates and the Underworld, neither of us really knew what we were going to face.
About ten miles west of Lawrence, we came upon the small, unincorporated town of Stull. I sat up straighter, eyes glued to the window.
At dusk, the main street, which appeared to be the only street, was completely abandoned. None of the businesses were open. People didn’t stroll down the sidewalks. There was nothing. Man, we were definitely in rural Kansas.
“So creepy,” I whispered.
“What?”
“There’s not a single soul on the street.” I shivered in full heebie-jeebies mode.
“Maybe they’re all in the cemetery.” When I shot him a dirty look, he laughed. “Alex, we’re about to go to the Underworld. A seemingly empty town can’t scare you that much.”
We came to a three-way stop and Aiden hung a right. “You know, Luke was saying that there’s only like twenty people who live here and that it’s believed they aren’t from Earth,” I said, glancing at Aiden. “Do you think they’re gods?”
“Could be. Maybe Stull is their summer home.”
I took another look at the squat, ancient-looking houses. “Pretty odd vacation spot, but hey, the gods are weird.”
“That they are.” Aiden leaned toward the steering wheel, eyes squinting. “There it is.”
Following his gaze, I sucked in a soft gasp. A dozen or so feet down the road, up on the right hand side, was Stull Cemetery. Not a gateway to hell, but one to the Underworld.
And in the fading sun and gathering darkness, it was creepy as hell.
“I hope no one tries to kick us out,” I murmured as Aiden coaxed the Hummer through the narrow entrance in the chain link fence. We were planning to leave the Hummer inside the cemetery. It wouldn’t be there very long; time in the Underworld moved differently. Hours there were half-seconds here. Days would be minutes. Weeks would be hours.
“For some reason, I don’t think we’ll have a problem.” Aiden pulled the vehicle to the side and killed the engine. Off went the lights.
Staring at the tombstones, I shuddered.
“Are you going to get out?” Aiden already had his door open.
A tumbleweed rolled down a walkway that had seen better days and my eyes widened as I followed it until it came to a rest against the fence. “Do I have to?”
Aiden chuckled as he closed the door, disappearing around the back of the Hummer. Not wanting to reenact a scene from Night of the Living Dead, I hopped out and quickly followed him. I found him sliding his arms through the straps of the heavy backpack.
By the time he closed the Hummer and hit the security system—who in the hell was going to steal the car here?—the cemetery had been plunged into dark shadows. Thick, dark-as-oil clouds blocked the moon, but my eyes adjusted quickly and I almost wished they hadn’t.
Thrusting out of the swaying weeds and overgrown prairie grass were fewer than a hundred gravestones. Scattered among the newer tombstones were ancient ones whose inscriptions had faded long ago. Some were square; others reminded me of mini-Washington Monuments, and a few were old crosses that tipped heavily to one side or another.
At the very cusp of the cemetery was a crumbled stone foundation edged by a few trees. Two mounds of sandy brick marked where the church had once stood, before the gods had burned it down due to Hades’ untimely midnight showing.