Page 51 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

M y father was nowhere to be found on our way back to the cottage. I swung back and forth between anticipation of our possible victory and regret that I still hadn’t found him. Along with worry at what that could mean.

What if Charon had him? Not free, like Orion, but kept somewhere in that house? What if we’d missed him?

The thoughts chased themselves round and round in my head, butI wasn’t going to let them keep me from the rest of our mission.

We’d kept close to the cottage for days, but then Orion had gone to check the Shades.

“They’re too restless. Either they can sense the importance of this particular hour, or somehow our count is wrong,” Orion said when he’d returned.

Either way, the remaining weeks until the hour were dwindling.

We still needed Death’s final details, but there was plenty we were doing on our own.

We didn’t know what we would need to do on the hour, but we spent hours each day reviewing the landscape of Emrys, in case that’s where Death needed us to be.

Orion taught me what he could about the other countries, because it was also possible that whatever strategy Death was relying on involved us entering Rayus in another place.

I’d worked with my remaining jewelry, knowing the tree hoppers’ love of shiny things, and taught them to follow me as I held the glinting jewels.

We couldn’t exactly stuff them in a satchel, so we’d try to get them to follow us out of the Ether.

But ultimately it would be their choice whether to leave or not—assuming they even could.

Orion had also been working with me more on using the dagger I still kept strapped to my leg. It was no use against Charon, or a Shade, but we wanted to be prepared for anything.

“Again, but this time, when you lunge watch the weight on this leg.” He demonstrated a better stance. “That way, you won’t lose your balance as easily.”

“All this for a foe we may not even face,” I griped, although my voice didn’t have much sting in it. I was tired from training, but I appreciated what Orion was doing.

He wanted to protect me, but he understood how much I wanted to be able to look after myself as well.

I took a few steps in the clearing where we practiced, where several tree hoppers were cawing from the trees. After a sip from one of the waterskins, I took the stance again and went through Orion’s paces.

I lunged toward a stuffed dummy he’d set up. Grass and discarded bits from the garden were stuffed into some material and then hoisted up by a stick. I stabbed it in its center, then stepped back and readied to try again.

Lightning struck the training dummy, setting it ablaze.

Death stood in front of us, wisps of white smoke wafting from where she’d appeared.

“I’ve set Charon on Odos’s trail for the time being, but I expect that won’t keep him distracted for long.

I’ve meddled too much, and he’s more and more hesitant to leave his realm.

Although he’s also more and more smug. He really thinks he’s going to win—all the better for us.

He’ll be taken by surprise. You did get the second item, yes?

” Death asked, leaning forward and holding a hand out.

Today’s mask was black again, a dark void hiding her expressions.

Orion nodded.

“Yes. Sheet music, hidden within Charon’s home, just as you had guessed.”

“Excellent! I knew the two of you could do it.”

I sheathed my knife, then went and got the music, holding it toward her.

“Here, if you unfurl it, there are notes written along the paper.”

I moved to place the music in her palm, but she pulled back.

“I won’t hold it. It should stay in your hands.

Charon won’t notice they’ve been moved while they remain in his realm and still technically under his control.

During the hour, he’ll be busy with the Shades, and his plans, which should give you time.

I won’t touch it, but I can tell you how we’ll use both items.”

What Death laid out was simple in theory but would be complicated in execution.

The way she described it, the gods of our world had once been much less powerful.

“Not exactly mortal, like you, but much closer than we are now. Emrys, and the surrounding lands, used to hold long-lived beings and abilities that you people now cannot fathom. At one point, we realized that power, or magic if you’d prefer the term, was fading from Rayus.

Experts from many fields experimented with all sorts of ways to keep ourselves healthy and powerful, but with lackluster results.

I was part of a group of several intelligent individuals brought together, each with their own talents, determined to search for a solution.

We were trying to prevent death itself. It didn’t work, as you can see. No one can prevent this.”

She gestured to herself, the portion of her expression I could see so wry that I couldn’t help letting a small laugh escape, but my mind stuck on the rest of her statement.

Things in Emrys, and the rest of Rayus, had been far different than I would have thought.

And if our ancestors from generations ago had been more powerful, was there a way to work back to that?

“Initially, we’d worked with basic plants and herbs, like what your apothecaries would sell.

That didn’t fix the problem, though. We searched further and delved deeper, looking for a better option.

We found the answer in what you humans now call the ‘lost country.’ No herb, or potion, but a substance.

Running through the earth. It took us time to extract it and experiment.

You could crush it and ingest it, and the results were”—she took a deep breath—“exhilarating, but short-lived.”

What she spoke of sounded less like science and medicine and more like superstition. Darker than the Unseen Hour.

“One of the others eventually figured it out. We could fuse the substance to ourselves, permanently. But how best to use it? We didn’t have enough for all of Rayus.

Instead, we chose to split it between the six of us, making us into gods.

One from each country, with the exception of Emrys.

It has always had the highest population, and we concluded that two spots were warranted. At least, we did after some debate.”

I could only imagine, if their bickering now was any indication, how unfriendly that debate must have been.

I tried to think of how to word my question in a way that wouldn’t sound impertinent but couldn’t come up with one.

“Why you six? What about the rest of the world? ”

“Because we were the ones who had discovered, researched, toiled, and spent countless hours conversing about this potential gift. And ultimately, it was for the good of everyone. With these powers, we would be more equipped to help the people around us.”

She spoke passionately, but I couldn’t help noticing that things hadn’t turned out that way. At least not in my time. The hour was proof enough of that.

“And you, a woman, became the most powerful one?” I asked, once again unable to come up with a style of questioning that was guaranteed not to offend.

Death smiled, looking wholly unbothered.

“Women have always been powerful. I will admit that Emrys has become more than a bit disappointing. We were wilder in my time, freer. That is something I would like to see again.”

Then why not help? But maybe she couldn’t. She’d already said it was beyond her purview to bring life back, and perhaps it was just as impossible for her to interfere in Emrys, with the trajectory of our lives.

“We gained our powers and used them to improve things for those around us. To bring the chaos of their existence under better control,” she continued.

“The churches in Emrys, and around the world, were initially set up as tributes to us. Over time your understanding of things, and even the rumors of which god and how many, have been blurred. Each nation favored its own deity at first; then, as people evolved, some nations adapted differently from others. The key here is the churches. That’s why I mention this at all, because it pertains to our plan.

Many of you have grown apathetic, but the buildings still hold power.

The original ones, anyway. Do you know where the original churches were in Emrys? ”

“Fox Haven,” Orion answered without pause. “Centuries ago, it was a favored location, for its farmlands and ready access to water. Eventually, things moved to Karith, where people could construct a larger city without sacrificing the farmlands.”

Death nodded, her smile still in place.

“Precisely. The church in Fox Haven may have Day’s face plastered on it alongside mine, but initially it belonged to me. Just as we gods tie a bit of our power to the items that control the souls who help us, we did the same with those original churches.”

Fox Haven’s church was beautiful. Breathtaking stonework, stunning stained-glass windows.

“Did you know that Charon also had a church in Emrys once?” Death asked, turning to me.

“I’d never even heard of him until my arrival here. And I’ve never seen another church,” I said.

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that. The foundation still exists, but no one cares for it anymore. Mine still shines like the sun, but Charon’s has been abandoned for years. All that remains is crumbling stone and a cemetery of long-forgotten graves.”

I gasped.

“The ruins?”

“The very same.”

All this time, I’d been riding Pellix to Charon’s church. I’d found escape in the shadow of the god who had cursed my world. I’d chosen his seat of power as the location where I was Taken.

I’d been taking comfort from a place devoted to my enemy.