The Shadow Prince (55 page)

“But why did you leave her in the first place?” Tobin asks.

“Because that was part of the bargain I made with the Oracle. I had a role to fulfill before Abbie and I could be together. I’ve been trying to find her since I returned—doing research, and sneaking off to check out our old haunts, and searching some of the hiding places we’d discussed. I thought I had a line on her about three weeks ago, the night of the festival, but it turned out to be a dead end. I was beginning to think I might never find her. No wonder. She’d found the best hiding place in the world. It seems as
far as the Skylords and the Underlords are concerned, Ellis Fields doesn’t even exist.”

I can’t help wondering if CeCe—I mean, Abbie—had been bound by a similar oath not to talk about all this stuff. Otherwise, she would have told me. I considered her as much my real sister as Tobin did. A pang of guilt hits me. Over the last couple of months, I’d been so hurt by the thought that she was trying to cut me out of her life, I hadn’t stopped to consider that she might really be in trouble.

“But it sounds like someone
did
find her,” I say. “She’s missing again.”

“Marta,” Joe says. “It could have been her. She might have recognized Abbie when we were here.”

“Marta is in on this, too?” I ask.

He nods. “She’s one of Simon’s lackeys who’s supposed to keep an eye on me.”

“But it could have been the Skylords, too,” Dax says. “If Marta spooked her and she ran from town, they could have gotten to her. They’ve wanted her back ever since they found out the Underlords were after her.”

“I can’t believe it,” Tobin says. “I got this close, and now she’s gone again. She could be anywhere.”

“We’ll find her,” Dax says. “The Oracle told me we’d be reunited again if I helped Haden find his true path.”

chapter fifty-nine

I wake several hours later. Daphne’s house is empty. For a moment, I wonder if I have been abandoned. I wouldn’t blame them. Daphne should have left me back at Sunny Ridge. I am surprised she didn’t run the first chance she got.

I hear voices—laughter—from outside the house. I wander out the back door and find the others gathered around a table on the deck. They pass food to each other—chimichangas, most likely Dax’s suggestion—and talk like they’re merely in the cafeteria back at school.

“You should have seen the look on his face!” Dax says.

The others laugh.

“Whose face?” I ask.

The group falls silent and they all look at me expectantly. Like they’ve been waiting for me to tell them what we’re going to do next. I walk to the edge of the deck and lean against the railing. I look up at the sky. There are more stars above us than I have ever seen during my time in the mortal world. This place is beautiful in a whole different way from Olympus Hills. I wonder if Daphne will be happy staying here.

A streak of lightning rips across the sky, blotting out the stars, and thunder rolls in the distance. The air feels arid around here, but I can smell rain on the horizon. The Skylords are still out there. Waiting.

What else is out there waiting for us? Who is the Motorcycle Man who took the Compass and what does he plan on doing with it? Who is he working for? What will Ren do to retaliate?

Another thought creeps into my mind—the same thought that haunted me while I slept off the effects of the day.…

Dax approaches with a plate of food.

“Are you hungry?”

I shake my head. I’m starving, but I can’t bring myself to eat. Not with the sick, heavy feeling that sits in my gut.

He places the plate on the railing between us. “So what exactly happened down there?” he asks softly.

“Like I said, my father tried to force me to make an unbreakable vow that I would bring Daphne to him, but instead I vowed that I never will.”

“That was brave,” he says.

“What if I made a mistake?”

“You didn’t.”

“How do you know that?” I search his face, looking for the truth.

“Because I believe in you. That’s why.”

“I’m not sure you’re putting your belief in the right place. My father said some things when I was down there. He tried to convince me that he was about to be overthrown by the Court, and if they succeed, some pretty terrible things are going to happen.”

“Like what?” It’s Tobin who asks the question.

I can see the others are listening now. I turn to face them. All their eyes are on me—except Daphne’s. She stares intently at the food on her plate.

“He said that if he is unable to convince the Court that I will bring Daphne back, then they will revolt. That they’ll tear through what remains of the locks on Pandora’s Pithos to get out into the mortal world. That they’ll come after the Kronolithe themselves and reignite the war with the Skylords.” I can see that the full meaning of this has not reached everyone. “Between the Keres that would be let loose on the earth when the Pits open, the hungry shades and the tormented souls of Tartarus that will eventually wander out the gaping hole between the realms, and the Underlords surfacing so they can reignite the war between the gods—basically, all hell is
literally
going to be set loose on the world. We’re talking end-of-the-world, apocalypse-level violence and destruction.”

“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Dax asks, his eyes as wide as I’ve ever seen them.

“I don’t know. I thought, at the time, he was making it all up so I would give him Daphne—but I can’t shake the feeling now that he might have been telling the truth. He seemed too desperate. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

“If you’d believed him,” Daphne says from the table, looking up at me, “would you have made the vow to give me to him?”

I think about it for a moment—the thought of Daphne in my father’s control. The thought of his sacrificing her so he can become a god, no matter how altruistic his motives supposedly are. The idea of losing her …

“No,” I say. “There has to be another way to stop this.” Two
days ago, I would have never believed that I would say something like that.

I kick at a warped floorboard on the deck. “Guess I can kiss that wreath of glory good-bye, huh? Nobody is going to be showering me with honor anytime soon.” I had meant that statement to be a lighthearted comment. To ease the tension everyone is feeling, but it came out more sullen and forlorn than I’d expected.

“You are honorable to me, Prince Haden.” Dax puts his hand on my shoulder and stares into my eyes with a fierce determination. He looks like a warrior about to take up the charge. “I will follow you wherever you lead.”

I am surprised at the sting of tears at the backs of my eyes.

“So what
do
we do now?” Garrick asks. “You kind of screwed us all over.”

“I think … I think the only thing is to go after the Kronolithe myself.
If
I can find it before the Underlords break out, then maybe I can stop all this before it even starts. Make some sort of bargain that doesn’t involve Daphne giving up her heart and soul.”

“Where do we start looking?” Dax asks.

“There is no
we
in all of this. This is my responsibility. You all will stay here, where it is safe, while
I
search for the Kronolithe.”

“Like hell there isn’t a
we
in this!” Daphne interjects before I can say anything else. She stands and moves until she’s just a few feet from me. She has the same determination in her eyes as Dax. “There’s at least a
you and me
. This is my fight, too.”

“Saving the Underrealm isn’t your fight.”

“Honestly, I don’t really give a crap about the Underrealm.
But I do care about stopping the mortal realm from getting destroyed by the spillover. I’d kind of like a world to actually tour when I grow up. Not to mention, keeping my friends and family safe.”

“I can’t let you be a part of this, Daphne. It means going back out into that.” I gesture at the barrage of lightning on the horizon. “It means facing whatever other dangers that are coming for us. My choices put us on this path, not yours. You should stay here, where you’ll be safe.”

“You seriously think you can stop me from coming?” Her hands are on her hips and her hair blows about her face in the evening breeze. She looks as powerful and unrelenting as the lightning storm. “Two hours ago, hell, even ten minutes ago, I was determined to stay here and hide from my destiny, but now you’re telling me there’s a freaking apocalypse on our hands because of me, and you think I’m going to sit back and let you try to stop it on your own? You heard the Oracle as well as I did. Our destinies are irrevocably intertwined. Even if you find it, you can’t
get
the Kronolithe without me, so suck it up.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in all this destiny crap.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in having a choice in any of this.” She stares back at me, her jaw set. My heart aches at the sight. She has just witnessed the brutal deaths of Simon and Sarah, had been nearly killed herself by a three-headed beast, had lightning hurled at her for close to one hundred sixty miles, and has been told she’s public enemy number one for the gods, and yet she’s willing to run into battle with me.

“And I think I might have an idea of where it is anyway,” she says.

“You do?” Dax asks.

“Where?” I say, unable to hide my skepticism—and hope.

“Back where we came from. We need to go back to Olympus Hills.”

“Seriously?” says Lexie. “You think some ancient god’s Key is just lying around in some random, master-planned community in California?”

“First of all, I don’t think anyone here still believes Olympus Hills is some
random
, master-planned community anymore. Secondly, Orpheus supposedly used Persephone’s Gate to escape the underworld, which means he came out in the grove, doesn’t it? Before Olympus Hills even existed. The gate has always opened there, right? He couldn’t have gotten far with the Keres on his tail. Not while carrying his baby and the Kronolithe. I’d bet anything that he hid it somewhere in or near where Olympus Hills stands now.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Dax says. “The Oracle implied that no one but Daphne would be able to retrieve it. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere only she can see.”

I consider Dax and Daphne’s hypothesis. It seems unlikely that the Kronolithe has been under our noses this whole time, but then again, one of the things I had learned in my training is that the best hiding place is often in plain sight. Either way, it is the best lead we have. “Fine. Daphne and I will return to Olympus Hills to seek the Kronolithe. Dax, you watch over everyone here until we return.”

“That could take months!” Lexie says.

“Like Tartarus I’m going to let you two go off alone,” Dax snarls. “We are in this together. I told you I will follow you anywhere, and I meant it.”

“I’m coming, too,” Tobin says, standing. “My sister is still out
there, and she and my mom are involved in all of this. If I’m going to find Abbie, my best chance is to stick with you guys.” He looks at me and shrugs. “Besides, I kind of think you’re not such an ass hat after all. I mean, after what you did for Daphne, you might make a halfway decent
human being
someday. Count me in.”

“Me, too,” Lexie says. We all turn and stare at her in surprise. “What?” she says, like she has no idea why we’re so incredulous. “If something is going down in Olympus Hills, you’d better believe I’m going to be a part of it. And there’s no way I’m waiting here.”

“I want to help, too,” Joe says. “I got Daphne into this situation, and I want to help get her out of it.” He looks at her for her approval.

She nods ever so slightly.

Garrick clears his throat. Everyone looks to him, waiting to see what he has to say. “I think you are all a bunch of lunatics,” he says. “But I also don’t like the idea of sitting around in the middle of the desert, letting you guys have all the fun.… Count me in—as long as somebody lets me
drive
on the way home.”

I laugh uneasily. The sound ripples through the group.

“We should leave under the cover of night,” I say. “Midnight. Skylords don’t see as well at night, and the roads will be emptier.”

They all nod like they’re taking an order from their captain.

“It’s settled, then,” Daphne says. “We’ll follow you into the dark.”

After a few minutes, the others scatter. Garrick takes the rest of his dinner out into the yard, and Dax and Tobin wash the dishes so Daphne’s mother won’t find our mess when she gets
home. Joe fills a couple of water bottles while Daphne and Lexie gather road-trip snacks from the cupboards. Brim picks at the dinner I’ve left abandoned on the railing.

I stand on the deck, watching the storm that awaits us. Hoping for a break that doesn’t come.

I don’t hear Daphne approach. I don’t know she’s there until she slips her hand into mine. I wrap my fingers around hers.

I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know how or if we’ll get through this. But for the first time in my life, my destiny is in my own hands.

First off I must express my extreme and undying gratitude to my editor, Greg Ferguson, for guiding me through the journeys of writing my first four books, and to Andrea Cascardi for picking up the reins to help me finish this one.