Page 46 of Spring's Descent
Frozen skin drawn tight over skeletal hands reached for me, tugging at my clothes, ripping at my hair. Losing all pretense of blending in, I reached for the warmth of my magic and sprinted for the growing light in the distance.
My lungs burned with each inhale of icy air, but I didn’t slow. I couldn’t. Too many had snapped out of whatever hell they’d been trapped in and had set their sights on me.
I willed my body to move faster as my boots slipped on bits of ice and sleet that coated the path. Somehow, the world grew colder—the atmosphere harsher—as my legs trembled. Fear spurred on my movements as I pushed my body to its limits. A metallic tang coated my lips as frosted breaths stung my lungs,the taste of blood rolling over my tongue. It was too cold. Even the air was painful to breathe. But the tunnel was opening, the sounds of the suffering obliterated by the thundering waterfall.
Water crashed into the sapphire pool below, causing the ground beneath my feet to vibrate. I tilted my neck up as I sprinted from the cave, watching horrified as bodies pitched over the edge from far above, their bones joining the bed of broken dreams and icy shards before me.
Nausea twisted my stomach as I looked at the abandoned souls trapped beneath the thick layers of ice, my gaze darting over them until I found one staring back at me.. My legs carried me forward, it’s intelligent blood-red eyes locked with mine. I was so fixated on them that I didn’t notice the sapphires beneath my feet shift into sheets of ice.
I slipped, palms crashing against ice as the force of my fall carried me further across the slick surface. The throng of souls trailing close behind slowed, stopping where blue stones met the cursed lake.
I was forgotten once more.
Thank the gods, because I’d slid a good deal. I had intended to avoid the risk of walking over ice and stick to the stone path as I searched for… something.
Shaking my head, I placed my palms against the ice, rolling to my knees as I concentrated on standing. I had to keep going. To keep moving… But why?
A suffocating wave of hopelessness descended on me as a sob tore through my chest. I hung my head, unable to look away from my feet. From the melted soles warped from climbing through the borderlands of Tartarus, and the too-long pants rolled up around them.
Aidoneus’s pants.
My shoulders rounded as my chest shook. The light emanating from my palms dimmed as I realized I couldn’t feelhim. Aidoneus was too far away. He must have given up on me. It was easier to find another earth witch, one who would be grateful to be a queen.
I was always complaining. Always failing.
Aidoneus said the fates named me Persephone, The Destroyer, but mother had it right. Korae was fitting. I was meant to be nameless and compliant.
And I’d failed at that, too. Misery sliced through my chest. It felt like I was being split open with a dagger, the sharp edge digging in only to be ripped a second later, leaving me gutted and bleeding.
My palms and knees burned, but not from fire. From ice. Blinking away the blurriness from my eyes, I realized my body had started to sink into the frozen lake, my magic melting layers as my tears added to them.
My stomach twisted as dark shapes shifted beneath my fingers. Dark wisps of hair undulated around a pale face, warped and frozen in a silent scream. The nose was blackened, bits of the cheeks and lips eroded into charred bits of what used to be skin, but it was the bloodshot eyes that were full of clarity—of awareness—that caused my pulse to race.
The dark eyes snapped to mine, startling a terrified gasp from me as they widened, its scream vibrating through the layers of ice to hum beneath my fingers. Then there was another voice, a warmer one that I wanted so badly to run to.
“Persephone!”
My name. That was my name, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from the soul beneath me. Couldn’t do anything but picture myself there with him as tears streamed down my face, solidifying as they joined the ice beneath my hands.
“Persephone, look out!”
The deep voice rocked through me, latching on to the dim embers still burning inside of me. It was small, a bit of kindling added to coals nearly gone, but the current of my magic caught.
A wash of darkness rolled over me, giving me the strength to shatter the fine layer of icy tears as I curled my fingers into fists. I gritted my teeth as I forced my boots to find purchase. My arms pushed as my knees lifted, and soon I was standing.
Gods above, there were souls everywhere, littering the ice. I should be afraid, but I felt numb, like I’d been disconnected from my body.
“Persephone!”
Aidoneus’s voice was louder, cutting through the swarm of lamenting souls. I clung onto his voice, searching for its source. He was at the edge of the lake. Relief flickered through me, but his cerulean blue eyes were wide with abject horror.
My brows furrowed as I took a step toward him, only now beginning to understand that I must have been caught in the song of one of the Algea. But it didn’t matter. My demon was here.
An unhinged shriek sounded from my left. Its clothes had long since gone, most of the skin and muscle as well, causing white bones to protrude where its fingers had once been, and the translucent face was contorted into a manic grin.
There was no recognition. No presence like the other souls held.
This was a wraith.