The fates take on an eerie stillness, before Clothio snaps her fingers. The skeletons drop immediately, and I breathe a sigh of relief. My back is drenched in sweat and my muscles ache from fending off the possessed bones. Clothio steps over to the other fates and produces a pair of scissors from a pocket in her dress and proceeds to snip the glowing twine, barely missing one of the fate’s fingers. The thread shrivels to the ground becoming dull and lifeless. The two glare at Clothio for stopping their game. But they don’t protest, instead they turn and focus back on us. “This garden is protected by Persephone’s magic. Its residents don’t like being disturbed by intruders. I can only hold them off for a few minutes. Now, you must listen carefully. In the deepest depths of Hell, past many obstacles, guardians, and sacrifices, is a locked door.” Clothio produces a gold skeleton key from thin air as if she’s plucked it into existence. “Take this.”
Our fingers brush as I clasp the key, sending a jolt into my arm as if I’d just hit my funny bone. I jump back on instinct.
The fates lanky figures become transparent, a mere whisper of their solid form.
“Stay on the path. You must hurry” One of them says, their voice barely audible, but the ominous warning comes through clearly as what’s left of her hand points down to the ground in front of me, before she completely disappears. As they dissipate the black clouds get sucked in with them. Light returns in an instant making what just happened feel like a fever dream. If I didn’t have this key in my hands, I would have thought it was a trick of the brain. A side effect to the flower petal I ate.
My mind plays back everything they said, trying to commit it to memory. It starts with nine. Nine what?
Then they said to stay on the path?The path. I look down at my feet, noting the black cobblestones just outside the garden. Straining my eyes, I follow their shape up into the distant mountain range. I turn around, taking in the shocked faces of the guys.
“What the ever-living fuck was that?” Pierce asks.
The key feels heavy in my hand, the edges digging into my palm. I unfurl my fist and take a closer look at the golden object my heart hammering in my chest. I feel a churning in my stomach, and a sense of dread settling deep in my soul.
“Forget them, let’s just get back up top. We should get out of here.” Emmet says.
“Oh, so now you’re in a hurry to get back?” Walker quips.
“Hey, nice boner, Garrison.” Pierce chuckles, pointing at the femur he’s still clutching.
I drown out their bickering and focus on the riddle. My mind whirls to piece it together and what it could mean.It starts with nine, the world unwinds… the sins combine.The sins. Anger rises in me at the thought of Pride and how he manipulated me. How he made me feel so used. I shudder at the memory of him between my thighs. I want him to pay. I want all the sins to pay for what they’d done to us.
One thing is for sure, I feel that the fates were telling the truth. We need to follow this path and retrieve the box. If we don’t… I don’t want to regret having the chance to have done something.
“What’s the verdict, my little witch?” Pierce asks, sliding up next to me and taking my free hand in his. I notice the faint lines around his wrist that weren’t healed all the way when he ran into Hecate. I brush the pad of my thumb along the raised ridge in his flesh.
“I think we have to get this box and I think we should move before those skeletons decide to wake back up.”
“Then, that’s what we’ll do.” He says with a squeeze. His piercing green eyes stare down into mine with an intensity that hits me right in the heart.
“You want to go with me?”
“I’ll follow you into the depths of Hell itself if it means I can be with you. I’m not letting you go again.”
Walker shoves Emmet causing him to trip back into Garrison.
“Enough already.” They immediately straighten out, dusting themselves off and adjusting their disheveled clothes. “You guys can do what you want to, but we’re going to follow the fates advice.”
“Are you sure we can trust them?” Emmet asks.
“No, but I trust myself.”
He shoves his hands into his pants pockets and hangs his head down.
“You don’t have to ask me twice, angel. You know I’d follow you anywhere. You want to have an epic hobbit journey? Let’s do it.” Walker says, stepping over to the other side of me and sandwiching me between him and Pierce. I love how their tall frames make me feel like I’m in a safety bubble of my own creation.
“Garrison?” I ask, taking in his arms folded against his chest and the way he digs his top teeth into his bottom one as he thinks. He’s always been the quiet one. Reserved. A step out of reach from the rest of the guys, but still a valuable part of our group. He rubs his chiseled jaw for a moment and lets out a sigh.
“Alright, what the hell? Let’s go.”
PartTwo
CHAPTER24
Chapter Twenty-Four
PRESTON: 1890
