The Goddess Test Boxed Set: Goddess Interrupted\The Goddess Inheritance\The Goddess Legacy (73 page)

An ugly screech echoed through the heavens. Calliope. Panic
seized me, but before it had time to set in, Henry and Milo appeared. I threw my
arms around them, nearly sobbing with relief. “You're safe.”

“As are you.” Henry pressed his lips to my forehead, but our
reunion didn't last more than a few seconds. “I must go back.”

“You—what?”

Henry held Milo out for me, and I froze. The baby's blue eyes
were wide open, and he waved his little fists, watching me. Waiting for me to
finally take him. I ached to hold him, but the moment I touched him, I knew I
would never be able to leave him again. And we had a war to win.

“Go on,” said Henry quietly, and I shook my head, clasping my
hands behind my back. “He needs you.”

“So do you,” I said thickly. Refusing my son was the hardest
thing I'd ever done, but I had to. “I'm not taking him, Henry.”

We held each other's gaze, and I refused to back down. Whether
or not he wanted to admit it, he knew how this was going to end. And we didn't
have time to argue. At last Henry sighed, and a cradle appeared between us.
Without looking away from me, he gently set the baby inside, tucking his blanket
around him.

Once Henry straightened, I snatched his hand, holding it with a
crushing grip. “I'm going with you.”

Henry winced. The deafening clash of the battle raged below us,
and every second he wasn't there was another second we might lose. “Kate, I
must.”

“If you go, I go.”

“I cannot risk you.”

“And I can't risk you. We're a team. We work together. From
here on out, no one gets left behind, and no one does something stupid without
consulting the other first.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “If you go back, Calliope will do
everything in her power to kill you.”

“I know.” I squared my shoulders and summoned every last shred
of bravery I had left. “I was born mortal. I always knew I was going to die, and
I'm not afraid of it. But I am afraid of losing you. I am
terrified
of eternity without you.”

“And I you,” he said quietly. “Milo—”

“If something happens to me, then you'll come back to take care
of him,” I said firmly. “And if something happens to you, I'll do the same. I
promise. He won't be alone.”

Henry hesitated, and the sounds of the battle grew louder. We
didn't have time for this.

“Henry, I love you. I'm not asking your permission. I'm asking
you to tell me what I can do to help.”

He opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, I cut him
off again.

“Besides staying here.”

He managed a faint smile at that. “We're a team, you say?”

“A team.” I touched his cheek. “From now until the end. Whether
that's today or in a million years, we're in this together.”

A long moment passed. His eyes locked on mine, and the air
seemed to still around us. In his cradle, Milo made another soft sound, and
Henry deflated. “There is one thing you could do to help.”

“Anything.”

He set his hand over mine, and I released my grip on his wrist
before threading my fingers through his. “Did you see the way Cronus faltered
when the girls attacked him?”

I shook my head. “I can't tell what he's doing in that
fog.”

“He was distracted. Enough for us to edge in closer.” He
squeezed my hand. “I need you to fetch the girls from the nursery and do
everything you can to divert his attention to the roof. If you do that, we might
have a chance.”

A smile spread across my face. “You didn't send them back to
the Underworld?”

“Of course not. It was a brilliant idea.” He bent down to brush
his lips against mine. “Now let's go win this war.”

I kissed him back. “Together.”

“Together.”

* * *

I arrived alone in the peacock-and-gold hallway outside
the nursery. Henry presumably appeared on the roof, but even though I strained
my ears, I didn't hear any signs that the tide of battle had shifted.

“It's about damn time,” said Persephone as I opened the nursery
door. The other girls milled behind her.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “We need to—”

“We know,” said Ingrid, tapping her temple. “Henry already
filled us in.”

Right. “Then let's go play chicken with a Titan.”

We raced to the roof, and I took the stairs two at a time,
every bone in my body drawn to Henry as if we were magnets. As we burst through
the doors, however, I skidded to a stop.

Ava and Calliope stood in the center, only inches apart. Ava
glowed magenta, Calliope gold, and Cronus swirled behind them, a massive funnel
of pure power. Henry wasn't there.

Had he stayed in Olympus? No, I wasn't that lucky. I glanced
upward. The streaks of light were dimmer than before. The council was losing.
But another appeared, brighter than the others, and the fog seemed to part to
make way for it. Henry had joined the battle.

“Go!” I cried, and the girls hurtled forward, picking up their
weapons as they reached them. They might not have been deadly, but wherever they
connected with the fog, it shimmered, and a shower of sparks burst through the
darkness.

“I will kill you.” Calliope's voice seemed magnified, louder
than thunder. “Once I've won, I will skin you alive and watch you bleed.”

Ava's wind chime laughter filtered through the air. “You won't
ever win. You deserve worse than fading. You deserve to have your name erased
from history, and I'm going to make sure that happens. You're pathetic now, but
just wait—once I'm done, you'll be
nothing.
”

With everyone distracted, I skirted around the glowing
goddesses, searching for the dagger. It wasn't in Calliope's hands, which meant
it had to be around here somewhere. Maybe she was hiding it in a pocket, but
with the way she and Ava were going at it, she would've taken a stab at her by
now if she'd had it nearby.

Come on, come on, it had to be around here somewhere—

There. I spotted the glinting dagger lying on the ground near
the edge of the roof, where I'd stood only minutes before. Swiping it off the
ground, I turned toward Calliope. It was now or never.

I raced across the roof, holding the dagger like an ice pick.
Calliope was so wrapped up in her argument with Ava that she didn't see me
coming, and I slammed into her. The golden glow disappeared as she crumpled
underneath me, hitting the ground hard.

I pinned her in place with my knees. For one everlasting
moment, we stared at each other, my grim satisfaction reflecting as horror in
her eyes. I raised the dagger. This time, I wouldn't hesitate.

“Father!” she screamed the instant I thrust the weapon toward
her neck. Even as the word was still leaving her lips, a wisp of fog appeared,
and time seemed to slow around us. The closer I got, the harder it was to move,
and the dagger stopped completely half an inch from her throat. No matter how
hard I tried, it wouldn't budge.

“Nice try, Kate,” said Calliope with a sneer. “Pity that's all
you're ever capable of.”

A gust of wind hit me, ripping the blade from my hand. With a
shriek, I flew through the air and landed hard on my back, cracking the stone
roof beneath me. The fog sliced through the wound in my chest, and I
groaned.

“So this is how it ends,” said Calliope, and she scooped up the
dagger. “I'd say something witty, but you're just not worth it.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, and an enraged scream filled the air,
mingling with the crash of the ocean until I could no longer tell one from the
other. This was it. This was the end.

One second. Two seconds.

The pain never came.

A collective gasp echoed across the roof and through the sky,
as if the entire world had drawn its breath at the same time. Finally I had to
look. Calliope stood near me, but her hand was empty; the knife was gone.

And between us crouched Ava, the handle of the dagger buried
directly above her heart.

Chapter 19

Light

Behind me, Nicholas cried out, and his grief rose above
the wind. The pinpricks of light in the unnaturally black sky echoed his pain,
and at last I understood.

“Ava?” As she sank to the ground, I crawled to her side. My
hand hovered over the wound. It was deep—too deep not to be fatal, unless I got
the dagger out before the fog could penetrate her heart. Could I without making
it worse? Wasn't much of a choice. If I didn't, she would die for sure. I
gripped the handle. “This is going to hurt.”

Slowly I pulled it out, and her screams shattered the clamor of
battle. As soon as the blade was free from her chest, I pressed my hand against
the wound, willing the blood to stop flowing. She couldn't die. Not after all of
this.

“I'm sorry,” she wheezed, her eyes rimmed with red. “I
thought—I thought it was for the best, I thought—”

“You did nothing wrong.” Her face swam in front of me, and I
blinked rapidly. “Thank you. I'm so sorry I ever doubted you.”

“You—forgive me?” she whispered.

“Of course.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “I love
you.”

A trickle of blood escaped the corner of her mouth. “Finish
this,” she said, barely audible. For one horrible moment I thought she wanted me
to kill her, but she wrapped her cold fingers over my fist, the one that held
the dagger, and I understood.

I glanced over my shoulder. Calliope stared at Ava, and despite
all her posturing, undeniable shock spread across her face. Why? Wasn't this
exactly what she'd meant to do?

No, this was an accident. She hadn't been aiming for Ava. She'd
been aiming for me. Either way, I couldn't afford to give her the chance to
build her defenses. Lashing out, I went for her ankle, and grim satisfaction
filled me as the blade sliced through skin and bone.

Collapsing to the ground, she screamed, a horrible,
gut-wrenching sound that resonated through every cell of my body. With inhuman
strength, she clawed at my hand, fighting to dislodge the dagger. “It's over,
Kate. Let it
go.
”

As she tried to take the blade from me, it cut her palms to
ribbons, and her blood flowed freely down my arm. Her fingers dug underneath
mine, and she began to pry the dagger loose from my hand.

“You really don't know when to quit, do you?” she said in that
girlish voice. Just a few seconds more, and she would have it. I cried out as
the handle began to slip from my bloody grip, and tears of frustration streaked
down my face. “I'm going to get Henry back, and Callum will be mine. He's my
son, not yours, and there's nothing you can do about it. I'll make sure whenever
he hears your name, he knows you abandoned him. I'll make sure he knows you
never loved him. I'll make sure he hates you more than he hates anyone in
the—”

I roared, half blind with rage. My hand slipped past her, and
between us, something made a sickening wet sound. She doubled over and went
rigid, her eyes round with shock.

Breathing heavily, I tried to shove her off me, my fist still
wrapped around the handle of the dagger. Something was wrong though—when I tried
to pull back, the dagger resisted, and Calliope folded her body around my
arm.

Her cries turned to gurgles, and she tore at my elbow with what
little strength she had left. The weapon slipped from my grip, and she fell
away, clawing at her chest.

I scrambled back. The silver handle stuck out of her chest at a
sideways angle, through her sternum and pointing directly to her heart. Blood
poured from the wound, and she convulsed, the golden aura around her fading
until there was nothing left.

“You—” she managed, but the rest of her words died along with
her. Her body stilled and her eyes stared at me, empty and unseeing.

“No,” I whispered. “You did this to yourself.”

All at once, the sky exploded, and white light blasted through
the darkness. The din of war gave way to a chorus of the most beautiful voices
I'd ever heard, and underneath me, Calliope's body began to glow again. I
hurried back to Ava's side and took her hand. Nicholas joined us, and despite
the fat tears rolling down his cheeks, he was smiling.

The black clouds reformed into a funnel, and it grew smaller
and more concentrated until the darkness formed a man. Cronus.

“Rhea!” he boomed, his voice everywhere at once. The white
light took form as well, and Rhea descended from the sky. She still wore the
form of the little girl she'd been in Africa, but despite her stature, she
radiated power.

Moving past Cronus as if he wasn't even there, Rhea knelt
beside Calliope's empty body. “My daughter,” she whispered. At her touch, the
blood disappeared, and the knife fell to the ground, dull and void of Titan
power. “What has happened to you?”

I wiped my eyes, smearing blood across my face. The
overwhelming weight of what I'd done hit me, and my body sagged under the
pressure. I'd killed her child. Everything I'd feared Calliope doing to Milo,
I'd done to Rhea. I really was a murderer.

I hadn't meant to do it though—I'd only been protecting myself.
Calliope was the one who hadn't given up. She was the one who'd gone after me.
She was the one who'd started this all.

If I'd had the chance to do it again though, I would have. “I'm
sorry,” I said thickly. “I had no choice.”

A silver tear rolled down Rhea's cheek. “No, I suppose you did
not.”

One by one, the other gods joined us on the roof, no longer
hindered by Cronus. They didn't go to Calliope and Rhea, though; instead they
appeared in a circle around Ava, Nicholas and me.

Walter arrived first, and he sat on the cracked roof beside me,
drawing her head into his lap. He petted her hair, whispering words I couldn't
hear, and Ava smiled weakly. A strange light emanated from his hands, and I knew
without asking that somehow he was keeping her alive.

“Please, Mother,” said Walter, his voice choked. I'd never seen
him cry before. “You cannot save your daughter, but you can save mine.”

Rhea grew still. “What's done is done. My daughter chose this
path, and so did yours.”

The world around me narrowed until all I could feel was Ava's
hand in mine, growing colder by the second. No.
No.
It was completely within Rhea's power to save Ava. She had to.

“You can't just let her die.” I struggled to stand, but someone
set their hands on my shoulders, holding me down. Henry. “All she was trying to
do was stop Cronus. She was doing what you wouldn't.”

Rhea said nothing. Cronus knelt beside her, and though his
expression was emotionless, he touched Calliope's face.

“Please, Cronus,” I begged. “Ava doesn't have to die.”

He looked at me, and in that moment, I allowed myself to hope.
Maybe after all this time, he'd gained an ounce of humanity. Without a word, he
gestured toward us, and a wave of pleasant numbness passed through my body. The
fire inside me cooled. He'd healed me. He understood, after all.

I clasped Ava's hand and looked down at her, but instead of
stopping, blood flowed from her chest with every weakened beat of her heart.
“But...” I looked up, and Walter bowed his head.

“She does not have to die, but she will,” said Cronus.
“Consider us even.”

The edges of my vision darkened, and the sunset sky seemed to
spin until everything was a blur. “Even?” I whispered, and as if every drop of
grief and despair and guilt rushed out of me at the same time, I screamed,
“You're letting her die so we'll be
even?
”

I struggled against Henry's grip, but he wrapped his arms
around me so tightly I could barely move. “Kate, calm down,” he said, his breath
warm against my ear, but it was pointless.

“He's killing her!” I shrieked, and James knelt beside Henry.
My outrage smothered the relief that came with knowing he was all right. “It's
not my fault—you can't make this my fault!”

It's okay,
whispered Ava's voice,
and her fingers tightened around mine.
You're right.
It isn't your fault.

I clung to her hand.
I'm sorry. I'm so
sorry. It shouldn't be like this.

But it is. I'm ready.

A loud, hiccupping sob escaped me.
We'll
find a way around this, I promise. I'll find a way to fix you.

A faint smile appeared on Ava's bloodstained lips.
Not this time, Kate. I love you. We all do, even if some of
us aren't very good at showing it sometimes.
Her blue eyes, fast
draining of life, turned toward Henry.
Don't forget that.
Or me, okay? I won't ever fade completely as long as someone's here to
remember me.

I couldn't breathe. Sob after sob ripped through me, and it was
all I could do to speak. “I won't.”

One by one, the members of the council joined Ava to silently
say their goodbyes. Everyone, even Dylan, cried wordlessly. As destroyed as I
was, it had to be nothing compared to what they were all going through, and I
forced myself into silence. But even though it was selfish, I couldn't let go of
her hand. Walter didn't stop stroking her hair either, his fingers glowing with
the only thing keeping her alive. In those precious few minutes, he aged a
thousand years.

At last, as the sun dipped below the horizon, the light in
Walter's hands died. And just like that, Ava was gone.

The world went silent. Even the ocean grew still, and the
violet shades of dusk hung in the sky far longer than they should have. No one
spoke. No one moved. No one took that step from before into after, and we all
lingered together in that eternal moment.

It should've never ended, but the council couldn't deny time
forever. Eventually Henry set his hand on my back, and though he was gentle, he
pried my fingers from Ava's cold ones. The separation cut through me, but there
was nothing I could do. She was dead.

Walter cleared his throat and set her head down on the rooftop.
Standing on shaking legs, he struggled to draw himself to his full height,
clearly weakened. “An eye for an eye,” he said. “Let it not happen again. Will
you go peacefully, Father?”

“No,” said Cronus, and before fury could overtake what little
sense of self-preservation I had left, Henry rubbed my back, his touch soothing
the fire out of me.

“You will,” said Rhea. “It is over. I will not allow you to
continue this cycle of destruction. They have taken one of ours, and we have
taken one of theirs. That is the end.”

Cronus's form began to blur into black fog, but as soon as it
started, white light encased him, and he growled. “Let me go, Rhea.”

“I will not,” she said with quiet resolve. “Neither will the
council. This is their world now, and you have proven you have no place in it. I
will only repeat our son once—will you go peacefully?”

Silence.

“Then you leave me with no choice,” said Rhea, and the light
around Cronus grew blindingly bright. I looked away, and Cronus cried out, the
first real sound of pain I'd ever heard from him.

Good. He deserved it.

“Stop! I will—go peacefully,” he managed to say, and the light
lessened.

“Very well. My son?” said Rhea, and Henry released me.

“I will return shortly,” he said, kissing my hair. “James, take
care of her.”

As he stood, James's arms replaced Henry's, and for the first
time, I took a good look at the council. Everyone was there, even Ella and Theo.
Everyone except—

“Where's my mother?” All the blood drained from my face as the
world once again began to spin. “James, where is she?”

“She's fine,” he said quickly. “I promise. She's with
Milo.”

“I want to see her,” I said, and he nodded, running his fingers
through my hair like Walter had done for Ava. Maybe he thought it would help,
but the hollowness inside me didn't lessen. I wasn't sure it ever would.

Rhea touched Cronus's elbow, and Henry took her hand. My eyes
met his, and he nodded once before the three of them disappeared, undoubtedly
back into Tartarus. The last thing I wanted was to let him out of my sight, and
familiar dread pooled in my stomach. What if something went wrong and I never
saw him again?

Before my fear could work itself into anything substantial,
James gathered me up and helped me to my feet. His cheek glistened, and I
brushed the pad of my thumb against his wet skin. “I'm sorry.” I couldn't say it
enough.

James shook his head, his lips moving as he fought to find his
voice. I hugged him, and he clung to me, needing me as much as I needed him.

“Come on,” I said. “Let's go home.”

* * *

My mother was waiting for us in Olympus, rocking Milo's
cradle as he slept. Relieved, I staggered toward her, barely able to see
straight.

“Oh, my darling, you're all right,” she cried, throwing her
arms around me. For a moment I couldn't breathe, but I didn't care. She was all
right, Milo was all right, Henry was all right—

But Ava wasn't.

All at once, what was left of my inner strength crumbled.
“Ava's dead,” I whispered, choking on the words.

My mother tensed, and from the doorway, James cleared his
throat. “Calliope, as well,” he said roughly. “Rhea and Henry are escorting
Cronus back to Tartarus now.”

“A small victory,” my mother said as her eyes filled with
tears. “At least...at least...”

She didn't finish. For the first time in my life, my mother
shattered. Her knees gave out, and she eased down onto the edge of her bed.
Though I desperately wanted to go to Milo, I curled up with her, struggling to
hold it together while she cried. She'd spent years pouring her strength into me
and hiding her hurt so mine wouldn't worsen. Now it was my turn.