My mother shook her head. “I need you here with Kate, to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Persephone rolled her eyes. “Of course she’s going to do something stupid. She’s Kate.”
“I’m counting on you not to let that happen.”
After one quick squeeze of her hand and my mother’s admonishment to be good, their goodbyes were over. Persephone’s eyes were dry. How could this be so damn easy for her?
James touched my shoulder, and I spun around to hug him. “If you die, I will be so pissed at you,” I said.
“Then let’s hope that doesn’t happen. If you wander into battle, I’m going to be so pissed at you,” said James.
“Then let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” I mimicked. “Do you need a lift to Olympus?”
He snorted. “Nice try. Your mother’s got it covered.” Hesitating, he pressed his lips to the corner of my mouth. An almost-kiss full of questions I couldn’t answer and promises neither of us could keep. “Don’t forget—I get to be your first affair, and I’m holding you to that.”
“You’d better,” I said, and with that, he let me go for one last hug with my mother. The knot in my throat grew unbearable, but I refused to cry. I didn’t want the last moments we had to be full of blubbering sobs.
Neither she nor James said anything. They smiled, no trace of fear or anxiety on either of their ageless faces, and James offered my mother his arm. She took it wordlessly, and together they faded until there was nothing left but the breeze.
“Come on, let’s get you some tea before you fall over,” said Persephone. She took my elbow, and I didn’t argue. If Cronus slaughtered everyone I loved, Persephone would be the only family I had left. Not exactly a satisfying consolation prize, but I didn’t want to give her any reason to hate me.
As much as I wanted to reassure myself that it wouldn’t come to it being just the two of us, I couldn’t. It wasn’t up to me, and I couldn’t change the outcome of the battle through sheer willpower and thought alone. I could do something to help though, if I could only think of something that would be worth the risk.
Something Persephone had said niggled in the back of my mind, but before I could concentrate fully on it, she pushed the door open. “Adonis! What did I say about feeding the dog peanut butter?”
Adonis, Persephone’s boyfriend—husband?—rose from the floor, and I gaped at the puppy at his feet.
“Pogo?” I knelt down, and the black-and-white dog Henry had given me let out a bark muffled by a mouthful of homemade peanut butter. Tripping all over himself, he scampered across the cottage and jumped into my arms. One lick on the cheek, and I could no longer hold back the floodgates.
Persephone stepped around me as I clung to Pogo and cried. She could give me all the nasty looks she wanted; she’d abandoned her family an eon ago. I’d barely started to get to know mine.
By the time my sobs ended, she had a mug of tea waiting for me on the tiny kitchen table. She sat in the chair opposite mine, and Adonis lingered nearby, leaning against the wall and shuffling his feet. While I sipped my tea with Pogo in my lap, neither of them said anything.
Several minutes passed, and I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Aren’t you afraid of what’s going to happen?” I said, my voice rough after my crying fit.
Persephone shrugged. “They’ve been at war with the Titans before.”
“But it’s different this time. They don’t have Calliope, and Henry—”
“What about Henry? What’s wrong with him?”
With a sigh, I launched into everything that had happened since she’d left the palace after the first battle. Calliope’s plot to kidnap me, the nine months I’d spent as her prisoner, Milo, my connection with Cronus, what I’d promised him and what he’d promised in return—the attacks on Athens and Egypt, Henry’s fight for survival, his sacrifice to keep Milo and me safe. Everything.
“And now they’re going into the biggest battle in history down two of their strongest fighters with no real hope of success.” I cuddled Pogo, and he licked the crook of my arm.
Persephone drummed her fingers against the wooden table, her expression distant. “And you’re going to spend the entire time here, not even trying to help them?”
“The only thing I could possibly do is distract Cronus and Calliope, and you heard Mom. She doesn’t want that.”
“If I were you, I’d be fighting like hell to keep every good thing I had in my life,” said Persephone. “Not all of us had that chance. The relationship you have with Mother, with Henry—you two made me an aunt, and you’re sitting here like a lump instead of doing everything you can to get them back.”
“You think I want to sit here? If there was something I could do to help, I’d be doing it, but I can’t—”
“Like hell you can’t.” She narrowed her eyes. “Think, Kate. Just stop and think. You’re the girl who trekked across half the Underworld to reach me on the off chance I might know where to find Cronus, and you’re giving up right now? I don’t think so.”
Were she and James conspiring to make me feel like an utter failure? I opened my mouth to protest again, but she held up her hand.
“There’s always a way around a problem, and you have half an hour to figure it out before the battle begins. So you tell me, Kate—after everything you’ve been through and everything you’ve seen, are you going to sit there, or are you going to fight?”
I took a deep breath. Persephone was right; there was always a solution. There was always a way to fix something, even if it was hard. Even if it was nearly impossible.
Anything is possible if you give it a chance.
Henry’s voice. Henry’s words. He believed in me, even though I’d long since given up believing in myself.
Think. Think. The weapons. Cronus’s bargain. The layout of the palace. Nicholas. Persephone.
My eyes flew open, and the pieces of the puzzle snapped into place. “I know what to do.”
She grinned. “It’s about damn time.”
Chapter 17
Final Stand
We arrived arm in arm in the middle of Persephone’s forest. The moment the ground underneath our feet shifted, she let go of me, but I didn’t care. For the first time in ages, I knew exactly what I was doing.
Grabbing her hand, I dragged Persephone through the trees, toward a redheaded girl surrounded by the tamest animals I’d ever seen. A baby deer rested beside her, a singing robin settled on her shoulder, and in her lap she cuddled a litter of bunnies no bigger than my fist.