Only a few feet below, hanging from their arms by tendrils of fog, were James and Ava.
Any question of whether or not I’d done the right thing vanished. At best, Calliope would hold them all hostage.
At worst, they would be dead as soon as she dealt with Persephone. I squinted, searching for any signs of life from either of the two bodies dangling from the ceiling. Nothing.
“I don’t have all day.” Calliope’s voice cut through the silence, and a shiver ran down my spine. Her innocent, girly tone was gone, replaced by the all-encompassing voice of a deity, the same sort Henry used when he was mad. It was full of commands and demanded respect, and even though I was hidden, the urge to obey ran through me.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” said Persephone exasperatedly. What was she doing? “I’ve already told you I’m not saying anything unless you let them go. You can’t keep me here, and I’m perfectly happy walking back to my little slice of paradise and forgetting any of this ever happened.”
Calliope swore, and a jolt of pure power shook the cavern, blasting a chunk of rock out of the wall behind Persephone.
Instead of doing something sensible like falling down dead or crying out in agony, Persephone laughed. “Is that really all you’ve got? I have eternity to play these games, but if all you’re going to do is repeat the same thing, it’s going to get tedious quickly.”
“I will have Cronus kill them one by one until you tell me,” said Calliope, her voice rising until it all but crackled.
“I will do it slowly, and I will make sure they know you’re the one responsible.”
“If you hurt a single one of them, the deal’s off, and you’ll be stuck babysitting a bunch of limp bodies forever,” said Persephone. “I’m sure Cronus wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”
The fog lashed out, but it went straight through her torso, and Persephone didn’t so much as f linch. For some reason, they couldn’t hurt her, and she must have known. That was why she’d gone in. This had been her plan all along. Unless she’d just gotten lucky.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” said Calliope, her words dripping with contempt. “I know exactly what will happen the moment I remove their chains, and it doesn’t end well for me.”
“It won’t end well for you no matter what happens,” said Persephone. “You’ve managed to get yourself stuck in an impossible situation, and the only person you have to blame is yourself.”
Calliope growled, and the walls around us shook. Worried the entire cave was going to collapse on us, I took a step back toward the gap in the wall. Getting buried alive—
as an immortal, no less—wasn’t on my list of things to do.
At last the trembling stopped, and Calliope said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear her, “Bring me Kate, and I’ll let them go.”
“Let them go, and I will,” countered Persephone. “Forgive me if I don’t trust you, but you haven’t been very reliable as of late.”
Calliope scowled. “I won’t do it, not without Kate, and if you won’t bring her to me, then there’s no point continuing. She’ll come sooner or later, and until that happens, I’ll wait.”
Dammit. Of course the one choice I’d made on my own was the one thing that could screw up Persephone’s plan.
I inched toward the exit. If I could f ind it before Calliope saw me, then I’d slip out and wait for Persephone to join me. Ingrid would hide me if I explained what was going on, and then the three of us could strategize. If Persephone could come inside the cavern, then so could Ingrid, and maybe Calliope wouldn’t be able to hurt her, either. They could distract her while I freed the others, and—
A hiss of energy made my hair stand on end, and the boulder I’d hidden behind exploded. I instinctively covered my head and ducked as the shattered rock f lew through the air, but the pieces glanced off me, leaving my body unharmed.
Dead silence f illed the cavern.
Everything inside of me screamed run. I clawed at the rock, and had I still been mortal, I would have scraped my f ingertips down to the bone. But I couldn’t f ind the way out.
Calliope’s wicked laughter reverberated through the cavern, and I stopped struggling. It was pointless. She’d seen me, and there was no escaping now.
“That didn’t take long,” she said in a singsong voice.
“You really can’t do anything right, can you, Kate? You can’t even rush in to save your precious Henry the way you wanted to.”
I clenched my jaw and didn’t say a word. That was exactly what Calliope wanted—to piss me off. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.
“Hera—” said Persephone, but Calliope raised a hand to silence her. Persephone glared at me. I didn’t blame her.
“This certainly changes things, doesn’t it?” said Calliope cheerfully. She beckoned for me to come closer. When I didn’t move, she gestured, and an irresistible force pulled me toward her. No amount of digging my heels into the ground made any difference.
I was only a few feet from her when she lifted that surge of power, and thrown off balance, I collapsed onto the f loor. Her foot connected with my stomach, and all the air left my lungs.
“That’s for being such an idiot,” she said. “You’re pa-thetic, you know. Not even a worthy opponent. It’s like picking the wings off a f ly and watching it writhe around.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I wheezed. “I’m not a sadistic bitch like you.”
She kicked me again, and this time her foot connected with my chin. It stung, and my head whipped back; if I’d been mortal, I was sure it would have broken my neck. But she couldn’t win that easily anymore.
“Stop it,” said Persephone. “All she did was pass a stupid test. I know you love Hades, but there are better men out there. Trust me.”
“Trust you?” Calliope rounded on Persephone. “Why would I possibly trust you? You destroyed him. You took his love and shoved it back in his face, like Walter did to me. You couldn’t possibly understand what that feels like, you heinous—”
“Don’t,” I said, struggling to my feet. “She wanted to be happy. There’s no crime in that.”
“There is when you shatter someone else in the process,” said Calliope with a snarl. “Besides, it’s not about that, not anymore. Henry made his choice when he backed up your punishment. Do you really think I would have kidnapped him if I’d thought I still had a chance?”