Page 37 of Spring's Descent
No. I wouldn’t let that happen.
Calling on my shadows, I flitted through the tunnels, tracking her scent. Vanilla and wildflowers clashed with the pungent smell of rotting flesh as I turned down the forked path.
Persephone’s screams echoed up ahead, jolting something in my chest.
Burning through more of the little magic I had left, I folded into the shadows, appearing at the mouth of the cave a moment later.
Massive, blood-red stones littered the cave, evidence of a time when a golden-haired hero had banished the hydra back to my world. Columns that had stood the test of time for thousands of years had been reduced to rubble, blocking the narrow path wrapping around the lake. A crumbling gate stood at the far end, guarding the stairway leading up. The passage would, indeed, lead to The Realm of the Living if one was able to reach it.
The once pristine lake set before the gate was now a sickly black, poisoned by the acidic blood of the hydra that inhabited its depths. The water was choppy, the surface of the lake having been disturbed from tumbling rocks.
Dread curled in my stomach as I spotted Persephone stumbling over sharp rubble blocking the path. Blood coated her hands and knees, the bright red mixing with the darker shades of the stone.
Midnight waters churned as the spindles of the hydra’s back peaked through the surface, sending ripples outward as the creature stalked toward her, scenting a lurking prey. She didn’t notice. Persephone was so focused on escaping me, she didn’t see the danger heading straight for her.
“Don’t move,” I breathed.
Persephone’s gaze snapped to mine with a retort poised on her lips. I shook my head, sending my shadows out to shroud her. One wrapped around her mouth before she could utter a word just as the scaled head of the hydra lifted from the water.
23
HADES
Large,clouded eyes peered over the black waters as the serpentine neck rose. Spikes fanned out around its head, framed by eight grotesque stumps. The other heads had been hacked away and cauterized the last time the hydra faced an opponent, leaving ragged clumps of blackened flesh behind. But the center head was immortal. It took centuries for it to reform after Hercules buried it, but the creature had regenerated, returning to its home in between our realms.
Persephone froze, her fear coatings the air in thick clouds as the hydra’s forked tongue lashed out between sharp fangs. Its dark blue scales shimmered in the dim light of the cave as it scented the air, the mangled necks twitching in turn as its nostrils flared. The hydra had terrible eyesight, but its sense of smell would prove difficult to out maneuver. Especially with Persephone’s blood swirling in the air.
Realizing a moment too late, my shadows circled the cuts along Persephone’s knees and palms, but it was like chum to a ravenous shark. The hydra hadn’t fed in centuries.
Its body tensed, the thick muscles in its reptilian neck coiling before it struck.
Persephone screamed, throwing her hands up as I dove through darkness to reach her. My arms wrapped around her waist, spinning us until she was safe behind me. The hydra’s fangs were inches away from my chest, slicing through the thick blanket of shadows I’d cast.
I wove spell after spell to slow it down, using Persephone’s fear to bolster my power, burning through the reserves of magic I had left. If I was at my full power, I would’ve been able to escape unscathed. But this was going to hurt.
“Don’t touch the water,” I said over my shoulder as bands of night wrapped around the creature’s neck, squeezing. “It’s acidic.”
“The blood,” Persephone breathed, her voice shaking. Her fingers dug into my shoulders as one of the bands of shadow around the hydra’s neck snapped.
A pulse of electricity shot through me, burning through the chill that had begun to creep over my body once more. Magic.
But it wasn’t the power of frost and darkness that I’d mastered, this power felt like life. Like pain and emotion and blazing fire taken from the surface of the sun.
I drew on it, allowing it to act through me as I raised my hands. Words fell from my lips as I wove spells, guiding them with my fingers, but it was Persephone who called the ripple of power to the forefront.
A blast of sunlight illuminated the cave, blinding the hydra as its terrible shriek reverberated off the walls. The hydra dove, attempting to escape the brightness. The rocks beneath our feet wobbled, some tumbling toward the deadly water as the entire cave shook. The Hydra’s tail thrashed against the black water, the spray of acid slicing through my shadows and finding their mark in my skin.
“Hold on!” I shouted over the Hydra’s cries, relieved a moment later as I felt Persephone’s arms wrap around my torso.I turned away from the monstrous creature only long enough to gather her in my arms before I called on the darkness once more and fled.
Persephone
It feltlike I was being squeezed between two thick blocks of ice. The surrounding darkness was indefinite. There was no way out. No breath in my lungs to even scream.
My chest expanded as the world opened before me. The shadows that had been holding me up fell away, causing me to stumble to the floor. The black-red stone of the enchanted pools Aidoneus had first taken me to were beneath me, the gentle reflection of bubbling waters shimmering along the dark walls.
The cuts along my knees and palms stung as I pushed to stand, taking in the vast network of pools ahead. They were larger than the ones we had been at and far deeper judging by the way the light turquoise waters transitioned to a dark blue at the centers.
“Get dressed,” Aidoneus barked as the hydra screeched in the distance. He tossed a clump of clothes at me as I turned to face him. I stumbled back as I caught them, shooting him a glare over the mound.