Cronus was growing stronger by the minute, and no one, not even Henry or Walter, could possibly win against that kind of impossible power. If he stuck to our deal and let the others go, then unless I wanted to see him slaughter everyone I loved, I would have no choice but to open the gate.

All I had to do in the meantime was convince Persephone to tell me how.

* * *

Hours after we left the oasis, I found a second flower, bubblegum spotted with blue, waiting for me on a fallen tree as I sat down to rest. At first the log was empty, but when I lowered myself down, my fingertips brushed the silky petals.

It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, but who would be leaving me presents? Henry? I clung to that hope, but he was unconscious. The chances of it being him were slim.

And then my eyes fell on James, and I scowled.

“What?” he said as he leaned against a tree. I held up the blossom, and he arched his eyebrows. “Colorful. Where’d you get it?”

“It was sitting here waiting for me,” I said, but he shrugged indifferently. It wasn’t from him after all. For all he cared, we could’ve been talking about a dead leaf.

Henry, then. I warmed at the thought. He must’ve been able to see me in the cavern after all, or maybe he’d figured out what we were doing. Maybe he was trying to tell me that he was glad we were coming to rescue him. Only because he didn’t know what I planned on doing though.

We pushed on, constantly checking over our shoulders for any sign of Cronus. Every time we stopped, I found a new blossom waiting for me, and I tucked it reverently in my pocket with the rainbow of others, nestled against the jeweled flower. Eventually our breaks became less and less frequent, and while I missed the flowers, my body stopped becoming tired, and it was easier to continue.

I don’t know how long we walked. It felt like forever, although it couldn’t have been more than a week. My leg hurt every time I took a step, but eventually the pain faded into the background, giving me time to absorb the beauty and horror of the Underworld.

“Is this really the quickest way there?” I said as another nightmare faded. This time, it had been a child being burned alive as a mother watched, chained to the ground as she screamed, helpless to do anything.

“’Fraid so,” said James as we trudged up a steep dirt road. “Pity this all didn’t happen after your coronation. You could’ve had us there in seconds.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, grabbing a fallen branch to use as a walking stick. “Like I needed another reminder.”

“You’re the one who asked,” said James, and after that, I refused to talk to him for the rest of the day.

Now that the danger of Cronus attacking had all but dissipated, I spent most of my time trying to work out how best to convince Persephone not only to help us, but to tell me how to open the gate without Ava and James finding out. I didn’t want it to be an option, but it was, and I couldn’t ignore it. And the way he caressed my cheek in the desert—if Cronus really was willing to help me in exchange for me releasing him, then maybe he could help take down Calliope. And then the other siblings could recapture him. It was shaky at best, but so was everything else about this plan, and at least this was better than nothing.

The closer we got to Persephone, the tighter the knot in my chest grew. I ran through dozens of ways to convince her to come, arguments to make her see how important this was, but there was no guarantee that anything I said would be enough. Through trying to persuade her, I also ran the risk of pushing her away.

Between the worry and stress of everything that was happening, I grew quieter, listening to James and Ava talk instead of joining in. When they weren’t talking about my deal with Cronus, most of their conversation centered on what the others were doing and whether or not Dylan had convinced them that it was a waste of time. Ava was certain he wouldn’t; James wasn’t so sure, and their squabbling grew more and more heated until I didn’t know if I could take any more of it.

Finally, when it seemed we would never stop walking and they would never stop fighting, James held up his hand, and Ava fell silent. I froze, and James peered through the trees that surrounded us.

“What is it?” said Ava in a hushed voice. James beckoned for us to join him, and I crept forward, tiptoeing around the roots. He stood at the edge of a clearing full of wildflowers, and when I glanced around him, I noticed a small cottage with a plume of smoke trickling from the chimney. Made of wood instead of brick, it was covered with vines of flowers, almost making it look as if it rose up out of the ground.

“It’s beautiful,” I said wearily. “But we need to keep—”

James covered my mouth with his hand, and I automatically licked him. It was the same thing I’d done to my mother whenever she’d tried to keep me quiet as a child, though at least her hands were usually clean and not covered with dirt from the Underworld.

I made a face and spat, but I didn’t have the chance to lay into him for covering my mouth in the first place. The door to the cottage opened, and out skipped a curly haired blonde who looked a few years older than me. She was tiny, and despite the sun shining down into the lush meadow, her skin was alabaster.

Beside me, James pursed his lips, and Ava let out a soft snort of distaste I didn’t understand. The girl knelt down in the garden beside the cottage door, and she started to pull weeds as she hummed happily to herself. There was something disturbingly familiar about the way she moved, and as a drop-dead gorgeous man stepped out of the cottage and into the sunlight to join her, I finally understood.

“Is that…?” I whispered. James swallowed, and my breath hitched in my throat.

Persephone.

Chapter Eight

Persephone

She looked exactly like the image I’d seen of her months ago, except her hair was the color of wheat instead of strawberry-blond. We weren’t close enough for me to see the freckles, but I was positive they were there, too. Henry’s memory of her was perfect.

Of course it was. What else had I expected?

“So what?” I took a deep breath to slow my racing pulse. The knot in my chest made it hard to breathe. “Do we sit here and stare, or are we going to go say hi?”

James didn’t answer. He watched Persephone with wide, unblinking eyes, and I wasn’t sure he was breathing, either. I poked him in the shoulder, but he shrugged off my touch.

“What’s going on?” I said to Ava. She, too, was staring, but she had the same look on her face that she did when she was looking at Dylan. Or Xander. Or Theo.

“I almost forgot how gorgeous Adonis is,” she said. “We should have made him one of us.”

She wouldn’t have gotten any argument out of me, but a strange sound escaped from James, almost like he was growling. “And have to endure another narcissistic blond running around? No, thank you.”

Ava opened her mouth to retort, but I cut her off. “You’re all narcissists. Are we going or not?”

Wearing a wounded expression, James broke his stare, but neither he nor Ava made any move toward the cottage. With a huff, I stepped past the edge of the trees and walked through the meadow, making a point of stepping around the flowers. No use in risking Persephone’s wrath before saying a word.

Persephone must’ve caught sight of me, because she stood and placed herself protectively in front of the man—Adonis, apparently. It was fitting. He looked like he’d stepped out of a movie, with long hair that hung to his shoulders and an abdomen that would’ve put Henry to shame. It was hard to focus on Persephone with him standing there, and my mouth went dry as I tried to think of something to say. The desire to not make a fool of myself in front of him overwhelmed me, and I immediately felt guilty for being so attracted to him. If Persephone was half as shallow as Ava, at least now I understood why she’d left Henry.