I tried over and over, again and again, until my sobs turned into growls of frustration. Nothing changed. Why could I do it so easily without meaning to, but when the lives of my family hung in the balance, I couldn’t see so much as Henry’s face?
“Hello?”
I jumped. Half expecting Calliope to have somehow snuck up behind me, I scrambled to my feet, ready to bolt or break her nose, whichever was easier. Instead I came face-to-face with a freckled redhead clutching a bunny.
“Who’re you?” I said, and when she took a step toward me, I moved back.
“Ingrid,” she said. “Who are you?”
I forced myself to relax. The f ield had to come from someone. Most of the others in the Underworld had either avoided us or hadn’t seen us in the f irst place, and when we’d spoken to them, it had been brief, and Ava usually handled it. This was another one of those then, but this time it was only me.
“I’m Kate,” I said. “I’m sorry for intruding. I’m waiting for—”
“For James and Ava,” she said without a hint of surprise.
“I know. I saw you.”
I blinked. “How do you know their names?” Had she been close enough to overhear? I couldn’t remember if I’d used them while we’d argued.
“Because Henry introduced them to me.” She scratched her bunny between the ears and placed it down gently. It hopped off to join a cluster of other animals that seemed to be waiting for Ingrid to come back to them.
“Henry?” I tugged nervously on my sleeves. “How—how do you know Henry?”
“The same way you do,” she said cheerfully. “You’re his wife, right? Kate? You’re the one Calliope was talking about.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Calliope was here? When?”
“Ages ago.” Ingrid shrugged. “Then she went off and left even though she wasn’t supposed to. Henry said.” Henry again. How could she know Henry? Had he passed judgment on her? But that didn’t explain how she knew Calliope or what she was doing here.
Except—
My eyes widened. “You’re one of the girls Calliope killed, aren’t you?”
She beamed, which was exactly the response I hadn’t expected. “You’ve heard of me? That’s amazing. You’re kind of my idol, you know.”
Calliope had killed eleven girls before I’d come to Eden, but the Underworld was so vast that I never thought I’d run into one of them. “I—I am?” I stammered. “Why?” She gave me a look that made it clear I should have known. “Because you won, and you punished her for what she did to me. To us, I mean.” She sighed. “It’s terrible, isn’t it? That she got away with it so many times. I spent forever thinking I was the stupid one for falling for her act.”
“You weren’t stupid,” I said. “You just— She’s a goddess.” She grinned. “So are you now. Tell me all about it. How is it? What can you do? Can you walk on water? Can you f ly? I’ve always wanted to f ly, you know. It’d be incredible, wouldn’t it? And to live forever—I mean, the Underworld is nice and all, but it isn’t the surface.” What did it matter if I was immortal when a Titan wanted to kill me? “So far being a goddess has been anything but incredible.”
“What do you mean?” she said. I hesitated, but Ingrid was dead anyway, and it wasn’t as if she could leave. Besides, she’d probably heard the rocks falling, too. For all I knew, the entire Underworld had. She deserved an explanation.
So I told her. I kept it short and withheld a few details, but by the time I was done, all the blood had drained from her face, and she scooped up another rabbit to cuddle for comfort.
“They went in there and left you here?” she said, and I nodded. “That’s awful. They could already be dead. It’s been ages.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. I didn’t need the reminder.
“You should go anyway,” she said, perking up at the idea.
“You bested her once, so it’s not like you can’t do it again.
If anyone can, it’s you.”
I bit my lip. “She killed me, too,” I said. “The only reason I’m alive is because my mother traded places with me.”
“So?” Ingrid took a step closer to me, and this time I didn’t move away. “That was when you were mortal. You’re not anymore. You’re a goddess, too, and so what if you can’t control your visions? You won’t need them if you go in there.”
“But if I let her kill me, then there’s no telling what Henry will do,” I said. “If Persephone tells Calliope how to release Cronus, then they’ll need Henry to have a prayer of winning.”
Ingrid sighed. “You don’t get it, do you? You’re one of them now. So what if Calliope’s more powerful? She’s not that special, you know, and she can’t kill you now. Gods can’t kill other gods.”
“But Titans can.”
“You said you made a deal with Cronus. It sounds to me like he’s a lot less likely to kill you than he is the others.
You tried to be nice to him, and you weren’t the one to lock him up.”
I hesitated. She had a point, especially if Calliope continued to order Cronus around. He hadn’t seemed willing to put up with it much longer. More than anything I wanted to say to hell with it and go in after them, but that didn’t solve the problem with Henry. “If something happens to me—”
“It won’t,” she said f irmly. “You bested the Queen of the Gods, and now you’re Queen of the Underworld.”
“I’m not.” I scowled at an unoffending f lower. “Cronus interrupted the ceremony.”
“So? You’re still queen. You don’t need a stupid ceremony to prove it.”
As I stared at the blossoms at my feet, I realized with a start that they were the same ones that Henry had been sending. This was where he’d gotten them—it really had been him after all. He’d wanted me to come here. He wanted my help.
“I can’t risk it like that,” I said, although my resolve was waning. “I can’t risk Henry’s life.”
Ingrid gave me an exasperated look. “Listen to what’s happening. It’s been ages. James and Ava aren’t back yet, and while they might still be trying to sneak around Calliope, chances are they’ve been captured, too. If they don’t come out, what are you going to do? Wait for Calliope to throw their bones through the crack so you know what happened? Or are you going to be our queen and f ight for your realm?”