She swallowed thickly. “He threatened the Council then, and I knew what the oracle had said was all coming true. She had given me the means to stop him, but it was too late.”
I bit my lip. “What did he do?”
Her eyes met mine. “He would’ve never done it if the allure of the power—the draw of supreme power—hadn’t overtaken him. But it did. Before I could stop him, he drew from me. There was a moment, immediately after he took my power, when he was not yet able to channel it. Like an Achilles’ heel, so to speak, and the Order attacked. The rest… the rest is history.”
I didn’t know what to say. Sorrow rode the back of my throat. It was obvious that Solaris had loved her First, so much so that not once did she speak his actual name. I couldn’t bring myself to askjust to quench my own curiosity, because I knew speaking it would only bring her more pain.
“I’m sorry.” It was all I could say.
Solaris nodded. “What is your First doing?”
I told her everything—the destruction, the impending war, and the hope that somehow we could stop history from repeating itself. If she was surprised, she didn’t show it. Solaris simply walked up to me.
“I blocked it from him and from the other Apollyons,” Solaris said again. “I’m not sure how you even saw it. Perhaps it was Fate?”
Gods, for once Fate wasn’t trying to force me to take one for the team. Nice change. “Perhaps.”
“It’s simpler than you think.” Solaris reached out, placing her cold hand over my right one. “You must follow the order of the marks as they appeared on you. The original.” Solaris squeezed my right hand, “Θάρρος.” Courage.
Then she cupped her hand around my left. “ Ισχύς.” Strength.
Letting go of my hand, she placed hers below my ribcage, over my navel, “απόλυτη εξουσία.” Absolute Power. Then finally, she reached up and cupped the nape of my neck. “αήττητο.” Invincibility.
The air went out of my lungs and Solaris nodded. “You will need to press your flesh to his and call upon each mark by its true name.”
“Wait,” Aiden said. “Isn’t that how he would transfer her power to him?”
I already knew, so when Solaris stepped away and turned to Aiden, I could barely look at him. “Yes,” she said. “She will have to do it before he does.”
Aiden opened his mouth, but there were no words. We had learned how to transfer power and that was something, but it would also be damn near impossible.
“Is that all?” she asked. “I wish to leave.”
Persephone cleared her throat. “I believe so.”
For an instant, Solaris’ eyes met mine and I thought I’d be seeing her again. And sooner than I probably expect. I didn’t know where that thought came from—if it was rooted in any real possibility or just paranoia.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” she asked, voice low enough for only me to hear. “For the power of the God Killer will transfer to you. And though you may feel strong and you may think you can control it, it can warp you, too.”
Looking terribly sad, as if she knew this great secret, she sighed. “And for whatever purpose the gods seek to use you for, once they do, will you be left standing in the end? As the oracle warned me, there cannot be two of our kind in any generation.”
And then she was gone, but her parting words lingered deep, wrapping their way over my heart and soul. Her words weren’t a warning, but more of a statement of fact. I glanced down at my left hand and I felt as if my fate had been sealed long before I even knew what I was.
I let out a shaky breath.
“Well, that was depressing.” Caleb ran a hand through his hair. “If I wasn’t dead already, I’d feel a tad bit suicidal.”
“No doubt,” Persephone murmured. “But dead people—no offense—tend to be on the depressing side of things.”
Caleb shrugged. “No offense taken.”
Each time that I’d seen Caleb, he hadn’t seemed depressed. As if he read my mind that moment, he smiled and I remembered what he’d said when I’d been in limbo. “You told me there was still hope for him.”
Caleb swaggered over to me, seeming so alive it was painful to see. Wrapping his arms around me, he held me tight. “There’s always hope. Maybe not the kind of hope you’re thinking about, but there ishope.”
I didn’t understand at first, so I snuggled closer, knowing our time was quickly coming to an end. As I inhaled the fresh scent of Caleb, I realized I needed to know something that would probably slice me into tiny ribbons.
Pulling away, I turned to Persephone. “Where is her First?”
A whole minute passed before she answered. “He is in Tartarus.”
I pressed my fingers to my mouth before the lump came all the way up. It wasn’t so much the fate of the First, but what it signified. If I succeeded and was able to kill Seth, his fate would be the same. And so would mine.
I was like Velero on Caleb for the next fifteen minutes or so, while Aiden busied himself studying the weapons and Persephone filed her nails or whatever. While we sat on the floor of the war room, our knees pressing together, Caleb told me about some of the stuff he was doing down here to pass time and I told him how much Olivia had wanted to see him. We didn’t talk about what would happen next. I was pretty sure that Caleb was aware of all the crazy stuff going on and neither of us wanted to tarnish these precious minutes.
“Did you tell her what I asked you to?” he asked.
I nodded. “She cried, but I think they were happy tears.”
Caleb’s smile was broad. “I miss her, but can you do me another favor?”
“Anything.” And I meant it.
“Don’t tell Olivia that you saw me.”
I frowned. “Why? She would—”
“I want her to move on.” Caleb grasped my hands and stood, pulling me to my feet. “I need her to move on, and I think hearing about me is stopping her. I want her to live and I don’t want to be shadowing every step she takes.”
Gods, I hated the idea of lying to Olivia, but I understood what Caleb was saying. Olivia would never move on, knowing that, in a way, Caleb was conscious and as alive as he could be in the Underworld. It was like he was there, not reachable, but still there. Knowing that, how could she really move on?
So I agreed. I promised to tell everyone that it had been only Persephone who had found us. Even if Apollo knew the truth, it wouldn’t matter as long as Olivia didn’t. In a way, this was his gift to her.
“Thank you,” Caleb said, and hugged me once more. Part of me wanted to stay in Caleb’s arms, because he’d always had this grounding effect on me. Caleb was my rational side. He was more than that; other than my mother, he was the first person I’d ever truly loved.
Caleb would always be my best friend.
“It’s time,” Persephone said quietly, and when I pulled away and looked at her, there was sympathy in her gaze. A god who could empathize was an abnormality.
Aiden returned to my side, swinging the backpack onto his shoulders before handing me back the weapons that the guards had stripped off me, as well as my yucky cloak. Persephone drifted toward the center of the war room and waved her hand. A black void appeared, completely opaque. “This gate will take you back to the one you came through.”
“Thank you,” I said to Persephone.
She nodded gracefully.
As I said goodbye and looked over my shoulder one last time, my chest squeezed as I met Caleb’s blue, blue eyes. I knew then that death could stop a lot of things, but it could never cut the bond of friendship.
Caleb smiled, and I returned it with a watery one of my own, and then I turned back to the void waiting for us. Threading my fingers through Aiden’s, we stepped back through the gate, armed with the knowledge we needed, but bearing the burden of needing to accomplish the impossible.