“Waiting for you, boy. I know why you wander in these trees alone. Why you don’t tell your mother where you’ve gone. Why you distance yourself from others your age. I know about your time in the Underworld.”
Sickness spread over the boy’s face. He looked down at his feet, kicked a twig with his sneaker.
“I also know,” Hades went on, “that your parents don’t understand you. That they think you’re nothing but a weak child.”
Max’s head darted up, and his eyes flashed a stormy gray. “I’m not weak. And I’m not a child.”
Oh, he was, though. Only eleven, maybe twelve. And though he had powers yet untapped, he was still nothing but an inexperienced, albeit haunted, child.
Hades’s smile widened, the diaphanous robe like the one Lachesis normally wore all but glowing around him. “There is a way to prove them wrong.”
“How?” Max asked with curiosity.
“Oh, I think you know, child. Whom do they protect you from? Whom do they think you’re not strong enough to face? Who holds power over you, even here?”
Max’s eyes darkened, and his jaw clenched under his smooth skin. “Atalanta,” he whispered.
Children were so fucking predictable.
“So face her,” Hades said, fighting the smile. “Prove yourself to them.”
“I—I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”
“You were strong enough to escape. You were strong enough to stay alive. How did you do that, if you were nothing but weak?”
Max stared at the base of a tree, and Hades could practically see the wheels turning in his blond head. “The Orb of Krónos.”
Bingo.
Hades smiled, careful not to give too much away. “With it you can do anything.”
“But how—?”
A little nudge was all the kid needed. Hades faded into nothing. “Good luck, child.”
Back in the Underworld, Hades grinned from ear to ear. Take that, you fucking Fate.
He looked down at the inventory list on his desk that he’d put off too long. He had to keep close tabs on which souls went where. His father, Krónos, was continuously sucking souls into Sin City, promising them things he could never follow through on. If he ever got out…
Hades’s jaw clenched at that thought. Krónos could never get out. No matter what. Which was all the more reason it was so important he got his hands on the Orb. If one of the other gods—if Atalanta, that bitch—released Krónos, then not only the human realm but the Underworld as well would forever be altered.
Altered? Forget that. It’d be fucking ruined.
No, Krónos would not get out. Because Hades was absolutely sure the boy—Max—would do exactly what he wanted him to do. Within a matter of days, the Orb would belong to Hades for good.
A shuffling sound echoed from the hall. Feeling better than he had in days, Hades turned from the desk and called, “Orcus! Just the troll I’ve been looking for. Where’s the stain?”
Now that he had one issue dealt with, it was time to refocus on another.
Orcus dragged his limp leg into the room, his pointy ears twitching forward and back. “I—I bring news, my lord. About the stain.”
“And?”
Orcus rang his scaly green hands together. “She—the hellhounds picked up her scent. Somewhere on Vancouver Island.”
“Well then, have them kill her,” Hades said between clenched teeth, trying not to let Orcus’s incompetence ruin his good mood.
“There’s a problem, my lord.”
“What problem?”
“They…they can’t find her. It’s like she disappeared. Even though her scent is still strong.”
Hades looked out the open window to the swirling red sky beyond. So Maelea was using the therillium to hide after all, thinking it would protect her. “How many pieces of ore did that kobalos say they took from the tunnels?”
“He thinks only one, my lord.”
One…
“And how long has she had it?”
“A week. Slightly more.”
Depending on the size of the piece, its power could begin to drain or it could last several more weeks. Until she either came out of hiding or the ore finally failed, she’d be invisible.
He turned back to Orcus. “Send hellhounds to the area her scent is strongest. She can’t stay hidden forever. As soon as she shows herself, have her killed. And the Argonaut, if he’s still with her.”
Orcus bowed and backed out of the room. “Yes, my lord.”
Things were finally starting to go his way. As he rocked back on his heels and enjoyed the view, Hades clasped his hands behind his back and smiled. He couldn’t wait until his wife returned from Olympus. Couldn’t wait to tell her he’d finally killed that fucking stain of hers and that he had the Orb.
Couldn’t wait to enjoy her reaction.
***