CHAPTERONE
Once again,I found myself standing in darkness. Instinctively, I extended my hand in front of me and slowly shuffled forward until my fingers touched the smooth panel of a door with a modern knob. Rather than opening it, I felt alongside it for the switch.
The sudden burst of light blinded me, and I blinked several times at the wooden panel in front of me before slowly turning around and looking at my bedroom. The light blue quilt was neatly made on my bed. My latest journal sat on my nightstand, and the alarm clock showed how late it was here.
In Uttira, Maine.
Not in Hell.
With a flick of his wrist, Hades had fulfilled our contract and sent me home.
My chest tightened, and I hugged my arms around myself to ease the pain.
This is what I chose, I reminded myself.
But it wasn’t what I wanted. Not anymore. I wanted Hades standing within touching distance, watching me, saying all sorts of things to hint at how much he adored and wanted me. I wanted to hug him again. Touch him. Seek comfort and know safety.
But all of that was gone now.
Hewas gone.
And I’d chosen that. He’d asked me to stay. Begged. But I hadn’t listened. And why? Because a world that had never wanted me was now in danger?
In my heart, I knew that wasn’t the real reason. Acknowledging it made the pain eating through my chest even worse. So I forced myself to admit the truth.
If Hades had actually wanted me, Ashlyn, I might have stayed.
Closing my eyes against the tears that wanted to fall, I leaned my forehead against the door.
“Mother?” Zotera called softly from the other side. “Do you wish to be alone?”
The sound of her familiar voice almost broke me. I jerked open the door and stared at the only remaining connection I still had to Hades.
Looking unsure and worried, Zotera stood in the dark hallway outside of my room. I threw my arms around her, grateful she was there.
“No,” I said, answering her. “I don’t want to go back to being alone.” My voice caught at the end, and I hugged her even harder.
She hesitantly wrapped her arms around me in return.
“I’m happy you allowed me to come with you, Moth—Ashlyn. Your home is beautiful.”
Knowing I needed to pull myself together, I nodded against her and took a calming breath before easing away. This was Zotera’s first time away from Hell and Hades, and I didn’t want her to feel as homesick as I was.
I managed a smile as I looked over my shoulder at the bedroom she was studying. How could it look so familiar yet so wrong at the same time?
“It’s definitely different from the room I had in Hell, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It is. I can see why you wanted to leave Hell.”
The ache in my chest flared in denial, but I didn’t contradict her. In the end, I hadn’t wanted to leave Hell; I’dneededto leave it. And that difference defined how I felt about the place that had slowly grown on me.
Staying in Hell would have selfishly endangered the entire planet. Not that coming here was the definitive answer to preventing Hades from destroying the world in a fit of rage.
“We need to let Megan and the others know what’s happened,” I said. “Since I lost my phone, we’ll need to leave the house. Hopefully, my car is…” I trailed off, remembering how I’d driven it to the academy the day I’d disappeared.
Without my car, it would be a long, dangerous walk to Megan’s house.
My gaze flicked to Zotera’s bare torso. No one in Uttira would bat an eye at nudity, but her weird skirt would draw attention we couldn’t afford. Yet, so would I since I still wore the Grecian-style dress Hades had favored and all the jewelry I’d been wearing at the time.
