For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw a hint of a smile on Henry’s face. When I blinked, it was gone. “You are asking me to release the most powerful being in the universe, who will undoubtedly wreak havoc on the world before wiping out humanity and killing us all?”
“Yes,” said Calliope, apparently unfazed by the future Henry painted. “In exchange for Kate’s life.”
“In exchange for the life of a girl I met a year ago and have only seen for a few minutes in the past six months.” Something inside of me crumbled, and I forced myself to my feet. He was right. I wasn’t worth it. I’d known I wasn’t before he’d said it, but somehow hearing the words come from his mouth made it real. Even if he did love me, I was one person. I was one life. It would have been foolish for him to open the gate to save me no matter how he felt.
Calliope sighed. “You might have the rest of them fooled, but I know you better than you know yourself. Your bluff won’t work.”
“How certain are you that I’m bluff ing?” said Henry.
Calliope said nothing. “Very well. Since Kate insists you will kill her anyway, and since it is clear you have no intention of letting her go, why don’t I leave you with your bounty and instead offer up another trade? I will open the gate for you after you release the others.” He glanced up toward the ceiling, where James and Ava hung. “All of the others.”
Calliope’s eyes narrowed, and she drummed her f ingers against her thigh. “You won’t put up a f ight for Kate?” she said, and Henry nodded. “How do I know it isn’t a trap?”
“How could it possibly be?” he said. “Cronus is here, and Kate is of no importance to the council. Whether or not she lives or dies, you will have the upper hand. You of all people know we cannot win against him without you.
I am merely asking that my family be returned so we can prepare to surrender with dignity.”
I couldn’t breathe, and this time it had nothing to do with the chains Calliope had around my neck. Henry meant it. Whether or not he’d been bluff ing before, there was agony in his voice that jolted through me as if it were my pain, as well. He knew it was a lost cause. Calliope wanted me, and he wanted his siblings back. It was a fair trade, and all he would lose was a girl he barely knew.
I was really going to die. The countless hours I’d spent preparing myself for this possibility during our trek through the Underworld did nothing to cushion the gut-wrenching realization that I wasn’t going to exist any longer. I had no idea what happened to gods after they faded, but considering Persephone had had to turn mortal to join Adonis in the Underworld, I assumed there wasn’t any sort of afterlife.
I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Not like this.
“Henry, please,” I said in a choked voice. I brushed my f ingers against his, and despite his stony face, his Adam’s apple bobbed.
He didn’t look at me. I’d come here knowing this was a possibility, that Calliope would rip me apart and I would never go home again, but I’d never expected Henry to give his blessing. Before this, I’d managed to hold on to the hope that somewhere inside of him, he loved me, but that had vanished now. Along with every last bit of inner strength I needed to let Calliope steal the rest of my life all over again.
“How touching,” said Calliope. “Very well, Henry. You have yourself a deal.”
She waved her hand, and James and Ava began to descend. I heard a groan from the mouth of the cave, but before I could see who it was, my body moved involun-tarily toward the gate and the menacing fog that swirled around it. Henry moved as well, his feet dragging along the ground.
“Please, don’t,” I gasped as everything inside of me drained away, leaving me with nothing but the overwhelming instinct to survive. I clawed at the chains around my neck, but they burned my hands, and it was no use.
Whether I died at Calliope’s hand or Henry released Cronus and he ripped me apart for her, I didn’t stand a chance if Henry wasn’t going to f ight. And he was opening the gate—he couldn’t. He couldn’t.
“By the time you’ve opened it, the others will be awake enough to leave,” said Calliope. “Unless you want me to change my mind and put them to sleep again, I would get started if I were you.”
With his mouth set in a thin line, Henry picked up a piece of fog-infused stone nearby. At f irst I didn’t realize what he was doing, but when he pressed a sharp corner against his palm and dragged it down, I covered my mouth, horrif ied.
Scarlet blood pooled in his hand, and he pressed it against the f irst bar of the gate, whispering something I couldn’t hear.
“Henry.” I was a sobbing mess now, but I didn’t care. He was going to get everyone killed. “Don’t do this. Please. I’ll do anything.”
He didn’t so much as f linch. As Henry pulled his hand away, the bar groaned, and the stone split through the middle of the mark his blood made. Calliope hovered, wearing a giddy grin, and as her excitement grew, her grip on the chain around my neck loosened. Wild hope f illed me as I slipped my f ingers between my neck and the links. Nothing I said could stop Henry, but if I could slip away—
“The next one!” cried Calliope.
Henry closed his eyes and pressed his hand against the second bar. As it too crumbled, I frantically worked myself loose from the chain while Calliope was too preoccupied to notice. Her entire body seemed to tremble with excitement, and the fog spilled out from between the opened portion of the gate, all but obscuring Henry. I could still see Calliope’s silhouette, but barely. Unlike the fog in the chains, this didn’t sting; like the desert, it felt like feathers against my skin.
Finally my head slipped out of the noose, and I was free.
All I had to do was f ind the exit. If Henry continued to go this slowly, I’d have time to help free the others, and maybe they could talk some sense into him.
But my feet were glued to the ground. Not by some outside force, but because I couldn’t leave Henry. If he stopped, Cronus would destroy him. He would destroy all of us. And I couldn’t stand by and let that happen.
It was the hardest decision I’d ever made, but I stayed.
There were ten bars in all. With each one Henry opened, Calliope lost more of her composure until she dropped the chain completely. Jumping up and down, she clapped her hands and emitted a high-pitched squeal. My insides twisted into knots. This was it.
Time seemed to stop, the fog muff ling everything. And in that moment, as the world grew silent, the sound of whispers snaked toward me from the direction of the cave.