'Why the fuck do I need a guard?' I hissed at her.
'Her powers haven't been unlocked,' said Hecate loudly to the assembled gods, ignoring me. 'She does not need a guard.'
'Powers?' I gaped at her, feeling the hysteria fringing my mind again. Of course I'd give myself powers in this mad fucking fantasy. Why wouldn't I? 'Let me guess,' I said, feeling an unhinged smile take over my face. If I could have any power in the world what would it be? That was easy. 'I can make plants grow?'
Hecate looked at me, her brows drawing together.
'How'd you know that?'
'Because Hades left her love of nature when he sent her to the mortal world,' said Hera, so quietly I barely heard her.
A silence fell over the room and my head span as the colored flames danced on each side of us.
'I suggest Persephone choose her own guard. We will present our options this evening, after the first Trial,' said Athena, authoritatively.
'Agreed,' said Zeus, sitting forward. 'Now, I do not believe Hades will be joining us now-'
'And why is that, brother?' boomed a voice. Gooseflesh shot up on my skin as the temperature in the room dropped sharply. Fear began to crawl through me, though I didn't know what I was suddenly so scared of. I felt Hecate stiffen by my side and Zeus's eyes flashed as he slouched back into his throne.
'Hades! I'm so glad you could make it after all! I have a surprise for you.'
Black smoke began to gather in the center of the dais, swirling fast into a humanoid form.
'Another contestant for your foolish competition, no doubt,' hissed the angry, slithery voice, and I felt a strong compulsion to step backwards, and keep going.
'Indeed,' said Zeus, a smile spreading over his face. The smoke was nearly solid now, but not quite, the form before me translucent and fluid and featureless.
Until it turned to me.
For a split second the world disappeared completely. The first thing I saw were his eyes, the rest of the swirling smoke flashing into human form so briefly I almost missed it. But I registered the massive shoulders, the dark trousers and shirt, the gleaming onyx in the center of a belt around his waist, before my eyes met his again. They were silver. Not white or grey or pale blue but shining silver, and they were filled with shock. Emotions I didn't recognize began to hammer through me, and suddenly something inside me was beating against my mind, desperate to be free. The sensation made me feel dizzy and sick.
I knew this man. All notion of this being a crazy dream, all ideas that I was hallucinating, all the rational thoughts and truths that I'd been clinging to disintegrated as I stared into those desperate pools of silver. I knew this man. This was real.
Anger suddenly erupted in those haunted eyes and before I could look at the rest of his face his solid form was gone. A blast of power pulsed through the room and I cried out as pure terror gripped my mind. Images that were usually relegated to my worst nightmares, blood and death and gore and fire, filled my head and blinded me to everything else. I could smell the tang of the blood, hear the fire roaring, feel the screams reverberating around me as people died everywhere I looked. I was drowning in blood. I choked for breath as my legs crumpled beneath me, too far gone to feel the crack of my knees as they hit the marble.
'What is the meaning of this?' bellowed Hades, so loudly I threw my hands over my ears, squeezing my eyes shut. It didn't help. All I could see were bodies, torn apart, flames licking over them. I clawed at my throat desperately, unable to get enough air. I was drowning in fear and blood.
'Hades!' I distantly heard Hecate's voice. 'She doesn't have her power, you're going to kill her!'
Instantly the terror melted away, a soothing calm flooding through me. I gulped down air, pressing my shaking hands to my wet face as Hecate crouched down beside me.
'It's OK,' she said quietly. 'You'll be OK.'
'Everybody, leave,' the slithery voice said. Although he spoke quietly, the words were as clear as day. 'Except you, brother. You and I need to talk.'
Seven
Hecate had barely magicked us out of the throne room and I was still clinging to her arm as the combination of terror and adrenaline finally got the better of me and my stomach began to heave.
'Red wine and chocolate cake is not so appealing anymore,' muttered Hecate, staring down in distaste at the mess I'd made on the dressing room floor. Then there was a fizzing sound, and the vomit vanished. 'Here,' she said, handing me a glass of water. I took it with shaking hands and she eased me onto the stool. 'I've never seen Hades lose control of his power like that. I'm sorry.'
'What's his power, scaring people to death?' I asked, my voice coming out in a bitter croak.
'Well, no, but that is an unfortunate side-effect for humans.'
'Huh.' I took a long shuddering breath.
'I saw... I saw horrible things,' I said quietly.
'Dead people?' she asked, quirking an eyebrow, her braids flashing as she cocked her head at me. I nodded.
'Yeah. Lots of dead people.'
'Hades is the Lord of the Dead. He's the most fearsome of all the Olympians, although not the strongest, and his rage would cause any human to see death. And trust me, that was Hades' real rage.' She blew out a breath, chewing on her lip. 'He let his true form show. With spectators. That's... Well, there are very, very few people in Olympus who have seen his eyes.'
Those silver orbs, deep with desperation and power filled my mind.
'I know him,' I said quietly, looking down at my glass.
'Yes,' said Hecate, and crouched in front of me, her blue eyes full of compassion.
'But... My life. My life in New York...'
My real life felt distant in my spinning head, like it had just been a game, or a dream. I could feel it slipping away. Was that because I was dying somewhere in New York? Would this all end soon too? Or was this the reality? Hades' eyes... I knew, more surely than I'd ever known anything in my life, that this was not the first time I'd seen those eyes. They meant something to me, down to my very core. But what? Was it love for a husband? It didn't feel like love. And how the hell could I have loved someone whose power was to fill people's minds with scenes from their nightmares?
'I'm sorry your first meeting with him turned out like that. I knew it would be pretty shit but... Nearly killing you was definitely not ideal. But you have to trust me when I tell you that I think this could all work out OK. Maybe. If you're a fast learner and we can stop you being so... human.'
I blinked at Hecate.
'Right,' I said eventually, at a loss for anything more constructive.
'There's got to be a way of unlocking your powers, but we'll need to do it slowly. And without whichever stupid guard you end up with knowing about it.' She jumped to her feet. 'You want to hope you get either Athena's or Hades' guard, Poseidon's will be a total fucking killjoy.'
'Why does he think I'm dangerous?'
'Persy, we're back to shit I can't tell you, so stop asking.'
'Stop asking?' A flash of anger bubbled through my fatigue. 'Are you serious?'
'Look, this is what Athena meant. You have to accept that the past is in the past, and that's that.'