“Let’s go!” he called over his shoulder as he began marching up the next hill with Aphrodite on his back and the butterflies leading the way.
Cadmus looked to me. “Would you like for me to carry you?”
I laughed wearily. “I wish. But no. You need your strength, too.”
He looked at me in mock outrage. “You think I’m so weak that I can’t carry you?”
“Of course not. I know you can. But we don’t know what is coming and I want you at your best when we face it. Raquel needs you.”
That thought sobered him up immediately and he nodded. “Raquel needs us both. And we’ll be there. I promise you that, my love.”
I leaned up and pressed my lips to his, savoring the warm, familiar kiss. The unknown was scary, but facing it with Cadmus made it more palatable.
“Ready?” He raised a dark eyebrow.
“As I’ll ever be.”
He wrapped his arm around my waist and we followed the others into the fields of the Underworld.
Chapter Five
Erebus was such a neutral place that it was easy to forget where we were as we traveled. This part of the Underworld wasn’t foreboding in the slightest. It was breezy, earthy and seemingly normal.
It was also very large. The flower dotted fields were so vast that we seemed to walk forever. One strange thing about the Underworld was that there was no sun to gauge the passage of time. The strange muted light that surrounded us stayed the same. It didn’t fade or brighten, so time seemed to run together.
Finally, after walking the steep hills for hours, I couldn’t take it anymore- at least not today. My calves were literally trembling from exhaustion and I stopped in my tracks.
“We’ve got to stop,” I called to Ares who was still briskly leading the pack with my mother on his back. Aphrodite had actually fallen asleep against his shoulder blades, her arms dangling loosely around his neck. I envied her. I was dead on my feet.
“Why?” he asked in surprise, turning.
“Because I’m going to fall down any minute,” I snapped. “Not all of us are machines like you.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “I’m not a machine. Sue me for being fit.”
I rolled my eyes. I knew that I was being cranky, but I just couldn’t help it. I had never been so tired in my life. Cadmus wrapped me in his arms and I buried my face against his chest, inhaling his delicious scent. He always smelled like the outdoors- clean and musky. I was so weary and so comfortable in this spot, that I knew I would fall asleep right here if I didn’t move.
I pulled away reluctantly.
“We’ve got to find somewhere to sleep.”
“Where do you suggest?” Ortrera asked as she looked over the countryside. “There’s nothing but empty fields for miles and miles.”
“Well, that could be a problem,” I acknowledged.
“But not an insurmountable one,” my father added. “Look.”
In the near distance to our right, there was a cluster of large boulders in the juncture of two hills. It would provide some semblance of protection from the rolling fields. I didn’t hesitate. I simply started walking toward it. The butterflies fluttered in a billowing cloud above us and they followed us overhead as we moved.
The open space was misleading. Even though it looked fairly close, it still took us an hour or so to reach the boulders. But once we did, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a cave.
Out here in the middle of nowhere, a cave stood alone. Ares slid Aphrodite gently to the ground and then pushed ahead, joined by Cadmus and Ortrera as they plunged inside the dark depths of the doorway. My mother and I stood quietly with the Amazons as we waited for the verdict.
It came quickly.
Ares poked his head out of the doorway. “It’s safe. Come on in.”
My mother and I glanced at each other warily, but we didn’t hesitate as we followed them in. We were simply too tired to care. And as we entered the small cave, it was immediately evident that there wasn’t anything to worry about, anyway.
It was one room and barren. There was nothing in it at all but a few scattered pebbles and a tiny clear pool of water. It wasn’t fed by a spring, so I decided that it must bubble up directly from the ground. As we stepped in, the temperature immediately dropped a few degrees as we were surrounded by the cool stone.
I took a deep breath as I looked around. There was evidence of an old campfire in the center because the ground was blackened and there was a pile of partially burned logs. So, clearly this was a cave that was used by others at times. We’d have to hope that they didn’t choose to return tonight- because I was just too tired to defend it against intruders.
Ares rubbed Aphrodite’s arms gently as he gazed into her eyes.
“Are you alright?” He studied her face as he waited for an answer. She was unusually pale so it was obvious that she was exhausted. She was also unusually quiet, which was even more of a red-flag. Silence was something that simply wasn’t in her molecular make-up.
She nodded. “I don’t know why I feel so tired. I’m just… wiped out.”
He examined her carefully, running his hands over her arms and brushing her honey-colored hair back from her face. “You seem to be fine,” he replied cautiously.
She nodded. “I know. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with me. I haven’t been injured. I’m just so tired.”
I watched her in concern. “Mother, you should lie down. You look like you are ready to fall down.” She nodded in agreement, weariness etched on her exquisite face. She had never seemed as delicate as she did right now.
I grabbed her knapsack and rummaged through it, finding a soft wrap. I wound it around her shoulders and helped her settle onto the hard ground as comfortably as I could make it. I sat beside her quietly with her head in my lap, stroking her arm as I watched Ares and Cadmus talk quietly by the cave entrance. Aphrodite was asleep within a minute.
I glanced in alarm at my father.
“Ares!”
He turned to me questioningly, but when he saw Aphrodite asleep already, he rushed to my side and scooped her into his arms. He settled with his back against the stone wall as he cradled her to his chest, allowing her to sleep in comfort.
“Is she alright?” I asked quietly.
He nodded, although his face wasn’t as confident.
“She’s just tired, daughter. She’s not accustomed to extended hikes in the Underworld.”
“Okay,” I answered quietly. I prayed that he was right. My mother’s face was slack and innocent in her sleep and it was hard to imagine that anything could be wrong with her. So, I put it out of my mind.