“So you’re going to kill him because I decided you had to face the consequences for what you did?” I said. “Are you serious?”
Calliope grabbed a f istful of my hair and yanked my head back. “I’m serious when I say that you’re not getting out of here alive. If Persephone won’t tell me how to open the gate, then I’ll get Henry to do it instead.” Across the cavern, in the mouth of the cave where the others lay unconscious, Henry’s body jerked upward. His chains rattled and separated from the others, dragging along the ground as he f loated toward us. A knot formed in my throat at the sight of his bloodied body, even worse than it’d been in my last vision, but he was alive. As long as Calliope didn’t know how to open the gate, then she wouldn’t kill either of us. She couldn’t. Henry wouldn’t open it if I were dead.
“Wake up,” she growled, and Henry opened his eyes.
My heart skipped a beat, and for a long moment, we stared at each other. His eyes were the same bizarre shade of moonlight, but the spark was gone. I searched for any sign that he was in there, any indication that he could f ight, but it was as if he didn’t even see me. He’d given up.
“Henry?” I whispered, and he blinked. “Henry, please—
look at me.”
He was already looking at me, but he didn’t see me, and I didn’t know how to ask for that. He wasn’t there. Whatever Calliope and Cronus had done to him, he’d retreated so far into himself that the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Calliope grabbed the loose end of his fog-infused chains and whipped it across his face. I gasped and struggled against her, but she held on to me with inhuman strength.
A bright red pattern blossomed across Henry’s cheek, and at last he shook his head and came to. He touched his face and winced, and I exhaled. He was in there after all.
Instead of looking at me, however, his gaze focused on something behind me, and his jaw went slack. “Persephone?”
I would have rather been sliced open by Cronus than experience the gut-wrenching pain that came with hearing her name before mine.
“Look who decided to join us,” said Calliope, tugging on my hair. Henry tore his gaze away from Persephone to focus on me, and the look on his face made my stomach turn. “Seems someone doesn’t have a brain in her head, but that’s no surprise, is it? You sure know how to pick them.
I didn’t have to do a thing. They both waltzed in here all on their own, practically gift-wrapped for me.” Henry’s expression hardened. “What do you want?”
“Do we really need to go through this again?” said Calliope. “Tell me how to open the gate, and I’ll let them go.”
“Henry, don’t,” I said. “It’s a—”
Calliope slapped her hand over my mouth. Without thinking, I licked her hand, exactly as I’d done to James.
I would have bitten her if I could have, but saliva was enough. She made a disgusted noise and pulled her hand away, giving me enough time to f inish. “It’s a trap,” I said.
“She can’t hurt Persephone, and she’s going to kill me anyway.”
Calliope wiped her hand on my shirt, and her grip on my hair tightened. “Does it matter? We both know Henry has no choice but to risk it.”
I struggled against her, but it was no use. Calliope would sooner pull out every strand of my hair than let me go.
“Please,” I said. “Henry, you can’t, it isn’t worth it—”
“All right, Calliope,” he said quietly. “I will tell you how to open it on the condition that you let Kate go f irst.” Calliope sniffed. “Hardly.”
“You have to offer me some insurance,” said Henry.
“What will it be?”
She caught me in a choke hold, her arm crushing my windpipe. “You tell me. The gate or your pretty little wife?”
The muscle in Henry’s jaw twitched, the same one that told me when he was on the verge of imploding. “Persephone, then,” he said. “You let Persephone go, and I will tell you what you want to know.”
“Done.” Calliope waved Persephone off, but Persephone made no move to go.
“You’re an idiot,” she said to Henry. “They can’t hurt me, and I’m not leaving.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Calliope. “I’ve held up my end of the deal. Persephone’s free to go, and it isn’t my fault she doesn’t want to, so you still have to tell me how to open the gate. Fair’s fair.”
Henry was silent, and I opened my mouth to protest, but no sound came out. Calliope thought this was supposed to be fair? Releasing a Titan to destroy the world for revenge, killing everyone that got in her way—what part of any of this was fair? My vision began to blur, and I stomped on her foot, but she barely moved. I would’ve given anything to get my hands on Henry’s fog-infused chains.
“Chop, chop,” said Calliope, tightening her grip. “Kate’s suffocating.”
“She will wake up the moment you let her go,” said Henry coolly, and nothing Calliope said could possibly match the gaping hole his words left inside of me.
The room started to spin and bright spots appeared in my vision, though I wasn’t sure if it was from what Henry had said or the lack of oxygen in my body. Either way, using what little strength I had left, I clawed at Calliope’s arm and tried again and again to shake her off. Nothing worked.
“Persephone, leave,” he ordered.
She scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Power began to build up around him, every bit as dark and dangerous as Calliope’s. “You will do as I say and leave immediately. I am your king, and you will obey me.” Persephone huffed and spun on her heel. “Fine,” she said as she stormed toward the other side of the cavern, where the crack in the wall waited for her. “See if I ever try to help you lot again.”
The tension in the air seemed to crackle, and once she was gone, Henry exhaled and refocused on Calliope. “In order to open the gates, a ruler of the Underworld must willingly sacrif ice blood against each of the bars.” He spoke monotonously, as if he no longer cared, and I wasn’t so sure he did. Calliope loosened her grip around my neck, and I fell to my knees. My lungs felt as if they were on f ire, and I sucked in the cold, precious air as my body regained its strength.
“Interesting,” said Calliope as she looped the end of Henry’s chains around my neck. They burned white-hot against my skin, but at least she didn’t tighten them. “It seems you do have some level of intelligence after all. Must I even ask?”