Turmoil: Book Three of The Shadow Goddess series

Chapter Seven: Micha's POV

“Are we any closer?” I ask Hades. We all have grown more and more desperate to get out of here and to Rose. Our guilt and pain weighing us down. We’ve all obviously been neglecting ourselves in our endeavor. We haven’t eaten properly or kept ourselves hydrated. Those of us who could sleep have been pushing ourself to stay awake. Anything we could do to get this all done faster. And even if we do get past Rose’s wards, there was the matter of finding her. We didn’t have an open bond to follow, Rose had completely locked us out. Though I could swear every once in a while, a pain so sharp and intense would shoot through me that wasn’t mine. That is what kept me trying. The pain I felt that I was sure was hers.

“I think we are breaking it slowly. It should not be much longer now.” Hades assured me; his voice raspy. Poor Hades was taking this hard. I don’t think he realizes how badly this is affecting him. He was a god, so he didn’t lose weight or muscle. He didn’t have to eat, drink or sleep. But somehow, he was looking ragged, older. His gold eyes were dim. Dull. Lifeless. His hair had grown wild and he no longer cared about making himself seem strong. You would easily see the vulnerability in his eyes.

Cassius, I think was worse than any of us though. He was a new god, unable to control everything yet. His pain and hurt have been morphing into anger. He blows up more often than not. He has destroyed his room already and has moved to other parts of the palace. He even attempted to destroy the supernaturals that linger along the grounds. That didn’t work out in his favor. Rose’s dragon companion tried to speak with him. Reassure him, compromise with him. He refused to listen. So, she fried him. I could still remember his screams and the smell of burning flesh. But he couldn’t die. He healed and tried again. It went in circles like this until the dragon realized he was doing it so he could feel the pain. Feel something other than loss and devastation.

Phoenix seemed to be taking it all in stride. I knew better. He was putting on a brave face for all of us, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. He was in pain just as much as the rest of us. He just tried to hide it while we wore our pain like an open wound. Because that’s exactly what it was. Her loss was open and raw. I knew this didn’t affect me as badly as it did the others, not in the same way. I felt a profound sense of loss and guilt. I also felt anger and betrayal. Though in hind sight I was the one to turn on her first. I made a decision and blamed her for the decision I made. We all had a part in driving her away. But even knowing that we had turned from her, she left to protect us. She still put us ahead of herself. And if what I felt was her, then none of us truly knew what pain is. Because what I feel when it slips through, even the small amount that does. Is enough to bring me to my knees and knock the breath from my lungs. We were in pain and suffering. Rose was tortured and in anguish.

“Micha?” Ryker bellowed, drawing my attention to him.

“Yes?” I replied, looking into his startling red eyes. How Rose could think those eyes were beautiful was beyond me. They were terrifying.

“We need your blood.” He said it so casually, like it wasn’t the oddest thing to ask for.

“Whyever, would you need my blood?’ I asked appalled.

“It’s just an idea. Please.” It was the plea more than anything. The desperation in his voice and his eyes. I sighed as I made my way over to him and held my hand out to him. He rushed away and grabbed a bowl, carefully making his way over to me. I paled at the blood that was already puddled in the bottom. “We’re all mixing out blood.” Ryker told me as he swiped the blade across my palm. “We’re hoping that will all of out blood combined it will break the wards.”

“Why would you think that?” I asked, wrapping the bandage he gave me around my hand.

“We are all bonded to Rose in one way or the other. While a mate bond is soul deep, it is still in our blood. In our very essence. With all her bonded men’s blood we think it will be powerful enough to break her wards.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“No.” Ryker’s face fell. “We’re not sure. But it’s our only hope. Rose made this ward to be impenetrable. So far everything we’ve tried has done very little.” Ryker looked away to where Cassius and the others were working. “This is our last option. If it doesn’t work then we’re trapped until she comes back for us. I don’t think any of us will last much longer.”

I didn’t bother responding because he was right. Hades and Cassius wouldn’t, they couldn’t die. But the rest of us were all but withering away. Depression has a way of completely taking over even when you fight it. It consumes your heart soul and mind. It drowns you as wave after wave of sorrow and emptiness crashed over you. Sometimes you feel a sadness so profound it feels like it is eating at your very soul. Then you just feel nothing. You’re blissfully numb. Those were the moments I most looked forward to. The moments where I can’t feel anything at all.

I followed behind Ryker approaching the group I have desperately been trying to keep my distance from. Their pain was leagues beyond mine, and it suffocated me whenever I was near them. It was thick in the air, but this time there was a thinness to it. There was hope right alongside the pain. Hope I couldn’t allow myself to feel. Hope, if I allowed myself to feel it would have the power to completely crumble the guards, I have been spending the past few weeks building.

“Everyone ready?” Hades asked as he stood. The bowl of blood in his hands. His eyes were wary. He was trying not to feel hope either. He, above all knows what kind of danger hope can bring.

“What do we need to do?” I asked, stepping forward.

A flash of gratitude flashed in Hades eyes briefly. “Everyone clasp hands and stand in front of the wards.” Hades commanded, his voice going stern.

We all did as he instructed. Me, Hades, Cassius, Phoenix, Ryker, and Aaron all gathered around, our hands grasping tightly to the others. Hades on the end of us and I watched as he dipped his fingers into the blood and started drawing some kind of rune into the wards. Revulsion made a shiver run down my spine at the sight of the bloody rune. One by one Hades drew rune after rune, the blood running in droplets down the invisible barrier.

Hades had barely dropped his hand before the markings started to glow. Gold light flared from the runes lighting up the dim clearing we had been working from. Slowly the runes moved as they started spinning around one another. Faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur of light, a glowing circle. When the spinning stopped, a new and larger rune stood before us. A mixture of all of them merged into one. I didn’t even have time to study it properly before it exploded in a burst of light. The implosion threw us all backwards, several yards away from the barrier.

“It is done.” Hades breathed a shuttering breath. “It worked; the ward is broken.”

All at once we bound to our feet and ran to the barrier. We paused where the barrier had been. Uncertain. But I could no longer see the shimmering of the barrier, could no longer feel the pulsing of power in the air. But despite Hades words, no one stepped forward to test his exclamation. With a deep breath I squared my shoulders and stepped forward. And through where the barrier had been. Hades was right, we did it. We were free.

Not seconds after the others stepped to my side hades froze. His entire body went startlingly rigid. Ever muscle was coiled and bunched into knots. His jaw was clenched so hard I could almost feel the pain from here. His hands were so tightly clenched blood dripped from his hands where his nails were digging into his palm. Something was very wrong.

“Hades? What is it?” I asked hesitantly.

“I know where Rose is.” His voice was a hissed whisper. His eyes met each of ours one by one. Fear was blazing in them clear as day. “She in in the underworld.”

“Why would she go there?” I gasped.

“I do not know, but we can not get to her until she returns. She has warded the underworld just has she did the palace. But the ward she placed on the underworld is the work of her goddess side. The power is too much for any one of us.”

My heart plummeted into my stomach. We had gotten past one ward just to have to wait on another. Whatever Rose was doing in the underworld all we could do was hope she returned soon. Because now that we’re free I knew none of us would stop until we got to her. Even if it killed us.