Page 23 of Salt & Blood (Ivy & Bone #4)

DREAD

MONA

Mona couldn’t draw her gaze from Gaia as the throne room erupted into a flurry of preparations. She and Evander were preparing to return to the Rhea Desert with the fire witches to use their portal to travel to the Underworld. And Midas was showing Gaia, Sol, and Pandora the way to his own smaller portal, which only had access to Elysium.

Something tugged in her chest as she felt the moments slipping away from her. She had not seen her mother since the day she’d been resurrected in Faidon. Mona had merely walked past her mother, refusing to untie her restraints. Gaia had tried to prevent Prue from raising Mona from the dead. And her lies had made her untrustworthy.

So, Mona had left her there.

That wedge between them had only deepened with each passing day. Mona was torn between regret over the lack of reconciliation between them, and anger at the lies she’d been fed.

She wanted Gaia to know how much she’d hurt her.

But she also wanted her to know how much she loved her. And that, no matter what despicable acts she committed, she would always be Mona’s mother.

In truth, it was Gaia whom she thought of when she had accepted Pandora as her sister. She was able to look past those things because they were blood. Like with Pandora, Mona wasn’t immediately ready to forgive and forget. But she was willing to love in spite of the choices she’d made.

Now, she was losing her chance to make amends. Midas had bid Sol farewell. Romanos and the Gorgon sisters were climbing back through the tunnel that would lead them to where the fire witches waited for them.

And Sol, Pandora, and Gaia were headed in a different direction, through a back tunnel Mona hadn’t noticed before. Mona’s heart wrenched and twisted painfully as she watched them. Gaia was the last to leave, and she turned to glance at Mona, as if hearing her raging thoughts, her desperate plea to wait.

“Mama,” Mona whispered, tears brimming in her eyes. She wanted to say, Don’t go, but she knew there was no other way. Gaia needed to help rebuild Elysium before it was gone for good.

And Mona had to go to Prue. If Apollo was trying to seize the throne of the Underworld, her sister would need her help.

Gaia pressed a hand to her heart and bowed her head toward Mona. When she straightened, a single tear streaked down her face. She offered a watery smile that made Mona’s throat tighten with emotion.

I love you.

We will speak soon.

I wish we didn’t have to part ways.

Those were the words Mona read in her mother’s gaze. She barely had time to nod—to show she understood—before Gaia vanished through the tunnel.

A shuddering sob broke through Mona, and she wept openly. Evander gathered her to his chest, holding her tightly as she expelled all her frustrations and grief. For so long, she had bottled it up, knowing there were more important matters.

But after watching her mother walk away, she couldn’t hold back any longer.

She only allowed herself a moment to cry before she withdrew from Evander and impatiently wiped the moisture from her face. “I’m fine,” she said thickly. “We need to go.”

Evander dipped his head to look her in the eye. “I am so sorry, Mona.”

Mona sniffed and nodded again. “It’s all right. Really.” When Evander continued to look at her with concern in his eyes, she stood on her tiptoes to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “I’m glad you’re with me,” she whispered.

He smiled softly, catching a tear with his thumb and brushing it away. “Me too.”

Saffron, the earth witch from before, returned them to the Voiceless Jungle where Farah, Wren, and the other fire witches were patiently waiting. It felt like weeks since Mona had seen them, but in truth, not even a day had passed.

To her surprise, the witches were in their snake forms when Mona, Evander, Romanos, and the Gorgon sisters emerged from the curtain of ivy. Mona stopped short at the sight of so many huge serpents, her eyes growing wide.

The Gorgon sisters strode past her, all three of them sighing with contentment at the sight of the snakes. A golden glow encased their bodies, and they, too, shifted into identical white serpents that coiled on the forest floor, twining along the leaves before joining the others.

Mona watched with fascination. Some snakes were coiled within themselves, as if resting. Others were slithering to and fro, as if in search of food.

“What do you think it’s like?” she asked Evander, her eyes on the three white snakes as they darted into a shrub. A few moments later, a shrew burst free, and the snakes gave chase after it. “To be able to shift forms freely like that?”

Evander was silent for a long moment. “I wish I knew. I often wonder if things would have been different if Typhon had manifested himself as some sort of animal, instead of simply sharing my body.” When Mona turned to look at him, his silvery eyes were full of sorrow. “I suppose I’ll never know.”

Mona took his hand, lacing her fingers with his. “He is still a part of you. That much was proven during the hydra attack.”

Evander nodded, but his expression remained morose. “Yes. But it isn’t the same. And it never will be again.”

Mona drew closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around her, tucking her against his chest.

After the witches returned to their human forms, they set off through the jungle. Marina and her sisters led the way, as they knew the area the best. Mona lingered behind the others, lost in her thoughts. She wasn’t eager to speak to anyone, and Evander seemed to sense this about her. He kept his hand clasped in hers as they walked in companionable silence. Thankfully, Marina and Romanos were able to fill Farah and the other witches in on what had transpired with King Midas. Farah seemed alarmed but not at all surprised that a hydra had made its way into Midas’s domain.

“It was only a matter of time,” said the coven leader as they made their way through the ruins of the village of Sodara. “Between the two realms the darkness has already ravaged, there is only one left that still has anything of value to these creatures.”

“Not to mention Midas’s powers,” Wren pointed out. “He’s been hiding under the cover of a coven of earth witches, but now he’s been discovered. More will be coming for him.”

“Midas can handle himself,” Farah said with a wave of her hand. “He has had far more training than the rest of us.”

The rest of us. Mona frowned, and, before she could think better of it, she asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Several witches turned their heads to look at her.

“Midas is thousands of years old,” Farah said, arching an eyebrow in Mona’s direction. “He has had ample time to?—”

“Not that,” Mona interrupted. “What do you mean by the rest of us ? You speak as if he is one of you. A witch.”

Farah gave a single, slow blink. “Because he is.”

Mona’s brows lowered. “I don’t understand.”

“It is rare, but once every thousand years or so, a powerful male witch emerges,” Wren supplied. “In our case, it was Midas.”

Our case. “Are you—Are you saying Midas is a fire witch ?” Mona asked breathlessly, her head spinning with this revelation.

“He was, until Apollo cursed him,” said Farah.

“That was after Apollo gifted Midas the power of the sun,” Wren pointed out.

Mona shook her head, struggling to keep up. “So Apollo gave him his sun magic… but also cursed him?”

“Complicated, I know,” said Wren with a smirk.

“That’s nothing like the stories I was taught,” Mona muttered, feeling frustrated and a bit betrayed that all the texts she’d studied about the deities from before had been wrong about this.

“And why do you think that is?” Marina asked with a chuckle. “Those of us blessed with immortality have the ability to rewrite those stories as we wish. Midas did this intentionally. He did not want everyone to know what he was capable of, nor did he want to attract too much attention to his witch magic. Male witches are often quite powerful, but not all covens see that as a blessing.”

“Not to mention Midas knew the inner workings of spells like no other,” said Farah. “According to Hestia, he could manipulate enchantments in ways Apollo never could. Apollo was jealous, and he felt threatened by this.”

Mona fell silent at that, still frowning as she processed all this.

“I thought Midas was an alchemist,” Evander said in his soft, steady tone.

“He was, after Apollo granted him sun magic,” Farah said. “Then, the two worked alongside one another for hundreds of years. After Midas discovered the power to turn sun magic into liquid gold, Apollo wanted it for himself. He seized Midas’s research, cursed him, and banished him to the Realm of Gaia.”

Mona winced. Such a harsh sentence for someone who had done nothing wrong. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Apollo had rewritten those stories as well.”

“He has definitely rewritten a great deal,” Marina said darkly, sharing a knowing look with her sisters.

Mona looked at Evander and found the concern in his eyes matched her own. They were both thinking of Prue and Cyrus and how they were facing such a deceitful and devious god at this very moment.

Mona prayed to the Goddess that she wouldn’t be too late.

* * *

It took them less than a day’s journey to make it back to the Rhea Desert. The trek across the dunes felt like an eternity with the desert wind whipping Mona’s hair into her face and flinging dust particles in her eyes. Farah had lent her a scarf to cover her face, and she tightened it around herself. Despite the covering, the sand still managed to embed itself into every inch of her body.

Evander kept his hand locked on hers. Mona wasn’t sure if he’d released his grip on her at all during their journey. She was grateful for his strength; it grounded her, keeping her from spiraling into panic at the thought of how long it was taking her to get to Prue.

Once before, Mona had made a treacherous journey across the sea and jumped into a whirlpool to save her sister in the Underworld. Looking back, Mona was shocked at her bravery. Had she really been that bold? It didn’t seem like her at all.

In a sense, Mona felt that version of herself was stronger and braver. Right now, she was terrified, and she had Evander, a coven of witches, and three Gorgon sisters on her side.

So why did this journey feel so final ? Why did she feel that, instead of coming to her sister’s rescue, she would only arrive in time to witness her doom? The dread that filled her was unbearable and inescapable. It coiled inside her like a serpent made of ice, chilling her blood and dragging her down. Knots formed in her chest, cinching tighter with each step she took.

When they reached the hidden caves of the fire witch coven, Farah removed her scarf and swiped sand from her face before turning to Mona. “With the powers of Gaia flowing through your veins, it should be enough to fuel the portal so you can travel through it.”

“If it’s not, we can help,” Marina said, gesturing to her sisters, who both nodded.

“Thank you.” Mona tried to smile, but all she managed was a weak grimace. “What will you do after this?”

“We are sending word across the realm to other fire witch covens,” Marina said. “It’s time to rally our forces. We cannot fight this darkness if we are separated like this.”

Mona nodded, her throat tight. “I hope you prevail. And as soon as I know my sister is safe, I’ll come back to fight alongside you.”

Farah smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “You will always be welcome here, earth witch.”

The crowd of witches slowly filed down the narrow passage that led underground. When they reached the massive cavern, several witches immediately shifted to their serpent forms, hissing and gliding along the rocky floor. Mona wondered if the shift was some form of release for them, a way for them to relax and be free. It certainly looked that way.

“I’ll show you to the portal,” said Wren, jerking her head toward one of the tunnels.

Mona remembered the way, but she was grateful for an escort all the same. The darkened tunnel seemed to swallow them whole as they wound through it, their footsteps echoing and bouncing off the walls.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the metal archway. For a moment, Mona studied the etchings and designs, wondering what the symbols meant. Perhaps, if she made it back, she would ask Farah.

“May the Goddess protect you both,” Wren said solemnly.

“Thank you,” Mona said again, her voice strained. She shared a glance with Evander, and he nodded.

Mona remembered how to power the portal. She had done it in Elysium. Back then, her magic had felt so vast, so endless, that she felt like she could do anything.

Now, she felt weak and helpless, unable to save or help those she loved. What good was all this power amidst so much destruction? It felt futile to even try and stop it.

Even so, Mona stretched her hand forward, her fingertips brushing along the cold stone of the archway. Closing her eyes, she summoned her earth magic.

It took several tries. The weight of her frustrations and worries bore down heavily upon her, making it harder to conjure the magic that flowed through her. After a moment, life sprang forth in her chest, burgeoning through her body. The ground cracked as vines and thorns slithered forward. She pushed more, drawing as much energy as she could and funneling it into the archway.

The portal began to glow an ethereal pale blue that illuminated the dark cave, bathing her and Evander in light. The space underneath the arch shimmered and rippled like water.

“Are you ready?” Evander asked.

Mona nodded, even though she wasn’t. But she couldn’t afford to hesitate.

Prue was in danger. That was all that mattered.

With one last parting glance at Wren, Mona stepped through the portal, pulling Evander along with her.