Page 29 of Guided by the Stars (Creating Destiny #1)

Adriane

When Darkness Looms

“Let’s go.” I feel someone touch my shoulder, and I roll over. I look up and see Jax next to me. “We have to get moving.”

I was ready to get these handcuffs off me and honestly at this point I was ready to try my luck with the Hellhounds again. Kai exits the hut and I know I should hurry or he will find a way to put me on my ass again. I reach up and touch my necklace, and I think of Nora.

Please be ok. I will come for you Nora, somehow I will be there. Please be ok.

I get to my feet and walk out of the hut as Kai disbands it. We’re dirty and dusty, but who knows how long we’ve been out here in the dark and green mist? We could all use a shower. Kai and Jax are on either side of me and I huff, “So is today the day we get to where we are going?”

Jax looks at Kai, and then his eyes move to me. “We have one more area to pass. It appears Hades wants you to have the grand tour.” Kai looks at him and his eyes harden a bit .

“Yay me!” I say sarcastically. “Pulling out all the stops for little old me?” I walk off but I can make out their footsteps beside me. “Don’t I just feel so special now.” I try for a southern belle accent. “Bless your daddy’s little heart.”

Kai glares at me, and I smirk. “This next place is right up ahead in the forest,” he says and touches my arm softly.

Tingles go through my body. What does this god do to me?

I move my arm away from him even though I would love nothing more than to keep it on me, and have his hands on other parts of my body.

I stay quiet and no one else says anything when I glance up.

There is a forest up ahead filled with souls.

Something is pulling me towards it, I can sense their misery like they are crying out for help.

I am not sure when I noticed this sensation taking over my body.

When I was younger, my father died overseas and my mother turned to drugs to cope with the heartbreak.

There was no limit to what she’d do in order to earn money to feed her habit, and since the day I found her dead on the couch, I’ve shut my feelings down.

Never were we promised a simple life. Take what you get and make the best of it.

But since knocking my head in the ocean that night with Nora, something has changed. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I am dreaming, or maybe I nearly drowned and I am in a coma. Maybe this is my test to find out what happens to my soul.

If that is the case, no wonder I am traveling through hell, or, well, the Underworld.

I make out crying and moaning and as I gaze up ahead, there are so many women wandering around the forest. None of them are going anywhere in particular, all they seem to do is walk aimlessly. This place is full of sadness. My tears are building and my eyes burn .

“These are the Mourning Fields,” Kai says gruffly. I turn my eyes on him and he is staring into the forest at the women. “This is their punishment for loving someone who didn’t love them back. It’s reserved for the people who wasted their lives on unrequited love.”

I gasp. “How is that their fault? You can’t help who you love!” I say and cut my gaze back to the forest, seeing some men, but mostly just women. “Why are there hardly any men?”

Kai laughs cruelly. “Men are not like women. Most men don’t love, and when they do, they normally stay with that woman.

” What he just said solidified exactly why I lived my life the way I did.

He brings my attention back to him and his steel-blue eyes go hard, cold like ice.

“Do you think this is where you will end up?”

I laugh and shake my head. “No, I learned long ago, people like me don’t find love like that.

Plus, why would I want someone who will just leave?

It’s not like anyone promises forever. At the end of the day, we’re always alone, so why would I end up here?

Greek gods, from what I remember, all use people, so what chance do we mere humans have to find genuine love if you immortals can’t even find it? ”

I can’t stand this sight anymore. I quickly shove past him and walk into the forest. It is as dark and cold as the rest of this place.

My skin prickles from the intense cold, someone grabs my shoulder and I jerk around.

There is a woman crying and her blue eyes remind me of my mother.

“Please help me,” she says. I take her hands in mine and swallow hard.

What comfort can I offer this poor woman who has been damned here for loving the wrong man? How is it her fault?

Kai grabs her and she shrinks back. I notice the tears in her eyes and the ones running down her cheeks, and I want to be sick.

Why do they punish people for loving someone?

The woman slowly fades back into the forest and I want to help her.

There is a need in me to reach out. Jax reaches out to me and I take his hand because I need the comfort, this place is starting to tear me open, forcing its way under my skin.

It’s making me have feelings, something I can’t afford to do.

I can’t be one of these people lost here, always wondering and mourning for a lost love.

I have to make it back to my best friend.

Jax leads me out with Kai at my side. My heart is bleeding for the people in this field.

What kind of sick, twisted god or goddess finds pleasure in this?

But again, from what I remember they are prideful, vengeful beings.

My ears are ringing and I’ll never get the crying out of my head.

Nor how that woman looked and the way her eyes were filled with hopelessness; she will always haunt me.

That could be my mother. That could be me if I allow myself to feel.

***

“So why can’t you make the palace appear? You’re his son!” I say, anger bubbling my blood.

“Hades likes his games. He will make it appear when he is ready,” Jax says softly behind me. Kai had wandered ahead and I could see him sitting on a boulder with that stupid smirk on his face. The moment I was free, I would wipe it off.

That is when I see it. It appears out of thin air, a huge black palace. My eyes go wide, and I stop walking. Jax runs into me and Kai turns around to see what I’m looking at.

“Hades has summoned us,” Kai says darkly, and his eyes flash with fear, but they quickly change back to hard, ice-blue steel. He snaps his fingers and Jax grabs my arm .

“Sorry, Beautiful. Nothing personal,” Jax says. I elbow him in the stomach and he releases a groan.

“Oops, I tripped,” I say sarcastically and both of them chuckle as they lead me toward my doom. Kai grabs my other arm.

The closer we get to the palace, the more details I take in.

It’s massive, made entirely from black onyx marble, and there is an enormous garden surrounding it, with all black flowers.

Black roses and black tulips, gray-black grass, and trees that look lifeless.

Fear grips me, but I’m also in awe that this palace is something no one will ever get to see. It is a gothic princess' wet dream.

“Whenever Hades summons you, I would keep that smart mouth of yours shut or you might be worse off than what he already has planned for you,” Kai says, and I glare at him.

“So that’s it then, huh? You kidnap me and hand me over to your father and fuck what ever happens next?” I ask, not expecting an answer. I mean, Kai never promised me anything. He went to Earth and snatched me, so what comfort could he really offer me?

“Nothing personal, Red, but you’re my ticket out of here,” he says, and tightens his hold on my arm. I spit at his feet.

I hold my head up high and square my shoulders. Of course the two guys only tighten their grip, and continue walking towards the entrance. Then Kai stops. My vision darkens as I notice something light and silky cover my eyes. Kai ties the blindfold behind my head.

This is great. I am walking into the God of the Dead’s lair, and I am going in without sight and handcuffed.

Fuck. Me. Sideways .

They move me forward and I make sure that I count the steps we take. If I had any hope of leaving, it is getting smaller and smaller with each step. Finally, I hear doors opening, the air is warmer inside. I smell wood burning, so I guess they don’t have air conditioning and heaters here.

That is just great. Cherry on top of the fucking cake.

We continue to walk. My feet hit a smooth floorboard, and then carpet.

I listen to the noises around me, soft footsteps come close, but no one ever speaks as we pass by.

The sounds they make are so soft, like whispers in the wind.

The scent of lavender lingers here, and once again I’m reminded of Nora.

It’s not the only smell in the air; I’m assaulted with the smell of pomegranates.

The scent is so strong it makes me want to gag.

Finally my feet hit stairs, and I am so ready to sit down. After walking through the Underworld, I am beyond tired. It feels like I have been walking for weeks. I will have blisters by the time I get my shoes off, I’m sure of it.

The scent of apples, along with fresh-cut grass surrounds me.

It’s Jax. It’s true what they say when you lose sight, your other senses are heightened.

“Beautiful, I didn’t know you could be this quiet,” he chuckles and I won’t lie, that chuckle sends chills through me.

But not enough to distract me. I keep counting, wanting to memorize the stairs we climb.

“I swear, even though that evil bitch isn’t here, you can still smell her everywhere,” Kai says.

I feel Jax move away from me. “Let’s hope her absence plays in our favour. Though, you know how I feel about all this.”

“She is not ours. Like you told me, this was a job, remember? Our ticket out of here,” Kai says gruffly.

“Your ticket out of this hellhole is standing right here, so it’s pretty fucking rude to discuss me while I am standing in front of you two assholes,” I say, stomping my foot .

“Why? You’re nothing to me,” Kai says, and shakes me a bit. I raise my hand and flip him off again. I think it is becoming my signature move. Even though I knew all along that he was taking me to his father, his words still sting.

I stop, and they have no choice but to stop as well, unless they plan to drag me.

“Take off the blindfold and handcuffs,” I say and hear a chuckle.

“You’re both leading me to a god who rules the dead and everyone is afraid of.

I’d rather go in with a fighting chance than to go in blind and unable to defend myself,” I say, stopping myself before I beg.

My heart rate picks up, my body starts to get hot and I can’t seem to take a deep breath, it is as if the oxygen has been sucked out of my body.

“Hey, calm down,” Jax says, and I feel something try to push into my own emotions and I shrug him off.

“You’re not seeing him today, but this is a better place than with any other god. ”

“That doesn’t help me. Where is Nora? Is she here with Hades now?” I ask, still blindfolded and handcuffed. “Please, just tell me she is ok. If she is ok, or you let her go, I am more than willing to bargain with myself.”

Kai drags me along. “It doesn’t matter where she is, honestly, you have nothing to bargain with.” He pulls me towards him and I feel the heat his body gives off. “Your. Life. Is. Mine!”

I raise my hands up, pushing him away from me.

He lets me go and I fall hard on the floor.

I don’t know what goodness I thought I had noticed in him, but I was mistaken.

This man in front of me is a heartless god, and I am doomed.

I won’t have a chance to leave. I allowed those couple of tender moments to cloud my mind, even when I knew I shouldn’t.

Kai is ruthless, and I bet just as deadly, if not more so, than his father.

After all, didn’t he go to Earth to kidnap two girls ?

One of them lifts me roughly and drags me somewhere. A door creaks open and he shoves me inside before closing it loudly behind me. I know I won’t be walking out of here alive, but I won’t go without a fight either.